003 Dust
Ethan must’ve dozed off. He woke up to the sound of the door banging.
‘Open up! I know you’re in there!’
If hindsight were possible, Ethan would’ve gone back to sleep as he had done every other time in the past week that people had been banging on his door. But this was his friend Matt. His best friend, Matt. Matt, at least, deserved his acknowledgement.
So Ethan got off the sofa, put on a blanket over his head and walked to the door.
‘Is there anyone else there with you?’
Matt hesitated.
‘No,’ he said.
‘Why was there a hesitation?’
‘There’s no one else here man. Now let me in.’
Ethan opened the door and let Matt inside the apartment, checking outside quickly to see if anyone else was around. Inside, it was dark. Only candles provided light. Ethan locked the door and went into the bedroom. Matt followed behind. He brought two bottles of wine.
‘What’s with all the ambiance?’
‘I haven’t paid the electricity bill.’
‘And you look pale. You look sick. Are you OK?’
‘I haven’t been eating much. And if you want to see sick, you shoulda seen this girl last night. She was eating a pizza, threw up, and then passed out in her own puke.’
If Ethan had the advantage of hindsight, he probably wouldn’t have let Matt inside. And he probably wouldn’t have let him sit down with him and open the wine.
‘I don’t know what’s wrong with you but this will cure it,’ said Matt.
Everyone had been wanting to know what was wrong with Ethan. For a whole week now he had locked himself at home. Not coming to work. Not answering his phone. Or the door. Ethan had made himself disappear.
‘You wanna know why?’
Matt did want to know why.
‘I’ve become a vampire. I got bitten last week by this chick I met at Hunter Bar.’
‘Hunter Bar. Right. Is that the new fashionable spot for the undead? I thought it was just dead.’
‘I’m serious! I’m a vampire.’
Thing was, Ethan did try very hard to sound sincere. But they had downed the first bottle by then so trying hard didn’t necessarily produce the desired results. Ethan had always been a compulsive liar. This didn’t exactly help his cause.
He then went on to explain how he now couldn’t go in direct sunlight or he’d burn. And how he had to drink blood to survive. He said he’d only killed one person that whole week.
‘That’s why I look so pale.’
Matt laughed at this and so did Ethan but he didn’t know why. And he continued to talk of his supposed new condition for about another half an hour or so until he fell asleep. Maybe letting Matt into his place wasn’t so bad. But drinking the wine certainly was.
If only he had the advantage of hindsight, he wouldn’t have woken up with a hangover and tied to a chair on the roof of his building. His best friend, Matt, wouldn’t be there standing against the wall drinking coffee and eating a croissant, waiting for sunrise.
‘Matt? What are you doing?’
‘I’m proving to you that you’re not a vampire.’
‘What? Matt, let me go!’
‘You really gotta stop this. You have to stop telling stories. Making up crap to cover for whatever hole you’ve gotten yourself into.’
‘Untie me Matt!’
‘So what is it this time? You have debts? Girl problems?’
‘The problem is,’ Ethan shouted, ‘that I am a friggin’ vampire!’
‘We’ll see.’
‘Let! Me! Go!’
Pauses for emphasis. Ethan was, by then, to the point of going berserk.
‘Remember the time when you told everyone that you were being institutionalised for schizophrenia when you were actually just on holidays for a month?’
‘I just used that to break up with Cheryl!’
‘But you told everybody. Including me.’
‘I t was for consistency’s sake!’
‘I came here to help out a friend who is obviously in need of help. And what do I get? Some cock and bull story of you turning into a vampire. Well I’ve had enough man! Lies and excuses are all I ever get from you!’
‘Please Matt, I’m gonna die. I can already feel the heat now. I’m sorry for all the other times. But this time it’s true!’
‘Then tell me what’s up.’
Single rays had began to break through the clouds. Matt could smell the morning dew. Ethan started to scream.
‘Let me go! Let me go!’
Matt had been proud of his whole set-up. This was supposed to teach the boy who cried wolf (one too many times) the value of telling the truth. Or something close to it.
But when smoke started to appear from Ethan’s head and his screaming didn’t stop, Matt dropped his coffee. What followed, you should understand, took place within 20 seconds, 25 seconds tops. He had no time to get help or even find an extinguisher. Matt couldn’t really be blamed for inaction from this point onwards. It was totally beyond his control.
More smoke had appeared. Matt made a run for him. By this time he could already smell the burning of flesh. Ethan’s hand was the first part to catch fire. Then his left shoulder. Other parts followed. Matt tried to untie the ropes but by this time, the rope was also on fire and was too hot to handle. Ethan was wriggling violently in his chair. His screaming had turned to a screech. Matt, frantic, decided to kick over the chair. The heat was too much for Matt to even get close. As Ethan hit the concrete, there was a moment. Of near silence. Then he exploded. Not so much like a bomb. More like a dropped egg. A water bomb perhaps. The fire is out. There was just hot air. And Matt is covered in dust. Dust that used to be his best friend.
All this happened in about 20 seconds. 25 seconds tops.
On concrete, on the top of a 23-storey building, is this chair. A smoking skeleton is tied to this chair with still burning ropes. And next to this is a young man sitting against a wall with his eyes wide open, refusing to blink. He has no idea what to think right now. The sun is up. Down below, on the street, a 54-year-old female jogger gets a piece of dust in her left eye and blames globalisation for all the pollution in the air.
