Entry #12050104001305

He Is Lying

As the morning light shone through the blinds, Jay awoke from his deep sleep. A good night's sleep was hard to come by and he was grateful for it. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he glanced at his watch to find that it was only six in the morning. A nine hours sleep? That was incredible. It also occurred to him that he hadn't planned to stay with Tim for this long. Actually, he hadn't planned to stay with Tim at all; he was just supposed to come over and see the tape. Then there was also the fact that his car was still at the park. It was more than likely perfectly fine but he didn't want to chance it any longer. The walk there wouldn't be too bad, maybe an hour or so. Throwing the blanket back, Jay crept down the hall to Tim's room and peeked in the door to find him sound asleep. Grabbing his camera, Jay silently opened the front door and crept down the porch steps.

It was times like this - when a lot of walking was involved - that Jay wished he had his chest mounted camera. It would make things so much easier. Half an hour in, his arm was beginning to cramp slightly so he switched the hand held device to the left hand. The walk went faster than he had anticipated and by the time he reached his car, he realized he'd been holding his breath for a while now. But of course, his car was exactly where he left it. No tires missing, no windows busted out, exactly as it had been. Digging into his pocket, Jay fished out his keys and unlocked the vehicle before climbing in. He knew Tim would probably be awake in the next few hours if he wasn't already and Jay completely disappearing would alarm him. That's why Jay decided to run back to the hotel and grab some clothes, take a shower, and head back to Tim's house.

As he pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, he could sense something was wrong. Going against his better judgement, Jay climbed out of the car, locking it behind him, and headed up to his room. As he unlocked the door, he quickly pushed it open, prepared to find the worse. To his relief (and perhaps, slight disappointment) Jay found that his room was exactly as he had left it. Packing his stuff back into his duffel bag, he knew that it was time to get out of there. If nothing else, this was the last day that the room would belong to him. After that, he would have to find somewhere else to go. Home would be nice, Jay thought as he got in the shower; of course, that was no longer an option. His apartment had burned over a month ago but it had never really felt like home to begin with.

Once Jay had finished his shower and dressed in clean clothes, he packed his camera and the camera stand into his bag and put on the chest mounted camera before going downstairs to check out. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he considered going back to check on the room adjoining his, hoping Jessica had possibly returned, but he knew better. Besides, he thought he had already seen another person occupying the room.

"Did you enjoy your stay?" the friendly woman behind the desk asked as he reached for the sign out sheet.

"Oh, uhm, yeah," Jay distractedly replied as he signed his name. "Have a nice day," he quietly said as he headed for the exit, trying to avoid a conversation.

As Jay reached his car in the parking lot, he popped the trunk and threw his duffel bag into the vehicle. His laptop and bag of tapes had already been placed in the hidden compartment in the trunk so all of his possessions were now securely in the car. Sliding into the driver's seat, Jay pulled away from the hotel. He knew Tim would become a nervous wreck if he woke up and Jay wasn't there so, as fast as possible, Jay made his way back to Tim's house. As he pulled into the driveway, his phone rang.

"Hello?" Jay asked the device after clicking the green "answer" button.

"Jay, where are you?" Tim's worried voice asked. Jay chuckled.

"The driveway. I'm about to come inside." On the other end of the call, Tim let out a relieved sigh before hanging up. Shutting the car off, Jay pulled his keys from the ignition before sliding out of the car and walking up the porch steps. Inside, Tim was resting on the sofa, staring at nothing in particular.

"Where were you?" Tim asked as Jay entered the house.

"I just had to take care of something. Nothing big." Jay's hands slid into his pockets and immediately his mind was sent into panic mode. His wallet was missing. Where had he left it? He could have sworn it was still there. "I'll be right back," Jay mumbled as he headed back out the door to his car. Peering in the window, he saw his wallet in the driver's seat. His heart began to slow, his mind calming as he realized his clumsiness and opened the door to retrieve the object. Flipping the folded pieces of leather open, he froze. A piece of paper was stuck inside. In black scribbled letters were the numbers 01001000 01100101 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101100 01111001 01101001 01101110 01100111. At first glance, it was obviously binary code. Because he didn't have the code itself memorized, he would have to decipher it later.

Jamming the object into his front pocket, Jay closed the car door behind him before locking the car and hurrying back inside. As he pushed the front door open a second time, Jay was already wondering about where he would be going next. Staying in the same place for more than a few days was always a terrible idea. At the same time, not having a job meant he was low on funds. Dangerously low. The money that hadn't been spent on hotel rooms, blank tapes, and groceries was going straight into his gas tank. Just the thought of having to ask Tim for a place to stay made his stomach churn. It was already his fault that Tim was involved in all this. Living with his would only make him a bigger target for attack. If something serious ever happened to Tim, Jay knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself.

"What's on your mind?" Tim asked as the door closed behind Jay. Was he really that easy to read?

"Just thinking about...stuff," Jay replied, trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal.

"That's dangerous," Tim differently replied though Jay knew he wanted him to continue.

"It's nothing to worry about," Jay offered as he took a seat on the couch beside Tim. Unfortunately for him, Tim wasn't going to let him off the hook that easily.

"Is this about the pregnancy test?" he asked, though it was obvious he was having a hard time keeping a straight face.

Jay couldn't keep himself from rolling his eyes. "No. This has nothing to do with that. I've just... I checked out of the hotel this morning, and I'm not sure where I'll be going next."

"You could stay here for a while if you need to," Tim responded as if it were the most obvious solution in the world. And really, it was. But it wasn't a good solution.

"I can't stay here, Tim. I already got you involved in all this..." This what? How could he describe it? Chaos, he supposed, was a good description. "I don't want to keep messing things up. Maybe... Maybe if you're not around me, your life can return to normal." Jay wasn't sure if he believed it himself but maybe he could try to prove it. An unintentional sigh escaped his lips as he said, "I just need to talk to Alex soon. I think that'll help me figure some things out."

Tim visibly shifted at that statement. "You've been talking to Alex?"

"Well, not lately. He won't answer my calls but expects me to answer his."

"Jay, you need to stay away from him."

"Tim, I know he's different than he used to be - paranoid, even - but, I mean, who isn't at this point?"

"Jay, you're not getting it. He's dangerous."

"And you know this how?"

Tim didn't respond immediately and when he finally did, he said, "I'm done talking about him." With a feeling of finality accompanying that statement, Tim stood and disappeared down the hall. Jay listened absentmindedly as Tim pulled a pill bottle from the cabinet and shook out one (or two or three; Jay had no way of knowing for sure) pill then retreated to his room.

Though Tim's reaction wasn't anything unusual - he had never been afraid of making his disdain for Alex quite clear - it still left Jay with the uneasy feeling that he was hiding something. The question was, what was there to hide? Wasn't Tim on his side? It sure seemed that way. Though, if there was one thing Jay knew all too well, it was that looks could most definitely be deceiving.