Waiting in the Cold

A grandfather clock swung back and forth, filling the house with its long low clangs. It was cold in the house that Gacy Holmes resided in, and it was quickly getting colder. The wafting chill that whirled its way around the inside, like a serpent plaguing the comfort of the entire house, was most likely due to the several widows which now lay on the ground, smashed. 

Now, some might find that detail a little off, but that should not be the factor that  you choose to focus on, the smashed windows have a perfectly reasonable explanation, and Gacy is certain of it, trust me. Besides, if you worry yourself too much about the broken glass, that now lies on the floor like seeds on frozen winter dirt, you may need to stop reading this instant and go find something else, because trust me when I say this, the night is just beginning.    

As I was saying before, Gacy said the windows needed to be smashed, otherwise there was no way in. You see, he lost the keys to the place and had no other way of getting in, and he needed to be inside right that instant. Does that make sense? It should if you don’t worry about all the specifics. 

The basis of it is Gacy needed to be inside the house, but Gacy couldn’t be inside the house without keys (which he lost), so he thought outside of the box and got himself in. Badabing, badaboom, we’re here in the present. 

Oh, why does Gacy Holmes need to be inside here? Well, that might be a bit of a longer story. You see this house isn’t actually Gacy Holmes’s house. Now don’t get all upset, I said at the beginning that there was more to come, and this is not even the last of it, so please-let-me-finish. 

Anyway, this house actually belongs to one of Gacy’s friends. See it all comes back together now, no worries at all. Gacy has a meeting with his friend, but as you can tell from this empty house, it seems that friend might be running a little bit late, but that is alright because Gacy Holmes is a very patient man. 

Even if Gacy was not patient, I’m sure he would still wait, he is very eager to talk to this friend. In fact he is so excited, he’s been talking about her for weeks now. From what he’s told me, I found out that they used to know each other in highschool, long, long ago. They were acquaintances, he always thought she was sort of pretty but she never really hung out in the same groups as him, blew his advances off a couple times, you know, the typical high school stuff. 

Now get this, the strange part is, about a year ago Gacy saw her in the coffee shop he works at, just doing her thing, minding her business. He was nervous at first but eventually he got up the courage to talk to her, and what a surprise, they kind of hit it off I hear.   And the rest is your same old basic stuff, they talk, like each other, blah blah blah, blah, blah. They went strong for a while until tragedy hit.

Ok well, tragedy is a tad strong, it wasn’t anything spectacular. Regular things mostly. And when Gacy talks about it, from what I hear, I think it was mostly his fault if I’m going to be honest. I mean, medical issues are always hard on everyone around them, and Gacy didn’t do anything wrong, necessarily. It was just hard for him to always hear her talk about it. And that eventually caused him to snap and, just like that, they were over with. 

 But before you make an opinion I do have to support Gacy Holmes for a minute, him and I are inseparable I can’t just make him out to be the bad guy. Come on, you gotta give the man a break, I don’t think any of us would be infatuated with the idea of being constantly reminded that we were a “diagnosed” sociopath. 

That’s another thing, the word “diagnostic.” I hate it. Why should anyone be able to come in and examine and then tell you that you can’t feel love, or have multiple personalities, or only have two weeks to live? Just because they paid the big bucks to go to school for practically a decade, just so they could get paid the big bucks by telling everyone what’s wrong with them? Yeah, I don’t think so.

Sorry, sorry, I’m getting off track. Where was I? Oh right, anyhow I’m really happy that this is about to happen. For the past few weeks no part of Gacy has been able to shut up about her, they’re all way too ecstatic about this meeting. I mean, I don’t blame them, Gacy has been planning this for almost a month now and it has not been easy work let me tell you that. A lot of late nights working at the coffee shop, working out so he can look good, practicing what he is going to say and do, all that sort of stuff. 

Now I can’t be with Gacy all the time so I have missed stuff, but what he fills me in on, I’ll admit, this plan does sound as close to fool proof as humanly possible… Ok, yes the window was a little bit off a mishap. Not everything can be fully perfect, but we improvised and it worked out. Sure we have to sit in the cold for a few minutes and Gacy will have to pay her back for the windows, but this is the only time he could  find that would work, and he was not going to miss his chance to talk to her. She’s a very busy girl, that one is. It is extremely difficult to find a time in the day when she’s completely alone.  

I should probably get going though, If Gacy was right, we only have about ten more minutes before she gets home, and he’ll probably need me. I’m the good voice. 

Gacy Holmes paced back and forth in the small living room. He was still shivering from those broken windows, if he was smart he would have brought a coat. A dark black coat with a hood. A hood that could hide his face, but it was too late now. He looked down at his watch.  ‘What did I tell you? Only about ten more minutes, then it's go time.’ Gacey thought to himself. 

He stopped his pacing and plopped down in a big chair that almost engulfed him in its cushions. With a deep breath he prepared himself for the click of the lock that was likely going to sound soon. Gacy Holmes closed his eyes and continued to listen to the slow tick tock of the grandfather clock. He sat, waiting in the frozen house, completely alone.