Midnight lasted until dawn. It was a restless night for Neurotic Writer. The shallow snoring and beating heart gave a faint rumble to the empty bedroom he slept in. It was quite the contradiction from the rest of the house. In his mind, like his house was full of stuff, things he collected and couldn’t let go of, like the empty refrigerator carton he moved down into the basement. He tried to discard items, but always found himself a while later digging them out of the trash. For a person like NW, change is difficult. He would find other ways to destroy himself.
His bed lay on the floor with no bed frame, a ratty old box spring with a lumpy mattress he and his wife had purchased when they were married. Neurotic Writer’s body woke up like clockwork almost at the same time every night, off only by a couple of minutes before or after. The lighted clock sat on the floor next to him along with a glass of water that he never drank from. It was explained to him that its purpose was to remove the evil spirits from where he slept. There was nothing else in the room except for his clothes and shoes he wore, which were lumped on the floor. NW slept in the nude.
There is something peculiar about his bedroom that didn’t happen anywhere else in the house. Not a single picture or a mirror hung on the walls, or even a nail stuck out. They were bare except for the old floral wallpaper that decorated the large master suite. The bedroom housed in an old Victorian mansion was the only place Neurotic Writer could not see his invisible friends. Once in a while he would sleep in the guest bedroom forcing the girls, Judy and Shirl to sleep on the floor. Other invisible women found sleeping quarters elsewhere around the house. They refused to sleep with him. NW would wake up in the morning to find the two girls on their knees on each side of their bed as if they were praying, staring in admiration at NW’s lengthy manhood pointing straight up at the ceiling.
It was cold and dark when NW woke up, he could hear in the distance a solitary car drive through the neighborhood. There was no one to smile back at him as the feeling of being in the loneliest time came over him. He looked for his blankets to cover up. NW was now awake and sadness loomed in the dark empty room. The blankets warmed his bare body. He thought about Judy. He didn’t know why he thought about her. His thoughts about her made him miss her more and reminded him how lonely he was. The loneliest guy cried himself to sleep with no one beside him.
Neurotic Writer felt the anguish of loneliness in his soul as sleep drifted into a dream.
Judy came home with something in her hands, perhaps another present for NW. He couldn’t distinguish what she had in her hand as he moved in bed into a different position trying to ascertain a clearer image of his dream. He smiled as Judy reached up to give him a kiss on the lips. He felt the softness of her lips as she pressed them to his. NW gave out a little moan and smiled in his sleep as his dream progressed.
Judy smiled at him and whispered in his ear. She stepped back from him, placed her hand in the pocket of the long willowy dress. She took her hand out and quickly began removing her blouse, followed by her bra. Judy walked into the kitchen.
In Neurotic Writer’s dream, the kitchen turned into his bedroom upstairs. Judy quickly walked through his bedroom and headed into his master bath. Removing the rest of her clothing, she stood in front of the mirror prepping herself for NW. She wanted to give herself to him and had a longing in her eyes as she stared at herself in the mirror. Judy asked why didn’t Neurotic Writer want to make love to her. She thought that maybe he didn’t want her that he loved someone else.
Judy bent to down pick up her clothes she had dropped on the floor. Carefully folding her panties she placed them on the vanity stand next to the sink. She reached into the skirt pocket and pulled out her necklace with a heart and key. Judy carefully took her time unhooking it. Wrapped it around her neck, and hooked it back up again. She continued to make herself even more beautiful as NW once again slowly shifted his body conscious not to wake up from his dream.
Judy picked up the pencil eyeliner and held it close to her bosom. She tugged at the cap slightly, doubting herself as she looked in the mirror. Judy wondered if she was doing the right thing by going to bed with NW. That very moment, Neurotic Writer woke up. Her image is the last one he remembered from his dream. Everything else in his dream vanished. NW felt despair and an intense longing for Judy as laid in bed thinking about her. He got up quickly walked over to the guest bedroom where the girls slept and opened the door. NW walked up to Shirl, woke her up. He asked where Judy was. She responded groggily that she didn’t know and wanted to be left alone to go back to sleep. Neurotic Writer’s heart went into a panic as an intuitive thought entered his soul. He ran down stairs into the basement where the empty refrigerator carton stood amidst his other treasures. NW opened the cardboard door looked down, saw her necklace lying inside on the carton floor. The travesty of Shirl instantly breaking down, falling to the floor crying realizing her friend, Marcia was gone came to Neurotic Writer’s mind. NW thought it was perhaps karma that Judy is now gone. The only thing he had left was the image from his dream and the necklace he held in his hand as a lonely tear ran down his face.
Copyright © 2008, Vincent Parker. All rights reserved.
Tags: collect, contradiction, dawn, destroy, evil, image, karma, midnight, nuance, nude, purpose, restless, spirits, travesty
