The Harbinger Break (4 page)

  
Sam glanced from his hands to Summers, who locked eyes with him, personifying full-engagement. The longer they spoke, the more Summers could define Sam's strange behavior.

  
It was the speed at which Sam spoke, how he paced and jumped, how he forced eye-contact then shied from it. He wasn't repressed or socially anxious–he was simply neglected. He spoke and acted as if Summers might get bored and walk away at any moment.

  
Summers took his mind off his own problems–off his terrible job, lack of a social life, and nostalgia for his long-lost 'cool'–and devoted his full attention to Sam, feeling as though just listening was more good than he'd done in a long time.

  
Appreciating the attention, Sam continued–this time with a renewed vigor.

  
"She took his orange juice and spilled it on the already messed up mac and cheese and chocolate cake, and convinced Pat to eat that. He took a few bites, and those who weren't laughing were re-um-rep–"

  
"Repulsed?"

  
"Yeah. I wanted to walk over, but Pat hadn't spoken a word to me since he stepped in my piss.

  
"Was he mean to you?"

  
"N-no! If anything, the opposite. He considered himself a good person, maybe the best person at GenDec. Like, the boys in gangs wore either blue, black, or red jumpsuits. Anyone not in gangs wore gray, or something bland, something to fit in and not be noticed.

  
"And Pat?"

  
"He wore bright yellow. He really wanted to be the best. Like, best grades in the classes, teachers’ favorite. He wasn't liked much by the gangs, but he was smart, and knew how to avoid trouble. Well I mean, that was before–well… I'll get there."

  
Summers nodded, and Sam continued.

  
"So Claire seemed to be getting a little frustrated by then. She wanted Pat not just to leave, but to leave defeated and embarrassed. So she spat in his food."

  
"She spat?"

  
"It was nasty. Like dripped from her lips. I was grossed out, and I'm telling you, I s-sincerely lost a lot of my attraction towards her."

  
"I thought you had a girlfriend."

  
Sam stopped. "Yeah, I mean, um–I don't know. Anyway Pat–it was weird. He was committed. If he was grossed out he didn't let it show. So he picked up a fork full of the mess, and put it to his lips. Half the lunch room was staring, shocked and disgusted. Claire looked guilty, and just before that stuff reached his mouth, she told him to stop. I'm telling you, groans and sighs erupted everywhere. Until then, I'm
telling
you, I hadn't realized that no one nearby had spoken a word.

  
"So Claire glanced around, embarrassed, and in a fit of what you might call decency, she gave Pat her sandwich and then she stood up and left the lunch room. The whole thing was really something else."

  
Summers scribbled in his notebook. "What happened after that?"

  
"Well, Pat followed her around a lot. He sat with her during lunch, and rarely spoke to me. She got him to start making poor decisions, which eventually led to his death. There is no doubt in my mind that if he hadn't met her, he would've been released with me–clean and clear."

  
Summers nodded and closed his notebook. "Thank you, Mr Higgins. You've been helpful."

  
"C-call me Sam."

  
Summers nodded, his thoughts elsewhere. Sam reddened.

  
"Why are you asking me all this anyway, agent?" Sam asked.

  
Summers looked absentmindedly at his watch. "We needed a clearer picture of who we're dealing with."

  
" 'Dealing with' ?"

  
Summers locked eyes with Sam. "Mr Higgins, Pat Shane is alive."

  
Sam sat still, apparently wondering if the agent was joking. Summers held a stern face, but Sam laughed anyway. After a moment passed and the agent hadn't joined in Sam stopped abruptly.

  
"Y-you're serious."

  
"Yes."

  
"O-okay… But I don't get it. Why'd you come talk to me, of all people? We weren't really that close–I mean, how did he even survive?"

  
Summers stood and Sam followed, walking to the front door.

  
"Mr Higgins, we have Pat Shane in custody right now, and he's going to plead guilty to murder in the first degree. You've been very helpful, but I should let you know, the reason I knew to come find you was that Pat Shane has been sleep talking, and from what we can decipher–you would have been his next target."

◊   ◊   ◊

   A few days later Sam Higgins opened the front door of his house, exhausted from a long day at Quality Heart Insurance. He was an Insurance Claim Rep, and he spent his days behind a desk in the office taking phone calls regarding claims.

  
He'd started at the company about six months after he'd left GenDec, after a quick week-long insurance adjuster course. The job attracted men and women of a similar passive demeanor–asocial, quiet, happy to live the easy, non-complicated life, with an inherent disinclination for excitement.

  
His routine kept him happy and comfortable. Arrive at seven-thirty five times a week, leave at six o'clock, pick up fast-food on the way home, settle onto his couch and turn on the television. At first he relished weekends, but after six years weekends just became an unwanted break in his routine–and if his manager ever decided to call him in then, he wouldn't mind.

  
Poochie scrambled up to him and rolled onto her back. Sam scooped her and carried her over to the brown felt couch, sat down and turned on the television. Scanning the channels, he finally settled on an old rerun of The Twilight Zone.

  
He chuckled to himself, as most did, wondering if Rod Sterling only knew how right he'd be. The episode, 'How to Serve Man' was particularly troubling in this day and age.

  
He thought it odd that he had to change the channel to get to this station–that instead, the television had been set to the news. He never watched anything but fiction, intentionally avoiding the news, as it only troubled him when he watched.

  
But with a growl of his stomach, the thought was replaced, and he went through his kitchen, first to the back patio door to let Poochie wander the backyard before returning to the kitchen to grab some grub, regretting that he finished his fast food on the car ride home.

  
But as he shut his patio door the phone rang. Probably a telemarketer, he thought, so he let it go to voicemail and opened his fridge.

  
Looking around for something to munch on, a wordless idea nagged at the back of his mind, and he soon noticed that his fridge's contents looked a little different. He had his diet coke, sure, leftover Chinese–likely rotten–eggs, bacon, pudding, milk–

  
–Wait. His orange juice was missing. He checked the trash and sure enough found the empty carton. He didn't remember finishing it, but he wiped the thought from his mind and returned disappointed to the fridge, grabbing milk instead.

  
The thought bothered him, and as he poured himself a glass he tried to remember when he'd finished the carton, but couldn't. It wasn't that odd though, he couldn't expect to recall every time he'd finished everything. No, he'd probably just forgotten.

  
His machine beeped, and someone began leaving him a message. It was Agent Summers, sounding anxious.

  
"Mr Higgins, if you're at home–stay put and lock your doors. Pat Shane escaped, we don't know how long ago. A cruiser is on its way now. Lock your doors, a cruiser is on its way."

  
Click. Sam lowered the glass from his lips. What was it Summers had said about Pat? He murdered someone? That he would've come for Sam next?

  
His heart skipped a beat and the glass slipped from his sweating hands and shattered on the floor in an explosion of milk. He felt salt in his eyes, droplets on his cheeks, and unsure whether he was sweating, crying, or both.

  
How could this happen? He never did anything to anyone! Before the agent, the last conversation he'd had had been with his boss two weeks ago, and it was just a "good job, Higgins, keep it up". He never bothered anyone, never did anything, why on earth would somebody want him dead? He was nobody!

  
He ran to the front door. It was locked. He sighed, relieved. But then like an instant replay he remembered: when he'd let Poochie out–the back door hadn't been locked!

  
His stomach fell with his breath, hunger forgotten. He tasted silver in his tonsils, his mouth arid and dry. Pat was in his house, with a weapon to kill him, right now, and Sam was too slow and too late–where were the police? Pat escaped? They let him escape? Sam moaned with fear and frustration.

  
Thinking fast, he dashed to the kitchen counter and grabbed the largest knife in the set. He spun around and slashed behind him, expecting Pat to pop out of nowhere.

  
"Pat?"

  
No response.

  
"Pat! You here?"

  
Nothing. Heat gathered in waves around him. The room seemed to pulse, or maybe that was an aneurism behind his eyes.

  
He broke into a sloppy sprint, opening the patio door and lumbering into his backyard. He didn't know what to do, but wait–he had to find Poochie, where was she? He glanced around. It was too dark to see anything aside from the reflection of the kitchen light in his pool.

  
"Poochie!" he whispered as loudly as possible. "Poochie, come!"

  
Where was she? Sam softly closed the door and lurked deeper into his back patio, creeping past his only lawn chair towards the pool. He reasoned that Pat was inside, and if he came downstairs the shut door would give him a head start.

  
Sam walked deeper, calling out.

  
"Poochie! Come here now!"

  
Deeper still into the darkness, he crouched low, calling out and glancing around. Leaves rustled–but it was just the wind.

  
"Poochie!" he whispered again, to no discernible response.

  
He wanted to laugh, stand, even yell "come and get me". Desperation engulfed him, blinded him, smothered his thoughts in molasses. Fucking Poochie, he thought, should've gotten a German Shepherd. He checked back towards the house, almost expecting to see Pat by the door–but saw nothing beside the kitchen light. He watched the light shimmer in his pool.

  
Pat had to be here. But where?

  
Sam skulked through his yard. His brain floundered for any means of safety but found nothing. He wondered why he wasn't just running around, screaming bloody murder.

  
He crept alongside the pool and looked at the bright blue of the light dancing in its depths, wondering if Poochie had somehow sunk to its floor.

  
Suddenly, a silent train crashed into him, sending him flying. He flew past the edge and plunged into the warm water, then hands grappled and held him down. He fought, floundering and crashing, twisting and splashing, but he had no leverage. He was on his back, and try as he might to get his feet down, someone held his legs up out of the water, and an opposite hand held him under by his neck. He needed air–he couldn't breathe.

  
He thrashed and jolted, eyes blood red with tears from chlorine and panic. Water syphoned up his nose and burnt his tear ducts, and he saw the figure of a man standing above him. His mind turned to basic instinct, coherent thoughts left and were replaced by one: air. And he thrashed and kicked and clawed the arm restraining him, but to no avail, and felt his limbs burn and grow weak as he began to die, drowned at the shallow end. He couldn't fight, he couldn't breathe. He needed air.

  
He felt his eyes roll back and his brain began shutting down. He twitched, his neck arched and mouth contorted to a soundless scream, and he cried out with his final breath, but as he did a hand snaked into his mouth, salty fingers crawled past his uvula, and nails scraped his tonsils, drawing blood. The hand pressed on his tongue, and then squeezed it down towards his jaw. Water flushed past his throat and into his stomach like a vacuum. Pain erupted and lit his heart on fire, it felt like the water was acid, melting him apart from the inside. He puked, gagged, swallowed his puke, then began absorbing his pool like a funnel. Water filled his stomach, bile coated his lungs, his limbs faltered, and the world turned black. He twitched one last time and was still.

   He saw Claire Waltz kissing him and decided that heaven wasn't too bad. She wore a white dress, her blonde hair draped her shoulders, and a bright light engulfed her from behind. She blinked and smiled. He smiled back. She lowered her head down towards him and–