Nightmare on a Tin Backsplash

The incessant beeping of Eden Clarke’s alarm on her two-month-old, first of its kind, smart phone rang. Eden woke from her from a pleasant slumber. Invigorated by the feeling of elation and adoration from her inspirational dream featuring her newest catchphrase, she sighed as she rolled over on her name-brand online only mattress, paid for by sponsors and fans of her, to shut off the ringing coming from her phone. As she opened one eye, she saw she had a message amongst the barrage of notifications from social media sites, blogs, and vlogs. Eden’s stomach fluttered; she saw the message was from Beau.

Beau Beaudry.

Beau the Beauty, as his followers called him.

She held her thumb over the message line, nearly quivering.

What a way to wake up, Eden thought to herself as she opened the message from Beau.

Beau the Beauty: Pickle emoji

What in the world? Why was Beau doing this to her. Eden and Beau had spent the entire night texting, using emoji’s, GIFs, and other pictures to convey their feelings for one another. Eden sent hand hearts, and male/female couple emojis while Beau sent creepy clowns and various pop culture references in response. Eden had fallen softly into sleep at the response to her wine glass, eyeballs, and heart emoji combo, after Beau responded with a GIF of a baby making googly eyes.

To wake up to this.

Pickle emoji.

Eden slammed her phone on the nightstand and rolled back over into her all down luxury pillow and screamed.

**

“I would like a non-fat rice milk flat white, at 135 degrees.”

“What a drink!” exclaimed the barista.

“I know, I have just stopped dairy, and have really been into rice milk lately!” proclaimed Eden, proudly

“I heard!” stated the overly enthusiastic barista.

Eden scoffed to herself and thought: “because I posted it to my story last Wednesday!”. Though said aloud:

“Have you seen the documentary ‘Dairy is Murder’, it is life changing. I watched it with my good friend, Beau, and literally, cannot eat or drink dairy since!”

“No, I’ll have to check it out!” exclaimed the barista.

“Totally, I used to get non-fat DAIRY milk, though now I can only drink non-fat rice milk, or I literally feel sick to my stomach – blech!”

The espresso machine squealed over the barista’s response, though Eden was now enthralled with her news feed on her phone. Her fellow influencer, Jack Alameda had posted the most wonderful inspirational quote, and Eden was compelled to comment “wow, Jack! This is soooooo introspective. (tongue out emoji)”.

“So, yeah, that’s why I cancelled all my streaming services. Anyways… that will be $6.25.” interrupted the barista.

“What? Oh, sorry” snapped Eden as she began rummaging through her Birkin bag for her designer wallet.

Eden retrieved her leather handbag from within the expensive bag and took out her solid black card with a hefty weight to it and tapped it on the pay station.

“Do you want a receipt?” asked the barista

“No, that’s okay” scoffed Eden, as she snatched her mug of freshly made coffee from the rustic counter of the coffee shop. Eden smirked at the barista as she made her way to the table nearest the bay window.

She sat in the café, on the verge of tears.

@breathe_in_eden: “What a day, already. I am beyond thankful for my @localcoffee shop. #buylocal” below a picture she snapped of her watery eyes against a backdrop of blurry passers-by on the street and an overcast sky, edited to seem as though she was living a silent film.

Eden sulked home with her eyes on her Instagram feed, scrolling through has friends across the world’s smiling photos, amazingly creative artwork, and dogs. Eden paused on Beau’s new photo. It was him with a group of beautiful brunette women, all in French Maid costumes. The caption read:

@beau.the.beauty: “Halloween 2019!!!”

Eden pulled the hood of her patent plaid trench coat over her perfectly styled hair, as she felt the mist of cold rain on the back of her neck. She continued to attempt to sip her coffee, though each time she raised her head to drink the mist clouded her designer glasses. Though she didn’t need them to read, Eden felt as though the glasses were the perfect accessory for a rainy day. She had even written a blog about this topic the previous fall. When she lived with Beau.

Eden arrived at the front door of her loft apartment, just in time to see her neighbor, Jane something in 432, entering her front door as well. Eden nodded and smiled slightly at Jane, though quickly entered in her apartment door and locked it. Eden collapsed against her door and sobbed, thinking about Beau. She was so confused. What were they? Why wouldn’t he speak to her?

As Eden made her way to her kitchen to retrieve the pint of ice cream, she had bought from her neighbour Jane’s young son’s school fundraiser at the beginning of October, she heard a loud pop coming from Jane’s apartment. It sounded like a bang snap, which would make sense as Jane’s son was a bit mischievous. But why was it so loud, bang snaps are usually quiet, especially with the thick walls of her high-rise apartment.

This whole Beau thing was too much for her, right now. Eden climbed under her velour throw with the pint of cookie dough ice cream, her phone, and remote. She put on her favorite classic rom-com and binged on the ice cream.

@breathe_in_eden: “Cozy night in!” following a picture of her woolen socks next to the pint of ice cream.

As she was hitting the “Submit” button to update her close friends about her nightly activities, Eden again, heard the loud pop, coming from her neighbors apartment. She, begrudgingly, paused the movie just as the main character’s love interest was riding into the screen on a white horse.

Silently, Eden sat in on her couch. Listening.

Nothing.

Just as Eden was pressing the play button on the remote there was a frantic banging on her front door. Eden jumped, tossing the pint of ice cream, phone, and remote in the air to come collapsing down to the floor. As she searched for her phone, the banging continued. Louder. More frantic. Eden retrieved her phone, which was covered in sticky cold ice cream. Her heart was racing, as she unlocked the screen and began dialing 9-1-1. She crept towards the door, lightly stepping, to not make a sound, with her thumb on the green call button.

Looking out the peephole in her sturdy wooden door, Eden saw only the stale off-white wall of her building’s hallway. Nothing else. No one there.

Relief flooded over her, as she took a deep breath in, turned around and made her way towards her kitchen to clean up her phone. She chuffed to herself aloud, as she remembered the pranks her neighbor’s children would play during this spooky time of year. Last year, Eden and Beau were spending the night together, when she swore, she heard a disembodied voice calling her name. She remembered so clearly, Beau laughing at her as he joked about her naivety.

Ugh. Beau, again, she thought.

Eden grabbed her perfectly pressed kitchen towel from the oven door and began dabbing her phone clean on the butcher-block counter tops of her kitchen. She was scrubbing the sweet, stick substance from the corners of the HD screen. When a number appeared on her phone’s screen.

Someone was calling. Calling her? Why would anyone be calling her. All the people she spoke to on a regular basis texted, instant messaged, or emailed her. Eden couldn’t remember the last time she had spoken to someone on the phone, that wasn’t accompanied by a video.

She declined the call and continued to wipe her phone clean.

A voicemail notification? Who leaves voicemails anymore, Eden thought?

Confused she opened the voicemail application on her phone and selected the only notification on the screen.

A strange woman’s voice. Jane’s voice. Her neighbor, Jane. How did Jane even get her phone number.

“Get out!” shrieked the voice in the message. As the call abruptly ended with muffled noises.

What was going on, thought Eden. Why was Jane calling her? Maybe she meant to call someone else. But how did she even get Eden’s number.

“I must have given it to her son when I bought the ice cream” thought Eden aloud.

Eden filled with muddled thoughts flicked on her Live Stream and began a story about her spooky night. Thinking this was the perfect time of year to post about weird things.

 “Hey there, Breathers! I want to share a real time creepy story with you all. Feel free to send love and ask questions as we go – I will try my best to respond to everyone!”

Eden in her kitchen began making her way to her front door as she spoke.

“So, I was having a nice relaxing evening at home when I start to hear these weird noises coming from my neighbor’s place. Then I just got a call from her. Here, I’ll play it for you all.”

Tapping favorited “screen-share” icon, to play the voicemail she just received from Jane.

“Super weird, right? I’m going to go over to her place and see if everything’s okay, and I thought I would bring all my fans with me, to watch this IRL horror movie happen!”

Eden opens her front door, and steps into the dimly lit hallway.

“Ugh, see Breathers!” Eden shows the flickering light above her head to her viewers “I have told my landlord about this and he is refusing to fix it! I think it’s a safety hazard, but whatever. I have a great rent control, so no complaints hashtag love where I live” as she turned her boisterous smile to a neutral face.

Eden continued in her hall and turned to her immediate left. Now facing a teal wooden door, mirroring her own. She rapped on the upper right-hand panel.

No answer.

Flipping the camera back to front facing. Eden stood awaiting the response from her neighbor.

Camera flips back to the door. Knock knock knock. Once again. Eden groans.

“Jane!” she calls off camera.

Camera back to front facing, as Eden impatiently waits.

“Well, this has been an absolute waste of –”

Jane’s front door suddenly fly’s open, crashing against the wall of her living room.

“Oh, hello. I was just checking on Ja- ”

“What?” replied a deep male voice

“Jane. My neighbor”

“I don’t know a Jane” replied the male voice

“Jane, she lives here... she has a little boy” replied Eden with increasing alarm, “I bought ice cream from him!”

“Listen, I have lived in this place for 10 years. I see and hear you every day, with your silly phone. I don’t know a Jane, and I suggest you take your leave before you upset my wife and son.” scoffed the man out of frame

“Jane…” was all Eden could stammer, as the sound of a heavy door closing followed.

Eden pressed end on her live streaming, as she stood stunned in front of the heavy door…