by Candis Vargo
“Wow, going expensive tonight are we?” Sasha winked at Anthony and gave him a shy, come-and-get-me smile. It was always dollar drafts on Saturday nights at Rocky’s and her leading him on just encouraged more tips for her.
Sasha had long, black hair—with one red streak—pulled back into a ponytail. She wore a black corset laced up the front which enhanced her cleavage and a pair of tight-fitting jeans. She was a woman that knew how to work it to get the best tips, even if it did mean showing off her assets.
Every girl in town knew Anthony Burnet. The women always referred to him as the “man-whore”, the guy who dated a lot and settled down never. All it took was any sign of being interested, even if they didn’t mean it, and he would swoon all over them.
“You know it,” Anthony replied. “My buddy here has a ‘lady friend’.” He used his hands to symbolize quotes as he laughed at his self-perceived wit.
“Anthony,” Mike tried to speak up but was cut short.
“Nah, nah, nah…s'all good.” Anthony had obviously been there the longest as he slurred his words. Since he never had a serious relationship, he spent most of his time at the bars, but he was still a good guy at heart…once you got past the point of thinking of him as an asshole.
“Make that a bottle,” Pat said to Sasha as he placed a fiver on the bar.
“Now that’s treating a fella right.” Sasha smiled. “Where’s your better half tonight?”
“Home with the in-laws. Damn people can’t ever stay at a hotel when they come down,” Pat snickered.
Pat, unlike Antony, got married two years after Mike and Mia. He was going on his fifth anniversary with Elizabeth this fall. He had two kids, both girls. Tiffany was six and Amber was seven and they shared their mother's blonde hair. Pat had always seemed sympathetic with what Mike was going through, knowing if he had ever lost a kid of his own that he’d go crazy.
Mike broke free of Anthony’s grasp and Anthony leaned on the bar, making sexual remarks to Sasha. She had been the bartender there for as long as Mike could remember so she knew all too well how to handle him.
“Yup,” Tommy said, handing Mike the bottle of beer Sasha slid down to him, “they’re still as stupid as ever.”
Mike laughed. “Hell, now I didn’t think that would ever change.”
Tommy joined him in laughter. “Good to have you back, bro.” He tipped his beer and tapped the top of it against Mikes.
“Yeah.” Mike took a sip of his beer. It was the first taste of alcohol he’d had in quite some time and damn it tasted good. The icy freshness slid smoothly down his throat, almost too smoothly. “Good to be back.”
Anthony was a wandering soul most of the night. The guys could hardly keep eyes on him as he chased any woman he saw, whether they were good looking or not. Pat and Tommy took turns buying Mike rounds knowing that he hadn’t been working much lately and couldn’t really afford a lot.
“So,” Mike made an attempt at small talk, “How’s the family, Pat?”
“Ah, not too bad. The girls are getting bigger every day and are starting to act more and more like their mom. I tell ya, they—” Pat cut himself off and his face softened. “Ah, shit man. I’m sorry.”
“No, no. It’s all right. Really. Just make sure you enjoy them. Let them be little and make messes and try not to be too serious with them.” Mike offered Pat a reassuring smile.
“Yeah, I hear ya. I’m still sorry, man. Hey! How about another round?” Pat held his beer up in the air and spun around on the bar stool.
“Sounds wonderful.”
Five beers in, Mike stated that he needed to stop with the beer because his head was already feeling fuzzy.
“I gotta go take a piss.” Mike started walking towards the direction of the bathrooms.
“Aww, breaking the seal already, eh, Mikey?” Tommy teased.
Mike drank the rest of his beer as he walked and set the empty bottle on the end of the bar on his way to the bathroom. Colored lights danced across his face as he made his way past the herd of people dancing to the classic rock music the DJ was playing and down the short hall to the bathrooms.
He struggled to stand still as he swayed from side to side while standing in front of the urinal. Pressure release from his bladder while the stench of vomit and bowel movements lingered in the air, the thickness of it made his stomach turn and he fought off an urge to vomit of his own.
While he tried to remember how to use his muscles to adjust his footing, he heard the familiar sound of aggression, one every predatory animal would use as a warning.
Growling, he thought.
The small fiber-like hairs on the back of his neck rose, all standing straight up. His skin roughened as goose bumps formed by an unmistakable cold chill that flooded through his veins.
He turned his head to the bathroom stalls that lined the wall behind him. It took his eyes a few seconds to focus before he saw it. A figureless form of darkness that hovered above the stall in the far corner. Black and thicker than smoke but yet somehow transparent. The growling sound slowly grew louder.
His palms grew sweaty as his heart thumped harder. He didn’t realize that he was turning his whole body until he felt a warm trickle down his pant leg.
Distracted from the darkness, he turned to realize that he had lost grip on his manhood and had urinated on himself.
Fear stabbed through him when he realized he had taken his eyes off of the dark mass behind him; he snapped his head back around. It was no longer there.
He shook his head, brushing off what he thought he saw.
It was a mixture of the alcohol and stress getting to him. Mia had told him about seeing such a thing and this was his mind's way of telling him that he shouldn’t have gone out. He should be home with her. Our minds can play the biggest tricks on us.
Guilt replaced his fear.
He made his way back to the bar to Tommy and Pat, standing side by side. He gently slapped their backs and told them that he was heading out.
“Aww, so soon?” Tommy asked.
As if on cue, Anthony made his way over and pushed himself between Tommy and Pat. “What? You’re leaving?” Spit flew out of his mouth as he slurred his words.
“Yeah, sorry but I…I gotta go,” Mike replied. “I need to get back home.”
“Oh, I see,” Anthony grinned from ear to ear and spoke loud enough in his drunken state that the whole bar would have been able to hear. “You gotta go get some, right? Yeah, Mikey’s gonna get some,” Anthony started making sexual motions.
Mike ignored him, thankful that the bar was packed enough that it had to be over the limits for the fire code. Everyone was too busy carrying on a conversation of their own to pay any attention to what others were saying.
“Ah, let him be,” Pat said. “I should probably get heading home too, go spend some time with the wife.”
“Ah, you wimps,” Anthony gave Pat a gentle push. “Get out of here then.”
“Later guys.” He thought some more of the wise words Mia had told him several times over the years, words that he didn’t realize how true they were until now. ‘You become the people that you surround yourself with, so only surround yourself with the type of people you want to be like’.
When he walked out the door he heard a female’s voice. “You all right to drive there, cowboy?”
He turned and saw Sasha leaning against the side of the building, smoking a cigarette.
“Yeah, I’m all right.”
“Stay safe,” she blew out a puff of smoke.
Stay safe. Those words echoed in his ears. Those were the last words his son had heard him say.
He forced the thought away. Everyone always said that after times of suffering that people learn from it and become stronger than ever. But they were wrong. He was weaker than ever, although he would never admit to such.
There were times when he was okay with talking about it…with thinking about it. But then there were times when he couldn’t—absolutely couldn’t—
because he was scared he would lose it if he did. He knew that his emotions would get the best of him if he pondered on the thought for too long…that they would take control.
This was one of those times.
Chapter 9
The following afternoon Mike had an unexpected knock at the door. When he answered it he was surprised to find Pat standing there with his family, all dressed in their Sunday best.
Pat raised his hands as if to surrender. “Sorry to just show up on you like this but Lizzy insisted,” Pat pointed to Elizabeth who held a Tupperware dish in her hands.
Elizabeth smiled. “Oh, pay no attention to him. We thought you could use a nice meal and maybe some company.”
“Um, yeah. Sure,” Mike held the door open wide. “Come on in. You know you didn’t have to bring us any food. Mia is out getting groceries right now and we do know how to cook,” he laughed. “Well, she does anyway.”
Elizabeth smiled at her husband as if to say she won. “Oh, it was no bother. It never hurts to have a night without the hassle of cooking.”
Their daughters barged their way into the house. “Tif, Amber! Try not to be so stinking rude, will ya?” Elizabeth scolded. “We’re sorry. We tried to get someone to watch them but with it being Sunday and all, everyone already had plans.”
Pat and Elizabeth finally entered the house and Elizabeth helped herself to the refrigerator to set the Tupperware inside of it.
“I-I’m sorry man,” Pat's expression was pained. “She insisted even though we have the girls. I told her I could just give it to you at work.”
Little footprints pattered through the house, a sound Mike hadn’t heard in a long time. He didn’t realize how much he had missed that sweet sound.
“Seriously, it’s all right,” Mike insisted.
“We won’t stay too long,” Elizabeth said.
Mike glanced down the hallway to see where the girls were and spotted them about to open the door to Eli’s room. “Hey, girls. No, don’t go in there. Not that room, okay?”
“Shit. See Lizzy, I told you it was a bad idea.”
Mike shook his head. “Kids will be kids.”
“Will you shut it,” Elizabeth spat at Pat. “Mike, we really just wanted to let you know that we are here for you. Anything at all that you need, don’t hesitate to ask. I know we haven’t been round in a while but I thought it best to give you some time and all.”
“I understand, and it’s all right.” He did understand. People didn’t know how to act or what to say to someone who lost their child, let alone someone who was having delusions that their child was still alive. A situation like that wouldn’t be easy for anyone.
“Mom, Mom,” little Tiffany came running into the living room. “Amber said there’s a boogeyman in there,” she pointed down the hall.
“Tiffany, there’s no such thing as boogeymen, and Amber, will you stop telling your sister these things.”
“But Mom,” Amber protested, “There is. There were noises that only the boogeyman makes.”
This time Pat scolded, “Amber, knock it off.”
Elizabeth shook her head and looked at Mike. “She’s always making up these darn stories just to scare her little sister. We should probably get these two going,” she looked down at Amber, “Especially you, little miss ‘I can’t behave’.”
“But Mom,” Amber tried again.
“Amber!” Pat was at his wits end with her.
“You don’t have to,” Mike said. “Mia should be home soon anyway.”
“No, no. We’ll get going. Get these two hoodlums home,” Elizabeth held the girls’ heads and steered them in the direction of the door. “Tell Mia we said hello, will you?”
“Sure thing. It was nice seeing you all.”
“You too buddy.” Pat held the door open for his girls. “See you later.”
Amber complained the entire time, insisting she did hear a boogeyman.
When Mia arrived home, she was delighted to hear of Pat and Elizabeth stopping by and especially for bringing some food.
“It’s a good thing they brought this. I made it all the way there just to realize I forgot the bank card. But too bad they couldn’t stay. I would have loved to see them.”
As intelligent as she was, she was one of the most forgetful people that he knew. Mike decided that he would get groceries on the way home from work the next day and they sat down and enjoyed Elizabeth's shepherd’s pie.
Monday morning, when Mike arrived to work he returned the Tupperware to Pat. Mike grew curious about what Amber had said at his house, so be broke down and asked.
“So what’s up with Amber and this boogeyman thing?”
Pat groaned. “It’s this new phase of hers. She’s into reading those old Goosebumps books which sparked her love for torturing her sister. Every chance she gets, she tries to scare the crap out of Tif.”
“What did she have to say about my house? She was pretty persistent when you guys were leaving.”
“Ha. Please don’t tell me you’re buying into a seven-year-old's imagination,” Pat laughed.
“What? No. Of course not,” Mike joined in the laughter. “Kids sure do have one heck of an imagination.”
Though a part of Mike was still curious, he let the subject die off. He was once a child too and knew all too well how he used to try to scare Cammie all the time.
***
The next few days seemed to fly by. Mike attributed it to accepting what he had to do to help Mia instead of dreading it. The days went by without her saying anything else about seeing whatever the thing was in Eli’s room. Maybe it was just a one-time thing by being forced into believing that Eli actually ate his food…something that changed her ‘routine’.
With Mia’s birthday rounding the corner Mike figured he’d plan on a small get together at their place for that upcoming Sunday. He planned on calling a few people after his meeting with Kris so he could try to keep it a surprise for Mia.
Come Thursday night they had dinner a little early and Mike saw an opportunity to get on the Xbox, something he loved doing.
Sitting in the recliner with his Turtle Beach headset on, Mike hoped that killing some zombies on Black Ops would provide a distraction from the darkness that now haunted his mind. He muted his headset—he only turned it on when he felt the need to actually talk to people—and Mia’s singsong voice caught his ear.
“Patty cake, patty cake, baker's man…”
He glanced over at Mia, who sat cross legged on the floor where the kitchen and living room met. She wore a large smile as she clapped her hands together before extending one arm out across her, hand extended upwards, like she was waiting for someone to smack their hand against it.
“Bake me a cake as fast as you can…”
She continued clapping her hands together and extending the opposite hand each time.
“Roll it, pat it, and mark it with an ‘E’…put it in the oven for Eli and me. Yay!”
Mike took a deep breath as he went back to killing zombies. He knew she sat there believing she was playing patty-cake with Eli.
Mia giggled and asked, “You want to do it again?”
Once again she started clapping her hands together and chanting the rhyme. From the corner of his eye he could see when she would extend her hand, waiting for ‘Eli’ to clap his against it.
The sound of palms colliding caused his every muscle to stop, including his heart. She had just clapped her hands together a moment before and this sound of clapping was much different.
Turning his head, he watched her clap her hands together once again, and as she extended her hand out, waiting for an invisible force to clap against it, he heard the clapping again.
As she sat there singing, each time she extended an arm out across from her he could hear the distinctive sound of a hand smacking against hers, even with no one sitting in front of her.
The clapping continued until Mia was finished singing and she sat there laughing.
Great,
he thought.
Maybe he should be added into the list of crazies in his family since for a moment he believed he actually heard someone else’s hands clapping against Mia’s.
Chapter 10
As if everything had become routine, Mike left work Friday night and headed to the coffee shop as planned. He knew Kris would already be seated and waiting for him. This time, he didn’t bother ordering his coffee. He just walked over and sat down across from Kris.
“How’s it going?” she asked.
“As good as it can, I suppose.”
“You don’t seem too thrilled,” she pointed out.
“No,” Mike said with a shrug of his shoulders. “I guess I’m just neutral.”
“How’s Mia been holding up?”
“Okay, I guess. She hasn’t claimed to see anything…other than our boy of course. Wouldn’t this all just be a whole lot easier if she could meet with you, instead of me?”
Kris glanced down at her coffee before meeting Mike’s eyes. “It would, if she would listen.”
“What says she won’t listen to you?”
“If she won’t listen to her own husband, I can almost guarantee you she won’t listen to me. She would wonder why she was meeting me and if I straight up told her, it could possibly cause aggression.”
Mike scratched his head as he leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Anyway, I’m planning a birthday party for her on Sunday. Just a small get together. She hasn’t been out to visit anyone in months and I figured I’d get a few people to show up. Do you think that’s a bad idea?”
“I think it sounds like a wonderful idea,” Kris smiled with enthusiasm. “Who all are you inviting?”
“Well, I thought about my sister. Those two used to get along so well, I don’t know what happened. Maybe they can make nice or whatever. And of course her parents…if they’ll come. Neither of us has talked to them in about three months.” Of course he wasn’t complaining about that.