As Only Strangers Can

The sold sign swayed in the breeze.

‘So, this is it,’ Sam mused. The only instruction she’d given him was that it was the house with the sold sign, no number. High hedges surrounded the rusted cast-iron gate, and there was indeed no number.

Sam forced open the rusted gate, its ornate grill grazing his knuckles. Damn, he had surgery the next morning. He sucked on his knuckles and tasted metal.

The towering hedges on either side of the gate rippled in the wind, and leaves and blossoms swirled around him sending dust into his eyes. Behind him, the gate creaked and then snapped shut. He stood in the house’s shadow.

It took him a moment to recognize it. Back then, although abandoned, it was at least impressive, but now it was like a decaying ghost. 

She’d mentioned it needed renovating. It needed bulldozing in his mind. Always had. He’d hated walking past it as a kid. It had been a dare to go there, even then. He couldn’t believe he was back.

He knew from pulling the hospital records that she was only 33… far too young to recall that period or have seen the news coverage about the drowned girl. Also, she was from out of town.

The door flew open before he could knock.

Alie materialized still wearing her white coat. He’d picked her for a rule-breaker, and that in itself excited him. Although surgeons were supposed to change before leaving the hospital, they sometimes didn’t, himself included.

‘Sorry, my department meeting went over.’ She flapped the lapels of her coat.

Her smile dissolved Sam’s misgivings about being back at the house, and he handed her the fragrant bouquet of lilies and orchids he’d bought at the hospital as he’d left.

In the week since her appointment at the hospital as Consultant Surgeon, there had been much speculation about her. They called her the mysterious Dr Xenos. No one knew anything about her private life; she was new in the city, not just the hospital. But after working with her just the one time, he felt himself drawn to her.

Her skill impressed him; he’d been a surgeon for years but hadn’t come across anyone so young with her ability. Her rapport with staff and patients, she radiated a warmth most surgeons with her abilities lacked. Although young, she was already at the top of her field. They were to collaborate on a ground-breaking surgery in two days: a conjoined twin separation.

It would be the defining moment of his career. He expected to receive acclaim afterwards and be inundated with offers and promotions.

This collaboration and her beauty had prevented him from making any overtures, despite he found he’d invented an elaborate and romantic history for her – a reaction that only strangers can elicit.

Yesterday, she’d disarmed him by inviting him to her house for dinner tonight. They planned to discuss the upcoming surgery before tomorrow’s rehearsal. Since then, it had consumed his mind. Success and sex in one tempting package. His kryptonite.

The aroma of garlic enveloped him.

‘I’m cooking bouillabaisse. Hope that’s alright?’

‘And I’ve brought champagne.’ They smiled into each other’s eyes. He felt his heart flutter in a way it hadn’t for years.

‘Excellent, we can start with drinks beside the pool. Dinner’s not quite ready yet.’

She led him down a lengthy hall adorned with faded and peeling gold and turquoise Deco wallpaper, opening into an old kitchen where the enticing scent of garlic and lobster intensified with each step. Shelled prawns glistened on a chopping board next to a mountain of chopped fresh herbs. A large pot simmered on the ornate, antiquated gas stove.

He knew everything from the wallpaper to the stove was original. It was burnt into his retina.

The overgrown scented vines hanging from the veranda swayed in the breeze as they emerged onto the dilapidated veranda, and the old house whispered.

Alie flicked a switch, and lights spluttered to life, soft and hazy through the cobwebbed glass panes of their old brass frames.

‘Let me change, and why don’t you…?’ She gestured to the two champagne glasses on the wrought-iron table before going inside.

He peeled the foil from the bottle, removed the wire, and wrestled with the cork until a satisfying pop broke through the still night. Bubbles rose to the top and escaped, tumbling over the lip, before he could reach the glass.

The scent of jasmine hit him.

His gaze moved upward. Damp footprints marked a path around the cracked pool surround, leading into the overgrown foliage behind. Sam’s neck hairs stood on end.

The footprints faded. But a wet scarlet bathing suit next to the pool steps glistened in the moonlight.

He downed the champagne. When he looked back, the bathing suit was gone. His hand shook as he hastily refilled his glass, the foam overflowing.

Sam squeezed his eyes shut. Blamed the long and complicated surgery he’d just finished an hour earlier.

A scream echoed in his head.

A splash.

Water hit his face. He lifted his hand to wipe it away, but his face was dry.

His thoughts flashed back to that night long ago when they’d trespassed and partied here.

The five of them, for a drunken farewell before heading off in different directions.

Med school was his destiny. Trent had already enlisted in the army, following the lead of his three older brothers. Athletic, competitive Mitch’s move to pro football surprised no one. Giles was determined to follow in his father’s footsteps and go into law. Felix surprised everyone when he left for Italy to pursue a glamorous life in fashion.

It was going to be the first time they would be apart since they started school, and they swore to stay in touch as they made their names and fortunes.

A gypsy girl with a scar on her collarbone, wearing scarlet, had drowned because of them. Unaware she lived in the abandoned house, they’d broken in; and in their inebriated, elated state and youthful ignorance, had terrorized her.

And worse.

Finally tossing her into the pool. The cracking sound her skull made as it hit the jagged tiled edge as she fell still echoed in his memory with every craniotomy he performed.

When she lay lifeless on the bottom, they’d looked at each other and saw their dreams vanishing just as her blood infused the water.

They’d fled.

Made a pact. Vowed never to speak of it.

Her wild eyes as they tossed her in the pool still haunted his dreams.

25 years later, three had died. Mitch from cardiac arrest in the middle of a grand final. Giles bled out alone, the result of a shooting as he left the secure court car park afforded to him as a newly appointed judge. A spiked drink at the after-party in Milan, celebrating his label’s success, killed Felix. Now there was only him and Trent left.

In their weekly conversation, Trent, now a General, had bantered with Sam about Alie the previous evening. Sam hadn’t intended to mention more than the surgery, but this beautiful stranger had ignited a passion in him. He grew aroused just picturing her.

An icy wind chilled his clammy skin despite the sultry evening.

Electrical tingling raced over his skin.

Alie was behind him. He felt her breath, warm and sensual, on his neck.

Slowly turning, a smile stealing across his features, he froze when he saw her.

She was wearing the scarlet bathing suit, still dripping.

Looking younger than she had at the hospital.

‘Sam?’ she offered her hand.

A jolt ripped through him as their hands touched.

The scar on her collarbone flashed…her eyes wild …

He was in the pool, his chest exploding. He tried to emerge but couldn’t move. An unknown force held him down.

Breathless, he clutched at the flash of scarlet… but it was just a bathing suit.

The events of that night long ago flashed through his mind. The last thing he saw was her eyes… wild and scared.

Then everything went blank.

The sold sign blew down the street.

…

Sergeant Aliena Xenos adjusted her cap and smoothed the medals on her uniform.

‘Sir!’ she stepped from behind his limousine, saluting the man she’d called number five for over 25 years.

He was wearing Dress Blues for the ceremony.

Trent sank into the leather seat of the passenger cabin, ignoring her as was his MO with subordinates. He was staring at a news report of his friend Dr Samuel Wilson’s death.

A drowning.

Ironic. Just when Sam was about to realize his dream – the conjoined twin separation surgery. Like the other guys, he’d almost succeeded.

Trent was the last one.

Aliena drove the limousine through the barrack gates. Fast. Trent’s heart raced, dizziness immobilized him, as the CO gas overpowered him.

He met her wild eyes in the rear-view mirror…  other eyes from the past re-emerged… wild and scared.

Everything faded to black.