Gunnar Ross Chapter 3.5: An Old Man and A Ring

Chapter 3 was too long to post, so this is the end of it.

“I believe you THINK you saw magic,”
she said.

“That’s exactly what I thought you
would say,” he stood up, dusted off his pants, and walked past her
to Arnold’s door.

“I am sorry,” he said, not looking
back. “I’ll go tell him too. That mugging took a lot out of me.”

Gunnar left Arnold’s office and walked
into the deep freezer, first. He stood in the cold and let the
coolness wash over him. He wished that he didn’t finish his flask.
He looked at the finger he wore the ring. He noticed there was a
small burn where the ring sat. His phone went off in his pocket, he
got a text.

He took his phone out, it was an
automated message from his landlord.

“Courtesy reminder that rent is due in
four days, of $1,300 plus an extra $300 in backpay”

Gunnar proceeded to pretend he didn’t
see it. He knew he wasn’t going to be able to pay it. He was
already considering asking Alice if he could stay on her couch until
he found somewhere else. He shook his head. That was a problem for
later. He grabbed a box of fries to restock the line, and left the
deep freezer.

After restocking, he went looking for
John, who was mopping slowly, with his back turned to Gunnar. Gunnar
approached slowly.

“Hey, John,” Gunnar said, “Can we
talk?”

John didn’t look at him, “I don’t
know, is this twerp worth talking to?”

Gunnar winced, “John, I’m genuinely
sorry, I’ve just been go-”

John interrupted him, “Going through a
hard time? Yeah, aren’t we all? You know you aren’t the only one
with shit going on, Gunnar.”

John suddenly threw down the mop, and
started laying into Gunnar, who was taken aback by John’s outburst.
“You think I WANT to be working at this shitty restaurant, working
with a drunk? Hell no! I would much rather be enjoying my summer, but
my mother is sick and needs me to work so she can get her medicine!
I’m putting my life aside for other people. Can you say the same?”

Johns watch beeped, it was 8pm. “Good
night, Gunnar, Hope your day off will give you time to think,”John
snapped, then walked away to start closing.

The three coworkers did their chores in
silence. Arnold was sitting in his office counting the money from the
register. Like most Wednesdays, the register will have been short
exactly twenty dollars. Coincidentally, Arnold went out to play cards
on Wednesdays.

Everyone clocked out, and walked away
from the building as if they were strangers.

At least tomorrow is our day off, Gunnar thought.

Gunnar got home with no incident. He
spent the entire walk straining his ears listening for sign of the
old man, No such commotion happened. He walked up to his apartment
and saw, posted on his door, was a notice that was essentially a
printed out version of the warning he received earlier by text. He
took it off. He unlocked his door, and walked inside.

He decided he would worry about the
whole magic business tomorrow. Tonight, he needed rest. He opened the
fridge and grabbed the six pack and walked to his couch. He grabbed
his Playstation 3 controller and sat down with a tired sigh. He
loaded up God of War 2, and spent a few hours drinking his beer and
playing his game. Gunnar considered this the best part of his week.
No responsibility, no burgers, no beeps, no Karens yelling at him
about ketchup being too sweet.

Remembering the previous night lingered
on his mind. Who was the old man? Why did he have a fascination with
Gunnar? How did he use that ring? As he continued thinking about the
other night, his game play got sloppy. He got multiple Game Overs,
and was getting frustrated. He eventually gave up, saved and turned
the console off. He decided to watch Futurama instead, that always
helped.

Again, his focus was elsewhere. He
replayed the same scene five times before just turning the TV off,
and slammed the remote on his coffee table. It was now 10pm, and for
once, Gunnar didn’t drink the whole six pack. He only had three
beers. He decided to go to bed, voluntarily this time.

Gunnar slept restlessly, waking up
multiple times to use the bathroom, or to walk off a charlie horse in
his leg. He was still sore and tired from the past two days. On one
trip to the bathroom, however, he heard knocking. Probably a late
night visitor to my neighbor, he thought. He did his business and
laid back in bed. More knocking. He finally began to suspect it was
at his door. I don’t have friends, Gunnar thought again.

He made his way to the front door, which
was being knocked on again. He looked through the peephole. Gunnar
was speechless, because standing outside his door, looking very
impatient, was the old man.