The Wager (417 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 0.4 on 18 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by vexx (View user info) at 2007-03-21 03:27:04 EDT
Alright, the weirdest fucking thing just happened to me a few minutes ago and I had to tell someone. No one's awake anymore so I'm just going to post it here because I'm still trying to make sense of it.
A few minutes ago I was laying in my bed, trying not to fall asleep while doing some reading for my Lit&Law class tomorrow (it's at 8am so since I've missed half the lectures I really started trying to make up the work) and was finishing The Metamorphosis when I heard a loud >thump< sound from outside my door. It sounded like someone stubbed their toe and slapped their hand onto the wall to catch themselves from falling over. At first I wasn't sure I even heard anything (I smoked a bowl about an hour ago and sometimes can't trust my senses.) Or thought it was my roommate who brushes his teeth before bed and tripped in the dark because the hallway light burned out yesterday. But then came a succession of thick RAP RAP RAPs on the door to the apartment. It wasn't Jason's usual, impatient "I forgot my keys let me in you twat" knock but slower and more definitive. Like someone who would wait. I put down my book and shuffled into the hallawy wearing only a pair of boxer briefs, stumbling around the corner to the front door in the darkness. Maybe this whole thing will remind me to buy some fucking lightbulbs.
"Jay?"
In response, a loud thud slammed against the other side of the door, shaking the wood frame and causing my to jump back a foot like a sissy. My heart had leapt into my throat when my eyes began to adjust to the dark and could make out the handle of door moving back and forth silently. I live in an apartment in one of the tree-lined, older neighborhoods of Boston that just barely asserts itself over the bank of the Charles River. It's not the kind of place where people break into your apartment at 1am. Whoever it was, though, did want to get in.
I looked down the hall to Jason's room. His light was out. He's always in bed by this time of night anyway. I'm the alcoholic of the apartment that keeps him up until all hours, not the other way around.
"Jay, quit fucking around."
That low, steady knocking resumed and diminished my resolve.
I cursed myself for being such a pussy and put my "game face" on before undoing the latch and flinging open the door in one swift motion-- skin and muscles covering the emphatic heartbeat in my chest and ready to give an earful to whoever was standing on the other side. At first the flood of light from the hallway tricked my eyes and I could only see on the outside of the door the shadow of a man--smaller and a foot or two shorter than me standing there holding something.
"Mr. Sumsen?" Crazy fuck owns the building and lives down the hall from me, though I make every effort to pretend he doesn't. Fucking creepy character.. stands at about four feet and has oily black hair that shines against these old-school tuxedos he wears, things that look they're straight out of the 40's, and in the same condition. He makes me uneasy that if I see him waiting for the elevator I take the stairs. He always notices me though, and looks at me in this funny way.. with a sort of dazed, faraway look in his eyes and lips pressed into a too-red smirk. If I wasn't getting such a good deal on rent I'd...
In front of me, then, for whatever reason he took a step forward and said good evening in a wheezy voice.
"I was just going to bed, is there some sort of problem?" The surprise had worn off and I was starting to get annoyed again.
"Not at all. Just would like to make a wager," he says, holding up a cardboard box, about a foot in length and width.
I was about to tell him where to shove that thing when I noticed something on the side of the package. A darkish brown liquid that was seeping from the side and a drop landed on my naked foot; I began to get a little sick to my stomach.
"A wager?" he stepped forward and shut the door behind him. We were alone together in the darkened hallway. My brain shouted at me to throw him out, to call the police, to hit him... anything!... dont just stand there, you assclown. A sick, rusty smile started to stink from him. I crossed my arms over my still unclothed chest.
"I'll bet you that I know what's inside this box," he said, leering up at me with something hateful imprinted on his face.
"I bet you do now get.."
"I'll bet you that you know what's inside this box."
I reached for the door and my hand was almost on the knob when
"I'll bet you that Jason's head is inside this box."
My breath caught roughly in my chest and I shot a glance to Jason's room. Light still out.
His pale, sallow skin contorted into a gross smile and he looked at me evenly. Ok, let's do this. Steel yourself.
"And what are the terms?" I asked, throat burning.
"If I'm wrong then I'll leave and give you the deed to my building."
"Bullshit," I spat.
"You can call to him if you like. Or shake it around a little," he said, gesturing to the leaking parcel. "But if I'm right, then it'll be your head in the next box for the woman down the hall. What do you say?"
"JAY," I yelled down the hall to his door. "Come out here."
Mr. Sumsen held up the box and giggled through his muddy yellow teeth "Jay come out here! Jay come out here! Speak into his good ear! Hahahah" Another drop landed on my foot and I involuntarily jumped back like it was acid. His eyes lit up and he laughed sorta maniacally.
"Alright I've got a better bet for you." My voice hardened to a crisp whisper. He seemed to be intrigued by this. "It's not Jason's head that's inside that box," I said stepping closer to him, "It's yours." A split second of hesitation doubled over his face and he quickly glanced at what was in his hands.
"Mine?"
"All or nothing."
He smiled, "Deal." And placing the box on the dusty wooden floor he peeled back the soggy top flap to show me what's inside while I readied every inch of nerve and gut in my body to action.
***
This was all about a half hour ago and now my head is humming with a blue, chordless vibration. I'm sitting at my desk now, staring hollow-eyed and high out my window and gazing over the cold supernatural flats of the city. Ether pumping and twisting over itself until it stretches and lays down next to me: time to sleep.
User Reviews
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2007-11-21 12:38:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by sideshow (user info) at 2007-03-22 12:07:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
That is fucked....good story though....
Submitted by LittleMonster (user info) at 2007-03-22 08:51:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I thought this was very good, please finnish it
Submitted by lungfish (user info) at 2007-03-21 20:42:54 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by ticklish_squirrel (user info) at 2007-03-21 18:52:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
weeeiiirrrd
Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-03-21 13:48:46 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by vexx (user info) at 2007-03-21 13:00:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
for cryin out loud
Submitted by mitchmarron (user info) at 2007-03-21 11:59:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
His sobriety was in the box.
As well as any kind of point to this story.
Submitted by GetNakeddd (user info) at 2007-03-21 10:46:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
i liked it
and i still dont understand lost highway
i hate that fucking movie
Submitted by DancingOtter (user info) at 2007-03-21 10:33:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
So what was in that box which made you stare out of window in the way you so vividly described....
Submitted by Foolproof (user info) at 2007-03-21 10:25:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
This read like a knife to the crotch.
Submitted by particle_man58 (user info) at 2007-03-21 10:17:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
So what was in the box asshole?
Submitted by Void_Where_Prohibited (user info) at 2007-03-21 10:16:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Looks like Robert Blake.
Submitted by sicosemen (user info) at 2007-03-21 08:06:37 EDT (#)
Ranking: -1
Under.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2007-03-21 07:57:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Was it the number 2 combo, super-sized with extra ketchup?
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2007-03-21 06:21:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Good story. +2 for that creepy dude from Lost Highway as well.
Submitted by sexualchocolate1984 (user info) at 2007-03-21 05:45:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
Uh, did I miss something?
What was in the box yo?!
Fuckin' cryptic ass bastard.
Submitted by darko (user info) at 2007-03-21 03:41:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Pascal?