Alone at home Chapter 4

Adam at home alone

  Chapter 4

Alone At Home

At the same time that evening a metallic dark gray Holden Commodore sped down  Balaclava road, braking at the last moment to turn right into Kambrook Street. 150 metres up Kambrook Street, Adam turned the car into the driveway of the 12 unit apartment building and came to a screeching halt at the front parking bay.

He got out of the car in a clumsy manner opened the back door to get out his leather satchel. He closed both doors and locked the car with his remote control.

He then walked clumsily to the entrance stairway up to his apartment on the 1^st floor, all the time singing a strange song under his breath. He looked preoccupied, he always did.

He was somewhat plum, definitely overweight by 15 to 20 pounds at least. His shirt was rumpled and ill fitting and the loosely tied necktie was out of place. The slacks were not matching to his shirt or to the tie either.

At the top of the stairs, he reached for his keys in his trouser pocket. Took them out and at the third door along the veranda, stopped and inserted the key roughly into the keyhole. Adam opened the door and was greeted by the accumulated heat and smells of the summer’s day of the closed up 2 bedroom apartment unit. This was Adam’s home for the last two weeks and would be his home for the next 7 months.

Adam threw his satchel on the couch and went into the main bedroom, flopped himself on the messy double bed. It was always messy. He rolled over a few times. Stared at the ceiling for a few minutes. He rolled over again settling on his belly. Finally he fell asleep on his stomach almost instantaneously.

 Adam’s sleep was troubled. There were the dreams from the past. Nothing unusual. It had been a stressful day. He met so many new faces. He hated meeting new people. He didn’t know how to react to them. He hated it more when he knew someone didn’t like him. So many different people, all of whom he wanted to like him but unfortunately that was mostly not the case. It was very stressful indeed trying to react in the correct way to suit each individual. To Adam, clicking with people was like playing Russian roulette.

The sky grew orange but darker. It was 8.26 pm when Adam awoke. It was getting dark in the apartment. Adam got up from his awkward sleeping position and stretched himself and yawned as he sat at the edge of the bed. The room he was in was sparse, there was only the bed and the built in wardrobe. Two suitcases were left unpacked on the floor. Dirty clothes were strewn all over the carpeted floor. Obviously he had not done his laundry for the last 2 weeks.

He took off his tie and shirt and dropped them on a pile of other unwashed clothes. He walked into the living room and turned on the TV with the remote control that was lying on the couch beside his satchel. Next he went into the kitchen, opened the fridge door and searched for a drink. There was none. The fridge was empty except for a round carton of half eaten pizza and a bottle of milk that was already spoiled. He then took a used glass from the basin and rinsed it, not very thoroughly, filled it again with water and drank down the whole lot. Just then he farted loudly.

The TV blared aloud suddenly. The 8.30 pm news update was coming on. It caught Adam’s attention. He opened the fridge door again and took out the round carton of pizza. He walked to the bean bag near the TV but knocked his hip on the edge of the breakfast counter on the way.

“Ouch!” he cried out.

He plunked himself on the bean bag, farted again, and nursed his hip, before eating the other night’s cold pizza. He continued gazing at the news and became instantly more attentive when the business section came on.

When the sports news came on, he lost interest and finished the rest of the pizza. About then, his mobile phone rang. Its usual lyrical tune was something that most people found quite irritating.

“Hello.” he answered the call.

“Adam.” it was a woman’s voice. It was his mother.

“Hello ma.” he said while he scratched his groin.

“It’s mother here, have you had your dinner yet?”

“Yes ma.” he replied in a bored voice.

“What did you have? Not pizza again!”

“Uh, no ma, uh, something else.” He lied, scratching his nose and smelling his fingers.

“Good. How was your first day at work today?”

“Okay.” Another lie.

“How was everyone to you?”

“Wonderful.” A half lie.

“You must try to smile more often.”

“Yes, ma.” Adam agreed with a grimace on his face.

“How was your supervisor?” she continued.

“Okay”

“Was he nice to you?”

“Wonderful.” he said while tapping his fingers on his knee cap.

The conversation continued on for another few minutes or so. All the time Adam spoke with an increasingly bored voice. His attention spell wasn’t very good especially when he was being nagged and lectured.

After the call, it was dark already outside. Only the shimmering light of the TV lit the apartment. Fear gripped Adam, and he immediately turned on the lights in the living room and kitchen. There was his bedroom, the second bedroom and bathroom still in darkness. He stood there wandering what to do next. He made the sign of the crucifix, not once but twice obviously just to be sure. He slowly moved toward the bathroom door. Put his hand behind the wall. His eyes were closed as he felt for the light switch. He managed to turn on the light and the bathroom was bath in light. Next, he rushed for the second bedroom and switched on the light, followed by another quick rush for the main bedroom. Adam seemed relieved to have the whole apartment in brightness.

Next he went into the bathroom where the toilet, in a cubicle, was and tried to switch on the light, but just then the light bulb decided to fuse. He stopped short at the doorway and paused for a moment not knowing what to do next. He made the sign of the crucifix and then went straight in to do his business in the shadows.

He felt relieved after answering natures call and let out a sigh as he zipped up his pants. He pressed the flush button then moved to the vanity top basin, washed his hands, not very well and stared at the mirror. He took off his glasses and pinched a pimple above his lip. To him, he found his looks ugly which he often blamed as the reason why most people didn’t like him. But in actual fact, Adam without his glasses, without those pimples, with his hair combed right and without that expressionless blank dull look, looked quite handsome.

He then lifted both hands up in a muscle man’s stance and flexed his muscles, studying himself in the mirror. There weren’t many pronounced bulges under the layer of fat and he grimaced again at the sight. His belly was starting to get more prominent, at age 26 that wasn’t a good sign.

Adam then went into the living room again and sat down heavily again on the bean bag in front of the TV. He turned the channel with the remote control again and again, finally settling down with channel 10.

At 10.45 pm, Adam then had a shower. He spent more time than necessary showering. He often did that. Later he rummaged a plastic bag full of different kinds of medicine, took out a bunch of pills and popped them into his mouth. He got another glass of water from the sink and drank down the medicine. He then went back to the bathroom, brushed his teeth, and went to bed dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. He fell asleep a few minutes later.

Everything seemed normal except for one thing.

All the lights were blazing brightly in the whole apartment!

Author's Note

Reviews are most welcome

Reviews

[Unam]

I enjoyed reading this because of the many descriptions you well placed throughout the chapter. Your writing improves with every piece i continue to read and it is amazing! In terms of the story, it has a perfect mix of suspense and the small imagery that makes it so relative to real life. It is as if I am watching a movie. Keep it up.

[TKBickel]

Ok I’m a girl so had to go eeewww as I laughed. Loved the nagging mother, almost everyone can identify with that.
Since I know where this is kind of going, I find myself looking harder for the hidden clues.
This chapter had lots of details and a very nice insight of Adam.

[Coyote Poetry]

A lot of good description of location and activities. The chapter described a boring evening with no real purpose except to find sleep. A excellent chapter.
Coyote

[EMF]

One suggestion. When Adam is on the phone to his Mum, give him some odd, inconsqential thing to do, just to give the dialouge a chance to sink in. Even with that this is another perfect chapter. Absolutley wonderful

[PrincessZeldaWannabe]

I like this chapter, showing Adam's point of view of everything and love pizza too!

[Alana McGuire]

As always, your descriptions are incredible and the way you make it easy for the reader to follow Adam is very captivating. And I love how you add extra things in that some people wouldn't to give a better picture of the surroundings and setting and exactly what is taking place. All the lights are on. Ooooh the suspense :)