Chaos Chapter Ch. 01

"Biscuits, chips, noodles," I called the items out as I threw them into the shopping basket. I knew myself well enough to anticipate my insatiable hunger for snacks. My best friend Jerry was helping while adding a few of his own items too.

"Alright that's enough," I laughed as he added two more bags of chips. He laughed before adding another. Whatever, I knew I'd be back in a day or two either way. I had never really thought that I lived solely on snacks but it was probably true.

It sure looked funny to have a shopping basket full but only with snacks. The rest of my groceries never ran out as quickly. We probably looked like a bunch of naughty teens preparing for a weekend party because their parents were out of town. Especially because people would always assume we were related. I saw no resemblance with him, but people, you know.

We brought our basketful to the counter and I paid. It was my turn. The automatic sliding doors opened on our way out.

We only walked a few steps before a voice called out to us.

"Spare some change for a lady in need my children."

I looked to my right to see a lady sitting on the ground, surrounded by only what I can refer to as "things". She was dirty, yet neat, somehow. She had dark skin and dark unkempt hair. Her eyes were hopeful as she looked up at us. I dug into my pocket and pulled out a ten and handed it to her.

"Aww thank you, thank you so much," she said as her used both hands to accept the single note. One of her hands ran over mine. I thought it was strange but I didn't let myself dwell on it.

Jerry gave her what looked like a five. She thanked him as well and we went on our way to find my car. "The city really oughta do something about all the homeless people," he said as we walked.

"Uh huh."

"No cause listen, it's starting to look like there's more homeless people than anyone else in the city."

"That's true," I agreed absent-mindedly. I was listening but I tended to zone out whenever he was ranting, or when I knew he was about to.

"Only a new mayor can change this."

"Exactly, wait, are you running for mayor?" I asked, trying to hide a smile.

"I might," he replied with a smile as we threw our things in the car and drove off.

Chapter 01

Predictably, not long after, in fact, two days later, I was already out of snacks. It was late at night when I made the realization, and the craving, coupled by a general lack of fear of death, made me put on a pair of shoes and go out to get some.

I had dozed off while watching the television and lost track of time and woken up at around midnight. It was not unusual for me to be up at around that time, especially if I didn't have to go to work the next day. When I didn't have work anywhere in my schedule I was pretty much nocturnal.

00:14

That was the time as I went down the elevator.

I wasn't as hungry as much as I just needed some fresh air. Even my spacious apartment felt claustrophobic at times. I was in a hoodie and sweatpants as I walked down the quiet street. I'd never gotten a reason to feel insecure about walking around so late at night so it was one of my habits, yet to be classified as a bad one.

After a few minutes of mindlessly walking the familiar route, lost in my thoughts, I was inside the 24/7 store. The one good thing about living in the city is the ability to get anything anytime. I utilized this perk to the fullest extent.

After a few minutes of picking up the usual foods I went to the counter. It wouldn't have been such a surprise if it wasn't in the specific location but my eyes widened at the sight of the clerk sleeping. The long hair made it somewhat difficult to tell if it was a man or woman.

"Long day huh?" I quipped as I reached the counter, hoping the sound of my voice would wake them up.

Nothing.

I stood there for a second, this time hoping they would feel my presence enough to be moved.

Still nothing.

I looked closer at them. It was a man, and he had a rather prominent tattoo on his neck, visible even though it was somewhat obscured by his long hair. "Neck tats, yikes," I joked as I laughed. Still nothing. Though I was having the time of my life, my patience was thinning.

"Alright man, it's been nice catching up, have a good one," I said as I stuffed the bag of chips and the biscuits into my hoodie pocket. Another bag of chips was in my hand.

I placed a single two dollar note on the counter on my way out. It most probably wasn't enough for what I was carrying but I figured nobody was going to stop me. Definitely not a moment when my moral compass pointed towards good.

I made my way out while I opened the bag in my hands and started unceremoniously shoving the chips into my mouth. I stood a distance away from the stoor door while I ate. It was probably a weird sight, just some guy stuffing his face with chips in the dead of night, luckily nobody was around.

I barely noticed the car lights approaching me as my food held most of my attention. The car ended up stopping right in front of me. It was some popular model, though it looked a bit beat up. Cars have never been my strength but I figured it was one of the affordable models and that was it. Very astute.

"Excuse me son, is the store still open?" a somehow familiar yet completely unfamiliar female voice called out to me. Maybe it was just a popular voice?

My mouth was full so I made work of swallowing so it wouldn't look like I was ignoring her. I wasn't done when I decided to speak.

"No... Well yes, but the guy is sleeping, like, out like a light."

She smiled at me. She looked kind, I realized a second later that she was observing the strange situation. I claimed the store was closed but there I was with my grocery list completely checked out. I shrugged.

"I just left the money on the counter, he'll know what to do."

She laughed and gave me a naughty look, like she had caught me but would keep my secret. It made me laugh along with her.

"What are you doing out so late?" she asked. Clearly we both had time to kill. I had never been a social butterfly but she was in no way threatening and for whatever reason entertaining to me.

"Just, you know" I shrugged as I shook the almost empty bag of chips. She smiled. She felt motherly. She looked it too, just a middle aged woman who is probably used to these kinds of shenanigans from the younger generations.

"I know how it is. Even when you have to be up early for work, you gotta beat that craving."

"Exactly," I chuckled at her accuracy while I pointed a finger.

"You live around here?" she asked. She had definitely been there with me for a while, though anything longer than a minute was a while to me. But, still for whatever reason, I wasn't complaining. She seemed harmless.

"Yeah, a few minutes away, what about you?" I said with a busy mouth.

"A bit more than a few, but I'm from around these parts too."

I nodded. I didn't have much to say.

"Well," she said as she smiled warmly. "It's been nice, I'll see you around," she said as she started driving off.

"See you around," I said behind her.

Chapter 02

A few weeks passed, during which I got a promotion at work. I also got invited to a work function at the other side of town. It was a big enough city that I wasn't too familiar with that side.

I could have easily just driven there everyday, but why should I when there were all expenses paid hotel stays? Jerry was, as expected, my plus-one. I had a bad habit of forgetting he was in a relationship before inviting him to occasions. But he did too.

He worked for the same parent company that employed me but wanted to take the few days off instead of attending the seminar. I had to bribe him with snacks to get him to come. He was easy to bribe. Even without my insistence I think he would have attended anyway.

On our third and last night there, we had just finished a seminar in the evening and were entering the elevator to go up to our respective floors. It was supposed to be a party night, the last day of work before a long weekend. My promotion hadn't been celebrated yet, and since I wasn't too much of a social butterfly, I decided we'd go out for probably an hour then come back in and drink and get high by ourselves.

I'd never known him as much of a social butterfly either but sometimes I wondered if Jerry was holding back just to humour me. A tiny piece of me felt like a burden for it. He actually never had a problem mingling with anyone, but he also never used his mingling skills out of our little circle.

Before the elevator doors could hit each other, a woman came running out of nowhere yelling for us to hold the doors. Since I had been the one who entered last, I did. I wasn't sure whether or not I was supposed to, that rule had never been satisfactorily explained to me. "Thank you," she said as she entered, relieved. The voice sounded familiar enough for me to check the face.

I couldn't place it at first but then I remembered her as the motherly lady from my midnight snack trip.

"Oh my God, it's you, hi," I said to her enthusiastically, all my social anxiety thrown out the window. It felt good to see her. I didn't know why. It was probably strange for Jerry to see me be enthusiastic to talk to a stranger.

"I'm so very good. Nice to see you again. How are you?"

"I'm good, I'm good."

"That's good to hear. So, anything new happening in your world?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Oh wait, I got a promotion."

She gasped out loud, like she was genuinely interested. It made me feel a bit flustered.

"Oh my God, congratulations. I'm so proud of you," she gushed with her hands on my arms. Her words brought an unusual feeling of warmth. I couldn't believe a stranger had done so much so quickly. A stranger whose name I didn't even know. I thanked her. We made some random small talk about nothing. We were completely hijacking the moment for everyone.

"That's our floor Ty," Jerry called out from behind me. I'd gotten so distracted that I had forgotten we were going somewhere. He gently pulled me out.

"Well, see you around..." I paused to allow her to tell me what I should call her. "Vivian."

"Alright Vivian," I waved as the doors moved towards each other. My last picture was of her waving with a smile on her face as they resumed their ascension. I hoped I'd see her again. It was an unusual feeling. I was probably still smiling.

"Who the hell is that?" Jerry asked as we went to our room, absolutely incensed.

"Just a friend from around town."

He was skeptical, judging by his expression.

"Really? Where around town?"

"Just around," I said, choosing to remain aloof. It wasn't really a choice since I didn't know either. He decided not to push. (For now.)

Less than thirty minutes later we were on cloud nine. The room was smoky and we were losing our minds at whatever joke the other could crack.

"We neeeeed some alcohol," Jerry said before laughing. I could drink, though I had a fear of hangovers. We didn't have much to do the next day anyway so I shrugged.

"You couldn't handle it."

He laughed.

"Of fucking course I could," he said before hurriedly getting on his feet. He wasn't falling over but he couldn't maintain his balance, yet he managed to walk over to me and pull me to my feet. I asked him where he wanted to go, completely forgetting that we had to be down at the bar anyway for the celebration.

"Let's just go to the bar for a few drinks, then we'll be back here in no time. Don't worry, I won't give you more than you can handle."

His words were surprisingly articulate and sounded reasonable enough, only so that he could convince me to join him in his bad decisions.

"Fine," I rolled my eyes before he yanked me away, leading the way to the downstairs bar. I probably looked stupid being surprised to be at an appointment I was actually on time for. Everyone was happy to see me as I suddenly remembered that we had to toast my achievement. I blended right in, probably due to my inebriated mind. It was weird, yet also nice to have the rare overdose of attention, but I knew who I was and that eventually I wouldn't be able to take it so much.

I endured it for way longer than expected, though that was probably because everyone was drunk and up to their own thing, and almost two hours later we were riding back up to our floor. Both of us were laughing at nothing.

"Jermaine, dude, you're so drunk you can't even stand," I said to him, observing his slow swaying as he tried to stand still. He stepped back and hit the elevator wall so hard it had to hurt. He didn't flinch though.

"I can stand still, but listen, I just don't want to," he said before laughing. He was drunk out of his mind. His laughter made me laugh. I was drunk out of my mind too, though I had held my liquor really well, just enough to avoid a major hangover.

"Alright, let's play a little game then," I suggested with a naughty smile, an idea already forming in my drunk mind. He listened as intently as someone who was close to blackout drunk could.

"Put this on," I said as I undid the loose tie around my neck and blindfolded him with it.

"Twenty bucks says you can't make it to our room in under two minutes."

His hand was already on my shoulder and I feared he was going to bump into a wall and hurt himself. My inebriated mind got the better of me as I chose to throw caution to the wind. He'll be fine.

"Oh shit, better start taking it out now," he said raising his hands up like a zombie.

"We're here," I said just as the elevator doors opened. I disappeared into the corridor and ran to our room. We were really two naughty kids lacking adult supervision.

I plugged in my headphones and observed the door. The music was always more enjoyable with a mind under the influence, but I didn't want it to be so easy for him to win by accidentally responding to his calls.

Nothing to do but wait.

Chapter 03

I laughed when a heard a brief scream that ended abruptly. I knew it was Ty playing a joke on me, trying to get me to lose my way.

My eyes were still blindfolded but I could feel myself getting closer to my destination. It had been barely a minute since I left the elevator but in my inebriated mind it felt like ten. I still had a chance to make it in time and win the money.

Suddenly, crash. I heard things falling. I hesitated to remove the blindfold and cheat the game, but I did. It probably would have ruined the night of whoever it was to have some drunk guy crash into them and then entertain them with a blindfold on.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," I said as the lady stood up, carrying only two pieces of paper and an empty glass, totally underwhelming considering the sound of the crash. I internally sighed with relief when I saw that the floor was dry and I had not made her spill her drink.

"It's fine," she said. It was Ty's mysterious lady friend 'Vivian' from earlier in the night. "No I'm... We were just playing a silly game. Sorry that happened."

"It's fine. Really. I know how it gets sometimes," she assured me with a smile and a raised brow. She sounded like she knew from experience. Part of me did want to ask but I knew it wouldn't be appropriate.

She just stood there for a bit too long. I didn't know what else she was expecting.

"Alright well, I'll be on my way now, good night," I uncomfortably said. I avoided saying her name just so we could go our separate ways as quickly as possible.

"Good night now," I heard her say behind me. I didn't bother putting the blindfold back on until I was at the door. It was probably obvious.

"Cheater," Ty said as soon as I was in the room, throwing his headphones aside. I was too spooked and embarrassed by the experience earlier to deny it. "Dude, I totally crashed into someone," I confessed in a hush tone, fearing that the lady was somehow at the door, or would hear me from wherever she had gone to.

"What?" he laughed. I figured he would stop and let me finish the story, but he was still laughing several seconds later. "Yeah, that mysterious Vivian woman you were talking to earlier, totally made her drop her things."

The additional information made him laugh even more. So not only had I lost the game, I had just gotten humiliated too. The laughing slowed down finally.

"For that performance alone, even as a cheater, you win the prize money," he said as he threw a twenty into the air. I caught it. It didn't feel like a prize.

*

Room 133

It had been a long day Mr Smith and he needed to unwind. He stared lustfully at the gorgeous woman in front of him. She was going to take her clothes off eventually, but she was taking her time, trying to make him beg for it.

"Come on baby, don't take all night now," he whined sensually in a low voice. She giggled sexually before she slowly let just one strap of her bra fall to the side. He bit his lip.

It was just a usual business trip for him. A quarter business and three quarters pleasure. If it was a bit more business-oriented, then he would have been home to his wife two days ago. Instead, he had hired yet another escort for the night. That was his life. 'Boys will be boys' was one of his more popular mottos. The young woman teased the other bra strap as she smiled sultrily, eyes half closed. He didn't mind though, that was how he liked it.

In only a split second, her expression suddenly completely transformed, her eyes becoming wide open and her mouth opening as well. She looked like she was choking.

Smith's eyes opened wide with shock. "What's wrong?" he asked, surely baffled but not yet alarmed. She made audible choking sounds. Her whole head was turning red.

"I can't breathe," she gasped out. "You're choking?" he asked. It was highly unusual for somebody to be choking on nothing. He wasn't alarmed yet.

"Well we're not at that point yet baby," he joked. She didn't laugh, but her breathing got more struggled to a point where that was all she was trying to do while her hands desperately tried to scratch at her neck so that whatever had her would unhand her.

Her struggling slowed down, then suddenly...

SNAP.

The sound was a loud unmistakable snap and it came a second before she dropped into bed, head falling between Smith's open legs. Her eyes were wide open. The look was unmistakable.

He was definitely more than just alarmed at that point. What he had just witnessed he couldn't explain. The woman had just suddenly started choking on the thin air before her neck snapped and she collapsed, obviously dead. That didn't sound like a plausible explanation.

What was his wife going to say? And his children? Who would ever believe a story like that? Would his lawyer, one of the best money could buy, be able to prove his innocence.

All these thoughts flooded his mind for only a second, because, just then, he started choking too. It felt like a hand, yet it was not material. Physically felt but untouchable. Hot, cold, all at the same time.

"I would never let that happen to me without a fight" was what he would have said if this was a story he was being told by someone else. Yet, in that moment, he had no idea what to fight. He tried to scream but was cut short, as his neck suddenly broke into a million pieces, figuratively.

His struggle was shorter, without the theatrics that he had witnessed from the woman who lay in front of him. Whoever, or whatever, it was, had gone easier on him. But that didn't matter, they were both dead, a mysterious marking appearing on each of their necks as they lay waiting to scar for life whoever had the misfortune of discovering them.