The Unannounced Guest Part 5/5 (501 hits)
Category: Quotes & StoriesRating: 2 on 3 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by DaBaddestHic <jtight.at.usa.com> (View user info) at 2005-06-24 10:40:08 EDT
Part 1: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68943
Part 2: http://www.ubersite.com/m/68984
Part 3: http://www.ubersite.com/m/69050
Part 4: http://www.ubersite.com/m/69132
Michael immediately felt like a jerk. "Damn, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring that up. Well I mean, I didn't know that..."
"It's ok," she interrupted, yet again. "It really doesn't bother me anymore, it's just that sometimes I have these dreams and...never mind. You don't want to hear about that."
"What if I do," questioned Michael.
She gave him an intensive stare, and he wondered how long it would take before the snakes sprouted from her head and he was turned to stone. Then her face softened and she started to speak. "We were driving home one night after eating dinner. We had been celebrating some occasion, although I no longer remember what it was. The weather was awful that night; it was pouring the rain and thunder blasts shook the ground at steady intervals. We were on the highway when my father lost control of the car and we began to spin around. I blacked out in panic at that point, and when I came to I was lying beside the road. The family car was in front of me, and I knew something terrible had happened. I wanted to run away, but I just knew that my parents would be sitting in there and everything would be ok." She paused, as if she didn't have the will to go on any further, then ended with, "I have never seen something as grotesque as what I saw inside our car that night."
Michael said nothing. He had no idea how to respond, never having lost someone close to him before. An awkward silence filled the room, neither of them wanting to look at the other person.
Finally the girls gaze snapped back to normal, and she yawned while looked over at a clock. "Damn, it's 3:20. I'm never awake this late."
Michael stood up, relieved, the bag of ice still held to his head. "I'm up this late all the time. But I guess I should be going now. I'm really sorry about, well, everything. Thanks for the ice, and not calling the police on me. That's really the last thing I needed." He turned around and headed for the door.
"Hold on," she demanded.
Damn, he just could not get away from this place. He gave her his attention again.
"Where are you going to stay tonight?"
"Not really sure. Why?"
She looked him over for a good while, then as if she'd come to some major decision she said, "I don't think I see the point in you going home at this point, especially with your head in that condition. I guess if you want to, you can just sleep on the couch for the night."
Michael was completely surprised, really nothing else to it. "What, are you joking?"
She shrugged. "Seems to me like you would have already done something if you had any wrong intentions. I don't see the harm in you sleeping in the living room for one night. Just don't make a habit of it." She gave him the first smile that she'd shown since she'd woken him up.
He was really tired, and he had no idea where else he could go, so he decided just to give in. "Well, I guess that sounds good to me. Thanks for being understanding. I knew this was a bad idea, but I did it anyway."
"Don't worry about it. No harm done, at least not to me." She came over to him and took the ice bag, then walked into the kitchen and set it in the sink. "You can turn off the lights when you're ready," she yawned before going back into the bedroom.
She sure had retired to her bedroom quickly after saying he could stay, thought Michael. He realized he still had his shoes on, and went to the front door to take them off. Then he locked the door, which he'd failed to do on his way in. You never knew what sorts of strange people might walk into your house late at night, after all. He smiled to himself as he walked over to the hall to turn off the lights. Sure, it hadn't been a good idea, but it hadn't turned out terribly bad in the end. The bruise would go away before he knew it, and he would have an interesting story to tell his friends the next day. He flicked the lights and groped his way over to the couch. He was asleep before he even had the chance to make himself very comfortable.
***
Lindsey slipped back into her bed and stared at the ceiling. It was still weird to know that the man was sleeping in her living room, but she wasn't really worried. She had been able to feel the spare key in the door mat with her feet when she'd went outside, so he had obviously returned it after she kicked him out. After knowing that, and hearing his story, she figured that he was a fairly trustworthy person. She even felt bad about hitting him in the head.
She had never told a stranger the story of her parent's death before. At first she'd been angry that he even wanted to know, but that had quickly faded. There was just something about the guy that put her at ease. She wondered if he would be there in the morning when she woke up.
It wasn't long before she was asleep, back to dream land. Whether that was a good thing or not she was never really able to tell.
***
The cell phone alarm went off at 6:30, just as it should have. It woke Michael up, but he just jammed his head into the pillows until it shut off, and then he rolled over and went back to sleep.
***
Lindsey awoke the next morning to the sun streaming in through her blinds. She lay there a while, remembering the dreams she'd had over the night. Slowly she remembered that they all hadn't been dreams, and the night's crazy events came back to her. She looked over at her alarm clock and saw that it was now 11:43 AM. She'd been sleeping without interruption for a little over eight hours now.
She got out of bed and went to use the bathroom. The couch was empty when she entered the living room. All of the pillows were in their place this time as well.
There was something on the kitchen counter. She walked over and saw that it was a note, along with a single key sitting beside it:
Really sorry about last night. Thanks again for letting me sleep on the couch. You'll probably talk to your friend eventually and figure out I was lying about how I got in the house, so here's the truth. My mom and I used to live in this apartment, and I was away at college when we moved, so they never took my key away. But I've left it with you now, so that you don't have to worry about anymore late-night visitors.
- Michael
So she had been wrong about the key. No matter though, at least she didn't have to worry about it anymore.
She walked into the living room and looked under the couch. The cell phone was gone. So the man wouldn't be coming back for it, or anything else. She wasn't surprised to find that she was a little disappointed by this. Well, she figured, she did still have his phone number if she was ever that hard-pressed to find something to do. She laughed to herself as she thought about what that phone call would be like. Sometime she just had the craziest ideas.
User Reviews
Submitted by DaBaddestHic (user info) at 2005-06-24 12:37:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Thanks for the positive feedback. (Sorry simple, it was just never in my mind for them to get it on.)
I did have a lot of trouble writing this story. I had an idea I wanted to work with, but I had a hard time trying to make it work, especially in the end. I didn't even want to start writing until I figured out the ending, but then I thought that it would come to me on its own. And it sort of never did...
I may come back and clean it up later on, but probably not since I'm done with all my English classes, and so all I write now is just for the sake of writing. Who knows.
Submitted by simple_catalyst (user info) at 2005-06-24 11:36:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
hmmph!
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2005-06-24 10:49:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm going +2 for the whole. I had some bigger problems with this one, it just didn't work for me. I guess it started with an "intensive stare" that phrase caught me for a minute or two before I gave up on it and continued reading. clean up the grammar a bit and this gets stronger. the ending felt a little flat to me but My opinion only matters as much as you want it to. so... overall not a terrible story. B