Twilight Nightmares (Twisted Tales Special Edition Book 1) (20 page)

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Evin
Kyenoweth
opened the glass door to his apartment building, and as the sounds of Maroon 5 blasted into his ears, he danced across the threshold and into the lobby.

He stood six feet and maybe three inches, had broad shoulders, and tightly cut, light brown pair. His size and gaudiness might have appeared at first glance to be something that might depreciate his dancing into some kind of lumbering shift, but his moves were fluid and full of life. Much of his ability to dance resulted from his southern-boy upbringing where he kept most nights busy with line dancing and hip-hop.

He passed through the florescent-lit foyer without missing a single jig, shimmy, or clap. One of his neighbors, Devon, appeared at the mouth of the stairs, and when he turned and looked up, she startled him. He felt a cool and thin layer of sweat permeate his body, but he quickly shook it off with a wiggle and a jiggle, and he moved closer to Devon.

He took her hand and pulled her into dancing with him, and she let out a soft yelp of pleasant surprise.

She laughed and joked, “One of these days, you’re
gonna
hurt someone down here.”

“Maybe, but if I do it’ll be with how
smooth I move
.” He argued, and twirled her.

She yelped as he pushed her toward the exit. He turned back to the hallway and gunned down the mailbox with his finger as he fished a ring of keys from his pocket. The smallest key slid easily into the lock, and the others on the ring jingled as he twisted it open. While he fished the mail from the small container, his dance transitioned from hip wiggle to air hump and back again.

He danced his way toward the stairs and sifted through the mail. Everything but the envelope containing his electric bill was junk, so as he boogied up the stairs, he threw the bulk of it into a trashcan that resembled a silver bullet.

When he reached the second floor, he used his keys to open apartment 2B.

“Hi,
Evin
!” A woman called from behind.

He twirled around and continued to dance. “Mrs. P, how you
doin
’ today?”

“Not as good as you, it seems.” She smiled. “Are you always in a good mood?”

“You’ve been here a month already, shouldn’t you know by now that I’m the good-mood-giver-guy?”

“I suppose you’re right.” She laughed. “You’re something else, young man.”

“So are you, Mrs. P, so are you.” He said, then looped back around, but then twisted back toward her. “I don’t mean that you’re a young man, too, Mrs. P. I meant something else.”

“What
else
did you mean?” She said, clearly teasing him.

Evin
hip bumped her, smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and pushed the door open. He danced through it, silently singing. He slammed his hips against the door, and it, in turn, slammed shut. He jutted and jived all the way to the kitchen. He pulled the bud from his ear. The music was blaring through the tiny speaker until he grabbed his phone and turned the music off.

He lived in a small apartment, but given the mediocre pay he received during his tour, it was a rather nice place to call home for something so affordable.

The community had recently renovated their units just before he moved in with his girlfriend, Kasey, which made it even nicer. He had a big kitchen with dark marble counters, and since he loved to cook, it was a huge plus. The living room was just the right size for his T.V., game system, and a plush microfiber couch for two. The bedroom was small, but since he spent so much time sleeping in small quarters in the desert, it didn’t much bother him. Kasey had her gripes, but she felt at home as well.

Though the music was no longer playing, he still on his way to the danced to the fridge. He opened it, pulled the last cold golden beer from the second shelf, and popped the top. After a long day of work and the two hours he usually had to wait for Kasey to get home, he would often unwind with a nice crisp beer.

Evin
moved to the living room and set the brew on the table. He pulled off his shirt, which was difficult because of the sweat he acquired dancing all the way home from work. He dropped it on the floor, picked up the remote, turned the TV on, and fell onto the couch.

As he slowly sank into that lavishly comfortable cushion, he snatched up the controller to his game system and turned it on. The screen brightened with a logo, and he started the game. Call of Duty was one of his favorite games, one he played with most of his Marine brothers when they visited him. It wasn’t a terribly accurate representation of life as a military man, but that was all right. Entertainment was just that and it didn’t need to be an exact replica of reality. In fact, he often argued that the point of games, as well as movies and books, was to escape reality, so he couldn’t understand why anyone would want to deal with all that crap as a form of entertainment.

As he played against others on an online match, his cell phone rang. He glanced down at the screen, and it was one of his friend’s
Camdon
. He had planned
on ignoring
any calls that night, which wasn’t a habit of his, but since his friend had moved back to Wisconsin, he decided to pick it up.

After exiting the game, he picked up the phone and tapped the screen to answer it.

“
Camdon
, what up?”

“Hey, brother, how
ya
doin
’?”

“Good, good. Just
playin
’ some
xbox
.”

“Nice. Hey, what are you ‘n
Kas
doing this weekend?
”

“Nothing that I’m aware of. I know
she’s got
something to do for work Sunday afternoon. Some kind of Bunko-party-team-building-thing. Otherwise, nothing. What’s up?”

“Well, me ‘n
Gess
just flew in this morning.”

“That’s awesome. Been too long.” He said, and got off the couch. “Well, shit. What’re you up to tonight?”

“We might be going to hit up a Karaoke bar, tonight. Is she
workin
’ late tonight?”

“Might be. Not sure. I’ll text her and find out.”

“Cool, brother. Let me know what’s up.”

“Will do.”

“Alright, man. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Yeah, you too. Hey, it was good hearing from you.”

“You, too.”
Camdon
said, and
Evin
could hear the smile. “Tell
Gess
that
me
and
Kas
say hi.”

“You can say hi when you see her.”

“Oh, right.”
Evin
said, and they laughed. “All right, man. See you later.”

“Okay, brother.”

Evin
tapped the screen to end the call, and set his back on the table. He hadn’t been this excited in a long time, at least not since Kasey had agreed to marry him.

As he sat down and picked up the controller to start a new round, he heard the sound of keys jingling at the door. He looked up, and Kasey entered the apartment as beautiful after a long day of hard work as she was when she left. She wore a thin black open-front sweater over a white shirt sporting a steep V-neck that accentuated her particularly large chest. She had black pin-stripe slacks and a pair of black flats. Her light skin complemented the dark attire nicely.

“Hey, sweetie.” He said, and smiled. “How was your day?”

Kasey dropped her large black purse off in the kitchen and pulled her shoes off. As she entered the living room, she sighed with frustration.

“You okay?”

She said, “Yeah. Just a long day. People can be so frustrating, especially the vendors I have to deal with every day. It’s like they make it their job to make my life difficult.”

When she neared the sofa, he stood and wrapped his arms around her. Her hair smelled like a mixture of strawberry and kiwi, and she was extremely hot and a bit sticky to the touch. To have her in his arms, though, felt good. Every day was a gift when he got the chance to see her, and he was thankful for every moment.

“Sorry to hear that.” He said.

“Thanks.” She said, and kissed him. “How was yours?”

“If was fine.” He said. “I think I saw Kurt Russell today.”

“Oh, yeah?” She said, and kissed him again before escaping his arms and heading to the kitchen.

“Yeah. Well, it looked like him anyway. I was busy helping another guest at the hotel, so I couldn’t go investigate.”

She opened her purse and fished out a stick of lip balm. She twisted the top off, and in between applying it to each lip she said, “Cool,
shoulda
got an autograph.”

“I probably should’ve.”

“Yeah, probably. So, what do you want to do for dinner tonight?”

“Oh!” He exclaimed, and startled her. “Guess what?”

She smiled, “What?”

He raised an eyebrow, “Not even
gonna
try
to guess?”

She sighed again with the same frustrated breath of air, “Monkey butt?”

“What? No.” He said, and laughed. “
Camdon
and
Gessy
are in town.”

“Oh my god, we haven’t seen them in so long!”

“I know, right?”

“Where are they staying?” She said, and pulled the tie from her nearly jet-black brunette hair to reaffix it.

“I don’t know, but they
wanna
hang tonight.”

“Let me guess, Karaoke?”

“Yeah, and I was thinking maybe we can get some Sushi before we go.”

“Oh, that sounds so good right now.” She said as she left the living room and entered the bedroom.

“I thought you might like that.”

“What time are we going?”

“I didn’t ask, but I’ll text him and find out.”

Evin
heard Kasey turn on the sink in the master bathroom, probably to wash off her make-up and apply a fresh coat. He picked up his phone to send a message to
Camdon
, tapped the screen, and navigated to the messaging app. He typed a quick one to his friend that read: “Come by our place around 6. I’ll drive. U guys r here to relax and drink.”

“Hey, baby?” Kasey called from the bathroom.

“What?”

“Tell them that we’ll drive so they can have a lot of fun tonight.”

He smiled, “Okay.”

As he stuffed his phone into his pocket, he saw something move from the corner of his eye. He looked up, and there stood a tall unfamiliar shadow out on balcony. The shape looked a lot like that of a man, but given the distortion, it could’ve been a plant for all he knew.

He went to the door, and as he unlatched it, the shadow suddenly moved out of view. He quickly pulled the door open and walked out onto the terrace. The hot, dying sun attacked his skin with its final golden rays as he turned to look for someone hiding out there. What he found was the grill he purchased months ago for an Independence Day barbeque. That’s it.