A Hollywood Mystery (A short story by Farah Jay) - Chapter 1: The Girl

On a cold, quiet 1963 night, Anna was walking back to her apartment, lost in thought for the most part of her commute back from the public library, where she worked as a librarian. Every step she took on the slightly damp, grey pavement took her seven years back, to the night she couldn’t forget no matter how hard she tried. The street was still dewy from the downpour that had finally receded two hours ago. Anna hated the rain. Looking down at her feet making that sloshy sound whenever she walked over puddles made thoughts of the past creep back into her head, for seven years ago, she had also walked on the wet floor of a building right after a storm. That building that Anna would never return to. That memory that she never wanted to return to but yet couldn’t let go of. And no matter how much she tried to push that memory out of her head, the flashbacks broke through and she was forced to think about the night.

It was getting late, and Anna still had a few meters to walk before she got to her apartment. As she turned a corner, still disoriented from her flashback, she suddenly heard a loud bang, like a door being yanked open and then banged shut, followed by the hoarse voices of people bickering amongst themselves. The night was clear, so Anna had no difficulty in seeing the person who had caused the loud noise. Curious as ever, she started pacing faster to take a closer look at what was happening. She crossed the road to go to the other side, where the commotion was taking place in what she now figured was a tiny corner plot, closed off by a gate. She could now see that standing behind the large wrought iron gate was a dinky little shop, which looked more like a dimly lit room, with the only light coming from the bulb hanging in the middle of the shop, and long shelves lining all four walls. As she neared the shop, she saw the gaunt man walking out the shop and to the gate in a hurry. His expression was so stern, his appearance so wild-looking, that it stopped Anna right in her tracks. Not slowing down for a second, the man walked right past Anna, barely acknowledging her presence there, except for a brief moment where his haggard, bloodshot eyes had locked with hers, feeling like they were burning into her soul. She looked back as the man strode away and disappeared.

This didn’t stop Anna from her investigation, of course. She walked up to the gate, thinking it a tad odd for such a small structure to be protected by such a large gate. As she tried to peek inside, she saw that standing behind the counter aligned against the far wall of the shop was a scrawny little man in a white button down shirt and khakis. From the looks of it, he was sorting out a mess of cassette tapes spread all across his counter.

It’s a cassette shop! It finally hit Anna. This got her more excited than curious, not just because for all this time, Anna had no idea that there was a cassette shop in her vicinity, but because as a kid, she loved cassette tapes. All her fondest childhood memories included the cassette tapes that she used to get as a kid. The ones that her dad used to get for her, and her mom used to put into the cassette player and play. Anna’s excitement soon faded away and turned into a grim realization of reality. These memories made her as sad as they were happy.

In an attempt to shake off the jitters she got from this episode of recollection, Anna decided to keep going. After all, no part of what had happened had answered why such a tiny structure had to be protected by such a large gate and walled off from the rest of the block. It looked rather odd and hard to miss where it stood. But Anna had never paid much attention to her surroundings ever since she moved to this city.

She cracked open the gate, which was clearly rusted beyond repair, and walked along the little muddy pathway that led to a few steps, on top of which was the shop. She walked up the stairs, and before going in took a good look through the glass door. The man hadn’t noticed her there, and was surrounded in a cloud of smoke coming from the cigarette that he had just lit. He was busy sorting out the tapes in front of him, putting each one in its case and placing it in one of the three piles that he had divided the stock into.

Anna took a long deep breath, and very gently pushed the door open. A little bell chimes on top of her head, which also brought Anna to the man’s attention. He looked up and to her surprise, the man was fairly young, looking like he might be in his late 20s. The bewildered expression on the man’s face soon turned into a welcoming smile, as customer-dealer code suggested, Anna figured. He greeted her with a warm smile, waiting for her to say something.

Still befuddled by the oddness of a young man in a dingy old cassette store, Anna scanned the inside of the store, taken aback by how neatly the tapes on the shelves were organized.

“It’s a little too late to go cassette hunting, isn’t it?”, the man commented, finally breaking the silence. His voice was deep and husky, but his accent sounded like he came from a well-versed background.

“I’m sorry, I heard some commotion outside your shop and I just had to find out what had happened.”

The man stubbed out his cigarette and casually replied, “Oh, that was just my business partner. He owns the shop with me. Don’t mind his temperament though, he tends to lash out on the most mundane of issues. I guess this is what alcoholism does to a person. Especially when you most need it, but can’t afford to get yourself a nice bottle.“

“Ah, I see. Classic conflict of interest in a partnership. It’s so hard to avoid.” Anna found herself at ease when talking to this man. It had been a while since she had had such kind of casual exchange of words with anyone. She mostly kept to herself and didn’t like to indulge much in social interactions. But something about this man made her feel comfortable around him, and she had only just met him.

He grinned at her response, his cheeks flush with the amusement of talking to one of the very few girls who had ever entered his shop. “See, so you get me. Well, to what do we owe the pleasure?”

Before Anna could respond, the quietness of the night was broken by a loud creak of the gate as someone swayed it open in one swift motion and let it shut hard behind them. The sound startled Anna and made her turn back to look at the glass door, through which she could see a little girl running out the gate and on the street. Her thick blonde hair shimmered in the night, making it easier for her to be spotted in the dark. Within a few seconds, she ran off the street and disappeared, leaving behind no trace of her being there and causing such noise in the first place.

“Wow, do kids normally do that around this neighborhood?” Anna commented as she turned back to the man, who, to her surprise, stood there with a disconcerting expression, not moving from the shock of what he had just seen.

“She’s not supposed to be here”, he finally let out.

Puzzled and not understanding what was going on, Anna asked, “Do you know her?”

“No. But she’s not supposed to be here. No one is supposed to be here. There’s no one else in this building, apart from you and me. She shouldn’t be here.”

To be continued.

If you enjoyed this chapter, follow me @farah.jay and stay tuned for Chapter 2. Don’t forget to RESTEEM and UPVOTE!

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