St. Eubrie: 516 Peach Avenue (506 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.6 on 6 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Arie Taylor <arizhel.at.yahoo.com> (View user info) at 2006-08-11 11:23:32 EDT
Another day, another dollar; a cliched expression that never meant much to Kevin before he started this job. There's not a whole lot that's intellectually stimulating about mopping floors and emptying trash cans at the local high school, but hey, it's a living, right? A boring living, but a living nonetheless, and that's all he needed for now - something to get by while he was new in town. Starting over was always hard, but he'd find a better job soon enough. He always did.
At just over six feet, he definitely wasn't the tallest guy in town, but he was tall enough. Tall enough to easily reach the dumpster outside the school to toss the bags in, in any case. He thought about that a little bit - how much harder would his job be if he was short, like that skinny little teacher from Room 100? Poor sot. That guy always kind of put Kevin in mind of a balding, forty-something ferret wearing wire-rimmed glasses and a dull sweater. The janitor was shaken from his reverie at that point by the loud "clang" of the dumpster lid as he closed it. He dusted his hands against each other, then placed one of them on each side of his lower back and had a bit of a stretch. Lord knew he could use it after mopping the floors and all. Hard on the back, this job is, but it's a living.
Kevin yawned and guided his large trash can back toward the building. Now that it was empty, he could give it a good push and watch it skitter erratically down the pitted concrete path leading back to the building. He chuckled and shook his head a bit, dusted his hands off on his coveralls, then repeated the process. The wheels on the big plastic bin caught on the sidewalk this time, and the can sprawled over onto its side, the lid rolling a short distance away. "Fuck," Kevin thought, shaking his head as he retrieved the lid and set the can to rights, then made his way into the building to drop it off before he headed out. Oh, right, the lights, too. Can't forget to turn out the lights.
The passing of fifteen minutes saw one of Wilbeck High's janitors already well on his way home, whistling tunelessly along with a classic rock song that he could barely hear. For some reason that always seemed to happen when he got toward the end of Cedar. Snorting softly in disgust, he turned off the radio, but started up the tuneless whistling again. Why didn't he just take Pine like he normally did? The radio wasn't usually so bad there. It still wasn't good, but at least you could hear it.
He eyed the convenience store across the street balefully, shaking his head again as he got out of his car and fumbled with his keys. 516 Peach Avenue was a nice house - light blue siding, white shutters, hardwood floors, a big yard - and he'd gotten it for a song. He soon discovered why - the KwikSnak. Being across the street from that thing pretty much guaranteed plenty of traffic, both vehicular and pedestrian, for him to deal with no matter when he left the house. Then there were the bright lights that bathed the entire area in an eerie, crimson glow for a good part of the night. Entering the house, he made straight for the kitchen to pour himself a drink. Scotch, on the rocks. Just the thing for sore backs and convenience stores right across the street, and whatever else might be ailing you.
He finished the drink and set the glass aside, again stopping for another stretch. Kevin never did get to have that stretch, though. With his hands midway to his lower back, he paused, head tilting slightly to the side as he listened. If he had a pet, he might have blamed the sound on it, but he didn't. Nope, just Kevin in this here house. Though, maybe it was that damn cat from next door. Stupid cat. A soft snort escaped him, and he started to shake his head, when he heard the sound again. A soft rustling, coming from down the hall.
Eyes narrowing slightly, Kevin grabbed the nearest weapon - a filleting knife that he'd forgotten to put into the sink after getting back from his fishing trip the other night. Surely an intruder wouldn't mind if there was fish scales dried on the blade. He crept down the hallway. He passed by the bathroom on the right, and by the spare room on the left, which only left one room for the sound to be coming from - his bedroom.
The door was mostly closed, and he paused outside to steel himself for whatever he might find. His fingers tightened on the scale-encrusted knife, and he reached for the doorknob. Something made him pause the first time, his hand dropping to his side. Kevin bit nervously at his lower lip and swallowed, stopping to brush a few stray locks of his short, dark hair out of his eyes. He put his hand to the doorknob, and this time he managed to slip the latch. It wasn't all that easy, considering his hands were shaking.
Kevin's next thought as he surveyed the contents of the room could be summed up quite neatly in three words: "What the fuck?" A short, swift intake of breath rushed into his lungs, and his hands dropped to his sides. The knife fell nervelessly to the floor from his suddenly-disobedient fingers, forgotten except for a sharp clatter against the hardwood floor, and a nasty gouge in the same. The knife gleamed amid a scattering of fish scales, glittering silver in the moonlight that spilled out into the hallway.
A woman lay in his bed, asleep. She wasn't beautiful, not in the classical sense - while attractive, her face certainly wouldn't be launching a thousand Greek ships antytime soon. Kevin wasn't one to be all that choosy in any case, being a bit on the plain side himself. The moonlight streamed in through the window and illuminated her pale skin, giving her an almost otherworldly quality. The usual red glow from the KwikSnak is nowhere to be seen, but that seemed insignificant at that moment.
The soft rustling filled Kevin's ears again as the woman shifted on the bed, rolling onto her side. The blanket fell away, revealing that she wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. The moonlight continued to pour through the window unstemmed, bright enough to cast shadows in the room, and to illuminate everything in shades of pearl and grey. Everything in the room seemed distant somehow. Misty. Not quite tangible. Except for her. The woman brushed a strand of white-blonde hair out of her face as she looked up at him, her eyelashes parting to let her ice blue eyes meet his dark ones. His mind whirled, a myriad of things racing through it like a panicked greyhound. One single, simple phrase skimmed across the surface, refusing to be dragged down into the boiling depths. "She knows," he thought, his eyes wide as they met hers.
"I know," she whispered, the faintest of smiles touching her lips.
With a groan, Kevin took two lurching steps forward, then fell into bed beside her.
User Reviews
Submitted by Crystle (user info) at 2006-11-02 17:15:49 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Snalty (user info) at 2006-08-20 20:37:10 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Wonderful descriptions!
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2006-08-11 20:34:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was extremely well-written. I think you have a future here. Please continue
this story. I wanna know what happens.
Submitted by houseman (user info) at 2006-08-11 15:17:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
This was really fantastic for your first post.
Submitted by Arizhel (user info) at 2006-08-11 12:35:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Er, that's my mistake. Funny how three little letters make all the difference.
TBC.
Submitted by Susie_Derkins (user info) at 2006-08-11 11:48:30 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
The writing was good, the ending was a bit....confusing? I know you don't want to give away what the thing she knows is exactly, but there wasn't even a hint of a secret in the whole story.