The Bump

CW: Some language

Jeff was having a great day. A fantastic day actually. His girlfriend of five years, and fiancée of four months, had just put in her two weeks of vacation at the office for their wedding and honeymoon. Jeff had done the very same last week. Secondly, he had just gotten a promotion today. This very morning in fact. After ten years of toiling away at a now medium sized tech startup, he felt as if the blood, sweat and tears were finally starting to pay off. The sky was baby blue, and white clouds drifted across the canvas. It was truly a-

On the sidewalk, between the Einstein bagels and the Starbucks, Jeff's shoulder bumped into a passing stranger. A millisecond that after, a yell was heard.

"Ahh!", shouted the stranger, a man with sandy blonde hair and heavy stubble who was probably in his mid twenties but resembled a man in his late thirties. "What fuck? You just spilled my coffee all over me."

Jeff observed the man, who had coffee running down his khaki pants.

"Jeez, I'm awfully sorry", Jeff responded, genuine. "My mind was...in the clouds."

"No, idiot, your mind was down here on earth where you fucking spilled my coffee all over me. Pay fucking attention."

The man groaned.

"And I have a job interview in ten minutes. I look like I fucking urinated on myself, what am I supposed to say? Trust me, it's only coffee?"

"I-listen man, I really am sorry. Is there something I could possibly do to-"

"No, you've done enough, and I'm getting late for the interview. Have a nice day-"

Jeff, who had just come back from lunch, was wearing his name tag on his polo shirt. 

"Jeff Warton from Solar Tech. Fucking start up, of course."

The man scoffed and proceeded down the Little Rock sidewalk, muttering loudly to himself.

Jeff considered the man a moment, before resuming his jolly trek.

***

When Jeff entered the office, the elevator dinging and doors parting like the Red Sea, he was met with an onslaught of cheers and jubilee. Hank slid across the floor from his cubicle to Jeff, putting out a fist.

"Yo, when you're one of the big boys on the upper floor, don't forget about the hotdog vending machine idea we had."

Jeff bumped Hank's fist.

"Of course."

After Jeff was done with his fist bumps and hell yeahs with the floors denizens, he returned to his office. He observed the room, the walls, the floors, the desk, and the photos it carried. A framed, oak photograph of his vacation in Manitou Springs with Sarah three Christmas's ago. A fishing photo from when he was thirteen, standing alongside a stream in Washington, his sister next to him with a beaming smile as she held a trout. A much taller Jeff standing beside his mother for his graduation from University of Arkansas, both grinning from ear to ear.

He would miss this place.

***

"-all this to say, John...I think you're the perfect man for the job."

Todd brushed aside a greasy strand of wispy obsidian hair which repeatedly sprung up from his combover, and looked up from his folder to John, who was staring blankly out the window.

"I can't tell ya how happy and honestly relieved I am. Ever since Bob up and left this position, boy I'll tell you, things have been rough."

Todd observed John's whose gaze remained unmoved from the window.

"So", Todd began, wiping at the defiant strand again. "I'll have Edith send you over the papers, they'll mostly go into more detail about the job, insurance plans, all your other benefits and whatnot. I'll also have her print up a physical copy, I now everything's digital and whatnot nowadays, in 'the cloud' you know, but I think having something you can hold is timeless. I'll have you sign a few more papers, but uh, other than that you're good to go. Ideally you can plan on starting this coming Thursday. How's that sound?"

John continued to stare out the window. He looked down from the city outside to his thighs, the coffee mostly dried but a slight stain remaining.

"Is that what this is? S-some type of diversity hire? Some sympathy gesture?"

Todd's brows furrowed.

"S-sir? I'm not sure I follow?"

John snickered to himself.

"I'm sure you noticed the big ol' stains on my here pants when I walked in."

"Um", Todd said, leaning down beneath the desk to get a view. "No...I don't recall seeing any stains."

"So what? You think I pissed myself? Went wetty wet in my pants cause I'm disabled or one of them grown folks that ain't quite old but still need to wear diapers? Is that what you're thinking?"

"Sir, I...please, calm down, I beg of y-"

John pushed his chair back, standing up. He sighed, his gaze returning to the window. A boy walked down the sidewalk with his father, the father holding a coffee and the boy a hot chocolate. John's eyes sank, then narrowed.

"I'm not doing this. Not today. People fucking knocking my shit all over me, people thinking I pissed my pants. Not today."

John looked at Todd, whose forehead had become covered in a thin layer of perspiration, his mouth slightly agape and bulging eyes ping ponging between John and his desk telephone.

"Sir..."

"Excuse me", John said, walking for the door. "I have something I need to take care of."

John opened and closed the door, leaving Todd to his sweat, and his thoughts, and labored breath, and folder of interviewees to replace Bob, who had up and left.

***

Jeff had made his way to Lisa's office, which was a window room on the second floor. He gazed out at the sidewalk as she retrieved the papers boss man Gordon wanted him to have on new methods for AI learning.

"Here we go", Lisa said, huffing as she arose from the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet with a folder in hand. "Gordon may be only thirty-three, but he's a boomer at heart."

"Old soul", Jeff said, Lisa handing him the folder. "Thanks, hope I didn't derail you too much."

"My days already been derailed, long before you came by. You're good."

Jeff opened his mouth, but after a moment closed it.

"Thanks any-"

A brief commotion outside, followed by a knock on Lisa's door, the person not waiting for a response as the door immediately opened afterwards. A lanky, young ginger-haired man stood outside.

"I-there's a man down in the lobby that says he knows you, Jeff. Says he needs to speak with you. We've asked him to leave, and security is there, but he's resisting."

Jeff looked at Lisa, then back to Mark.

"Um...yeah, I'll come down and see what's going on."

The pair quickly departed for the elevator, then after that the main lobby, where a slight commotion brewed. John paced back and forth as security guards stood by, fingers dancing restlessly against batons. John turned, his eyes spotting Jeff.

"You!", John said, storming towards Jeff, but stopped by a guard who planted his fist in his stomach.

"Whoa!", Jeff said, stepping forward. "Easy. There's no need for violence."

"You", John resumed, tears welling in his eyes, rather from the burning pain he now felt in his stomach or general internal misery we know not. "You ruined my day. I know it's morning, but you've ruined my day."

"Listen man," Jeff said, sighing as he rubbed his face. "I already apologized and offered to do some-"

"There's nothing you can do!", John shouted, or more so screamed, people, including Jeff, stepping back. The guards fingers stoped dancing on their batons, their fingers now stuck to it like a spider to a wall.

"Alright, that's enough", Gordon said, walking from across the lobby. "Get him out of here. Now."

The guards moved like robots at the command, grabbing John by his arms. He jerked.

"I can leave my own fucking self."

John's eyes lingered on Jeff's, and Jeff felt a strange obsidian stir in him, a swirling of dread, and fear, and strange guilt. Something else was there..something deeper, but he couldn't tell what it was.

"What a fucking nut", Gordon said, coming besides Jeff. "What the fuck happened between you two?"

Jeff began to speak, but closed his mouth, shaking his head and sighing.

"Nothing. Nothing important anyway."

***

John, whose car had been in the shop the last two days, had been waiting in the Starbucks for his Uber, which had finally just arrived. He got up from his chair and proceeded outside to the street, a 2013 Toyota Camry sitting. His driver, a college aged boy with dusky hair and cheeks so ruddy you could mistake him for Santa's son turned to look at him.

"Yo man what's good."

"Hey", John replied, his mind not fully present. The driver began to take off.

"Wait", John said, leaning forward. "If I paid you, would you stay here? On this street I mean?"

The boy's eyes narrowed.

"...for how much? And for how long?"

"Twenty an hour, don't know how long. Probably til five though."

The boy thought a moment, then-

"Deal", he replied, reaching out his hand. John shook it.

"So", the boy said, returning forward. "What exactly are we looking for?"

"We're not looking for anything...but I'm waiting for a man to leave that building over there."

"Solar tech?"

"Yeah."

The boy nodded.

"So what'd this guy do? Fuck your wife?"

"Yeah, um...something like that."

The boy nodded.

"I get it."

After brief conversation, the pair sat in mostly silence for the next few hours, the boy pulling out an Nintendo switch an hour in and playing games. Around four-forty, people began to sporadically stream out. At five-twenty, Jeff departed.

"There", John said, leaning forward. The boy jerked up, peering out.

"Yeah...he looks like a bastard alright."

After briefly talking with Lisa, Jeff placing a palm on her upper arm and Lisa putting her hand atop his, Jeff left for his car, a 2020 Mazda. After a moment, the car turned on and Jeff began to drive.

"Okay, go, go", John said. The boy turned on his car and they followed.

"So, where are we following him exactly?"

"Home."

"Gotcha. Fitting, for a home wrecker."

After about twenty or so minutes of driving (and one sidetrack as Jeff stopped at a grocery store) they arrived in a residential neighborhood.

"Damn, nice neighborhood", the boy said.

Jeff pulled up the driveway of a house, another vehicle already there.

"So...what now?"

John pulled out his phone and quickly jotted down the address.

"Now, you take me home."

After driving John home to his apartment, and paying the boy a hundred and twenty dollars, John went inside and to bed, eyes open most of the night as his mind spun obsidian webs.

***

When Jeff had entered his house, walking through dark halls, he came across Sarah in the bathroom, putting on a face mask. Like an intruder, he crept up behind her, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her neck.

"Don't, you haven't showered."

"I sit in an office all day."

"Still."

Jeff leaned in, his cheek pressed against Sarah's.

"That's a nice smell", Sarah said. "Like roses."

Jeff didn't respond, kissing Sarah's neck one more time before departing.

***

Around the afternoon, though the air still carried a morning chill, John made his way (via the same Uber driver actually, rather a chalk up to chance or fate, John didn't know) to Pete's Auto Shop, and after retrieving his car, a 2015 Ford F-150, drove to Jack's Hunting and sporting goods. A talk show played on the TV which hung above the counter.

"-and you say your brother was attacked by one of these fish men correct?", a pudgy, older man with a ruddy complexion said.

"Yes, that's correct", responds a younger man with an American flag hat and I love milfs shirt. "He was on vacation in Innsmouth Massachusetts when one of these things came up from the tide and assaulted him and his wife."

An older towheaded man with a lanky, almost pencil like stature, stood behind the counter flipping through a cooking magazine. His grey eyes lifted from under his baseball cap when John approached.

"What brings you in, young buck?", he said, setting down his magazine.

"Um...I need a pistol. Preferably something small."

The old man studied John, nodding his head.

"Something small, eh?", he repeated, turning around and looking at the shelf of guns behind him. "Watcha planning on using it for?"

"Um...self defense. I-I have a neighbor. He keeps threatening me and my girl. This is just a precaution, you know. In case things get violent."

The old man nodded his head as he bent down with a grunt, rising back up with a small, black gun. He returned to the counter, setting it down.

"SIG Sauer P365. Semi-automatic pistol. Pretty common choice. Give it a feel."

John nodded, grabbing the gun. He lifted it up and pointed it at the wall.

"You got good form, military?"

John set the gun back on the counter.

"Um, no. My brother and dad were, though. Dad was army, and brother was marines."

"Pops was Vietnam?"

"Yessir, came back with the Medal of Honor."

The old man nodded.

"And your brother?"

"...didn't come back."

"My condolences. The war was hard on a lot of folks, especially the young folks like you."

"Not cause of the war though. It was hard, but not as hard as my father's left hook. Left at seventeen, did a few tours, and never came back."

The old man studied John.

"Mm, I see. A lot of the men from me and your father's time were like that. Things were just different, you know. Men were hard, and we raised our sons to be."

John nodded, but didn't say anything.

"Four-eighty five.  And can I see your ID real quick. I'll throw in the ammunition for free, on account of your dad and brother's service."

John paid for the gun, thanking the man then departing.

***

By the time Jeff arrived home, driving up the winding, suburban streets, the soft warm glow of the street lights the only thing piercing the obsidian, it was already eleven-thirty. He had stayed late, bringing to an end whatever he had with Lisa. It was amicable, as Lisa was also married, and guilt was corrosive like acid. Gordon had said not to sweat it, that stuff like this was normal for the boys on top. Necessary even. They work harder than the rest, so it's only fair that they play harder too. Jeff realized there was one flaw with that logic though; he loved his soon to be wife. Still, he had carved the time to stop by Newt's Chinese, dare he say the best Chinese place in the nation, before they closed and picked up the sushi that Sarah loved, as well as a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Sarah had been stressed lately, about work, about the wedding, about her family, about the honeymoon. And what better cure for stress than sushi and wine.

When he made his way inside, briefly derailed by dropping his keys when trying to unlock the door, Jeff walked into the study to find Sarah at her desk, artificial light reflecting on her eyes. She looked up, spotting the wine and sushi, and sighed.

"Jeff, I-"

"Shhh", Jeff said, putting his finger to his lips. He moved to Sarah, setting down the items on the floor. He knelt down, his brown eyes studying her green.

"Can't we be romantic, just for an hour?"

Sarah looked at Jeff, after a moment her lips breaking out into a smile.

"Just for an hour?"

Jeff nodded."

"No more, no less."

Jeff leaned in and kissed Sarah.

***

A faded, blue pickup truck wound its way down the dark suburban streets, eventually stopping across from Jeff's house. The roar of the engine ceased, and John ran his hand over his face. He stared blankly out the windshield, ahead of him a black SUV with bumper stickers of a family on the back. A man and his wife, a little boy and little girl. John stared and his eyes became hallow, a casting shadow of obsidian passing them. John sighed, opening the glove compartment and taking out the pistol. He looked across the street, through the curtains Jeff and Sarah slightly visible in the living room.

John breathed in, the breath bordering on a cry, and made his way out the car, his tall and lanky figure moving like some image of death as he passed through the streets, more so shadow than man.