Chapter Two
Gary arose from his bed, wearing nothing but his white undershirt and oversized boxers. He made his way down to his kitchen, his feet slightly suctioning off and on the waxy hardwood floor. As he fixed his cup of black coffee, the same cup of coffee in the same cup for the last ten years. He raised his coffee cup to his chapped lips and slightly winced as the black, hot beverage touched his lips. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his closed laptop sitting on the edge of the wooden table on the other side of the room; Gary's state of euphoria was immediately broken as he remembered the short exchange of words between him and Chester.
Gary groaned and picked up his coffee cup to go and sit down at his seat at the table. Gary felt a sense of foreboding and fear as he opened up his laptop, and opened his messages. There were no new messages. Gary let out a sigh of relief before he raised his cup again, thinking that the coward had been scared away or just tired of the joke. But then, he saw the typing icon in the lower left corner, causing him to stop dead in his tracks and he put down his coffee cup.
Gary was caught off guard by the sudden typing, it was odd to him. Why would Chester begin typing just as Gary opened his messages? Gary shrugged it off as mere coincidence, a simple fluke.
"Good morning, Bradley." Finally responded Chester after a nail bitingly slow two minutes, that felt like the entire morning had passed before he responded. Bradley was Gary's middle name, a detail that this Chester guy had no business knowing. Gary had never divulged his middle name in any of his posts, nor his bio. Then, an idea struck Gary like lightning to a lightning rod. His daughter, Cindy, was quite prankster ever since he was little, and even to this day. Perhaps this could be a prank set up by Cindy, under the guise of this Chester character.
"Knock it off, Cindy. You were just starting to spook me." Replied Gary with a laughing emoji at the end of the message. Gary was actually enthused at the idea of his daughter being behind this, if she was (and she most certainly was), it would be the first time in a year and a half that Cindy would've talked to Gary. Hell, the only reason that Gary knew his daughter was still alive is because she still regularly uploads pictures of her family and other sappy crap a middle aged woman would typically upload on their Facebook page. She seems happy in all her pictures, Gary's glad that she's at least that much. Of course, Cindy was still made at her father for divorcing her mother two years ago, she wasn't that upset at first, she had her own family to worry about: a husband and a newborn daughter (8 months old at the time). But then, half a year after the divorce; Mama died of breast cancer. Worst part is, Gary would never tell Cindy why he divorced her. Cindy blamed her father for her mom's death, as it turns out, Gary knew she had cancer when he so carelessly and selfishly tossed her out of his life. Cindy refused to talk to Gary ever since.
"I know your secret." Typed Chester back. It felt like Gary's heart skipped a beat, like that feeling in the pit of the stomach you get going down a steep decline in a rollercoaster. Before Gary could type anything back in response, the typing icon showed up again in the lower left corner of the screen. Gary raised his hands off the keyboard and leaned back in his chair, teeter-tottering on the rear legs of the chair. He lifted the coffee cup to his lips, the china clattering against his teeth while black liquid pooled into his mouth, he lowered the cup to realize that his hair laced, wrinkled hands were trembling like the wild wisps of a single flame.
"In about five minutes, your life will change." Typed Chester again. Gary, still trembling, was now filled with a type of anger that couldn't be described. The only way that it could be described is the Fury and defensiveness of a pride leader lion when another male lion stomps onto his territory.
"I'll tell you what'll happen in five minutes, punk. You're gonna leave me alone." Responded Gary, attempted to intimidate Chester. He was still bubbling with anger, like a furious pot of water bubbling aggressively at max heat. This is the kind of acrimony Gary had been trying to stray away from lately, it seems that his anger issues have been the root of his problems all throughout his life. That and the disparity of his situations throughout his life. Good men do bad things when they're desperate.
It was exactly four minutes later when Chester responded to the aggressive comment with a command: "Check the front door." The message was followed the ring of the doorbell sounding throughout the otherwise empty house. Chester repeated himself. "Check the front door."
ns 18.68.41.141da2
