Collage

Marina stared down at the photo in disbelief.

She watched as the photo slid from her fingers and floated to the floor.

It couldn’t be.

It looked nothing like the others.

Like the others she had in her collection.

Marina raced to her room where her camera was resting on the nightstand. She perched herself on the bed and sat in front of the window. Staring into the window directly across from her. Patiently waiting while anxiously tapping her finger on the shutter button.

A light switched on in the room across from her as a man stepped into his apartment. A young man she recognized as Peter Pederson returning home from another night walking his German Shepherd, Scout.

Marina held her camera in position before snapping a picture of Peter changing out of his T-shirt and pants. She then quickly pulled her curtains shut and flopped back onto her bed. Holding the camera over her rapidly beating chest. There always was a thrill after taking pictures of him.

Marina heaved a heavy heartfelt sigh and smiled up at the ceiling where a collage of pictures resided.

Whirrr….

Marina eagerly awaited the photo that was printing out of the bottom of her camera in anticipation. She shook the photo and leaned forward to get a clear look at it.

“No!” She screamed.

“Not again!” she crumpled the photo in her hand and tossed it to the floor.

A reminder of what her camera failed to capture in that exact moment.

It’s not the face she had always seen. His lovely face she could never get out of her head.

Instead of seeing the image of Peter Pederson changing out of his clothes, Marina saw the same thing as before. The same dark blur blocking Peter’s face and silhouette.

Making the picture useless to her collection.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Who could that be at this hour of the night?”

Marina checked her phone. It read 12:01 AM.

Marina raced out of her bedroom into the conjoined living room and kitchen. She peered through the peephole of her front door to find her neighbor Mrs. Montgomery standing outside her door in a white fluffy bathrobe.

Marina unlocked the door and partially opened it. “What brings you by Mrs. Montgomery?”

“I heard you screaming. Is everything alright?”

“Yes, nothing to worry about. I’m fine. I was just watching some late-night television.”

“Oh. Well, you kids are a rowdy bunch these days. Some of us still need to get our sleep.”

“Sorry to have disturbed you. Good night Mrs. Montgomery.”

“Hmm.”

Marina waved and shut the front door. She shook her head as she passed by the blurred photo from earlier.

She stooped down, picked it up.

Remembering when she had taken it. It was just before she had got home from grocery shopping. She happened to see him shopping at the same grocery store, further down in the frozen department.

“Too bad.” Marina stepped on the bottom of her garbage can, opening the lid. “Your face is blurred here too.”

Marina went back to her bedroom and stood in front of her window. She slowly moved the curtain out of her view and peered into the window across from her. To her surprise, there was no sign of Peter in the apartment at all. In addition to that, all the lights were turned off. The only thing she could make out in the dark was a large brown lump laying on the sofa.

“Scout?”

Knock! Knock!

“Who is it this time?”

Marina raced out of her room to the conjoined living room and kitchen again. Her heart skipped a beat when she peered through the peephole. Standing in front of her door was Peter Pederson.

She unlocked her door and opened it with a shy “H-hello.”

“Marina Thatcher?” He read the ID from the green and orange water-colored wallet he held in his hand. “Is this a good time to swing by? And drop this off-”

“Yes, yes! Where’d did you find that?” She clasped the wallet with both hands. “I didn’t even know I lost it.”

“I have a funny way of finding things. Misplaced things that is.”

“Well, how’d you find me?”

“I’ve seen you here and there and figured out you lived in the apartment building across from mine.”

“Observant are we.”

“You have to be in this neighborhood. Don’t know what kinds of weirdos you have in this vicinity.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Well.” Peter smiled and waved. “Goodnight.”

“G-goodnight…Peter,” Marina whispered his name under her breath, not giving away the fact that she knew more about him than she let on.

After that encounter, Marina stood in her window behind her curtain. Camera ready. She looked through the view finder as Peter stood on the sidewalk, waiting for the speeding cars to go by before he crossed the street.

Photo after photo floated to the floor as Marina kept pressing the shutter button, snapping picture after picture. She watched as her beloved Peter crossed the street after his noble deed of returning her wallet. 

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Marina halted cleaning her bathtub and checked her phone.

It was 5:56 AM.

Marina exited the bathroom to peer through the peephole. Standing on the other side of the door was her neighbor Mrs. Montgomery in a brown plaid dress.

“Good afternoon, Mrs. Montgomery. Hope I’m not disturbing you anytime soon.”

“Oh no, no. I was just wondering why I didn’t see you in the mail room this morning. Usually, you come every morning to check.”

“Oh, that. I figured nothing came for me today.”

“Well, I miss our morning chats. Hope everything is okay.”

“It is. Thank you for your concern, Mrs. Montgomery.”

Mrs. Montgomery sniffed the air for a moment. “You smell that?”

“I am cleaning my bathroom.” Marina held up her lemon mint spray bottle cleaner.

“No. It smells foul. Like something died.”

“Huh. Well, it is Thursday. The Parsons are probably cooking fish again.”

“Maybe.” Mrs. Montgomery fanned her hand around. “It stinks.”

“Have a good day Mrs. Montgomery.” Marina shut the door behind her.

She wiped the sweat from her brow and set the spray bottle cleaner on the kitchen counter before entering her room.

“What a day, huh?” Marina stood in the doorway, staring at the outline of the body lying on her bed. “You’ve got to be more careful Peter. Crossing the street like that’ll get you killed. Lucky I was there.” She picked up the stack of pictures of the detailed hit and run accident still stacked on the floor beneath the curtain. “Saw the whole thing. Got you all cleaned up.”

Marina combed her hands through the blood-coated strands of hair on his head before kissing him on his cold lips.