Arthur left the house in his old rusty ford. The red colour had started to fade and the tyres needed a change. The last seats were dumped with clothes. The car passed through the neighbourhood most families were having their dinner, watching television. Some young college kids were having a pool party. Surely their parents were not home, like Arthur who won't be going home tonight.
On the main street, traffic was light, diners shined their bright red, blue, yellow neon lights, an invitation but not for Arthur. The people in them had their plates full and smiled brightly. Arthur didn't look at them. He did not want to be reminded, what all he could not have in his life.
Arthur took a turn towards the highway; he did not know where he was going but he needed to get away from this happy town that reminded him of his sad life. Arthur stopped at a gas station. The tires skidded slightly on the gravel before coming to a halt.
It was almost dark, cool air blew, the tube lights flickered and moths buzzed around lights for some warmth. Arthur filled up his tank and bought some gin with the left-over money. He twisted the metal cap and took a sip before getting in the car. "Don't just start drinking here" advised the young attendee. "Or else what?" growled Arthur, "I am not scaring away your customers, there is nobody here, chill!"
He started to drive towards the airport parking. There was no airport in the town, it was supposed to be made but they could only finish the parking and the runway before the funding dried up. Youngster used the runway for drag racing and partying. Arthur passed through many brightly worn dresses and drunk adrenaline pumped beings on his way to the parking lot. He ignored them all.
Arthur drove his car into the multi floored parking lot. While climbing the floor, he came across many abandoned cars, some broke down, some crushed like soda cans after the drag race went a little too crazy. Arthur reached the top floor and parked his car in a corner. The moon looked closer from here, almost within reach, if Arthur could just break his windshield and leap into the sky.
Under him cars zoomed and roared on the runway. They went so fast in the darkness that their lights felt like red and yellow strokes on a black canvas. Groups of young men and women sat on both sides of the runway, cheering and drinking. Oblivious to the fact that one miscalculation by the drivers and the cars can ram them over.
But Arthur had no interest in touching the moon or winning any race, he just sat in the car and took sips after sips of the bitter gin. Eyelids were starting to feel a little heavy and his body relaxed into the worn-out seats. He started to think if he could spend his night here. But where would he go tomorrow. Tomorrow, right now felt far away, something Arthur would not have to deal with.
"Can I go to my old, mates?" Arthur Asked himself. "Can I walk into the police precinct and asks for favours? "What would I say? That I want to finish a book and I will stay here till I don't." Arthur took another sip. "I can settle in the files room, tell them I'm here for research keep sending me coffee and cookies till… god knows when."
But Arthur had no friends in his last job, he used to tell himself that he is focusing on his job but the reality was he was a bit of a loner. Even if someone tried to befriend him, he would get them into fights with them over some trivial issue.
Once he had punched his fellow junior officer because, he had stepped on Arthur's shoes. Arthur did apologise later but the Junior kept his distance from him after that. Nobody liked being on a case with him. Arthur always wanted things to be done his way and never shared any credit. Officers were delighted when Arthur left to become a full time Author.
"No, I won't go to the precinct, I don't need anybody's help", sweat beads were starting to appear on his forehead the gin was warming him up. Arthur turned to crack open the window. He saw a truck driving in. "I thought, only I came here" said Arthur to himself.
Arthur had been coming here, whenever he felt to distance himself from his regular life. He used to think, coming out here will clear his mind. That this seclusion will give him a fresh motivation for his book. And it did, Arthur did feel better coming here and wrote better the next day but that spurt would soon fade out.
Arthur took another sip and thought about why he was here today. It was not for motivation or seclusion. It was because he was thrown out of his house. He felt bad about screaming at her wife and horrible about picking up the knife, that too in front of his kid Daniel.
"I love them both, I don't know what happened. I was frustrated and Nadia really tried her best to provoke me." Arthur complained like he was with some therapist or a dear friend. He had neither in his life, he was all alone in his car.
"But I'm not a bad guy" he went on. "I'm not a bad guy, everyone loses it sometimes. I'm not a bad guy"
A man walked out from the truck; he wore blue overalls. His body was covered but he looked strong, tall-taller than Arthur. Arthur could only get a glimpse of his grey eyes before the man walked away downstairs. "Strange," Arthur said, "Just enjoy the view, what are you walking away to?" but in a hushed tone.
Arthur heard some noise behind him. Something being dragged. Little pebbles pressed under something heavy, created scratches on the concrete floor and made irritating noise. Arthur turned and saw the blue overall man again; he was pulling up a rolled carpet towards his truck.
People sometimes dump trash stuff in the parking lot. And the less fortunate often came here to find something of use. Arthur saw the man struggling to push the carpet. "Maybe he has rolled in more stuff in the carpet then he could, pickup. You can be greedy for diamonds and be greedy for junk too," Contemplated Arthur.
Should he help the man, Arthur thought. "But am I the helping kind?" A voice inside asked him. "When was the last time he helped someone?" he thought for a second, "Off course I help others, I'm not a bad guy, I will help this guy, get his carpet in the truck."
Arthur turned and was about to open the door, when through the window he saw the man push too hard, the carpet unrolled and there was a glimpse of blond hair and blood marks inside the carpet. But before Arthur could have a clear view, the man quickly rolled the carpet again.
Arthur was shocked, what was in the carpet? Did he just a girl's body in the carpet. The police inspector in him acted swiftly even though he was drunk. He took out his phone to click pictures of the man and his truck. He pointed his phone camera at the registration plate of the truck. He pressed capture and a flash sparked from his phone.
The grey eyed man turned to look into Arthur's direction. Arthur quickly ducks down. "Oh no!" Arthur exhaled with his breadth. Arthur's concentration was focused in the killer's direction. He could hear footsteps getting louder coming towards him.
His heartbeat was thumping in his eardrums. His ear burned, like someone was pouring boiling water on them. How he could he be so foolish, capturing a killer's picture with flash on, his thoughts raced. Then the sound of the footsteps receded. An engine started in the other direction. The engines noise got louder and then slowly felt far away. And then there was complete undisturbed silence.
Arthur raised his head. He picked through the window. The truck was gone.