Alex used her cane to stand up. “I’ve been trying to tell you something for a while now. And, either we were interrupted or I put it off.” She walked over to the window.

            “Is this about Vegas?”

            She turned and looked at him. “Yeah, it’s about Vegas.”

            “Why did you decide to tell me now?”

            “I can clear up the mess if I give a statement to the investigating Lieutenant.”

            “Who’s that?”

            “Randy. He was assigned a cold case when he worked at the troopers. Yeah, he was transferred to the S.W.A.T team, but he still had a few cases to close.”

            “Alex, tell me what happened. No one will tell me what happened. All I know are bits and pieces. Only you can put the puzzle together for me.” He stood up and walked over to her. “Please tell me. No matter what it is, please tell me.”

            Tears streamed down her face. “It was an accident,” she cried.

            “Angel, what happened in Vegas? Please tell me.”

            She walked over to the counter, poured a cup of coffee, and then sat at the table. “Please, sit I’ll tell you.”

            Jim sat next to her and took her hand as it shook. “What happened in Las Vegas?”

            Alex sipped her coffee. “Where do I start?”

            “From the beginning. When were you in Vegas?”

            She took a deep breath. “Well, after I got out of jail, I moved around a lot. When I was in Michigan, I picked up a gun, a 25 caliber. With all the publicity from the trial, I figured I needed something to protect myself with,” she sighed.

            “That’s the gun that Carey found, isn’t it?”

            “Yeah,” she sighed heavily. “So, anyway. I made my way to Vegas. I ended up dating, this, well, cop. We were together for about six months or so. Well, until it happened.”

            “I see,” he whispered. “Alex, just tell me what happened.”

            “Well, yeah. His name was Lieutenant Peter Johnson. We met in a casino. He was off-duty and no, I didn’t know he was a cop at that time.”

            “OK. Go on.”

            “We were dating and he was a nice man.”

            “Did you have feelings for him?”

            “No, this is going to sound horrible, but it was more about sex than anything else. I’m sorry.”

            “Go on.” He demanded.

            “Well, I always slept with my gun under my pillow. I felt that someone was following me, but I didn’t know at the time that it was Greg. Peter was in my room one night, and we, well, you know, were in bed. Something happened and my gun went off. I had forgotten to put the safety on.”

            “He died in bed?”

            “It was an accident. At first, I didn’t realized what happened. I saw blood, but couldn’t see anything else. Then I realized the gun went off. I got scared.” Tears streamed down her face. “God, there was just so much blood.”

            “What’d you do?”

            “I moved his body into the next room, where he had one registered. He used to register a room in his name and then come to my room. He didn’t want people finding out that he was, well, with Alexis Garris.”

            “And?”

            “I put him in the tub. The wound was weird. He had this lump on his head. I thought it would look like he fell or something.” She sipped her coffee again. “I cleaned up and left town. I was so afraid that if they knew I was involved that they’d think that I killed him. I didn’t do it on purpose. It was so stupid to keep that gun under my pillow. I forgot that it was there. I didn’t mean to kill him. I was so afraid. I spent six months in jail for killing Amanda. I couldn’t bear to go back to jail. Who would believe this one was an accident?”

            “Alex, why didn’t you just tell me?”

            “I figured it would go away. But, then I did the most stupid thing ever. That day at Solutions, I brought the gun with me. I thought Greg was going to come after us. I wanted to protect you. So, I brought the gun. I grabbed it before I went to confront Trey. But, then I lost it in the struggle.” She started to cry. “I can understand if you’re angry with me. I’m sorry that I never told you. I ran out like a coward.”

            “Alex, you’re not a coward. Look at what you’ve done. You survived the worse possible thing that anyone could’ve gone through.”

            “Jim, I understand if you’re angry with me for not telling you.”

            “I really do wish that you could’ve trusted me enough to tell me before now.”

            “I wanted to. I put it out of my mind for the past few years. I didn’t want to relieve it. Then, Greg told me that he knew what I did. I got scared. I really wanted to tell you before this. But, Jim, you were a cop. If I had told you any of this, you were obligated to turn me in.”

            “But, now that we’re married, I can’t say a word, right?”

            “Well, yeah.”

            “So, that’s it. That’s why you married me all of a sudden, isn’t it?”

            “No, that’s not it at all.”

            “Then why, Alex? Why did you marry me?”

            “Because I love you.”

            “Really? How do I know that’s the truth? You’ve been keeping secrets from me. How do I know you love me?”

            “I wish I could show you, but I can’t.”

            “What? Just more sex? More sex with a cop?” As he spit the words out of his mouth, he realized what he had said.

            She stared at him in shock. “After everything I’ve been through, what you just said is the most hurtful thing that’s ever happened to me. No knife could cut me as deeply as you just did right now! How could you, of everyone, hurt me like that? I wish I never told you. I thought that I could trust you. I thought that you, well, loved me.” Alex stood up and tried to hurry out of the room, but her legs wouldn’t move fast enough. She fell to the floor.

            Jim went over to help her. “Angel, I’m sor...”

            She pushed him away. “Don’t even touch me!” She pulled herself up and hurried out of the house. She managed to make it to the backyard. She stared up at the rain clouds coming in. “Please, help me!” she yelled. She let the rain pour down on her as tears streamed down her face. “I DO love him. How can I make him believe me?”

            Jim watched her from the bay window. I’m sorry, Angel. I know that you love me. How could I be the one to hurt you the worst? He watched as she let the rain pour on her body as if she were trying to become part of the rain. I can’t lose her. He ran out of the house and into the backyard.

            “Alex!” He yelled.

            She slowly turned around without saying a word. Rainwater streamed down her face along with the tears.

            He ran up to her and stood in front of her. “Angel, I’m so sorry,” he whispered.

            Without saying a word, she grabbed his face and pulled him towards her into a long, hard passionate kiss.

            He touched her hands and gazed into her eyes. He was about to speak, when she placed her finger over his lips. She ran her hands down his chest and pulled him into a gentle embrace. She kissed him down his chest, as the rain poured down on them.

            She needed to show him, right there in the rain, that she loved him and she could be his wife again. She removed his badge from his chest and threw it on the ground. “No cops. I want my husband, only,” she whispered. She pulled off his utility belt, tossed it on the ground, and kissed him on his neck.

            She unbuttoned his shirt and threw it on soaked ground. She unbuttoned her blouse and pulled his hands to her chest so that he could feel her heart beat.

            He lifted her face up with his finger. “Here?” he whispered.

            “Here.” She smiled. He laid her gently on the wet ground and ran his hands gently over her body. He removed her pants and tenderly touched her legs. Slowly, he made passionate love to her as he so longed to do. At that moment, they were truly one with each other and the rain. All the pain, all the nightmares, and life itself seemed to be washed away. All they knew was each other.

           

Alex opened the door carefully. There stood a man wearing a mask.

     “Who are you? What do you want?”

     “I want you, Alexis. I came all this way for you and I can’t hold it in any more.”

     “Go away,” she tried to close the door on him, but he pushed his way in and grabbed her. “Let go of me,” she yelled.

     “No, not until you remember,” he kissed her hard, so hard that his teeth cut her lip and it started to bleed.

     “Get off of me. I don’t know who you are or what you want.”

     “I have you. I’m not about to let you go again. I’ll no longer wait for you,” he pulled her to him again so tight, she tried to fight him off, but he was too strong.

     “Please don’t hurt me,” she cried.

     “I’d never hurt you,” he rubbed his hand over her head over and over again, each time pressing harder.

     “You’re hurting me.”

     He licked her face. “You taste so good,” he shoved his hand down her shirt. She stomped on his foot and he let go of her out of reflex. She tried to run down the hall but he grabbed her and brought her back to the living room.

He punched her in the face and then threw her on the floor and then stomped his foot on her chest to hold her in place. He fumbled with his belt as he tried to remove his pants. Alex screamed. “No, get away from me.”

     “I’m going to have you one way or another,” he said softly, as he whipped his belt off. He whipped it around harder and harder until the belt slashed her face.

     “Oh, god no,” Alex grabbed her face out of pain. She tried to push his foot off her, but she couldn’t.

     Jim came out of the bathroom when he heard Alex scream. He ran up behind the man and jumped on his back, knocking him to the floor. He started hitting him in the head and they struggled on the floor.

     “Jim!” Alex yelled. She tried to crawl over to him but she couldn’t move. “Jim, no!”

      Jim looked over at Alex and the man hit Jim in the face. He got up quickly ran out the door.

     Jim ran to Alex’s side. “Are you OK?” He started wiping the blood off her face with his towel.

     She clung to him tightly. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

    “Don’t be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry about.”

    “It’s all my fault. You should probably just leave.”

    “Alex, I’m not leaving you. It’s OK. I’m so glad that I was here. Are you OK?”

     She looked up at his face as tears streamed down her cheeks. “It’s OK? You don’t hate me?”

    “Why would I hate you?”

    She cried a little harder.

   “Angel, it’s OK to let people help you. Now, are you all right?”

   “I am now. You saved me. Thank god you were here,” she was finally able to let herself go.

   Jim held her tightly. “I’m so glad I was here,” he whispered. “We have to call the police.”

   “No,” Alex said. “No police. I have to take care of this myself.”

   “Alex, you can’t..,” Jim pleaded. “You have to call the police. You’re hurt pretty bad. Please let me.”

    She tried to get up, but she was in so much pain. “I can barely move, Jim.”

    “I’m calling the police. No arguments,” Jim said sternly.

    “OK,” she said weakly.

"Unwritten Life" by Amy Witkowski (yes, that's me, before my divorce) was not only my first full-length novel, but my first published novel.  It was also the novel that sparked not only my "Life" Series of 9 novels, but two subsequent series. "Destiny" Series (9 Novels) and "Fate" Series (5 novels).

"Unwritten Life" depicts the life of Alex Garrison.

Time: Present Time

Place: The fictional town of Sars Springs, Arizona (2 miles south of Florence, AZ)

Alex Garrison comes to Sars Springs to start a new life. Formally, Alexis Rossi Garris (of Pottstown, PA), heiress to the Rossi Estate, wife of the Late Matthew Garris (ex-Marine Captain, Owner and CEO of the "Garris Engineering Firm"). Matthew was killed, along with her two lifelong best friends, John and Mary Reardon. They were killed by Amanda Shapone, who Alexis, in return, killed.

Alex (a strong willed business woman, whose worst enemy is her innerself, which is a little bit broken) finds a job at a local start-up Computer company, Solutions Computer Sytems, owned by local rich business man, Steven Welch. She quickly makes her way up the ladder, when William Weaver "Bill" becomes her new district manager. As the new manager for the Customer Support Team, she finds herself wary of her new boss, especially when he makes several passes at her. In trying to forget her past, she fails terribly. Especially when her friend, Greg Shapone, appears out of the blue and back into her life and her company.

Alex finds sexual solace when she begins a noncomittal relationship with co-worker Randy Harrison, who is also a local married police officer. Fear of her secret and her guilt of the past, she tries to hide who she really is. Unexpectedly, she starts to fall for the man she least expected. A man, who is so vocal and honest about his feelings ... refreshingly honest. Alex tries to deny not only her feelings, but his as well, but she allows him to help her, even though she's always been stubbornly independent. His help is greatly warranted when a stalker tries to make her his own, at any cost.

Torn between her feeliings for her new man and the fear of being killed, or worse, having him killed becasue he protected her, everyone becomes a suspect in her mind. Alex

In writing fictional novels, the best part of being the author is being that creative. It's not just about control of a situation, it's about being and writing anything. You make anything happen. When it's written into a novel, anything can be believable.

I believe it was my destiny to write. I've written short stories, poetry, and novels. I make the characters come to life. anything can happen.

When the words are read, the feelings of the characters are felt by the reader. The characters, themselves, draw imagination.

Life is never as it seems and the unexplained, can easily be explained, even if unbelieveable.