Him

He inched towards the ringing phone, wrapping his large hand around the receiver, pulling it up towards his face.  The voice on the other end whispered, he remained silent. 

“ Please.. Please talk to me…” The other line yelled. 

He remained silent, taking in what was being said. He closed his eyes and sighed, 

“ What do you want me to do about it?” He whispered

 “ Kill someone because they found out!?” He was getting slightly louder.

 “ I'm not going to commit homicide just because you asked me to!” He continues to get louder. “Taking people’s lives isn’t a game, Ace!” He started yelling. 

“ I-i know…” the person on the other line whispered.

“ How am I supposed to..” he paused, falling to the floor. 

“ What am I supposed to do!?” He yelled.

Ace went silent.

“ Y-you’ve killed people!” He gasped, trying to catch his breath. “Why!?” 

“ I wasn't trying too, it was an accident!” Ace wailed.

Both lines went silent, the only sound was a soft breathing and the thumping of their hearts.

He slowly put the phone down, hanging up. He slowly stood up, and walked to the couch; sitting down, drowning in his thoughts. He sighs loudly, getting up and walking over to the telephone. He stopped a few steps before reaching the telephone. He bit his lip slightly, not sure if he was doing the right thing. He turned around, but as soon as he did, memories came back. Memories from when they first meet, the laughs they shared. Then he remembered… Ace had bailed him out. Shaking his thoughts away, he turned around and walked to the telephone, picking up the receiver and dialing Ace’s number.

“ Pick up, Pick up!” He mumbled. After a couple minutes of waiting, Ace picked up.

“ Hey, I'm sorry..I'll help you..” He said.

“ Wait! Really?” Ace asked, surprised at her friends ability to change his mind. 

“ Yeah, what ever, but the real question is why didn't you tell me earlier?” He asked, slightly scared of the answer he’d get. 

“ I.. I guess I didn't really think of what I was doing, I forgot that you would have tried to help me. Im sorry. But, I really needed to make some money, and fast. I didn't think I had a choice.” Ace said, her voice slightly shaky.  

“ Ace.. Why’d you need money? “ He asked, confused at the thought of Ace needing money. “ Don’t you come from a Multi-Billion dollar family?” 

“ You didn’t hear?” She paused. “ They’re all dead.” 

He gasped, almost dropping the receiver. 

“ What do you mean ‘They’re all dead.’ How can they be dead!?”

“ It was a fire, okay? That’s it. Nothing else.” Ace sounded angry.

“ Okay, okay…” Before he could say anything else, someone knocked at the door. He jumped slightly, and whispered a i’ll be right back, setting the receiver on the table.. He slowly inched towards the door, scared of what, or even worse, who. He checked the peephole, but it seemed like someone was blocking it with their finger. He decided against opening the door, but when the person on the other side started pounding on the door, he ended up opening the door. But the fact that no one was at the door, scared him.  He stepped out of his apartment and looked down the hallway. 

“ Hello?” He said, trying to sound confident. Not seeing, nor heating a response, he went back inside. 

He jogged back to the telephone, and pulled the receiver up to his mouth, hearing crashing, and some yelling. 

“ Hello!? Ace?” He said into the receiver, confused by what he was hearing. He heard someone yelling, and a loud ‘ No!’. He yelled into the phone, recognizing the voice that yelled. 

“ Ace! Ace! Are you okay!?” He yelled into the receiver. All he heard was a little click, signing that the other line hung up. He dropped the receiver, not caring whether or not it broke, and ran to grab his coat. He had to go check on her. He slammed open his closet door, looking for his coat. He can’t find it, so he throws on a hoodie; gets up and runs. He grabs his keys, and heads out the door; rushing to get to Ace’s apartment. He knew he was speeding, but he didnt care. As soon as he reached Ace’s apartment, he stopped; not remembering which room she had. He got out of the car, slammed the door, locked it and ran inside. Stopping at the front desk to ask which room she rented. 

“I’m sorry but there is no Ace DeLeRose that has ever lived in this apartment.” The woman at the front door said, not looking up from her computer. 

“ No.. NO!” he exclaimed. “ Her full name is Xander DeLeRose, she’s about 5’5 and has shoulder length hair, that’s dyed purple an-” I started. 

“ There are NO women in my records that’s name is Xander DeLaRose or have purple hair.“ She finally looked up at me. 

“I’m sorry sir, but you’ll have to leave.” She said, getting up and motioning to security. 

“ But I was here about 3 or 4 years ago…”  Security started walking towards her, so he started walking away. Walked to his car, and sped away, not knowing where to go, so he drove to a drive-in movie theater. There weren't too many people, only one car with a young man, probably around 18 or 19 years old; sitting on the roof of his car. The only other parking spot was right behind the 19 year old. He parked in the spot, getting mad about the fact that he couldn't find Ace, the fact that he knew for sure that she lived there, but wasn't there anymore. A man in a uniform came in, asking both boys if they had bought a ticket. The 19 year old nodded and showed the man in the uniform, who said his name was Tony; walked over to him and asked if he had a ticket. I’m sorry sir, I haven't bought a ticket yet. 

“That's fine, but, it will be $5.00 for a ticket.” He said with a little smile, pulling out a ticket. 

“ Sure” He said, pulling out a 5 dollar bill. 

“ Okay, thank you.” Tony replied; walking away after handing me my ticket. Tony gets in a car, and leaves. In the next couple minutes, the movie turned on; the kid in front of me seemed interested in the movie. He got even more mad, how could someone be interested in a movie when Ace was missing? He went back and sat in my car; hitting the dashboard in anger. A flex knife fell out from inside the dashboard, his eyes followed it on its way down. He reached and grabbed the knife from the floor, and slowly started to get out of the car. He looked around checking if there were any cameras; luckly, there wasn’t. He silently trailed down the path, not trying to make his presence known, to the kid. He stopped when he reached the kids car, really thinking about his decisions. All of a sudden, he heard Ace’s voice.

“Do it, come on! Be a badass for once!” She yelled.

He looked around slightly, thinking she’s hiding somewhere, watching him. He didn't see her, but continued with the task at hand. He walked closer, and covered the boy's eyes.  Before the kid could acknowledge what was happening, he shoved the knife into his back, quickly removing it and repeating the action. The body slipped out of my hands, falling onto the ground with the knife still in his hands. He heard some laughing from behind me, he knew it was Ace’s. He smiled a wide, insane smile and started to walk back to his car. He turned his car back on, and put the flex knife back in the dashboard; then drove back home.  He opened his room, and went inside. He cleaned the blood of his clothes, and hands. After getting out of the shower, he went straight to sleep. The next day, he got up and once again went on his search, this time, to the police department. He got in his car, and drove to the department; as soon as he got out of the car, he walked in. 

“ Is there an Ace DeLaRose or Xander DeLaRose being held here?” He said with a charming smile. 

The officer's eyes widened slightly, he mumbled something into his walky talky. 

“ Sorry sir, there are no Ace or Xander being held here; but.. We need you to stay here.” The officer said, keeping eye contact. 

“ Sure, why not” He replied with another charming smile.

After 20 minutes, multiple people in white suites came to take him away.

Turns out that he had schizophrenia, Ace was a figment of his imagination, he killed many, many people and the only reason he was bailed out was because he was schizophrenic and had very bad mental health.