UNTITLED MASTERPEICE

PART ONE: BODIES

UNSPOKEN

It had been a lazy day, gone by in a whir. He hadn’t made it to working on the gate, other than to walk over to take a good look at it. He was half afraid that if he did he’d have to face the stranger. He wasn’t up for that, pardon the pun.

Instead he unpacked and made the place a little more his own, basically spending the day getting to know his new home and finding the comfort of being in it. It was now late. He had showered, watched a little TV and suddenly felt a little fenced in.

Here it was Saturday night, in a new town, a whopping big metropolis to boot, and he was alone. Other than a few people at work, he had not had the time to begin socializing. He made a mental note to rectify that shortly.

He found himself in the master bedroom, deciding to just turn in and worry about tomorrow, tomorrow. A first he thought to open the curtains and the glass doors, but decided not to tempt fate. He stripped to his boxers sprawled out on the bed and lit the next in a day long series of Marlboros.

His cell phone rang. He reached for it and flipped it open with the usual half forgotten “Hello.”

“Ian?” He recognized the voice, but didn’t place it immediately.

“Yeah, who’s this?”

“Forgotten me already have you?” The man chuckled.

“Billy?”

“Yeah, dude. You haven’t been gone that long.”

“Sorry, man” he apologized, “Everything happened so fast, it seems like a year ago instead of less than a month.”

“I thought someone would have heard from you by now, so I took a chance that you hadn’t changed your cell phone number.”

“Good to hear from you, bud” he said. “What’s up in the sticks?”

“Well, I have to admit that I’m kind of curious about what’s going on.” Billy asked.

“Huh? I got a new job and moved. I just found a place to live and have been settling in today. I was planning on calling a few people back home in a few days.”

“That’s great, Ian, but I meant with Clair.” He said flatly.

Ian was confused. “I don’t understand. I haven’t seen or spoken to her since that night I stayed at your place, end of story.”

Ian heard his buddy sigh, and knew from experience that he was probably rubbing the palm of his hand on his forehead and trying to figure out how to say something. “Billy, what ever it is just spit it out.”

“Okay, damn. Ian, Clair has a whole new side to the story and I thought you should be warned.”

“What are you talking about, Bill?”

“Well, the word she’s spreading around town is that you never broke up. You just got a cushy executive job in prestige Ville with a whopping salary and she’s moving out there with you.”

“Over my dead body.”

“Oh buddy there is more.” He warned.

“Oh, God.”

“Apparently, the two of you are getting married in September. She’s asked Renee to fly out and be her maid of honor.”

“Bill, I can assure you, it ain’t happening. The bitch has