Ethan
Honestly, I don't know why I agreed. Maybe it was out of some morbid curiosity, or I was hoping that I could use this against him. Or maybe it was just that I wanted that drug. Whatever the case was, it definitely was not to spend time with him like he wanted, nor help him in any positive way.
Apparently, he had everything needed to dispose of the corpse from what I could see in his luxury SUV. He had a tarp, rope, and a couple shovels. Honestly, why did he need to hide the body? With the world ending, why bother?
"Look Riley," I said to him. "I'm in no mood for jokes."
"I'm not joking." He responded immediately."It's at my place right now."
I had so many questions, but the first one I asked was, "So you used that drug to kill someone?"
Riley fidgeted and answered, "Well, not exactly."
"What do you mean?"
"All I did was provide the drug to someone who wanted to die." For the first time since I have known him, Riley looked like he was at the end of his rope.
To what depths can this asshole sink? He already was pretty low in my opinion, but hearing this, I see he has sunk lower. He really is the worst human being on the planet.
"That's assisted suicide." I told him, "You could go to jail for that."
I realized how pointless my statement was when he pointed it out. "Well guess what?" He said, "Drug or no drug, none of this matters." He turns towards the setting sun and the meteor in front of it. "We're all going to die anyway."
The cold and unfeeling tone of his words sent a chill down my spine. I became really scared of him, but I refuse to show it. I asked him, "When did you give that person the drug?"
"The day before yesterday." he said as he unlocked the car.
"Wait a second," I said as I thought more about this, "What kind of drug is this?"
"It's basically a lethal injection, but in pill form." He answered.
Another question screamed into my head. One I was afraid to ask. One I did not want to ask because it would be an indication that I still had feelings for him. Ultimately, my curiosity got the better of me and I asked the question anyway.
"What were you planning to do with this?"
He avoided the question and unlocked the doors to the SUV. I suddenly regretted coming along. I was trying to gather the strength and courage to run away, but I was frozen where I stood. He opened the passenger side door and held it for me like one would with a date, and guided me in. "That's for me to know," He answered, "And you do not need to know."
Where does this guy get off on telling me what I need to know and what I don't? It made me wonder what this asshole was hiding. As much as I was afraid to be in the same room with this guy, deep down I knew that he wouldn't physically harm me. But even that gave me very little comfort. Why did he have this drug? Why does he have more than one dose?
The drive to his home was quiet and awkward but as we passed through the streets of Dallas, the chaos I tried to escape still ensued. Although I was still scared of Riley, I preferred him over what was happening out there.
After fifteen, maybe twenty, minutes we arrived at a skyscraper that could easily pass for a hotel. Riley pulled into an underground garage. The gate was not a simple bar that raised and lowered, it was a trellis gate. He punched in a code and the gate raised to allow the resident to enter. The garage, like the library, seemed untouched by the apocalyptic disaster that was occurring outside.
Riley parked the car in his designated spot and shut off the engine. Before he opened the door to let us out, he said, "Thank you, Ethan."
The gratitude caught me off guard. I still felt uneasy around him, so I couldn't be angry with him. I nodded and gave him a reply, "N-no problem."
"I didn't want to get you involved," He said, "But as you can see, I don't have much upper body strength and moving a corpse is surprisingly difficult for someone of my stature."
As far as our bodies go, Riley is basically a twig. He was always toned but still thin. I, on the other hand had a medium stature and I am slightly muscular now than I was ten years ago. Based on this, it looked like I would be doing the heavy lifting.
Riley took out the tarp and handed it to me, while he took the rope. "Follow me." he said after he closed and locked the car. We headed to the elevator and he pushed the call button. After a couple of minutes, the elevator opened up.
We quietly entered and Riley pressed for the twelfth floor. I stood at the rear of the elevator car and kept Riley in my sight. If this bastard wanted to do some sort of suicide pact with me or if he was trying to kill me, I wouldn't give him the chance.
The elevator chimed stating we arrived at the twelfth floor. The door opened to a dark room and Riley went ahead. Once he set foot out of the elevator, the hallway suddenly filled with light. He looked back at me and saw I was waiting. I stepped forward when he noticed I didn't move.
"C'mon," He called to me, "The lights here have motion detectors. Saves on the building's light bill."
We walked to a door on the other end of the hallway and Riley reached into his pocket and grabbed his keys. He fumbled with the keys and they fell to the floor. I picked them up for him before he could get them. It was then I noticed something. He still had the jade turtle keychain I gave him. Why did he still have this after all this time? Why did he keep it if I meant so little to him?
Before I could ask him anything, he took the keys from my hand and uttered a simple "Thanks." He found the key to his condo and opened the door. "Come on in." gesturing for me to come inside. "Good thing the electricity is still running."
He turned on the light switch and the whole place lit up, revealing Riley's condo. It was a studio loft apartment that appeared to be three times bigger than my apartment. "You live here by yourself?"
"Yeah," he replied, "Just me."
I'm amazed at Riley's loft, however I couldn't help but notice how stereotypical this was of him. Living in a luxurious studio loft, having a high paying job, driving fancy cars. This guy has it all. What more could he want? Why would he even bother with me now?
"Here it is." He looked at a sofa in the living area. What I saw next, truly shocked me. On it was the body of a teenage boy. He looked like he was either barely starting high school, or halfway through it. He looked so peaceful, which was eerie, and the situation before me raised even further questions.
"What the hell, Riley?" I asked, unable to hold the uneasiness back any longer. "That's a kid. You gave this boy the drug? What the hell is wrong with you?"
"Look," he replied, "I didn't know he was a kid when he reached out to me. He told me he was nineteen."
"And you didn't bother to check for ID?"
"I didn't let him fuck me, if that's what you're thinking." he argued back.
"Well that's good to know." I said sarcastically. "But still, why didn't you talk him out of it?"
"And tell him what exactly?" he yelled back. "In case you haven't noticed, Ethan, I am not exactly qualified when it comes to feelings."
This is the first time I have seen Riley really angry. If I remember correctly, he wasn't this angry with me at that time our relationship ended. "Even then, I didn't expect you to lack common sense, Riley."
Riley angrily turned his back to me and he noticed something was wrong. "That's strange." He walked toward the table in the dining area. On it was an empty cup of noodles and a fork.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Riley picked up the ramen cup and was observing it. "I didn't eat ramen."
"What?" If he didn't eat that ramen cup, then who did? Once that question popped into my head, a sense of dread filled my very soul as well as the feeling I was being watched. Suddenly I started to breathe faster as the fear gripped me. I slowly turned around to see that the dead boy was actually standing behind me. A dazed but angry look in his eyes.
"AAAAAHHHH!!!!" I screamed. I stepped back only to slip and fall back into a sitting position. For a second, I thought he was a zombie preparing to attack and eat us.
Luckily, that wasn't the case as the boy spoke and directed his anger at Riley.
"Welcome back, you fucking con-artist."