Life Is A Nightmare

Chapter Ten: Brown Eyes

(Third Person)

In a small coffee shop, downtown, a man in his thirties sits alone. Sipping his coffee slowly as his eyes remain on his tablet pretending to read while unbeknown to everyone he is eavesdropping into the daily gossip of this morning. "I..I just can't believe it, Erica. He was fine the day before and then this happens?" a woman says behind him to her friend.

He hides his smile as he swipes the screen to the next page of the book he has little interest in. His full attention is on the conversation he knew he would hear about today from the news. "I guess you never truly know what's going on in someone's life." the woman's friend replies, "How is Nicole handling it?"

"She hasn't answered my calls. I know she can't possibly be okay. Her husband...he's gone and she has nothing to explain why."

"Do you think," Erica begins to whisper, "he was having an affair?"

"Erica, how can you ask such? He has- was married to Nicole for sixteen years. They have a family together."

"None of that matters in the end if he was cheating. Maybe that's the reason he didn't want to live anymore. He didn't want to live with himself and what he did."

"That was nothing but gossip." The woman tries to brush off what her friend is attempting to accuse their friend's husband of.

"Can you say that without a doubt?" Erica retorts never the one to let such gossip she's heard to be debunked. "There have been plenty of rumors for years as long as he has worked at the school. Ever since-"

"Erica, will you stop?" She says appalled by her friend's words. "Our friend lost her husband and you can only think to bring up things to taint his name? What is wrong with you??"

Yes, what is wrong with you Erica? The man thinks to himself with sarcasm, Oh and here I thought I was the only one who indulged in people's problems for entertainment.

Just as Erica begins to protest her friend the man's heart skips a beat at the sudden vibration of his phone in his pocket. He hits his knee on the table and mutters, "Shit."

He grabs his phone out of his pocket not surprised to see the name on the screen. He decides now is no better of a time to leave having gotten enough of his gossip he wanted to hear today. He picks his tablet up and shoves it in his bag, ignoring the call as he gets up with his drink in hand and his bag over his shoulder.

He exits the coffee shop, he frequents by himself quite often and heads out onto the street before answering the call. "Am I catching you at a bad time?" the man on the other end asks.

"No, I was just getting coffee." And gossip like usual until you decided to interrupt.

"Good, do you think we can meet? Now?" He considers saying no just to say it but the desperation in the man's voice draws him back to reality. Reels him in to remember why he became friends with the man sixteen years older than himself.

"I'll be there shortly." he replies ending the call as he tosses the almost full coffee in the trash and crosses the street.

Like always he will be sitting on the same bench overlooking the water under the bridge. He thinks to himself as he continues to walk in the direction of the river he passes by on a daily basis.

Walking ahead he can't help but notice the weather today is the same as it was the day he first approached the man he is about to speak to.

The sky was dark that day five years ago with rain in the forecast during a hot summer day. Nothing about the clouds made the day seem pleasant but to him it was. He was overwhelmed with emotions knowing what he was about to do would bring him one step ahead. One step closer to making sure no one can get in his way and take what he made possible for himself.

Of course, over the past month, he has found himself walking to meet up on the trail, along the river to talk, more often. Some reason or another the man wants to talk to him and it's becoming something he doesn't look forward to. There is only so much he can say and it's even more of a struggle trying to put on an act of emotions he hardly wears.

I wonder what it is today.

As he crosses another street, that leads him to the bridge, life around him is forgotten. He quickly loses himself in the conversation between the two women. Their words linger in his mind still, he can't help the thoughts and memories of last night's events from playing back in his head.

------

"I want him gone. I need him gone," he repeats to himself in his two-bedroom house as he gets up from the couch. His mind racing, his anger spiraling out of control. He doesn't see any other choice he has when everything he worked for, everything he made possible, can be gone just like that. "He needs to die."

He walks out of the living room through the kitchen. His fists balled up as he walks out on the back porch. He knows exactly what he wants to do as he gets into his car. He knows what he needs to do to get rid of the problem, tonight.

He drives off, his blood boiling as the sun begins to set. "I can make it look like an accident. I can...I can't. I can't touch him!" He concludes arguing with himself while gripping onto the steering wheel.

He stops at the stop sign, his old high school in front of him as he sits thinking of what to do and where he wants to go. He knows 'taking care of the problem' isn't the answer. It will only cause more unwanted attention to a situation he wants to leave in the past.

"I just need...I need some-" he doesn't finish his sentence as he notices what had appeared as an empty school isn't quite empty.

In the distance, there is one car remaining in the parking lot. One person to be the last to leave but the man is stopped by another. He is pulled back as he approaches his car by what looks like a male student.

Words are soon exchanged only they can hear as the teen tries to hold onto him a little longer. Spend another minute, another second, with him but the older man pulls away. He pushes him back and by the looks of it, he's telling him to stop. Explaining for what must be the hundredth time they shouldn't be seen in public together.

The man sitting in his car continues to watch as thoughts come to mind. Suddenly his anger is targeted towards the teacher and he knows exactly what to do to make sure it doesn't come back to him.

"I think it's about time I take care of him for good."

------

He slows down, wiping the smile off his face as he pushes last night to the back of his mind. He takes a seat on the other side of the bench, not too close to the man. He doesn't say a word waiting for the man, to talk first. "I was watching the news this morning. I don't know why when I hardly ever watch. I hate it but it was on and before I could turn it they said...a teacher was found dead outside the high school."

"I didn't hear about it." he lies, his brown eyes meeting the man's eyes before the man looks back at the river.

"He's the same teacher Jayden had in high school."

"The same one-"

The man nods his head staring out at the river, "I think he killed Vivian and pinned it on Jayden." he says pausing before he continues to go on. "I know he did but no one has wanted to do anything. No one has bothered to look into him despite the fact one of the details Jayden describes is the person who took him to the house had blue eyes. I don't see how it wasn't him when he has blue eyes and suddenly now out of the blue he ends his life?"

"What are you going to do?" he asks, his brown eyes meeting the man's sadden eyes.

"I don't know."

"I'll do what I can." he replies receiving a small smile in reply.