Behind The Walls

Zack Merrick was an adventurer. He had dedicated his life to the outdoors and excitement. He loved the outside world and he’s been gone into the wild and the unknown for a long time now. He came back to Towson, hoping for the better in his childhood home and it was better, except in Alex Gaskarth’s dark manor.


Alex Gaskarth was a cold, mean, powerful man with a heart breaking past. He was an influential person and if you pissed him off, he could squash your head like a bug in one second, unless you’re a close friend of him, then maybe a minute.


Zack went to his friend’s huge manor. It’d been two years since he said goodbye to Alex for his trip to Peru and strangely, he missed his uptight friend. Alex on the other hand, was still lonely, cold, and intimidatingly scary. He was what people would say today’s Ebenezer Scrooge.


He knocked on the wooden door of the cold, gloomy manor and non other than Alex Gaskarth himself, opened the door. He looked just like when Zack left, only sadder.


“What?” He said with a rough tone, but then he saw his glowing friend he said, “Zack?”


“Hey.”


“Hi.”


“Can I come in?”


“Yeah.” He said flatly. Alex moved away from the door and allowed Zack in, then closed it.


Alex’s manor was nice. It was not as bad as people thought it was. On the outside, it looked dark and if this was a cartoon, his home of solitude would have thunderclouds, lightning, and crows flying over it, but on the inside, it had a warm aura, which was pretty nice. It was surprisingly clean too, Zack thought.


“How long has it been, Zack?” Alex asked. He had an emotionless face and he just seemed tired.


“Two years, I guess. How are you?” Zack sat down on Alex’s couch.


“Fine. I mean, it just goes as good as it gets.” He sat down too.


“You look neat.” Zack added as he saw Alex’s clean, perfectly ironed, white shirt with his black pants, and black tie around his neck.


“Thanks, just got home after work. Do you want anything to eat?”


“Yes!” He said, anticipated.


They got up from their current position and as they walked towards the kitchen, Zack saw a huge metal door. That was certainly not there the last time he visited.


“Hey Alex, what is that?”


“Just a door, don’t worry.”


“But what’s behind the door?”


“Nothing you should worry about.”


“Alex… Please don’t tell me you did it again.” Zack got worried.


“Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.”


“What are you doing to the poor girl?”


“Nothing bad. Just drop it.” Alex was getting frustrated, but stayed calm and cool.


“Al-“


“Remember Zack, I can destroy you in one second.” He said calmly pouring a small amount of whiskey to a small glass. And after that, Zack stayed quiet.


They ate in silence and Alex was enjoying the food he made, but Zack certainly wasn’t. He just couldn’t leave the subject.


“Can I see who’s inside the room?” And that caught Alex’s attention.


“Since when do you care?”


“Since you lost your mind.” He looked at his strict friend with piercing eyes. Alex could see that he was serious.


“What do you want to know?”


“Everything.”


“Here are all the details. She’s not allowed to come out when there are people. She only cleans the house when I’m gone and everything should be spotless. She’s not allowed cook because I don’t trust her with anything including my food. She’s not allowed to go out of the house, so I know no furniture or valuable property is gone. See? I’m not treating her that badly. I give her
food, a decent room, and I’m not abusing her. Everything’s fine.”


“All I heard was not allowed, not allowed, not allowed, and not allowed. How did you even get someone who’s willing to follow all that?”


“I didn’t.”


“What?”


“I didn’t.” Zack knew Alex wouldn’t answer the truth, so he dropped this one for now.


“So, can I talk to her?”


“Sure.” Wow, that easy? Zack thought. “From the next room. You can hear everything from the other room, so you can speak to her, but only from the other room.”


“Knowing you, I’d take anything I can get.”


“Okay then. Well, have fun. She doesn’t even talk to me.”


Zack helped Alex cleaned after their meal and quickly went to the room next to the room hidden by the metal door. It was an odd situation, but after what happened to Alex and knowing what he was capable of, Zack just wanted to know what Alex is doing to the girl.


“Hello.” Zack started, but he didn’t hear a reply. He knew she was there though, he could feel it. “I know you’re in there.” Still, no one answered. He sat down on the floor. “You don’t have to be scared. I have Alex’s permission to talk to you and it’s okay for you to talk back… See? Alex isn’t that bad.” This time he heard her scoffed. “I can hear you, I know you’re there.” It was quickly followed by silence. “What’s your name?” Nothing. “I heard you don’t talk much, so I’m just gonna so all the talking, which is a miracle because I’m quite shy too. I’m Zack.” He smiled and without him knowing, she was smiling too.


She sat on her bed, near the wall as she hugged her pillow. He told her all the things he saw in Peru, from the amazing sunrise view to the mountain, alpacas, and the weather. He was so enthusiastic in telling his experience, it made her resist not listening. She was smiling and sometimes laughing quietly over his funny stories. And for the first time in what felt like 105 years, she wasn’t lonely and was finally feeling a glint of joy in her heart.


What Zack thought would be a 15-minute conversation turned into an hour of story telling. It was all okay even though he did all the talking. He just knew that she was there and was listening.


“Well, that was my trip to Peru. I hope you listened.” He rose up from his former position and was walking towards the door.


“Constance.” He heard. It was small, but he was sure he heard her. He smiled and left, feeling a little achievement. He knew what she was saying.

Notes