"You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don't help." - Bill Watterson
Chapter Five
I fell asleep. How? When? I didn't know, but somehow, after I had a mid-life crisis – at nineteen years old, no less – and evaluated all of my life choices, I blacked out. Perhaps exhaustion finally took over me and my body went into defensive mechanism mode, or, perhaps my brain could no longer handle any more curve-balls, but either way it happened. I lost consciousness and the next time I opened my eyes, it all felt like a very bad dream.
When I woke up there was no sign of the note or the envelope. It was just me and my twisted body clutching onto my blanket for dear life. Everything felt normal, seemed like usual. I could hear the television on, the weather forecast being told on mid to low volume, and I could definitely smell my father's cooking from my bed room. Then, why did I feel different?
I felt like I was on the world's worst roller coaster and I couldn't get off. There were just curves every two seconds, highs and lows, dips and twists, and I couldn't keep track of it all.
It's okay, Angie. It was just a bad dream.
Blaze is not going to return with some devious plan just for the hell of it – he wasn't that foolish.
My thoughts made logical sense, so why did my heart suddenly feel like a caged bird, ready to fly out of my chest? Why did I feel like I was suddenly in an awful horror movie and any minute now, my father would be lying on the floor dead and I would be next?
Calm down. Everything's fine. I breathed in and out – a breathing technique. One breath in, one breath out.
See? Nothing's wrong. It was all just a nightmare. You're going to get up and go outside, have some breakfast, and there will be no note from Blaze waiting for you.
It worked until it didn't. I wanted to believe everything was fine, but it seemed forced. Like I was in denial.
I sat up in my bed and allowed my blanket to roll off of me. Bad idea. Somehow, the small crack in the window, the barely visible space between the window and the ledge, had turned my room into Elsa's castle overnight. It was freezing and I couldn't just let it go.
I sighed, my longer-than-usual hair falling down in ragged pieces from the messy bun I had created before falling asleep. Every joint in my body ached as if I was an old lady suffering from arthritis. Placing my hand at the nape of my neck, I turned my neck to release some of the tension from my shoulders. It felt better for just two seconds.
As I turned my head towards my bedroom door, trying to crack my neck one more time out of masochistic pleasure, my eyes spontaneously fell upon the note from hell laying crumbled at the foot of my bed. Somehow, one way or another, it had fallen down while I slept and for some sadistic reason, did not show itself until I had all but convinced myself that it had been a bad dream – a product of stress and my overactive imagination.
No. As it turns out, the note was real – far too real – and I had to face reality.
I looked up at my ceiling in disbelief. This was not what I was hoping for. One would think that after a decade's worth of pain, I would be at least somewhat deserving of a few years of happiness. After all, even all of the civilizations in the past, such as the Roman Empire, had years of peace and prosperity before shit hit the fan. So why was my life suddenly taking a turn for the worse after only a few measly months of happiness?
Did God really despise my existence, or was Fate just sadistic?
"Angelina, sweetheart, breakfast is ready! Come quickly, or else it'll get cold," my father said from, presumably, the kitchen.
Shivering, my arms and legs covered in goosebumps, I quickly got out of my bed and pushed the note further underneath my bed. I swallowed the lump that had formed in my throat, salivating to cure my drier-than-usual mouth, and fixed my bedhead hair into something slightly more presentable.
Out of sight, out of mind, right? Not quite.
"I'm coming!" I exclaimed as I threw open my bedroom door and rushed into my bathroom.
"Don't take too long in there, sweetheart, you're getting late," he said, as he picked up the plates from the kitchen and brought them over to the living slash dining room.
Locking the bathroom door, I quickly looked at the clock only to realize that he wasn't joking or exaggerating. Although I didn't recall most of the day after meeting with Agent Hook, I did remember planning to meet up with Agent Matthew and Agent Lam at precisely nine in the morning at the FBI headquarters.
I only had thirty minutes to brush my teeth, get dressed, make my hair presentable, – which on a good day took me anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes to tame – eat breakfast, and take the train to the headquarters, which in itself took about twenty minutes.
This day just got better by the second.
Frowning at my face in the mirror, I quickly ran my hair under the sink to make it more pliable and easier to manage, before I brushed my teeth in record time. Rushing once again to my bedroom, I quickly locked the door before I rummaged through my closet to find something decent to wear.
Most of the time, it was pretty easy to pick out clothes to wear to work since all agents followed the same dress code, but even this took me a while in my morning-rush haze. What was the saying again? Haste makes waste? Very true, to the say the least.
Removing my sleeping clothes, I quickly threw on my skinny black jeans before I pulled out a decently fitted electric blouse that had golden buttons running down to my mid-stomach. Below the buttons, it crunched up slightly before it flowed down my back in a high-low manner. It was my absolute favorite blouse; and, wearing it could make any day better. I hoped it would work its magic on today as well.
I threw on my black blazer over the outfit and called it a day. Wearing only socks on my feet, I headed out to the living room where a delicious breakfast consisting of eggs and bacon awaited me. My mouth salivated at the same time my stomach grumbled.
My father looked away from the television screen to give me a closed mouth smile.
"You might want to watch this, sweetheart," he said, as he grabbed the remote from the table and increased the volume.
I sat down beside him and, while nibbling on my bacon, watched the female news reporter summarize the recent events.
"Another horrific murder shocks the city and the nation as people begin to wonder if there really is a serial killer on the loose. FBI director and NYPD has yet to release a statement about the recent murders, but we can only hope that the serial killer will soon be caught," she said, in an overly morose tone.
I drank the orange juice my father had put out for me as I watched, my stomach churning, her give a report on the murder.
"Manny Rock Howard, a thirty-five-year-old white male, was found dead in his bed early this morning when his neighbors called 911 to report loud noises coming from his apartment. As police arrived, they found the apartment in a normal state, but after further investigating the source of the loud music, they found him lying in a pool of blood, unresponsive, with a stereo system next to his bed.
"After being taken by the ambulance to a nearby hospital, he was classified dead at arrival."
Pictures of Manny smiling and hanging out with friends popped up on the screen before images of his corpse and his blood-soaked bed overshadowed them.
"What is this world coming to?" My father asked, stunned into silence.
I had no idea.
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[A/N] A very, very, very short chapter. Especially in comparison to my other chapters. However, I'm so glad to have finally put out a chapter after failing to do so last week. I really pushed myself this week, so I hope this is somewhat worth the wait.
One good news, this story has hit 16,000 words (and counting) after just five chapters. I'm very happy with the story-line/plot of this book and the pace of it as I have planned everything out before college started.
As always, I want to know what you think about the story thus far. What are your ideas/theories/feelings about the note from Blaze? Please let me know in the comments below! I love reading each and every one of them.
I hope you enjoyed. Please vote, comment, and share! Thanks for reading!
~ Zamaryah