Nobody Wants To Know Him

XXI - She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

Monday 1st January 1973
Liverpool, England
10.51am

Bleedin' hell! How quickly was the guy walking? I'd jogged all the way down to the crossroads at the bottom of his hill and I still wasn't able to catch up with him. I hadn't even left that long after!

His figure was visible to me as I struggled against the cold air which inhibited my breathing to try desperately to catch up with him.

"John, please!"

Almost instantly his head snapped around before he broke out into a full-on sprint - up the fucking hill.

Why was he so intent on being difficult... This whole situation did not need to be this big. It certainly escalated quickly.

My attempts to catch up to him were all in vain for there was absolutely no way I was getting up that hill. Not running at least. I was already out of breath from jogging all the way here, and the crisp winter air was causing my lungs to constrict every time I breathed in.

As I neared the top, there was no sign of John. He'd gone inside. Of course he did, it's not like he was going to wait for me at the top just to tell me how I should've run faster.

Apprehensively, I neared the front door to bring the knocker down against the it.

Stepping back to wait, memories from our first encounter flashed through my mind. How I had planned to give this mystery person a paper and just as I stood by the door, expecting no one to answer it, it swung open. It was only as I was about to turn back when he opened the door. And the rest was history.

Alas, no John was there to swing open the door unexpectedly this time.

What was I going to do? I understood why he was deliberately ignoring me but now there was no way for me to speak to him. I just needed a minute to explain that it's just a huge misunderstanding and he'd jumped to conclusions too fast.

Now, he'd just hole himself up in that house again for the rest of eternity, exactly as he had done before he met me.

I knocked again, and called out into the house. "John! Just let me explain! Please..."

Still no reply.

At that moment there was movement from behind the door, and I was hopeful. But, my hopes quickly diminished as one of John's cats, one I had learnt was expertly named Jesus, pushed himself out of the catflap at the bottom of the door.

Jesus rubbed up against my shin, purring. His fur was soft as I stroked him, thinking about what I was to do.

John was leaving me with very few options here. I needed to speak to him, or else I might not ever again.

My feet guided me over to one of the windows next to the front door and I peered into it. He was nowhere to be seen. My fingers left marks against the glass as I pushed and pulled at the edges of the window, hoping silently that he'd left it open.

No luck.

I rounded the corner of the house before coming upon the room I now knew was one of the downstairs loos. I tried my luck on that window, and lo and behold, it opened.

What was I doing? Was this technically considered illegal? Trespassing was illegal, wasn't it? I was trespassing.

But it was John.

Fuck it. I had more important things to worry about than breaking the law right now.

I pushed open the window as far as it would go and hoisted myself over it into the small room and exited into that all too familiar entrance hall.