- Entropy Short
- Entropy Short part 2
This is an evolving fantasy piece set in a contemporary setting.
Markus Two Coats took a pause from peering through his telephoto lens, to contemplate the life choices that brought him to this dubious point. It was not something he preferred to be doing: If truth were to be faced, it was not the image of himself that he wanted to believe in. But it was a job, and one that he desperately needed to keep himself off the sun baked streets and capable of enjoying some of the few perks of being alive, one of which was kept lovingly in a small flask at his hip pocket.
She wasn’t home, had not been for days, which was just fine by Markus for the sake of his conscience, but not exactly promising in terms of the job. But so far, the client had not offered a single complaint or critique of his progress.
Watch her apartment, if anything happens get me evidence.
Vague, more than slightly ominous, and one hundred percent stalker.
I really need to examine my life choices, Markus nursed a little from the bottle, trying to keep himself back from what he really wanted to do. At least the night is looking to be beautiful.
And it was. A casual observer might forgive him his camera, and suspect in him the romance of the photographer, seeking to capture the soul of a singular moment of darkness stung with light. Below him ran a long canal into a distant sea, over which slowly dipped a waxing red moon, pureness cut by the haze of water vapor and ambient city smog from the hot day now thankfully cooling into night.
The apartment attached to the balcony where he now both worked and lived was more extravagant than his want, but paid for by the client, and afforded the most excellent view into the 3rd floor suite of his target. Behind and surrounding the apartment was a dark stucco building with obvious Spanish influence in its lofty windows and open plazas overfull with tropical plants and cooling pools. He had seen almost none of it in the week since he moved in, having ordered in for nearly every meal, only pausing in his surveillance to run to the corner store for snacks and overpriced whisky.
Markus scratched at his neck, needing a shave and a shower to cleanse himself of the day.
And this job. If only hot water and soap could do that. No way she will be back tonight anyway, a beautiful woman in such a stunning evening has better things to do than sit around her apartment drinking alone. Still, better set the camera to record.
It was by this means that he did not miss her arrival, though he failed to witness it in person. On his return to the balcony, refreshed and once more clean shaven, he was surprised and chagrined to see the lights on and the apartment occupied and quickly works the camera back to make sure that after all of this, he managed to not botch the job. He cannot tell if his luck has changed for the better or worse, as the the 5 minutes footage reveals a strange shift as if the camera shutter faulted, before a darkly handsome woman in a green dress steps into the apartment, as if from the thinnest of air.
Camera’s broken? Never seen anything like that happen before.
The curtains, left open while she was away, were now drawn so he continued to review the footage more carefully, checking the time code against his watch. There were no discrepancies or errors, the evidence of the camera clear and indisputable, accept for the tiny issue with it being against all common sense and the accepted nature of reality. There must be something I am missing. I have had reality hand me my own ass often enough that I know: when things don’t make sense, it’s usually me that is in error.
Markus Two Coats sighed and let some tension go. The job was still a job, and he had gotten the footage, that was what would pay the bills and keep the client happy. Taking another nip, he settled into the old lawn chair he had brought with him as one of three furnishings in the apartment, matched with a blow up mattress and a small folding table.
Shadows danced on the faded red curtains, but Markus was experienced enough to identify that it was multiple sources of light and one person moving in them, and not multiple people. She was alone and actively moving about the space. Packing?
Back on the camera he zooms in on her face as she comes to the windows to draw the curtain. Yes, she is concerned and maybe frightened. Drawing the curtains was for privacy yes, but specifically because she thinks someone might be watching, and not just a natural propensity for it. The probability that she had made me approaches zero, so something else has got her spooked.
There is something about her eyes as she looks out and down that he cannot ignore. Not only does it tell him she is expecting an arrival, but it tears a little into his heart and makes him want to protect her. Dammit, I drank too much and am getting emotional. Despite this, he takes another nip at the whisky, to calm myself, he convinces no one.
It was, ostensibly, none of his business but perhaps because of his recent moral failures, he wanted to do something to prove himself. Last week, a little drunk, he had donated $50 to a duck preserve and that made him feel better for at least a day. Now, a little drunk, he considered giving his client the finger and helping this woman. It was not a sexual thing: though she was beautiful, his appreciation and concern were almost purely as one human in pain toward another in trouble. The slight impurity was more about who he was actually doing this for, and even he had doubts it was her.
There is only so goddam much I can do in this world
She was an amateur, closing the curtains just meant she could not mark the black Lincoln illegally parking at the entrance to her apartment.