Crushed Cigarettes | J. Todd ✔

[31]

Jason unlocked the door to Neal's apartment and stepped inside. Everything was exactly like he had last seen, from the crumpled sheet on the mattress, the almost bare closet, the curtainless windows and the single table and chair pushed at the side.

Neal's apartment had always been very empty since he had never paid heed to decorate the place or adding anything other than it was absolutely necessary. But that vacant space would turn into a welcoming space for all of his little friends, either on the monthly pay parties or when it was any one of them's birthday and Neal would invite all of them over.

His eyes flickered from every corner of the room settling on the guitar hanging in the corner right beside the concrete slab that he used as a counter and the small gas ring that he used instead of a stove.

And though he had never let it show, Jason could see Neal had lived a very hand-to-mouth life despite the fact that his concerts paid him off nicely. But then he remembered how he kept only a very little amount for himself, helping his friends out with the rest.

Curiosity took the better of him and he pulled open the closet, revealing Neal's clothes that he remembered so well. There were the formal sparkling suits that he kept for concerts and then dumped down in the corner were his casual wear shirts and trousers, often with diesel stains and patches of cement and charcoal. Weather-beaten jackets with colors almost faded out.

But among his clothes he also found a few medicines, painkillers mostly and sedatives then right beside the packet was an inhaler. He turned the inhaler in his hand, eyes narrowing slightly for he had never seen him use that before nor had he ever known of Neal having any respiratory disease.

But then Neal seldom talked about himself, everything from his past and even the present had been a mystery to them all. When Rose had mentioned at the funeral that he used to teach at Daley Primary School, that too was a shock to Jason because, in spite of his long acquaintance with Neal, he hadn't been aware of that.

Sometimes it seemed that even though he considered Neal a very close friend, he had still not known a lot about him. Such that now when he was gone it still seemed as if his life was a bundle of mysteries that were yet to be uncovered.

Jay's phone rang shaking him out of his thoughts so he took it out of his pocket, seeing Richard's contact flashing on the screen so he received the call.

"Jay, where are you?"

He was about to reply but then substituted it with a question, "why do you ask?"

"I had told you Barbara wanted to meet Rose, right? Can you talk to Rose and bring her over this evening?"

He considered for a while, "I had talked to Rose. I will let her know and then inform you."

"Right."

The call disconnected and Jay dialed Rose's number instead. After a few rings, she picked up, "hey..."

He spoke up judging the faintness of her usually low voice, "how are you?"

"Fine, you?"

"The usual," he sighed looking around, "I had come over to Neal's place."

"Oh..." Her voice trailed off for an instant but then she resumed, "I bet nothing would have changed there."

"Yeah. It just feels more empty now. Maybe his presence used to make up for the fact of how bare his house really is." His eyes swept over the scarce furniture dotted around the room and landed once again on the guitar in the corner, the instrument which Neal had played so often for them and even taught how to play to Jason, Lydia and Morris.

Silence met him on the other line and for a second he thought she had gotten disconnected.

"Rose?"

"Yeah, I'm listening. You're right, he was always so striking that we could hardly pay attention to anything else while he was around."

"Rose, you remember I had told you about Barbara, right?"

"Of course I remember," her voice was wistful, almost apologetic, "Barbara Gordon... How could I forget..."

"Yeah, she wants to meet you today."

"Oh. When and where?"

"At her house, this evening. I will take you there if you agree."

There was short pause after which she replied, "sure."

Jason placed the phone back in his pocket after the call ended and took one last look at the desolate place he was in. He shut the closet and stood up, rearranging the sheet on the mattress.

But it was then his eyes got caught by the phone discarded right by the mattress as if it had fallen there and Neal had forgotten to pick it up.

Bending down, Jay picked it up and pocketed it as well then making sure that everything else was in place, he stepped out, locking the door after him. Instead of going directly to Rose he went to Gotham Tower, knowing that it would be empty and offer the very isolation he needed at the moment.

Jay and the rest of the Bat vigilantes had often used that tower as a hideout so he was well aware of its trap door that was hidden behind the traces of wisteria creeping up to the stony facade.

Waiting for the right time so that no one would notice him disappearing through the trap door, he stepped into the tower, walking silently until he reached the dusty flights of stairs.

But that once instead of going to the very top, he stopped halfway and sat down on the narrow tread of the stairs, taking out Neal's phone.

It had no password so it opened with a single swipe and then Jay checked the last dialed numbers finding it to be Barbara's, two days before his death. He knew it would probably be that call he had made to Barbara to take Dianne to the hospital.

Scrolling down he found nothing so he opened the inbox instead. And right there was the last text sent not even an hour before his death. Curiosity took the better of him and scrolling upwards he played the first audio Neal had sent to Barbara on that day.

Deep down he had a feeling that perhaps all the questions he had regarding Neal would be answered through those audios and right then as he clicked on the Play button he had no idea how correct he had been in his assumption.

***