# Don't Ask Me Why: Chapter 27



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Tanya had the most disturbing dream yet that night.
She was almost certain it was real. She was performing that night on stage, singing, while Ernest conducted next to her, when Marcus came on stage, and stabbed her in the heart. It felt like real physical pain and she screamed. Ernest seemed not even to notice. She thought the audience was appalled, when suddenly she heard clapping.
"What? Is this all for show??" she thought. Losing her ability to breath, she woke up, and found herself hyperventilating. She also found that she had a headache.
"Ugh..." Tanya rolled over in bed. It was six o'clock in the morning. Next to her was some headache medicine, and also a bottle of vodka. She took both, and tried to fall back asleep. Instead, she drifted into a dreamless, coma-like state for several hours, waking up almost at noon with a start.
"I had class at 11 today, I missed it!" Tanya rubbed her face, and tried to get ready for the day as quickly as possible.
"At least the paper isn't due until 3pm..."
Suddenly Tanya remembered everything that she had planned for the day.
Her suitcase was all packed up, hidden under her bed. Tanya slowly opened up her bedroom door to see if Marcus was around. He was not.
Rushing through a small meal, she also took some allergy medication, since it was the worst season. She then got all her belongings, and went to the door, before stopping.
Tanya remembered what she needed to do.
She found Marcus' study locked, but she took a credit card and slid it through the crack to open it. Inside, it was bright from the sun shining in, and relatively clean. Manuscript paper, however, was strewn all over his desk, the remnants of more sketches for his work. The black briefcase was still there in the corner.
Tanya found his lighter in a desk drawer.
"Would I?" she pondered for a moment.
But first things first. One a blank sheet of paper, she wrote a short message.
"We're done." She then took off her ring and placed it on top. A surge of relief went through her.
Also immense pleasure.
Tanya smiled, and grabbed all the manuscript paper into a bundle. She dumped it into a metal trashcan in the room, and then went to the briefcase. It was locked!
Frustrated again, she picked it up, and with several sharp motions, jammed it into the trashcan, though it couldn't fit at all.
"It could set the alarm off..." Tanya again wondered. But it was a passing thought.
Immediately she lit the paper on fire in the trashcan, and walked out quickly, taking the note and ring, and putting them on the living room table. Taking her suitcase, she moved quickly out of the apartment shutting the door behind her. She had left a number of things of her own behind, but it didn't matter to her anymore.
Tanya took her belongings and put it in her car. Now that her plan was in motion, she had a few other things to attend to.
Driving about 5 minutes, she came across a nice hotel that she had been considering staying for a night, at most.
It was about 1PM, and Tanya ordered a room, taking her belongings up there for the day. This would be a place she could get ready for the concert later that evening.
Among other things.
Tanya drove back to the college to turn in her paper without a moment to spare.


It was a busy day for Marie. She had a number of recital programs to make, and she wasn't sure she would finish them before the end of the day. However, the weather was growing sunnier and warmer, and Marie opened her office window to let in the fresh air.
"Marie!" Christy came into her office. "Do you have a moment?"
"Sure," Marie replied, though it wasn't exactly true, and she continued staring at her computer screen. "What is it?"
"I'm afraid there's been a mistake in tonight's program."
Marie looked up.
"What??"
"Yeah, a pretty major one. You seemed to have left out Ernest's bio from the program."
Marie went wide-eyed, speechless.
"Aghhh!" she yelled at herself. "How could I make that mistake! He sent it to me! How did I miss it?? Is there anything I can do?"
"I doubt it, but see for yourself, you gave everyone else bios, except him, although he's still mentioned as a conductor," Christy showed Marie a program. Marie grabbed it and stared at it. She smacked her face.
"There's only one way to correct it. To make a separate slide-in sheet in the program. I will make it immediately, and I will get some students to put them in the main programs. Perhaps to hide it... I'll put Tanya and Marcus' bios on the same sheet too..." this pleased Marie as she spoke, and she immediately felt better.
"That's a better plan that I could think of. Let me know when you've made a copy, I'll help you right away."
"Thanks, Christy," Marie immediately went to work on this new program.


Tanya otherwise had an uneventful day. She practiced as soon as she turned her paper in, and then made her escape from the building without Marcus knowing. She could never be sure when he would find out the message, but she never got a call from him, or from the police department calling about a fire. Thus, she felt pretty good about herself. Things were going to work her way.
And this empowered her to even higher ideals.
Tanya came back to her hotel suite around four o'clock, and enjoyed herself for a while. She made sure she brought everything she needed to dress up for the evening: gold bracelet, small gold earring hoops, gold-chained necklace. Black mascara, gray-blue eye-liner, rouge, and bright red lipstick. A brand-new gorgeous strapless red gown made of a silky material, very fluid and comfortable, and also a size smaller than usual since she started losing weight. And last but not least, her red stilettos. It all matched so perfectly! Because this night was going to be perfect! Everything was going to work her way, she knew it. Since the morning, she had everything planned out.
After getting only a salad from an eatery nearby, she went back to her room to get ready at 6:30 PM. Tanya decided to let her hair down, and curl it. Preparing everything meticulously, she finished getting ready by 7:30 PM. The concert was starting at 8PM.
Tanya looked at herself in the mirror, for the 100th time. She was dazzling, she was spectacular. Singing a scale, she felt just like a true opera singer, a real diva, the stuff of legends. Her smile was by far the most attractive thing about her, her straight white teeth glistening.
"I will make history tonight, and I will be the happiest woman alive! Ernest will be mine, and nothing will stop us from being together! I am a goddess!" she stretched her arms to the ceiling, when suddenly she had a great coughing spell. She frantically looked back at the mirror to make sure she didn't upset her looks.
"Ugh! Stupid allergies!" Tanya immediately got out her medicine bag, and took the same medication as she did earlier, also with a shot of vodka from the mini-fridge.
She didn't realize it was a medication for one dose every twenty-four hours.
"7:45! Time flies!" Tanya immediately got on a black blazer, and left the room.
She wouldn't miss out on Ernest's performance.


----------

