Cryptic Obscurity

Black

Warning: I skimped on this chapter a bit, and there are a few not nice (kinda vulgar and innappropriate words), sorry :(.

Jeff banged on the wooden door for the third time, his head swiveling around, checking his surroundings yet again. He'd sprinted all the way to the calmer part of the city where his ex, Grace, lived. Whoever was torturing him was above the police as far as he was concerned, he saw nothing else to do but run. So he needed a place where he could get his thoughts together before he fled for good, and Grace was his top candidate.

The door finally swung open and Grace stood before him, a disgruntled expression on her face. She was clad in work out clothes, her long dark brown hair pulled back into a ponytail from her sweaty face. "You know, when I said we could still be friends, I was implying that you'd call before you showed up at my apartment."

He pushed past her, leaving his sense of humor at the door. Grace had a small one bedroom apartment, that was furnished well considering the assistant manager position she held at a department store. She closed the door and crossed her arms, lookng at him expectantly. "What do you want Jeff?"

"I need to use your shower, and your phone."

"Still no cell phone?"

"Ha, get some clothes please." He demanded, Jeff didn't carry a cell phone for fear of his work life mingling with his personal life; but at that moment he'd wished for one more than anything. He could call the police while driving toward the other side of the country in a rental car, kiling two birds with one stone.

He entered the small bathroom and closed the door behind him, sucking in a deep breath and pushing it back out. Jeff turned on the shower and let the water adjust to a searing hot temperature before stripping off his clothes and jumping in. The water turned his skin a blazing red and burned him, though he couldn't feel it. The state his mind was in caused his body to become numb in more ways than one. He cleansed himself of the sweat that had accumulated from his run and state of mind.

In the middle of his shower there was a knock on the bathroom door. "I'm coming in, put your dick away," Grace shouted over the downpour of water from the showerhead.

Lovely sense of humor.

The door creaked open and shut almost immediately. Jeff shut off the water and hopped out of the shower, grabbing the thick towel that hung above the toilet. He quickly dried himself off and dressed in the t-shirt and sweats that Grace had left him, they were his clothes that he'd unconsciously left there on more than one occasion. He was bad with things like that, that's why he knew that he'd have clothes there.

He wiped the fog from the mirror above the sink and took a long gander at his reflection. The person staring back wasnt the one he knew the night before, or even that morning. The irresponsible alcoholic, businessman, coffee drinker. The person he stared at was consumed with fear, and in many ways, racked with anger. His eyes seemed like they were ablaze and his jaw clenched and unclenched relentlessly. And suddenly he no longer felt like running. Suddenly he felt like going back to his condo with a shotgun in one hand and his middle finger flipped on the other. Suddenly, an unknown person threatening his life seemed like the least of his concerns. Suddenly, he noticed a black envelope on the sink. it was quite different from the others, instead of his name the front read one simple three letter word. 'Run.'

His breath hitched in his chest and he backed against the wall, darting his eyes around the bathroom. How had that happened? The envelope wasn't there when he'd gotten out of the shower.

"Grace!" As soon as the name left his lips, a loud and desperate scream sounded from somewhere in the apartment. He threw the door open and ran into the hallway, looking for any sign of Grace, or of life at all. However he was met with nothing.

After searching the apartment in a frenzy Jeff nabbed Grace's cell phone and car keys and ran out of the door.