The Mandela Effect

Ch 44

Jon makes his way up the service stairs at the back of the building heading up. Given the number of people outside, he assumes that no one is waiting inside the building, but he doesn't want to be too cavalier. When he reaches his floor, he opens the door a crack and looks out. There doesn't seem to be anyone on the floor at all. He opens the door and makes his way down the hall to his apartment. Letting himself in, he closes the door behind him and locks every lock. Then he goes to work.

In the hall closet, he takes out a backpack and a duffel bag. He realizes that he can't remember the last time he used them, and now they may be the last things he ever sees from the apartment. Taking the bags, he heads for the bedroom.

Dropping both bags on the bed, he heads into the closet. He turns on the light and immediately sighs. In that moment, he realizes that his wardrobe is like the rest of his life: based on a false sense of security.

Jon moves the suits and fancy clothes out of the way and looks for something more practical. He doesn't have many practical clothes. He does find a few T-Shirts and throws them out of the closet and on to the bed. Turning to the shelves, he digs through his pile of jeans, throwing the expensive brands on the floor of the closet. Finally, at the bottom of the stack, he finds some more reasonable looking and branded clothes. He throws a few pair onto the bed from his position.

Next, he moves to the drawers. Again, he goes through the same process of throwing the expensive underwear, undershirts, and socks onto the floor and looking for less pretentious brands at the bottom of the drawers. Finding a few, he throws them out on the bed as well.

Following that, digs through the shoes in racks on the floor. At the front, they are almost all dress shoes and seemingly untouched sneakers. Pushing back the clothes, he finds a couple pair of beat-up, older sneakers and a pair of boots. They all follow the clothing out of the door and onto the bed.

Finally, he grabs several hats from the top rack of the closet. They are dusty and dirty with non-use but he throws them out on the bed to take as well, just in case. Giving one last look to the closet, he shuts off the light and walks back to the bedroom.

Jon pulls the zipper on the duffel opening it up. He stuffs the clothing into the duffel bag without bothering to organize or fold them. That done, Jon checks his watch. He has about 15 minutes to get out. Jon moves on to the bathroom.

Digging under the sink, he finds a small, black, leather toiletries bag. He opens it and begins dumping in the supplies he needs: toothbrush, toothpaste, small bottle of mouthwash, comb, deodorant, and a few other items. Having taken what he needed, he closes the toiletries bag and throws it into the duffel. Jon surveys the bedroom. He considers taking this item or that; but in the end, decides to leave it all. None of it matters.

His bag packed, he grabs the bookbag and heads to the study. Opening the middle drawer of his desk, he pulls out an old laptop. It has been years since he used it. Long enough that he hopes it doesn't cause a problem. He takes a key from the back of the drawer and closes it. The key fits the lock on the bottom drawer. He squats down next to the drawer, turns the key and opens it.

Inside the drawer are some important documents. Important in the grand sense, but any more, nothing was really important it seemed. Jon grabs his passport, putting it up on top of the desk and moves the rest of the papers to the side and looks below them. It's his secret stash; his rainy day fund. He takes out the few small bundles of cash and piles them on top of the laptop he left on the desktop. It's not much, but hopefully enough to get him through.

Jon is about to close the drawer when he has a thinks. He takes a deep breath and pulls the drawer completely open. In the back, there is an oily rag. He reaches in and grabs it. This has been in the drawer a very long time, untouched by him or anyone.

Pulling out the rag, Jon feels the weight in his hand. He stands up from his squat and pushes back to sit in the desk chair. Unwrapping the oily rag, Jon reveals the cold, black steel of a snub nose .38 pistol. With almost flawless muscles memory, despite it's long residence in the drawer, Jon kicks open the breach and spins the cylinder. All six spots are occupied by a round. He closes the breach and checks the safety.

Jon shakes his head. He's torn about whether to bring the weapon. In the end, he wraps it in the rag again and places it on top of the stack of money. Moving back to a squat, he reaches back into the drawer and pulls out a box of bullets, placing them on the top as well. His mind made up, he slams the drawer closes and begins to pile their contents into the backpack.

Everything secured inside, he checks his watch. It's time to go. Jon grabs the backpack and carries it back to the bedroom, tossing it on the bed next to the duffle. Heading back to the living room, he crossed to the entry closet. Pulling open the door, he digs around inside until he finds a plain black winter jacket, way less ostentatious than the Ralph Loren coat he wore inside. He throws it over his shoulders and put it on before heading back to the bedroom.

Grabbing the back pack, it puts it on. Once it's in place, he picks up the duffel bag and heads to the door. He stops in the doorway and turns back to the apartment. He takes a moment, unsure if he'll every see this place again; unsure about anything really.

His eyes scan over the knick knacks and other things he's collected. Now, at the moment where only the few necessary items are important none of those things he collected were. He can't think of a single thing to take.

His gazes falls on a single picture frame. It's the only one in the house that doesn't contain a piece of art. Right now, it's facing away from him and towards the kitchen. He debates, but finally walks over to it and picks it up. Turning it over, he sees the picture of Lucy. She's young in the picture, but just as he remembers her.

Not wanting to take the time to remove the photo, he smashes the frame against the table and takes the picture from the shattered remains. Jon unshoulders one strap of the backpack and unzips the outer pocket. Giving the picture one last look, he tucks it inside.

Now resolute, he turns back to the door and hits the light switch. He cracks the door and looks out into the hall. Finding the hallway once again empty, he sneaks out the door and closes it behind him.