Dennison: The Vision
Neon lights reflected in the puddles as I splashed through the city. It was oddly quiet tonight; people’s apartments were dark and the cars driving past were few and far between. Maybe they were all on the other side of town? There was always something going on in Dennison, but I always seemed to miss it. Working the dinner rush never gave me a chance to go have fun.
Pulling my collar up a little higher, I kept walking towards my apartment, craving a cup of hot cocoa and a hot shower. The doorman gave me a friendly nod as I walked into the building, entering the elevator as quickly as I could. I could feel the rain in my socks.
“Looks like you need an umbrella,” a woman’s voice said from behind me. I turned to see a small woman in the elevator with me. I recognized her from down the hall.
I blinked, then gave her a shrug. “Looks like you’re right.” A pause. “Aren’t you my neighbor?”
“E12, yes,” she smiled. “And you’re E7. Down-the-hall neighbors.”
“I’ve not seen you out this late,” I commented, quickly realizing that it sounded weird.
She rose her eyebrows, but didn’t break eye contact. “I usually am in bed, yes. I just got back from dinner with a friend.”
She was dressed casually, her umbrella in hand. Probably not a date. “Oh, okay,” was all I could think to say.
There was another pause that felt a little too long. “Just get done working?” she finally asked.
“Yeah,” I said, a little surprised. “How did you know?”
She chuckled. “You didn’t take off your apron.”
I looked down. Sure enough, around my waist was my server apron. “Shit,” I muttered, reaching into the pockets. Everything was drenched in rainwater.
“I’ve done that before,” E12 sighed. “When I worked at The Cap, I would never remember to take my apron off after work. That poor piece of fabric went through so much.”
“You’re a server?”
“Was,” she corrected, smiling. “I just got hired on as a secretary at a law firm. More pay, way less work…in theory, anyways. I’m sure I’ll find out the hard way that it’s not as easy as it seems!”
“You sound excited,” I said, giving her a small smile. “Congrats.”
“Thanks…uh…what’s your name?”
“Charlie,” I told her. “Charlie Bennett.”
She hummed. “I feel like I’ve heard that name before. One of those names, I guess.” She politely held her hand out. “My name is Beth O’Neill! If you ever need anything, just drop by E12. I’ll probably be there.”
I shook her hand just as the elevator dinged. “Well, this is our stop.”
“Yes,” she said, walking out of the elevator. I followed suit and we began walking down the hall together silently. As we approached my apartment, she said, “I have an extra umbrella, if you need it. Just come by whenever it’s raining again.” She then smiled again and finished the walk to her apartment down the hall.
I walked into my apartment and stood there for a second. Was that an invitation? Should I really go over there? I’ve seen Beth before, but I never said anything to her besides the usual “good mornings” and such…I’m sure she was just being nice, but could it have been flirty?
“Nope,” I said out loud, finally moving to take off my wet clothes. There was no way it was flirty! People can just be nice…right?
My roommate, Devin, came around the corner, a grey face mask slathered expertly around his beard. “What are you doing?” He motioned to the floor, where I had thrown my clothes. “Dude, come on, I just cleaned today.”
I looked around the disheveled living room. “You cleaned?”
Devin let out a dramatic sigh, walking over to my wet clothes pile. “I kind of did,” he corrected himself as he began to follow me to my room with my wet clothes. “I swept the floor, for sure.”
“Thanks, man,” I said, watching him throw my clothes onto the rest of the dirty pile in the corner of my room. “For real. I know I’m not helping as much…”
“Shh,” Devin held up a finger, silencing me. “No worries, man. You know someone has to keep the house clean.” He leaned in my doorway, fixing the dreadbun on top of his head. “Long night at work?”
“Oh my God, yes. So fucking long.” As I grabbed some dry clothes, I added, “I met the girl down the hall tonight.”
“E1?”
“No.”
“E8?”
“No? They’re next door.”
“E11?”
“Close, but no. E12.”
“Ooh, E12. Never seen her. I think our schedules are the same or something.”
“She works at a law firm.”
“She got money?” he said excitedly.
“Secretary.”
“Oh, never mind.” He crossed his arms. “She cute?”
I remembered her blonde hair and her short stature. Honestly, I barely looked at her, but she wasn’t hard to look at when I did. “She’s pretty cute.”
“That’s good! Maybe you can finally get laid,” Devin winked, walking off. I just rolled my eyes and finished changing into dry clothes. Shower time could wait. I laid down on my bed and instantly felt relief throughout my body. It was in shambles from working so much. The diner was demanding, especially since everyone who worked there never wanted to work. I was the only server who actually wanted hours, so I got them all. It was torture, but it was great for my wallet.
My eyes grew heavy as I got comfortable. The rain outside was very soothing, and the neon lights from the shops across the street cast a nice multicolored glow in my room. I could hear Devin in the bathroom, finishing whatever night skincare routine he had. I should’ve closed the door before laying down…
All of a sudden, I heard a voice coming from my window. “Charlie, hey,” it called to me softly. Opening my eyes, I looked over at the window to see a silhouette of a woman on my fire escape. I got up and walked over to the window. “Charlie,” she called again, sounding hopeful.
“Hello?” I asked, opening up the window. The woman walked forward and revealed herself to be…
“Beth?” I blinked hard at her. “What are you doing here? Why are you on my fire escape?”
She just smiled, leaning against the rail. Her casual outfit was gone. Instead, she was wearing a flowy black dress, almost like a fancy nightgown. Her hair was so long, and it looked as if it was a different shade of blonde, brighter somehow. Her lips were blood red.
“What’s going on?” I asked her.
“Come out here,” she purred, gesturing for me to come out onto the fire escape with her. “I want to show you something.”
I looked behind me. Everything seemed normal in my room. Confused, I looked back at her. She was gorgeous out of nowhere. “Why should I go out there? It’s raining.”
“Not under here,” she said. “Come on!”
For some reason, I felt compelled to go to her. I did my best to crawl out of my window and stood with her on the fire escape. She leaned in close and I instantly smelled sweet jasmine. It was intoxicating. “What’s…going on?” I asked again, looking into her eyes. Her red eyes…
Suddenly, I felt pain. I braced myself on the wall behind me as she bit down into my neck. The blood rushed out of me into her, and I couldn’t even scream as my life faded…
I sat up in bed, sweat-drenched. It was darker than it was just a few seconds ago, only one neon light shining into my room. I whipped my head around and locked eyes with Devin, who was leaning in the doorway again. “What’s wrong with you?” He was frowning, but his eyes were worried.
“Nothing,” I said, wiping the sweat off of my face. “Just a nightmare.”
“Must’ve been a crazy nightmare. You were yellin’ n’ shit.”
“Was I?”
“Yeah, man,” Devin laughed weakly. “You woke me up. It’s fine though,” he added as I opened my mouth to apologize. “I just wanted to make sure you were good. So, you good?”
“Yeah, man, I’m good,” I breathed, resting my head in my hands. “I just need a little minute to recover, I think.”
“Makes sense,” Devin shrugged as he walked off. I was left on my own, the feeling of the bite fresh in my mind. Reaching up, I grazed my fingers along my neck. I winced, but nothing really hurt. It was just my neck.
I laid back down. Eventually, I would be able to go back to sleep. It was just a nightmare, after all…
The night passed, and I woke up drained. The nightmare stuck with me all night. I walked into the kitchen to get some coffee, and realized Devin was already gone to work. I then realized that I was scheduled in two hours to work a double. “Ugh,” I groaned to myself. I would barely have any time to myself, as usual.
Leaving the apartment, I glanced over at E12. Beth was in there, probably looking normal and not ethereal like she was in my dream. I still couldn’t get the image of her and the feeling of pain out of my mind. I walked towards the elevator and pushed the down button.
Suddenly, I heard a sigh come from behind me. “This elevator takes so long…”
I turned around and my heart skipped a beat. Beth was standing there, her hair pulled back, her dress modest and her toes tapping as she waited alongside me. She had her umbrella in her hand. “Hey,” I breathed, trying to be cool.
“Hello,” she said happily. “Just going back to the office after lunch.” She paused and looked at me real quick. “Going to work?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Someone’s gotta go serve all the bigwigs and tourists.”
She laugh, her voice very musical. “I suppose that’s true! I should’ve taken my break a little bit later, maybe I could’ve came and had you serve me.”
I couldn’t help but blush, even though I was still picturing dream Beth killing me over and over. Real life Beth sure was cute. “Maybe next time,” I said simply, turning to look at the closed elevator door.
“Yes,” she responded as the door opened for us. “Maybe next time…”
Hey everyone! I thought I’d come up with an origin story for one of my favorite characters I’ve created recently, Charlie Bennett. There will most likely be a part two, and hopefully I can go back to Forsythia (where he’s from) and finish out that storyline too!
If you guys enjoyed this lil short story, please let me know!! You can follow me on Twitter if you’d like some quality Mary content everyday of the week! I’ll see y’all next week for something new!
