The Seventh Day – Day Two : Part I

If you haven’t read the past installments the links are below.

I – II –III– IV– V–VI–VII–VIII– IX

“Hello … hello?” It took everything in me to roll over and answer the phone ringing on my nightstand.

“Seriously, Josh?” Kristi hissed.

“What’s wrong?”

“After yesterday you’re hungover again? I can’t believe this!”

“But I’m not,” I implored weakly. “I’m just sick I guess.”

“Honest?”

“Yeah, I didn’t have anything to drink yesterday after you left, I swear.”

“You sound terrible then.”

I let out a small sigh of relief hearing the sympathy in her voice. “Yeah, I don’t feel good. Everything hurts, especially my hand.” Wincing after applying very mild pressure over the bandage on my hand told me I might have a wicked infection brewing which was the last thing a guy who codes for a living needs.

“What’s wrong with your hand?”

“I cut it last night on ….” I had no desire to get Kris involved in any of Tyler’s shady crap at all and trailed off. “A glass I broke last night. I thought I cleaned it out but maybe not.”

“Oh. Do you think it’s infected?”

“I don’t know, maybe.”

“It sounds like you need to go to the doctor.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Josh, I just started to kind of like you again this morning. Now is not the time to be stubborn, especially with your health. Ever heard of a little thing called sepsis, ‘cuz that could be where this is heading if you don’t get it taken care of.”

“Maybe,” I grumbled.

“Alright, I’m getting ready to leave Mom and Dad’s so it’ll be a solid two hours before I can get there. Can Tyler take you to urgent care?”

I had to smile a little at Kristi’s literal shudder at the mere mention of Ty’s name. “He’s not home. Or at least he wasn’t. He was going to stay over at some girl’s place.”

“I can’t imagine the level of skank you have to be sleep with that creep.”

“I can always drive myself.” I swung my legs over the bed and stood up on unsteady legs, instantly feeling woozy. “Or maybe not. I’m pretty dizzy.”

“If you’re that sick I don’t even trust him to get you to the doctor. If it can wait two hours I’ll come straight there and pick you up.”

As terrible as I felt that was all of the convincing I needed. Kris always said that I’m a gigantic baby when I’m sick, and maybe she was right. However, I was relatively healthy, so I always pinned my infantile behavior on the fact that I was out of practice. I don’t think Kris minded much either. Naturally a nurturing person, she seemed to get some joy out of taking care of someone she cared about.

Mustering my strength, I fumbled my way down the hall to the bathroom and hated what I saw when I got there. I had huge dark circles under my eyes and was a little on the pale side. “Definitely sick,” I muttered. As I put my palms on the sink to help steady myself, I immediately pulled back my left one. The hand was throbbing and I started to worry that Kris was right about sepsis. It seemed way to fast though, just a little over twelve hours, but God knows what sort of germs were on that thing. Of course, being on display it should have been relatively clean.

I took my temperature three times because it couldn’t have been right the first time at 98.2 but they all came back about the same and nothing that even hinted of a fever. It seemed crazy at first but I actually felt a little better when I realized that I could just have some random bug that would pass in a day or two and the hand was just a coincidence. I’ll take two minor things over one massive one any day.

I decided to check the hand and caught a whiff of something unpleasant as I got the last of the gauze off. The bandage itself had taken on a nasty looking dark red color. “That’s not good,” I said as I pulled back the bandage. Beet red and tumescent, it looked to be clearly infected. “Stupid Tyler,” I groused. Wincing as I lightly pressed on it, a small drop of pus leaked out of one side.

If the pressure was relieved it wouldn’t be so painful and I really wanted the throbbing to stop, so I decided to do something that Kris would be sure to yell at me about if she found out. I retrieved the smallest hobby knife from my kit and doused it in peroxide for good measure when I got back to the bathroom. I took a deep breath and cursed Ty as I barely worked the tip into the spot that was leaking. The blade was thin enough and sharp enough that the pain was minimal.

More thin, bloody pus started to flow but there wasn’t enough flow to make much progress without help, so I gritted my teeth and squeezed. The stream that rocketed from the wound hurt bad enough that I let out a small scream. It was worth it, however as the pain was far better and the multicolored tableau plastered across the mirror was at the same time gross yet cool looking.

As I rewrapped the hand, I had half a mind to leave it for Ty to clean up as punishment, but most likely Kris would be there first and that wouldn’t end well for me. I went to the kitchen to get the cleaning supplies and stopped cold. Sitting in the middle of the table was the statue. Momentarily freaked out, my fear soon turned to annoyance. Ty’s date must not have gone well and I just hadn’t hear him come in. I didn’t know why he would bring the statue out of his room, though. Maybe it was too creepy and he couldn’t sleep and leaving a $100,000 stolen statute in the middle of the kitchen was just stupid enough to have been a drunk Tyler decision.

With towels and glass cleaner in hand I burst through Tyler’s door with a scream. “Get up asshole! You get the clean the mirror because … what the hell?” No Tyler, no clothes from yesterday in a pile, and no duffel bag. I checked the bed and the sheets were ice cold. He must have come back for something, pot maybe, and moved it out there to screw with me. I checked the fake soda can that he hid it stash in and found it empty as was his bag of smoking implements. “Skanky girl must have been out I guess.”

Ty may have been a selfish ass, but that was one area where he generally was accommodating. I didn’t like drugs of any sort and Kris hated them. Ty knew that I’d prefer he not keep anything in the house at all, but if he insisted on having it, he had to keep it in his room and never use in the house. I had yet to see him break the rule though, so I had to give him credit for that at least.

In the bathroom I sprayed down the mirror and started to clean. At first the mirror was covered in a goopy mess that just wanted to smear. After two wads of towels and a third spray it was finally getting clean. Working from the top down, I reached the point that was even with my head and jumped. Spinning around I yelled at Ty, “Where the hell did you come from?” I looked around, but no Ty. I thought it was him, but maybe not. “Kris?” I called, but got no answer.

I scoured the house looking for whoever it was I saw moving, but the house was empty. I checked every room and found no cars in the driveway save for my own. I was still not running a fever, so I couldn’t have been hallucinating. I just chalked it up to being sick, exhausted, pissed at Ty, and stressed about the fight with Kristi. I usually don’t see things, but I must have this time. Returning to the bathroom to finish the mirror, I realized that there was no way it could have been Tyler or Kristi as they are both shorter than me, and who I saw behind me was taller than I was. 

“You need a nap, Josh,” I reassured myself. “And some medicine couldn’t hurt either.” I hoped whatever I had wasn’t contagious so I could talk Kris into taking a nap with me. I was never a napper unless I was hungover or sick, but if she fell asleep on or next me, I was out like a light.

By the time I finished getting dressed I only had about an hour until she was supposed to get here, so I turned my attention to the hideous hunk of rock taking up residence in the middle of my table. I sat at the table and called Tyler. Instead of moving it back to his room, I wanted it out of the house before Kris got here. After several rings, Ty finally picked up and sounded cagey from the start.

“Hey, man. How ya feeling?”

I was taken aback by the odd question since he didn’t know I was sick. “Like hell. Why’d you ask that?”

The phone went silent save for the grinding of Ty’s teeth. “Your hand. That was a nasty cut.”

“It’s really infected and Kris is going to take me to the doctor. Why didn’t you take this damn statue with you when you were here?”

“What are you talking about?”

An annoyed growl rumbled in my throat. I was way too sick to play his stupid games. “I put it in your room after you left it in the hall last night. Now I’m staring at it in the middle of the kitchen table.”

“Yeah, I …” Ty trailed off again and there was the sound of more grinding.

“You what?”

“You know what, I think you’re right. I was pretty wasted last night and now that I think about it, I might have come in.”

“Is that why your stash is gone?”

“Must be. I guess I moved the statue and forgot to put it back.”

Ty’s story sounded really thin to me, but I was too sick to care. “I need you to come get this thing out of the house, now! Kris will be here in like an hour and if she sees it, things are going to explode again once she finds out the truth.”

“Lie dude. It’s easy.”

“I don’t lie to Kris.”

A heavy sigh came though the speaker on my phone. “You’re really going to pull this crap now?”

“Yes!” I hissed. “And I’m not sticking up for you either. Knowing Kris, she’ll call the cops on you. Jail is a really easy way to get you to move out.”

“You’d let her call the cops on me? Your best friend. Besides, think of the money.”

It was my turn to go silent. We both knew I’d never let that happen and the money would be good too. I sighed in defeat, rationalizing that I could use the money to finally buy Kris the long overdue ring. “Fine, but you still need to get this stupid thing out of here and you have like fifty minutes to do it.”

“Can’t do it, bro. I’m at least an hour away right now. I’d never beat bitch face there. Just hold it for a few days then I’ll get it out. Promise,” Tyler said.

“It’s been a day and I just don’t want it here anymore. Not only is it stolen but it’s friggin’ creepy.”

“I thought you liked creepy stuff.”

“Not like this.”

“Just stick it under my bed. It’ll be fine and I promise that I’ll come get it as soon as I can.”

“You damn well better!” I growled into the phone and hung up. I got a bottle of water from the fridge then took a seat at the table. A message from Kris said she was forty-five minutes out. I sat back in the chair and groaned, she couldn’t get here soon enough. Looking up from my phone I locked eyes with the statue, not that a hunk of rock could actually look back at me, but it almost felt like it. Crude, yet masterful at the same time, I wondered how old it was and where it came from. Knowing virtually nothing about art and little about ancient history, I had no clue but I kind of thought it looked European. I wasn’t exactly sure why I thought that, maybe because it didn’t stick out as being very distinctive like Asian, or Egyptian, or African art. 

“You’re kind of an ugly bastard, you know that.” Thankfully, it didn’t respond. If it did I think I’d have needed paramedics to restart my heart and not my girlfriend to take me to urgent care.  The statue was disturbing, yet hypnotic, reminiscent of driving by a car wreck. You don’t want to look, but the scene almost demands your attention.

“I wonder what your name is? You could be a Barry, or Chester. Ya know, like an old guy name. Maybe one of those kooky mob nick names like Johnny Two Wings, or Long Tongue Bobby, or Al … uh.” I snapped my fingers trying to come up with something good. “Al … Alichino.” I shook my head trying to figure out where something that random came from when I heard a car door close outside. Hoping Tyler was just BS-ing me like usual about being an hour away and had actually come to get rid of this thing, I took the cap from my water bottle and positioned it in my hand so I could flick it at his head when he came in.

The door closed and I was just about the let the cap fly when in shock I lowered my hand and let the cap fall to the floor. There stood Kris looking at me with an air of pity.

“You look like hell, handsome.”

“I feel like it, but how fast were you driving?”

“What do you mean?”

“A couple of minutes ago you said you were like forty-five minutes out.”

“No, about forty-five minutes ago I said I was forty-five minutes out.”

I looked at the time stamp from her text and she was right, forty-three minutes. It felt like five at the most, so somehow I zoned out while looking at that damn statue on the table. Oh shit! That thing was still here and it was too late to do anything about it. I hoped that she wouldn’t notice because I wasn’t up to figuring out a lie right then. “I guess I just lost track of time, let’s get out of here.”

Kristi went to the closet to get my coat and motioned with her head for me to come on. “You must be sicker than I thought. What the devil is that thing?”

I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”

“Nothing?” Kristi asked suspiciously as she helped me on with my jacket.

“I mean, it’s Ty’s, well his friend’s. He’s like all into goth weird stuff and I think he wanted Tyler to turn it into a bong for him.” While the lie was terrible, feeling as bad as I did it was the best I could muster.

Kristi rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t surprise me in the least. You’ve got to get out of here, Josh. I mean it. Nothing good can come from you two being friends.”

“Maybe you’re right.”

Halfway out the door Kristi stopped abruptly and looked back at me. “Are you saying that I’m right about Tyler?” With a smirk she made a show of checking my temperature with the back of her hand on my forehead. “I don’t feel a fever so you’re probably not delirious. Hmmm, you could be sicker than I thought.”

“Be nice to me, I’m sick.”

“Well, if this illness is having the side effect of helping you think clearly, then maybe we should just go back in.”

“I think I’m dying.”

Kristi unlocked the car with her key fob and let me in. “I suppose since you’re no good to me dead we’ll go. But I’m going to remind you of this the next time he does something stupid. Knowing his track record, we’re probably only minutes away from that too.”

© 2018 Robert Crouse  All Rights Reserved