Chapter 8: The Who (February 6-7, 1983)

Friday Feb 6, 1983

Joe was right on time for work today. He was happy to go, because he was not sure if the kid came in yesterday or not. That left today open wide with anticipation, and when 12:20 came around, the boy did not disappoint. The curiosity in Joe’s mind was slowly turning into frustration, as he simply could not figure out why the kid was doing this, and he wanted to know how long it was going to go on. Today all his weird words began with the letter “I.” Joe wanted to maybe look for a pattern in the words, but he was only on the monitor for a few seconds and that did not give him enough time to even read them all. Just as the kid was walking out of the elevator, Joe’s heart stopped. He noticed that the kid was holding a different guitar today, and it happened to be the same exact guitar Joe had when he was a kid. Joe was paralyzed with fear. He felt like this kid was watching him, like he had known him all his life and followed him all the way to where he is now. Too much of this kid’s charades act made sense for it to be a coincidence.  The t-shirts, the mask, the music, the words, and now the guitar? Who the hell was this kid? Joe’s trembling fingers struggled to shut the monitor off, but once the screen showed nothing but Joe’s own reflection, he was able to focus on his breathing. 

February 6, 1983  12:20:00 PM

The drive home was difficult. It was too quiet. He just wanted to get home and tell Pam what happened, but at the same time he did not know if he’d be able to recount the details properly. Nervousness was not something Joe was used to.  He parked his car in his driveway, and slowly creeped open the door to his own house as if it was the first time he had ever stepped foot inside. He talked it all over with Pam, told her everything from the words on the paper to the kid’s shirts to his guitar that day. Pam allowed him to relax and told him the kid did not know him and said a prayer for him. She always helped Joe calm down, but nobody could ever stop Joe from thinking himself into oblivion. Joe was officially haunted, and he had no appetite that night and just wanted to go to bed forever.