by Jamie Summer
Hell, I don’t even know this guy.
“Is there anything you’re going to tell me, or are you simply gonna sit there like a total creep? And yes, that’s what you are.”
He didn’t bother responding, which was too bad. I really wanted him to. I turned away, making sure my whole body faced the counter on the other side of the shop.
“Oh shit. Work.” I’d completely forgotten I was merely on a five-minute break and was pretty sure my time was long over. “Gwen, can you put this on my tab?” I called, grabbing my coffee and the note from the table.
“Sure thing. If you need another in the afternoon, just call.”
I nodded, already up and on my way out the door. I glanced back toward where I’d been sitting seconds earlier.
Empty.
What the heck? Where was he? Did he go to the bathroom? Leave through the back door? I pondered going back in and asking Gwen if she’d seen him, but if she hadn’t, there was a good chance she’d call me crazy. The girl didn’t need to think I was more crazy than she already suspected.
“Ah, there you are. Did you have a nice five-minute break?” Jeff’s voice boomed through the bakery as I entered. I was close to turning around and going home. He was right, though. I was supposed to be on a short break and had been gone fifteen minutes. It didn’t seem like much, but the afternoon crowd had started coming in, which meant we were super busy. Jeff needed all hands on deck.
“Sorry. I got lost in a marvelous cup of coffee over there,” I yelled, knowing there was no way he would hear me otherwise.
“Yeah, yeah. Why don’t you make a marvelous coffee here? That way, you wouldn’t have to find an excuse to go over there.”
I knew Jeff wasn’t angry, but he loved giving me a hard time. I didn’t mind. After all, it was why we got along.
As I made my way behind the counter, a group of tourists entered the bakery, giving Jeff no time to question me further about why I had spent the last fifteen minutes in a coffee shop during work hours.
“Just do your job, okay?” he commanded. I saluted him in response, knowing it would rile him up. He rolled his eyes, but I simply waved him off and focused on the tourists, who had chosen their sweet treat of the day.
The day went like that until five when my shift was over. The afternoon crowd was still in full swing, but my replacement, Jordan, a girl a few years younger than me, was already here and ready. If there were still several customers waiting, I’d stay until it had calmed down, but Jordan could easily handle the five people in line. She was awesome like that.
I took my white coat off and walked into the back. The locker room smelled like flour and butter, a leftover scent from the baking Jeff did in the kitchen right next to the room. It always made me want to run over there and steal whatever he currently worked on. That man did magic in the kitchen. And no one was allowed back there. It was like his man cave.
I grabbed my leather jacket and bag out of my locker, hanging up my work coat at the same time.
“Hey. Are you heading to Joey’s tonight?” Jeff called without stopping his work. The door was open, so I heard him loud and clear. Joey’s was the local pub around the corner, and some of the regulars, as well as Jeff and Jordan, frequented the bar after closing.
“I will most likely be there, yes.” Not a chance in hell. All I wanted today was to go to bed and sleep. I kept that part to myself, though.
I heard him grunt in agreement. Figuring it was my cue to leave, I left through the back entrance.
The sun was still bright, so I fumbled for my sunglasses in my oversized bag, finding them after a good three-minute search. Like I said, it was a big bag.
It was a small town, so I always walked home. It wasn’t too far, and the half-hour gave me a chance to wind down and relax. I took my iPod out of my jacket pocket and turned it on as I rounded the corner leading to my apartment located in a two-story house. The elderly couple who lived there had realized the second story to their house wouldn’t be doable for them anymore, so they decided to rent it out. To me, it was a great, wide space that had everything I could ask for. They redid the whole upper floor, so I was the proud renter of a two-bedroom apartment with a new kitchen and bathroom. I felt pretty lucky.
I pushed my hand into my back pocket, my fingers brushing against the note I had completely forgotten about. The note Mr. Mysterious had given me. All those weird sensations came crashing back, a mixture of curiosity and fear. Once I got home, maybe I’d check out the website. No harm in that, right? It probably led to a dead end anyway.
Something in the back of my mind told me it wasn’t going to be that easy. That once I typed in that weird string of letters, I wouldn’t be the same person. And I had no freaking idea why. It was just a random note given to me by a complete stranger. Right?
I’d never been one for negative thinking or fearing the future, but I now felt something I couldn’t quite explain. Who the hell got messages like that? And life or death? Way too scary. If this was someone’s idea of a prank, I didn’t think it was funny. Even Gwen’s voice had changed after she read the note. Her bubbly personality rarely dimmed, no matter what. So for her to be that careful with her words sounded very strange. Add another reason this note was bad news.
I tried to think of a few more reasons everything would turn out okay, why there would be no evil lurking behind my computer screen once I typed in those words, but I couldn’t come up with anything. Suddenly, my mind was consumed by what was written on that paper and the letters that made up a random webpage.
I made it home a few minutes later…in half the time it usually took me. I hadn’t even realized I’d been walking so fast.
Unlocking my door, I was careful not to step on the trash bag I had left behind the door this morning, too lazy to carry it downstairs. Yep, I was that person. Thankfully, my landlords didn’t care.
I had my own entrance, so I wouldn’t bother the Olsens when I came home at various times during the day. Or night. They were amazing. So leaving my garbage out wasn’t an issue that would get me into trouble.
Despite the trash bag behind the door, my apartment was tidy. I wasn’t someone who had to keep their living space spotless, but I liked to have things in order. Since I had moved here with no furniture, I was ecstatic when the Olsens said the apartment was furnished. It had a homey feel…and I loved it. The couch, chairs, and everything else had an old-school flair, but they had managed to keep it contemporary with modern flower vases and a high-tech sound system. It was a crazy mix of old and new. And I couldn’t have been happier with it.
As I walked into the kitchen, I put my bag down on the granite countertop and grabbed a water bottle out of the fridge. The light of my answering machine blinked, so I went over and pushed the button. A second later, my dad’s voice boomed through the room.
“Hey, sweet cheeks. How is everything going? Your mother and I miss you. We haven’t heard anything from you since you left. Can you call us? Please? I know you’re trying to forget, and I respect that, just like I respect your wish to be away from here. But your family still misses you. Don’t punish us.”
His voice wasn’t condescending or reproachful, and it wouldn’t have been like him to let those emotions show anyway. He was a factual guy. For him, this call wasn’t about making his daughter feel bad. It was about stating a simple fact—my family missed me. All the memories, all the things I wanted to forget, flooded back when his voice echoed through the room.
“I miss you, too,” I whispered, knowing the people who needed to hear my words were a few thousand miles away.
Sighing, I deleted my dad’s message and walked over to the couch. As I got comfortable, I suddenly wished for a glass of wine, pretty sure it would help drown my sorrows. Too bad I drank the last bottle the other night. I hadn’t had time to get a new one, which I now regretted more than anything.
Your family misses you.
My dad’s words replayed in my head. I hadn’t even told them the real
reason I left. All they knew was it was too hard for me to live there. That was as far as my explanation went. No need to tell them all the ugly details of the worst night of my life.
I shook those thoughts off. Get a grip, Emlyn. You can do better than this. It hasn’t even been a few weeks, but you’re already starting to show cracks. You moved away to start new, not let everything come back to haunt you.
The little pep talk I gave myself helped slightly, but I still felt the aftereffects of my dad’s phone call. I knew I needed to call them. Picking up the phone didn’t mean the end of the world. And it most certainly didn’t mean I was ready for the memories to overwhelm me once more. I was simply a daughter calling her parents because she missed them.
Feeling better with my newfound resolve, I got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen once more. Since it was dinnertime, I needed to check out what the fridge held. As I opened it, I saw there wasn’t much to work with. A few carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, a little bit of cheese and chicken, and a bottle of juice. Yeah, a trip to the store was in order.
I grabbed everything I needed to make a salad, as well as the chicken. Guess that meant I would have a healthy dinner for once. I could’ve ordered pizza, but considering I had done that every day this week, I thought it was time for a change.
Twenty minutes later, salad and chicken in hand, I sat down at the counter, devouring the food while reading a few pages of my book. This was the only time I used for reading, so I tried to sit down at least once a day to have an actual meal.
When my doorbell rang, I cursed. Seriously? Who’d ring my doorbell at seven p.m.?
I opened the door, surprise crossing my face. “Mrs. Olson?” My landlord was the last person I expected. This wasn’t usual for her, so my mind immediately went to the worst-case scenario. “Is your husband okay?”
She smiled. “Yes, Emlyn. He’s perfectly fine. I’m really sorry to bother you, but I took dear Josie out for a walk and found this in front of your entrance.” She held out a letter that looked strangely familiar. “It looks old and important, so I figured I should give it to you before someone found it and took it away.”
Old and important… The letter. How had I forgotten about it again? And when did I lose it?
“Thank you. That’s very kind of you.”
I had no idea why this kept happening. One minute, I was all over this letter and the strange sensations attached to it, and the next, it was as if I never even received it. When I had stepped through my door, all thoughts of the mysterious letter had disappeared. Gone. Poof.
“No worries at all. I figured you might want it.”
I took the letter from her and turned it over. When had I lost it? “Thank you.” It was all I could think of to say.
“Anyway, I’ll leave you alone so you can go back to the things young people do in the evenings these days.” Mrs. Olson always made that joke, even though she knew exactly how I spent my evenings—binge-watching Netflix.
“Well, you know us young folks. We’re partying, drinking, doing things you’d rather not know about.” I grinned, earning a smile in return.
“Good night, Emlyn.”
“Good night, Mrs. Olson. Say hi to your husband for me.” With a final nod, she left.
I returned to the kitchen and set the note on the counter, telling myself there was no use in rereading it again. I finished my salad, the letter a constant reminder there was something waiting for me when I was done. The queasy feeling had returned, but not as strong as before. It was like a constant hum under the surface, never breaking through. As if my body were alert, yet didn’t really have any idea what to do with the feeling.
One thing I knew for certain was I wanted to check out that weird website.
After cleaning up the dishes—thank goodness for a dishwasher—I went over to the couch, letter in hand. My small, black laptop was on the small table right next to it, so I quickly grabbed the device and turned it on. After a few seconds, my wallpaper appeared. The picture, one I took myself, showed the waterfall behind the house I grew up in. It wasn’t anything special, but it reminded me of all the waterfalls I wanted to travel to when I was younger. I might only be twenty-four, but on some days, I felt more like fifty. On others, I felt as if I hadn’t lived at all.
Next to me, the note glared. It was almost as if the letters screamed at me, begging me to use them for their intended purpose. What exactly was it, though? A cryptic message? A website full of mumbo jumbo? I groaned and let my head fall back onto the cushion. This was crazy. Why did I let a random letter get to me? It could be a prank, someone thinking it was a funny joke.
Yeah, I already went down that path, didn’t I? I already realized it was quite the trouble for someone to go through.
The mysterious guy popped up in my mind. Who was he? Why did he give this to me? How did he disappear so quickly?
I knew I only delayed the inevitable. In the end, I’d check out the website. I was way too curious not to. After all, it seemed to be what the sender intended.
Taking a deep breath, I opened the browser, waiting for it to load, then typed the string of letters into the address bar.
I almost expected an error message to show up. It didn’t.
The website looked ominous. The dark blue background almost seemed black, giving the whole page a bleak and harsh look. Additionally, there was no text, no pictures, nothing.
As I squinted and took a closer look, I noticed there actually was writing. The color of the text was so close to the background, it was almost indistinguishable. I tried enlarging it, but it didn’t make a bit of difference. Highlighting it helped. Two words showed up. Sadly, they made even less sense than the address of the webpage.
Lake
Bench
Did they want me to go shopping at Bench? Maybe they left me secret clues to find one of those limitless credit cards so I could finally get everything I ever wanted. That would be pretty nice of them. Not that I honestly considered it a possibility.
I spent twenty minutes going through every sub-section I could find, positive I’d found all the words on the page. In addition to lake and bench, I added church, key, mistake, lion, and walls. None of the words made any sense. Even less when you put them all together. I didn’t understand any of it, feeling frustration rise within me.
I scribbled the words into my notebook, then closed my laptop.
Lake, bench, church, key, mistake, lion, and walls.
Seven words with no hidden meaning I could readily make out.
Enough. I needed to let this go. Whatever this was. The website didn’t prove fruitful, and I shouldn’t spend all my time on some cryptic, probably made-up message that didn’t lead anywhere.
I crumbled the paper and threw it. It landed somewhere behind one of the TV shelves, but I couldn’t care less. I would not let this weirdo message mess with my mind. I had seen my fair share of TV shows, but that didn’t mean my life suddenly turned into a mystery novel. My heart had sped up a little, so I tried to breathe calmly and easily in order to get it back to normal.
Feeling better about the whole thing, I grabbed the remote from the coffee table and turned on the TV. This was what I should’ve done the moment I finished eating—watch TV, relax, and read. The same things I always did since I moved here. Nothing should’ve changed in the first place. I decided on another rerun of Arrow, then lay back with my current book. Five minutes in, I’d forgotten all about the letter.
Yes, it was perfection.
Chapter Three
When I got to work the next morning, the letter was a memory.
“Morning, Emlyn. Are you feeling okay?” Jeff greeted me, making me arch a brow in question. “You’re on time. Don’t think that’s happened too often since you started here.” He grinned. I thought about sticking out my tongue, but decided against it. I was too old for that.
“Yep. I actually got up when my alarm went off. That’s a new thing for me.”
“Might want to kee
p it up. Just imagine all the things you can get done if you get here fifteen minutes early.” The smile on his face got bigger with each word.
I rolled my eyes. “You think you’re really funny, don’t you?”
“Yes. And there’s nothing you can do or say that will make me believe otherwise. Now, get changed and go out there. A few of the regulars are already here.” He vanished into the kitchen.
I quickly made my way in and out of the changing room, then greeted the four regulars who already sat at their designated tables.
“Same as usual?” I asked. When they all nodded, I went to work, preparing their drinks and getting the bagels ready. It paid off to know what your usual customers wanted in the early morning hours.
“There you go,” I said as I put food and drink in front of each of them. “Enjoy.” I walked back behind the counter and grabbed a cup of coffee for myself, feeling my body starting to act up. It needed another caffeine fix. The cup I had at home this morning didn’t cut it.
“Excuse me. Can I get one of those?”
I had my back turned, so I didn’t see anyone walk in. But I didn’t need to turn around to recognize that voice. I felt it in every inch of my body. The velvet sound was like a warm blanket wrapping itself around me. As I slowly turned, I saw him standing there, hands in the pockets of his jeans, a sheepish expression on his face. Something felt different. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but the weird sensations that had accompanied him yesterday were gone.
“One of… A coffee?” I babbled, making me cringe inwardly.
“Yes…,” he replied with a soft smile.
I turned and poured a cup. “Milk? Sugar?”
“No, nothing. Just black.”
I handed him the cup, careful not to touch any part of him I had no business touching. His hand looked callused and soft at the same time, making me wonder what he did for a living. Butterflies fluttered around my stomach.
