The Disguised Assassin

Justin had agreed for John to stay with him since his girlfriend had returned back to her place for the weekend.

Immediately they entered the house, Justin ushered John into the bathroom for him to wash himself. He was sweating all over and the blood from the arsonist had dried on his body, all leaving a pungent stench.

John showered, washing off all the smell and dried blood on his body. As he stepped out of the bathroom, he took a glance at the floor. It was now colored orange from the blood on his body. He sighed and breathed his new scent. It was way better than his previous one.

John walked over to the wardrobe in his room and began searching for clothes to wear. All that were in the wardrobe were Justin’s clothes and they were a little bit too small for him as he was slightly huger than Justin. He settled for a blue shirt that couldn’t button to the top and sweat pants that was more like a leggings than sweat pant.

The whole place was cold and John shivered. How was Justin coping like this?

He walked to the sitting and met Justin sitting on the couch and watching the television.

Justin looked up at him and asked, “aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”

John chuckled and said to him, “I just came to turn up the thermostat. It’s really freezing I can’t sleep.”

“No,” Justin said as he threw the bowl of popcorn he was holding, jumped up from the couch and stopped John from touching the thermostat. “Don’t turn it up.”

John looked at him with a confused expression on his face and asked,”why shouldn’t I turn it down?”

“Well, it’s the normal temperature for me,” Justin answered as he walked back to the couch. He picked his popcorn bowl amd stuffed a handful of popcorn in his mouth. “Hmmm humph hum hump,” he said in a muffled voice due to the popcorn in his mouth but John didn’t get a word that he said.

“What did you say?” John asked and Justin gulped down the popcorn in his mouth.

“I said it gets hot at night so that’s why the thermostat has to be at this temperature,” Justin said, not taking his eyes from the television.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“It gets hotter?” John asked and Justin nodded. He then sighed and asked, “aren’t you supposed to be in bed?”

“I’m not one to sleep early,” Justin mumbled. His attention was now fully focused on the television and John knew he wasn’t going to listen to anything he was going to say. He shook his head and muttered a goodnight before walking to his room.

As he laid on the bed, he began thinking of the events that had happened earlier. He had submitted his report to his boss, Richard. He had looked at him like he had gone crazy after reading where he wrote ‘and she disappeared’.

John was still trying to wrap his mind on how she had done it. How was she able to have gone under a truck and just disappeared? He knew he had seen her under the truck, but was shocked him the most was that when he checked the undercarriage, no one was there. Not a single soul. How could she have just disappeared then if she hadn’t been in the undercarriage?

John sighed and turned his head to his side as he tried to catch some sleep. As he turned, he saw his trouser hung on the wall, still bloodied.

“Shoot,” he muttered as he got off the bed and walked over to the trouser. He grabbed it and his shirt which hung next to it and was about going to put it in the washing machine when he heard a jiggle. He shook his trouser again to affirm if it was from his trouser he had heard the jiggle.

After affirming that it was, he dug his hands into the pockets, searching for what was causing the sound. His hands felt something hard and metallic and he pulled it out. It was ten he realized what it was; the key his father had given him.

John put the key into the sweatpants he was wearing and matched towards the laundry room. He passed by Justin who was already asleep on the couch with the television on and still playing loudly. He walked to the TV and turned it off and was about heading to the laundry room when he remembered something.

“Thermostat,” he whispered as he walked over to the thermostat and cranked the temperature up. He smiled in satisfaction and then headed for the laundry room.

He put the clothes into the washing machine, put the detergent and turned it on. As the clothes began to wash, John took the time to map out his next moves.

He had already lost his home and all his belongings to the fire so he had to think of a new place to stay. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to stay with his best friend for long because of his girlfriend. His insurance for the house was there but he knew finding the perfect house was going to be really really hard. He might find a house alright but they’ll either be too far from his workplace or too far from the bus statiom or too close to Latonya’s house. That was why the perfect house was going to be needed and those houses were not easily found.

The only choice he had left now was the house his father had bought. It had all the qualities to be a perfect house. It was close to his workplace, close to a bus station and way too far from Latonya’s place. He looked at the key in his hands and sighed. He had no other choice.

He was about bringing out his phone to call his dad when water splashed from the washing machine unto the clothes he was wearing. He cussed out loud in anger as he immediately ran to the washing machine to stop it from spilling out more water.

“Why doesn’t Justin want to fix the goddamn thing?” John muttered angrily as he stopped the machine. He stood and looked at his damp clothes and sighed. Justin really needed a plumber.

He was about walking back up to change when he paused. “Plumber,” John muttered. His eyes suddenly went wide with realization. “The goddamn girl used the manhole.”