The Crack in the Side Wall

Chapter 7

14th August 2012,

By the time I woke up, Coe had already left. I swept my hand over the now empty space and felt the lingering warmth. I smiled as I remembered the night before.

Sex with Coe had never been disappointing. He was undoubtedly amazing in bed, making sure that one experiences the zenith of each pleasure and ecstasy.

It had all started one evening when Coe was dumped by his girlfriend, we spent the whole day in the bar, drinking beer until we were dead drunk. On the way to his house, we somehow ended up kissing and then all the way to sex. The next day, when we found out what happened, we were kind of ashamed and disgusted (no, not for having gay sex, but for having sex with a friend who was like a brother). Finally, we sealed the discussion with the verdict that this was a one-time thing never to be mentioned or repeated. But it didn't end up so.

It was Coe's birthday two months later and by the end of the party, we were once again drunk as a beast and once again, we ended up having sex. The next morning, when the reality hit us, we realized that it was the best sex ever for both of us and decided to up our relationship as friends with benefits. Since then, whenever we need a distraction, or the mood hits us, we end up on either's place to have a good time. It has now become so common that we even have each other's clothes in our house.

I rolled lazily on the bed, contemplating if I should go for a jog. Just then I noticed a note that he had left behind.
"Game night on Saturday at your place ;)"
I picked it up and smiled, wondering why he had written it to me since we would anyway meet in the office.

I looked at the time and taking a quick shower, changed into my formal wear. I went to the kitchen and poured myself a cereal, the milk having had brought in by Coe before leaving. I quickly munched them up, my eyes on the ticking clock. As soon as I finished eating, I stood up and went to the mirror to check if I was looking presentable. Just then my eyes fell on the calendar and I smiled.

'Of course, he left me a note.' I thought.

Every year Coe goes to his old orphanage from 14th to 17th August to pay his respects to the people who took care of him, donate a part of his salary that he keeps separately and play with the other orphans there. We call it charity, but he calls it a priceless yet completely free way to attain peace and release stress.

I smiled thinking about him. 'Office without him for even these three days would seem like an eternity.'

I was already missing that guy as I hailed a taxi.

18th August 2012,

Three days had passed since the mystery man had waltzed into Ella's life... and mine as well. I could sometimes hear their giggles, laughter and other noises that I try not to fathom. Many times I had thought of looking at them through the crack but have immediately dismissed the temptation for I was afraid of what I might see that may further crush my already broken heart.

I have been avoiding her nowadays, hiding before she could see me, finishing work early so that our arrival time does not lapse, and not even going out for a party, which thankfully hasn't taken place since Coe's absence. Today, he was gonna come to my house for a game night and I was pretty excited as we hadn't had one since almost a year.

As I sat near the Game Console and played a car racing game, I could hear the 'love birds' arguing over the food. I tried to drown their voices by increasing the volume but could still hear them. Defeated, I put on a headphone and continued my gaming. After a few minutes, I pulled them off and could hear them still talking about the dinner. Finally, they settled on some kind of pizza and the man went out to get them.
I sighed and resumed my game.

Just as I was about to win my third race in a row, I heard the familiar note of my doorbell.

'Must be Coe', I thought and pausing my gameplay, went to open it.

I opened it and he rushed inside like a gust of wind and stripped off his jacket.

"What's with the rush?" I asked.

"It's dark outside", he wailed.

" Coward", I said, making him frown at me, " Okay, I will ask someone to fix the light bulb."

He gave me a winning childish smile and headed towards the game room. I followed suit and sat beside him, taking the joystick he had left for me.

"By the way", he said, turning towards me, " I saw the legendary Ella today and damn she is pretty!"

I nodded sadly.

"She is too beautiful for you anyways!" He said with a mischievous grin and I lightly punched him on his arm as he laughed gleefully.

He chose Street Fighter 4 which I had bought just a few weeks ago and was dying to play. I grinned at his suggestion and chose Blanka while he chose Ryu.

"Prepare to eat dust," I said.

"Yep." He replied with a grin, " the dust that will rise from your fallen body on the dusty floor."

After ten games non-stop, Coe and I were neck to neck with equal scores. As I was about to press start for the final match that would determine who is the better player, Coe pulled off his headphone and raised his index finger at me for silence.

"What?" I asked, slightly annoyed by his stupid interruption on my way to victory.

"I think so something's happening at your neighbor's house." He whispered.

Suddenly I heard the slam of a closet door. It came from Ella's!

"Let's investigate", he whispered.

I nodded, curiosity killing my hesitation and fear just like it had killed the cat.

We slowly made our way to the crack, making sure to not make any noise. I quietly brought my face at its level and looked through the hole to see the backside of Ella. Her shoulders moved up and down rhythmically and fast as if she was taking deep, heavy breaths.

Suddenly she turned around and I felt like our eyes met. She started rushing towards the crack like a mad bull. Scared, I quickly moved away, pushing Coe in the process.

We stood with bated breaths at either side of the hole, frightened and scared as we heard her sit on the bed and look through it before moving away. We were still too scared to move as we stood there motioning at each other to look through the crack. Just then, a rolled up paper was pushed through it. We stared in horror as the yellow parchment floated gracefully and landed on the wooden floor, it's big red words glaring at us:

"DON'T LOOK AT WHAT YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO SEE."