“Where did I drop my phone?” Arthur clasped his pockets tighten as the morning light sifted through the curtains upon the bed. Chris sits up, yawned, and leaned his back against the white wall.
Arthur moved down. “My phone. Where is it?”
“Where did you put it?” Chris coated his mouth as he yawned once more. “Go check the sitting room.”
Warily, Arthur walked there and glanced about. Picked up pillows on the chairs, walked to the table as something resembled his phone, but was remote. He dropped it, hurried to the fridge, but found nothing. He stood still in the middle of the sitting room. “Did I even come here yesterday?”
He darted back to Chris’s room. “C’mon, give me your car key.”
After a minute, he opened the car, glanced around, but found nothing. He held the door shut, tapping h
Isobel POV Maeve pulled me with a rope she tied around my hands. The birds chirped as we walked under the lawn of trees. And dried leaves swirled like snow, cascading to my hairs, and down to my breasts. Maeve had kidnapped many men. Had killed the disobedient ones. And bewitched the ones would fear her. We left them to clean the mess in each room in the old house. That was filled with human skeletons and animals carcasses. Her servant dug a deep pit amid the trees far from the house. A deep pit to bury those skeletons and carcasses. And when the rotten smell spoiled the air, and make me vomited the rice, she forced me to eat. She looked scared. For she didn’t want me died. Hurrying at me, she said, “I want nothing to happen to you. Let’s go for a walk in the woods.” She then tied my hands with the long rope she asked her
Helen’s phone vibrated, then rang on her bed, and she hurried to pick it up. Out of the kitchen. John’s voice quavered, trembled, and stuttered in her ear. Bewildered, she paused, listening. Silence creeps like the stillness at night. Just for a moment, and she heard her heart throbbing. To the dance of the strange quietness. Her voice breaks through and darted back to her face with the scorching breeze. As she hurried to off the cooker in the kitchen. “Dad... Dad.” John’s voice returned as if he was being chased. A sound of the door shutting was heard, and his voice came. Dropping like a sharp stones into her heart. “They want to kill me.” Stunned. “Where are you?” “At home. Please listen, don’t come here. If they kill me, it’s fine.” His voice was lost as the approaching banging noise on the door.
At 12:00 PM. The third flight hour. An hour Helen thirsted for had finally arrived. And a new goal attracts her attention, to get to China on time. No long after an airplane flew through the blue sky, tangling with white clouds. In the plane, Helen looked out the small window, hoping to see an object. The clouds attract her attention, as they formed different objects. One resembled a mountain. And another resembles a woman breastfeeding her child. As if to stave off catastrophe, a lady walked to her. To tell her to close the window. Looking at the beautiful lady on duty, she closed the glass. “Thank you, madam,” the lady said and walked away Madam? The lady just called me madam, she thought. Did I look like a mother? Maybe yes. She realized the lady address
In Greenland city. Amid the dark street. A car speed up the highway in the rain. And the car stopped at Mr. Galvin’s house. Then a man in black walked out with an umbrella as the thunder strike. And the sky flashed a light in a second like a camera. A name was imprinted on his shirt. Above his pocket. And the name was Sergeant Michael Galvin. Micheal, the son of Galvin, and a smart police officer. He walked in through the gate. And saw her father gazing at him from the window. It has been a long time since they have seen each other. Over twenty-five years. Michael’s phone rang, and he picked it. “Hello, dad,” Micheal said “Michael, are you the one outside?” Mr. Galvin said. “Yes, dad.” &l
Arthur POV Chris drove me to Mr. Eric’s house early in the morning. Mr. Eric’s car was gone. His door had been locked, too. I climbed the fence out back and hurried to Chris’s car. “He’s gone,” I said Chris turned the key in the ignition. “He fears you.” I noticed a car stopped behind us and turned instantly. I tapped Chris. “He’s Eric. Be quick.” Chris turned the car too and drove after the car. But we lost the car as it turned to the right and disappeared like a flash of light. “Shit.” Chris bang his leg “Easy,” I said, “it’s a trap. Tur
Helen and Vivian slept at the Buddhism house that night. The next morning, Vivian took Helen to Los Angeles to visit her family. And they met Vivian’s mother on the bed of sickness. Her mother cried happily for seeing her lost child and had said, “I have no reason to die since God had answers my prayers. Bring me food. Bring me the drug.” Los Angeles had been sweet for Vivian, but the two felt uneasy as they slept there for two days. The uneasy feeling was because John called Helen via phone on the first night. Vivian told her John might have known where they were through tracking. And she told her to ignore it, and that same night, Helen received a text from John. He warned her to come home if she didn’t want to put the life of Vivian’s family in danger. Back then, on the bed, on the second night. Helen received another message from him. She woke Vivia
In Maryland. Arthur opened the window, and a cool breeze dashed his hairs back. Trees waves beyond, throwing leaves on top of houses, bikes, and cars. Silence streets glistened under the sun. One could misunderstand it as a life of people living their lives. When one opens each house, one would understand that there’s no peace in Maryland. Looking beyond, Arthur saw an old man walking to his car with his dog. The old man and the dog reminded him of a day he met himself in a hut. A hut of an old man and his dog called foxy, who saves him after he gets drowned. He tried not to remember the night the old man begged him to flee with his foxy. Now, the breeze darted the words of the old man to him. “If you save foxy, I will be fine.” The deep meaning of the old man’s words was what he wants to know. For he had saved foxy, but the old man ends up dying. Could dying be fine? Perhaps, it might be, since fo
“Come over to my house. Let’s celebrate his death,” Mr. Eric said. “Now?” Chris asked “Yes. I got many gifts to give you,” Mr. Eric said. “Okay. I’m on the way,” Chris said, hung up. Arthur holds Chris’s shoulder. “It’s dangerous to go alone.” “He mustn’t know you haven’t died,” Chris said “I will follow you. But I will stay in the car,” Arthur said. “Must you follow me?” Chris asked. Arthur removed the white clothes from his body. “I must kill him today. H