For
a moment when Johnny opened his eyes he felt confusion and couldn’t remember where
he was. A beam of sunlight hitting his eyes that was cutting through the black
out curtains on the windows made it difficult for him to focus. He lifted his
head to escape the blinding light and saw people asleep around him all over the
living room. He tried to remember
what happened but it was hazy after he ate the food. He considered that this
bunch of surf town dudes might have laced the feast they had prepared for this shindig. He checked his clothes and
there were no signs of a struggle or that anything had been removed. He could smell the food again and
looked over to the table and saw that enough was left to give him a good start
but he didn’t want to take a chance that he would be out of it again. Whatever
he couldn’t remember didn’t matter and his mind once again became driven on thoughts
of getting to Tatiana’s house. He crept over the passed out partygoers and
headed out again towards Tatiana’s house.
The
morning air was brisk and the city so quiet he could hear his footsteps echo as
he walked. He liked this time of day when no one was about and all asleep in
their beds. Movement was easier and unfettered by the interruption of people
moving to and fro on all sides. By
the time he reached Tatiana’s house it was mid afternoon and he could feel the
weight of his legs as his light headed hunger tormented him to singularly focus
on rest and nutrition. He went up to the door without trepidation this time
knowing he had pulled off a great scam that all were benefiting from including
Tatiana and she would surely be his welcoming protector again.
When
he put his hand to the back screen door it jarred his hand off when the door
didn’t open from the pulling thrust of his exuberance. He tried again and it was clear that
the screen door was now locked. He became puzzled and his adrenaline shook off
his focus of hunger and rest and put his brain on overdrive. He scurried to the
window to look inside and saw that there was nothing left in the kitchen and items
were strewn in a way to confirm a quick clean out. He went to peer into the
other windows and found the same thing and knew that Tatiana had left along
with Rooskie. But where? He had no idea and his heart sank as he drove his
fingers into his head trying to end the pain of what he felt from this
abandonment until he remembered Rooskie’s room. He could go into it now that
they were gone and see what else he could find. Surely he would find Tatiana again and if he had enough he
could eliminate Rooskie permanently. He broke the window and climbed in the
window.
The
house was dusky, dark and smelled stale and not a sound was heard but his own steps
as he walked through the hallway towards Rooskie’s room. The liberation he felt
in finally being able to walk into his room without about worrying whether he
would be caught and punished exhilarated Johnny even more. When he thrust the
door open only scraps of unused packing paper lifted slightly off the floor. Rooskie had taken everything in that
room with him and there was nothing to gain here. Johnny felt
defeated and confused. His head
sagged and just then something shiny pierced through his teary eye. He wiped
away his tears and picked up the object hoping he had found something of value.
Twirling it around in his hand he realized it was a small hair accessory that
was cheap and the kind you would find at a discount store. Johnny threw it back down to the ground
with a disgusted throw, it had no value to him and now he had another
problem; he was alone again and broke.
Johnny
decided he would spend some time resting here with the slight hope that Tatiana would return and began looking for any scraps
of food that may have been left behind. The kitchen looked like the other rooms
in the house; completely cleaned out but Johnny found some stale bread pieces
that had apparently fallen out into one of the drawers and quickly ate them. He found no other food. Johnny’s sadness in Tatiana leaving him
overwhelmed him as he curled into a ball on the kitchen floor wanting to
disappear.
