One Man Standing

Wrestling Skin-Deep with Him

A freshly painted navy blue door stands before me along the lively off-white brick walls together I call my 'home'. I jingle my brass keys in my hands and turn the brass doorknob on the right side. I open the door and continue to dangle my keys in my hands. Stepping inside my spruce wood floor boards, luke-light brown wooden boards brightens the storytelling of autumn represented in my walls' carousel of shade colors. Bringing to light, the upholding structure of upstairs' floor.
My wood-dark eyes stare back at me in the decorative mirror and slight faint groaning exits from upstairs. The sound walks in the ears and slips in my mind. Why won't he shut up? Suddenly, I drop my keys on top of the black dresser accompanying the mirror and run up the steps of the stairs. Past the many paintings pinned against the wall, I find him laying down on the steps. One arm over the other, he groans under the lighting of the modern chandelier I have watching over the spiral steps.
             "Get up," I say in my nicest tone of voice and I smile gingerly.
My eyes narrow at the sight of him bent over like he is asleep and dreaming in somewhere much higher than where I would like to see him. I step on his scrawny fingers with my brown Bruno Cucinelli brown-leather sports loafers. He blinks at me frantically, yet does not move. "You hear me don't you?" I say, moving his arm around with my shoe. "Get off of my spruce wooden-floored steps!"
              Repeatedly, I swing my shoe against one to his nose and the other in his eye. Moving his head, he makes a conscious effort to meet eye-to-eye contact with me and smile, insultingly. However, I swing his head back down against the floor and make him hit his teeth. Suddenly, he reaches for my leg and I frown. "Why are you doing this to me, Austin?" He asks.
"Now is not the time to ask rhetorical questions when you have not answered mine," I respond, leaning down the steps next to his arms and kicking his arm away from my ankle.
                 "Ok, fine if it means so much to you," he scoffs and staggers up the floor.
I stand up tall and knee him in the stomach. "Augh!" He groans and clutches his stomach tightly, "Won't you eventually get tired of doing this?"
                 "Doing what?" I ask coyly and grin again.
"Treating me like I'm not even human, Austin" he says, clutching his stomach and holding one hand against the wall. "I don't get it really. Ever since I came to work, so many things have happened. Like my now ex-girlfriend cheated on me and I had my work always drenched in piping hot coffee everytime I returned from the restroom. Also, my locker's lock would always be jammed by gum and I always winded up buying a new lock.
                  "You think all of those unfortunate things happened because of me, Connor?" I ask and turn away from him, adjusting the collar of my top to let some air in.
"I never said anything about you being the one behind it," he responds, taking steps closer to me and his eyes widen. "How could you take Courtney from me?"
                  "Hey, she was all over me at first sight," I defend, turning once again back to him and grinning. "Her grimy paws were all over me and all I did was the first obvious thing any straight man would do every time he sees a woman like her. Oh, she was so eager too, Connor. The look on her face when she saw me underneath makes it all the clearer she never had a real man to take her."
Suddenly, he pushes me toppling down the stairs like humpty dumpty up and I went down, hitting the back of my head against the cold spruce floorboards. He prances on top of me and presses me against the weight of his body. I grab ahold of his head of hair and hit his head repeatedly against the floorboards, sprinkling drops of blood from his teeth. "Do you have gingivitis or something?" I taunt and struggle to push him off of me, "I haven't seen this much blood from the gums since the last time I was around my grandma's place."
                      "Of course, someone like you never had their mommy and daddy around," He taunts, speaking in a baby-voice.
My eyebrows furrow and I reach for the picture frame pinned against the wall. He grabs ahold of my wrist and I hit the picture frame on his head. Cowardly, he lets go and touches the temple of his head. "Oops, looks like you hurt yourself," I say, standing up and stepping over the stained pieces of glass.
                        Hastily, I run up the stairs and stumble across the hallway to my bedroom. I peek under my bed and reach for a silver suitcase. Opening the case, I grab a syringe and I hear more groaning from downstairs. I run downstairs and grab the man by the arm. Leaning down close to him, I make sure he can hear me clearly and I lean into his ear. "Me and Courtney are going to have dinner at my place," I taunt and reach a piece of the glass across the steps. "I want you to be there to see it."
He laughs at me and responds, "That's stupid!"
                        Pursing my lips, I slide the piece of glass down his arms and make multiple slashes. "This is for stealing my position, Connor!" I yell and continuously make more slashes. "This one is for having a better house, better car, nice clothes, and acting all humble! We both know that is just an act to cover how pathetic you really are!"
"You're jealous aren't you?" He giggles, "It's funny because I always looked up to you, thinking you were the master of the workplace before I see you now for what you are."