Heads up, I'm just adding to this a few times every week. nothing is concrete, it's riddled with mistakes and inconsistencies
Drew's eyeballs shifted around quickly as the light shone through the blood vessels in his closed eyelids, filtering the light into bright red blotches, filling Drew with the now familiar worry of the previous evening. His eyes shot open in a slight panic, fearful that he may still be trapped in his dream, but it was just the morning sun shining through his window, warmly nudging him awake.
Drew was laying on the sofa still, his right hand tucked into his boxers, holding himself firmly.
"Was that real, or did I imagine that?" Drew wondered to himself as he glanced toward smear stain on his living room window.
He blinked a few times, pulling his hand out, peeling away the cotton fabric now cemented to his fingers and watched as a few dried translucent white flakes fluttered to the floor. His seed had hardened overnight, fusing the boxers to the back of his hand his hand.
He got up and walked over to his dirty living room window, peering across, looking for the same stain on his neighbor's window. But his neighbors window was clean, and the blinds were opened wide, revealing a calm, orderly apartment.
Drew leaned into his window closer, searching for the same young man as last night. but there was no one.
"What time is time?" Drew groaned as he scratch his head in confusion and looked at the wall clock.
"Fuck!" Drew shouted as he quickly turned around. He had to leave in 10 mins.
Drew hurried to the bathroom, grabbing his work clothes, still strewn about his apartment from the previous day. He quickly hopped in the shower, wincing slightly as the cold water smacked him on the back before becoming temperate. He quickly washed himself, focusing mainly on his essential areas while trying to brush his teeth simultaneously. He then jumped out, water mixed with a touch of soap still running down his person. Drew grabbed his work clothes and clumsily dressed himself before running to his front door, combing his finger through his wet hair as he made his way.
But when Drew got to his front door, he paused and took a deep releiving breath. He then put both of his hands against the door, holding it still while he quietly placed his right ear flat against its back of the door, listening to the sounds in the hallway, while also checking the time on his wall clock.
Drew, now seemingly unconcerned with being late to work, waited a few minutes until he heard the door from across the hall open and close, prompting him to perk up.
Drew stood up straight, checking himself in the side mirror and opened his front door.
Drew fumbled with his keys and bit, pretending to be flustered as a deep voice rang out behind him.
"Good Morning Drew" It was Dominick, Drew’s neighbor from across the hall. "Running a bit behind, I see?"
"Yeah, these keys just are always sinking into the abyss known as my backpack," Drew replied in a cheery voice while also scanning Dom's military uniform with the sides of his eyes.
Drew locked his door and turned, greeting Dom with a smile.
"I was having trouble sleeping last night," Drew told Dom in an exhausted voice. "And when I finally fell asleep, I had the craziest most lucid dream ever and I woke up late."
"Oh yeah, what about?"Dom asked as they made their way to the elevators.
"I'm not entirely sure, but it was definitely crazy."
Drew pressed the down button and stepped back, leaning against Dom as they waited for the elevator.
The sound of another door opening echoed through the hall as the two men waited, and all of a sudden, the young man from Drew’s dream emerged.
The young man stopped before Dom, saluting Dom, and waited.
Drew grabbed Dom's forearm with his right hand and gave it a silent squeeze as Drew’s eyes widened, staring at the young man walking their way.
Dom tugged at his arm slightly, giving Drew the side eye. But Drew didn’t notice, only squeezing Dom's arm even more. He was too focused on the man quickly walking their way.
The man was dressed in a baggy-looking, green camoflaged military uniform, complete with a military cap and sandy colored boots, similar to Dom's uniform.
The man stopped before Dom and saluted vigorously.
Dom pulled at his arm again, snapping it free from Drew’s clutch, and saluted the young man before relaxing their arms.
"This is private, Young," Dom said to Drew as Private Young reached forward, grabbing Drew’s hand, shaking it warmly. "But everybody calls him Cheesecake."
" oh....." Drew mumbled with his mouth agape, not really present, his mind reeling with flashbacks of the previous evening.
Dom stared at Drew, waiting for him to come to life at any moment, saying, "HE just moved down here from Philly. And this is Drew, my neighbor from across the hall. He's usually a bit more lively than this though." Dom chuckled in embarrassment.
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Drew."
But Drew still just stared at Cheesecake in confusion.
"Aren't you gonna ask why we call him Cheesecake?"
Drew remained silent, stuck in his head. So Cheesecake responded.
" Well, my first name is Faron, but I'm a four time 1st place winner of my county's cheesecake eating competition. And when the guys found that out, that's all they started make fun of me a bit and the name kinda stuck."
Drew still didn't respond.
"You’re being a bit rude aren’t you, Drew?
Drew perked up. "Oh oh oh. I apologize. I didn't sleep too well last night," Drew said, pausing briefly seeing if Cheesecake would recognize him, but Cheescake continued to look at Drew normally, so Drew continued and asked. "Say....I haven't seen you somewhere before? Because you seem familiar."
"I do think so. Cheescake responded in and cheery way. " I've only been in the Capitol for a little over a month, and I've only been in this building for a week. Maybe you've seen me around the building in a common area or moving in?
"No, I think I seen you walking around your apartment at night."
Dom and Cheescake looked at each other in confusion as Drew realized what he just said.
"I mean... I'm your window neighbor. Our living room windows come together on the outside inner corner of the building, in a bit of an intrusive way. But yeah, I think I saw you walking around your living room last night actually."
Cheesecake paused as he seemingly began to think to himself in confusion.
"Hmm..... I went to bed pretty early last night, and I don’t remember being in the living room. Maybe I was sleepwalking?" Faron laughed.
"Yeah... maybe." Drew agreed suspiously.
"Well, it was nice to meet you, Drew, but the elevator is taking a while, so I'm just gonna use the steps. I'll bit you at work in a bit Sir." Faron said to Dom and saluted.
Dom saluted Faron back, dismissing him and faron hurried down the steps.
"What the hell was that all about?" Dom asked Drew in confusion. " You were watching him walk around his apartment at night?"
"No, no, no. Not like that." Drew answered Dom as the elevator finally arrived full of people, alarming Drew just as he was about to tell Dom about last night.
Both men got squeezed on the elevator. And as the doors closed Drew leaned into Dom's ear and whispered.
"Remember how I was having trouble sleeping last night?"
"Yes, you've said that about a million times in the past 5 mins"
Drew looked at Dom in slght anger.
"Well, I woke up..... I mean, I think I was awake?"
Dom looked at Drew and raised his left eyebrow. "What do you mean? Were awake or asleep?
"Dom please, will you just bear with me for a moment? Drew commanded Dom. "It was just all so surreal. I woke up, which I mean I felt awake and normal, but everything was covered with these red flashing lights."
"Your walls were made of red flashing lights, like a nughtclub? You must have been dreaming."
"No, my walls were normal. Everything was normal, but there were these bright flashing red lights shining into the living room window. They were so bright that they saturated my whole apartment.
Dom continued listening to Drew.
"When I went to investigate, I realized the flashing was coming from the neighboring window, Cheesecake's window."
"Why didn't you tell him to turn the lights off?"
"Well, I wanted to, but he was in the middle of something.
The elevator doors opened and Drew and Dom walked out.
"What was he doin that you couldn't ask him to stop? Ooh... Was it something naughty?" Dom asked enthusiastically.
Drew sighed, shaking his head disapprovingly, feeling as though Dom wasn't taking this seriously.
"Forget about it." Drew said exhausted and embarrassed.
"No no. I'm sorry. Tell me,I want to know.
I'll tell you about it later. I'm already running late.
Dom threw up his hands, smiling in defeat, unable to hear the end of Drew’s story.
"And remember, a bunch of my co-workers are going to Poets and Bussers for Happy Hour later if you wanna tag along?"
"Ok, I'll let you know, it should be fine. plus I can’t wait to hear about Cheesecake. Maybe I can blackmail him for desserts the next time we go for a team building dinner."
Drew smiled at Dom, rolling his eyes and shouted bye
Drew could never be mad at Dom, even if he didn’t really take Drew seriously most of the time.
Drew bolted out of the apartment building, hastily walking through the busy streets towards the Metro.
He rushed down the escalators into the Metro, yelling loudly and pushing past the people standing in the way on the left side. There was always some oblivious person blocking everyone trying to hurry to their train. Usually a tourist.
He hurried through the turnstile, ignoring the grand concrete repetition of thw station. pushing tourists out of his way and jumped onto the train, settling into his seat and putting on a podcast.
Then, all of a sudden, Drew jumped, feeling a forceful tape on his shoulders and shouted "fuck!"
"I'm sorry to scare you Mr. Drew." A homeless man said with a raspy voice. " I was wondering if you could help me out with a few dollars by any chance?"
"Chance don’t sneak up on me like that!" Drew said slightly angry as he shuffles through his backpack, pulling out $5.
"Thanks, man. I'll getcha later."
Drew laughed. "Chance, I don't think I've ever seen you sober, so I doubt that."
Chance laughed" and with this 5 bucks today ain't gonna be that day either."
Drew's laugh turned to silence as he gave Chance a disapproving look.
"I'm just kidding, Sir. Images take this $5 and go back to school, get a good job, and start a family. Stay on the straight and narrow."
Drew grabbed Chance's arm and sighed. "You know I've been riding this train for 5 years now and you've always been here. I would love to see you happy."
It ain't my fault. It's the system. Plus who saidbI ain't happy?"Drew gave Chance an unimpressed look. "I live in a beautiful city full of great people like you Mr. Drew. I sleep on the Nicest subway system in the whole US and I get to be drunk all day. Who could ask for anything better?"
"But don't you want to be a productive citizen? Don't you want to have a purpose and a place to belong."
I belong right here. It's not glamorous but I do have a purpose. I bring people happiness."
"Yes, everytime someone gives to me they feel good. They feel like good, god fearing people, that care about others and society."
"Is that how you justify taking people's money?"
" Look I'm just saying. Plus it's not their money anyways. It's HIS money."
"HIS money?" Drew responded in confusion.
"What do you mean? Like HIS IMERPERIAL MAJESTY or GOD or something?"
"Now I don't know HIM personally, but yeah they call HIM that sometimes."
"They?" Drew asked more confused than ever.
"Yeah, they. They're everywhere now. In fact they're prolly on the train with us right now."
"They?" Drew asked again with more force and more confusion as he looked around the Metro car, seeing only the usual crowd of people. Some were talking to each other, some where sleeping with their heads leaned against the greasy window of the Subway car, but most were mindlessly scrolling through their phones. Their attention unwavering as they jostled slighty with every turn of the train car.
" Yeah. You know." Chance paused, looking deeply into Drew's eyes. " I'm sure you've seen them. They look just like you and me, but they're different."
"Different...? Them...?" Drew just knew Chance was drunk or on something else. "How are they different?"
"I don't know exactly, but there's something off about them."
"Aren't you already on something?" Drew said forcefully.
"Nope, but I will be!" And Drew noticed an extra $40 in Chance's hand. He had been digging around in Drew's bag during the whole conversation without Drew noticing.
Drew clutched his bag with right hand and tried to snatch the money back with his right, but Chance was too quick.
"What the fuck man! I just gave you food and 5 bucks."
" And I sincerely thank you, but what kinda drugs am I gonna get with $5? Plus, I don’t really want to eat right now. I want to be free!"
And as the train doors opened, Chance lept from his seat and ran off of the train.
Drew tried to catch him but the train doors closed to fast.
Drew sighed and finished his commute. When he arrived to the office he hurried to the conference room as he was already 15 mins late. but to Drew's surprise all of his co workers were still sitting around.
"Did I miss the meeting?" he asked his coworkers Susan.
"No we"re still waiting for Bill." their boss.
"No, he just been in his office all morning.
Did someone go check on him?
no it's only been 15-20mins.
Well, I'll go see if he needs anything.
Ok, but I wouldn't bother him if I were you. he was already in a mood after that email hack yesterday."
"I thought everything turned out all right. IT checked the system, removed the virus, and determined everything was A OK?"
"I don't know. But what I do know is he had a big meeting with all the higher-ups last night and that he was here all evening playing damage control. and of course, Farhad got sacked for opening the email in the first place.'
"I don't think it was his fault, though. the email was sent from within the company, and the link was the same link that was sent to everybody last week with the quarterly report."
"Well, somebody has to take the fall."
drew rolled his eyes at Susan and left the conference room.
The whole office was quiet as he made his way to Bill's office, as everyone was waiting in the conference room. Drew stopped before Bill's closed office door, collecting his thought and hopinng Bill wasn't in a bad mood today, When he heard something.
they were awash in the red glow that was seeping through the bottom of Bill's door, just as his feet were last night. he could also hear weird buzzing along with a low robotic voice from behind the door. the voice was repetitive and seemed to say Work, Worship, despense you are s mindless money machine.
Drew pulled his head back as he looked around the office, wondering if anybody else was hearing this. but the office was quite as everyone was still in the conference room waitng.
Drew wasn't sure of what to do next. should he just walk away and allow his boss to do whatever perverse thing he was doing in his office, or should he knock and get the work day going already. it was after all working hours and Bill did have a responsibility to the company and to his staff.
Drew lifted his hand to knock, pausing momentarily as he second guessed his decision. Then after another second or two he mustered up the courage to knock. But before he could door swung open.
"Why aren't you in the conference room?" An agitated Bill said to Drew. His eyes were red, puffy, and his face seemed to sag low.
"I was just coming to check and make sure everything was ok? We've been waiting for about 30 minutes and I wanted to make sure you didn't need anything."
"Of course, everything's alright." Bill growled, smiling sarcasticly at Drew. "I've only been here all evening making sure everything's 'alright'. And the only thing I 'need' is for my employees to learn the difference between a real and a fake email."
Drew stayed quiet as Bill dismissed him with his eyes. Looking away from Drew, rushing past him. Drew quickly followed suit, catching up with Bill's furious stride into the conference room.
"Ok, everyone. Let's make this quick! We all know what happened yesterday, but the good news is everything's been resolved without serious incident. The bad news is now the higher-ups are on my case, and HR is about to be on yours. So, for the rest of the week, you'll all have to make additional time to log into the traing portal and complete mandatory training. Also a few of your my be pulled into my office to answer a few questions."
Bill turned his head towards Susan. "I will not be answering any questions at this moment," Bill sneered, noticing Susan's hand. "Now, as I've been here all night long, I will be taking a breather over the next hour. During that time, I will not be taking calls or answering any emails. I'll call another meeting after lunch and we'll go over everyone's projects and I'll as usual and I'll answer any questions you may have."
Bill stopped talking and the room became silent.
"Are we still having the team event at Poets and Bussers later tonight? Susan said, breaking the silence.
Bill took a deep breath and exhaled in frustration as he gave Susan the death eyes. He then turned from everyone and walked out of the conference room.
When Bill was no longer visible, everyone looked at Susan.
"What, what? Susan replied in guilt. "It was an honest question? I have other things to do if it has been cancelled."
Drew headed back to his office, excited to be alone for a while, but when he arrived Susan was there.
Drew walked in, plopping his backpack on the floor.
"What was that about in there?" Drew asked Susan as he opened his backpack and pulled out his laptop. "That’s not even an official work event. It's just us getting drinks after work. Plus, he had just told everyone he would answer questions after lunch."
"I know, I feel so silly." she said. "I still have these moments, you know. Ever since...." Susan paused and glanced out of Drew’s office window, staring at Rich, walking by. "These moments when I just can't focus. I just can't think right. I get so preoccupied. Caught up in my own thoughts that I don't even notice what's going on around me. And you know, everybody was in there. He was in there." Suan stopped again and sighed as she fiddled with the diamond ring on her ring finger. " He didn’t even asked for it back. He just didn't care."
"Sue," Drew replied. "It was almost 6 months ago. If I were you I take that down to the nearest pawn shop and go on a vacation with it. Rich is attractive and all, but he's kind of a dumbass."
"No, he's not!" Susan said sternly.
"Oh no, you say?" Drew asked her with a sly suspicion. "Rumor has it. The email came from Rich's email address."
Drew crossed his eyebrows surprised with Susan response, replying "Yes way. And I'm sure he's going to be standing in line with Farhad at the unemployment office tomorrow."
Susan sighed in disappointment and stayed quite.
"Well, Sue, as much as I like to sit around and gossip with you I should get my work."
Susan got up, gave Drew a hug, and walked to her cubicle.
The work was busy but went by peetty normally from there on out. Drew stayed a little later to get caught up for the next day. On they way out he walked by Bill's office. His door was closed and there was an odd sound coming from under his door. Drew stopped, listened closely and looked down at his feet. They were awash in a red glow similar to the other evening.
they were awash in the red glow that was seeping through the bottom of Bill's door, just as his feet were last night. he could also hear weird buzzing along with a low robotic voice from behind the door. the voice was repetitive and seemed to say Work, Worship.... then suddenly Susan popped up behind Drew.
"Shit Sue! Yah scared the crap out of me. I thought you left already."
"I was waiting for you. I was thinking we could head to Poets and Bussers together? We're you about to meet with Bill, cause I can wait downstairs?"
" No, I was just going to check in and say bye, but I think he's busy."
"Well, let's go then. I need a change in routine"
"Do you hear that, though?"
"That noise...coming from Bill's office?
Susan placed her ear flat against the door. But just as Susan leaned in, Bill swung the door open, causing her to clumsily fall into Bill's chest.
"Hey, Mr. Clark." Drew said the Bill."We were checking to see if you wanted to go to the restaurant with use.
Bill stood still for a few seconds, seemingly unfazed by Susan, as he blinked a few times as he grabbed at his crotch, moving it around.
"Are you feeling ok?" Drew asked, and Bill smiled.
"Yes, everything's great! That sounds like a great idea."
Then suddenly Riched walked out of Bill's office, shocking Susan.
"I was just having a meeting with Rich"
Susan stared at the empty stool as though it was calling out to her. And she rose suddenly prompting a surprised stare from Drew. Susan walk up onto the small stage, grabbing the microphone from the stools top.
Soft muffled tapping echoed from the sound system as Susan checked the mic for sound.
"Hello. Can everyone hear me?" Suan said with a shy drunkenness as she burped. "Oh my! Sorry about that. I'm gonna cut myself off after this, I swear." Drew laughed awkwardly but nobody else did.
"No worries, everybody. I'm not doing a comedy skit." Then Susan turned her head towards Rich as a serious emotion seemed to fill her face.
"I'm up here because I've recently experienced a loss." The room became even more silent. "And don’t worry, nobody died, but it feels like it sometimes. And I've just been feeling this, I don’t know, kind of grief for some time now and I don’t know what to do about it. So I thought, why not tell a bunch of strangers at a bar, it’s cheaper than a therapist. I apologize in advance to my co-workers who are also here." Susan cleared her voice, and straightened her postion as though she was trying to look string. "So I wrote a little something while I was at the table just now drinking. I call it When I'm Alone with my thoughts.
I don't know if I could ever really tell you how I feel about you.... How I felt about you." Susan paused momentarily, staring longingly at Rich as her eyes seemed to well-up. "How I still feel about you. But Sometimes, when I'm at work, sitting at my desk, alone with my thoughts, I think it. I think about the first time I talked to you, so usual, so casual, but it was the beginning of my happiness, the beginning of everything I didn'tknow I wanted" Susan started to smile as her stared seemed to get lost in the crowd as she reminsed. "You know it was my first day with the company and I was kinda overwhelmed, nervous. And you simply came by, like everybody else, to introduce yourself, welcome me, and offer any help, tou know, the usual. But when I looked up it was like I hit a brick wall, stopping everything, and as ridiculous as it sounds, it felt like it was just me and you. And God!" Susan huffed in delight as she hwld back tears. "You looked so cute, and your voice sounded so nice, so caring. And it felt like you were everything I need at that moment."
Susan stopped, taking a few more courageous breaths.
"Sometimes when I'm laying in bed, alone with my thoughts.
And sometimes, when I see you, like right now, I realize that I'm all alone with nothing but my own thoughts. And I can’t help thinking I did something wrong, or didn’t so something right, or didn’t do enough. Should I've, I don't know?, cooked more, cleaned more, I mean for god sake I did keagals at my desk 3x a day. l, keeping it as tight I I could. No no no." Susan shook her head in frustrating confusion at herself. "He not like that. He is a progressive modern man! Yes." Susan said genuinely seeking guidance, as she look out at an awkward audience staring back at he silently.
"Hmm..... Maybe I wasn't a modern enough women for him? I could have worked more tou know, made more money. I could have supported him fully. I would even get a maid. He could've just stayed home, relaxed. Just seeing his smile everyday when I got home would be enough for me. Maybe I wasn't funny enough ir pretty enough? Maybe I just don't make him happy and he didn’t realize that until after he proposed to me?" Susan became quiet, as she looked upt at the spotlight, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.
Drew, heart broken by Susan confessions, turn to look at Rich. But Rixh just stared ahead, seemingly unaffected by Susan's plight. Ml
I remember the first time I saw you. It was at the office my first day and I was so nervous and excited. We"I don't know if its possible for me to describe all the things I feel about you.... felt about you.
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