Ghost and the Writer

Outside

By the next morning Mandy had finished reading August's book and was about to look up the Harry book, yet that was interrupted by an annoying buzz on the floor. August's hand made a zombie like crawl to fetch the phone and press it to his ear.

"Yes?" He asked with his eyes still closed.

"Where are you?" asked a mildly upset voice on the other side. It was a male's voice as far as Mandy could tell.

"Sleeping." Came a reply.

A pause. "Be here in half an hour at the latest." The voice turned cold as ice.

August's eyes popped open and he sat up. "Be where?"

Mandy stared at the exchange in a wonder. That was another new expression on August's face.

"... Unbelievable... Tower street 5a, 4th floor. The telenovela deal." The voice in the phone grew even colder. Cold enough for August to shiver just by hearing it.

"..shit" August muttered, the phone dropping from his hand, as he jumped off the bed and started looking through his clothes in haste, then tore off the shirt he had been sleeping in.

Only at that moment, Mandy realized that August had never shown much skin in the room, always dressing and undressing in the bathroom. In the first days, she had thought it must be a habit of his, not suspecting at all that he had been mindful of her eyes. She was about to turn away, but something caught her attention. Scars. On the left side where the kidney ought to be and over his right lung. An operation? No, far messier, extending radial lines... it somewhat reminded of the wound Tia had gotten.

A white buttoned shirt went over August's back and he was about to take off his shorts, only then recalling that there was another person in the room. He cast a glance at Mandy and their eyes met.

"... is that your hobby?" He asked.

Mandy flushed completed red and turned away. She put her hands on her face, looking completely embarrassed. Mandy only looked towards August a minute later when he ran past her towards the bathroom. She was still red, but now she could look - he was properly dressed.

Clothes did make a person, Mandy had to admit - rather than looking like a sleep-deprived student (which August wasn't, but he did don a style of that sort usually - loose jeans and oversized t-shirts), he looked like a proper working adult. A buttoned shirt, waistcoat, fitting jeans for a change and a jacket. He even brushed his hair! (It was no longer a mess, a change Mandy didn't think was possible.)

How did August change from that to this in a mere five minutes if not less was a mystery for Mandy, but she didn't get a chance to ask. Rather, she looked at August like he was a circus animal of sorts.

August rushed back to the sofa he had been sleeping on and arranged a taxi via a certain app, pulled out his suitcase (the same one containing vials and other weird things) and traced a big circle over the top of it, drawing some shape in the middle. The suitcase shrunk within moments, turning into a small black book - most would guess it's a pocket edition of a bible from looks alone. August slid 'the bible' in his chest pocket, left the phone on the sofa and went about finding his wallet, keys, then packed up his laptop.

The phone let out a beep and August put his laptop bag over his shoulder and quickly found a pair of shoes.

That sight of a suitcase turning into a book rose so many questions that Mandy kept looking at August in a daze. Like a circus animal indeed. So many bizarre things in such a short time.

"See ya," he said to Mandy without looking at her direction, thus failing to notice that she was looking at him like he was putting on a performance, which might be for the best, considering his lack of time to comment on it.