DEREK TRIEDnot to obsess over what might have happened if someone hadn’t knocked on the door to tell them about the fire in the trash can.There hadn’t been all that much in it, and the can had been a few feet from the house, but still.He closed his eyes and forced himself not to think about it too much.
Harm was right next to him, holding him gently.At least Derek had been able to rest some.He’d woken up a couple of times in the night, and Harm had been there holding him.“Did you sleep at all?”Derek asked as he slowly rolled over.Harm shrugged, and Derek took that as a no.“You stayed awake to make sure I was okay and nothing else happened, didn’t you?”
Harm blinked at him and just shrugged once more, as though what he’d done was no big deal.
“Do you have to work today?”Derek asked.He was pretty sure that he did.He yawned and stretched before slowly sitting up.“What time?”
Harm held up eight fingers, and Derek checked the clock.It was still before seven, and light was just beginning to come in the windows.He snuggled close once more, enjoying Harm’s strength and warmth.“I have to get up.The library opens at nine today, but I want to get in early.”He had plenty he wanted to get done.Harm held him tighter, and Derek chuckled.“I take it you want to stay in bed.”
Harm hummed his agreement.
“How about you come over for dinner tonight.I owe you since you stayed with me all night.”
Harm released him and sat up, shaking his head.“You O-W-E me nothing.”
Derek cupped his cheeks.“I owe you a lot.I’m scared.William isn’t going to stop.He seems to think that I belong to him, and he’s gone from being a pest to reporting me at work and now possibly setting fires at the house.What will he do next?”
“I will get help,” Harm signed, or at least that was what Derek understood him to be trying to say.“I have friends.”
“I don’t know what you can do, but I trust you.”He leaned against Harm, and his big arms wrapped around him.Harm was so gentle and kind.The man was huge, but he never felt that way.It was like he could put that part of himself away sometimes, and it seemed that most of the time, Derek was the only one who realized it.“Do what you can.I don’t want to live in fear all the time.”
Harm nodded, and Derek figured he was probably right.If nothing else, it would make it a part of the record.Still, what he really wanted was for William to just go away and leave him alone.Was that too much to ask or hope for?He huffed softly before reluctantly slipping out of Harm’s embrace and getting out of bed.
THE LASTthing he wanted was to get dressed and go into work.His feet felt like lead, and somehow he had to paste on a smile and greet the library patrons the way he always did.Yet he kept wondering if William was going to come through the door or try to set fire to his house while he was away.On a break, he called the police non-emergency line and told them what had happened the night before.So in the afternoon, an officer came into the library, and he spoke with him, explaining what he and Harm had discovered.“What’s left of the can is next to the house.I figured I’d take care of it when I got home.”
“Okay.I’ll stop by and take a few pictures so I can add them to the file.”
“I believe I know who did it, but I can’t prove any of it.”He explained about William stalking him.“If this is him, then it’s getting worse.”
“Okay.”The officer made notes.“Is there someone you can stay with or someone who can be there with you?”
Derek shrugged.He figured that if he asked Harm, he would probably camp out with him, but he didn’t want to put that kind of burden on him and a relationship that was this new.“I’ll have to see.I don’t want to believe that this guy is capable of hurting me, but then, I have no idea after last night.It may have been just someone randomly tossing a cigarette in my garbage can, but I don’t know for sure.”
“You did the right thing reporting it, especially with the other things that have been happening.”He made a few more notes.“I’ll update the file, and we’ll schedule some patrols to drive by the house.I wish there was more that we could do.”
“I understand.”The police department had limited resources, like everyone else, and they couldn’t sit out in front of his house to watch it, no matter how much he might have wished they could.
Once the officer left, Derek went back to work and tried to put it all out of his mind.He had plenty of things to do, and he had a staff meeting that afternoon that he had to get ready for.An hour later, he met with as much of the paid staff as he could to go over their cost-efficiency program.
“I don’t want to cut anything that we need.But as always, if you have an idea that will make what we do better and save the library money, then bring it to me.”He’d found a way to provide prizes to those who came up with ideas that could be implemented, and he made sure to publicly recognize each idea that could be implemented on a chart in the break area.“Put it in an email to me, and then we can sit down and talk about it.The board noticed what you have done already to help the library prosper.We all know that the budget is tight and that the board has discussed staff cuts, but we’ve held that off because of the work we’ve done.We have streamlined what we’re doing and we’ve saved someone’s job.”The last thing he wanted was to have to let one of these people go.
“Can we talk about our ideas now?”Angela asked.She had been with the library just six months, and Derek would never say anything, but it had been her job that the board had talked of eliminating.
“If you have an idea, then it’s yours.So please put it in an email to me,” he said with a smile.“Now, if there are no more questions….”
Angela raised her hand again.“That man who comes in… the scary one….What do we do if we don’t feel comfortable.”
“If there is anyone who makes you feel unsafe, you can always come to me or ask another member of staff to accompany you.But please don’t abuse this.And as for the man you’re speaking about….”
Connie nudged Angela and leaned closer.Angela’s eyes went wide and she put her hand over her mouth before turning to Connie in surprise.“Oh….”
Derek got the message.“Yes.Please remember that sometimes things are very different than they appear.Our job is to provide a service and a safe space in the community… for everyone.”He truly meant that.“If there are no more questions, then we’ll move on to our regular agenda.”
BY THEend of the day Derek was tired but surprisingly energized.He wasn’t too pleased that his relationship with Harm had spread through the staff, but he shouldn’t have been surprised.People talked, and as long as he kept it professional, he had nothing to worry about.
Connie was working through the evening, so he left at five, making sure that he had everything done before walking home.This was something he had done on days when the weather was dry since he’d first started working there.For the last three years, he had never given it much thought, but now he looked from side to side and wondered if this was something he wasn’t going to feel safe to do any longer.That really sucked.Stopping a block from the library, he took a deep breath.It was nearly dark, and the streetlights had come on.There was plenty of light and there were other people around.Derek pulled his coat a little closer around him and continued on, determined that William was not going to dictate the way he lived.If he allowed that, then he was letting that man control his life.
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his phone to have it ready, but other than that, he continued on the way he had many evenings and mornings before, keeping his steps as determined as possible.
