Chapter Thirty Three
May 2021
Aaron
Summer classes aren’ttoobad—they just suck the time out of your day. Benjamin gets off work at 2 P.M. today but I won’t be able to see him until this evening because of the communications class I flunked last semester. It wasn’t a total bomb—but with everything going on I neglected it and came out with a D.
Luckily, a lot of this particular course is group or partner projects focused on dissecting a piece of literary work and then using our public-speaking skills with a presentation over the topic. So, no papers. It’s the best. My first project of the semester is a partner project based around articles or newspapers that cover a national tragedy and were published by media outlets. We chose Hurricane Katrina since we’ll have plenty of articles to work with considering how long ago it was.
I’m pretty happy with my partner, too. I happened to know him—Jeremiah—he’s a friend of Darian’s. They’re on the basketball team together so we frequently saw each other freshman year. Jeremiah’s smart and pulls his weight. He takes everything seriously to keep his basketball scholarship—which I respect. As two avid gym nerds we like to hit my apartment gym before we get to work as well, which makes the whole event something to actually look forward to. Working out alone can get boring and Benjamin is already so busy. I miss him all the time, but I feel bad taking any more of his time than I already do.
I kidnap Benjamin most nights—bringing him to my house to stay with me so I can hold him while I sleep. Then we eat breakfast together and I take him to work before heading to the pet shop orto class, depending on the day. And in between all of that—of course—I’m fucking his brains out. Ah, I really miss him.
I turn the shower off, finishing up so we can finally start our project session. Jeremiah has already showered and I think I might have heard him talking to someone. I get dressed and head to the living room—finding him laid out on the couch like he normally does—the big bastard.
“Ready?” He asks, sitting up to grab his bag and throwing on his UA basketball shirt.
“Yeah—was someone here?” Jeremiah barely spares me a glance as he’s pulling out papers and pens and notebooks.
“Yeah. Some guy came in and said he was in the wrong apartment.”
“Oh.” Well Benjamin’s gonna kick my ass. He’s always telling me if I leave the front door unlocked someone’s going to walk right in. I tell him he’s full of shit. He’s going tolovethis.
As we get ready, I pull out my phone—3:23 P.M. Benjamin should be home by now. Normally he would have let me know—but sometimes he forgets.
Aaron
hey button, u home?
“Okay—I found this article the other night and I think it’s great for an opening topic.” I take the printed article from Jer and read through it—highlighting parts I think will work out.
We talk about it for a minute longer, but I can’t concentrate. Why isn’t he answering?
“Sorry—one second Jeremiah.”
I call Benjamin’s number, chewing on the end of my thumbnail. It rings and rings—
Looks like you couldn’t reach me, sorry. Leave me a message.Beep
The voicemail line starts to record and I hang up. What the fuck? His phone isn’t dead or turned off if it rang…
“Jeremiah—what did that guy look like?” He looks up from his paper, confused.
“From earlier? I don’t know. I think he was actually pretty handsome—if not a little young. But I couldn’t tell under all the fucking blood. Guy had the shit beat out of him—like I’m talking the whites of one eye were completely red. And he looked at me like I was a terrifying alien. Your neighborhood is fucking weird.”
My heart has stopped beating—my hands won’t stop shaking. My mouth is so dry I think I might be choking but the only thing I can hear is Jeremiah’s voice.
“Oh—and blonde hair for sure—I could tell even with the blood.”
I shoot up from my spot across from him, the ringing in my ears starts to blast, volume up to one hundred.Benjamin was here covered in blood—saw another man shirtless in my apartment and ran. I dry heave over the table and Jeremiah jumps up too.
“Aaron! What’s going on?!” I pick my phone back up. It rings and rings—
“Hey, Bub—”
“Where’s Benjamin?” Felix is startled by the urgency, the fear in my voice. “Did he come home after work?”
“What? No—I figured he went to your place. I haven’t seen him since this morning.” I’m hyperventilating—pacing my living room. I don’t know what to do. The last time he fled from here he almostdied. “Aaron?! What’s wrong? What happened?”
