THE FAMILIAR MELODY

Chapter 1

This is probably gonna be another shitty day, Geralt grumbled to himself, as he woke up to the sound of his phone, ringing. Geralt rolled on the other side of the bed, getting his phone from the night stand.

“This better be important Lambert.” Geralt answered.

“Yeah, it is Geralt. Where the hell are you?”

Geralt glanced at the clock. Shit! He mentally cursed to himself, for almost forgetting his arrangement with Lambert and Eskel. “Sorry Lambert. I-”

He was cut off by Lambert's voice, “Save it Geralt. You were drunk last night. We kinda expected it. Speaking of which. Hey Eskel! You owe me 20 bucks!” He shouted.

Through the phone he could hear Eskel’s response, “Fuck off Lambert.”

Geralt rolled his eyes, of course they’d bet on him. “I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

Lambert chuckled through the phone, “You sure man? I mean, you drank a lot last night. More than usual.”

Geralt repeated his sentence, “I said, I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

He heard Lambert sigh, “Alright. Don’t be late or you’ll buy us drinks later. Got it?”

Geralt huffed in response and ended the call. He sat right up and buried his head in his hands. His head still hurt from last night, in which he met up with Lambert and Eskel for a boys night. They went to a pub, had a couple drinks and then it was all blurry. He had one drink too many, hell, he didn’t even remember how he got back to his apartment.

Geralt got up and took a three minute shower, enough time so that he didn’t smell of booze and puke. Under the shower, Geralt thought more of last night. He remembered how he got into a fight with some guy at the pub and how he, Eskel and Lambert were kicked out. Or how he almost called Yennefer, god, that would have been a disaster. Good thing Eskel took his phone away, before Geralt could drunk call his ex. It was normal for him and Yennefer, they’d date, then they’d fight, break up and repeat. But Geralt wasn’t so sure about this time. Yennefer was the one who broke up with Geralt, they both wanted different things in life, so she made the call to break things off. And to think that he was so close from proposing to her. Funny how life worked. The thing was, they've dated since high school, everyone thought they’d be Endgame, oh how wrong they were.

Geralt’s train of thought was interrupted by a knock on the door, it was probably his landlady, one of the Crones as Ciri would say. He turned off the shower and placed a towel on his waist. He went to the door and opened to see- “Ms. Fluester, what brings you here?” he asked.

Ms. Fluester clicked her tongue, “My, my, Geralt. Is this a bad time?,” she purred, “Anyways, I’m here to give you this.” She handed him a letter. Ms. Fluester was a middle-aged woman, who didn't seem to look like she was in her 40s. And man, she looked like a woman in her mid-20s.

Geralt took the letter from her hands and read it silently. “Wait a minute. It says here I’m getting evicted?”

Ms. Fluester pursed her lips, “Yes you are hon,” she smiled at him, which gave Geralt the chills, mentally, “unless, you could give me the money by next week or so.”

Geralt glared at the woman, “Why the hell, am I getting evicted? I paid last month’s rent.”

She held a finger up in his face, “Let me stop you right there, big boy. Yes. You did pay for last month’s rent but.. You forgot to pay for your dog’s rent.”

Geralt pinched the bridge of his nose, god, this woman was making him late. And since when did he have to pay for Roach? She was a fucking dog! Why did his old landlord have to die, he was a decent man. At least he didn’t have to put up with his shit, like he had to with Ms. Fluester. And not to forget, her constant flirts.

“Are you serious? This is the first time I’ve heard of it.”

Ms. Fluester blinked, “It seems like you didn’t read the new rules for the apartment Geralt.”

Geralt crossed his arms on his chest. “I guess I didn’t. How much do I have to p-”

“900 dollars.” She cut him off.

Geralt’s eyes widened, was she for real? “900? Come on, my rent cost 400. 900 seems extreme. I’m not sure if that’s even allowed.”

Ms. Fluester snickered, “Oh honey, of course it is. I’m the owner of this building and I can do whatever I want. Oh and that’s just for your dog, from last month to this month, plus your rent. Or else.” She tapped on the letter Geralt held.

Geralt scowled, “So what you’re saying is… My dog’s rent costs 450 but it’s 900 cause I didn’t pay for last month?” Ms. Fluester nodded innocently, “And in total I have to pay 1,300 dollars?”

“Very good, Geralt!” she said mockingly, “I’m glad we understand each other. Now then. I probably wasted your time in whatever you are doing. I’ll be off. Bye.” And with that she left, blowing Geralt a kiss goodbye.

Geralt shuddered in disgust and closed the door. He looked at the clock, seeing that he had 10 minutes left, he went to the kitchen with Roach’s bowl, giving her food to eat. He whistled to grab Roach’s attention, not reaching a few seconds, the German shepherd immediately stood on the kitchen floor, wagging her tail. “Good girl.” Geralt placed the bowl on the floor and petted Roach.

He had Roach since he left the army a few years back. She was like family to him, she was the only one, whom Geralt could fully entrust his secrets to.

Geralt went to his room, he opened the door of his wardrobe to see if he still had any fresh clothes that he could wear. He found a grey shirt, black ripped jeans, boxers and a pair of socks. Good enough, he thought mentally. He took the towel off him and got dressed.

Before heading out, he wore his signature black leather jacket and black combat boots. He tucked his phone in his pocket and heard Roach bark. He turned around and knelt down. “I know, girl. Next time alright? For now behave while I’m gone.” He petted her one more time and went out, hoping he wouldn’t be late, again.