“Shit! I forgot again,” Tod Stephenson muttered as he pulled open the door to the apartment complex.
He retrieved his phone from his pocket, then dialed the landlord’s number only to reach voicemail.
“Hey, Mr. Roberts. It’s Tod from 5B. Could you do something about the broken lock on the building’s front door? I don’t like it. Doesn’t feel safe for me and my girl. Appreciate it!”
Feeling a tad better—and very hungry due to the pizza box he’d brought back with him, its scent having lingered around his car for the past twenty minutes—he headed up the elevator and down the hall to his apartment.
Once again, his keys proved to be useless bits of metal as his daughter had apparently left it unlocked, again. He shook his head then pushed open the door. Muffled music could be heard from her room in the back of the apartment.
“Jess! I got pizza,” he yelled after sliding it onto the kitchen table. “Come and eat while it’s hot!”
He dropped his lunchbox by the sink, then opened the fridge to grab a cold one. The hissing sound of the gas escaping the can was music to his ears. Even though he could only afford budget brew, it tasted like the best thing on earth when he got home from work.
Beer in hand, he proceeded to prepare the table, adding a plate, knife, and fork for Jessica. Then he ripped a piece of paper towel for each of them. For whatever reason, she preferred to ignore his efficient method of folding the pizza and insisted on creating dishes that needed washing. But she took care of the wash, so he had nothing to complain about, really.
He sat down and opened the cardboard box, releasing an even more powerful scent of garlic, tomato, cheese, and bacon. “Jessica! I’m going to start without you!”
Without a peep from her still, he grabbed his first slice and smiled at it. “I’ve given her proper notice,” he muttered before folding the thin wedge and inhaling half of it in one bite. Three more bites and the slice had disappeared.
He grabbed his second slice but paused before biting into it.
Something was odd. Jessica hadn’t even turned off her music or lowered it. Maybe she hadn’t heard him at all?
Slice in hand, he headed down the hall, the muffled music growing slightly louder with each step. He knocked on her door. “Jess!”
He rapped on it again. Louder. “Jessica! Cut that music off now!”
Holding his pizza slice with one hand, he turned the knob of her bedroom door and pushed it open with the other.
“Jessica?”
But what he saw on the bed made him lose more than his appetite.