Chapter 5: Drunken Oblivion

“Perfect!” said Jared Reznik to himself.

“Just PERFECT!” he said again but just slightly louder.

Jared lifted his head suddenly and looked towards the front window of the lounge room. He heard the noise of a car engine coming down the road. This caused Jared to quickly dash about the dining room as he tidied away some dishes, closed down the scraps bin lid, wiped down the bench area, lit two candles on the dining room table, dimmed the lights then finally hit the ON button of the stereo system’s remote control.

The softly lit room Jared was standing in was suddenly filled with the strains of Celine Dion singing ‘All The Way’ with Frank Sinatra. As Jared listened to the music he looked down at the lovely suit he had on then quickly adjusted his tie and smoothed down his shirt and trouser legs.

Jared heard the car come up the driveway. He heard the engine stop. He heard the car door open and shut as two high heeled feet clip clopped their way up the path to the front door. He heard and saw the door handle turning and he felt his own heart beating wildly in nervous anticipation of Amanda’s entry and her response to what he had just spent most of the afternoon setting up.

What happened next went in such a blur that even years later Jared Reznik had trouble remembering it all in any sort of detail.

The front door swung open as Amanda Shore stepped inside. She looked across at her boyfriend in the light of the candles he had just lit but she didn’t seem to see him. In fact she didn’t seem to see anything in the room and she didn’t even seem to hear the soft music of one of her most favorite tunes. After that first entry it was only a matter of mere minutes before Amanda was heading back out that same door with two very large suitcases jammed packed with all her clothes.

As she was slamming the door behind her she just called out, “I’ll be back for the rest of my stuff tomorrow!”

With that the door banged shut. Jared heard the car engine start up again then back out of the driveway and disappear off down the road again but not before Jared had got to the front door and opened it again.

Jared looked down the road as Amanda’s car sped away. It had just started to rain and water was firing up from the back wheels in some sort of a final salute to her departure. In that moment Jared also distinctly noticed that Amanda was not alone. There was someone else in the passenger’s seat. That someone else was big and solid and looked distinctly like the new gym instructor Amanda had told him about. Jared had only met the guy once by accident down at the local mall. But he was the sort of guy you don’t forget. He was tall and muscular with one of those movie star jawlines. He also moved about with a confidence and ease that didn’t seem to fit the world of mere mortals like Jared and Jared remembered feeling distinctly uncomfortable just being around him. Even though Jared never could quite articulate his thoughts properly on the subject he still felt deep down inside that this man meant trouble - and now he knew why.