for June

23. Chaos Amidst the Calm

A thin, spindly finger traced the frozen and slightly blurred image on the screen, following the lines of a young woman's near-naked body as she dressed, unbeknownst to her that someone was watching. Someone she'd suddenly caught the eyes of. Her shoulders caught the morning light from the window, a distinct glimpse of her young breasts peeked from the side. The narrow waist and those comely hips drew Cassie's brown eyes.

She scowled at the woman. "I'll find out all about you, don't you fret your pretty little head." She caressed the spine of the leather-bound journal poised open on her lap. The words 'For June' scrolled on the top middle in Zachary's handwriting.

Her eyes drew to slits. "What do you have, June?" she spat the name out like poison, turning to the first page. The very page Terry had once struggled to read. But Cassie was used to the writing. Not that he would know. So, she began reading the latest work-in-progress with June frozen on her forty-inch screen like prey caught in a web.

♡

"What do you mean the book is missing?" a distinct growl laced Terry's voice over the phone, causing Chad to close the door to the study and cower further into the room. Further away from the murmuring women in the living room.

"I... we looked everywhere, Terry, everywhere." Frustrated, Chad ran a hand through his dishevelled hair and glanced up at the ceiling as if in prayer. "And it was getting good too," he half mumbled.

Terry spoke the next few words calmly. "Let me get this, Chad. You have not only toyed with your deadline several times but now, just when you said you're a few weeks away from first draft delivery, the book," she held on the word a moment. "The book which you still insist on writing by hand, for reasons I will never understand, that book, the only physical copy in existence, is missing?"

When you put it like that? Chad attention suddenly caught by a tiny pin-prick of red light hovering over his bookshelf. "What the?"

"Excuse me!" Terry bit back irritably. "Watch your tone. This is your career we are talking about. You only got those extensions because we at the PrintHaus believe in your work and have signed you on for multiple book deals. If you've forgotten Chad, let me remind you, I'm your Editor first, and I have a job to do."

"Terry, Terry," Chad interjected, for he could sense the anger and the direction their conversation threatened to head into. "I wasn't talking to you."

"Then who?"

Chad stepped closer to the shelf, wheeling his chair behind him. "I think my office is bugged."

"Bugged? What do you mean bugged?" Terry warned, "If this is another excuse."

"Listen to what I'm saying for Pete's sake!" he hissed, steadying himself on top of the chair on wheels. Probably a terrible idea, but he needed to make sure he was seeing this right. "Cassie is back, did you hear that? She even stole June's family photo. I hadn't realised until this morning that my journal is missing too."

He eyed the tiny lens and blinked, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Didn't Cassie work in surveillance?"

"What?"

Chad reached up to the camera, just out of his reach. His weight shifted, toppling the chair beneath him, and taking him with it. His phone flung from his hand and slid somewhere under the bookshelf.

"Chad? Chad? What is going on?" Terry's faint voice spilled from the phone as he caught his breath and reached for the phone. Its screen cracked.

"Fuck!" His head throbbed, having met with a shelf on his way down. His hips ached from the landing. He leaned back against the table and put Terry on the loudspeaker.

"Chad?"

"Yeah."

"What the hell is going on with you?"

Chad looked around the room, at the culmination of a decade of hustling and keeping up with the demands of his career and contract, now about to come to an abrupt end. "Terry?"

"Yes, Chad."

"What happens now?"

The silence on her end was terrifying, and he shuddered.

"Are you okay?" He heard a bang as the door burst open and two women rushed into the room to aide.

He raised a hand to stop them and gave a slight shake of his head. The ladies stopped their onslaught and crept closer still, slowly.

"If we tell them about Cassie, they will most likely give you another chance to deliver, but worst-case scenario, they'll drop you as an author."

"When does the contract end?" He swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

Another hesitant pause made him want to hurl, even more than Jo checking his head, left and right. Something warm was slithering down the side of his face.

"You're bleeding. What happened?" Jo turned his head and stared at the nasty gash. "You'll need stitches, mate."

Chad slapped her hand away and his stomach did another nasty turn at the sight of his own blood on her hands. "I have other things to worry about." He pointed at the blinking red light on top of his shelf.

"Chad?"

"Terry."

"Your contract ends after Christmas."

Chad swallowed again, for the lump refused to subside. That's only two months away. It made him miserable.

"Well, Terry." He heaved a deep breath, feeling light-headed. "It's been nice working with you..." The room began tilting on its axis and his phone slid out of his grasp as terrified faces loomed over him. What? What?  But he remembered nothing more.

♡

Cassie stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel and glanced at the screen to make sure the cameras were still working. The four feeds twinkled on the screen: Chad's bedroom, his study, June's room, and the lounge.

It was then that Chad's study caught her attention. "What?" She leaned in closer and isolated the camera, peering at the image of paramedics wheeling Chad out, strapped to a gurney. "What happened, honey? Don't worry. I'll be there soon. I just have to find which hospital they're taking you to first." She rushed off back to her room and hurriedly changed. She had to reach him and reach him now. There was no time to waste.

(Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)