Chapter 74
TAMARA held her phone tightly even if her hands pooled on so much sweat caused by tension and fear. She looked at every passing cab on the road, hoping that one of it will stop, and she will see Thaddeus getting off.
But, she’s been waiting for almost half an hour outside her apartment for him. Tamara looked at her phone. It’s already 3:00 AM in the morning. She should be sleeping and having a good dream right now, but here she was, doing weird things because of that bad spirit. This all look absurd, yet she felt scared and unsafe.
“Where is he?” she asked, impatiently. “He said, he’s on his way…” she redialed his phone number again. When he can’t reach it, that is when Tamara’s chest started to hammer. “My gosh, what happened to him?”
“Tamara!”
She looked from where the voice came from, and she saw a man in bloodstain white clothes running towards him. Tamara’s heart almost leaped in shock and fear at what she’s seeing. She couldn’t move her feet in so much anxiety. It felt as if she was glued from where she was standing.
When the bloody zombie was just a foot away from her, Tamara screamed. She screamed as if the zombie is trying to eat her brains. And, then she passed out… in just a couple of minutes. When she woke up, Thaddeus’s puzzled expression welcomed her eyes.
“Thaddeus!” Tamara sat up and hugged him tightly. “I saw a zombie! And, he’s gonna eat me…” Her gaze lowered on his shirt. Her eyes widened when she saw the blood smeared on his shirt. “Y-You are the zombie…?”
Horror filled Tamara’s face. She tried to break free from Thaddeus, but he held her tightly in his arms.
“Let go of me! Help! Help—”
Thaddeus covered her mouth, but because both of his hands are occupied, he used his lips to cover her mouth. Tamara pushed him away, and they both landed on the floor. She didn’t know that they were already inside her apartment.
“You’re so noisy,” Thaddeus said as he got up. “But I wondered why your neighbors are still asleep? With your loud scream, it can wake up even the dead.”
Tamara looked at his bloody shirt, horridly. “Did I wake you up?” she asked, crawling back away from him. “When did you die…?”
Thaddeus looked at him in a knotted forehead. “What are you saying?”
Tamara covered her mouth in disbelief. He doesn’t know that he’s dead? She asked herself. “Y-You’re already dead…”
Thaddeus followed her gaze and saw his shirt with bloodstains. “It’s not blood,” he said and pulled it off his head. “It’s ketchup.”
“Huh?” Tamara looked at the shirt on his hands, but her eyes looked past it and landed on his abs. “So… you’re alive?” And hot? She added in her mind.
“I’m eating a cheese dog sandwich when you called me,” he began. “I was putting ketchup when you scream on the phone.”
Tamara released a sigh of relief. “I thought you’re a spirit that got separated from your body after the accident,” she said, trying her best to avoid his body. “I’m glad that you’re still alive…”
Thaddeus laughed. He walked towards her and helped her stand up. “I got worried about you. That’s why I ran from the store here.”
“You’re just living near my area?” she asked, couldn’t he be just near her. “I thought you’re living far away from here?”
“I rent an apartment a few blocks away from here,” he said and smiled at her. “So that when you call me, I’ll be just a minute away.”
Tamara shyly smiled. She didn’t expect that a guy as handsome as him could make such efforts for her convenience. Mark always giving him a favor, but she knew that he’s just doing it because they were friends, and they’d known each other for years. Thaddeus’s case is a different one and unexpected because they just met.
“Then, why did you take so long to arrive?” she asked when she remembered that he took almost half an hour before he arrived. “And why are you eating a cheese hotdog at this hour?”
“I have insomnia,” he replied without a second thought. “And, when I couldn’t sleep, I eat cheese hotdog, or cheeseburgers, anything that has cheese.”
“You have insomnia? Is it because you can see spirits lurking around?” She brushed her shoulders. “If I were in your position, I would probably have gone into a psychiatric hospital.”
“I learned to live with it,” Thaddeus said as he started to look around her house. He checked on every joss paper hanged on every corner of her home. “I don’t see any changes here.”
“That joss paper on the ceiling.” Tamara pointed at the ceiling in her living room. “I did not put it there. H-How it went there?”
“I put it there before I left,” Thaddeus said. “You didn’t see me when I hanged it there?”
“Huh?” Tamara cocked her head, recalling if she saw him hanged the joss paper. “Maybe I was in my room when you did it.”
“You were watching me putting it there,” Thaddeus said in a knotted forehead.
“Did I?” she asked, then remembered that she was looking at his crotch because he was stepping on a stool, and his torso was exposed. “Ah, I couldn’t remember…”
“What else bothers you here?” Thaddeus asked. He was now putting his dirty shirt on.
“I felt cool winds coming from the toilet,” she said and stepped closer to him. “And, I saw the door moving as if there’s somebody trapped inside.”
“Cool winds coming from the toilet?” Thaddeus asked and walked towards the toilet.
“Wait, I’ll come with you. I don’t want to be left here at the living room alone,” she said and hooked on his arm.
Thaddeus touched the door handle. They both held their breath as he pushed it open. And they both welcomed by a cold wind coming from the open window at the top of the bowl.
“Oh, fuck…” Tamara muttered. She removed her hands from Thaddeus’s arm and shyly moved away. “I left it open,” she admitted and scratched the back of her head. “I’m sorry I disturbed you just because of my paranoia.”
Thaddeus laughed. “It’s okay,” he stepped inside the toilet and closed the window. “At least, you confirmed that it’s just nothing.”
“Yeah…” She said shyly. “I’m sorry.” She followed Thaddeus when he walked towards her door.
“Don’t hesitate to call me if you feel scared again,” he said and held the doorknob. “I’ll go now—”
“Uhm, I think you can stay here until the sunrise,” Tamara said shyly and looked at his dirty clothes. “And I owe you a clean shirt.”
***
