Guess What? The Universe Hates You. Part 15.

I’ve started the couch to 5 k programme last night, woo me! It’s 9 weeks long, though it’ll take me a bit longer as I’ll have to have a break around march. I’m more announcing it here so I don’t stop half way through, I don’t expect that I will, but it’s just a back up plan. In case I realise how unattractive and sweaty and gross I look while running and gasping for air. I want to at least do the full 9 weeks, it’s less than three months. I’m proud that I finished last night without throwing up or collapsing or anything. Mondays short story will be up early, I’ve a doctors appointment later in the day so I’ll try to have it done before then. Figure I’ll start writing back up stories, just in case another day like Wednesday happens, if I’m too tired to write something proper or end up hospitalised or stranded in a foreign country, surrounded by piles of money. Hopefully the last one happens and it isn’t a case of me being help hostage by drug lords or gangs or something.

I’m considering writing the short stories the day before, so rather writing them Mon, Wed, Fri I’ll do them on Sun, Tues and Thurs, we’ll see how the write more idea works first though.

I don’t think anything else has really been happening, just general boring life, so I wont bore you with it anymore!

On with the show!

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Guess What? The Universe Hates You. Part 15

Part 1, Part 14

Anna woke slowly, drifting in and out of sleep, it was the first chance she had gotten to relax since everything had started, they weren’t in a rush anywhere, not yet anyway, and there was no direct danger. She rolled over, then stretched slightly. It was nice, not having to worry about anything. The smell of food filled the air but she wasn’t hungry yet, she was just happy being warm and safe. Though she had been mostly silent the last few days, she was never really alone, she never had a chance to just relax completely without worry. She liked Daniel and Cynthia but she enjoyed being alone too. It had been a while since she had been able to sit around and be warm and comfortable. She kept her eyes closed, though she was almost fully awake, she occasionally dozed. Finally, she opened her eyes, stretched, then sat up. She looked around the room, it was plain but nice enough, it reminded her of her aunt and uncles house. She felt a sudden pang of pain and pushed it away.  Anna pushed the duvet back and slid out of bed, getting dressed quickly, she looked at the clothes she had, there wasn’t much and she didn’t know how long they’d be on the road after they left, she’d have to ask Nick if they could wash their clothes. Once dressed she opened the blinds, brightening the room. She looked down at the garden, it was well maintained and full of blooming flowers, she stood there for a few moments, gazing at the perfect beauty of it all. She wondered how much time Nick spent on it, probably a lot. She didn’t know if he even had a job, he might just have a lot of free time to use up. Maybe it felt nice, getting flowers to grow, having something that was somewhat dependant on you. She heard a door opening and closing somewhere on the landing, after a few seconds, she left the room, leaving her door slightly ajar, just in case she needed to grab her stuff quickly.

Everyone was already in the kitchen, Nick was at the stove, cooking pancakes, between Cynthia and Daniel were piles of food. “Morning” “Morning, did you sleep ok?” “Yeah, pretty good actually.” Anna sat down beside Daniel, the seat beside Cynthia had a cup of half drunk coffee beside it. “Have you guys been up long?” “I only got up a few minutes ago” “I’ve been up for a while. I went and did a little shopping for Nick.” Nick turned away from the stove, “You may have bought it but you didn’t cook it, that job fell to me.” “Well, it’s your house, people can be funny about you cooking in their house. I figured I’d just leave you too it.” He flipped a pancake out of the pan and onto a plate, after pouring some more batter into the pan, he carried the plate to the table and set it down. “Dig in.” Everyone grabbed a pancake and started to add toppings. “There’s loads of batter left so have as many as you like.”

They ate breakfast slowly, enjoying it. After it was done, Nick and Cynthia cleared away the dishes, both Anna and Daniel tried to help but they were told not to worry about it, after everything was clean, they sat down again, Nick poured himself another coffee, Cynthia continued to nurse the one she had. “Right. What’s the plan? Because, no offence, you can’t stay here forever.” “I was thinking we could try to find the main office, once we track that down we can cut through all the bureaucratic bullshit and get everything fixed.” “Yes, but you have to find it first. I think I know someone who might know where it is, but he’s been off the grid for a while. He stopped getting jobs because he ignored them. He shouldn’t be too far from here” “Ok, so how do we approach this guy?” “Well, he’s pretty far gone, but you should be able to get him to tell you something.” “Far gone how?” “Well, he’s homeless and slightly crazy…Ok, very crazy, but still, he has his moments. I bring him food every now and then, sometimes I find him, sometimes I don’t.” “When’s the last time you saw him?” “About six months ago.” “Great. He could be anywhere.” “He hasn’t left the city in ten years, why would he go now?” “How should I know? Dudes crazy, you said so yourself.” “Yes, but I also said he’s lucid at times.” “What good is that? We can’t just sit around waiting for him to reign in the crazy parade” “Look, if you don’t want my help just say so, otherwise go fuck yourself.” Nick stood up from the table, and, taking his coffee, stormed out of the room. Somewhere in the house a door slammed. “Smooth Cynthia.” “It’s not my fault he’s rude.” “Look. I don’t know what your history with him is, I don’t really care too much to be honest. I just want this to be over with. Go apologise or something. He’s really helped, even if his friend doesn’t pan out, he still gave us a place to stay for the night.” “You’re right. I was an ass. But you can understand my frustration. That guy might not even be here, he could be dead, retired or fired or anything at all.” “It’s more than we had to go on before.” “but not much, it‘s not really that helpful” “what do you mean ‘not that helpful’, of course it is” “I was just saying that-”  “Could everyone stop arguing for five seconds? Seriously. It’s worse than five year olds.” Both of them looked at Anna, slightly ashamed of themselves. “Who the hell cares if the guy isn’t there, we’ll be no worse off than we are now. If he’s not there we’ll worry about it then. Ok? Until then, shut the hell up about it. I know everyone’s freaked, but it isn’t helping.” Cynthia stood up, “I’m going to find Nick and apologise. I suppose we still need his help” “Good.” Daniel looked at Anna, “You’re right, sorry. We all got a little carried away there.” “It’s not only you two who have to deal with this you know. I know you guys make most of the decisions but sometimes you need a little perspective. I’m freaked out too, but I’m happy to take any chance that’s given to me. Otherwise we’ll just end up dead.”

Cynthia stood outside the door, wondering how to go in, she had heard him banging around inside the room, after a few seconds of hesitation, she knocked softly. The noise stopped. “Yes?” she opened the door and stepped in, closing it behind her. She was surprised to find herself in a small library, she had never known that Nick enjoyed reading books to such an extent. The library though small was well furnished, shelves covered the walls while strategically placed lights above highlighted the titles, three chairs were spaced around the room for maximum light for both during the day and at night when lights are used. The shelves themselves were a dark brown,  almost black. “I wanted to apologise.” Nick laughed, “So, she deigns to offer up an apology.” “Look, I was wrong. it’s a start and its better than nothing.” “Apology accepted.” He turned away from her and back towards the shelves. “Are you just saying that so I’ll go away?” “Maybe.” “Look, I don’t remember what happened between us ok? I got rid of those memories. I have vague notions of what might have happened but nothing concrete. I know it doesn’t really mean much, but I am sorry and I’m sorry for what ever happened between us.” “Its easy to apologise when you don’t know what you’re sorry about. I’m not surprised, getting rid of the bad memories. Do you ever keep them? Do you ever think that maybe there’s something to be learned from your mistakes? I remember every person I didn’t save, every single one. I never get rid of those moments.” “I didn’t just get rid of the bad stuff, I got rid of the good too, everything’s gone. I remember what I have to and nothing more. I’m not the kind of person that can remember people dying in front of me and be able to carry on ok? I know what it’s like to lose someone, you know that. Keeping our relationship isn’t just about remembering past mistakes. Its something else. It’s cruel, it’s masochistic.” “Oh, big word for you there.” “Seriously?” he turned back, smiling slightly. “You’re right, I’m starting to sound like you.” “Haha. I’m sure.” “I kept everything because the good stuff is better with the bad. It makes all the good stuff better. We were together for almost fifteen years, I think we still hold the record for longest couple, but it was fun, at least most of it was. I don’t know. Maybe we both just needed someone for a while and that was all. I still enjoyed it, you did too.” “Has there been anyone else? Since?” “Yeah. A few, but it’s hard. Most of them end up thinking I’m cheating on them or something because of all the disappearances during the day and night. Can’t exactly tell them what I do though, can I.” “I really am sorry, and you can be mad at me all you want, I’ll even let you stab me or something, just don’t take it out on Anna and Daniel, whatever about me needing your help, they need it too, more so, worst that happens to me, I lose two people, but it’s their lives, they’ll die if I fuck up.” “Just give me a few minutes ok?” “We’ll be in the kitchen when you’re ready. Take your time.” Cynthia opened the door and left, closing it quietly behind her. Nick put down the book he was holding. Christ. She always did this. It wasn’t the first time she brought him trouble and acted all surprised when it didn’t work out or blew up in her face. Still. This time wasn’t her fault at least. She seemed different. Maybe she changed, god knew people like them could change at the drop of a hat. He took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Just this one thing then he’d be done with her. He missed the good times, of course he did, but he knew he didn’t want to go through all that again.

While they waited, they talked about what they were going to do when it was all over, or rather, Daniel talked about what he would do. “Go home first, obviously. Then maybe go on a vacation with the kids. I miss everyone but I don’t want to call, in case they try to track me down or something. I’d be worried they would get hurt. I’m happy that Christina knows I’m not cheating on her or anything and I didn’t leave for selfish reasons. Though I don’t know how I can explain this to her. I’ll figure something out though. Worse comes to worst, I can claim I hit my head or something and she’ll think it was all some crazy hallucination.    What about you guys?” “Well, I’m probably just going to go back to work. I might get a few days off, probably not. I don’t know.” “I don’t really know either. I mean, there’s nothing for me to go back to, I don’t want to be a foster kid or anything. What I went through was bad and all, but the foster kids always seemed to have it worse. Plus there was the bullying in school and everything.” Cynthia took Anna’s hand, “You can stay with me. I’ll try to convince them to give me less work and I’ll hold down a job, we’ll get a place. You can keep going to school and everything. I know I’m not a guardian but the universe owes you. I’ll work something out.” “Thanks.” Anna didn’t really believe that would happen, but it was still a nice enough thought. Nick walked into the kitchen, and looked at Daniel, then Anna, “I’m sorry, to both of you. I acted poorly. It wont happen again.” Both mumbled acceptances, neither sure why he was apologising to them, “Ok, so this guy hangs out at a park nearby, I’ll go with you, he trusts me and he’ll know your ok. We’ll find out if he knows anything. If he does we’ll figure it out from there, if not, we’ll come up with something else.
The day was cold though sunny, despite the cold, Nick insisted on walking. On the way, he stopped into a shop and bought some food. The park itself was large and sprawling, trees planted in seemingly no real order and left to grow themselves, without interference. There were a few flowers, but they appeared as though they had grown naturally. There was a playground, full of colourful equipment and shouting kids, there despite the cold. Tired parents sat on the benches with warm drinks, shivering slightly and talking to one another, trying to distract themselves from the chill that tried to steal their warmth. Nick led them past the playground and deeper into the park. Each expecting they would stumble across a homeless commune any second. After walking for about twenty minutes and leaving the noise of screaming kids behind, Nick finally stopped at an empty bench. He looked around, then started walking again. Finally, they found who they were looking for. “Hey Harry.” “Oh. You. Hello.” He squinted at the others. “And you too I suppose.” “I brought you some food.” “Thanks. I don’t need it though.” “When did you last eat?” “I don’t know. Tuesday?” “you need to eat, c’mon.” “Fine.” He took the bag off nick and set it beside himself, not looking through it. He was wearing slightly tattered clothes and though he looked scruffy, he didn’t look homeless. He had a few days growth on his face, but nothing close to a beard. He wore a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, his runners were old and tattered, covered in muck. Harry looked at the four of them. “So? Are you going to go now?” “We wanted your help actually.” “Don’t lie. No one wants my help. I never help.” “Well, you can now.” “Why should I? What have you ever done for me?” “I bring you food, clothes.” “When?” Nick gestured towards the bag, Harry glanced into it. “I bought this.” “We brought it to you.” “No, no, I bought this, just now.” “Ok. Fine, but we still need you to help.” “Why should I?” Cynthia turned to Nick, “This isn’t working.” “Just give me a second” He turned back towards Harry, “I’m after doing something stupid” Harry look at him suspiciously, “What?” “Well, I wanted to quit, but I want to tell them, and I lost the address of the head office. I was hoping you might know it.” “You’re really going to quit? For reals?” “Yeah, I am.” his faced brightened, “You can come live here with me, it’s great man, all the fresh air” “Yeah, definitely.” “Ok, I’ll tell you, but you gotta lean close” he cast a distrustful eye over the others, “I don’t trust them, they look like wailers.” Nick squatted down, leaning forward Harry whispered something in his ear as Nick was standing again, Harry smiled, “Tell those bastards off for me too ok? They deserve it. Bunch of useless fucks.” “Thanks Harry, I really appreciate it.” Harry looked away and started going through the bag. The four of them walked away, “What the hell is a wailer?” “I haven’t a clue. I just went with it.” Anna glanced back at Harry, he was eating a sandwich, the filling falling out and onto his t-shirt. “I feel kinda bad for lying to him.” “Don’t, he won’t remember this in a few hours.” “So where is the main office? Not too far from here, it’s in the city centre. I didn’t think there was more than one office in a city, if a city even got one.” “Maybe that’s what it’s here, throw people off.” “Maybe. Still, we know where you’ve to go now.” They walked back to the house slowly, enjoying the walk, each feeling better about their prospects. On the way they stopped into a shop and bought ice cream, though it was cold, they ate it on the way back to Nicks house, while talking and laughing.

He’d driven for hours, knowing where they were but needing to get there, to make sure. He’d driven through the day, it had taken him longer than it should have, he’d missed the turn off the first time, but he got there in the end. He’d gone through the city, which was a pain in the ass, he knew the direction but not the way to drive through the streets, all the one ways and no turns stalled the journey, but he’d made it. He found himself in a cul de sac, full of snooty, high class houses, fuckers probably had money coming out the ears. The one at the end was where they were, he knew it. It didn’t look any different from the others, all stuck up and full of itself, but they were definitely in there. He waited though. It wasn’t their house and he didn’t know how many people were in there. If it was just the three of them, he wouldn’t be too worried, but he might run into a little trouble if it was more. He sat in the car, waiting and watching, but eventually he had to move because some nosy bitch was peering out at him, no doubt getting ready to ring the police because she couldn’t mind her own fucking business. He started the car and drove out of the cul de sac, waving cheerfully at the nosy bitch with a big shit eating grin plastered across his face.

He found a street nearby he could park in, the houses looked faded and worn, people here could probably mind their own business. He wondered what he should do, he couldn’t go charging in and he didn’t want to be seen. He sat for a while, thinking out his plan of action. He didn’t want to be seen, but he’d need to risk it. He got out of the car as soon as it started getting dark and went for a walk. Walking down around the cul de sac twice. On the second circuit he saw a man coming out of the house and getting into a car. He walked back to his own car, intent on following the man, then figured that the man was already long gone. He walked back to the house and trying to look like he belonged, he walked up the drive way and stepped around the side of the house, once out of view, he crouched down and waited.

He didn’t have to wait long, the man came back about twenty minutes later with a bag of food. After he went in the house, Daniel moved around to the back, there was no side gate. He moved close to the windows, relieved to see the blinds were down, carefully, he moved toward a crack in the blinds and looked in. There were four of them, that was all. Everyone would be eating dinner so he was sure it was just them. There was that little bitch Anna, the cunt that was helping her and the cunts fuck buddy. This new fucker was probably one of their shithead friends. Still, there were only four of them. It was perfect. After a few seconds, he moved away from the door and returned to his car. He wanted to break in during the night and attack, but the shithead probably had alarms. He’d need to figure something else out.

He passed the night dozing in his car, it was more uncomfortable than he thought it would be and he ended up having to move around a lot. He slept well enough, even when it was getting bright. Once he was fully awake, he walked around until he found a shop, he had skipped dinner and now he was starving. After getting a large breakfast roll for himself he went back to the car and ate it. Once he was finished, he quickly stripped out of his old clothes and put on new ones. It wouldn’t do for the nosy bitch to see him lurking around again. Once he finalised his plan, he was getting ready to move, but something told him to wait. He looked around, trying to see if there was anything unusual. After a few seconds he saw them, walking around the corner, he ducked down, despite knowing the glare of the sun on his windshield would prevent them from seeing in. they looked slightly tired, but they had jackets, so he knew they would be gone for a while. After they passed from view he got out of the car and hurried to the house. He knew it was a long shot, but he went up to the door and tried the handle. It turned freely under his grip, he grinned. The stupid fuckers forgot to lock it. He let himself in and had a quick look around the house, listening for anyone else in or their return. After scouting the place, he decided the best place to hide would be the shitheads faggy library. They wouldn’t go in there, the books were probably just for show anyway. He gripped the knife he took from the kitchen and waited. He could take out the shit head first, then the cunt. The fuckbuddy looked weak, probably wouldn’t put up much of a fight. He had checked and the backdoor was locked so the little bitch wouldn’t be able to escape that way. He’d get her this time. He’d get them all.

Part 16