Beneath the Shadows

2. A new guy in the building

There are never many people in the gym, especially in the afternoon, and today there's no one except for one person. There's a guy busy with the punching bag, the only one installed in the gym, and one of the few reasons why I come to the gym. I start with body exercises on the floor while waiting for the guy to finish with the bag.

A considerable amount of time passes, but the guy still hasn't stopped punching the bag.
I huff, sitting on the floor, and I remember that I'm the one who requested and had the bag put here... no one ever uses it, and now who is this guy?

--

I get up from the mat on the floor and approach the guy.
From afar, I had already noticed his completely tattooed right arm and black hair; he wears a black tank top with wide shoulders and knee-length black shorts. He is taller than me by at least a foot, I notice when I get close to him and stop behind him.

"Excuse me?" I say, but he doesn't respond, continuing to punch the bag without even turning his head toward me. What a rude guy.

"Excuse me?"

"Excuse me, I would like to use the bag too," I say, crossing my arms. "You know, this isn't your personal gym," I continue when he ignores me.

"Hey! Can you answer me?" I raise my voice, approaching him and grabbing his tattooed arm to make him turn.

He turns towards me and takes a step back to distance himself, and I, holding his arm tightly, lose my balance and fall forward. Using my hands and knees, I manage to cushion the fall and avoid hitting my face on the floor. I take a deep breath to recover from the shock of the fall and immediately stand up while he apologizes.

"Sorry," he says, taking off his earphones and looking at me alarmed. "Are you okay?" he asks.

"Yes... Yes, I didn't realize you had earphones on, and you couldn't hear me when I was talking to you, so..." I start to explain, trying not to come across as crazy.

"Ah... Yeah, I didn't hear, did you need something?" he asks, briefly looking me up and down, and I do the same. He shouldn't be much older than me and he has Oriental features, but I can't place it where he is from... Julia was Thai, but he seems different.

"Do you need something?" he asks again. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine," I hurry to say, then point to the bag. "I just wanted to use the bag too. You've been using it for a long time, and I'd like a turn now," I say, realizing how stupid it sounds.

"Oh, yeah, sorry," he looks at the bag for a moment, then back at me, and I look around embarrassed. "It's all yours," he says before picking up his towel and water bottle and putting them back in his backpack.

I watch him as he collects his things, feeling a bit embarrassed, and then I introduce myself.

"By the way, I'm Harper."

"I'm Noah, nice to meet you."

"And... are you new to the building? I've been living here since... I was born and haven't seen you around," I ask, and he stops in front of me with his backpack on one shoulder, wiping the sweat off his neck with the towel.

"I moved in about a month ago, sorry for monopolizing the punching bag. I usually don't come to the gym this early, but today was an exception, it won't happen again," he says before saying goodbye and leaving.

I watch him leave the gym and then sigh. "Well, if it happened again, it wouldn't be so bad," I say to myself. I go to get hand wraps and train with the bag.

In the evening, my dad and I are at the table with the food ready, waiting for Benji to arrive so we can all eat together. My brother has been locked in his room since he came home, and we've been calling him for dinner, which has now gone cold from waiting.

I huff, put my phone down on the table, and stand up. "I'm going to call him... Can you warm up the food, Dad?" I ask as I leave.

"Benji" I call after knocking on his bedroom door.

"Yeah, coming," he says.

"You said that 30 minutes ago too, hurry up or I'm coming in to get you" I threaten, raising my voice. From my room, Zeus comes out and gives me a disapproving look as if I disturbed him.

"I'm coming, just give me a minute," he says, and I hear him moving things around in his room. Zeus approaches me and rubs himself against my legs, and when my brother opens the door, the cat rushes into his room.

"Zeus, get out immediately! Jesus..." Benji jumps inside to retrieve that black arrow that went hiding under the bed and blows at him.

"Wait, I'll do it," I say as I enter. Zeus doesn't like to be touched or picked up by anyone except me, and he often finds me repulsive too.

"No, no, it's okay, I'll do it," he says, stopping me at the door. But then he grabs me by the shoulders, turns me around, and takes me out of the room. "Don't worry, he can stay there, he'll come out when he wants to," he says as he drags me to the living room and then to the table.

"You're really strange," I tell him, shaking off his hands and sitting back down. "Are you hiding a corpse under the bed or a girlfriend?" I ask, laughing, and he rolls his eyes before laughing too, perhaps a little forced.

"How was the first day of school, sweetheart?" my dad asks as he brings the reheated food to the table.

"Everything went well. I wanted to ask you... now that I have my driver's license and I'll be going to university next year, I'll need-" I start the prepared speech, but he interrupts me.

"Harp, I'm not buying you a car," he says, starting to eat, and my brother smiles at me, as if teasing, and starts eating too.

"Dad, you bought one for Benji!"

"Yes, he needed it for university and going out at night," he says, then pauses. "Now that car belongs to both of you, share it," he says.

"Dad!" my brother protests and I try to list the reasons why sharing the car wouldn't work, but my dad stops me. "Then find a job and buy as many cars as you want," he says firmly and irritably, not allowing any further arguments. I look at Benji, who shakes his head, and we start eating.

After dinner, I go to my room.

Message from Isa:
-Did you ask your dad?-
-So?-

Message to Isa:
-I have to share the car with my brother-
-Which means he'll never give it to me... we'll have to settle for being driven around-

Message from Isa:
-Will he take us to Oliver's birthday party?-

Message to Isa:
-Isa, I don't think I'll go-
-I ran into him this afternoon in the courtyard-
-It was embarrassing, at least for me it was-
-I don't think we can go back to how things were-

Message from Isa:
-Oh, come on! People go to bed and sleep with others all the time, you can't let what happened affect you forever-
-Come to the party! I swear I won't leave you alone with Oliver! I'll be with you all the time, and you won't even have to talk to him-

Message to Isa:
-I'll think about it-

I lock my phone and place it on the nightstand.
I happen to glance out the window and see the light in Oliver's room still on. A year ago, I would have called him, and we would have talked and communicated from window to window for hours. Today, I close the curtains, get under the covers with Keiko lying next to me, turn off the lights, and go to sleep.