I'm Already There

It was almost midnight, and Laura hadn’t heard a peep out of her roommate Willa until now. As far as she knew, Willa could’ve been dead in her room, and she didn’t even know that she was home.

What was she doing?

And why was she home?

Laura listened, intently, her freshly woken ears doing their best to dissect the everyday noises from what she knew was not a normal occurrence. Willa had to be rummaging, or rearranging her room just loud enough to catch the attention of Laura’s ears over the constant, broken hum of the television. It buzzed, and jumped volumes every so often, but it sufficed for the small space. Jeopardy was playing, however, Laura was more invested in keeping her eyes open, than actually paying attention. The contestants on the screen constantly missed the questions, and Laura wished she could whisper the correct ones into their ears. Maybe then, there would finally be something worth watching on the screen. At any moment she could have drifted off into the embrace of sleep, but the loud clatter of items being thrown about on the other side of the wall was enough to direct her attention elsewhere.

Laura was an introvert. She didn’t like loud noises, nor did she keep the company of lots of people. Between her mother, Willa, and a few select acquaintances, that was the extent of her outside relationships. It wasn’t that she lacked the skill to build these bonds, she was just simply uninterested. She didn’t peg herself as the type that needed friends. Everything was mundane, and she liked her routine just the way it was. So she was upended when a loud thump rang out from Willa’s bedroom door, and snatched what free roaming attention she had left. Her brown eyes honed in on the white trimmed door that led to her roommate’s room. She could hear the radio flipping on, and off several times, but not before playing a stretch of Phil Collins’ “In the air tonight”. The bass of the drums shook the few pictures that the girls had hung up on the walls. They vibrated, and Laura was silent until they stopped. The song droned on for about 10 seconds, and then there was silence again. No shuffling, no rummaging, no banging. Just Laura, and her thoughts. She listened, as she wasn’t expecting Willa to already be home. As long as she had been sitting on the couch occupying her time, never once did she see Willa enter the front door. She remembered that she had said that she was going to visit family out on Lake Travis, but Laura didn’t entirely believe that. Willa had a bad habit of disappearing. She would up, and leave without a moment's notice, or an explanation; but it was never like her to return without altering Laura first. That was something she always did, but strangely enough, not this time.

It was a moment before there was a lot of bumping again. The walls didn’t quite shake this time, but if Willa got any louder, they definitely would. Laura imagined that she was behind the door tearing everything apart. From the band posters on the walls, to the books that lined her desk. To Laura it sounded like a tornado had come through, and was decimating everything in its path. There would be a rummaging sound, followed by a loud bang, and then smaller bangs. The sounds played over, and over again, like they were on a loop. Laura assumed she was throwing things around as she went, but it wasn’t like Willa to keep an unorganized room to begin with. Everything had its place, and everything needed to be in its place. You wouldn’t find stray dirty clothing, or an empty water glass on the dresser. She kept everything in order, which is why Laura didn’t understand why she was making so much noise. Was she looking for something? Was something missing? She thought about what she could possibly be looking for in the tiny room.

Jewelry?

A book?

It didn’t house much besides a desk, a bed with creaky springs, and the smallest hole that barely qualified as a window. It even came with complimentary bars that Laura swore would never keep anyone safe. They were so rusted that if you took a hammer to the metal, they would crumble in an instant, but this is what the apartment complex had advertised as safety features. The girls had gotten the apartment for cheap, so they took it for what it was. It was a standard two bedroom, two bathroom apartment that lacked good lighting, proper plumbing, and a host of other things that Laura didn’t even want to begin to think about. It was cheap, and small, but it was home. The rooms weren’t the smallest, however, there wasn’t enough room in the bedroom for the amount of noises that Laura was hearing, or so she thought. She was straining to focus on what was playing on the screen, but she couldn’t ignore it. Maybe I was curiosity, or just pure annoyance, but Lautra wanted to know what was going on, on the other side of the wall.

“Willa? Are you alright in there?” She called. The answer didn’t come right away, but it hung in the air like a fixture when it did.

“I’m just looking,” It was raspy, and guttural. Her voice didn’t hit Laura with the sweetness that she was used to.

“Are you sick? You don’t sound too good,”

“Maybe I’m sick, is that what it is? Sick?”

“Hunh?”

“I’m sick,”

“You sound like it,”

“Sounds like it,” She repeated.

“How was the lake?”

“Someone drowned, it was really bad,”

“Drowned!?”

“I’m just kidding, haha.”

Then there was nothing more.

The banging ensued, and Laura sat up on the couch, the dent that was housing her body beginning to expand again. The hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention, and she could taste the staleness in the air as her mind worked to process everything that had been said in their brief conversation.

Someone drowned?

This had to be Willa’s way of playing a joke, but it was sick, and unwelcomed in Laura’s eyes. She couldn’t quite place the feelings that were coursing through her body, because Willa never spoke in broken sentences, nor did she talk to herself like she was tonight. It was as if replying to Laura was simply an afterthought, and she wasn’t really listening to the conversation. There was another loud bang that threw her for a loop, and with that she turned the TV completely off. She could hear the soft patter of bare Willa’s feet on the wood, and the creak of the hinges as she sorted through each, and every drawer. Laura contemplated a few things, but no amount of thinking was leading her to an answer. As long as she had been seated, Willa had never come through the front door, nor did she call to say she was coming back. As far as Laura knew, up until a few minutes ago, she was home, enjoying her night alone.

But why hadn’t Willa spoken to her?

And when did she come in?

The apartment that already felt small now felt like a cage, and Laura was seated directly in the middle staring at the door that housed Willa on the other side. She thought for a moment before speaking.

“You sure you’re alright? You don’t sound good,”

“I am myself.”

“But are you feeling okay?”

“I’m okay,”

“When did you get home?”

“A few hours ago,”

“I didn’t see you come inside, I was on the couch,”

“You were on the couch.”

“That’s what I just said,”

“I’m okay.”

“You said someone drowned?”

“Yeah, I watched him drown,”

Laura croaked, “Who?”

There was no response. There was only the hammering, and the clank of objects against the floorboards. She was searching again.

“I can help you look”

“I don’t need help,”

“You sound like you do,”

“I’m okay,”

“Then what are you looking for?”

“The boy who drowned”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m just looking,”

“Why don’t you let me help,”

There was a pause, and then the smallest click. Laura’s eyes widened to the size of tennis balls. The click had come from the lock, and Willa had just locked her out, or rather, locked herself in. The lump in Laura’s throat refused to go down as she stood, and walked to the door. She twisted the knob to the left, and to the right. The resistance confirmed her suspicions, and she stood there dumbfounded. Willa never locked doors, and this worried her.

What could she possibly need that bad?

“Just let me in, I’ll help you look for whatever you’re missing,” Laura whispered.

“You want to come in?” Willa asked. The wood acted as a barrier, and for Laura she almost couldn’t hear a thing. The words were getting lost in translation, so Laura pressed her ear up against the door as she strained to hear.

“What did ya say?”

There was no response. Only the soft thudding of Willa’s bare feet as she made it to the door. The inhale, and exhale of her breath was loud enough for Laura to hear, and she took her ear away from the door. She was never one to pry, or entangle herself in other people’s business, but she couldn’t shake the emptiness she always felt when it came to Willa. She thought her roommate was strange, but this was behavior she had never seen before. She was accustomed to her antics, such as disappearing for days on end, cleaning excessively, and having many male partners. Laura had seen it all, but nothing that she had ever done felt quite like this.

She looked down towards the gap between the door, and the floor to see Willa’s bare feet at the bottom pointed directly towards her. A small yelp escaped her lips, and she stumbled back, almost knocking down a potted plant along the way. Her arms flailed, but she caught herself just in time. Willa’s feet didn’t look like they belonged to her. They were much too big, and much too narrow. The unfiled nails were a pissy yellow color, and looked unkempt compared to what Laura knew Willa’s feet looked like. She stared for a moment, wondering when her roommate had decided to let go of herself.

“Don’t you wanna come in?” She sing song called.

“What’s wrong with your feet Willa? Are ya sick?”

“I’m sick, maybe that’s what it is,”

“Why do you keep repeating that, what’s going on?”

“I’m sick. Can you come in and help me?”

“Just open the door, you locked it,”

Click.

Laura paused for a moment, her fingertips resting on the knob. She noticed the silence. There wasn’t anything moving. No more banging, or clanking. No breathing. The apartment had never sounded as still as it did at this moment. Everything in her gut was telling her to walk away, but she couldn’t help but wonder what was going on, on the other side of the door. Was she really sick? Was it just a prank? Willa knew Laura was scared easily, and she knew that when things went bump in the night, Laura would look for a logical explanation. There had to be some way to explain everything away. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t explain Willa’s behavior away. Or the reason why she left like she shouldn’t go inside that room.

“Aren’t ya gonna come in?

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Come in,”

“Not till you tell me what’s wrong,”

“I’m just sick is all”

“What are you looking for?”

“Looking for what?”

“You’re acting really strange”

“Why don’t you just come in and see”

She was cut short by the sound of her phone dancing furiously on the coffee table. She began to turn away, but the sounds of toes tiptoeing across the floorboards froze her straight in her tracks. They backed away from the door, the toes being the first to leave the floor. Laura didn’t move an inch as she waited until they could no longer be seen under the door before she moved to grab her phone off the table. It vibrated in her hand, but she couldn’t tell if that was the phone vibrations, or the shaking from her hands. Adrenaline coursed through her body, and for a moment she contemplated throwing the door open, and getting to the bottom of what was going on. Across the caller Id ran Willa’s name in bright red letters, and behind her the banging, and throwing ensued.

Willa always let Laura know when she was coming home, it never failed. Some things were ingrained in her routine, and this was one of them.

“Hello,” Laura croaked, the saliva in her mouth struggling to cover every surface.

“I’m on the way home early, one of the Stevenson boys drowned at the lake”

“Oh,”

“Yeah, I’ll be home in a few,”

And behind Laura, the slow creaking of the door opening made her blood run ice cold.