Ropes in the Attic

by Edward Flora

  TWENTY-THREE

  Peter intended to keep his promise to Dani. He would involve her more…besides, it couldn’t hurt to have an additional set of eyes on his writing. He had a very productive day.

  Four new chapters completed. We’re on track to finish sooner than expected.

  Proud of his day’s work, he picked up the phone buzzing next to his laptop. It was Dani:

  “Hey Peter, I’m stopping for some groceries before coming home tonight.” Dani gave Peter a call to warn him about one last detail, “Michael and Olivia are coming over for dinner tonight. Can you get started fixing the house before I get there?”

  Reluctantly, Peter agreed to help. Although he felt like they haven’t quite settled in enough to have dinner guests over, especially when that included Michael. Olivia and Johnathan, on the other hand, were infinitely more pleasant. Dani sometimes felt that Olivia was her sister and not the in-law.

  As soon as Peter saw Dani’s car pulling into the driveway, he ran out to help her bring in the bags of groceries.

  “Thanks babe.” She felt it deep in her bones that Peter didn’t want guests. Despite that, he was trying his best to be a decent co-host. He gripped the bags in one hand while he held the door open for Dani with the other.

  They set the bags down in the kitchen and she immediately got to work. She wanted to make sure everything was perfect for when the family finally arrived.

  “Peter, of all days, did you have to bring that monstrosity into the living room today?” she asked without missing a beat.

  “Monstrosity?” Peter muttered a bit confused.

  “The typewriter, dear. I thought we agreed to keep it in the attic,” she said, her patience quickly depleting.

  Peter peered around the corner from the kitchen into the living room where Dani frantically fluffed pillows and folded a plaid throw blanket over the couch’s back. All seemingly in a single motion. Her acute attention to detail frightened him at times, but he loved her ability to take charge.

  The typewriter rested on the table right where it had been when they moved in.

  “I didn’t put that there,” Peter said.

  “Stop playing games, honey. Please, just bring it back upstairs before they get here. I need to get dinner started.” The snap in her voice indicated that the last thread of Dani’s patience had disappeared.

  With the few bags she’d picked up from the grocery store, Dani planned on doing her best to impress the family. It had only been two weeks in the new house and it was a fair assumption Michael would be skeptical on their progress so far.

  Hopefully the few prime-rib, a bunch of fresh asparagus, mashed potatoes and a bottle of red wine would sway the impending visitor’s opinion to the positive. Of course, a few chicken fingers and fries for their nephew.

  Peter scooped up the typewriter from the table revealing the ugly stain on the wood surface. He let out a sigh.

  “Maybe we should cover that up with a tablecloth or something. I hate that thing.” The stain stared back at Peter, mocking him.

  “We definitely need to get rid of that table,” Dani responded from the kitchen. “It looks horrible and takes up too much space. See if you can get that thing upstairs, okay? I need help washing the asparagus so I can get them into the oven. I’ll grab a tablecloth from the closet.”

  “Okay, yeah,” Peter agreed. Despite feeling like the table should stay, he didn’t put up much of a fight. There was a time and place for that. Instead, he just thought how the typewriter could have reappeared in the living room. He was more puzzled than anything. Surely, there was a point in which he brought it down from the attic. Was it today?

  Don’t you remember?

  It had to be. Dani would have noticed it earlier if it was there, but he could not recall going up to the attic and hauling the thing back downstairs.

  Peter mentally backtracked his day as he lugged the so-called monstrosity up the stairs into the attic. He woke up with Dani in the morning and went for his run. When he came back he showered and went through his usual writing session.

  It isn’t a monstrosity. It’s kind of neat. Charming even. It should absolutely stay.

  Peter shook his head. At no point during the day was he even in the attic.

  He placed the typewriter back in its place. Turning to leave, Peter caught the key still sticking out of the chest. He was up here today…lured in by the chest itself. He stood in front of it, mesmerized, yet still unable to open it. He remained there trying to find an actual reason for all of this. It was simple, just open the chest. However, an energy filled the room. But the same energy that pulled him up into the attic also prevented him from getting any closer to the chest.

  I wonder if the key opens it…

  A sharp pain rang in his temple causing him to cringe.

  “Peter, you okay up there?” Dani called from downstairs.

  “I’m coming, honey!” he answered, glaring down at the chest. It demanded his attention, but there were other matters to attend to. This would have to wait until later.

  Peter joined Dani again in the kitchen, grabbing an empty grocery bag. “Where’s the asparagus?”

  “I took care of the asparagus,” Dani cut in. “Can you quarter the potatoes and get them into the oven? We’re going to roast them with salt, pepper and rosemary. I already washed them. They’re in a bowl in the sink.”

  Peter fished the potatoes out of the sink and one by one placed them onto a cutting board. He grabbed a chef’s knife to begin chopping. The knife sliced through the first potato and hit the board in sync with the doorbell ringing.

  “Shit, they’re early.”

  Dani ran to the door, letting in Michael and Olivia. Johnathan ran in past them.

  Peter remained in the kitchen quartering the remaining potatoes. While there was quite a lot happening up in his head, he intended not to complicate the dinner party by bringing up his current worries. He brought the knife up and down, through each potato. Every time the knife slapped the cutting board, the sound rang in Peter’s ears.

  Fwooomppp.

  Just like the typewriter,

  Fwooomppp.

  His eyes stared out into space as he just went through the motions. Getting lost in every Fwooomppp as the sound got louder and rang out longer each time.

  Dani greeted her brother and sister-in-law at the door while Peter chopped away in the kitchen. How the typewriter found its way from the attic to the living room was a bad topic to touch upon over dinner. The mission tonight was to convince Michael and Olivia everything was going smoothly. Only now had he just recalled the fact that he spent a majority of his day standing in the attic; staring at the chest. Too afraid to open it, too spellbound to walk away.

  However, he was staring again. Straight ahead at the doorway while Dani let their guests in. They approached the kitchen as he chopped away, getting lost in the sound of the typewriter…or the knife. He couldn’t tell the difference anymore.

  “Hey Peter.” Michael’s muffled voice pushed through the noise, just audible enough for Peter to hear.

  “Focus on the moment,” he told himself. It was his goal for the night to be nowhere but in this room with his family. It was a challenge, but if he focused on only that, he would be fine.

  “Michael, good to see you.” He nodded at his brother-in-law in between potato slices.

  Fwooomppp.

  “Everything alright? You seem nervous.”

  Fwooomppp.

  “Uncle Peter!”

  “Shit!” Peter quickly juked his foot out of the path of the falling knife. The metal blade hit the kitchen floor with one final Fwooomppp.

  “Hey kiddo, be careful, okay?” He ruffled Johnathan’s hair. “Why don’t you wait with Aunt Dani while your dad and I finish in here, buddy?”

  At the dinner table, they discussed life, how they’ve been adjusting and the like. Dani drove most of the conversation. Peter was mostly quiet with the exception of a few sporadic nods to show he agreed wi
th whatever Dani was talking about. Olivia barely touched her plate while she listened intently to Dani’s stories and a massive smile remained plastered on her face.

  Peter shuffled beside Michael. As much as Michael’s strong personality clashed with a lot of people, Olivia was the opposite. Dani liked her very much and always approved of her, even when Michael had just started dating Olivia. Dani always said how lucky Michael was that Olivia came into his life and put up with his stubborn ways.

  “If there was a such thing as a better half, she is it for you,” Dani said to Michael.

  Everyone laughed at the obvious truth. Johnathan giggled at his parents.

  “So I heard you’ve got more work in our town?” Dani asked.

  “Yes, it all depends who I sign with, but for the next month I’m working on a house not too far from here. I’ll be in and around town for deliveries once a week,” Michael said.

  “That’s a long drive, must be so stressful.”

  “Work is work,” he said bluntly.

  “Johnathan, why don’t you tell Aunt Dani and Uncle Peter about school?” Olivia drove the conversation towards the more cheerful of the two.

  He just shrugged timidly sitting behind his half-eaten plate of chicken fingers.

  “He’s been so shy talking about school lately,” Olivia said. “What about you two? I want to hear about your new job. How’s the school?”

  “The school’s quite nice,” Dani began. “They have a good system in place and the other faculty have been very supportive of me joining their team. The curriculum is quite liberal, too. I have nearly free reign in choosing the books and lessons for my students.” She looked over in Peter’s direction. “Peter has been working hard too. He puts in more hours a day than I do. I’m really proud of him. He runs every morning which is more I can say about how much I exercise. He’s also just about finished with his book.”

  Peter met Dani’s eyes and his stomach fluttered. It felt good to know she was in his corner even when in front of relatives.

  “That’s such exciting news about your book,” Olivia said. “It’s happening a lot faster than you expected.”

  “What happens after it’s done though? Will it ever be published? Or will you just keep making changes, never actually getting anything done?” Michael said. The comment didn’t come without a glare from Olivia. She had warned him ahead of time not to go there.

  Dani noticed the empty chair behind the remains of chicken. “Where’s”—

  “I mean, are you ever going to go back to work?” Michael continued with a mouth full.

  Peter focused on his glass and didn’t say a word. While the rest had wine glasses, Peter stuck with water.

  Well aware of the looks he was getting from the other three dinner occupants, Michael continued, “I mean, come on. I think you guys should be a little realistic. It’s okay to have hobbies. That’s fine and all, but hobbies don’t pay the bills.” He took an enormous bite of steak.

  “What about”— Dani restlessly said.

  “The book’s done,” Peter replied, still glaring over his glass of water. He got up from the dinner table and walked off.

  “Why?” Olivia began in an annoyed tone, dropping the utensils. “Why can’t we just come here and have a nice family dinner without you starting in?”

  Dani sat there uncomfortably as failure slowly sank in. Michael and Olivia went back and forth as Dani slouched in her chair in embarrassment. This dinner was supposed to be their chance to show everyone they were in good spirits. Having their family over to rekindle the relationships that had been on ice for a long time. Yet, once again things began to unravel and Dani couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

  Peter returned to the dining room, a stack of papers in hand.

  “I’ve gotten more done than you think.” He dropped the stack into the center of the table. “I know somebody who’s going to help me get this thing published. As much as you think I don’t have my shit together or I’m just winging it here…I know what the hell I’m doing.”

  “Johnathan?” Olivia cried out.

  Everyone’s attention turned to the doorway where Johnathan stood staring out into space. His little eyes were bloodshot and his hair a disheveled mess. The fabric of his pants and shirt were pulled at and torn. In his hands was the once missing Iron Man toy.

  “Oh my God!” Olivia ran towards her son with Michael trailing close behind.

  “Johnathan, what happened?” Her voice pitched high and her hands flustered all around her son.

  “I found Iron Man, mommy,” he said as if unaware of his current state.

  “Where were you?” Dani asked, trying to be the voice of reason in this situation, although not much reason could be made out of it. She looked back at the table where Peter stood watching the scene unfold.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Week three

  The alarm’s ringing signaled a new week for Peter and Dani. Exhaustion tugged at them both but Dani was up shortly after the alarm’s first series of beeps. She was ready to go.

  Peter, on the other hand, dragged his feet a little. The initial energy he had during the first two weeks had visibly dwindled. That energy now belonged to Dani.

  “I’m about to jump in the shower, honey,” she said, motioning to Peter that he needed to get a move on as well. He swung his feet to the bedroom floor and just sat on the bed for a moment. “I’ll meet you downstairs.” Dani wrapped her arms around Peter from behind and nuzzled her face into his back before proceeding to the bathroom.

  Peter nodded but despite his best efforts, a good chunk of his motivation had taken a hit.

  The shower creaked to life, followed by water raining down from the nozzle. If he stalled any longer he risked causing Dani to be late for work. Or even worse, she’d have to rush to work without breakfast. This was his signal to move.

  Dani noticed much of the playful, flirtatious banter from the first week had begun to fade. She was slightly disappointed, but beyond that she felt deep down what was happening. She was afraid. Someone needed to be the strong one and she decided it had to be her.

  Peter walked Dani to her SUV, keeping consistent with their morning tradition.

  “Have a good run today,” she said as they kissed goodbye. “Maybe visit your friend at the bookstore…or give Jeremy a call. It’s okay to break routine once in a while. Don’t be hard on yourself.”

  “Thanks, babe.” Peter closed the car door. The SUV slowly pulled out of the driveway as Peter tapped the rear as a reassuring gesture that everything was alright.

  On the surface, Dani voiced endless support. She assured Peter they were in this together; that things would work out. And, of course, they were in it together, but in her gut, she was terrified. She was afraid Peter was on the verge of another spiral, that he may hurt himself. Maybe even hurt her.

  Dani’s SUV left the driveway, disappearing from sight. She turned onto the road leading to the highway, Brooklyn bound, instead of across Piermont to the school.

  He would never do anything to hurt me, she thought, gripping the steering wheel tightly. Her gaze pierced through the windshield. That wasn’t Peter. Except, was this the Peter she knew? The Peter she fell in love with?

  No.

  It wasn’t. That didn’t mean he wasn’t in there…somewhere.

  Taking a sick day from work which Peter hadn’t known about, she turned onto the parkway. She drove back to their old neighborhood to speak to someone she was only vaguely familiar with. Someone she believed would be able to help Peter with whatever he was going through.

  #

  Peter’s watch kept track of his pace as it had done for the past few weeks. The number displayed on its little screen flashed a heartrate of 155 beats per minute. An average number for him. It also showed he was on pace for exactly nine minutes per mile, another number to be proud of after the run.

  He took in the stunning views Piermont had to offer, the trees zipping by him as he effortlessly darted over th
e trail.

  As he ran something bright blue caught his attention from among the trees. There she was again. Still wearing that same outfit, as if she knew he would be here at this exact moment. The girl from the lake. Her back faced Peter as she walked into the woods, vanishing from sight from the running trail.

  Peter stopped dead in his tracks.

  “Hey! You!” he barked.

  Just like that, his moment was gone.

  Peter groaned as he already knew how this would go. He had no choice but to go into the woods after her. As a responsible adult, he couldn’t let a child wander off into the woods like that. Here we go again. “Where are you parents?” he called out as he left the main road and stepped into the tree line.