Imitation of Life

Chapter Ten

"Welcome to Cyclone Bar. What can we offer you this lovely evening?"

"Uhm—" Joshua's gaze shifted to Tracy. She, on the other hand, stared right back at him in ignorance.

Realizing the game Tracy was playing, Joshua turned back to the waiter with confidence.

"A bottle of ginger ale for the lady, and some punch for me."

"Coming right up, sir."

Joshua nodded at the waiter as he walked away, with approval written all over his face.

"Smartly dressed and neat looking," he observed. "Nice."

"The place is not bad either." Tracy added. "The population here seems modest, but optimum. You wouldn't want too many people in here with the limited number of tables. The drinks aren't too expensive, else these people would prefer buying from the convenience store. And the music is quite soothing to the ears, I must say. Quality stuff."

Joshua stared at Tracy in disbelief, before breaking into a wide grin.

"What are you? Some business analyst?" He chuckled.

"What? No." She laughed nervously. "I guess I just know a good business venture when I see one."

"Oh, so you have a keen eye for valuable things then."

"Yes, I do." She stared dreamily at Joshua.

"Stop it." He laughed loudly to hide the blush on his cheek. Just then, the drinks arrived. A single glass of apple punch placed before Joshua, and a bottle of Cynder's ginger ale poured in a glass cup with ice cubes for Tracy.

"To opening new doors." Joshua raised his punch towards Tracy. She smiled and raised her own glass too.

"To opening new doors."

It was their first official date, two weeks after their steamy rendezvous in Joshua's apartment. There had been other meetings of equally intense nature as the first, all ending in the same pattern of mad copulation. This time, however, Joshua wanted things to be a bit formal. Of course, they could've been dining in some fancy restaurant of Chesterfield standards, but then that would have been too formal. At least for Joshua.

But he had the feeling he'd have to go that length some day. And soon too.

Now, he was too busy admiring his new item of interest.

She was back to the ponytail, although her bangs were still in place. She went with a cyan coloured T-shirt this time, under a short brown leather jacket. Covering the length of her legs were blue denim jeans, with cuts at the knees. Her make up was much lighter, a little colour to the cheeks and a little polish to her lashes was enough to make her look ready for the grandest ball. Her big brown eyes lit up with cheerfulness and laughter every time they locked with his. And, probably, with love.

"Where did you say you transferred from again?" Joshua asked a bit too loudly, trying to stay above the music.

"Seattle." Tracy also replied loudly with a smile.

"Oh, wow. I hear that's a nice place to be in the season of spring."

"Yeah," she confirmed. "You've never been?"

"Flew over Seattle once. Never really stepped in before."

Tracy laughed. "Maybe one day I'll take you there."

Joshua smiled. "I'll be looking forward to such a day."

The fast paced rock music playing in the background finally ended. A new tune began, slower and smoother. Jazz classical.

"I saw Mrs. Walters today." She said suddenly as she sipped on her drink one more time.

"Oh," Joshua's response was a little too bland.

"Yep. Ran into her at the supermarket. She seemed quite well."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She asked how I was doing, how my day was going, how my boyfriend was faring . . . You know stuff like that."

"Well, that's ni—"

Joshua paused suddenly, looking at Tracy who sipped her drink leisurely.

"Wait, wait." He said as he sat forward in realization.

"Did you just say ‘boyfriend’?"

"For some reason, that's what she thinks. From the very first day, apparently. And I'm not about to change her view now."

Joshua couldn't help but smile at the woman in front of him. Totally amazing, he mused. So where exactly had she been his whole life?

"I really hoped we'd be able to find her son's murderer," she said a little quietly. "That would have helped with a little closure."

"Believe me, Tracy. I wanted to find the person more than anything else." He covered her hand on the table with his. "But that chapter is closed now. And there's really nothing we can do about it."

Tracy stared at his hand and flipped hers to hold his. He also squeezed gently.

"Then why are you still in possession of that laptop?"

The reaction was immediate. Joshua stopped squeezing and completely withdrew his hand. Tracy folded her arms across her chest.

"You do realize that that's an illegal possession of property, right? That laptop is meant to be with the Walters, they own it now."

"Yes, yes. I know." Joshua sat back and looked at Tracy as well.

"And I will return it the way it was when we found it. But I've got to do something first."

"Something like what?" Tracy demanded.

Joshua sat forward and reached for her hands again. They remained in their position, ever waiting to be held gently.

"Do you trust me?" He asked, gazing deeply into her eyes.

"Trust is a fragile gift to give away, Josh. You know that."

"Yes, I know." He agreed. "But I also know I can earn it if given the chance."

Tracy stared at him for a moment, then sighed.

"I hope you know what you're doing." She warned. "You better not get into trouble."

"Hey, that's the Tracy I remember. Bossy and precise. I was beginning to wonder where you'd gone."

Tracy threw her head back and laughed. Joshua just smiled at how easy it was to make her laugh. He noticed their drinks were gone and the bill was probably on its way. So, weighing the music playing from speakers in the background, Joshua stood and extended his hands to Tracy.

"Shall we?" He simply asked.

The smile on Tracy's face became wider as she stood up and took his hands. Immune

"Let's shall," she said with a laugh.

The music grew louder, as if welcoming the pair to dance.

★

Joshua's eyes flew open. The ceiling in his bedroom was the first thing that came to his view, helping him remember where he was. A strong familiar fragrance assailed his nostrils, causing him to sit up straight.

He smiled at the view besides him, and stretched to adjust the bedcovers. Tracy just turned, still asleep, with a little smile on her face. Joshua gently kissed the smile on her lips, then he sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.

He remembered having a weird dream, where he was back at the bar. He recalled standing alone, the room was completely deserted. No waiters, no waitresses, no customers, no one. Even the tables and stools were gone. He stood at the center of the room, which looked much bigger than it normally would.

Suddenly, without warning, the sound of laughter could be heard. A woman's laughter. It reminded him so much of Tracy's laugh that he spun around, looking for the source of the sound. He soon gazed upon a table, the only one in the room, with three stools, and three people sitting in them. For some reason he couldn't understand, their faces were unclear. Very blurry. Like his vision had suddenly deteriorated. He had wiped his eyes repeatedly, to no avail.

It was the woman's laughter that made him stagger forward, towards the small gathering. More voices joined the laughter, male voices this time. It was loud, clearly filled with genuine happiness. Still, he staggered forward.

Close enough, he began to hear a voice. A faint, ghostly voice, but loud enough to make out the words. Two words, actually.

Right before he awoke, the words rang in his ear, echoing in his insides.

Richard. Johnathan.

Joshua rubbed his forehead repeatedly, thinking about what he'd seen. He knew that bar seemed familiar, even when he hadn't been there before. No, it wasn't how it looked. It was how he'd perceived it, how he'd imagined it. And the blueprint for his imagination came from somewhere, Richard just couldn't place his finger on it.

Tracy's moan brought him back to Earth. He turned to have a look at her. Her ponytail was gone, obviously, after their ‘little’ exercise. Her chocolate tinted hair completely covered her face, spilling to her shoulders as well. He reached out and tucked the hair behind her ear, revealing her peaceful features. The smooth skin on her bare shoulders and neck were uncovered by the sheets, and Joshua could see the butterfly shaped necklace she always wore.

He sighed deeply. She was an unexpected occurrence that he wanted to keep, and he hoped that it wasn't a fling or some sort of phase. By now, some level of intimacy must've been established, although no one had popped any questions yet.

That day would have to wait. Now, he had questions that needed to be answered.

Fifteen minutes later, he sat in the living room, in front of the coffee table, with the laptop flipped open and switched on. He swept through the files, looking for the last one he'd opened. He stopped scrolling and stopped on one.

FD48213–last opened: 23rd August 2021, 11:43am.

Found it.

He clicked on it and scrolled to Chapter Six, the last one in the file.

He read the beginning of the Chapter, brought out a little notepad and a pen, and began to take notes about the bar described in the book.

A bar located at the centre of the town.

Large wooden doors at the entrance.

Yellow, dim interior lighting.

Round, wooden tables with short stools.

Cool jazz music being a constant track.

Economically priced drinks to suit every class of person.

Joshua looked at his note, stroking his chin in contemplation.

The characteristics were set in stone, too familiar to be cast aside. The Cyclone Bar was being described here, no doubt.

But, why? That was the big question. Did John use it as some sort of inspiration for his stories? Or did they have a deeper meaning to their words?

Joshua didn't know why he felt like something else was up, it was just a story written by a talented professional meant to appear real to whoever read it. Nothing else. It wasn't real, and he really needed to stop obsessing with the machine and hand it back to the family, the real owners.

He'd had enough, and nothing was going to—

A small notification suddenly popped up, a tiny rectangle in the middle of the screen.

Joshua leaned forward, peering into the laptop.

"Internal memory is almost full. Click to clear space."

Internal memory? Almost . . . full? Joshua frowned at the computer. What would be large enough to occupy a huge chunk of space in a laptop? The options "Clear space" and "Sort files" appeared underneath the notification.

Joshua hesitated, then he clicked on the option "Sort Files".

The screen went blank for an unusually long time. Joshua began to think he'd crashed the system.

Then, just as he began to think of validatory excuses to give the Walters, the screen popped back to life.

Also, hundreds, if not thousands, of story texts appeared on the screen, popping out uncontrollably from everywhere and nowhere. Each covered the other until the entire screen was in a blanket of uncountable sentences and paragraphs. Storylines.

Joshua looked at the blinking madness in confusion, wondering what was happening.

His eyes reflected the information on the screen as he observed keenly, then his eyes widened as he gradually realized.

These were all hidden texts and accounts of Johnathan Walters.