Gexo XXX Days

The Bulb

I heard some voices from a man next door to me, aka Mr. Charles. He
might've left his door open because I could even hear the voices coming
out of his room. It was 0800 hours already. I didn't even realize when I fell
asleep. After whatever happened to me last night, I never thought that I
would be able to sleep again... ever. It seemed like Mr. Charles was in a rush
to go somewhere but I was too tired and terrified to go out of my room
and ask him anything. Actually Mr. Charles was the only person close to me
in that apartment despite our age gap. Perhaps because he was my next
door neighbor, I guess. He is a man who has a keen interest in horror
stories and we often discuss weird stuff related to ghosts. I already had a lot
of questions in my mind about last night, about what actually happened
and was it even real or I was just dreaming! I was still in deep thought
when I heard a knock on my doorstep. It was Mr. Charles.
"Hey Badger, how's you doing buddy!" Asked he.
"I'm good. What's Up? You goin' somewhere?"
"Yeah.. it's my mother. She lives in the next town from here and she had a
heart attack and she is in the hospital. It's really urgent and I need to go
ASAP."
Mr. Charles never really used to talk about his mother but I knew that he
had one. I replied, "Well, that's terrible Mr. Charles. I'm so sorry to hear that.
You should really go."
"Yeah about that, '' he said "My Nephew came over this morning to give me
the news about me mum. And he isn't feeling well, so I told him to stay
here while I go and check on her. I was hoping that he could use your
company, if you don't mind."
After last night, i wasn't planning on sleeping alone anyway, so this was like
an opportunity to me. "Yeah, of course Mr. Charles. It's really a great idea. I
will catch up with him soon." "Thank you very much Badger."
And he left in a hurry.
I finished my breakfast and packed my backpack with important stuff to
temporarily shift into Mr. Charles room.
I locked my door and rang the bell of his room. His nephew answered.
He was just like any other regular teenage boy.
"Hey, I am Badger. I believe Mr. Charles told you about me." I said.
"Yeah, of course. Come inside and make yourself at home."
He was really nice to me. As we talked he told me about himself pretty
much. His was Andrew Jones and he was living with Mr. Charles mother
and his parents. Unlike Mr. Charles he wasn't really interested in horror
talks and all. He said they terrified him. Well, I'm not judging, not everyone
has the same taste though.
We played games and talked and watched movies. It was one hell of a
NORMAL DAY of a normal human. I didn't even know when dusk came. It
was getting darker so I asked Andrew if Mr. Charles was coming home or
not. He told me that he was going to stay in the hospital for tonight and it
was just me and him. To be honest that was a relief for me because I really
did not want to go into my room tonight.
The hallway of our apartment was dark on my room's side, apparently
because I did not turn on the light when I was temporarily shifting into Mr.
Charles's room.
"Hey Andrew, I forgot to turn on the light on my doorstep. I will be back
soon." I told Andrew and then went into my room.
As I entered, the flashbacks of my last night were getting into my head. It
was terrible. But I neglected everything I was feeling, turned the lights on,
locked the door and left as soon as possible.
Andrew looked at me and asked, "You okay? Seems like you just looked
into a devil's eye." And laughed.
He didn't mean it and I knew that. So I just laughed back at his joke.
It was 1845 hours. Andrew told me that he did not know how to cook.
"Don't worry about that. My delivery guy will be here in an hour. We won't
be starving tonight"
A sound interrupted our conversation. We heard someone running in the
hallway. At first I thought it might be someone from the apartment in a
hurry but someone was running to and fro on the floor.
"Who the fuck is this?" Andrew yelled.
"Might be some kid tryna annoy neighbours." I said.
"Let's find out who this sick person is" Andrew proposed and we both went
to check the hallway. As we approached the door to open it, the running
sound now converted into the walking sound. It was coming closer to our
doorstep. Step By Step. Coming closer and the sound was getting louder. It
freezed my body because I was still recovering from my PTSD from last
night but Andrew looked fine. The sound finally came closest to the door
and stopped. Our 6th sense was telling us that there is actually something
or someone standing right in the front of our door. My hands couldn't reach the door handle to open it. My lips were dry and I was
getting pale. I wanted to stop Andrew from opening that door but I
couldn't move an inch. Not because someone was grabbing me but
because of the fear and terror. On the other hand, Andrew was normal and
calm but his jaws were dropping and he was also sweating. We both
looked at each other and then he opened the door.
My eyes went black for a second. I regained my consciousness in a second
and looked around in the hallway. It was empty. No one or nothing was
there.
Andrew was terrified now, I could see that in his eyes but he was trying his
best to be and look cool. He told me that it must be a hallucination since
we both were hungry. I agreed with him having no other option. We were
heading back to the room when I noticed that the light on my doorstep
was turned off.
I do remember turning it on because I couldn't possibly forget going into
that room this very evening after having a terrible night there less than 24
hours ago.
I told Andrew that I should go and take a look. He denied that, he said the
bulb on the doorstep must have overheated or something. But it never
happened before, why now? It could be a coincidence, but looking at the
circumstances, I knew it wasn't a coincidence. Andrew was trying hard to
persuade me not to go and check it. I thought it would be easy, and it's not
a big deal. I just have to go in there and check whether the switch is On or
Off.
But I was unable to gather the courage to do it. I just took the bulb out and
we both went into Charles room.
Andrew wasn't feeling well so he said he was going to take a nap on the
couch until the delivery boy arrived.
I put the bulb into another plug in the room to check whether it was ok or
not and now i was really calm. Because the bulb isn't glowing. It was really
fused. I took a deep breath and was relieved now.
"Hey Andrew, the bulb is defected, we have nothing to worry about"
He didn't reply. The day was really tiring so I didn't wake him up either. I
stated scrolling my phone until i was interrupted by a doorbell.
Food! That's what i thought but it was 1930 hours. I looked at the watch
and was wondering who it might be. The bell rang again and I had to
answer it now.
"Andrew told me you were staying at the hospital tonight"
I asked Mr. Charles surprisingly after opening the door.
"I was just tired so i thought i would just come home and sleep".
That's all he told me and went to his bedroom. Andrew was still in a deep
sleep so I didn't bother to wake him up.
I didn't ask Mr. Charles any questions either as he was already too tired.
Now all i had to do was to wait for the delivery guy! The guy who saved my
life yesterday. By
knocking at the doorstep.
"Badger! Badger!!? Hey, wake up!!! Badger"
When I opened my eyes I saw Andrew yelling in my face.
"Whoah whoah, whatsup Andrew? Is it the delivery guy?"
"What delivery guy? It's 0730 hours."
Fuck.... what? I didn't even realize when I fell asleep while waiting for the
delivery guy!
"Damn, I'm sorry Andrew. Where's Mr. Charles" I asked.
"He hasn't returned yet."
"What? No, he returned yesterday when you were taking your nap. He is in
his room." I told him
"Badger. When I woke up after my nap, it was 2030 hours. I didn't bother to
wake you up and went into my uncle's room to sleep. The couch waw
uncomfortable."
"What are you talking about?" I asked surprisingly! "Mr. Charles was here
last night, I opened the door myself and I do remember it."
"Maybe he left when you and I were both sleeping?" He asked
I nodded because that was the only sane possibility at that time. I told
Andrew to make a call to Mr. Charles and ask why he left.
I went to find the bulb to replace it with the new one. I didn't find it
anywhere. So I ignored it and made a call to the delivery guy about last
night delivery's bill.
"Hey im Badger Hastings calling from apartment no. 4 on maple street. I
want to know the bill for yesterday's delivery because I did not receive it."
The other guy on the call told me, "Yes sir, I remember you. Sir, you
cancelled yesterday's order. You told me that yourself when I was in your
apartment to deliver it."
"What? No, there might be some misunderstanding...."
I was interrupted by Andrew when he came into the hall while panting. I
asked him if everything was okay?
"Are you sure that it was my uncle yesterday?" He asked
"Yeah why?" I asked.
"I just called him and he told me he never left the hospital yesterday. He
was with his mother all
the time. And right now he is on his way back here."
I had no idea what was going on. It couldn't be happening. I tried to
remember back what actually happened yesterday night. I was sure that i
didn't make any mistake in recognising Mr. Charles. Andrew told me that
maybe it was all my dream since we both were too much tired. I nodded
and told him that he is right. It was just a dream. I shook hands and left.
I stepped out and looked at my door.
At that moment, looking at my door gave me more reasons to not go into
it, it also gave me a reasonable explanation as to why I couldn't find that
fused bulb.
The bulb on my doorstep was glowing.