Words 2286
I glance through the window like a fucking stalker. I know that's insane, but who says I'm not? I'm a man of my word. If you ever go behind my back, I fucking bite back.
I see a woman, middle-aged, doing the dishes inside. Dumb bitch she is for leaving the curtains open. I can see every single thing she's doing. It's the morning, but the sun has barely made it to the horizon being that it's 6:45, making the window glow brightly like a movie theater screen, displaying this woman's life in 3D.
After a few minutes, I see a man appearing to be in a hurry, nudging a little boy to rush with him. I see him walk towards the window I am peaking inside of and I duck down. That's when I hear the front door open and chatter flows through the early morning air and into my ears. "Hurry, Auden." A British man fusses, "We're going to be late."
I hear the man's boots clump onto the wooden porch, the little boy following shortly after. The car door shuts. The engine turns on. The sound of rocks scratching the concrete fill my ears. And then, the sound of the engine getting further away from the house, bringing me satisfaction. I look through the window again, watching the woman.
She brushes her blonde curls from her face, her hot as fuck grayish blue eyes falling onto a phone on the counter. She lets out a breath as she picks up the phone, her soft plump lips forming a pout. She then taps onto the screen bringing it to her ear.
It's muffled but I can make out a few words. "Hey, honey." She says, crossing her arm over her stomach and holding her elbow. "Your father... new glasses and left his phone..." she then turns around, facing the stove, enabling me from hearing further.
It takes her a couple minute to end her discussion with, who I am guessing is my target, and places the phone onto the counter.
I watch as her white teeth clasp her bottom lip into her mouth, her face turning a faded shade of red. She covers her mouth as she lets out a small sob, placing her elbows onto the counter and covering her face.
What a broken family. Ho-hum. If my target isn't here, I'll have to go for the second best.
Her mother.
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HARDIN.
"Damn it, Auden! Why did you have to take so long to get ready? Now we're going to be late to pick up your subscription. Let alone having to drive ten minutes to a store for your actual goddamn glasses." I glance over at the elbow rest and scoff. "And I forgot my fucking phone!" I shout, slamming my hand onto the steering wheel. I look over at a pouty faced Auden, his arms cross and his head rested on the window. I press my lips together, "I'm sorry, Aud. I'm just exhausted. I didn't sleep at all last night."
"It's okay." Auden mutters, sinking further into his seat. "I didn't want to wake up."
"Well, sometimes we have to do stuff we don't want to do." I say, rolling my eyes.
Last night had to have been the worst night of my life. Hadn't heard about it yet? Well, let me fucking revisit the hellish memory for you.
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"Hardin, I want to talk to you about something Emery and I discussed." Tessa says, walking into the basement and sitting on my desk. Just an hour ago she was crying on my shoulder at the possibility of Emery running away. This should prove to you how emotional girls are. I still love them though.
I twist my chair around to face her and I see a worried look in her eyes. It's very slight, so I decide to ignore it, assuming she doesn't want me to ask. "You and Emery discussed something?" I question her with a smirk, knowing how big of a deal it is to her, and she blushes lightly.
"It's about Kendal's wedding we are attending, remember?" She asks, her hand rubbing down my sleeved arm. I nod, rolling my eyes.
"I remember." I say with a bored tone.
"Well..." she trails off and I watch her tongue press against the back of her front teeth as she holds out her word. I smile slightly. "I talked to Emery about..." she trails off again, looking down. I rub her shoulder to let her know I'm listening. "I told Emery that I'll talk to you about letting her invite Cole as her plus one." I stare at her blankly, feeling my blood rise at the memory of him hold my daughter unconscious in his arms. That's the only encounter I have to go by. She was fucking unconscious for fucks sakes! Hell no. "With your permission." She adds to lighten the blow.
I stand up from my seat, backing away from her. "Fuck no!" I shout, shaking my head, "why the fuck would you do that? She's just fine on her own."
"Hardin," Tessa warns. Fuck that! She has no fucking idea what he's capable of.
"Stop trying to fucking warn me Tessa! You're too naive to have a say." I spit, "why couldn't you talk to me before putting that... that... fucking shit of an idea it's her head?"
"Because I think it's a good idea! I've seen him Hardin, he's a good kid!"
"You've seen him?"I question as if it's the most stupidest evidence. "You saw Robby too and look what fucking happened!" I shout, throwing my hands in the air, which ends up knocking my chair across the room. I begin to pace. My mind is racing so fast with different answers and insults. I don't care if I'm being a fucking asshole. If you were a father who had to watch his daughter's bruises, caused by a fucking psychopath, heal day by day without being able to fix it, you'd being fucking crazy too.
"Not everyone is like Robby, Hardin! We have to let her go sometime."
"Of course you can fucking say that!" I snap back, looking at her with anger. "You two don't even speak!"
"And who's fault is that?" She shouts, fighting fire with fire. "You're the one who made me call the police!"
"Yes and I'm not proud of it. But she would've forgiven you by now if you didn't act like your mother!" I spit, ending the argument there. Suddenly I feel the whole basement become darker, the walls fade from its happy bright color, and worst of all, Tessa's eyes lose their flare. Her face pales, her mouth closes shut, and her tight fists become limp. I honestly don't know where that came from. It didn't really have any correlation to our argument. Did it?
Her dead eyes stare at the dull ground and my heart falls into the pit of my stomach. "Tessa-"
"No, you're right." Her voice breaks and I feel my heart fall further than the pit of my stomach. It must've hit the floor because I can't hear it anymore. It's completely silent as I watch my wife crumble in front of me. All because of me. "I did yell at her..." she pauses as if she's trying to think of her words, "in front of everyone. I'm not proud of that either."
She opens her mouth to say something else, but closes it, slowly walking up the steps and out of the basement, leaving me inside of the dull, dark room with my shame.
◉‿◉
I'm still not on board with Emery asking this lump of coal kid out. If I'm being honest it's because I'm scared of what he's capable of. Emery has already been through so much, I don't want her to go through it again. I feel like I need to protect her— shield her from the outside world. I know I won't be able to do that for long though.
I ended up staying up all night in the basement, only peaking my head out of the door to tell Tessa about Emery's text. It had to be the most awkward thing that Tessa and I have ever been through.
I got a call from Auden's eye doctor at around 6:25. So fucking early, but I guess it's okay. I told Tessa that I was taking Auden to the eye doctor to get his glasses and she only nodded at me. I don't blame her that time, because I did wake her up to tell her.
It took so fucking long getting Auden ready that by the time he was ready we were already going to be five minutes late. I don't know if it matters if we are late, but I payed too much fucking money to have them tell me I have to reschedule to pick up the subscription or some shit. This is a busy eye doctor and I wouldn't be surprised if we had to wait a fucking eternity just to get to the reception desk just for a piece of a paper.
◉‿◉
EMERY.
"Press enter, goes back to the beginning. Press space, starts the recording. Use the arrows to move around the recording and click on the strip, hold, and move it wherever you please." Cole briefly explains. I nod as if I have any idea what the fuck he's talking about. I don't. It looks complicated as shit. "It's really not that bad." He repeats for the seven thousandth time since we got down into his basement.
His basement is cozy. Immediately once you're downstairs there's some sort of aroma that smacks you in the face, making you feel comforted. Cole insists it's the blue light that's flowing through the LED strips. He says the color blue helps creativity.
On the furthest wall from the stairs there's a desk. On that desk sits a MacBook and a keyboard with a bunch of stickers on the keys. Above the computer, hanging on the wall is this big neon lighted unicorn. I don't think I'll ever forget what Cole said about it.
"That unicorn has a meaning. It's not just hanging up there because I like it or anything." He made sure I knew.
"Why do you have it then?" I asked with a smirk, hoping to make his cheeks red.
He didn't seem to mind my question though, "do you know the saying 'chasing the unicorn?'" I shook my head and he continued, "you know how little girls love unicorns and swear they are real? That's how I feel when I make music. I have this one perfect tune, or beat in my head and I'm chasing it, even if it doesn't exist or is impossible to make, Y'know?" He paused and I only nodded. I was too in awe of his odd logic to make any other response. "When I'm stuck, I just look up at the unicorn." He shrugged, "I'm just chasing the unicorn."
"Emery!" Cole waves his hand in front of my face and I squint my eyes at him.
"What?" I question and he gestures to his computer keyboard.
"Want to try?" He raises his eyebrows and I shake my head. "It's not that bad. C'mon." He looks back down at his keyboard, "it's even labeled for you. Just follow what the keys say."
I sigh, slouching my shoulders. "Fine."
"Okay, so hit the red record button when I tell you to." He spins his chair around and hops over to the piano keyboard.
I hold my middle finger onto the red record button, waiting patiently for his instructions. "And..." he holds out, "now!"
I click the button and suddenly I hear a clicking sound. He seems to bounce with the clicking sound until suddenly his fingers are dancing on the keys falling into beat with every click.
"What is clicking?" I ask, hoping and praying to God I don't mess him and his groovy ass fingers up.
"It's called the metronome. It keeps me on beat." He says, continuing his line of chords with ease.
After a few moments of him playing, I actually listen and realize he's playing something I've heard before. "What are you playing?"
"Honeybee. We're going to sing it." He replies simply and I instinctively click the space bar, ending his beautiful instrumental.
"Fuck no." I say immediately and Cole throws his hands up.
"C'mon Emery! I was almost done."
"I'm not singing." I cross my arms stubbornly and he gives me a sarcastic look.
"Oh come on! You're with me!" He insists, "you can't sound that bad."
I roll my eyes, "I'm still not going to sing."
He stares at me for a moment, a determined expression on his face. I'm not going to sing.
I will not do it.
"Fine." He sighs, giving up. He passes me and adjusts his recording. "Hit record and don't stop it until I say!" He instructs clearly. I still have my arms crossed as I nod. He reaches for my arms and pulls them away from my chest. "You can't operate the keyboard with an attitude. It affects the music." He scolds jokingly, pushing the chair over for me to sit down.
I let a small smile rest on my face, which brings a huge smile onto his. "That's more like it!"
◉‿◉
𝙰𝚞𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚛'𝚜 𝙽𝚘𝚝𝚎
My bad, there's was one more happy chapter. The next one is where it begins.
I absolutely love your comments and I cannot wait to read all of them when the book is finished. (I don't plan to finish it soon, don't worry.)
Chapter forty: Jan. 15, 2021