The Void Read online

  I tried to ignore it for the rest of the day, which wasn’t easy. I busied myself at home by cleaning. Now that my parents knew what was going on, I had a sneaky suspicion that they might unexpectedly stop by. Mum would say they were just in the area, but they were never just in the area. Thankfully, I located the awful smell, some old cheese that had fallen in between my fridge and oven. I hadn’t had any cheese since coming back, which meant it was from before the pod. Just finding it and throwing it away made the place smell better. I felt as if I could breathe for the first time since coming home. With my apartment more ‘parent ready’ I thought about what to do next. One of these days I was going to have to face the reality of my dwindling bank account. I did quite well with all the product endorsements I got, even though I was mostly paid in things rather than money. Still, I rarely had to pay for food, coffee, or beauty products, so the small bit of money that came my way was stretched quite far. However, without a large sum of cash in my account each month, I was unable to save. I had enough freebies coming my way to lead a good life, but I had nothing to fall back on. I’d always known this, but I hadn’t really understood my lack of a safety net until now. No wonder my poor father was always worried about me. What was I doing with my life? I would deal with this another day. I was desperate for coffee, but I didn’t want to go down to the café again. Marty would give me free coffee, and I would be forced to post my first photo. I couldn’t keep getting free drinks from him without doing something in return. That had been the agreement from the start. Instead I took a long walk, past the café and down several roads until I reached a small internet café. I was surprised to see the computers were all occupied. Who didn’t have their own computer these days? Didn’t people own phones? Weren’t phones small computers in their own right? The café was the sort of place where I would usually never set foot. There was no flow to the aesthetic, no interesting quirks to look at, or unusual menu items. A black board stood on the counter with the words ‘soup of the day’ on it, and then no mention of what that soup might be. I took a seat in the corner, a good place to observe, and ordered a cup of coffee. It was strong, bitter, and a little better than Marty’s. I spent most mornings telling my ‘friends’ about the BEST COFFEE IN THE WORLD, when really it was the best free coffee in the world. I thought about ordering food, but remembered my lack of incoming funds, so ordered a second coffee instead. Two cups of coffee were the same price of one of Marty’s so I didn’t feel so bad. I powered back on a caffeine high, and wolfed down some cereal the moment I got home. Food and coffee done, I felt a little more ready to face the day. Still, no matter how much I tried to get on with it, the nagging sensation something was wrong continued to plague me. Mum rang, so my parents must’ve been feeling the same.

  “Darling, I called Alison this morning,” Mum said. Alison was Jon’s mother, a woman so sweet it was hard to imagine Jon had come from her.

  My heart pounded. “Is…uh…how’s Jon?” I managed to ask after a pause.

  “She hasn’t heard from Jon in a while. The last she heard he was going away for some television show, but he was very secretive about it. Said he wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about it. She thought he’d be back by now but he hasn’t been in touch.”

  “Did you tell her about the show?” I asked.

  “No. I wanted to, but I didn’t want her to worry. I said I’d call you and see if you’ve heard from him. She seemed a little worried. She said it’s not like him to not call.”

  “Jon calls his mum?”

  “I don’t think Jon is nearly as strong as you think he is,” she said. “Have you heard from him yet?”

  “Nothing. Not even Keri.”

  “Have you called?”

  “I figured they’d call me when they got out, but nothing. Maybe they feel bad that they made it and I didn’t.”

  “Keri would’ve phoned you. She’s got a heart of gold that one,” my mother said. My mother had taken such a shining to Keri that I had often wondered if she wished she’d had a daughter instead of me. I didn’t blame her, though. Keri was lovely. Mum was right. She would’ve called me.

  “Maybe I got my days mixed up, or maybe they decided…” Decided to do what? Stay in there longer? Not a chance. “I don’t know. I…”

  “Darling, why don’t you give them a call? Just to see if everything is okay. Alison is going to worry if she doesn’t hear from them, and I’m sure Keri’s parents are thinking the same.” Keri’s parents didn’t like Jon, and none of us knew whether they were still on speaking terms. She didn’t talk about them much so it was hard to know for sure.

  “You don’t think I should wait a bit longer?”

  “What for?”

  What for? To mentally prepare myself for the embarrassment. To relive the very thing I was trying so desperately to forget. “Okay. I’ll call now.”

  I stared at my phone after that, unsure of who to call first. Either way they would probably be together, and the phone would more than likely get passed from one to another. I clicked on Keri’s name.

  “Hi,” came her cheery voice and I breathed a sigh of relief until she carried on. “I’m not available to take your call right now, but please leave a message after the beep.”

  Shit!

  I tried Jon’s but, as expected, didn’t get through either. His message made me groan.

  “Hi, you’ve reached Jon, but I’m too busy doing something I really enjoy to take your call right now. Some like it back and forth, but I like it up and down….(a pause)…so when I’m finished brushing my teeth I’ll call you back.”

  “Jon, it’s Ryan. You back? Call me.”

  Okay, so the challenge was over and neither one of them had their phones. Had something happened to them on the way back? Maybe they’d gotten into an accident. What if they were lying in some hospital somewhere without any form of identification on them? That wouldn’t make sense. Surely they would’ve had their phones on them when they left. Had they been mugged? Hurt? Something had been nagging at me since yesterday, but I hadn’t allowed myself to worry about it yet. Now that I’d actively tried to call them, the mild unease that I had been feeling was turning into full blown panic. When my phone rang I dropped it from fright, and struggled off the beanbag to retrieve it. I was so sure it was going to be Keri or Jon, but I probably should’ve known it wouldn’t be.

  “Mum,” I said. “Sorry. I dropped my phone.”

  “Did you call them?”

  “Both their phones went to voicemail.”

  “What on earth is going on?”

  “I have no idea,” I said. “It doesn’t make sense. They should be back. Look, maybe we’re worrying for nothing. I’m going to Jon’s now. Maybe they lost their phones or something. They’re probably at home, completely unaware that we’re worried about them. You know what Jon’s like, he wouldn’t even stop to consider that I might be wondering where he was.” Keri would though, I thought but didn’t say so.

  “Okay, that’s a good idea. What about the others? Do you know who they are? Can’t you contact them?”

  “Let me try Jon and Keri first. Don’t say anything to Alison just yet.”

  Jon stayed close by, a little too close I used to think, and wondered once again why I was friends with the guy. I pushed away the thought. If anything had happened to him, the guilt from these thoughts would get to me. I was sure nothing had happened to them. Surely we would’ve heard something by now if there’d been some trouble. I wished I’d gone by foot rather than car, even though it was a little far to walk. My hands trembled as I drove, and I clutched the steering wheel like I was learning to drive for the first time. Everyone seemed to be out on the roads today too, but that was normal for the area, I hadn’t noticed it before. Jon and Keri stayed in a small apartment, with only one parking space, which meant one of them always had to park outside. This, most of the time, ended up being Keri because Jon claimed his car couldn’t handle the sun damage. Finding parking as a visitor was always a problem, a
nd most of the time I ended up around the block. This time was no different, and once I eventually found parking I had already wasted a considerable amount of time. I’d have been better off walking. Keri’s car was parked outside as usual, but I couldn’t tell whether it had been used lately. Still, the sight of it gave me hope, as if nothing bad could’ve happened if the car was still there. It was amazing what small things you held onto when you wanted some reassurance. When I got there, the first thing I noticed was the closed windows, and all my reassurance faded. I knocked, then knocked again. Nothing. I waited several minutes in case they were sleeping before knocking once more. Then I tried calling out their names. Nothing. As I turned to leave, a door opened, and I jumped around in surprise.

  “Can I help you?”

  In all close-knit apartment living there is always that one person who knows everyone’s business. Where I stayed it was Anne, or Ol’ Miss Wobbly as I preferred to call her. She was always ‘just walking by’. Great when you were curious about someone else’s business, but not so good when you wanted to be left alone. Here it was Wrinkles, not the most original name, and not even the most accurate. Her clothes were more wrinkly than her face, but she was one of those people who presented themselves in a way that made them seem older upon first glance. She was far worse than Ol’ Miss Wobbly when it came to her curiosity, and I had no doubt she’d watched me knock the whole time. She was most interested in Jon and Keri, partly because she lived right next door to them, and partly because she was fascinated that Jon wasn’t with a white girl. Also, unlike Wobbly, she wasn’t all that nice. Then again, if anyone would know if Jon and Keri were back, it would be she.

  “Hi Wri…uh…hi. I’m Ryan, I—”

  “Yes, I know who you are. You’re friends with the tall boy with the muscles.” Despite knowing so much about everything that was going on, she still hadn’t managed to learn their names. Jon was always the tall boy with the muscles, and Keri was usually the girl with the hair. I had no idea what she called me, but I didn’t really want to know. She didn’t seem to like me much. She only had eyes for Jon, but that was because he flirted with her non-stop. If only she knew the sort of things he said about her behind her back.

  “Yes, have you seen him?”

  “I have not. I was hoping you were him when I heard all the racket going on out here. He told me he was going away on holiday, lucky boy, but he’s not back yet. He must be loving his time away. Probably won’t even want to come back, not that I blame him. This place is too small for a boy like him, although I dread to think who will move in if he moves out,” she rattled on. Unfortunately, as with most busybodies, she had a willingness to divulge every thought that popped into her mind.

  “So, he hasn’t come back yet? What about Keri?”

  “Who?”

  “His girlfriend.”

  “Oh,” she said without bothering to hide her disgust. “The girl with the hair? Maybe they broke up.”

  “Her car is still outside.”

  “I haven’t seen her either. Are they okay? Is there trouble?” She perked up at this idea.

  “No trouble, I was just wondering if they were back from their…uh…holiday. If you see them, tell them Ryan was looking for them.”

  “Ryan, yes,” she said as she assessed me up and down. I wondered how many seconds my name stayed in her mind before she reverted to the name she had for me. Or maybe she didn’t have a name for me at all. Perhaps I wasn’t memorable enough. I said my goodbyes to her, backing off one step at a time while she tried to tell me about two cats in the building who’d recently had a late-night fight and kept her up.

  “I have to go,” I said as I went.

  “They shouldn’t allow animals in this place.” She seemed unaware that I was walking away from her.

  “Sure, see ya,” I said as I rounded the corner, and dashed down the road to get to my car. I half expected to turn around and see her coming after me.

  When I reached my car I was out of breath. I flopped into the driver’s seat and considered my options. Jon and Keri had not returned, and I had no idea how to find them. It wasn’t as if I could simply return to Victoria Point and start knocking on doors. I got out my phone and typed in ‘The Void’ and ‘Larry, TV Producer,’ but nothing took me to the right place or the right person. Had I really gone into this whole thing without any information? It hadn’t even occurred to me at the time to question it, but now I felt so stupid. I knew nothing about Melanie, so I couldn’t look her up either. Elton Rigby! Now there was someone I could find. I typed in his name and scrolled through every bit of information I could find, then I frowned. This article said his real name was Bob Store. Bob Store? That name didn’t match the man I had met at all, but I wasn’t surprised. He seemed the sort who would change his name. A part of me found it sad. It would’ve been far better for him to rely on his comedy rather than his name to make it big. Perhaps I would’ve liked Bob Store. It didn’t take me long to find a number for him.

  Chapter 27

  Elton

  I rushed out with more energy than I thought possible when I heard the faint whisper of my doorbell making its way through my loud music. Any softer, and I would’ve been too aware of my thoughts. I eagerly opened the door and grinned like a kid at Christmas.

  “Good to see you again, Tripps, come in.”

  “Thought you’d found another dealer,” he said.

  Tony ‘Tripps’ Turner, or TTT, was not what you would expect from a dealer. Not only was he in his late fifties, and balding, but he looked like the sort of man who would be most comfortable sitting in an office cubicle. Everything about him was drab, from the brown of his suit, to the tan of his shoes.

  “Never,” I said honestly as we made our way to the kitchen counter. He’d been here enough times to know exactly where to go.

  “What the hell happened here?” he asked as his gaze moved from the big Y on my wall to the smashed letter on the floor. I hadn’t had the energy to clean it up yet.

  “Redecorating,” I said as if it was the simplest answer in the world.

  He shrugged, because, really, as long as he got paid he didn’t care what I did. “Okay, well, I have your order. Double, you said?”

  “Yes please.” I eagerly watched him deposit two bank bags down for me. It always amazed me how something so small could bring me such large amounts of joy.

  “Want anything else while I’m here? Pure MDMA, I’ve got two extra pills,” he said, even though I knew he’d brought them along with him to sell. I wasn’t much of an ecstasy fan; the highs were too high. I liked happy but even-tempered drugs that wouldn’t make me too obvious to the outside world. “Trust me,” he continued. “This stuff will guarantee you hours of happiness.”

  “I’ll take them.” I didn’t need much persuasion. Hours of happiness was exactly what I needed right now.

  I shoved money into his hand and waved him out in eager anticipation for the afternoon ahead. Thankfully, Tripps had no intention of hanging around. I gained the distinct impression he didn’t do drugs himself and that he didn’t like the people he sold them to. What he liked, and what he probably had in abundance, was money. This sort of relationship suited me just fine. I waited until I heard his car drive off, and then I locked the door, put the music back on and took my stash to the living room. First things first, the coke. I made a line far fatter than usual, rolled up a note with the dexterity of someone who had done this many times before, and sniffed the white powder without a moment’s hesitation. Then, with a hop to the kitchen, I got myself a glass of water and popped a pill. Back in the living room, I lay down on the floor, the rug softer and more expensive than even the sofa, and stared up at the whiteness of the ceiling. It didn’t take long for the familiar feeling to kick in. The pill had yet to work, but the powder was already working its magic. Not an extreme high, or overwhelming waves of emotions. Just the steady normality I had missed so much. I glanced down toward the big Y on the wall. Now I felt like Elton Rigby.
Hey, there was an idea for a new show, a group of people in solitary doing drugs. Now that would make for good viewing. I sat up, and smiled into my imaginary camera.

  “G’day, Podsters, and welcome to another episode of PodBook. Status update: Elton Rigby is back.”

  I lay back down, closed my eyes, and smiled. I ran my hands over the softness of the rug, and reminded myself I could be whoever I wanted to be. I’d been through worse things before, and every experience both good and bad could be turned into comedy. The worse things were, the funnier I could make them. It was a good thing I had come out early. What was funny about a guy sitting in solitary for two weeks and coming out with money? Nothing really. People wanted someone to relate to, and what better than a man who pretty much fell to pieces inside. It was so incredibly unfunny that it was now funny. Between the music, my beating heart, and the millions of happy thoughts now running through my mind, I almost didn’t hear my phone. I thought it was just part of the music. The number on the screen was unfamiliar, so I decided not to answer. Then I sat up, missing my coffee table by an inch. What if this was someone phoning me for work? What if it was Jon, calling to tell me that not only had he made the full two weeks but that he now wanted everyone to know how hilarious I was. What if…damn, the phone had stopped ringing. I was about to lie back down when it rang again.