Day 11

2.

Mr. Abbot… He was born of the dotcom era. Not in the sense that he was literally born during it, but that is when he started a career. That is where he made his money. It’s also where he lost it.

He started life as a simple kid in the city. He did alright in school, rarely got into trouble, and was generally ignored by his family. He graduated around the middle of his class and got accepted into the state college on scholarship. He studied computer programming with a focus on web and java development.

His wife was a culinary arts major, and a decent, but not amazing, cook. She could’ve have worked in any three or four star restaurant. It wasn’t that she lacked the ability, but instead the vision. They married a few years after graduation and started a family.

The Abbots were a typical family in the old school fashion. Once Mr. Abbot found a nicely paying job his wife stayed home to raise the kids. They were single income, but very comfortable. They bought used cars and a bigger house then they could really afford, but they made it work.

When his firm started gearing up for the sudden surge of internet properties everyone started making nice monetary increases. They even doubled the mailroom clerk’s salary. Things were looking up for everyone, especially Mr. Abbot. He was an integral part of their web development and implementation team. He was the project lead.

After a few years of constant growth the small business, which had started with four grad students, had expanded to over 150 people, all with full health, medical, dental, and life benefits. Mr. Abbot was made a partner and things were looking really great. His house was paid in full, he drove a nice sports car, and his kids were attending some of the most prestigious private schools in the area.

After three months in the partner position things started to decline. The boom was starting to turn into a crater. The partners and him believed that they would make it through if they just kept going. They had to make some low level layoffs, but they tried to keep most of their staff. Shortly after the first series of layoffs the company filed for Chapter 11. The operating budget was in the negative and payroll was out of money. The company was completely out of money and had no more time to stall.

The company was purchased by a small internet research firm that had mysteriously sidestepped the decline affecting all of the other businesses. They laid off all of the current employees. The name was worth the money paid for the corporation.

Mr. Abbot was now out of work, and even though he had been making amazing money, was in a serious amount of debt. Serious when compared to an income of zero anyway. He tried to search for other jobs, but the whole city had been hit by budget tightening, layoffs, and bankruptcies. Foreclosure rates were skyrocketing. The housing market fell out. Mr. Abbot’s equity suddenly fell below the remainder of his debts.

Months had passed and eaten away at his savings. He had no investments remaining. With his last 50 dollars he went to the bar to forget about his troubles. Stressing wasn’t solving anything so maybe unwinding would help. If he didn’t receive a call back by tomorrow he would go fill out applications. Applications for anywhere and everywhere. Fast food, restaurants, even auto parts stores, even though he knew very little about cars.

He had a very uneventful trip to the bar. The night was actually quite beautiful despite the pressure placed on his shoulders. He started to drink. He wasn’t a very regular drinker, but he could hold a decent amount of liquor. After a few hours, and too many rounds, he decided that it was about time to be getting home. He asked for his tab. $47.53. He felt bad that he could only leave a two dollar and 47 cent tip for the bartender, so he felt obligated to explain the situation.

He handed the bartender a 50 and told her his story. She felt sorry for this poor man, whose life had taken a dreadful turn, and offered him one more drink. “On the House.” He said thank you and returned to his seat. After finishing his final drink he said his farewells and said thanks to the bartender. She told him to take care. He nodded and walked out the door. It was still a beautiful night.

As Mr. Abbot was walking back toward his house he felt the sudden urge to pee. He could see an alleyway up ahead and changed his course to intersect with that of the alley. As he approached, he got the shills as if someone had just brushed ice up his spine. “I’m drunk. Don’t worry about it,” he muttered to himself.

He came into focal view of Janice, or the brick formally known as Janice, and she just watched. She said her prayers, and expected to see him continue. He stopped by a dumpster, dropped his pants, and urinated all over the ground, his leg, and an unlucky cockroach. As he was relieving himself Janice noticed something she had never noticed before. The shadows were moving. They were quivering, and shimmering. They were creeping towards Mr. Abbot ever so slowly.

“Run! Go, get out of here,” she said, but he could not hear her.

Even if he had heard her, it was too late. The shadows were upon him, but they weren’t doing anything to him yet, and he hadn’t noticed their existence. He suddenly got very tired. While looking for a place to take a quick rest he walked toward an empty, and oddly clean, spot. There was a solitary brick laying by the wall and he decided that it would make as good a pillow as anything else around here. He drifted to sleep, looking very much like a bum, and wished for a better life in the morning.

Morning never came for Mr. Abbot. The nightmares which might have saved his life, if they had kept him awake, troubled him. The shadows just watched as he twitched, moaned, and flailed around. They watched as a mugger approached from the other end of the alley and violently crushed Mr. Abbots eye socket with a hammer. After Mr. Abbot stirred again the mugger found a spiked heel, and lacking any other sharp implements, used the hammer to knock the heel into Mr. Abbots delicate temple. He moved no more. The mugger took his wallet, which was empty, and a cheap Rolex ripoff that wasn’t worth 50 cents. Mr. Abbot could never bring himself to spend more than 10 dollars on a watch.

Months later a grounds maintenance man was told to check the mortar on the lowest level. He found Mr. Abbot’s brick laying on the ground and placed it back in the wall.

“Hi,” said Janice.

“What? Where the hell am I?”

“You’re just another brick in the wall,” she said.

“Very cute, now where am I?”

“I told you already. I’ve been trying to talk to you for a very long time, but I guess you were too far away to hear me. I saw everything so I guess I can explain it. I can try at least. By the way, what’s your name? I’m Janice.”

“I’m usually called Mr. Abbot. It’s nice to meet you, now get to the explanation.”

They talked almost constantly, expect on the rare occasions when a wayward pedestrian would wander down at night. On those occasions they would watch as the poor soul was devoured by the shadows. Janice thinks that they learned to kill on Mr. Abbot’s unlucky night.

They remained in the wall until Joe stumbled upon them. He also happened to be the first who could actually hear them which raised many questions. Many questions indeed.