All We Leave Behind

All We Leave Behind - Chapter Eight

Eight

I had a dream, everything was hazy, my brother and that girl Sarah again. I swear I could taste her kisses. Was I my brother in the dream? I could feel my heart starting to pound with excitement. A loud crash woke me from my dream. I sat up in bed wondering if what I’d heard was in the dream. I only had to wait a moment before I heard the sound of shattered glass crunching against something hard.

Checking the clock it was nearly three in the morning. I paused for a moment before bursting out of the bedroom. I could hear two people giggling, one higher pitched feminine, the other I immediately recognized as Adam’s. Amidst the giggles were shushing noises as they tried to quiet each other down, each shush lead to more laughter as if the very idea of trying to be quiet was funny to them. I flicked on the light. There was Adam lying on the ground surrounded by pieces of shattered coffee mugs. He had one of those artistic vertical coffee mug hangers made of metal. He had apparently swatted it off the counter where it and the coffee mugs had imploded on the floor. He was sprawled on his hands and knees over the shattered pieces. I could only assume he was attempting to clean up the mess, instead he was merely grinding the shattered remnants of the mugs into the floor.

“Jesus Christ, you scared the shit out of me. Are you ok?” I rushed over to Adam to give him a hand. I could instantly tell he was drunk, the way he reached out for my hand awkwardly and nearly lost his balance twice while I helped right him.

“I’m fine.” He said while laughing. “Just a little bit drunk is all.” The woman he was with looked older than Adam. She wore wrinkles that were barely visible under the mountain of makeup she had on. She wasn’t wholly unattractive, very skinny. She carried a strong odor of cigarettes and perfume.

“Well have fun you two.” They both smiled at me.

“Sorry about waking you John.”

“Don’t worry about it.” I returned to my bedroom with a cacophony of giggles trailing off in the other direction. My efforts however to fall asleep were quickly brought to a screeching halt. No sooner had I crawled back under the covers had the sounds of sex filled the house. Moans and grunts, high pitched shrieks from her, even the occasional giggle and laughter was mixed in. It was as if someone in the other room was watching porn and had the volume turned way too high. At first I tried jamming my pillow over my head but it did little to block out the noise. Out of desperation I plugged the gap at the very base of the door with a towel. It was my hope to discourage the noises entry into the bedroom but this had no perceptible effect. I just accepted the fact that I wouldn’t sleep until they were done and took comfort in the idea that he no longer appeared angry with me.

The next day I woke up around eleven in the morning still tired and with a headache. Every muscle in my legs and hips were aching from the extended walk the day before. I exited the bedroom to find Adam in his workout clothes reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee in one hand.

“Morning.” I said yawning.

He yawned in response. “Damn it those yawns are contagious.” He grinned. “Sorry about the noise last night. Did you sleep ok?”

“Fine.” I lied.

“I just got back from my workout at the gym but if you want I’ll go with you again?”

My muscles were protesting their use by giving me shocks of pain with each and every step I took. “I think I’ll take it easy today.” I said while falling into a comfortable recliner chair. “So she’s gone I take it?” I asked reaching for a portion of the paper Adam had already discarded.

“Yeah, she’s gone.”

“Had fun?”

“Eh, she was ok.” He turned the page of his newspaper.