Room One-Three-Ow: #1 - I Hold An Image Of The Ashtray Girl

Nightmare. Must be. Nowhere. Everywhere. Trees. So many trees in the night. Their shadows moved. Slided and slithered. Someone at the end of the path. Couldn't make out the features. The eyes shone like headlights. Trees shivered. The branches waving. It's too dark to understand anything. Hence, it must be a dream. I felt my legs growing. I felt the darkness overcoming me.

A female voice spoke lightly.

I woke up with a startle. I felt for my face. It was wet. Tears? No. Not mine. I looked at the ceiling. It's wet. It's dripping. It's damp.

I sighed. Someone was sleeping beside me. A woman. A girl.

Who was she? My head hurt. My guts felt squirmy. Butterflies in my belly. Butterflies. Ha ha! I hated butterflies. They had large wings. They flies. I rubbed my eyes painfully. Who was she?

I touched her hair. She looked unfamiliar to me. She was naked. She was warm to touch. She had a large tattoo on her left deltoid. It exclaimed, 'DELIRIUM' in ink. She woke up. She smiled at me.

I walked to the bathroom. I washed my face. The mirror was dirty. I couldn't see anything with it.

I went back to the bed. She was smoking. She looked magnificent. I took the ashtray from her knees and gave her a cup to pour her cigarette into. She asked me why. What's the point of having an ashtray if no one could use it.

'It's from a girl I loved.' I replied simply.

She laughed. And she asked me what was the name of the girl I loved. Then she laughed some more.

She asked me if I had remembered her. I shook my head lightly. The smoke from her cigarette was giving me a headache. She wore her clothes. It was a yellow top. She asked me more questions. She asked me if I could still remembered having sex with her last night. I shook my head. She asked me about my nightmare.

I told her it was about getting lost in the dark woods. She asked me if I could still remember a female voice. I shook my head. I really couldn't remember more.

She asked me if this was our last encounter, then what would I ask of her. I thought for a while and asked about her tattoo.

She slipped her feet into her sandals and said, 'Just called me Dee...'

Then she left.

I looked at the ashtray in the dark of solitude. I wished I could remember whom I loved so deeply before.

It was time to get to work. I went to the closet. I pulled out my working clothes. It was a red uniform. On the back, it was printed, 'PROPERTY OF ANG WEI KIAT'

Hmm...

I dressed myself without the aid of the mirror. The ceiling was still leaking. I placed the ashtray carefully on the coffee table and exited the apartment. Room 130.

Rows and rows of rooms stretched down the corridor. It was very dim in the morning. I found my way to the registration counter. I was glad I was not lost. Like in my dreams.

The security guard behind the registration counter was crippled and sickly. He coughed and coughed. He stank. He was maintenance as well as the supervisor.

I looked at his name tag and it stated his name was Senneti. I greeted him and he greeted back in hacking coughs. I asked him about the leaking ceiling. He shrugged and coughed some more. I smiled and exited the building. I returned back and asked him about Dee. Senneti shrugged and coughed some more. I exited the building.

It was a very dark morning. The sun was lazy. Or sick like Senneti.

I reached my tiny cubicle amidst thousands of tiny cubicles in my company. Everyone wore a red uniform. I punched numbers into my computer all day long. Just punching numbers. A lady walked into my cubicle. She claimed that she was my co-worker. She worked in a tiny cubicle several yards down the row. She said her name was Iris. She too was punching numbers into a computer. She had large and beautiful eyes.

We made useless small talks about the weather and our crappy lives. We laughed a little. She asked me if I had noticed anything amiss. She mentioned something about seeing things. I asked her why is everyone asking me questions. I smiled a bit. She didn't look amused. She checked with me again if I noticed anything different. Did I see anything that shouldn't belong.

I shrugged and shook my head. She was not amused. As she was walking away, I asked her if she ever gave me an ashtray. Iris asked me why is everyone asking her questions. She must be bad in bed. I spent the rest of my day, punching numbers into a computer and thinking about Dee. How could I forget sex? What a dork.

Evening looked like morning as it was night. Everything was dark. It reminded me of the dark woods in my dreams. The one with trembling trees and butterflies. Were there butterflies? I don't remember. Butterflies freaked me out. They had large wings. They flies.

I reached my apartment. I checked my unit number again. Room 130. It was a pain to forget things easily. The last thing I want was to forget where I stayed. The electricity was down. Nothing worked in my apartment. And the ceiling was still leaking. I must speak to Senneti again in the morning.

As I put a pail to collect the leak, someone was at my door. It was a neighbour. He was scrawny and had large dopey ears. He said his name was Years.

Years asked me if I heard anything strange recently. I shook my head and said that I'm not sure. I also said that I was tired and needed a rest, possibly now. I was an unfriendly guy in that sort of way. He shrugged and went off. He stayed at room 155.

I saw the shadows swarm on my walls. They danced and jiggled in the moonlight. I lost my appetite to sleep.

I spent the whole night at the window, trying to remember the owner of the ashtray by the ghastly moonshine.



To be continued...