The Chair

The dry, hot air mixed with the deafening sound of Cicadas, and the rancid smell of rotting beef left out on the counter, filled the little cottage. A soft glow from a single candle danced in the window with the breeze, the breeze that threatened to snuff it out. She stared, unmoving, unblinking, stared out into the darkness. It called to her. She couldn't answer but it called. It called in the night when she wasn't sleeping. It called in the morning, as the sun rose over the distant hills. She could hear it, she was sure.

The sky turned orange, then pink, then blue. The cottage lit up. Looking as if it was ready to have its picture taken for a postcard. But still, she stayed. She didn't remember her name. Or where she was, or where she was to go. Her stomach growls alert her that it's time to eat. But, still, she remained. The chair, and herself, bolted in place. Never to move. She heard the distant whisper, an echo of a loud, thunderous roar. It hurt her ears yet she strained to hear. The sun had risen bringing in a new day. Yet, she remained.

Outside, the kids played on the playground behind her street. Their laughs and squeals compliment the wonderful summer day. All the flowers were fully bloomed, sending sweet scents into the air. The bees buzzed quickly to get their job done. Squirrels and birds chased each other through the trees and the sky. It was, altogether, perfect.

As the day went on, people passed by the quiet, old cottage. With shingles starting to fall off, and a rusted railing up the porch stairs. No one stopped, no one said hello. It sat alone. She sat, alone. The sun began to fall again. The clear sky leads the reds and purples into a blue filled with silver specks. Darkness once again. The echo, once again.

Movement was rarely seen, rarely felt. But she did. Her stomach screamed at her. She reached down and grabbed an old bagel from the floor. Bringing it up to her mouth she bit into the green, the white, the fuzz. It squished in her mouth as she chewed. Slowly, then swallowed hard and quickly. The bagel fell, and still, she was, once again.

A shrill, loud knock startled her out of her trance. She looked around at the room as if she had just woken up in a place she didn't recognize. She felt sick, hungry, and tired. Like the living dead. She got up, slowly, and answered the door. A man stood there with a box at his feet and a clipboard in his hands.

" Package delivery for Sarah."

She looked around for a moment as if she was trying to figure out who Sarah was. Finally, she reached for the pen and quickly scribbled a signature.

"Thanks, Ma'am you have a good day."

She cracked a little smile and said,

"Thanks, and the same to you."

Bringing the package in she dropped it to the ground and headed for the kitchen. Still feeling cruddy. She stopped when she saw the swarm of flies and blanket of maggots on the beef that had been left out. Grabbing an old towel she quickly started hitting it, making the flies buzz everywhere. She slammed the towel down over and over.

"I don't understand, I just got this last night. How the hell are there this many flies?"

She muttered to herself as she grabbed the meat with the towel and threw it into the garbage. Putting a shaky hand to her head she stopped to catch her breath. She felt Nauseous and couldn’t remember much from the past day. Looking around at the kitchen, her vision became blurry. Falling slowly to the ground, she began to throw up. The chunks of bagel coming out. She looked at it in horror trying to figure out what it was.

“I think I just need to lie down for a bit.”

She got up and crept towards her room pausing to start at the chair for a moment. Something felt wrong, almost as if the chair were beckoning her to sit down. When she finally made it to her room, she laid down and within a moment was fast asleep.

Her eyes fluttered open as the sun came through the east window in her room. She glanced at the bedside alarm Clock. It was almost noon, the next day. Feeling a bit better but still sick, she decided to go get some food. Sudden, sharp pain in her abdomen threw her to the floor. Her eyes watered as it got worse. Then almost as fast as it started, it stopped. Standing up once again she decided that eating might help. As she walked to the kitchen, she stared at the chair. Not noticing the moldy, half eaten bagel on the floor.

When she got to the fridge it was like an unknown force took hold of her. She began to eat whatever she could get her hands on. Standing in the doorway, eating leftovers and condiments. Not stopping to heat anything up or make a proper meal. After almost clearing the entire top shelf, she stopped. Looking in, she noticed the half eaten butter stick, the empty Tupperwares, and the spots where her food covered hands had reached in. Looking down wasn’t much better. Crumbs and chunks of food accompanied cheese slice wrappers. Without another thought, she cleaned it up. Then, decided it was time for her to clean up as well.

The hot water felt amazing on her aching limbs and helped nausea go away, She put a few drops of Peppermint Essential Oil into the tub and breathed it in deeply. Not making an attempt to actually clean up, she stood there as the drops of water splashed off of her back and surrounded her. She stood there enjoying it until the hot water was gone. Then wrapped up in a towel and walked back to her room. Grabbing a blue dress and a clean pair of underwear, she got dressed. As she was putting her hair up in a towel to dry she heard a knock at the door. Feeling much more alive now she rushed to the door and opened it.

Standing there was Chloe, one of Sarah’s closest friends. She shook her head at Sarah and sighed.

“Well, looks like you’re doing alright. You had us worried. I grabbed your mail for you as I noticed you weren’t grabbing it yourself. I doubt anyone wants to steal bills and useless coupons but you never know. So, what have you been up to? Sick or something?”

Sarah was confused and gave Chloe a funny look.

“Why do you ask? Because I slept all day yesterday? I was just feeling a bit cruddy. I’m fine now though.”

Now it was Chloe’s turn to give a look.

“Girl, you’ve been silent for 4 days. We figured you were just sick or something. So we gave you some space. Although, I guess it would have been smart for one of us to check up on you. Sorry about that. Oh yeah here, I forgot.”

Chloe hands Sarah the stack of white, boring envelopes. Sarah thought to herself for a moment. 4 days didn’t seem right. She only remembered sleeping for 1.

“I guess I was pretty sick because I only remember sleeping for a day. I went to bed yesterday morning after waking up in that new chair my Aunt gave to me. It’s in a weird spot but I haven’t found a good place to put it.”

Chloe glanced at the chair and noticed something on the floor. She crept closer until she noticed what it was.

“Sarah, I love you, but that’s just gross. I thought you were really good at keeping your house clean. You must have been really out of it!”

Sarah looked at where Chloe was pointing. Nausea came back after she noticed the mold matched the mysterious chunks she had thrown up earlier that morning. She shook the idea out of her head.

“We need to get you out of the house I think. If you feel up to that. The girls and I are going to the Coffeehouse for lunch. I’m pretty sure Brad is working today!”

Chloe smiled wide at Sarah and she chuckled and nodded. After taking care of the gut-churning bagel they headed out.

They arrived at the small, corner store coffeehouse. The outside smelled of Coffee and Cigarettes. The inside, just coffee. The noise bothered Sarah’s head but she ignored it as she spotted her other friends at a table next to the chalkboard wall. The wall was there for people to make art on or write quotes, in an attempt to keep the bathroom vandalism down. It didn’t work. Sarah and Chloe walked up to the table and sat down. Her two other friends Racheal and Vivian were chatting. They stopped and looked up at her.

“Well well, if it isn’t the mythical Sarah, come out of hiding. Were you just ditching us, or did you fall into some sort of Coma?”

Vivian grinned at Sarah. Racheal elbowed her and shook her head.

“I was sick, but I’m feeling a bit better now. I guess I was out for a lot longer than I thought. I only remember being sick and sleeping for 1 day. But, Chloe said it was 4. Oh look, Brad’s coming over Chloe.”

Sarah sat down relieved to get the topic off of her. She watched as Chloe fixed her hair to be over her shoulders to show off her soft beach waves. Then she watched as they smiled and obviously flirted with each other. Brad was your typical barista with a beard, funky mustache, and hat. Sarah honestly didn’t dig the look, but Chloe loved it. Chloe finally sat down as Brad went to go make their orders.

“Have you two still not started dating? We can tell you guys like each other. Heck, the whole coffeehouse knows you guys are flirting like crazy. They probably think you guys are already a couple.”

Sarah chuckled and winked at Chloe.

“You know, Sarah’s right. If you don’t ask him out when he brings the drinks, then I will do it for you!”

“You Wouldn’t Racheal!”

Chloe protested, shaking her head.

“Oh yes I will, we all will. Come on, you know you like him.”

Brad came back over with their drinks and Vivian winked at Chloe. She shook her head and chuckled a bit. Brad put Chloe’s drink down last. His hand lingered on it as she grabbed it from him.

“You ladies have everything you need?”

Racheal looked around and smiled,

“We’re all good brad, but I think Chloe has something she needs.”

“Oh, what do you need Chloe?”

Chloe turned red and sunk down in her chair.

“She needs you, Brad.”

Vivian gave Chloe a sly smile.

“Well, I mean, what she means is, that, well, they think that we should go out. I think so too. Unless you don’t think so, then I don’t think so.”

Brad held up his hand to stop Chloe’s rambling.

“That’s so interesting. I was going to stop you on the way out but since they brought it up. Here’s a ticket to go see that new Slasher movie tonight. Viv mentioned that you like horror movies”

All Chloe could do was smile and nod.

As Sarah and her friends finished their drinks as Chloe went on and on about her date night with Brad, time passed quickly. Racheal glanced at her watch then at the movie ticket.

“We better get you home to get ready. The movie starts in a few hours. And we will help you!.”

They rushed over to Chloe’s house which was right around the corner. Sarah was feeling much better at this point. They all piled into Chloe’s room to help her pick her outfit and do her hair and makeup. Sarah paused and stared at a picture hanging on her wall above her dresser. It was Chloe and Sarah as little girls, posing with Sarah’s father. Emotions started to well up in her but she pushed them back down. She flinched as she felt a hand on her back.

“I miss him too, I wish he didn’t leave. Come on girlie, come to have some fun with us. He would want you to have fun.”

She nodded and joined back in until Chloe was date-ready.

Chloe’s hair was up in a sleek bun and her makeup matched the simplicity of her pink dress. She stared in the mirror at herself, grinning almost from ear to ear. Her phone buzzed on her desk alerting the girls that it was time for Chloe to go. The sun was just starting to go down as They walked out. Brad was there in a button-down shirt and black pants. Not unlike his Coffeehouse uniform but Sarah was sure Chloe loved it. She got into Brad’s car and they waved as they drove away.

“You guys planned this whole thing, didn’t you?”

Sarah inquired the two grinning girls.

“Yeah, we totally did. And it seems to have worked. Well, I should get home to have some dinner. See you gals later.”

Vivian and Racheal turned and headed for home. Sarah did the same. As she walked, the strange events from the day came back to her mind. She couldn’t stop thinking about that chair.

As Sarah got home she locked the door and slumped up against it. Tired and hungry, but still feeling better than earlier. She once again looked at the chair as it beckoned her. It pulled her in. She made herself some dinner and took her plate to the living room. There it sat, facing the dark window, the candle’s flame long gone. Only silhouettes of the outside and the glare of the kitchen light were seeable. She took a deep breath and gave in to her curiosity. She sat down. Nothing happened, she was fine. She started to eat, feeling more and more tired with each bite. Her hand getting heavier and heavier. She glanced up at the window and stopped moving. She thought she heard someone whisper her name. She dropped her fork, then her plate, and stared. Not moving, not blinking.

She looked over at her locked front door. There was no knock, no keys unlocking it, and no jiggling the handle. Yet, Sarah slowly got up. As if she heard someone. Her eyes fixed on the door. Her feet slid along the floor as if they were too heavy to pick up. She got closer and closer, not blinking at all. Where the tile stopped in front of the door, she also stopped. A smile formed on her lips and her arms floated upwards as if she were waiting for an embrace. The door stood there, never opening. She leaned forward whispered,

“Papa, you came back”