It was a new day. The sun rose from the east, bright and beautiful. Julian rose from the bed, gloomy and irritable. Running a hand through his hair, he felt like everything and everyone should just go to hell. The alarm clock beside him read 6:30AM. He was thirty minutes early from his normal wake up time. He lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling.
The previous night was still fresh on his mind. He didn’t exactly leave Sam’s place in good spirits. He was so angry that night that he didn’t bother eating anything when he got home and just went straight to bed. Right now, the consequence manifested in form of a growling stomach.
Julian ignored it as he pondered on the actions of his friends the previous night? Did they plan to play a joke on him? He doubted it because he was very sure Nancy wouldn’t be part of it. All the years he had known her, he had always seen her as the nerdy bookworm. Yes, she had her moments where she could be funny, but pranks were not a trait of hers. Randal, his childhood best friend could be cheeky and foul mouthed, but he wasn’t a fan of pranks either. Cheryl was out of the equation because Julian barely interacted with her unless Sam was involved. Trish? The less Julian thought of her, the better. Sam had seemed very serious.
The sound of the alarm went off, interrupting Julian’s train of thoughts. Setting it off, he picked up his phone. A look of surprise crossed his face as he saw lots of missed calls and a text message. Five missed calls from Randal, ten missed calls and the text message from Nancy.
He opened the text message from Nancy and read it:
‘Julian, I’ve been trying to reach you but you’re not picking your calls. Randal can’t reach you either. Cheryl called in the middle of the night. Something terrible has happened. Sam is dead.’
Julian was petrified in utter shock as he read the last sentence. Sam was dead? How ? What happened? He had to find out and fast. Jumping out of the bed, he made a beeline for the bathroom.
Within minutes, he was dressed and ready to go to work. He decided to skip breakfast as he made his way out of the house. On getting to his car, he sighted his next-door neighbor, Mr. Wyatt stepping out of his house. The balding old man waved to him.
“Hello, Julian! A good day it is, am I right?” He called.
“Sure.” Julian barely replied and swiftly got into his car. He switched on the ignition and zoomed off.
A good day? Far from it. Julian knew the old man made such remark when his mind was on one thing; Bringing in a woman later in the night to cheat on his wife. Julian never understood how a man of Mr. Wyatt’s age managed to invite young buxom women into his house every two days. Each woman different from the last. His wife travelled at least eight times a year leaving him to have the fun of his life. Julian attested the reason his lecherous neighbor could get so many women was the fact that he was financially buoyant. But Julian could care less about that at the moment. He had more pressing issues to attend to.
On getting to work, he went straight to Nancy’s office and knocked.
“Come in.” A voice was heard from the other side. It sounded muffled and disjointed.
Julian opened the door and stepped inside. Nancy was seated in front of her laptop, but she wasn’t working. She had a faraway look in her eyes as she stared at a pile of papers on her desk. Her glasses were balanced on the bridge of her nose and her hair was tied in a messy bun. As he approached her desk, Julian noticed the bags underneath her eyes.
“Hey.” He said.
“Hey.” She replied, still staring at her desk.
Julian sighed and leant on the opposite side of the desk.
“I saw your text.” He said. “I just saw it this morning. How did it happen?”
Nancy said nothing for a few seconds. She reached into her suit jacket and pulled out a handkerchief, wiping her forehead with it.
“Honestly, Julian, I still don’t understand till now.” She faced him. “Cheryl said he got burnt from the inside.”
“What?” Julian was taken aback. His eyes widened as he tried to process the news.
“How? Did she know what caused it?” He asked.
“No.” Nancy sighed. “She just said he was freaked out and yelling at something. Then next thing he was screaming in pain and he died. Just like that.”
Julian ran his hand through his hair and pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling an incoming migraine. Nothing was making sense right now. As Nancy studied him, a thought appeared in her head as she remembered something.
“Julian.” She called out to him.
He looked at her expectantly.
“You said you saw a tattoo on Sam’s neck yesterday, right?” She asked.
“What do you mean ‘I saw’ ?” He frowned. “Nancy, we all saw it. I’m not doing this again.”
“That’s the thing, Julian. I didn’t see it. And you saw yourself that the rest admitted to not seeing it either.” Nancy said.
“You know what? I think I need a breather right now.” Julian moved away from her table and walked towards the door.
“Julian.” Nancy called in a pleading tone.
Julian ignored her and made his exit, shutting the door after him. Nancy sighed. She could never understand why little things could set him off so easily. Why was he so difficult sometimes?
The rest of the day was uneventful. Julian managed to get through it all as he made it his mission not to interact with anyone. Not even Nancy. His mood was already ruined to begin with, and it all stemmed from her. As soon as work was over, he didn’t bother checking out. He just left.
He arrived home just to see another car make its entrance to Mr. Wyatt’s driveway. Julian came out of his car and observed the unfamiliar vehicle. It seemed brand new. A lady stepped out of the car. She looked like she was in her early thirties. She had blonde wavy hair and blue eyes. She was dressed in a skin tight brown T-shirt which revealed the shape of her large bust and dark blue jeans hugging an equally large and firm behind. She wore heels that seemed to add at least three inches to her height. On sighting Julian, the lady smiled and waved.
“ Hello.” Her accent sounded southern.
“Hey.” He shrugged indifferently.
The sound of the door was heard as Mr. Wyatt made his way into the front yard. The lady let out a delighted squeal and ran to him, engulfing him in a tight hug. Julian shook his head at the silly grin that appeared on the old man’s face as he was enjoying the contact from the buxom blonde.
“Back from work, Julian?” Mr. Wyatt finally noticed his neighbor and waved.
Julian stood rooted to the spot. He broke out in cold sweat as his eyes became wide in fear. Not because Mr. Wyatt waved. But because of what he saw imprinted on Mr. Wyatt’s wrist. The tattoo. The bulb-shaped tattoo. That same tattoo he saw the previous night on Sam’s neck. There it was again. Unlike Sam’s tattoo which had the number 1 in the middle, the one on Mr. Wyatt’s wrist had a number 2.
“No.” Julian gulped in fear, his voice barely audible. “Please, no. Not this again.”
“Julian?” Mr. Wyatt raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes.” Julian managed to find his voice. “Please excuse me.”
He made his way quickly into the house and shut the door.
“Your neighbor is weird.” The blonde said as she stared at Julian’s door.
“Well tonight is not about him, darling.” Mr. Wyatt wrapped his arm around her slim waist and steered her towards his house.
“It’s about us.” He added with a perverted grin.
Inside his house, Julian leant against the door and stared at the ceiling in the living room.
“What’s wrong with me?” He asked no one.