19 DAYS E-Book

Andy Klein

• Herausgeber: epubli
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 501

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

It seems to be a normal diary, which Lucas Wilkins finds in his grandmother's house, after she passed away. But it is anything else but that... With each entry, he gets deeper and deeper into the world of the supernatual and even under suspicion of murder. With the help of his old friend Sarah, he tries to solve the mystery of the diary... Be prepaired and be part of the journey into your imagination...

Leseprobe

19 DAYS

by

Andy Klein

Imprint

Original text copyright © 2016 by Andy Klein

English translation © 2018 by Andy and Totti Klein

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. This book is self-published by Andy Klein. For any information or questions please contact [email protected].

Print:  epubli - a service of neopubli GmbH, Berlin

www.epubli.de

Printed in Germany

Bibliographic information of the German national library

The German national library registers this publication in the German national bibliography; specified bibliographic data are retrievable via the Internet about http://dnb.d-nb.de.

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Cover design: Andy Klein

Content

The Goodbye

Day 1                                       

Day 2               

Day 3               

Day 4               

Day 5               

Day 6               

Day 7               

Day 8               

Day 9               

Day 10             

Day 11             

Day 12             

Day 13             

Day 14             

Day 15             

Day 16             

Day 17             

Day 18             

Day 19             

Author’s Note:

When I was 21, I was asked by a dear former colleague, if I would like to take part in a séance. And I thought… Oh-kay - why not.

For the first time in my life, I was sitting at a table with a few people -some of them I hardly knew - and I watched as an upside down wineglass was spinning along that wooden table as if by magic. All the words written by that glassware on that evening have burned deep into my memory. Finally that special evening inspired me to write this book - almost 25 years later…

“The most precious thing

a human being

can possess is time”

A.K.

The Goodbye

The pain - which someone is feeling - when he has to say goodbye to a loved one is indescribable. Lucas spent most of his whole childhood in his grandmother’s house. His parents were both working and they had barely time for him - except every now and then on weekends. His father was a carpenter with his own small workshop, which didn’t fetch as much money as expected. Therefore, his mother had even two jobs. During the day she worked at the office of the carpenter’s workshop, and in the evening in the late shift of a big printing company at the edge of town. His parents never needed to justify themselves to him - that they pushed off their only child to the grandmother, because he adored his Nana… and now she suddenly wasn’t there anymore - simply like that.

The house was quiet and yet still her scent filled the air. The sunrays illuminated the big living room and the colored curtains - with its pink and green floral design - shone in its entire splendor. The old sofa on which he cuddled as a small boy with his grandmother and listened to her exciting stories - every single piece of furniture, every picture on the wall, each of these teeny weeny porcelain figurines - told a little story. Nothing he would change in that house, because now it belonged to him. Aimless, he sauntered by the living room into the kitchen. He stopped in front of the big shelve. Everything was at its right place. Many of small and big spice cans, in between dried bouquets, and all over again, these small kitschy porcelain figurines, which she so much cared for. From the kitchen he went into the corridor and threw his big sports bag under the wardrobe.

He took the ashtray from the small little shoe cupboard, which was located beside the wardrobe. He sat down on the first step of the stairs that led upwards and lit a cigarette. So many thoughts and pictures went through his mind.

His life didn’t always took a normal course like one of an - let’s say - average boy. He was so proud to study medicine and worked for it very hard for almost 3 years. Then the occurrences came thick and fast.

The printing company - where his mother was working - was taken over by a rich Texan. For his mother it was a heaven-sent opportunity, and one day she was simply off and away with this rich guy. That - on the other hand - his father didn’t take very well. He started to drink. Thereby - step by step - he lost valuable contracts, and therefore in the end also his company. The divorce-papers were on its way when he decided to set his life to an end and hung himself in his basement. How many times he talked to him, how often he had tried to help him - it was countless times, but it was all in vain. Lucas missed his father, because every now and then - when he made time for him - they always had a lot of fun together. The carpenter’s workshop was a really great playground, which was always a thorn in his mother’s side. After all he was a little rascal, who only brought disturbance into the store, and with disturbance in the store, no-one earn any money. After the suicide, his father bequeathed them a huge mountain of debts. Therefore, his mother let sale his parental home by a realtor to pay of the debts. Lucas was on his own, because his mother didn’t care where he lived, either did she support him financially during his studies. How should it be otherwise, that he found a temporary shelter in his grandmother’s house, before he - a few months later - moved into his own apartment, which was located close to his job. At this time, Lucas put his studies on ice and it remained like that till now.

After some small occasional jobs, he finally ended up in the Moonville General Hospital as a male nurse, which he totally enjoyed. Maybe later - someday - he would bring his study to a close, but that was a long way away - because the frayed blue sports bag under the wardrobe represented his whole personal belongings.

   “You’re really someone very special, my sweetheart. You don’t have to be sad, one day your time will come,” Nana always said when he was glum, and took him into her loving arms. She always seemed to know how he was doing and she always found the right words to build him up again. In this moment, he only had his memories, but that wasn’t the same - he missed her so much…

The following night was very stormy. The big oak with its strong branches threw dark shadows into his old children’s room, every time it thundered. Lucas couldn’t sleep and listened to the rain, which was beating torrential-like against the window pane. He observed the shadows of the branches - how they moved on the wall. Old houses have their one’s own life. He heard the wind whistling through the gaps, the cracking sound of the floorboards on the attic and he thought about the funeral, which should take place next day.

   “Oh Nana… You don’t deserve this.”

The notion that her funeral should take place in such a lousy weather made him very angry. There was no chance of finding some sleep, but that didn’t really matter to him. So he got up again and went downstairs into the living room. He remembered that his grandmother always kept a bottle of herbal schnapps in the living room cupboard, which she always - lovingly - called medicine. Exactly this medicine - was what he needed now. He took the bottle, which was still almost full out of the cupboard, one of the whisky glasses from the glass cabinet and sat down onto the sofa.  

He filled up the glass completely up to the edge, took a big gulp and shuddered.

   “Medicine always have to taste bitter, that’s how it works,” he heard her saying in his thoughts.

   “Lucas, wake up! The funeral is already in an hour,” his mother hissed into his ear, while she ripped the almost empty bottle of schnapps out of his arms. “You wanna go with us, do you?”

Blinking, he opened his eyes. Jeff - meanwhile her new husband - stood head shaking under the doorframe. His mother arrived especially together with him from Texas. That was the very least, that the only daughter was attend at her mother’s funeral.

   “How did you get in here?” Lucas said still completely drowsy. “Isn’t my door bell working?”

   “As far as I can remember, I was born in this house, my boy.”

   “Oh yeah! And as far as I can remember, I haven’t invited you into my house, mother,” he replied to her brusquely, got up, passed both wordlessly and disappeared upstairs into the bathroom. 

Of course there were arguments between Nana and his mother back in those days, right before she disappeared. When she told her that she wishes for a better life and that she is better off without a husband and a child. She simply had chosen a new life - without her family - and she didn’t give a damn. The logical consequence was that Lucas inherited his grandmother’s house. His mother was really a hard-hearted woman - one of those women, who always forget - by their ambition and the striving for the big wealth - what it means to be a human being. He couldn’t understand why she was so completely different than his Nana. She was so full of warmth and goodness, and such as she deserved it, the sun - which she carried in her heart - was shining during the day of her funeral.

Lucas didn’t feel like driving to the funeral with his mother and her rich douche bag. On the other hand, here on the edge of the city, everybody knew about their family background anyway. Finally, it was a really big scandal - back in those days. Sharing a ride with his mother and her douche bag to the funeral, just to save face - that favor his mother didn’t deserve, but he did it... for his Nana.

The funeral was passing by him like an old silent movie. The many people around him, he perceived only as black-and-white shadows. Their voices echoed like crazy in his head. In the evening he couldn’t even remember, who was on the cemetery at all, and also their condolence messages. In this situation, there were no words, which could have relieved his heavy pain. He couldn’t hide his tears - not even behind the big tinted glasses...

The old attic with its many old treasures was quite scary. The small light bulb hardly illuminated the room, in which someone could barely stand. Lucas was sitting on a big old chest as a familiar voice spoke to him...

   “That was a nice funeral, my darling. You have always been my most loved. Don’t be sad. I will always be with you.”

His grandmother caressed his face. Startled and drenched in sweat he opened his eyes. He turned the small red radio alarm clock into his direction. It was 3.22 am. It was just a dream.

   “Nice funeral - what’s nice about a funeral, Nana!” He said and threw his head back into the pillow.

The last few days were totally exhausting, and in that night his body demanded sleep - without any ‘medical aids’. He closed his eyes, turned over and kept on sleeping.

It was almost noon as Lucas awoke. He went into the kitchen and brewed a strong coffee at first. Luckily, he had a few more vacation days left, he thought. Finally, there still were a lot of things to take care of. He needed to return to his old furnished apartment once again, to hand it over to his landlord. He was really lucky that the landlord’s nephew had a very big interest to move in directly, so that he could move out right away. The apartment was in the middle of the city center. It was barely larger than 25 square yards, but relatively affordable - and for a bachelor like him - just the right thing. He didn’t even need a car, because the hospital where he was working was located in only ten minutes walking distance. Now that would also change. From now on, he needed more than thirty minutes to reach the city by bus. He sat at the big round wooden table. While he was drinking his coffee, he stared out of the kitchen window into the flower-garden where everything was starting to blossom right now. For the first time in years, he felt very lonely… However, there wasn’t much time left for his twinge of self-pity. The handing over of the apartment should take place in just one hour. Lucas allowed himself a cat’s lick and an only partly successful shave. Just as he opened the door to go to the bus stop, a stranger was standing in front of the door…

    “Hi, my name is Victor - Victor Gab. I moved in next door yesterday and I just wanted to say hi. Actually, the realtor said that there’s a nice older gal living next door.”

   “Well, I’m Lucas and yesterday this nice older gal was buried,” he responded gruffly. “And unfortunately, I’m running out of time - I need to catch a bus.”

   “You don’t want to go to the city by chance?” Victor asked hectically, for whom the situation seemed to be more than embarrassing.

Lucas looked at him and nodded silently.

   “I have to go there, too. May I take you with me?”

Lucas was pleased internally about the ride and they got into Victor’s bright red Mercedes S-class.

Victor Gab was a rather inconspicuous guy, dark-haired with a half bald front head and he was a little bit chubby around his hips - to express it charmingly. Lucas estimated his age to be in his early forties.

   “What let you end up here - here on the countryside?” Lucas asked, who now showed his joy on the outside too, that he had a ride.

  “Chicks! - I’ve fled from my ‘soon-to-be ex-wife’, who’s probably just considering with my ex-girlfriend, how they can get rid of me the best way.”

Lucas had to grin - for the first time since his grandmother passed away.

Well, that guy wasn’t really looking exactly like a heart breaker. But now the ice was broken and they started talking. He found out that Victor Gab was a distinguished lawyer from St. Louis, who just allowed himself a small time out. In return, he enlightened him about the ‘older gal’ in whose house he was living now, and he apologized for his behavior at the front door.

   “See ya. Maybe we’ll have a brew sometime,” Victor said and let him get out of the car by the city park.

Therefrom, Lucas just needed to get across the street and he was at his old apartment.

   “Sure, I’m in. Thanks again for the ride,” he responded and disappeared into the park.

It was quite late when he came home. The handing over of the apartment passed off without any problems. It was a little weird to leave the small apartment, in which he was spending the last three years. But when his landlord gave him the in advance paid rent of half a month back in cash, the wistful feeling was also disappearing, because he currently really needed every single dime. Afterwards he met his mother and Jeff in a small café once again. He couldn’t explain to himself, why he was willing to meet them again. Probably because they wanted to leave the city that very same day - back to Texas, and he only wanted to make sure that they really disappear out of his life again. They didn’t talk quite a lot. Jeff didn’t take any part in that whole conversation, which you rather could call superficial. Instead, he picked with his fork quite bored at a slice of apple pie. In Lucas’ view, he was extremely arrogant. Like the way he sat there - in his ridiculous black Armani suit - and these more than obtrusive snake leather cowboy boots on his feet. Furthermore - in his opinion - his nose was way much too big for his face. Howsoever - it was the usual mother-son conversation like: “Get yourself a nice woman, who brings order to your life,“ or “Go and get yourself some civilized clothes,“ which inevitably had something to do with winning a decent woman. They didn’t speak a single word about his grandmother…

He was so glad when they finally set out to the airport.

   “Let yourself show up sometime, boy,” his mother said and she gave him a brief kiss on his cheek.

   “I don’t think so, mother,” he replied.

Jeff was shaking his hand - wordless, put on his oversized beige-colored Stetson cowboy hat and they disappeared into a taxi right away. Relieved, he watched them leaving, and after that, he set out on his way to the supermarket, because the fridge at home was empty.

The people on the bus shook their heads, as he came in with all these bags and made a neat mess, as he dropped two of them, and whose content spread throughout the entire length of the bus. But he didn’t care a copper.

In the big supermarket in the city - you really could buy at bargain prices. Lucas dragged eight big full-packed shopping bags into the kitchen. 

   “Crap, I forgot to turn on the fridge.”

He connected the plug and started with unpacking the bags. During the shopping, he felt quite hungry - because today he just consumed coffee and cigarettes - and after all - he hadn't eaten that much during the last few days. But even now - that the big, round kitchen table was so full of foodstuff - he only reached out for the beer. He took the six-pack and walked over to the living room. He could still clear up later - and besides, the fridge hadn’t reached its temperature yet. He switched on the TV, opened a can of beer, dropped himself into the sofa and placed his legs on the small antique coffee table. With the remote he switched from channel to channel, till he ended up with Casablanca and he decided to watch the movie, which had only just begun.

   “Play it, Sam…” Ingrid Bergman said and Lucas fell asleep - again on the sofa.  

When he opened up his eyes again, the TV was still running and the contents of half a can of beer had leaked all over his shirt. He got up and went to his big bag - which he already had opened, but which was still lying in the hallway. He took off the shirt and his T-shirt, fished out an old AC / DC T-shirt and put it on. Now he trotted into the kitchen, because finally, a few groceries wanted to be laid into the fridge. Meanwhile it was almost midnight and Lucas was wide awake again. In view of the fact that it was Friday night and he had to go to work on Monday again, it surely would have been more reasonable to go bed. But now, as the last package of macaroni with cheese in its noble microwave design was stowed in the cupboard, he remembered the dream with his grandmother… and so he decided to have a look at the attic. 

The old foldable chicken ladder, which led up to the attic, cracked loudly as he climbed up carefully. At the top, it was pitch-black and he obviously had trouble to find the light switch, hanging down at the light bulb. Carefully, he groped his way to the center of the attic, banging his head against the light bulb and switching it on right away.

It was very odd - it was just like in his dream. The little lightbulb really didn’t light up the room that well. But what he discovered afterwards, woke up many nice memories inside of him. The attic was full of old treasures, but these were just more of ideal value, like old lampshades, old oil paintings and lots of books.

   “Oh,” there was his old Twister game and Bernie, the one-eyed teddy bear without whom, he never could fell asleep as a child. He asked himself, how many years he hadn’t been on the attic - because as it appeared - his grandmother had stowed away his whole childhood up here. But intuitively, he was searching for something in particular and he found it at last under a big bag with old curtains, surrounded by boxes with old porcelain. There it was - that old black leather chest with its silvery fittings, which was looking like it sprang from the time period of the pirates. Only now, he remembered that in the past this old chest was placed downstairs in his child’s room, chock-full filled with toys. Lucas kneeled and opened the chest quite slowly. But instead of his old toys, he found a wedding dress packed in foil. Carefully, he took it out. It was a magnificent old wedding dress embroidered with pearls, and as he held it up that way, his view fell into the chest again. He looked at the bottom of it and discovered a light blue envelope and something that looked like a diary. He put the dress gently aside and took the envelope and the diary out of the chest. All at once - all that was quite scary to him, because on the envelope was an inscription in capital letters:

“FOR LUCAS”

He got up and went back to the middle of the attic to sit directly under the light bulb, which still swung easily to and fro. Slowly and deeply breathing, he opened the envelope and had a look into it. He pulled out a small bundle of bank notes.

   “Oh man!” At first sight, these were at least 3000 dollars.

He put the money next to him on the floor, because he discovered a sheet of writing paper too. Carefully, he took the letter out and read it...

My dear Lucas!

If you are reading this letter, then you know that it was time for me to leave. With all my heart, I thank you for your loving and caring you have given to me. As sad as this may sound, but you were the best thing my daughter ever produced, and for me you were an indescribable enrichment to my life. The most beautiful moments of my life, since your grandfather passed away - I owe to you. You are a very special human being, just like him. You really have a lot of him - inside of you. I put aside a few dollars for you over the last years. It is not very much, but for buying a car, which you will need now to get to the city, it is hopefully enough.

I will miss you, butter-bean. I kiss and embrace you!

In love your Nana

Lucas wiped away the tears from his face and breathed deeply…   “I miss you too, Nana.”

The pictures of the past few days were spinning in his head. The way he found her after her heavy stroke - and the ride to the hospital, which she no longer reached alive. Lucas was pretty confused. This had never happened to him before... Dead people, who give hints in a dream… That was really crazy and unrealistic. Suddenly, he was pulled out of his thoughts. Did that old brown lampshade, which lay on the floor possibly moved? A queasy feeling, followed by creeps overcame him. Quickly he took the money, the letter and the diary and jumped up. 

   “Ouch!” He banged his head against the pitch of the roof. He ignored the brief pain, climbed down the ladder and closed the hatch of the attic as fast as he could.

   “This is crazy,” he shook his head.

He went downstairs into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

   “No one’s gonna believe you that.”

He put the money, the letter and the diary on the table and went to the fridge. Actually, it had never been his nature to drink alcohol in stressful situations, but now, he urgently needed a beer. He opened it, drank a big gulp and sat down at the table again. Now he took the diary in his hands and regarded it from all sides. It was black and embellished with golden ledges at the edges. The fabric - of which the outside was covered - was finest velvet. Lucas opened the first page and read:       

The desire to alter the inevitable

is part of the human nature.

Every day is rewritten by his thinking and acting.

M. L., 1849

He closed the diary again and he took a closer look at it - from all sides. 

   “1849, you can’t be that old, and who the hell is M. L.?”

He asked himself loud, because the diary looked as if it was brand new. Well, maybe it’s just a quotation from a famous person.

He opened the diary again and flipped to the next page …

Dear diary!

This morning I was rudely awakened by Mimi. She kept ringing the bell to bring me her much sought-after cheesecake. She stayed about an hour and I had to eat cheesecake for breakfast at 10 am. She is still done in. When she left, I hit the hay again and I slept for three hours. I felt like throwing up, that’s why I took a stroll and met Sarah. How lovely she is, and when was the last time I saw her? We went to my place, ate Mimi’s cheesecake and talked all evening. Then, about 11 pm, she went home. I’m so happy that she is back again.

Moonville, March the 17th, 2007

Lucas looked at the big calendar which hung right next to the kitchen door. Today was the 16th of March, 2007. But - after all - that was her handwriting. He recognized his Nana’s handwriting.

   “Nana, looks like, that you’ve been a tiny little bit confused.”

He took the letter in his hand again. Without a doubt - that was the handwriting of his Nana. Curiously, he turned the pages, but the next pages were all empty. He snapped shut the diary and asked himself, why he didn’t notice that his grandmother apparently was a little muddle-headed lately. But there wasn’t the slightest hint to it at all. Maybe she only noted the wrong date. She was physically and mentally absolutely on top, till the last day. Finally, she could still climb up the stairs to the attic to deposit the diary and the letter, including the money into the chest - and that at the age of 79. Maybe, he would’ve found those things only in a few years, if he hadn’t dreamed about that by chance. And why did she put that diary to the farewell letter at all, where there was only a single entry to read? In spite of many questions and weird thoughts, his body demanded its rest. He took the money without counting it and put it together with the letter back into the envelope. Then he placed the envelope into the diary and went into the living room to lie down on the sofa. One last thought defeated his sleep for a few more minutes…

Sarah! Is she really in back in town?

Day 1

   “Lucas, I got something nice for you, my boy.” Mimi pressed the button of the bell continuously.

   “Oh man... Yeah - yeah. I’m coming!”

Drowsy, he staggered to the door and opened it.

   “Mimi, it’s still in the middle of the night.”

   “Nahhh! It’s already 10.00 am and look what I’ve got for you.”

Mimi held her yummy homemade cheesecake right in front of his face and straight away she squeezed through the door - past him by and headed straight into the kitchen.

   “Now you’re on your own and somebody has to take care of you.”

Mimi was his grandmother’s best friend and lived in the small old house right across the street. These both old ladies were inseparable for many, many years - just like two loving sisters. Mimi started to set the table and to brew coffee.

   “I know how you feel. I miss her so much…” Mimi started to sob, while she let run the water into the pot.

   “Mimi, sit down. Let me do this.”

Lucas - still sleepy - took the pot from her shaking hand.

   “What am I gonna do without her?”

   “I know what we’re gonna do now. Let’s have a yummy piece of cake.”

A little smile flickered across Mimi’s face, before she buried it into a big handkerchief and got rid of her nasal contents with total passion. Lucas sat down at the table and gently stroked her head.

   “I miss her too, Mimi… I miss her too …”

   “Do you also got the feeling that she is still around?” She brought out sobbing and Lucas nodded silently...

And so they sat together, ate cake and began to share their memories. It is always the case, that mourners remember only the beautiful and funny moments of their loved ones. And when Lucas thought about it, then there were actually only nice memories of his grandmother.

   “Oh geez, it’s almost eleven thirty. I gotta go. You know, if Hank doesn’t get his lunch on time, he is obnoxious for the rest of the day… You are such a good boy.”

Mimi pinched him into the left cheek, left the house and disappeared quickly into the house across the street.

Actually, Lucas wanted to take a shower, he really needed it more than urgently, but this unbelievable tiredness overcame him again. He left everything behind in the kitchen and trotted again into the living room right onto the sofa. Somehow, there he felt most comfortable. As soon as he lay down on the sofa, he directly fell asleep.

The sun blinded his face when he woke up again in the afternoon. Completely soaked in sweat, he trotted into the kitchen, opened the fridge and took out the milk. He was extremely thirsty and drank up half of the bottle. When the odor mixture of sweat and beer was reaching his nose, he felt that it was really time for him to take a shower. He went up to the bathroom and didn’t leave the shower, until his feet and hands were totally wrinkled. Somehow, he felt an internal nausea rising up inside of him, as he dried his hair by rubbing it with the towel. The ice-cold milk didn’t seem to be the right thirst-quencher, and so he decided to get dressed quickly and catch a little fresh air.

Lucas breathed deeply. After some steps, he felt a little bit better and so he walked aimlessly through the small suburb of Moonville. Without noticing it in the first place, he suddenly stood in front of the cemetery’s entrance. And if he was already there, he decided to check if everything was in order. He walked along the narrow path, passed by the - partly - very old graves. From the distance, he saw that somebody laid flowers on his grandmother’s grave.

   “Sarah!”

There she stood - laying a big bunch of sunflowers onto the grave. Unnoticed, he approached her.

   “Sarah,” he whispered softly from behind to her neck.

Winced, she turned around as fast as lightning.

   “Lucas!” They hugged each other and he let her feet float in the air. “I just heard about it this morning, I’m so sorry!”

   “Great to have you back,” he whispered into her ear.

Silently, they held each other for a while. They hadn’t seen each other for such a long time. Meanwhile, more than two years were passing by, but for him it seemed like half an eternity. A few years ago, Sarah had received a college place in California on the other side of the continent, and during the last years she was - if at all - just for Christmas in town. Her family had quite some problems too, and so she had to work very hard to finance her study.

   “And now - my gorgeous, are you a veterinarian?”

   “Yup, I’ve made it.”

He squeezed her once again quite firmly and let her slip gently back to the ground again.

   “Sis, I’m so glad you’re back,” he looked her deeply into her deep brown eyes. “You have no idea, how much we missed you... Nana and me.”

Sarah’s eyes filled up with tears.

   “I wish I could have said goodbye to her.” Lucas laid his hands softly on her cheeks, wiped her tears tenderly with his thumbs off her face and took her back in his arms again.

   “But now you’re here.”

Silently, they still hugged each other for a little while. 

   “Come on, let’s take a little walk,” he said.

He took her hand into his one and they left the cemetery. Aimlessly, they sauntered by the small village, which looked - as usual - like deserted. They had so much to talk about. And all of a sudden, it seemed as she had never been away at all. She talked about her study, about her failed relationship, the animals, her job as a waitress, about her fears and he - he just listened.

Finally, they stood in front of his door.

   “Come and join me. Mimi ambushed me this morning with her cheesecake, which would like to be eaten by you, too.”

   “Mmmmm, Mimi’s cheesecake… nobody can say no to that!”  

Sarah also connected her childhood with this house - so she first went through the rooms below. Meanwhile, Lucas quickly cleaned up the kitchen and set the table anew.

   “Nothing has changed here at all. I feel like Nana will come downstairs every moment and say hi.”

Lucas swallowed.

   “Coffee’s ready.”

They talked the whole evening through. Lucas told her about his job in the hospital, where he was working on the surgical ward.

   “Now, what are your future plans, does Paul still stand by his word?” He asked.

Paul Stone was a meanwhile elderly man with a small veterinarian practise here on the outskirts of Moonville.

He was a really amiable man, who offered her a job in his practise when she left the city - in case - she brought her study successfully to an end.

   “Oh yeah, I’m a real lucky duck. Paul urgently needs support. Not only the Oldfield farm keeps him very busy. He’s getting a bit long in the tooth, you know.”

Lucas glanced at her... He was so incredibly happy that she was nearby him again.

The evening was passing by very quickly, and when Sarah looked at her watch, it was already nearly 11 pm.

   “You can stay, if you want.”

   “Aunt Betty will be waiting for me for sure. How about lunch tomorrow? I can cook something delicious... here, at your house.” Lucas agreed and the both arranged to meet the next day at 1 pm. Not to mention again, that he was so happy to have his best friend and confidant back in town. He went to the fridge, took out a can of beer, went to the living room and dropped himself onto the sofa.

  “Ow.”

Lucas sat down exactly onto the diary, with which he had fallen asleep the night before. He took it and was vexed at the fact that he had forgotten to show it to Sarah. With one hand, he let slide the pages by his thumb, and there was still the envelope with the money. He took it out to count the money and noticed that he apparently had overlooked the following inscribed page in the diary.

Dear diary!

Today my new neighbor has invited himself for lunch and he has turned on Sarah quite nicely. He’s really a strange guy. Sis still can’t cook, but we were keeping a stiff upper lip. It was quite witty, but this Gab is creepy, somehow. Today I have to go to bed a little earlier, because tomorrow I have to work again.

Moonville, March the 18th, 2007

Lucas slammed shut the diary. 

   “Cool… Just be cool…”

He took a deep breath. There had to be a rational explanation for that. Sure, somebody was sneaking into the house and played a bad prank on him. But who? His body was full of goosebumps. It had to be somebody, who knew him very well. He opened the diary again. The handwriting! It was his grandmother’s handwriting again.

No problem, someone can copy that, but who the hell does something like that?

Actually, he was absolutely sure that this page wasn’t there yet - yesterday. But now, he doubted it. Maybe, he had overlooked this page after all. As hard as he tried, he couldn’t find an explanation for that entry… whatever… he wasn’t stupid. It was only three days ago, since Gab moved into the house next door, so why could he read something about him in the diary?

Maybe, he was living there for quite a while already. No, that swanky red Mercedes would surely have struck his eye.

   “Now you’re going nuts,” he said out loud and reached for the bottle of herbal schnapps, which stood in front of him on the coffee table. He raised the bottle to his mouth and let the last leftover run down his throat. Then he examined the diary from all sides one more time. He opened it and read the first entry again. And only now, he became aware of it that he had already read yesterday - what he had witnessed today. Mimi and her cake, he felt sick and he met Sarah. Lucas got up and walked into the kitchen. He grabbed his cigarettes and the bottle of Jack Daniels, which also was part of his purchase. He dropped himself onto the sofa again and drank the whisky straight from the bottle. He took the diary back in his hand. 

   “Cheers, maybe, you can write down the lottery numbers for me, sometime,” he said to the diary and took another big gulp of whiskey. “Luci, you got hallucinations!” He looked at the bottle and saw that he had already emptied half of it in record speed. “And now you’re even crocked.”

He lay down onto the sofa.

Now, he noticed that not only his thoughts were circling in his head, but also the living room. Tomorrow he would show Sarah the diary. She won’t think that he’s nuts, he thought and fell completely drunk asleep.

Day 2

As the thirst and the strong urge to empty his bladder contents woke him up the next morning, the sun wasn’t raised yet. After he visited the bathroom, he walked into the kitchen, opened the fridge and reached for the milk bottle, on which he looked briefly, but then put it back into the fridge. Instead, he rather drank water straight from the tap. After the first thirst was quenched, he went back to the living room. He dropped himself onto the sofa, took his cigarettes and lit one. Thoughtfully, he stared at the diary, but he didn’t want to take it into his hands at this time. Instead, he reached for the envelope with the money. He counted it, and it was much more than he thought on the first sight. He was holding 4700 bucks in his hands. He put the money aside and read the farewell letter of his grandmother again. His eyes filled with tears once more. He leaned back and deeply inhaled the last puff from his cigarette. Sleep was out of the question anymore. However, he closed his eyes and let pass the pictures of the last days. When he opened his eyes again, he eyed the diary skeptically.

   “What the heck is going on?”

He took it into his hands and read both entries once again. How was that possible? Leery, he looked at the dedication. M.L. 1849. He couldn’t relate the initials to any of the classical poets he knew, and as much as he tried to remember, he never saw the diary in his grandmother’s hands. But it had to be hers, because, that she left it to him together with the letter as a legacy, was beyond question. How could it be that his experiences were written down in this diary, before they even happened? He decided to take a shower at first, before he later on would try to explain something, which was from his point of view - unexplainable. Besides, he had quite a hangover. He remained almost half an hour in the shower and when he left it, he saw that the sun was just rising. Slowly, he went down to the kitchen and cleared up the dining table, while the coffee - which ran through the machine - dispersed a pleasant aroma. For the first time in days, he was really hungry, and so he made himself a big cheese ‘n’ ham sandwich. He turned on the little old radio and listened to the oldie station that his grandmother loved to hear. He remembered her singing in a duet with Elvis. He tried to block out the topic ‘diary’, because he wasn’t making any progress with his thoughts, anyway. Sarah would certainly help him to find a reasonable explanation for it. With these thoughts and Elvis with Return to Sender in the background, he ate his sandwich and drank his coffee. Afterwards, he dressed up and started to clean up the living room and the kitchen. He didn’t take notice, how quickly the time had passed, until Sarah stood in front of the door and rang the doorbell.

   “Hey Sis, come in.”

   “I didn’t know if you’ve got any food in the fridge. So I robbed some T-Bone steaks out of Aunt Betty’s freezer.” Sarah came in, walked right into the kitchen and laid a freezer bag including 5 huge steaks onto the sink unit.

   “I hope you’re hungry... and you’ve got some sides in the fridge.” Lucas grinned while Sarah was opening the fridge and inspected the content precisely.

She took out a plastic box with instant coleslaw.

   “Do you have any potatoes?”

   “Not really.”

   “I just run over to Mimi and get us some,” she said, and as fast as she disappeared she was already back.

   “Did you know, actually, that you’ve got a supermarket right across the street?” She asked grinning, while she laid the bag with the potatoes into the sink.

   “Huh?”

   “Mimi has Steven’s old room converted into a supermarket for her Hank.”

Steven was Hank and Mimi’s son, who was married to a beautiful Mexican girl and lived with her in Mexico as well.

     “Well, that figures.” Lucas also had to grin, because he was picturing Hank in his mind. His weight was approximate - at least - 280 pounds and he was, besides that, only of average height.

   “So, what do you want? Mashed or fried potatoes?”

He decided on the fried potatoes and Sarah set to work. In the meantime, they were telling old stories to each other. For example, how Lucas fell from the big oak tree as a child and broke his arm, or how Sarah was caught red-handed in Roger’s garden as she swiped vegetables.

   “Oh crap.” She noticed that the steaks were - not only - just about to burn.

   “Come on, I’ll do it... this is a man’s job.” He took the fork from her hand and turned the steaks over.

The steaks looked pretty black on one side, but he said nothing and switched the oven down low. Suddenly the doorbell rang.

    “I go,” and Sarah was heading for the door.

A short time later, she returned in company.

   “Lucas, we’ve got one more guest for lunch,” and she pushed his new neighbor into the kitchen.

   “Actually, I only wanted to invite myself on a cup of coffee.”

Lucas screwed up his face, as he would rather have been alone with Sarah. But he turned around right away and welcomed him friendly.

   “Mr. Gab,” he welcomed him, while he reached out his hand with a tortured smile to him.

   “My friends call me Vic... and because we are neighbors now…“

   “Okay Vic. Have a seat,” she said vigorous and assigned him a chair.

She noticed that Lucas wasn’t really excited about his visit, but now she couldn’t just took back the invitation. Apart from that - there was more than enough to eat. Sarah set the table and when Lucas distributed the steaks on the plates, he secretly placed the most burned piece of meat on Vic’s plate.

   “Mmm, looks delicious.”

Vic cut off a thick piece for to taste it.

   “I’m sorry, the cooking spoon didn’t fell right into my lap, but I try to do my best,” Sarah remarked, but Vic’s glance fell on Lucas.

   “No, no, I screwed up the steaks,” she said.

   “Not screwed up - crispy - just the way I like it,” Lucas said, while he put one of the steaks down on his plate.

   “No… tastes super,” Vic said, who obviously had problems to chew the meat, but he was deft hiding it.

At this moment Lucas knew that he was either crazy, or he really had an unbelievable book lying next door on the sofa. He felt like being in a déjà vu, but it was none. The last entry in the diary, he only now became aware of - now as the burned steaks were lying on the plates. They ate calmly and Victor Gab told them about his job and that he was married and had no children. The fact, that he also had a lover - that of course - he didn’t mention in the presence of Sarah. Then he went on talking about his job. He told about a married couple which he represented, who, went to a marriage counsellor. Unfortunately, both of them were so discontented with the therapist that both of them tied him butt naked to a tree in the park with a sign around his neck, on which was written: I’m naked and I’m talking baloney. He told nothing else but such abstruse stories, and he really had funny anecdotes to tell. Partly incredible - partly comprehensible. But such stories are always lying in the eye of the beholder… Lucas and Sarah were obviously amused by the weird world of crimes, but in between, Lucas facial expression was petrified - namely always, when Gab patted Sarah’s hand, or he stared at her wide-eyed. Lucas paid scrupulously attention to every minor detail. For him, he suddenly had something sneaky in his eyes, which was in complete contradiction to his whole appearance. But that was the way he felt. For him, Sarah was like his little sister, which he had always protected since their childhood. Of course, he also understood that Sarah was now an attractive young woman and not the little snotnose with the long black Amerindians pigtails anymore.

   “Well, now I’ve gotta set out to next door. I’ve still got some paperwork to do and need to fax it to my office,” Gab said.

Meanwhile three hours had passed by.

   “Oh, that’s too bad. We absolutely have to repeat that, sometimes,” Sarah said.

   “Next time I’ll cook,” Gab said.

   “Okay, deal,” she replied and Lucas nodded reluctant.

They accompanied him to the door and looked at him as he disappeared into his house.

   “This is really a nice guy,” she said.

   “Sure, if you like small, fat baldies,” Lucas replied, grinning.

She punched him with the words ‘you jerk’ on his upper arm.

   “Sis, there’s something I really need to show you.” He became serious, took Sarah’s hand and pulled her into the living room.

He took the diary from the sofa and handed it over to her - including the letter.

   “Here, you must take a look at that. Nana gave it to me including that letter and I really want to know what you think about that.” Sarah laid the diary back on the table.

She took the letter and read it. Afterwards she wiped herself a tear of the cheek.

   “She was a wonderful woman, Lucas, and you can feel blessed, that she was part of your life for such a long time.”

Sarah was - just equally like him - not favored by fortune of having healthy family life. Her father was unknown and one day her mother disappeared without a trace. It was rumored she gave her love to a pimp, who kidnapped her afterwards - which like said - was just a rumor. Her extremely rigorous Aunt Betty raised her all alone, because there was no ‘Uncle Betty’, too. She put the letter back on the table and dedicated herself intensely to the diary.  

   “This is a nice diary, but isn’t it more something for girls?”

She opened it and Lucas became as white as a sheet.

All pages - they were empty. Speechless, he took the diary out of her hand and turned the pages by himself once again, but there was nothing. Everything was gone, even the dedication wasn’t there anymore. Lucas was really pale and so he was trying not to let show that everything in the room was spinning around him.

   “And? Do you want to use it?” She asked. “If not, you’re welcome to hand it over to me... I’m a girl, you know.”  She was laughing and he made an effort for to smile just a little bit.

   “No, no, maybe I’ll use it - sometime.” He tried to grin.

   “I’m sure Nana had something in mind... of leaving it to me.”

   “Yeah, probably… Come on, let’s clean up.”

Sarah took the diary out of his hand, looked at it with shining eyes once again, laid it back on the table and pushed Lucas back into the kitchen. They started with the clean-up operation and Sarah was talking about something during the whole time, but he didn’t really listen. His thoughts twiddled around this diary. That didn’t make any sense at all. Why were all the diary pages empty? Did he just dream all that? Maybe it was the alcohol.

Damned alcohol, he thought.

   “Lucas, do you even listen to me?” She gently pricked him with the fork - which she had just dried - into his hip, and her eyes fell on the clock on the wall.

   “Ups, it’s almost 5. I’ve gotta go. Tomorrow’s my first working day and it will start at 5 am. Yes and Aunt Betty will kill me, if I don’t put away my suitcases today and bring order to my room.” She laid the fork into the cutlery tray and turned to him.

   “Sorry Sis, if I acted a little weird today, but I’m still in a complete tizzy.” She looked compassionately at him and he accompanied her silently to the door.   

   “If you need me, you know where you can find me,” she said and took his hands in hers. She pulled him down to her and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

   “I know,” he whispered in her ear. Then she left the house.

He was standing at the doorsteps for a little while, until she had completely disappeared from his field of view. Then he quickly closed the door and headed straight for the diary. He took it in his hand and opened it.

It was unbelievable and he couldn’t believe his eyes, because all entries were all over sudden back again. Irritated he threw the diary on the table and himself onto the sofa. He lit the last cigarette from his packet and all at once became quite calm. What if the diary could really predict the future and the content of the diary was only intended for him? At this moment that was the only logical explanation for him, finally, everything had disappeared when he showed it to Sarah. Illogical, however, was the whole existence of this book, which filled itself - as if by magic - with future entries. Lucas had always been a down-to-earth person, who never believed in supernatural stuff, and he always made fun of others, who were telling of any supernatural experiences. But now, he was right in the middle of such an experience. He stubbed out the cigarette and closed his eyes. Spiritually and physically totally overburdened he fell asleep.

“It’s time,” a deep man’s voice breathed into his ear.

The whole living room was shrouded by a blazing bright fog. Scared, he looked around. At the end of the sofa, he discovered the outline of a shape, but the fog made it impossible for him to recognize, who or what there was standing.

Quick as a flash he jumped up, but the fog had disappeared, and with it also this hazy shape. Did he dream or not? He got up and went into the kitchen, let the water run from the tap and poured himself lots of cold water into the face - with both hands. As he was towelling the face with a dish towel, which Sarah was using for drying up the dishes before, his look fell at the big old wooden kitchen clock. It was just 5.20 pm. He had the feeling, as if he had slept a few hours, but it had been only five to ten minutes at the most - if at all. He was interrupted in his thoughts, because his mobile rang. He went to the hallway and pulled the mobile out of his jacket pocket.

   “Yeah - hello?” 

   “Shawn’s here. Can you take over the morning shift for me tomorrow? I’ve got something really urgent I need to take care of.”  

   “Humph … okay,” he answered with a little reluctance.

   “How’s it hanging, dude? Is everything okay with you? I wanted to get in touch, but I let it go - you know - I thought you’d rather like to have your peace.”

   “That’s okay Shawn, I’m fine.” 

   “OK, see ya.”

   “All right, so long.”

Lucas snapped shut his mobile and lay it down on the kitchen table. Shawn Jones had moved down here from Boston about a year ago and Lucas had chummed up with him. Lucas didn’t have that many friends... Shawn was a crazy guy, so Lucas didn’t even ask why he should fill in for him. He knew, that he would explain it to him later. Certainly a woman was behind it again. But now he had to be in the hospital already at 6 in the morning by tomorrow.

Somehow that didn’t fit his plans, but Shawn was his buddy after all. He went back to the hallway and took a new pack of cigarettes out of his pocket jacket. Afterwards, he took a beer out of the fridge and sat down at the kitchen table. Tomorrow, he would buy a car with the money his Nana left to him. His Nana was the best, he thought and therefore the diary couldn’t be as bad as well. And again he tried to block out his thoughts about the diary. Furthermore, he was a little bit hungry again and so he went to the fridge. He took out the box of coleslaw and went back to the living room, where he sat down on the sofa. Then he switched on the TV and ate the leftovers straight out of the box, while he was zapping through the stations between every bite. Actually, he was really happy that he could go to work again, so it was basically immaterial whether it was the early or late shift. His life was completely turned upside down within the last days, and now the time had come to get back in the daily routine again. Maybe, the mysterious shape in the fog had tried to say exactly that. It became time again to confront himself to the everyday things of life. In despite of all grief... his life went on.

The time was passing by while he kept on zapping, paused here and there, and in between supplied himself with beer and potato chips.

   “Oh, Men in Black.”

Now he had finally found exactly that kind of entertainment he needed. The movie had just begun and so he let himself wash over it. But still he looked at the table again and again. Even though he tried to suppress it - the diary was keeping him under its spell.

Day 3

When the movie was over, he thought about sleeping in his old bedroom again - after all - he couldn’t sleep on the sofa all the time. At the age of 32, your back can sometimes hurt a little when you sleep on a couch that is too small… His thoughts wandered off. He thought of his old professor of medicine at the university, who so aptly remarked:

“The human body is only designed for thirty years - because starting from the age of thirty, the physical and mental decay begins.”

Oh man, that was a pretty quirky guy... Then it occurred to him - and once again his thoughts were faltering... That's exactly how it was written in the diary. He sat up, put the bag of potato-chips aside and took the diary in his hands. As soon as he opened it, he directly noticed that there was a new entry again.

Dear diary!

Today I really made a great bargain. A black Dodge Ram pickup truck for only 2500 bucks. Good for me! Now I still have got a small cash reserve. Sarah likes the car too. She went for a ride with it right away. It felt good to work today, even though I was so exhausted. Miss Keane is on my ward - yet again. Broken hip. This old lady is great. She reminds me quite a lot of Nana!

Moonville, March the 19th, 2007

Now he had to take a deep breath again. He looked again at yesterday’s entry. Convinced that he was not mentally disordered, he realized that there was not the slightest doubt that his grandmother had left him something very special. However, what made him think again was the fact that she didn’t mention it in her farewell letter. He closed the diary and leaned back.

In his thoughts he travelled back into the past…

He was 6 years old and he - once again - fled from the ‘fat Dan’ from the neighborhood. It was already very late and the sun had set for a long time ago. As so many times before, he had forgotten the time. His grandmother sat on the small illuminated porch in her bright floral-print summer dress and was busy knitting a thick sweater for him. Like a whirlwind, he ran towards her and hid behind her, while fat Dan feigned innocence and crept very slowly past the house.

   “Lucas-darling, you can’t always hide.”

   “Yes, but Nana, he is sooo so big and fat... and, and he is so much stronger than me. He will crush me,” he answered hasty.

   “Oh, I see... Come on butter-bean, let me tell you something,” she said, laying her knitting stuff aside and lifted him onto her lap. “You know my angel... some things in life settle itself without any help. You just need a little patience. I’m pretty sure he’ll get his punishment for it someday.”  

   “Really Nana? But this must to be today, because tomorrow he will clobber me again.”

   “No my darling - not today, but tomorrow… maybe.” She took him firmly in her arms…

Yes... now he remembered it again. The very next day, fat Dan was run over by a heavy truck and was killed outright. She must have known, but if she had known, then she could have prevented the accident. On the other hand, maybe it was simply his destiny to be run over on his way to the candy store.

But Lucas was now convinced that she was using the diary. He took the diary, turned off the lights in the living room and went upstairs into his bedroom. Carefully - like a treasure - he put it on the night stand, got undressed and went to bed. He set the alarm on 4.32 am. He closed his eyes with thoughts of his nana. In his thoughts, he heard Yesterday from the Beatles and he saw his grandmother in his mind’s eye... as she stroked his head and said:

   “Butter-bean, you really have to sleep now.”

He hit the snooze button twice when the clock radio powered up. When the alarm sounded a third time, he heard the voice of the radio host...

   “It’s time, folks…” 

Lucas startled. Now it was really high time to get up. He only had barely half an hour, till the bus set off in the direction of the city. Quickly he got up and hopped under the shower, where he - conveniently - also shaved. In the rush, he inflicted himself two relatively deep cuts with the shaver.

At a tearing pace, he put on his clothes and ran down the stairs rapidly. He was running out of time. He quickly put on his leather jacket, grabbed his mobile and the keys and ran through the door.

   “Crap!” He shouted after a few yards, because he had forgotten the money.

He ran back fast, reached for the envelope on the coffee table and ran out again. He made it just in time to the bus stop and got in. His way led him to the very back, because sitting in the last row, he liked best.

Whew, that was close, he thought, running his hands through his still wet hair as the bus slowly began to move. At the next stop, an elderly woman got in and sat down in the row right in front of him.

The woman directly turned around to Lucas and stared at him with a bloodcurdling expression on her face.

   “You shall not tempt fate, my friend.”

   “Excuse me? What did you say?”