I walked towards my clinic with my morning coffee in one hand and my bag in the other. No, I don't own a clinic, I just work there a receptionist for Dr. Ruth Richards, who owns the place. Being a receptionist wasn’t much work but I had to be there every week day 8am to 10pm. And it was boring to just sit there and watch people go in and out of the office with nothing to do but take appointments on phone and maintain the daily schedule. But I could never be late. Dr Richards was very strict on that. I couldn’t understand the logic behind it as she always came at 9.
I reached the clinic and was surprised to see that the clinic was already open. I entered and seated myself in my office- a desk and a chair facing the door. At the back of the chair was the wall of the doctor’s office. I opened the schedule book. The first patient was Mrs Henderson. She had been here quite a lot. I sensed someone and looked up from the book. A boy, about my age was walking out of the door. He was wearing a grey T-shirt with sweatpants, something you sleep in. I was puzzled. It was 8am and the doctor never saw patients before 9. He was dressed inappropriately though. Maybe it was an emergency case, I thought. Before I could think anything else, Dr Richards came to my desk.
“Samantha, I’ll be back in an hour. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Sure” I replied automatically. I couldn’t ask her about the boy. It’s not like we are friends, she is my boss after all. But I could go rest on the big couch in her room, it’s really comfortable. It’s even better than my bed. I could have easily put my plan into action but for a tiny hurdle. She had locked her office. She had never done it before. Dr Richards was the least lock-loving person I had ever known. Maybe she was onto me. Could she have known that I frequently visited her room? Was it my fault that her office was more comfortable than my apartment? A person could easily live there, at least I could.
I came out of my thoughts when she came back. I tried to read her face to know if my fear was right. She didn’t look angry to me, in fact it was like she was worried much about something. She was trying to hide it but I had known her long enough to read through it. I thought about asking her what was wrong but decided against it. She wasn’t the one to share.
The rest of the day passed as usual and I was off for the night. Dr Richards was still in her room, so I had no worry to lock the clinic. That night I couldn’t think of anything but that boy. There was something strange about him, the way he looked, the way he walked. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. I reminded myself that there was no point in thinking about him as I may never see him again.
The next day also, the clinic was not locked. Maybe Dr Richards has started taking early patients, I thought as I entered the clinic. But it wasn’t any other early patient, it was him. He was wearing the same sweatpants and T-shirt as before. There goes my emergency theory, I thought as he walked towards me, or you can say towards the door, same thing. I could see his face clearly. He had a really beautiful face. If I had met him someplace right, I would have asked him on a date right away. I smiled at him but he walked past me like he couldn’t see me.
I sat at my chair, annoyed. Half an hour passed and Dr Richards came to my desk like yesterday. She still looked worried. I knew she didn’t have anyone to talk to. She had no family or friends. She wasn’t much of a people’s person. Work was everything for her.
“Is everything okay?” I asked her.
“Yeah, why?”
“You look a little bit worried.”
“I’m fine but thanks for asking.” she replied with a smile and I knew something was wrong. It wasn’t a genuine smile, it was forced.
As I watched her going, I couldn’t help but think of a connection between her worry and the boy. But it was temporary. I couldn’t think anything bad about him. And then my focus shifted on the good things. His light brown eyes, his wavy hair, his little nose: but the thing I thought about the most was his expression. His face this morning had a unique mix of happy, sad and smug. I was thinking too much about him and it worried me. I decided to talk to him the next time I saw him.
I didn’t have to wait long for that. He was there the next day, and the day after that, and every day of the week. It was strange, him coming every day same time in the same clothes. None of my theories seemed to fit. Dr Richards didn’t have friends or family and he was too young to be her boyfriend. And even if he was, she had a big apartment where she lived alone. There was no need of meeting anyone here.
I could have asked him, if I could gather the courage to talk to him. He never looked at me or registered my existence. I felt chills whenever he was there. It felt like the temperature drooped. Nervous sweating and butterflies- I was used to, but this was something entirely different. I was falling hard for this guy and I didn’t even know his name. I needed to know his name and the only person who could tell me that was Ruth Richards.
I braced myself and waited for Dr Richards to come out of her room, like the past few days. Then I got impatient and decided to go to her room. It was locked from the inside. That’s weird, I thought.
“Dr Richards?”
“Yes?”
“I need to talk to you about something. Can I come in?”
“Oh, yeah. Sure.” she said and opened the door. Her eyes seemed a little puffy.
“Were you crying?” I asked. It came out a little louder than I wanted due to my shock.
“No, I was just…It’s just that…oh” and she broke down crying.
“What happened?” I asked her as we both sat down.
“The past few days have been very tough for me. I’ve been living in fear and now he is dead.”
“Who is dead?” I knew it was him. He was dead.
“The psycho.”
“What psycho? I can't understand anything.”
“You know how I always take sleeping pills at night?”
“Hm mm.” Frankly, I didn’t know she took it every night. I just saw the pills with her once.
“One day the pills ran out and I couldn’t sleep. I was in bed when I heard something. I opened my eyes and I saw…” she started crying again.
“It’s all right. Everything will be okay.” I didn’t know what to say as I didn’t know her problem.
“There was a boy standing in my room staring at me. I was freaked out of my mind. He wasn’t a thief or burglar. I knew him; he was my next door neighbor, Jack. And he was just staring at me.”
“What? How could… why would someone do that?” I was a little bit afraid.
“He saw me open my eyes and he just said, ‘I like watching you sleep.’ And it wasn’t the first time. He told me that he climbed the window every night to watch me sleep. I obviously yelled at him and he left.”
“Did you call the police?”
“No. I just left my house in the morning and never went back.”
“Wait, you have been living here all this time and I never noticed.” I realized what an idiot I had been, “How could I have not known this.”
“And just now I got a call from Betsy, he was found dead in his apartment.”
Betsy lived in the same building as Dr Richards.
“Oh my God.” The person I was falling in love with was not only a psycho but a dead psycho.
“The police say that he hanged himself a few days ago, the same day I left my home. It happened because of me.”
“It’s not your fault. You did nothing wrong.” I was smiling on the inside as it meant he was not Jack, I just saw him an hour ago.
“Betsy even sent me picture of the dead body. I can’t even look at it.” Dr Richards said as she handed me her phone.
On the screen was the picture of a dead body; a boy with light brown eyes, wavy hair and little nose. He was wearing a grey T-shirt and sweatpants, something you sleep in.
