Chapter 4

Chapter Four

My new home took me quite a while to fix up but finally it's cleaned, furnished, and durable. It's a two story house with room enough for just me. It took me like three weeks to completely unpack everything and I would have been done sooner but in between hours I was called into work constantly because of some big idea my boss is working on.

Working as a publicist is hard. It includes nonstop typing and also cataloging my company's useless creations and making magazine sets for them. I haven't had a full night of sleep in ages and even when I'm not working, I've got a house to pack, food to buy, and bills to pay.

Through it all though, I was able to squeeze in Fay. Mostly at night I'd call and we'd talk for hours until either Greg cause's her to hang up or I get lulled in by her voice and fall asleep. She tells me a lot about her over protective family and complains a lot about Greg, enough to make him my new unaware enemy. She still calls him George, but I don't try to correct her anymore. Somehow her calling him George instead of his real name satisfies me.

Sometimes though when I'm not talking to her, I feel like she's going to forget me. I know that sometimes she forgets where stuff is and it's obvious that she could never get her fiancé's name right so it just worries me a little. I mean it's okay if she does forget me. It's not like I'm attached to her or anything but it's just that if she leaves, then there'd be no one else for me to talk to around here.

I lay stretched out on the couch looking up at the ceiling. I think about calling Fay to check in but I know Greg would never let that happen. Just recently, Fay called me to say that she was now allowed to get out the house and do as she please, but only with an escort. Guess who that is.

I rolled over to my side and decided to text her instead.

"Enjoying freedom?"

"Hey Dommy,"

she texted back seconds after, almost like she's been waiting for me to contact her.

"Is this a bad time?"

I asked.

"No, Ur fine."

I sit up so I can text better.

"Good, just checking on U."

"U don't have 2 do that."

She replies.

"No I don't."

I agreed. "But I want too."

It took her a while to respond back but when she did, it said,

"Glad we're on the same page."

I lay my phone on the table beside me and got up to find something to eat. I settled with takeout after ordering and waiting another fifteen minutes. As I sit and eat, I listen to the peaceful sound of nothing. Quietness helps me think. It helps me focus, and I sit there for almost a whole twenty minutes before my doorbell goes off. Instinctively, I think its Fay but I know better. There is no way Fay would ever run away from those who want to help her. That's one reason I admire her for. I could never be that brave.

I drop my dish into the sink and head for the door. A loud boosting knock sounded from it again as I was half way down the corridor.

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming." I yelled back.

When I pulled open the door, I was only greeted by a cold rush of wind making me shiver all over. I looked around at the dark emptiness surrounding me and found nothing.

"Wait to waste my time." I screamed into the night air.

A windblown screech blew into my ear making me shut the door quickly and lock it. I shake away my nervousness, and as I start to walk away, the door knocks again but this time the door vibrates from the violent pounding.

My heart starts pumping fast but my logic brain tells me there is a reasonable explanation for this. Someone could be playing ding dong ditch on me or maybe it's a newbie work prank the other employees planned out, right?

Taking a deep breath I pull open the door again and yelled,

"Whoever you are this isn't funny, quit it!"

Nothing. I hear nothing. Just the screeching of the wind and the haunting eerie fog that started to form.

I start to turn back around again and lock my door but then suddenly the fog began to form into a figure. I was petrified as the figure began to float closer and I rub my eyes to make sure that what I see is really real. My heart pounded rapidly fast in my chest.

"This is not real," I tell myself. "This is not real."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath.

"You're losing your mind Dominic, you've lost it."

Finally convinced that this is all in my head, I open my eyes and the figure is gone. I blink a few times and turn around, and see nothing. Slowly I back up and renter my house and as I turn to close the door, I saw my dad, my dad who died ten years ago in a house fire he started.