The Middle Aged Man

The girl stopped the car suddenly, startled by the sight of a cat in front of her. She's been surrounding the neighborhood to find a place to stay for them. The boy needs to rest his body. She couldn't possibly do other things besides taking care of him. The girl slides out of the car, mesmerizing the cute cat in front of the car. It is a Persian white cat with two almond big eyes.

"Aww… look at you, you're a survivor huh?" She patted the cat joyfully.

The boy looks out from inside the car. He couldn't move his body as it aching entirely.

"Hey, kitty do you have an owner?" The girl catches the cat's collar, there is a name, address, and contact information there.

"You live around here huh?" She smiles.

The girl left the car with the boy inside.

"Oh My God, what she's up to now?" The boy scoffs, holding his wounds reluctantly. He opens the car door and watches out from behind the girl.

"Hey, wait up!" He calls out to the girl.

The boy catches up his pace with the girl. He's following the girl's steps. The girl tells him that she intends to bring the cat back to her owner. The boy does not think that it is a good idea. What are the chances of meeting a good person in the middle of an apocalypse? Kindness is acceptable to him. But stupidity? He just couldn't handle it. Despite being a smart girl in her class, sometimes she's clueless about people and life in general.

But then again, who is he to talk about experiences in life? he lost his memories.

The boy and the girl catch a glimpse of a simple American bungalow house painted in grey. The house has a low-pitched brown roof and a horizontal shape. It has one door in the front, with two huge windows between the door. The two pillars on the front porch are painted white. There is a small stair heading to the front door. The bushes around the house are withered from the weather.

The cat meows at the sight of the house.

"Huh? is this your house kitty? what a nice house you have." She puts the cat carefully on the ground.

Nice house? this place releases a strange chilling aura from within. The boy's inner monologue replies to the girl's words.

Right at that moment, a middle-aged man around 30 steps outside of that house. He has thin almond brown eyes framed by wired eyeglasses, soft angled bushy eyebrows, a Greek nose, and downward turned lips that decorated his face. His hair is styled in a classic side part. He is a fine middle-aged man with a gentle face.

Yet, the boy still pointed his ghost gun at him. His instinct kicks in blindly. He is also surprised by his own action.

"We don't mean any harm, we just want to give back your cat!" The boy exclaims, still pointing his gun at him.

The middle-aged man raises his arm instantly.

"Young man…I'm not going to hurt you, put that gun down," He convinces the boy while staring deeply into his eyes.

"Put your gun down, he does not look dangerous," The girl whispers to his ear.

Is he though? the boy contemplated. He slowly puts down his gun.

"I'm sorry, we don't meet a lot of people around here," The girl says.

"Oh, no, it's okay, better to be careful right? you have a nice boyfriend there, " The middle-aged man holds his cat.

"he's not my boy–" The girl glances at the boy, his sharp eyes are telling her to not tell him in detail about their relationship.

The girl goes silent.

"We're husband and wife," The words spluttered from the boy's mouth. The girl looks at him in disbelief. Who would believe that kind of lie?

"Ooh… I see you are a young couple, huh?" The man pets his cat gently while his eyes glow with suspicion.

"We look young, but we're in our twenties," He reasoned.

"It's rare to see such a young couple in the doomsday. You're a fine young man, what happened to your stomach there?" The man corners him.

The boy looks at his stomach right away. The blood doesn't go through his shirt. How does he know he's hurt? this is bad.

"I'm not… hurt," The boy's eyes shaking from fear.

"Oh I'm not a mind reader or anything, it's just the young lady kept glancing at your stomach, so I thought maybe,"

No, she didn't. The boy thinks to himself.

"I'd say I don't mind having guests for a few days, would you stay here for a while? I have medicine and food," The middle-aged man smiles at them.

"Of course, if you want to," He adds.

"Or should I ask your young wife? what do you think, dear?" He changes his eye directly to the girl.

He's not your dear. Stop calling her the way you want. The boy clenches his fist. His eyes flash with rage.

===

The boy couldn't believe that the girl said yes to his offer. The man provides them with one room with one bed and a small cupboard. It is a simple room with minimum furniture. It is so clean almost as it has never been used before. The boy suspects the man to be a neat freak himself. By mean, it's not like the boy doesn't like clean places. It's just, that his place has no human touch in it.

What a creep.

"I can't believe you said we're husband and wife," The girl recalled.

"Shh…keep your voice down, he'll hear us!" The boy puts his index finger on his mouth signaling to lower her voice.

"What about you? how can you say yes to his offer," He whispers in strong remarks.

"Well we do need help," She emphasizes the word help.

She continues, " He can't be bad, he loves animals,"

"God, what do you know about serial killers? he's pretending of course," The boy replies.

"You know what? I'm not having this argument. Let's just go to sleep," The girl lays her body on the bed and covers herself in the blanket defiantly.

"How can I sleep knowing he could do anything to you or me?" The boy groans frustrated with the girl's decision.

As the boy lays himself on the floor, an eye from a small hole in their door sparks with deceits. The man curves up a smile.