He hated his mother. The only reason he didn’t hate his father more is that he never knew him.
His mother would often bring strange men to their small one-bedroom apartment. As a seven-year-old boy he was at first scared by what was happening behind the bedroom door. There were odd noises and often he was worried about some of the sounds he heard.
He was so scared at one point he cracked open the door and saw his mom on the bed wrestling with a man. She seemed to be enjoying it and after this happened several times, he was strangely intrigued by what was going on. As time went on, he peeked in the room more and more.
As a teenager he would go for late night walks and when he saw a window with the curtains drawn, he would hide in the shadows and watch the occupants’ goings on. Sometimes they were cooking dinner, sometimes watching TV and sometimes doing private things.
This excited him in strange new ways. It was like he had a power over the unsuspecting occupants.
After high school he got a job with a construction company as a carpenter’s helper working for Gene, a master carpenter. Gene trained him well and after several years he became a journeyman and ultimately an accomplished finish carpenter who could do elaborate custom woodwork.
All the while his nightly excursions through his and other neighborhoods continued. He was constantly titillated by his risky behavior and not being discovered.
He did have some close calls though. One night he was peeking in the window of a home where there was a family watching TV. They had two young girls, perhaps teens. Some movement he made got the father’s attention and the dad bolted out of the house. But the dad wasn’t fast enough to catch him and he made a clean escape. Another time the occupants of a house let their dog out, unbeknownst to him. The dog chased him off the property, and he was nearly bitten.
* * *
More and more the construction business interested him and he learned about more than just carpentry. He learned the business, both the non-carpentry aspects of construction, and the financial side of the business as well. Ultimately, he started his own construction company, specializing in home remodeling.
His business took off and he had a waiting list of customers.
One customer, Joe Watson and his wife Jean were having the wall between their especially large living room and separate dining room removed to form an “open plan” living area. Jean was a curvaceous blonde with dazzling blue eyes. He was smitten with Jean the moment he met her.
Part of the work the Watsons requested was a bookshelf and wet bar combo with a refrigerator at the end of the living room. The configuration of this large area gave him an idea that he had never considered before. If his measurements were correct, he could build a false wall in the room behind the bookshelf/bar. By mounting part of the bookshelf on invisible hinges he would have a place where he could hide.
This would require bumping out the wall about 26 inches. He’d need to use all his skills as a finish carpenter. And, if he could pull it off, he could build a room small enough and secret enough so he could clandestinely watch the Watsons, especially Jean.
Both Joe and Jean worked, so he had the house all to himself to do the renovation job. They gave him a door key and alarm code so he could come and go while they were away.
The work went well. He hung plastic sheets from the living room ceiling and told the Watsons that this was to reduce the construction dust that he was making. But really the plastic was to hide the secret work he was doing.
He installed the invisible hinges on a four-foot-wide section of the bar. The way the hinges worked was that the door pulled out about an inch and then pivoted on the hinges. When the door was pulled closed, a special seal around the door frame created a joint that was both invisible and sound proof.
He added heavy Styrofoam insulation inside of his chamber. He tested this by putting a radio playing loud music inside and closing the door. His first two Styrofoam attempts produced some music but after the third layer there was no longer any sound. The room was completely sealed and soundproof.
The inside of his “hidey hole” got some special treatment. Of course, he had electricity and a small super-quiet fan to give him fresh air. He added a simple sink and drain by tapping into the wet bar. And he created a makeshift urinal by adapting a funnel and tying it into the wet bar’s drain.
After several weeks, he finished the bookshelves and bar, took down the plastic sheeting and cleaned up his work area. He was done!
The Watsons arrived home from work to find their living room finished. Overjoyed, they left to go out for dinner to celebrate. Luckily, they never noticed the 26 inches of space they lost in the living room.
He waited 15 minutes before exiting, and left himself out the back door. The brief test was a success.
* * *
Over the next several weeks he became more familiar with the Watson’s comings and goings. He was also more familiar with their morning and evening habits.
He was spending more and more time in the chamber.
One problem he needed to solve was the house alarm. Actually, it was two problems. The first was that the alarm’s keypad beeped when a key on the keypad was pushed. That meant that he could only enter an alarm code when the Watsons were not home, so he couldn’t disarm and rearm the system while the Watsons were in the house. The second was that the Watsons could change the key code at any time. Then he was screwed. This dismayed him because he couldn’t get around it and all his work would be for naught.
He found the solution totally by accident. The drain for the small sink he added started to leak. The hose clamp he used needed a bit of tightening. He never carried tools into the chamber for two reasons: first, he really had no use for them; and, second, the noise from a dropped wrench or screwdriver could be disastrous.
But now he needed a screwdriver to tighten the clamp.
He rummaged around the kitchen to find the junk drawer everyone has. He found a screwdriver but eureka! he also found a key fob for the alarm system. He tried it out and could arm and disarm the alarm silently. He pocketed it, certain that the Watsons would never miss it.
As time passed, he settled in on the Watsons’ schedule. They were pretty consistent. His favorite night was Friday because after a long work week the Watsons unwound and anything could happen. And the gorgeous Jean always seemed to initiate some naughty behavior. He would do anything to not miss Friday night.
* * *
There was another problem he faced. Food. He was often in the chamber for six to ten hours straight. A man’s gotta eat, right? The issue is that he couldn’t have smelly food. Imagine him biting into a big Italian hoagie and all the wonderful garlic, cheese and Italian meats that it contains. Onions too! But no matter how well the chamber is sealed, smell might be able to get out. He couldn’t be certain of the seal and he just couldn’t take that chance. Imagine Jean or Joe getting a whiff of hoagie!
His normal meal was an order of chicken fingers with a side of onion rings and a Coke. Even though onions can smell when they’re raw, cooked onions were his favorite and didn’t really have a strong odor. He always got his food from The Diner King in town. The King had the best chicken fingers around.
This Friday he stopped at The King for his usual and was disappointed to learn that they only had the extra spicy chicken fingers. “What the heck” he thought. “How bad could they be?”
He entered the chamber 30 minutes before the Watsons normally got home. He was hungry and gobbled up the fingers and rings. He chugged the Coke and let out a massive burp.
The Watsons got home and started their Friday night frolicking.
He was just starting to enjoy watching Jean when the spicy chicken fingers kicked in. He’d had heartburn before but this bout was worse than anything he could imagine. The pain was focused in the middle of his chest and his left arm sort of went numb.
He endured the sharp pain for a few minutes but then he felt the most amazing peace. He remembered how beautiful his mother was when he was very young and the time when he stole money from his schoolmates in second grade. He remembered breaking up with a girl who loved him. Strangely, he felt her pain. He remembered hitting a squirrel with the car and how he said “got ‘em!” Now he felt total remorse for killing the little guy.
He had a few more memories like those and then suddenly everything went black.
* * *
The Watsons stayed in the house for 14 years and then moved to a retirement community near the beach.
Bob and Janet Miller bought the Watsons’ house. Non-drinkers, the wet bar bothered them but otherwise they loved the house.
The Millers moved in and, after several months, hired a contractor to remove the wet bar.
The contractor started removing the shelves and tearing out the plumbing. In doing so he pushed on the woodwork. The center section popped out about an inch and opened slightly. A dank and rather unpleasant odor emanated from the crack.
“Hello,” he thought. “What do we have here?”
He pulled open the panel and immediately gagged and retched. There, sitting like it was posed, was the mummified body of a man.
The voyeur who eventually was caught.
What fantastic read. Always enjoy your writing.