To No One

Ch.8 - The Lying Truth

<B - It took me a minute to recover from the shock. I wasn't even able to articulate one word and the door had already been completely barricaded. "I should've seen this coming" I thought while letting out a long sigh. I took a quick glance towards Claire, knowing that she would probably be as confused as I was. Unsurprisingly, she was just looking at me with her eyes and mouth wide open. A muffled voice spoke from behind the door at that moment.>

D - Who are you? Why are you here?

B - Well, I am... uh... someone you know. I need to talk with you for a minute.

D - ...

B - (Real smooth, Beth...)

<B - I was aware how much of a terrifying surprise this might have been for poor Ashwell. Who knows what was going through his mind at that moment. In the best case scenario, he might think that I was some kind of saleswoman trying to scam him. In the worst possible scenario, he might think I was some kind of criminal about to break in and possibly steal his valuables. Both of them would probably end up with him calling the authorities if things went south. Obviously, I wanted to avoid that.>

D - I will ask again, and you better answer this time. Who the hell are you?

B - (No reason to hide it now) I am the person you sent a message to yesterday, I even have the evidence right here.

<B - I took a while for him to answer after that. Some minutes passed, and the silence was broken by the clunking of various locks being hastily undone. After a while, the door was opened by just a tiny crack. Tiny enough for me to see a brown eye and some brownish hair. Now that he was looking I pulled my phone out and showed him the message.>

B - This is you, isn't it?

D - I could be anyone. How did you even find this place?

B - The magic of annual phone books helped me. And if I'm correct, your name is Daniel Ashwell, right?

<B - He shifted his nervous gaze between me and the phone for what it felt like an hour almost, even though it was only for about half a minute. After a while he finally spoke.>

D - You've got five minutes before I call the police.

B - Wah- Wait, hold on!

<B - How I knew...>

B - Isn't that decision a bit rushed!? I mean, I haven't done anything!

D - You mean besides the stalking, trespassing and invasion of privacy? It sounds like you have done more than enough to me.

B - Maybe one or two of those are actually true, but I am not trespassing!

D - Oh, so you admit it?

B - No! And besides, your neighbor let us in!

D - Neighbor? Who the hell are you talking about?

B - It was... *sigh* it was a woman named Samantha. She wanted me to say hello to you for her, anyway.

D - Sam- Oh, that woman...

B - Look, I'm not going to get in between you lover's quarrel.

D - She and I are not-

B - I don't care. But if you know her well enough it means that if she can trust me, you can do so as well (maybe...).

D - Okay, fine, I'll trust you. But what are you doing in my front door?

B - I think it might be better if you let me in first.

D - What? In what universe I would even consider that?