The Adventures of Bob Smith

Waiting for a Conclusion

--Alex--

We arrived back at my place without incident.  I didn't want to, but Bob was pretty insistent.  I had seriously been having the worst luck lately.

"I'm sure you must be overreacting."

"You could have been trapped in either of two different aliens' possession.  Trust me.  I know what I'm doing."

Isn't this the most romantic talk for a gentleman to be saying to his lady friend while he escorts her to the door?

"What's that supposed to mean?"

He was getting preachy again.  Actually, it was kind of informative, because the stuff he was talking about happened while I was either imprisoned in a tiny little cage or tied to a table.

"Both the aliens who captured you came looking for me afterward.  The first one didn't even tell me it had you.  I had to figure it out.  You would do well to trust my conclusions."

"Wait a sec.  You mean that thing kept me locked up for a week and didn't even tell you?"

"That's right."  He paused.  I just stood there a moment stewing in my outrage.  Some hostage I was, not even worth mentioning.  "You should get inside and lock the doors."

Bob seemed agitated, like he had somewhere to hurry off to.

"Can you at least see me inside?"

"Yeah, I should make sure it isn't inside waiting for you."

I gave him a quizzical look.  "Don't you think you're being a bit paranoid?"

"If I ever see you again, we should have a talk with my upstairs neighbours."

"What did you just say?"  Bob was getting more cryptic by the second.  He had always been evasive from the first moment we'd met, but this was a new record for him. 

"The upstairs neighbours, Doug, Katherine and Timmy..."

"No, before that."

"'If I ever see you again'?"

"Yeah."  I suddenly became very stoic.  "You're serious about this."

"I'm deadly serious."

"Alright.  I won't keep you anymore then."

I fumbled with my keys and opened the door.  Bob quickly entered.  I closed the door behind us, but when I turned back to Bob, he had disappeared.  I felt a lump rise in my throat when I realized I was alone.  I swallowed it down and looked around.  After a few tense moments, I saw a shadow moving around in the living room, coming quickly toward me.

"Bob?"  In spite of my efforts to be calm, my voice sounded stifled and anaemic.

"Yeah, it's me.  Look, in case this all goes wrong, I'm..."  He stumbled with the words.  "I'm glad I met you."

"Me too."  I put my arm around him and kissed him on the cheek.  On his way out the door, I offered him a few parting words.  "Please come back.  I have this hunch you might use this as an excuse to disappear."

"Actually, I hadn't thought of that.  There's been too much else on my mind."

And then he left.  He just walked out the door.  And I was left thinking, he was going to stay until I gave him the idea to leave.

I immediately set the bolt on the door, but I don't know how long it took before I could move from that spot.  The whole house was dark and spooky, and I was too overwhelmed to realize that I was standing right next to a light switch.  Finally, I turned it on and made my way toward the living room.  He'd only been here once or twice, but it seemed like everything reminded me of Bob.  I looked up at the pictures, where I'd found him staring.  When I sat down on the couch, I remembered telling him my whole life's story.

I couldn't turn off the light, couldn't be in the dark, so I left all the lights on and sat on the couch in a daze.  I was bathed in light, but saw nothing.

I don't know how long I was there.  Bob had probably been gone a few hours when the doorbell rang.  I started to snap out of it, then heard the doorbell ring again.  That got me up, and I walked over to the door.

Through the peephole, I didn't see much.  There was a collection of bruises and scars that, put together, only vaguely resembled a face.  In order to get an undistorted view, I would have to open the door, so I did.

Free of the peephole, I could see that it actually was a face, or used to be.  It was difficult to recognize from the features alone, but I did recognize the clothes.

"Bob?  Oh my god, are you alright?"

"No, I'm not alright."  His voice was weak and gravelly.  "I will be, but right now I need to rest."

For some reason, just then I got indignant.  "You're coming to me for help?  What happened to 'You have to stay away.  I'm dangerous.'?"

"It's closer than my place, so I thought I'd stop in and say hi."

"Did you just try to make a joke?"

I don't know if he nodded or became unsteady.  He looked like he might lose his balance and fall over, so I took him under the arms.

"Come in and lie down."

"Thanks."