Clockwork Romance

by Andy Mandela

  “Nobody lives on the ninth floor. The entire floor is vacant. I mean I go up there every once in a while just to tidy up and keep it from becoming decrepit,” he explains.

  I realize that if I try to convince him, he might have me committed, so I think of an excuse. “Sorry, I must have heard wrong. I was really tired at the time.”

  “Well, to answer your question,” he continues, “I haven’t heard anything about the elevator.”

  “Okay. Thanks anyway,” I say. He nods and continues walking. I turn around, choosing to walk back upstairs, refusing to use the elevator. Part of me wants to walk up to the ninth floor right now and check it out. But at the same time, I don’t want to. I think for now, I’ll just back to my room and see what Karina wants to do.

  I shut the door to my room, but Karina is not on the couch. I figure she might be in my room, so I call out, “Karina, I swear the strangest thing just happened.” I make it to the arch in my room when I see Karina sitting at the edge of my bed wearing a black babydoll that opened up at her navel, exposing her abdomen. It had a floral pattern on the breasts and small pink bows on the straps. She is also wearing what appears to be a black silk thong, the kind you see strippers wear. Now I know what she had in that small bag. Karina looks at me with a wide grin.

  “Hi,” she says, like a temptress.

  “Hi,” I say back, not knowing how else to respond.

  Karina stands up and seductively starts walking towards me, maintaining eye contact the entire time. Her eyes. They’ve never looked so appealing, so seductive, like she could rip out my soul at any moment. She grabs my hands and places them on her waist, making me grip the edges of her thong. Then she makes me move my hands down, forcing me to slide off her thong, her eyes still fixated on mine. Once they fall to her feet, she kicks them aside, and leads me to the bed, where she throws me down and climbs on top of me. We are making love once again.

  At first, everything is perfect. We kiss, she sways back and forth. My hands hold on to her bare waist. She keeps the babydoll on, but the right strap falls off her shoulder. She lifts me up, with me now in a sitting position. She grabs my head and brings me in to the middle of her chest, as I feel the softness of her breasts on my cheek. She puts her fingers underneath my chin and makes me look up. When I do, we kiss again. Then back on the bed I fall.

  Karina sways faster and harder, letting out orgasmic moans as she does it. I notice that this isn’t like her. “Karina?” I say. She ignores me, only swaying harder and harder. The look in her eyes have changed. The look on her face appears more aggressive, with more angst-filled energy. She looks as if she’s holding a grudge against me, but wants to make love at the same time.

  She digs her nails into me and scratches me across the chest. I make a hissing sound, instead of letting out a yell. Still, Karina is going harder and harder. She says no word, with that same fiery look in her eyes. Then her hands go to my throat, as if to strangle me. And that’s when I wake up.

  I lift my head, which feels ice cold. I see Karina sitting on the couch, wearing a towel, brushing her hair, as I can still feel the burning of scratches on my chest.

  Chapter 16

  For a moment, I feel like I am in complete cold sweat. I’m afraid to get up and go over to Karina, just so she can ask me the same thing again. I sit up, only sitting at the edge of my bed, hesitating to stand up, recalling how real my dream felt. I look back at Karina, who is still brushing her hair, unaware that I’ve woken up yet.

  Finally, I get up once my head is clear, and walk into the other, not stretching this time. When Karina notices me, she says, “Bonjour, mon amour,” in a flawless French accent.

  “Hi,” I return, realizing that was the exact same thing I said earlier.

  She returns to English, saying, “Hey, do you want to go see a movie tonight? It is Friday after all.

  “Sure, that sounds great,” I say. I stare at my door for some reason, as if it’s going to come to life. “Say, would you like to go somewhere with me really quick?” I ask. I want to go to the ninth floor. I don’t know if my nightmare happened because I was stressed, or because it was trying to tell me something. But I have the urge to check it out. I feel the need to confirm my suspicion. Maybe it is a normal floor, or maybe it’s not. That’s what I want to find out.

  “Where?” asks Karina.

  “We’re not leaving the building or anything, but I want to go to the ninth floor,” I tell her.

  “The ninth floor? Why?” she asks.

  “I just… I just want to check it out,” I attempt to explain.

  “What, do you think it’s haunted?” she asks.

  “No, I want to go see… something. Will you go with me or not?” I really want her to go with me, that way in case something happens, I won’t be the only one feeling crazy.

  “Yeah, I’ll go,” she agrees, “let me at least get dressed first.” She goes into her bag from earlier and puts on those yellow jeans she bought today, along with a dark gray top that looked like something she’d bought at a thrift store. It had baggy sleeves with the shoulders cut off. Maybe that’s just the fashion.

  I wait by the door while she changes, pondering what could possibly be on the ninth floor. What if it’s just a normal floor? Then there’s nothing to be worried about. But I have to be sure.

  When Karina is fully dressed, we leave. I push the button on the elevator to summon it. As we’re riding up, Karina asks me again, “So why exactly are we going up here again?”

  I don’t even have a logical answer to give anymore, so I tell her, “I’m not even sure myself.”

  The doors open when we’ve reached the ninth floor, then we step out. There’s nothing up here. The paintings are still here, like earlier, but there is no furniture, none. It is dusty everywhere and it doesn’t look like anyone lives up here at all.

  “It didn’t look like this when I was up here earlier. Everything was clean. There were chairs and small desks in the hallway,” I say.

  Karina doesn’t look like she believes me. “What are you talking about?” she asks.

  I continue, “I was on this floor earlier, and now it has all changed. It’s different.”

  “Ok… How did you even know you were on this floor?” she asks, searching for a way to reason things out.

  “A man. An old man came out of that door over there, which must be where he lived.” I begin walking to the door I was pointing to, with Karina following behind me. “And when I asked him what floor we were on, he said the ninth.”

  I reach the door when Karina says, “Alright, so maybe this man was just senile and thought it was the ninth floor. Maybe you were actually back on some other floor.”

  “But I saw the light, the light above the elevator when I got back on. It was on nine,” I argue. I leave out the part where the man mentioned my name. That’ll just make Karina ask more questions for which I don’t have the answers.

  “Listen, Luke. This is starting to weird me out. I don’t really believe in ghosts and haunted houses and stuff. I believe that there is a perfect explanation for all of this.”

  “I wanna know what’s behind this door,” I tell her, knocking on it, as if to expect someone to answer.

  “It doesn’t look like anyone lives in this floor, and I don’t think anyone’s going to answer that door. Just open it,” she says.

  After a moment of waiting, there is no answer, so I comply. I turn the doorknob, which is unlocked, and open the door. I see nothing inside. Karina and I go in and look around.

  “There’s nothing here, she says. There is only blank floors, blank walls, and windows.

  “I saw that man come out of this room,” I argue again, but Karina continues to look at me like I need help. “You don’t believe me, do you? You think I’m making this up.”

  “No, I don’t,” she says, “I’m sure you were on a floor, I’m sure you talked to a man, but I don’t believe it was this floor. This floor is abandoned. Listen, you can stay here if you
want, but I need to go home and run a few errands. Call me later so we can go see a movie. Are you going to stay up here?”

  “Yeah, just a little longer,” I say.

  “Okay,” she says, “I’ll see you later then. I love you.” Just as she’s about to walk out of the door, she turns back around and asks, “Hey, you didn’t lock the door to your room, did you?”

  Damn, I forgot to lock my apartment after we left. “No, I didn’t. But I’ll only be a few more minutes.” She was just about to walk out of the room again, when I asked, “Hey, Karina, by the way, how’s the job search going?”

  “Oh, so far, nothing. I’ve called back and stuff, but so far, nothing’s come up.” She leaves again and calls out, “Bye!” as she walks down the hallway. I yell it back as I hear her getting further away.

  I return my attention to this empty room, which I am for certain somebody walked out of earlier. I walk around, going up to the window. As I’m looking out, I realize I’m pretty high. I have to be on the highest floor. I mean a really high floor, higher than how my building appears on the outside. Am I truly going crazy, or is there really a rational explanation for this.

  As I’m standing here feeling confused, my attention turns to something else. I can hear something. A noise. But it’s coming from another room. It’s very faint and I can’t really make out what it is. I walk back out into the hallway where I can hear the noise a little better, but not clear. The first thought is that it’s probably Karina messing around in another room. “Karina?” I call out, walking closer to the source of the noise. “Is that you?” No answer. Further and further I walk, until I’m at the other end of the hall, where it’s clear that the noise is music. It’s coming from the door at the end of the hall, just like how my room as at the end of the hall. I knock on the door, figuring somebody might be in there. No answer, but there is clearly music playing inside. It’s not very loud, but it sounded that way when I was in the other room. Like it wanted me to come over here.

  I twist the doorknob, which is also unlocked, and push the door open, being cautious of what, or who might be in this apartment. I step inside to hear the music clear as day. It’s old music, like an orchestra, sounding like it could be from the twenties or thirties. A man is singing with a nice suave voice, what sounds like a love song. The apartment looks brand new. All of the furniture is vintage, looking like it could be from the same era as the music, but still they look brand new. I feel like I’ve travelled back in time. The music is coming out of an old, but new looking radio.

  I’ve always loved this kind of style. It reminds me of simpler times. Back when there wasn’t so much technology, when people actually had to go out and meet people. Back when people weren’t so desensitized by culture and society. They were times of prosperity, well, at least the twenties were. I wish this room was mine, and that I could live here. It was nice, but soon the light outside started to go down. It was becoming dark. But it can’t be. It still has to be mid-afternoon. It couldn’t have gotten this dark that fast. Plus, it’s the middle of summer, and the sun doesn’t go down until about nine at night. It feels like it’s midnight in this room, when it was just daylight a few minutes ago. The music is still playing as I turn on the lamp to give the room some light.

  There are no photos of anyone in this room. No indication of who might live here. Then the music stops, before the song is even over. I turn around to look at the radio, thinking something or someone turned it off. But there is no one there, just the radio. I explore the apartment a little more, finding a door that must be someone’s bedroom. But before I go towards it, I see that the light is on inside the room. I see the light escaping through the bottom of the door. Then I see and hear something else. I see the shadows of someone moving around in the room, along with the sound of footsteps.

  At first, I think I’ve just barged in on this floor’s only occupant. But obviously, they haven’t noticed that I’ve been in this room the entire time. Somehow, I’m too frightened to move, that if I do, someone will come out here and scream and holler, thinking I’ve broken in, which I have. I slowly start to step backwards toward the door, keeping my eyes on the light and shadows, and my ears on the footsteps. They just continue on as I get closer to the door.

  Now the shadows have disappeared. The footsteps have stopped. I stand still staring at the line of light underneath the door. The light has disappeared now. Still, I don’t move. I wait in silence for something to happen, fearful that my heart is going to stop. The next thing I hear is a loud smash like someone just struck that door with an axe.

  I see the door vibrate, almost falling out and crashing on the floor. I don’t stand still any longer. I race to the front door and slam it shut as soon as I get my whole body out of that room. I moved so fast, I hit my back on the opposite wall of the hallway. I’m standing, scared to death that the door will reopen. But it doesn’t. And I realize the hallway is lit up, just as it should be in mid-afternoon, despite the rain. I allow my head to come back to me as I comprehend that no one is coming after me. I walk to the elevator, dragging my shoulder against the wall, taking deep breaths.

  Later, when I’m more lucid, I call Karina to tell her I’m coming over, but I don’t tell her what previously happened to me. She says she can’t wait to see me. I take out the box from my dresser and open it. I see the lovely necklace again, beautiful and glistening, just as I remember it. But I need to get a clear head. My mind hasn’t fully recovered from the fact that I could have been killed not too long ago. I try my best to brush it off, and when I feel somewhat better, I take off, this time remembering to lock my apartment.

  It takes me two minutes to reach Karina’s apartment building. I get up to her floor and knock on her door, with the box resting in my back pocket. “Luke? Is that you?” Karina says from the other side of the door.

  “Yes it is,” I say back. She should really ask who it is instead of guessing. Karina opens the door, wearing a maroon silk robe and invites me in.

  “Come in,” she says. Inside, after Karina closes the door, she says, “Before we go, I want to show you something.”

  “Really? What it is?” I ask, thinking whatever it is she wants to show me may be hidden underneath her robe.

  “It’s my surprise I bought for you earlier,” she answers. She walks over to me, slowly and seductively, hands on the knot of the robe. Then she gives me a kiss, one that feels unbelievably familiar. She unties her robe and lets it fall to the floor. She lets go of my lips and takes a step back, so I could admire what she has on. It’s a babydoll. Similar, but not exactly like the one from my dream. This one was black and sheer, but with no floral patterns and it didn’t open up exposing her abdomen. She looks sexy, if not sexier, than how I imagined her earlier. “Do you like it?” she asks.

  “I love it,” I say. “And as a matter of fact, I have something for you, too.”

  She looks eager to know what it is. “Yeah? Is it a present?”

  My hand slowly starts reaching behind me and into my right back pocket. “Yes, it’s a present. But I want you to promise me you won’t overreact, okay?” I tell her.

  “Should it give me a reason to overreact?” she asks with greater anticipation.

  “It might.” I take out the box, enclose it in my hand, and extend my arm to Karina. I flip my hand over to present her with the box. “Here, this is for you.”

  Karina knows that it’s jewelry as soon as she sees the box, but might misunderstand what’s inside. She puts her hands over mouth and gasps, which makes me a tad bit worried.

  “Luke,” she says with a giant exhale. She takes the box from my hand and immediately opens it. I watch her eyes as she does it, hoping to catch her complete reaction. Her eyes light up, like they were being enlightened by the glistening of the gems. “Oh my God, it’s beautiful,” she says, giving me a brief glance before returning her eyes to the necklace. “It’s absolutely gorgeous, Luke. Thank you. She leans in and kisses me once again. “Here, help me put i
t on,” she says, taking the necklace out of the box and handing it to me. She gathers all of her hair and raises it up, turning around with her back to me. I wrap the necklace around her neck and clip it on. She lets her hair down and turns back around, looking down as she admires the pendant resting on her chest.