A Life Lost

Untitled Part 1

The Adventures Of Darwin McKay

               The phone rang. Damn thing did nothing but ring. Darwin wouldn’t have minded so much if the news were ever good. But in his line of work what use was there for good news? He kicked off the thin sheets of the bed and stumbled, fully clothed, across the room to answer the phone.

               “McKay Investigations. Darwin McKay speaking.” He  tried to say the words as smoothly as possible, but they still came out slurred and groggy.

               “McKay you lazy son of a bitch! Did you entirely forget the eight o’clock meeting we, set up?” The verbal barrage sent stabbing pains into his skull.  Mr. Snider seemed to know the best time to yell into a phone. “Get your overpaid ass into the office right now.” Even the click of the phone was upset.

               “Sure thing Mr. Snider. Right away Mr. Snider.” Darwin  said as sarcastically as he knew how, knowing his boss could no longer him.  Kevin Snider was a good man to work for, just a pain in the ass to work with. He owned and ran one of the largest tabloid rags in the city. The Citizen was highly regarded by those standing in line at the supermarket checkout line. It had its share of Elvis sightings, alien baby stories, and celebrity slander, but The Citizen became re-known for its hard hitting ghost stories. This was due in large part to Darwin McKay, Supernatural Freelance Journalist.

               For the past five years, Darwin had devoted his life to the investigation of things otherworldly. His  particular interest in these ghostly apparitions was purely personal. It  stemmed from the disappearance of Darwin’s  girlfriend, Tiffany, who Darwin believed was taken by supernatural beings to another dimension.  It was this belief that kept him out until the early hours of the morning talking to psychic mediums, making him late for this meeting with Kevin Snider.

               Making his way to the bathroom, Darwin looked at himself in the mirror. He ran his hand across his unshaven chin and decided that the scruffy look would have to do today. Darwin’s dark hair was styled in the fresh out of bed look with a streak of white which was the most unruly part of the mop on his head.  He flushed the toilet, washed his hands and ran them through his hair. In part to dry them and partly to try and tame his wild mane. Dawin had earned the streak from one of his first encounters with the supernatural. What could only be described as a demon from another dimension. Not the same demon that took Tiffany but one that scared the bejezus out of him none the less. Turned out Darwin must have scared it almost as much, because with a puff of smoke and what could only be described as a squeal, it disappeared. It’s what gave credence to his belief that Tiffany was abducted by the supernatural, not, as the police say, just run off.

                 Darwin looked around the sparsely decorated bathroom. A couple of towels in dire need of a wash, a cabinet with two rolls of toilet paper, a bottle of ant-acid and an empty bottle of sleeping pills were all that occupied the washroom’s space. This is what he had been reduced to. Living like a Spartan, ready to cut and run at the drop of a hat.

                “It’s like I could disappear tomorrow and no one would ever have known I was ever here.”

                 He grabbed his hat,a beat up Montreal Expos ball cap, his coat and left the apartment. He  took the stairs mainly because he did not fully trust the building’s elevator to make it to the third floor and down again. Besides, a little physical activity might help wake him up.

                 By the time he had reached the bottom of the stairs Darwin had completed the inventory of equipment he was carrying. A pad if paper, a couple of pens, an address book, 9mm pistol, sunglasses, pocket dictionary of occult references, mini flashlight, wallet with money and proper ID, also some not so proper ID. Last but not least, his trusty phone. These few items had helped him out of many jams and there was no way Darwin would forget any of them if he could help it.