Chapter-4 The New Tenant
1452 Words
I am smiling gleefully as I see Hiram outside my door.
“So, Hiram are you lost because as far I remember it’s not Riverdale”
“Ha Ha…Shut up. I am here…..”, he says in a fake annoyed tone.
“Oh, Now I knowwww, you are following me and all huh, well I know I am attractive, but I am a cop. You should have thought before stalking me”
“Hello, Mrs. I am attractive, don’t get ahead of yourself okay, I saw an advertisement that this house needs a tenant that’s why I came here”
“Oh. Well.”
My mom peaks from behind me,
“Yeah, son come on in, I was waiting for a tenant”
“Sure Ma’am”, replies politely
“Luna, could you show him his room?”
“Yeah, mom, I will. You should rest”
“Okay, goodnight”, my mom says.
I watch as my mom walk into her room and turn towards this new man, now even though I am having fun pulling his leg, I don’t trust him, at all.
“Well, let’s go Mr.Lodge”
“Sure Luna Lovegood”, I turn around swiftly,
“Hey, I thought Luna was a tease free name, nobody ever called me that”
“WHAT, that is a shock, I mean it’s Harry Potter for God’s sake, what did you kids do, drugs?”
“No, we did fizzle rocks that you provided Mr. Lodge”, I say in faux innocence while batting my eyelashes.
“Ugh, fine, I dug my own grave with the whole drug thing, you win”
“I know, now follow me”
I take him upstairs, to the room mom and I cleaned just after dad died, it was storeroom, it has so many memories of dad, of us. But now we have transferred all of that to our rooms. Again weird human psychology, When he was alive all his favorite stuff was locked up in a room and now when he is no more, it’s everywhere.
“This is you room, there is small cupboard, where you can keep your clothes and there is an attached bathroom. You can use the kitchen if you want to cook, but we are cool with you eating outside as well. In any case you have to be back before 10 pm at night if you want to live here.”
“Thank you, I like it.”, he says with a smile.
“Sure, yeah, you can give the advance to mom the next morning”, I say awkwardly, because somehow, it is awkward.
“Um, okay”, he says uncertainly, probably sensing that I feel awkward.
“since, it is a storm outside I am letting you stay, tomorrow I will do your background check and then decide if you can stay or not”, I say.
“What? Lovegood be good”, he says teasingly.
“Listen Mr. Hiram Harrison”, his posture straightens at the mention of his real name, his face becomes more serious.
“Just because we met at some unusual circumstances and you helped me, doesn’t make you a trustworthy man in my eyes, so you better be prepared with all the documents, tomorrow, and if not, I will throw you out. Myself”
He keeps staring at me,
“Am I clear, Mr. Hiram Harrison”, I say a little louder.
“Yes. I get you loud and clear.” His friendly demeanor vanishes, and he looks like a villain of a typical movie without his otherwise goofy smile. Whatever, I don’t care, I feel something is off about him even though I can not put a finger on it.
“As long as we are clear, I will leave”, I say as I walk towards the door.
I leave the room and go downstairs and see my mom awake, standing with her hands folded.
“Why were you so rude to him?”, my mom says.
“Who?”, I say.
“Oh common, don’t act all who? What did I do?, mom says with an eyeroll.
Why were you rude to Hiram”, she asks again.
“Mom, he is a stranger, he helped me when I had to catch a druggy kid and you know he ran faster than me, plus now he is at our home. There is something off about him, I can’t say what or for sure, but it can’t be coincidence.”, I reply.
“You overthink, Luna”
“No mom, anyway with dad not here somebody has to think about the protection. I am letting you keep tenant, but he will stay here only if he shows all the documents tomorrow”
I start walking towards my room, when mom yells from behind
“If you act like this, you will never have a boyfriend”
“I don’t want one. okay? Goodnight”
“Fine good night”, mom walks back to her room and slams the door.
I close the door and stand beside it. There is something wrong with this man, I am never this friendly or joke around even with people I know, and he is a stranger and I started joking around with him, that is so not like me. He is fishy. I never feel this comfortable with anyone who is a good person, the only people I am comfortable with are either policemen or criminal, and he is definitely not a policeman, so now what remains to be seen is what crime did he do?
The next morning, I wake up early than usual, ready to check my new tenant carefully. I feel sorry for behaving so rudely with Hiram, but I can’t take the safety of my family lightly, I can’t. He thinks because I talked to him a little nicely, I am willing to forsake my mom’s safety. I don’t like it when someone takes me lightly, and I have already let my guard down around him because I thought, he was someone I met in road for like once, but it turns out he is going to invade my house. Mom doesn’t get it, and plus now that she is ill, I can’t put the burden on her, I recall my first meeting with the sergeant.
“Luna Taylor, this is your first day reporting and I didn’t want to burden you on your first day, but I must tell you this, since it’s an urgent news and cannot be neglected”
“Yes sir.”
“Luna I am afraid that your father’s death was a plotted one, somebody wanted him dead and probably will target you and your family. So, you need to be careful. Be alert and take care of your mother.”
I come back from my flashback. I need to be careful and find out who killed my dad.
I walk outside to the living room and find Hiram sitting on the couch talking to someone on the phone, the cellphone looks outdated, a button phone. I hear him say,
“Yeah, ship them here, yes I need them, yes, by tomorrow”
I step forward and the floor creaks, I curse the damn floor, while he goes silent for a while and then he speaks,
“I will call you…….later”
Then he turns around his face serious and probably showing a hint of annoyance and irritation, but then a million-dollar smile breaks out on his face and looks at me,
“Trying to eavesdrop on my conversation Luna, not so good now, is it?”
I look at him with annoyance, because I know this smile, this smile is of when someone is an expert at hiding things and doesn’t wanna reveal them, Damn it is going to be hard to get him to speak.
I hate myself for feeling this but, I hate the fact that he is hiding something from me.
“Aww.. don’t get so annoyed, it was not my girlfriend I swear. I am only for you”, he says sweetly.
I hate him because he is trying to cover up about whatever he was talking about. And I hate myself, because some part inside of me is hoping that he is not a threat to my family, and I hate myself more because him saying that he is only for me makes butterflies in my stomach go free.
I am one hundred percent sure now, that something is fishy because I always fall for the bad guy.
- Writer
