Heartless- Divulgence

Upon opening unit 27s door Jay is greeted to an empty dark and ambiguous room. It smelled of dust with a handful of exceptional spider webs randomly arranged in the unit. There was a black folding chair in the very back of the unit with something on the seat. With no light in the unit Jay scrambles and reaches in his left pocket pulling out his phone dropping the note he found in his car. Overlooking the note, he mishandled Jay turns on his phones flashlight and approaches the chair and mysterious object. With every step, creeping closer and closer the black folding chair reminds him of family cookouts from his childhood. Reminiscing about squirt guns and water balloons in the summers of Detroit he notices what's sitting on the chair. It's a napkin. A napkin covering a 4-inch droplet bottle with a note with bold letters screaming "HANDLE WITH CARE". Examining the droplet bottle, it was filled with a slimy substance. Glue- like in appearance but it was more of a liquid then a solid. On the side of the bottle was a red label which read "Substance M". Wrapping Substance M in the napkin for safe keeping he tucks the bottle in his right jacket pocket. Turning to leave the unit and continue on with the operation, he leaves the note from his car behind. He goes into the trunk of his car and pulls out a black oversized hoodie, sweatpants and a black ski mask. He covers what clothes he was already wearing with the loose-fitting hoodie and sweatpants to attempt to hide his identity and starts his journey in pursuit of the final step of this mischievous arrangement.

His next instructions were to drive to the brother’s house. It wasn't a long ride but as Jay watched the neighborhoods suddenly begin to change, he knew he was getting closer. He noticed the grass got greener, the streets were cleaner, and the houses continued to grow in capacity and lavishness. People from the inner city very seldom leave out. Most didn't have reliable transportation or the assets to leave. The area he was now entering in was known as "the other side of the tracks". Train tracks dividing a city into profane and polite. One side poor and impoverished and the other preserved and extravagant. He looks down to his GPS on his phone in his old but reliable 09 Altima and notices he's five minutes away. He sits up in his seat and tightens his fist on the steering wheel as he begins to sweat. Remembering his instructions, he starts to plan how he will sneak into the brother’s home and plant this deadly concoction. The black notebooks previously selected "Holy Grail" was a 2-day old pot full of Cheesy Chicken Casserole. He was briefed to distribute three drops of Substance M into the Casserole dish. Thinking about the chosen target Jay was confused. "Why old food?" His train of thought quickly diverted to the white 2 story home belonging to the brothers. It was almost midnight and the brothers address were lit up by the neon porch light so Jay could confirm the precise location. The house was rectangular in shape and surrounded by 10ft tall bushes that were very well maintained surrounded by a white picket fence. The house sitting under the arms and in the shadow of a massive oak tree in the front left of the yard with a tire hanging from one of its branches. Jay reads over the book for more information on the brothers. Sitting in the car the book directs him to the upstairs level. A white sheer window curtain blowing through an open window. Jay scans for a way to the window and notices the trees branches just might get him there.

Jay parks his car a few houses down the street and aims his walk directly at the tree. Repeating to himself "Get in and get out" to calm his nerves and to guarantee this encounter would be brief. On his walk to the tree he notices a dim light in one of the upstairs rooms. He wonders to himself if that light was on or off when he pulled up. Thoughts of atrocious possible outcomes initiate regret and anguish in his head. His stomach begins to bubble and a wave of second thoughts flood into his mind. He begins to worry about being caught by the brothers or the police and slows down his walk to a step faster than a crawl. Suddenly, his phone begins to vibrate in his pocket. He reaches for his phone to find out who was causing this disturbance. It's an email. An email from a credit report company telling him his credit score has decreased again due to another missed payment. Frustrated and irritated he puts his phone on silent and he speeds up his pace towards the tree. Hoping that this newly agreed upon task would elevate him into financial freedom. He jumps up to a branch and pulls himself up using the bushes as a step stool. Climbing up into the tree he gets a better look into the room with the shear curtain. It looked like a library. Each wall filled with books with two brown chairs in the middle of the floor sitting in front of a fireplace. He slowly approaches the window waiting to see movement as he stares at the backs of each chair. Looking down to the ground he begins to plan his escape in case he's forced to make a quick getaway. Upon approaching the window sill, he scans the room one more time for any movement before climbing in.

Once in the brother’s home his mission was to locate the leftover Cheesy Chicken Casserole. But first, he must find the kitchen. Jay slowly opens the door exiting the library and began to listen out for anything. The room is dead silent. He hears the crickets chirping outside in the bushes. Jays heart begins to pump through his chest. He could hear the sound of his own sweat rushing off his face onto the white carpet floor. Adrenaline navigates through his veins like dolphins swimming downstream. He cracks the door just enough for him to squeeze through the opening quietly. Upon closing the door behind him he locates steps leading downstairs at the other end of the hall. He deliberately and logically plans each step as he walks towards the stairs. Still unsure if he is alone in this foreign home, he makes his way down to the lower level. He notices light resonating at the end of the steps. He continues to sweat from the delicacy of the situation. At the bottom of the stairs he could see the front door so he peeks around the corner to see where the light was coming from. Directly around the corner was an empty living room. A black suede leather couch and a glass table sat on a black shag rug. An apple computer on a glass desk and a huge flag screen TV mounted on the wall filling in space. They both appeared chalky and untouched. With his face against the wall he nervously peeks around the corner to see more of the bizarre space. He scans down a hallway with a closed white door on the right and a huge marble kitchen island table further in the back. Also, a tall black window curtain safeguarding and restricting the extravagant space from prohibited eyes.

Not seeing or hearing anyone in sight he makes his way towards the kitchen. He walks into the colossal kitchen with a monstrous stainless-steel refrigerator with a black screen on the left door lying dormant in the room. He reaches out to the black handles and opens the refrigerator door. This monstrous refrigerator filled from front to back almost as if it modeled for the grocery store. He finds the Casserole hidden under aluminum foil and proceeds to accomplish his first profitable collusion. As he finishes contaminating these cheesy leftovers, he hears a key fighting its way for entry into the house. He rushes to conceal the evidence to make a clean getaway but he must get passed the front door to make his escape the way he came in. Approaching the steps, he keeps his eyes glued to the door. Heart pounding and his clothes weighing him down from sweat he notices the doorknob now begins to turn. He quickly jumps into the steps, room with the white door he previously passed when he originally went to the kitchen and waits there cautiously praying to make it out undetected. Jay is face to face with a closet full of fur coats so he attempts to hide himself in the spaces between. He hears the sound of high heels or men's dress shoes as they cross over the threshold into the house. The person closes the door behind them and immediately heads to the kitchen. Focusing in on his surroundings he hears the sound of a microwave and someone humming in anticipation for a long-awaited treat. Suddenly the microwave opens and closes and the humming is cut short. A few seconds go by but for Jay it feels like hours being trapped inside the closet. He begins to hear loud uncontrollable coughing. The person runs to the sink attempting to drink water. He next hears the water from the sink flowing with intermittent stops while the person attempts to drink. After about a minute or two the lung altering coughing becomes heart stopping choking and a heightening sizzling sound starts to escalate and intensify like the beginning of a crescendo. He hears more choking followed by a loud thud as the sizzling noise balances out and only its legacy remains. A strange ominous silence haunts the house.

Jay begins to pull himself together in order to drag himself out the closet. A smell of burned meat infiltrates his nose while opening the door. Jay walks toward the kitchen with the smell thickening in the air. He finds the body and nearly throws up from the destruction of the acid. The person's neck, chest and stomach were dissolved like it never existed. A few parts of leftover flesh still remained but Substance M completely altered the skin and a few bones. Disgusted and sick to his stomach Jay makes his way to the steps. He gets halfway then realizes he murdered the wrong brother. His instructions were to infect and kill John and allow Isaac to take the fall. It was Isaac's best dish. Surely the police would assume Isaac planned this gruesome murder. But the body that lay before Jay was Isaac. "So where is John?" Jay wonders to himself and at the same time he hears a door open and close upstairs. His neck snaps to the ceiling. A man yells "Isaac, is that you down there? I went to sleep dreaming about that Casserole." He looks at the corpse on the kitchen floor and shifts into panic. He watches the ceiling as he follows each footstep with his eyes and realizes he's headed on a collision course with the unknown voice from upstairs. Not wasting any time Jay bolts out the house slamming the door behind him. Inside the house John runs downstairs as he no longer hears movement. Noticing the light on in the kitchen he states, “Isaac, you in the kitchen?" Without waiting for a response, he runs to the kitchen and is met with the smell of his brothers decaying body and begins to become sick. He stares at his brothers motionless, sizzled and deformed carcass as a single tear streams down his face. A few moments later something inside John's head rifts apart. A rush of suicidal thoughts swarms his head like a room full of bees. Thoughts puncturing his perception and altering his consciousness forces him to unlock the loaded gun they keep in the house. As Jay starts his car to flee the scene the sound of a distant gunshot silences the night's sky with the existence of death in the air.