Finally John felt as if he was halfway back to being human. After spending the past week either in bed or in the bathroom he was finally feeling better. He was still a little queasy and shaky on his feet but he felt that he might just be able to stomach a little real food.
Opening the fridge door his nose crinkled. Well he may feel well enough to eat but there certainly weren’t going to be many options. The only thing his fridge contained was a carton of eggs he couldn’t remember buying, a few condiments, a half dozen beers and a couple of takeout containers at least a month old. He pulled out the eggs looking at the date stamped on the side. Well those certainly weren’t an option. …
Opening the freezer door wasn’t any better; a lonely tray of ice sat in the center of the freezer with nothing to accompany it other than a fair amount of frost. Perhaps he’d been living the bachelor life a little too much lately.
He opened each of the cupboards in turn finding nothing more exciting than the contents of the fridge. Turning back to the living room he walked over to the coffee table where a bunch of chip and cracker packages lay spread out after having sustained himself on them for the past week.
He emptied each straight into his mouth before balling up the whole mess and tossing them in the garbage bin. He picked up the phone and dialed Arts’ pizza palace on the corner, after a dozen rings he decided they must not be open for breakfast and headed off to shower realizing he’d have to go get some real groceries.
Locking the door behind him as he headed out of his apartment he noticed the stale shut in smell of his apartment seemed to have seeped out into the hall. Stepping out into the bright late afternoon sun he blinked around noticing an odd quality to the street around him.
He looked left and right seeing not a single moving car or person walking. That’s weird he thought mentally calculating the date. It was a Friday and as far as he could recall not a long weekend. Even if it had been a long weekend though some people and cars should be about. He couldn’t even hear anything moving in the distance.
He shrugged maybe his ears were still plugged from being sick and slowly he made his way down to the little corner store. He pulled open the door the bell jangling above his head and wandered the empty aisles picking things up absentmindedly as he stared out the storefront at the empty streets.
“Weird” he thought making his way over to the counter where Mr. Chan usually stood. He rang the little bell standing on the counter peering into the dark back room. Sighing he leant back against the counter as he waited for someone to come up front. He picked up a chocolate bar from the rack under the counter and opened it gratefully chewing something that wasn’t a cracker.
Finishing his bar he turned back around, tapping the bell a few more times and calling out to Mr. Chan the store’s owner again. He waited a few more minutes and cautiously walked towards the darkened back room calling out again. Reaching the doorway he hesitated not wanting to enter the darkened space.
Confused he turned back to his basket filled with food and then back again to the darkened room where not a sound issued. His head was beginning to spin again, his knees felt rubbery and his stomach had begun to churn again. He walked back up to the counter selecting a few items and grabbing a bag from the back counter stuffing everything inside as he added the prices up in his head.
Reaching into his wallet he pulled out three tens then pausing pulled another out, just in case his math wasn’t right. He reached over the counter slipping the bills under the edge of the till so that they sat about halfway out from underneath. He called out to Mr. Chan again and explained what he was doing. With a final glance toward the back of the store and a loud rumble from his stomach he decided this was the best he could do and left the store.
By the time he reached his building and made his way up the single flight of steps his head was spinning full force and he rushed to the bathroom tossing the bag and it's entire contents into the fridge along his way. He would sort it out later.
Trying not to think of what he’d seen that morning, or had not seen, he left the bathroom shuffling across the hall to collapse onto his unmade bed. He fell into an uneasy sleep, silence all around him.
