Jeffrey Drenwin awoke as he did every morning, curled up in bed with an arm draped over his wife. Born Eva Airnought, She'd taken his name when they'd married 8 years ago. Their daughter, Ayana, had come into the world a year after that.
He planted a kiss on Eva's head before rising from bed and heading downstairs to prepare for the day. He always took a shower before bed so that he wouldn't take up time for his wife to get ready in the mornings. His clothes were always laid out, another bit of prep he would do the night before. After getting dressed, he began brewing coffee and reheating a small amount of leftovers to have for breakfast. As far as leftovers go, reheated chicken casserole isn't bad.
He was setting the small television in the kitchen to a news station when his wife strolled in, hair still damp from her shower. “You and your friends have plans for after work?” She asked.
He shrugged. “We'll probably decide at work. If we do, I'll call and let you know.” He poured himself a thermos of coffee and headed for the door, kissing Eva on the cheek. “Love you, honey.’
She smiled. “I love you too.”
He headed for the end of the street, where a bus stop sat. On the bus ride to the office, he drank his coffee and glanced around. Three of the other passengers were regulars. The old woman who twitched and itched, and the young couple who kissed one another every other moment.
When the bus pulled to his stop, he got up, heading for the door. As he headed for the door, the twitching old woman did something she never did. She grabbed him by the belt.
“The old man who sits next to me. Tell me you remember him!” She rasped.
The driver glanced back. “Ma'am, you need to release him or I'll have to call the police to remove you from the bus.” His voice was a no-nonsense tone, like he'd already had enough of having to give what he assumed was a tweaker constant rides and wanted an excuse to be rid of her.
She clamped her other hand on Jeffrey’s blazer. “Please! Tell me you remember him! Nobody is helping me! They say I'm always here alone! I'm not! He was right here every day!” She began to shriek now.
Jeffrey pulled away harshly, getting free and disembarking from the bus in a hurried manner. He could hear the driver already radioing for his superiors to send officers for a clearly disturbed individual. He'd enter the building and find his three friends waiting in the lobby. Garrett Winslow, Eric Jasmet, and Dennis Freel. They were standing by the elevators, and had clearly witnessed what had happened on the bus outside.
Dennis opened and closed his mouth a few times before he finally spoke. “What the hell was that?” He asked.
Jeffrey shook his head. “Some old junkie on the bus tried grabbing me, screaming about someone she's always sitting next to. I think her brain is finally gone, because she's always by herself.” He rolled his eyes as the elevator finally arrived and they shuffled on.
Nothing much else was said. After spending a little more time than usual in the bathroom washing his hands after that encounter, the day progressed like any other. Reports to be filed, documented, sent down the chain. Monotonous, but it passed the time. Jeffrey actually found that it kept him sharp, having to watch for even the slightest error in documentation that passed through his workstation.
At lunch, Garrett finally brought up that morning again. “So you said that the old woman was insisting she was always sitting next to someone who nobody remembers?”
He shrugged before swallowing the bite of sandwich he'd just taken. “I was more focused on getting her hands off of me.”
Garrett frowned. “Just asking. I woke up this morning… And for some reason I was confused that I was alone? Images of this woman keep coming and going in my head. And I've never been married, and I usually don't bring women to my place.” He shrugged. “It's probably just a coincidence.”
It was then that Dennis shifted the subject away towards their plans for after work. Unfortunately, it appeared that everyone had conflicting schedules that night. And once their break was up? It was back to work until they went their separate ways to head home.
The bus that he would ride home also had a couple of regulars. A man about his age who very openly talked on his phone about all of his legal cases, as well as a mother with two children who were strangely well behaved for ones so small.
The hotshot lawyer seemed particularly agitated. “I am telling you, Sasha Demata was our client! One of you had to have to misplaced the… what the fuck do you mean nobody there knows who I'm talking about?!” He snapped into a phone.
Jeffrey flinched, glancing to the children and their mother who had rightfully begun casting a judgmental glare at the man. He developed a particular feeling towards cursing around children after his daughter had been born.
Fortunately, he wouldn't have to endure much more of the tirade since his stop came up moments later. He exited the bus and walked at a brisk pace to get inside. He entered through the door, gaze drawn to the living room where his daughter and wife were playing… something to do with a chessboard and a deck of cards.
He raised a brow as he approached, setting his things on a small desk next to the door. “Uh… dare I ask?”
“So, your daughter decided it would be fun if we played chess but We had to draw cards to see who got to move. Whoever has the higher card, gets to move after every draw.” Eva explained. “I feel like I'm gambling, But with my chess pieces instead of money.”
Ayana giggles. “It's kinda fun!”
Jeffrey just stared for a moment. He wasn't sure if he was dumbfounded or extremely impressed that his daughter was so creative. “You know, maybe I can give that a try after dinner.” He said after finally taking a minute to find his voice.
The rest of the night went by without much incident beyond Jeffrey somehow managing to lose a game of card draw chess to his daughter. After a shower, he helped Ayana into bed and set her nightlight on. He exited her room near the stairs and walked the short distance across the second floor threshold to the master bedroom.
The next morning, Jeffrey woke up to the dull noise of his alarm. Another day, another chunk of his paycheck earned. Well, as long as it was as uneventful as yesterday, he'd be fine.
Dressing and collecting his thermos of coffee, he made his way to the door. Eva was sleeping in today. She and Ayana had plans at the park that afternoon.
He entered the bus and sat down. He rode this bus every weekday, and as usual, the two regulars were cuddled together in one of the front seats, sweet talking softly to one another. Those two, every day. They were the only ones he ever consistently saw on his morning ride.
Jeffrey leaned back and rested his eyes until his stop was reached, and he hopped down off the bus. Like yesterday and every day before, an uneventful trip to the office. He felt lucky for the routine. He was greeted in the office lobby by his two friends Eric and Dennis. He'd known the two of them since before the trio had started working at the office.
“Any plans after work?” Dennis asked on the elevator ride up.
“I'm going to get trashed at a family party.” Eric chuckled. “We're celebrating my cousin’s divorce.” Jeffrey raised a brow but said nothing. He knew Eric's cousin had been suffering through hell with his wife. But a party like that?
Hm… maybe becoming a dad had changed him more than he thought.
The rest of the day was uneventful. He ate lunch with his two friends, shot the shit with them and others around the office, and finally packed up to go home at closing time. With a goodbye to his friends, he caught the bus home.
He sat in the seat across the aisle from the one regular passenger he always saw on this route. A woman with oddly well-behaved kids. They kept to themselves, and so did he. Everyone on this particular bus seemed to follow the unspoken rule of shutting up. That was the one constant of his ride home; the silence.
Once he got off the bus, he began making the trip to the porch of his house. As he went, his neighbor looked up from her work in the garden in front of her house. Evelyn was an older woman, but she always made sure that her yard was immaculate.
“Jeffrey!” She slowly stood, wiping her dirt covered hands on her gardening apron. “How's the family?”
He chuckled. “They're fine. Ayana is a handful sometimes but other than that she's great. How's the garden?”
She sighed. “It's like it wants to fight me on every single bit of care I give it. Like it wants to surrender to the weeds… I miss having my children's help.”
He paused, raising a brow. “Kids? All the time we've known you, you've never mentioned kids.”
Evelyn frowned. “... I'm sure you met my son, Frederick.”
Jeffrey shook his head. “Not that I can remember.”
Her frown deepened. “He works at your office. He's the head of tech support?” She seemed a little distressed.
It was his turn to frown. “Our tech support lead is Rosa Chirp.” He was concerned for her. Evelyn was getting on in years and he didn't want to have to call social services or whoever over her mental state.
Evelyn seemed to worry at her lip. “Right, right. I'll let you get inside to Eva and Ayana. Give them my best.” She then shuffled inside. Jeffrey watched her go before heading inside himself. He spent every other moment that night glancing through the windows facing her house.
She was visible every now and then, seeming to be scouring the house for something. Maybe evidence of the son she thought she had? He'd watched dementia take his grandmother, and it was a shame that it seemed to be looming over such a sweet neighbor now.
He went to sleep that night resolving to put an anonymous report in the next morning. He dream't of going to work, though the office in his dreams had a water slide network between floors and a dance pad on the roof. If only. He woke reluctantly to the alarm once again. Today, though, was a day off. A family trip to the zoo to see the zebras. They'd see everything else, of course, but Ayana was obsessed with zebras.
After a family breakfast of toast, eggs, and spinach… he blamed Ayana for developing a love of spinach to the point it had to be in all her meals, they began to prepare. Once he had his shower, he got their zoo supplies ready; water bottles, hats, sunscreen, portable battery powered hand fans, and other such things. Eva was making sure Ayana got a bath, so he went to get the car ready.
He loaded the satchel of supplies into the trunk, closing it as he looked next door. The house, with its unkempt lawn and barren garden, had stood abandoned since before they'd moved in. The more time went on, the more the house began to fall apart and the less chance there was that someone would swoop in and fix it up. Though he supposed that having no neighbor was worth not risking getting an obnoxious asshole for a neighbor.
He was jerked out of his thoughts by his wife and daughter approaching the car. They piled in and off they went. As they got on the main road towards the zoo, Ayana finally spoke up. “Can we visit Uncle Phillip on the way home?”
Jeffrey glanced at Eva in confusion for just a moment. “Sweetie… you don't have an Uncle Phillip.”
“Yeah I do!” She countered. “He lives next to the dry cleaners!”
He wanted to argue, but he needed to focus on driving. He didn't want to get distracted trying to dispel an overactive aspect of his daughters imagination. They arrived at the zoo, and made sure to get their sunscreen on before they went in. They saw the animals, interacted with the children's exhibits, and enjoyed overpriced food. It wasn't until an hour and a half later, while his wife was taking a restroom break while they waited on a bench, that Ayana spoke of the topic again.
“Papa… are you mad at Uncle Phillip? Is that why you said he isn't real?”
Okay someone must have gotten it in her head that this was more than an imaginary friend. Maybe his sister. She had always been playing pranks as a child. Him and her, twins. To think that she'd convince her niece that there was a third amongst them was in a sense just…. Cruel.
“Let's save this talk until we get home, okay?” He softly insisted. “We should enjoy today.”
Ayana tilted her head, but acquiesced without another word. They continued about their day without returning to the strange discussion. Ayana even tried to slip away from them to fail to climb until the Zebra Enclosure. Tried was the keyword, given they were prepared after the first two times. He had just scooped her up and they continued with the day.
When they headed home, he took a route that led them past the dry cleaners. Past the dry cleaners and the empty lot next to it. Ayana clearly got confused at that point. “... Where's his house?” She said aloud. This earned Jeffrey a concerned glance from Eva. He gave a brief gesture to leave it for after they got home and got Ayana ready for bed. By the time they got home, the dusk was settling in. They entered the home, and began the nighttime ritual for Ayana. Getting her into her pajamas, her night-night tea that Eva suggested they get her to drink that had somehow become ritual for the child, and then carrying Ayana up to her room that sat directly to the left at the top of the stairs.
She kept quiet until he was tucking her in.
“... Papa… do you hate Uncle Phillip? Did he die?” She asked.
He took a deep breath. “Who said things about an Uncle Phillip to you? Aunt Carol?”
Ayana shook her head. “I remember going to his house!” This was troubling. Had somebody been coming into their home? Had she been approached at school, wandered off from somewhere? Did he need to call the cops?
He took another, deeper breath. “.... Ayana, sweetie, you have no Uncle Phillip. Anyone who's claiming to be your uncle is not family, and you should run away from them and scream for help the next time they show up. Okay?” He had to make sure she recognized danger on the off chance this wasn't an imaginary friend.
She scrunched up her face, like she wanted to fight him on it. “.... Okay.”
Jeffrey kissed his daughter on the head and stood up to leave. “Goodnight, Ayana. I love you, kiddo.”
“To the moon?” She yawned.
“And back.” He smiled before shutting her door and heading for bed himself. The smile was gone an instant later as he ran through his mind for any time he could have seen a man who didn't belong in the neighborhood. As he entered the master bedroom, Eva shook her head.
“We should get in touch with Deputy Vintoll tomorrow and see turn off that we can set up a neighborhood watch for this guy.” She suggested.
He nodded, not saying more as he changed into his own nightwear and the two of them went to bed. While he did not dream, he slept soundly.
The next day Jeffrey woke up with a hangover desperately trying to cling to his brain despite the water he had guzzled down after the late night with his wife. They'd stayed in, ordered take out, and drank to celebrate his day off from the humdrum of the office. He would just have to take something for the headache and keep water on hand.
He had a quick shower and dressed before Eva woke up. On his way down to the first floor and the kitchen, he stopped at the door to the left of the top of the stairs and cracked it open to look into the empty room within.
“We need to figure out what to do with this room.” He muttered aloud before heading down the stairs. Maybe a nursery if they ever had a kid.
Another normal day of riding the bus with that young publicly affectionate couple, office work with two of his longtime friends, and then another bus ride home with the woman whose kids were strangely well behaved.
That night was when things felt like they were changing. He was having dreams of a brother named Phil, of a little girl who insisted she was his daughter even though he and Eva had never had kids. A third friend… the dream progressed and he would pass by people that he was sure he had never met even though on some level he recognized them.
He woke 2 hours before his alarm went off. Reaching over to prematurely shut it off, he got up and made his way over to that empty room to the left of the top of the stairs. In the dream he'd seen a little girl's room. The little girl who his brain had recognized as his daughter. He'd had a daughter. There's no other explanation for it. He had to have had a brother Phil.
He opened the door, where The first cracks of dawn were illuminating and empty room. No, they couldn't be right. This was his daughters room. It… had been. Seven years it had been. He headed downstairs. He needed to find photo albums! He began looking for them and found them all on a shelf over the fireplace. Jeffrey flipped through the pages of him and Eva. Just him and Eva. No little girl.
Ayana. Her name was Ayana!
He set the albums back on the shelf. The next name on his mind… Evelyn. She'd been living next door since before they moved in. He looked up the window to her home and… unkempt yard, barren garden, and a house in disrepair.
Something was very, very wrong.
He then booted up their home computer and began scouring every inch of its files for any evidence that Ayana, their neighbor Evelyn, his brother Phillip, or his friend Garrett had ever existed. Finding nothing, He glanced up as he heard movement upstairs. He then realized just how long he'd been at this. Using the landline, he called the office and told them that he was using a sick day. There was no possible way he could focus on work right now.
When Eva finally got downstairs, she noticed him still unprepared for work and the concern in his eyes. “Jeffrey? Is everything okay?”
What was he supposed to do? He didn't want to scare her. But lying to her? That could make it worse. In the end he decided the latter was a better option. “Just a minor family problem, on top of feeling a little under the weather. I'm just going to work from home today.” He waved a hand and forced a smile. “Don't worry about me. I'll be okay.”
Once she was out of the house, he began to close all the blinds and began to continue his attempts to research. They can only be called attempts because he was turning up nothing. Absolutely nothing. He called the number he remembered for Garrett, and got no response. Nobody picked up. All he got was an automated message that the number he dialed did not belong to anyone. He even managed to get a hold of Dennis and Eric while they were at work. The conversations had to remain short, and they did not remember ever being friends with Garrett, or ever knowing a man named Garrett.
Then he began calling up his sister, his parents, cousins and anyone else he could think of. Nobody remembered anyone named Phillip, none of them had ever met little Ayana. Some of them even asked if he was feeling all right. All he could say was that he had been through a very rough night and was trying to ground himself.
As the day slogged on, He continued his attempts.
Despite turning up nothing, he did not give up. He eventually tired himself out and decided to take a nap. He woke up several hours later after having a dream of visiting the zoo with the daughter that supposedly never existed. It had seemed so real.
Eva was home by now, and seemed to be regarding him with concern. He resumed his research in a much more subtle manner. He needed answers! It was dark outside when Eva came down in a silk nightgown. “Jeffrey… It's late, come to bed.”
He scowled, still facing the computer. “Almost done. I have to be close to the end.”
Eva approached. “Whatever the project is, I'm sure it's okay if you don't finish it tonight. You need your sleep if you're going to get better.” As much as he wanted to argue, she was right. He shut down the computer, and walked with her to bed. He stared up at the dark ceiling, listening to her breathing as she slept. As his eyes finally closed, He hoped that tomorrow would finally yield the answers he needed.
The alarm set on the radio turned on the twang of old country music and roused Eva Airnought from her slumber. She stretched out on her bed, far too spacious for one person, but she enjoyed all that extra space to toss and turn in her sleep.
She took her shower, letting the music play through open doors in the house. She lived alone, she didn't have to worry about anyone spying on her. Getting dressed afterwards, she made her way down to the kitchen, stopping at the door at the top of the stairs to peer into the room She hoped to one day turn into a writing nook.
10 minutes later, she was in the kitchen brewing coffee, her smartphone open to a speaker phone call with her mother who was once again chiding her about finding a nice man and settling down.
Just like every other day….
Written by CaptainCreepyPastaOG
Content is available under CC BY-SA