At this, he gnashed his teeth.
“Fine. If that’s the way you want to play it, then I’ll just go ahead and cancel your welcome home party. But you’re really hurting Regina and Sissy’s feelings. They went completely above and beyond to make sure your party was the best one possible. And now you’re telling me all you want to do is stay at home and catch up on your sleep? Just what the hell were you doing in that hospital bed, break-dancing?”
That last word gave me another pause. I barely understood what the word meant, and it was only because I’d heard it once mentioned in a movie from the 1980s.
“Not exactly,” I said, answering before too much time had passed in silence. “I’m not even sure how I wound up in the hospital in the first place.”
Keith snickered, slapping his turn signal downward.
“That’s rich. I can’t believe you went on another drinking binge, Tyler. Didn’t you learn anything last time that happened?”
I hadn’t a single clue as to what he was talking about. The more he pressed me on anything from before Thursday, the more I realized he’d soon catch me in a web of lies. I had to be upfront with him, even if it meant hurting him.
“I’m sorry, Keith,” I began. “I’m not the man you think I am.”
He took the off-ramp at Exit 161 on I-25, a guffaw exploding from his lips as he navigated toward our destination. I looked down at the clock and realized we’d been driving for more than an hour. Getting out of Denver had been far easier than I realized, but we were going in the opposite direction of Seattle.
“I’m been having my doubts about you for quite some time, Tyler. You just don’t seem to be that into me these days. What did I ever do to upset you?”
“Okay, that’s it! You keep calling me Tyler, but the matter of fact is, I’m not Tyler Jonson. My name is Austin Teph. I’m originally from Seattle, and I have no idea how I ever got to Colorado.”
We waited at the end of the off-ramp for a good minute and a half, the traffic light fixated on the crisscrossing route instead. In that time, I stared at him, hoping for a response. Finally, as the light changed to green, he busted out with another hearty laugh.
“That’s a good one, Ty. You really know how to crack a joke. Just another reason I love you so.”
“Excuse me?” Confusion clung to my brain as I tried to figure him out. Either he suffered from the greatest denial any human ever knew, or he really thought that I was someone I wasn’t.
“You’re such a kidder. It’s why you’re such a hit at the Improv on Thursday nights.”
“I’m telling you the truth. I’m not from around here. I was born in Seattle, Washington, and that’s where I’ve lived for all my life until two days ago. I’m a student at the University of Washington, and I missed a critical quarter examination because someone’s playing a rotten trick on me.”
“Sure you did,” he said, throwing down his hand as if to dismiss my assertion. “Tyler, you’d better get this out of your system while it’s just the two of us here in the car. The others don’t appreciate your sense of humor like I do.”
“Whatever,” I said, and crossed my arms.
“Goddamn it, Tyler. Stop being so dramatic.”
I fell back in my seat and looked out my window, saying nothing more for now.
He turned onto Third Street, just beyond the local 7-Eleven. Cracks in the pavement made the road appear as though it’d taken a lot of abuse through the winter months. For now, there didn’t appear to be any trace of snow, on the ground or falling from the sky. I hoped to high hell Tyler had plenty of winter clothes that would fit me when I got to his and Keith’s apartment, just in case there was a late-season chill.
A giant sign towered over the roadway, introducing this part of town as Historic Monument right in front of the post office. Keith pulled into the parking lot and parked in front of the building, rushing to get out without muttering a word to me. I stayed buckled in my seat, mulling over the option of bolting on him right then and there. But not knowing anyone in the town of Monument, I decided not to press my chances of running into someone else who might mistake me for Tyler Jonson.
As it turned out, I didn’t even have enough time to open the door. Keith climbed back in and fired up his Honda again before my fingers could unfasten my seat-belt. He breathed a sigh of relief and tossed a package over the driver’s seat. It landed in the back with a light thud.
“So glad the post office didn’t lose my mail this time around,” he said, the faintest touch of annoyance clinging to his voice.
“You have a problem with mail delivery here?” I asked, mostly to just make small talk. Part of me, however, honestly wanted to learn as much as I could about this town, just in case I had any other opportunity to reach out to my real mom or Tony.
“Just a little bit. I’ve been waiting for my prescription drugs to arrive. The people here don’t seem to understand how to read the mailing labels.”
He pulled out of the parking lot and back onto Third Street, heading west.
“They really need to do better with that,” I agreed. “If they lose your medication, it could threaten your life.”
“They won’t,” Keith blurted out. He seemed to catch himself a second later, for he cleared his throat. “Thanks for worrying about me, though.”
I tried not to look at him when he said that, out of fear he might snap at me for blinking the wrong way.
“Do you think someone might be stealing them out of your parcels?”
He hit the blinker at Beacon Lite Road, indicating another right. He glanced southbound, then made the turn, a low grumble in his throat.
“I’ll kill anyone who so much as touches my meds,” he said in a far darker tone.
I looked down at him and noticed the tattoos running down the length of his arm. There were swords and serpents galore, and the ridge of his bicep did not escape my notice. He certainly seemed rather built. Had he ever struck Tyler in the heat of the moment?
Better not ask, Austin. No way of knowing how he’ll react to you.
“Has the post office ever apologized for losing your stuff?”
Keith let out a nasty chuckle.
“Are you kidding, man? This is the damn U.S. government we’re talking about. They lose half of everything they touch and then some. I’m lucky to get even one package intact.”
“I didn’t realize you had such a hatred for the government,” I said, not sure of what else to say.
He slammed the brakes in the middle of the road, nearly causing me whiplash. I glanced forward and in the rearview mirrors to find no one coming in either direction. As I caught my breath, I saw him clenching his fist at me
“Are you stupid or something, Tyler? I always rant about our elected officials. What’s wrong with you?”
I didn’t say anything at all, fearing he might pull a gun on me right then.
Snorting his discontent, Keith made a final right into the driveway of an apartment complex. I tried to get a glimpse of the sign out front indicating the exact location, but he turned into the driveway so quickly I didn’t get a good enough glance of the property’s name. He then parked in front of Unit 20, bolting from the car as soon as he had the door open. I watched him fiddle with the key on his chain before he entered what had to be his apartment. He went in and almost shut the door behind him before he realized I hadn’t gotten out yet. A sudden thrust of his hand and the glare in his eyes convinced me not to piss him off even further. As I stepped onto the sidewalk and made my way over to the apartment, I happened to notice a middle-aged Latino woman staring at me with a faded glint in her eyes. I tried to smile at her but she turned away from me, as if she was afraid of something.
“Are you coming or not, Tyler?” Keith’s voice boomed from just beyond the glass of his living room window.
I drew a deep breath before heading inside. Another glimpse over my shoulder revealed that the Latino woman had disappeared.
CHAPTER 6
APAR
TMENT LIFE
Keith’s Apartment
Monument, Colorado
4:44 pm MDT,
Friday, March 18, 2016.
The second I went inside, I excused myself from Keith’s presence and rushed to the bathroom, apparently on the second floor of the apartment. I locked the door, more to ensure my safety than for privacy. Something told me Keith was probably psychotic enough to walk in on Tyler whenever he felt like it. I took my time tending to my needs, thankful that he never intruded.
After I relieved myself, I washed my hands and noticed the medicine cabinet. With the water still running, I quietly opened the cabinet. Inside I found half-used toothpaste, deodorant, mouthwash, and floss. These things didn’t excite me, but it was good to know we weren’t out of the main essentials.
What did catch my interest, however, was the fact that there were prescription bottles, at least ten to fifteen, all in Keith’s name. I quietly whistled at this while trying to read each label individually. A pounding at the door interrupted me.
“Are you okay in there, Tyler?”
Recalling his threat towards anyone who messed with his medications, I shut the cabinet and twisted the faucet valve to the off position. A second later, my hand reached for the door.
The lock came undone and the door flew open towards me, nearly conking me in the forehead. I stepped back and looked to see that Keith had a key in his hand for the bathroom lock. Another glance at the door revealed no deadbolt.
“You had a key to this door?” I asked him.
“You weren’t answering,” he said, abruptly changing the subject. “I thought you might have hit your head.”
The lump in my throat became harder to ignore.
“It’s as if you don’t trust me,” I said, careful not to bring up the fact I wasn’t Tyler to his face a third time.
“You’ve been talking gabbitycock, like I’ve said,” he said, twisting his lips into a dark smile. “How am I supposed to trust you if you keep trying to deceive me?”
I thought of an answer, but couldn’t spit one out fast enough.
“Oh, and you can just avoid Mrs. Eckerty. The damn lady’s not going to be a thorn in my side much longer. I’m one phone call away from having her and her whole family deported. Well, I guess I can’t deport her husband, which is a damn shame. Carl Eckerty should have known better than to marry someone who didn’t even have a green card to be in this country.”
The more Keith ran his mouth, the more I wanted to stuff my ears with cotton balls. I stepped out of the bathroom—he allowed me to pass—and went to find the bedroom he shared with the real Tyler.
“Do you really have to do that, Keith? Can’t we just leave the Eckertys alone? They haven’t done anything to us.”
“Juanita Eckerty spends too much time prying into other people’s business. I refuse to have her shit on me.”
“I could talk to her and ask her to stop it if you want.”
“Hell no,” Keith said, his eyes wide with hostility. “I’m not allowing you to go near her. She’s gonna get deported and that’s the end of that.”
Remorse filled my heart. “How can you be so cruel to her like that? She’s not harming us any.”
Keith grunted. “Bullshit.”
He went to turn on his phone like he meant to carry out his threat. I didn’t know who Mrs. Eckerty was, but I wasn’t about to let Keith take his anger out on an innocent. More likely he was mad with me because I didn’t reciprocate his kiss. Mrs. Eckerty just happened to be an easy scapegoat for him.
“Enough, Keith!” I said. “I won’t talk to her, but only if you leave her alone. To be honest, I don’t see why you feel threatened by her.”
“She’s an evil woman who probably laces tea with cyanide every time she has company over.”
I tilted my head sideways at him. Just what the hell did Tyler Jonson ever see in this guy?
Then Keith murmured something I didn’t catch, his lips scarcely moving at all. He shook the car keys in his hands and headed back toward the door.
“I need to go find Regina and Sissy,” he said, storming out of the bathroom in a huff. “They should have been here by now. Why can’t people just cooperate with me even a little bit?”
I followed him to the front door, but stopped dead in my tracks, my shoes skidding on the thin carpet that blanketed the floor. Keith came marching back at me without warning. The glare he cast my way made him look like his eyeballs might pop right out of their sockets.
“You don’t dare talk to Mrs. Eckerty, or I will have her deported. Got it?”
“Got it.” I gave him a slow nod, wary not to breathe the wrong way or else further risk his wrath. My mind thought back to those medications in the bathroom cabinet. Surely, they had to be the reason behind his foul temper.
I’ve either got to get away from this guy, or find a way to dispose of those drugs without him getting mad about it.
Then, as I stood there waiting for him to leave, a dark thought wormed its way through my brain. Was Keith the reason I wound up in the hospital in the first place? And what happened to the real Tyler Jonson?
Keith eyed me with a glint of suspicion, his lips rolling again as he whispered more things to himself. He looked down at his hands and made like he was trying to do some math with the way he tapped his fingers, folding them one at a time.
“That’s better,” he said with a grin, his lungs heaving a wave of relief into the apartment air. “I don’t know why I ever doubted you, honey.”
He rolled on his heels as if about to launch himself into me. Instead, he twisted about, and left the apartment an instant later. I waited, half-expecting him to storm right back in, demanding to know what I was up to. After a minute or two of silence, I heard the Honda roar to life. I snuck over to the front window and tugged on the blinds. Out in the parking lot, Keith pulled his car all the way to the empty spaces on the other side, blocking the stall of whoever lived on that side of the complex. A second later, his car passed by the window before vanishing from view.
I rested my head on the window frame. A groan erupted from my throat. How long was he going to be gone, and was there anything I could do to stop him when he returned?
As I stared into the parking lot, I caught another glimpse of Mrs. Eckerty out there. She held a measuring cup in one hand. White powder on her apron and the sleeves of her shirt suggested she’d been in the middle of baking. Her stride proved rather bold, like she had something of grave importance to tell me. I waved my arms back and forth for her not to come over, but this only seemed to further encourage her.
I don’t want you to get deported, Mrs. Eckerty. Please go away.
She disappeared from my view as she reached the front door. A second later, I heard a faint tap. Not finding Keith anywhere in sight, I dashed to the front door and twisted the knob to the right. A second later, I saw Mrs. Eckerty up close and personal. Her eyes glimmered with life, even though her hair was barely held together in a bun.
“Hello,” she said in a thick Hispanic accent. “I was hoping you had some sugar I could borrow. I’m trying to bake cookies for my kids.”
I shook my head, not having the slightest clue of what lay in the kitchen cupboards.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think Keith has any sugar here,” I told her, tripping over my own answer in the process. I’d forgotten all too easily how I was supposed to be Tyler Jonson, not Austin Teph.
She nodded. “It’s okay. I can always run to the store later. Do you need anything?” she offered.
Another twist of my head came.
“We’re quite all right, but thank you all the same.”
I went to shut the door, my efforts to be polite running rather thin. I didn’t get it latched in time as she managed to stick her foot in front of the door, blocking it.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think you should be talking to me right now,” I told her, frowning. “Keith doesn’t really want you to come in.”
Mrs. Eckerty
didn’t back down. “What about you? Are you okay? Do you need to talk to someone?”
I pulled the door back, but blocked her entry into Keith’s home with my arm.
“Keith’s threatening to have you deported if he catches me talking with you. I don’t want that to happen.”
Mrs. Eckerty raised her brow at me. “And how exactly will he get me deported? I legally married my husband.”
“I guess you have a point.”
“Yes, I do. May I please come in?”
I looked beyond her at the parking lot again. Still no sign of Keith. With great reluctance, I retracted my arm. As I went to reach for the door, she beat me to the knob and locked the door herself.
“I won’t be here for long. I only need a moment more of your time,” she said with a frown.
My knuckles rested on my hips.
“So why are you still here?”
She looked over at the TV mounted on the wall. Then her eyes scanned the room as if she were searching for the remote control.
“Could you turn on the TV for me for a second? I want to see if the news is on.”
I led her into the living room, spotting the remote on the table to the right of the couch. It lay buried under a lot of brochures that featured the Space Needle with Mount Rainier in the background. I could barely pry myself away from the documents burying the remote. A second later, I handed the controller to her. She put on a newscast that I ignored for the most part.
“Are you and your boyfriend taking a trip up north?” she asked, eyeing the travel brochures during a commercial break.
“Not that I’m aware of,” I lied. Naturally, I was going back to my home state. I just hadn’t realized the extent to which Keith obsessed over my own state.
She looked about ready to say something else, but then the news report went to breaking news.
“We just got a report that the young man involved in that accident in Castle Rock two weeks ago, Tyler Jonson, has passed away from his injuries.”
“Wait! What?” My mind couldn’t wrap itself around the fact that the news reporter had mentioned Tyler Jonson. Had Keith really mistaken me for his lover after all?
Life Flashes Page 4
