13

Ricky

Ricky stared listlessly at the window situated just in front of the sink, while scrubbing the dirty dishes with the dishwashing soap and sponge that he didn’t even knew he had inside the house.

He had to admit that he’s been leading a strange life lately, having a stalker as his maid. He had sworn he checked through every nook and cranny around the house; the attic, the basement, and even the other three unused bedroom just to find the whereabouts of the stalker. Unfortunately, other than stumbling upon some critters and some rats that made him want to curse the heck out of his mouth, he didn’t find a thing; not even any trace of human habitats inside all those spaces.

As a matter of fact, Ricky slowly got used to having the harmless stalker in his house. Rather than trying to hurt him, they provided him with food. Although mysteriously, Ricky noticed that his monthly allowance that his father secretly transferred into his account decreased a little, in spite of him never touching that huge number.

That made him want to meet that stalker and at least kick them on the shin for successfully accessing his bank account.

As usual, after having a scrumptious meal of beef stew, which was as usual, cooked by the mysterious stalker, Ricky quickly went upstairs to his room.

Pulling his tired face, he sank into the fluffy bed and heaved a sigh.

“…This is bad.”

Really bad, actually. He really should be thinking of eliminating the stalker, not becoming comfortable with their presence.

 He got up from the bed to look for his phone. As he rummaged inside his backpack, his fingers brushed against the children book that he bought at the spur of the moment.

His face twitched into a grimace as he leered at the colorful book. Buying a children book costed almost all of his dignity. He even have to pull a straight face when the book was rang.

Shaking his head, he kept a grudge on Noel for making him buy some strange children book.

I’ll get you for this…

He thought and nonchalantly opened the first page of the storybook. The whole house became silent as he suddenly found himself immersed in reading the book. He stepped backwards for a bit to find the bed before slumping his butt on it’s soft surface.

Accompanied by the small light from the bedlamp as his assistant in the darkness of his bedroom, he continued to flip the pages silently, eyes rolling through every words. For a long time, only the sound of the wall clock and occasional gentle whoosh of the air conditioner can be heard.

The storybook doesn't have anything special in them. From a classic tale of Alice in wonderland to the unique tale of Thumbelina, all of the stories were just some regular selections of fairytale. Yet, Ricky was deeply mesmerized by the magical feeling that those stories gave. It was as if he had experienced it before.

"I wonder why..."

He muttered involuntarily. Just right after he finished the last page of the book, he heard a soft ringing from his phone. He scampered from his seat on the bed and went to the bag that was placed on the study chair which is located across the room just to get his phone.

"Hey."

Adam—who was at the end of the line—said after Ricky picked up the call.

Ricky breathed in and out slowly, ending it with a long huff.

"…Hey."

The end of the line fell silent.

“Did you just run? Why?”

Ricky scrunched his lips into a thin line. “I ran to pick up your call, you lass. Now tell me what you want. This better be important or I’ll haunt you in your dreams.”

“Oh…” He imitated, “So scary…”

Ricky clicked his tongue in annoyance.

“I’m hanging up then.”

“Wait! I’m sorry, okay? Anyway, wanna hang out tonight? Hank from Westchester Private university organized a weekend party. We have weed and alcohol, you know?"

Adam invited while sounding confident. He knew very well that Ricky loves weed and alcohol, and women are not an exception as well.

"Hmm..."

Ricky hesitated. To be honest, he felt a little bit sleepy after reading the storybook earlier, but it's been a while since he went to any party and hooked up with any women, so he felt a bit conflicted.

CLANK!

Ricky froze, eyes wide. He heard a loud sound from the kitchen and looked towards his bedroom door.

"Adam, I'll call you again later. There's something that I need to do."

"Wait wha-"

Ignoring the Adam who was taken aback at the end of the line, Ricky ended the call and dashed downstairs where the sound came from.

"Hello? Is anybody here?"

He reached the kitchen and looked around. As he calmed down his heavy breathing, he noticed some golden dust near the kitchen sink and went there to get a closer look.

"What is this...?"

He scabbed the dust with his index finger and rubbed it between his fingers. Feeling confused and fascinated by what he just saw, he gazed far towards the full moon through the small window in front of the sink.

***

Ricky blew his hands and rubbed it before tucking it into the pocket of his leather jacket.

The night was still cold although it's spring, and the wind was quite strong. Knowing that fact, Ricky quickened his pace as he jogged towards the house that Adam mentioned earlier on the phone.

After spotting some mysterious dust on the sink in the kitchen, Ricky felt like he shouldn't stay in the house for the night, so he called Adam back and said he'll attend his friend's party, and seek shelter to whoever woman that caught his eyes.

He stopped when he noticed a man was standing under the tree at the playground in the junction that separates Westwood and Westchester. His stares were intense towards the tree.

"Hey."

He patted the guy's back and he flinched. He turned behind to look at Ricky. In his emerald eyes, he looked troubled by something.

"…Yes?"

He answered while throwing Ricky a strange look.

"You were staring really intensely at the tree. It will get scared of you, you know?"

Ricky joked. He kind of remembered one of the stories that he read earlier in the storybook about a talking tree. Expecting the guy to retort back to him or just shrugged off his joke, his expression caught Ricky by surprise.

His eyes were wide open as his mouth were slightly agape. For a short moment, there's a hint of disturbance in his eyes behind the glasses he's wearing, then he looked away from Ricky and cleared his throat.

"Excuse me."

He adjusted his glasses. There was an awkward silence surrounding both of them.

Ricky contemplated about his decision of again talking to a stranger. At first, it was Noel, now, it was this bespectacled guy that he wouldn’t even dare to guess his age, because he looked tired. Before long, Ricky sighed.

"Hey, wanna hang out for a bit?"

Ricky pointed towards a bench beneath a pair of trees that grew close to each other. The guy—although hesitant—slowly tilted his head and raised one of his eyebrows.

"...What?"