The elevator cab finally arrived and opened its doors with a soft whoosh and a ding. Jack nearly took a step inside but quickly reeled away gasping. Jessica looked around him into the elevator cab. The mirrored walls were sprayed with red blood.
Then Jack sighed, visibly relaxing, and he calmly stepped into the elevator.
“What are you doing?” Jessica was horrified.
“It’s just spray paint.” Jack touched it and got a bit on his fingers. It was tacky.
Now that he pointed it out, Jessica realized that the red was far too bright to be blood and she also stepped into the elevator. It also smelled very much like paint, which was reassuring. Still, she had to hold a hand over her heart, trying to keep it from bursting out of her chest. Her pumper was getting quite the workout today.
“Some kid on the fourteenth floor decided recently that he wanted to be an artist,” Jack said as he pressed the button for the twentieth floor, his floor. The doors slid closed and the elevator started up with just a slight jerk. “He’s been spraying halls, the gym equipment, even the walls around the pool. No one’s been able to catch him in the act though, so we can’t do anything.”
“Don’t you have cameras in the public places?” Jessica thought a nice place like this should.
“He wears a mask and sprays the cameras.” Jack pointed to a corner of the ceiling. There was a bulge across the corner completely covered in red paint. “I wouldn’t mind so much if he painted something good instead of just these squiggly lines.”
Jack actually smiled. Jessica guessed that being in his home and thinking about a simple problem was making him feel better. She smiled a little as well.
The elevator reached their floor and came to a stop. Once more, the doors slid open and they both stepped out. They walked quickly down the hall to apartment 2004. To Jessica’s confusion, Jack knocked first.
“Andrew? I’m home.” Jack pressed his ear against the door. “I have Jessica with me so if you’re indecent, cover up.”
Jessica smiled again at this. “What? He sits around naked when he’s sick?”
“Sometimes,” Jack grinned and pulled his keys out of his pocket, unlocking the door. This time he held the door for Jessica. Home clearly made him feel comfortable again. Perhaps even normal.
“Hey, Andrew,” Jessica called into the cosy apartment. “I hear you’re not feeling well.”
Jessica took off her pilfered sneakers and placed them on a rubber mat next to the door. Jack put his own shoes next to hers. All the shoes in the apartment were arranged neatly on the mat, but they were all men’s shoes so that when Jessica put her heels down, they stood out like a sore thumb.
“You can just leave your laptop bag by the door if you want.” Jessica didn’t have a coat for Jack to take so he made do with offering a place for her bag.
“Thanks.” Jessica, who nearly forgot about her bag entirely, placed it in the offered spot and followed Jack into the little kitchen.
The kitchen was located in an area that didn’t offer any natural light, but thanks to Andrew’s sense of style and Jack’s strange intelligence about all things, including light, the space was very cheery and bright. It was Jessica’s favourite part of the whole apartment. She liked sitting on the stools next to the little counter-table, even more than on the couch in the living room. And that was a damn good couch.
“Andrew! I’m making you some soup!” Jack shouted as he rooted through a cupboard. “Do you want some, Jessica?”
“Umm…” Jessica’s mind flashed through the day. She realized she was hungry, starving even, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to keep anything down. That poor man in the street…
“I’m making you some,” Jack decided, “and you’re going to eat it.”
Jessica humoured him with a smile. Jack could probably see the stress on her face. “Is Andrew okay?” To think of something else, she poked her head out of the cosy nook and looked down the hall.
“He’s probably just really stuffed up and doesn’t want you to hear.” Jack got out a pot and started filling it with water. “I told you he doesn’t like to show weakness.”
“That bad, huh?” Jessica thought about offering to help cook the soup or make sandwiches, but then remembered that Jack would never allow a guest to do such a thing.
“Yup.” Jack sat on the stool next to her.
“I still think you should probably check on him.” Jessica didn’t like that she hadn’t heard a sound from Andrew yet. He was usually so excited to have guests. Although she had never seen him sick.
“I guess I should.” Jack slid back off the high stool. “Although if he yells at me, it’s your fault.”
“I’ll take all the blame.” Jessica lightly pushed him toward the hall entrance.
When Jack left the kitchen, he wore a slight smile, but at Jessica’s angle, she could see it fall as soon as he left. He also stopped mid-step.
“Andrew?” his tone turned the name into a question.
Jessica got up and stood behind Jack so that she could see what he saw. Andrew was in the hall wearing nothing but an open bathrobe and boxer shorts. Black ones with blue hearts. His chin hung against his bare chest, his dark and shaggy hair hanging down to cover most of his face.
“Hey, Andrew, you wouldn’t believe what happened today.” Jack stepped toward him. His voice had taken on an odd quality.
Jessica reached out to grab his shoulder, but missed. She didn’t know why she tried to stop Jack. Something felt wrong.
Andrew took a heavy step toward them, swaying slightly.
“Andrew? Are you all right?” Jack took another step forward. They were very close now.
Andrew took another small step, and then slid sideways into the wall. Before he could fall to the floor, Jack closed the last of the distance and caught him.
“Andrew?” Jack held him to his chest. Jessica couldn’t see but it looked like Jack was trying to turn him over to see his face. “Come on Andrew, talk to me.”
Over Jack’s shoulder, Jessica watched as Andrew lifted his head. She saw his eyes before Jack did. She should have warned him. She tried, but it came out as a whisper that Jack couldn’t hear. Andrew opened his mouth wide and sank his teeth into the fleshy part of Jack’s neck. Jack didn’t even get a chance to scream before he was dead.
Andrew lifted his head up and looked at Jessica with his cold, dead eyes. Jessica had seen a dead person before; she knew what their eyes looked like. His jaw fell open with a pop and a hunk of Jack’s flesh fell out of it. Red. His mouth was completely red. He began slowly crawling towards her.
Jessica ran for the door. She pulled and pulled at the doorknob but it wouldn’t open. Why wouldn’t it open? He was coming closer. Then she noticed that the lock was engaged. Jack must have locked the door behind them and she hadn’t noticed. She thumbed the catch and pulled. The door opened only a little before being stopped by the chain. He almost had her! Jessica got the chain undone and the door flew open. As she bolted out the door, she felt Andrew’s hand caress her calf.
She ran out of the apartment so fast, she crashed straight into the door on the opposite side of the hall. She fell to the carpet having stunned herself. Andrew continued to crawl after her, making his way out of his home.
4:
Abby
Abby slowed her pace on the spinner as she reached the cool down stage. She grabbed her water bottle and took a quick drink, then replaced it in its holder on the handlebars.
Nearby, an overweight man got off a stepper machine. He was sweating bullets despite the fact he had been on there for only about five minutes. Abby didn’t criticise him though. At least he was trying. This was maybe the fifth time Abby had seen him in the little exercise gym. Last time he had tried using a spinner but didn’t even go a full two minutes.
“Can you turn that off please?” Abby gestured to the TV in the corner.
“Huh?” The man looked around, out of breath. “Oh, you don’t want to watch the concert
?”
Abby shook her head and pointed to the headphones in her ears.
“Oh, okay.” The man hit the power button and shuffled out of the small gym.
Abby was glad he didn’t ask what she was listening to. People had asked her in the past and she wasn’t sure how to answer. She never listened to music, except the inevitable music played during a movie, TV show, or theatre production. Her iPod was completely filled with audio books. She loved to read fiction of all sorts, but while working-out or travelling, she stuck to textbooks. She had a need to expand her knowledge constantly, to learn everything she could. Although she couldn’t always grasp the concepts she learned, she remembered them. She had a fantastic memory for detail. Right now, she was starting a chemistry kick. Previously, it had been Spanish history.
Abby continued to learn as she ended her spin cycle. Once done, she took another large swallow of water before getting off the spinner, and towelling her neck. She looked over at the weights, debating with herself. She had a doctor’s appointment later that day and was deciding whether she should use the weights, or swim, during the time she had left. In the end, she decided to swim.
She walked out of the gym and crossed the hall to the ladies’ change room. It was empty, which was always nice, but even so, she changed into her bathing suit in a convenience stall, just in case someone walked in. Abby wasn’t necessarily ashamed of her body. She worked out a lot and knew she was super fit, but growing up in a house of all boys meant she had no one to talk to about things. No one other than her mother, and that hadn’t turned out well. She had one female friend who had been her best friend for the past two years. She was learning from her how to be comfortable in her own skin, and to understand what was considered a ‘normal’ body. For now though, she still preferred to be safely hidden while completely naked.
Once she changed, she gathered up her things and put them into one of the mini-lockers. She locked the door and clipped the little key onto her bathing suit. She hated swimming with that little key attached to her, but there was no way around it.
After checking the showers quickly, she stepped into them. Once, she had walked in there when a woman was showering naked. It was really awkward for Abby even though the woman didn’t seem to care. She rinsed off the sweat from her cardio workout and then headed for the pool.
The pool area was nice, with a whole wall of glass letting the sun shine in brightly. A couple of mothers sat in chairs, sunbathing, while their kids and kids’ friends played in the pool. Abby knew this particular group; they came swimming here nearly every Saturday during the summer.
“Hi, Abby!” A little boy in the shallow end waved.
“Hey, Bobby.” Abby waved back.
Bobby lived on the floor above her with his mom, two younger brothers and little sister. He was a good kid. Hearing Bobby’s greeting, his mom looked over her shoulder. She also gave a brief wave to Abby, and so did Mrs. Kellermen, the other mother. They then resumed their chat before Abby could even wave back. Mrs. Kellermen had three daughters and lived on the fifth floor with her husband.
“Can you play with us today?” Bobby asked excitedly as Abby slid into the pool.
Abby looked at all the kids in the pool, naming them off in her head. Her sharp memory made her great with names. She didn’t need to know each one of them, but she liked to. She always liked to know who was around her. Bobby was in the shallow end, watching over his little sister, Lucy, while she floated around in a foam chair. A little deeper in the pool were his brothers, Matt and Frank, the twins, playing something with their friend Harris. Mary Kellermen was looking through a pile of pool toys with her friend Cassy off in a corner. Her oldest sister, Claire, the oldest of all the kids here, was practising swimming underwater in the deep end. The last Kellermen girl, Hillary, was with her two friends, Julie and Nancy, huddled in the corner of the pool gossiping about something. Ten kids in total with two mothers. Most people would never have bothered to get to know each one of them, but Abby had.
“Maybe some other time,” Abby told Bobby with a smile, “I have to go to a doctor’s appointment soon and I want to do laps today.”
“Oh, okay,” Bobby shrugged. “I’ll make sure the other kids keep out of your way.”
“Thanks.” Abby was pretty sure Bobby had a crush on her, but it was innocent, so she let it go. Abby liked to think that one day he would notice Claire more. She thought they would make an adorable little pair. Maybe once they became teenagers. On normal days, Abby would usually play with the kids after doing her laps. It was hard work because they would bicker and argue a lot, but sometimes it could be a lot of fun too. She didn’t know how their parents could handle living in these small apartments with so many kids running around. Then again, they came to the pool a lot. The large space of the pool area probably helped, and so did the view seen from twenty-seven stories up. Intimidating but also breath taking. Sometimes the kids would just sit and look out the window. When Abby had first moved in, she had been terrified by the height. Now, though, she was used to it.
Abby started swimming her laps along one side of the pool, trying to keep most of the pool open for the kids. Some of them would talk to her while she swam. They liked telling her about things, about what they’d done during the last week, or stuff they had learned. They liked to tell her because Abby always listened. Claire tried to swim a few laps with her, but had to give up after two, from exhaustion.
“One day I’ll be able to keep up with you,” Claire stated matter-of-factly as Abby turned herself around.
“I look forward to it,” Abby encouraged her.
She ended up cutting her laps short to judge a swimming contest the kids held amongst themselves, and to watch over little Lucy while they did. Afterwards, several of the kids begged her to stay longer but she had to decline. They couldn’t understand why anyone would willingly go to a doctor’s appointment.
Abby climbed out of the pool and headed back into the showers. She rinsed the stink of chlorine off her body and out of her hair, then towelled off. Her hair was slightly shorter than shoulder length and rather thin so it dried fairly quickly. Abby liked that about her hair, even if she wasn’t too keen on its bland sand colour. She then gathered her things out of her chosen locker once more and again changed in the convenience stall. When she checked her watch, she saw that she had a bit of time, so she used her hair dryer to finish the job quickly, running a comb through it to straighten it. Once done, she headed out to the elevators. It always felt chilly when she rode down to her floor after swimming, until she got into her apartment. Inside, she put her exercise gear in a corner and quickly changed into something clean and doctor-appropriate. A light, white T-shirt and comfy grey slacks. The pockets in her slacks weren’t very large, just big enough to take a little bit of cash, her health card, her ID, and the key to her apartment. She left the rest of her keys on a small table. She also left her cell phone sitting on the charger because she didn’t expect any calls. It needed to charge, since she had a long, intimate phone call last night, and had been too tired to return it to its cradle. A silver chain necklace with a cross pendent sat next to the phone. Abby’s belief in God was a fickle one due to her up bringing. Some days she was a true believer, other days she wasn’t. Today was an off day and she left the necklace behind. Once back out in the hall, Abby locked her apartment again and headed back toward the elevators.
As Abby rode the elevator down, she stared at herself in the mirror. She did this every time she rode down to the first floor. She had moved to the city only two years ago when she had gotten a job with a TV show production crew. Her job was to make sure the continuity of things stayed true. Her memory was perfect for it. The city was a challenge however. She still wasn’t used to the tall buildings all around, the sidewalks crowded with people, the streets filled with cars. She read the newspapers and watched the TV reports. She heard about all the muggings and murders, car crashes and hit pedestrians. She understood the ratio of unharmed to ha
rmed people meant it was unlikely it would happen to her, but she still had to psyche herself up to go out there. Especially lately. An increase in attacks had been reported in the news lately. Most of them seemed to be homeless people doing the attacking. There was a homeless man, Eddy, just up the street from Abby’s building. She brought him sandwiches sometimes, or bought him a coffee. He seemed nice, just down on his luck and a bit addle minded.
Abby studied her face in the mirror. She wore no makeup; she never had. Her friend had once described her features as pixie-like but Abby wasn’t sure what she meant by that. She thought she was dull. Her eyes matched her hair colour and she had a small smattering of freckles across her nose, but none of that made her special. Not to herself anyway.
The elevator reached the ground floor and opened its doors. Abby stepped out and noticed Mr. Fargus, the doorman scheduled for that day, wasn’t there. He must be taking a bathroom break. As she was about to exit the building, Mark Green, a teenager from the fourteenth floor, and a friend Abby didn’t recognise, burst in. The door made a nasty cracking sound as they did. It looked unharmed, but Abby made a mental note to tell Mr. Fargus about it.
“Hey!” Abby called out as they brushed past. “Slow down, where’s the fire?”
Mark didn’t respond as he and his friend charged toward the elevators. Abby rolled her eyes as she headed outside. One day that kid was going to learn a hard lesson.
In addition to having a great memory, Abby was also quite perceptive. She always won the game where you would study a room, leave it, and then come back after someone had removed or added something to the room. Walking up the street was kind of like that. It didn’t take too many steps for Abby to notice that all the cars had been emptied. A lot of people were walking, even on the road. Abby thought that maybe an accident had happened, and they had to close the street.
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