Hey Readers! If you haven’t already, be sure to check out other posts here to read previous chapters of The House On Astor Street. Enjoy!
Chapter Fifteen
There was a knock at the door and Jason got up to answer it. Tracy yelled from the spare room, “Please tell me that’s the pizza. I’m starving!” They were settling in from their trip back from the airport and Jason had promised the group “arguably the best pizza in Chicago.” When he opened the door, though, it wasn’t the pizza delivery person, but instead Ryan stood there eagerly looking past Jason into the apartment.
Ryan pushed past Jason and walked into the living room where Becca and Zach were lounging on the couch. Extending his hand out to Zach, Ryan said confidently, “You must be Zach. Nice to meet you!” They shook hands, Zach laughing. Before he could get a word in, Ryan turned to Becca and, with his usual dramatic flair, put a finger on his chin, squinted his eyes and said, “And you must be… Becca!” Unlike Zach, though, Ryan spread his arms wide and gave Becca a hug.
Observing Ryan’s performance from the entrance to the living room, Jason jumped in, “I see you all have met my neighbor Ryan. I invited him and his boyfriend, Mike, to join us on the balcony later for some pizza.”
There was another knock on the door and this time, Tracy emerged from the guest bedroom with a half completed face and eyeliner in hand whining hopefully, “Please tell that that is the pizza this time!”
Jason walked over to check the front door as Ryan turned to introduce himself to Tracy, “Well, by process of elimination, you have to be Tracy. And, my God, you are fabulous.” Ryan gave her a hug as Tracy returned the compliment with an equally flamboyant flair. Ryan stepped back to size her up, taking in her beauty and her outfit.
Jason came back into the room holding two large, hot pizza boxes, “Come and get it!”
The group of them made their way out to the balcony and Mike met them outside a few minutes later. A few minutes more, and two black cats sauntered onto the balcony as well, sniffing around the pizza boxes. Jason explained that Chicago deep dish pizza has the uncanny ability to make people overestimate their appetite, which was evident by Zach’s comment “only two?” only to be followed by his strained admission, “I ate too much” a short time later.
Ryan and Mike peppered the group with questions about what they were planning on doing and seeing over the next few days. They gave their suggestions on lesser known landmarks and restaurants, and provided insights to current theater shows and musical events that the visitors may not have known about. Ryan successfully invited himself to almost every dinner the group had planned, which ended up being mutually acceptable as he had really grown on Jason’s friends since meeting them just a couple hours earlier.
It was getting late and the group had a packed day starting early the next morning. Jason had taken Friday and Monday off to ensure he wouldn’t have any work interruptions, but the trip was still short, there was no time to sleep in. The city was too big and beautiful to be experienced inside Jason’s apartment. Becca had been asleep in her chair, with Pepper curled on her lap for the past half hour and Mike had since gone back inside to bed. Zach was yawning every minute, it seemed like and, amazingly, Ryan and Tracy had run out of celebrity gossip to gush over. Jason stood, stretched, and looked at the others, “I say we call it a night.” Looking at Ryan, he continued, “Are you good to meet us tomorrow for Dinner in Gold Coast?”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Ryan said.
With that, the group sluggishly moved inside to rest up and get ready to explore as much of the city as they could in the short amount of time they had together.
The next morning, while everyone was still asleep, Tracy got up and walked into the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot. She was flipping through her phone while a stream of coffee began to fill the pot, when a blur of black ran across the kitchen. Startled, Tracy let out a sharp, quick scream that instantly woke up everyone in the apartment. Jason immediately darted out of bed and towards the source of the sound in the kitchen, yelling “What is it?”
As he turned towards the kitchen, he saw Tracy in the hallway, laughing hysterically, “Oh my God, I am so sorry!”
“What is it? Are you ok?” Jason was looking around him, the floor, the walls, the ceiling. After seeing Tracy’s reaction, his immediate thought was that some sort of big bug had gotten in.
Tracy, still laughing, just pointed into the kitchen. Jason gave a half smile, half cautious look at Tracy as he rounded the corner. Patriot. Sitting on the floor of the kitchen, licking his paw was Ryan’s cat Patriot. “How on Earth…?” Jason stomped out of the kitchen, shaking his head and laughing, more out of astonishment than anything. He walked into the living room where Zach and Becca had each claimed a couch.
“Is everything ok in there?” Becca was leaning up on one arm and rubbing her eyes with the other.
“Yeah, I just wanted to see…” Jason walked across the room, eyes focused on the window. The rest of his sentence slipped out of his mouth one word at a time, “…if…” he checked the window’s locks, “…the window…” he pulled on the screen, but it was sturdy. He turned around and faced Patriot, who had walked into the room to observe Jason’s investigation, “How did you get in here again?”
Patriot blinked slowly, meowed, then walked into Jason’s room and buried himself in the closet.
Chapter Sixteen
“That miniature gallery thing was so cool!” Zach took a sip of his soda. “And those roman statues. Love that stuff.” Another sip of soda. “Oh, and those Andy Warhol pieces. I’ve never seen a real Andy Warhol in person.” More soda. “And that one with the farmer and his wife and that rake thing? I can’t believe we saw that!”
“So, you liked the whole museum…” Becca chimed in, rolling her eyes. “And it’s called American Gothic.”
“What is?”
“The painting you loved… with the farmer and his wife, as you put it.”
“Ohhh, yeah, that was awesome.” Zach took another gulp of his soda as Becca threw her hands up in the air. “So, what’s for lunch?”
Ignoring Zach’s question as the group made their way into Millennium Park, Tracy recounted, “I just love all the Pop Art. The vibrant colors, the shapes, the materials the artists use.” Her hands were dancing around in front of her as she describes the elements of the exhibits. The group ascended the large stone staircase deeper into the park as Tracy continued gushing over the Pop Art exhibit when she stopped and, staring straight ahead, yelled, “The Bean!” She excitedly dove her hand into her purse and dug around for her camera. She turned and thrust the camera into Becca’s hands, “I absolutely need a picture in front of this!” She ran off and positioned herself in front of the enormous installation and contorted into a variety of poses.
“This is all you,” Becca said to Jason, handing him the camera. Zach was still finishing his soda, when he pulled his camera out of his pocket, took one quick, unfocused picture, then put it away before wandering around the plaza.
After several minutes, Tracy ran back to Jason and grabbed the camera, flipping through the pictures on the display. Apparently one of the forty pictures was up to Tracy’s standards because she put the camera back in her purse, smiled and said, “Thanks!”
They walked around the plaza for a little while, eventually finding Zach in line at a hot dog stand. Becca grabbed Zach’s arm and yanked him out of the line, “We literally have lunch reservations in thirty minutes…”
Jason led the group west, through the Loop and into the blossoming Fulton Market neighborhood. They settled in on the patio of a small café, where Zach immediately picked up the menu and started licking his lips. “I definitely do not miss that,” Becca joked, as she blocked her view of Zach with her menu.
They again reviewed the rest of the days schedule of activities and Jason did his best to lay out what he knew of the city. “If you look over there,” Jason pointed to the east up towards the sunny sky, “You can actually see the top few floors of my building. And over that way,” he shifted in his seat to point northeast, “That’s the River North neighborhood, then Gold coast is beyond that.” Their food arrived and, immediately, everyone realized just how hungry they were, “Anyway, you’ll learn a lot more about the city on the boat tour tomorrow.” His last sentence went unheard as everyone descended upon their burgers and salads in a frenzy.
As they sat around, chatting and finishing whatever remnants of their meals that remained, Tracy fished her camera out of her purse and began perusing the days’ photos. Zach was going on about some video game he’s been playing for the past few months when Becca noticed Tracy’s face morphing into one of confusion, “Wait… hmm…” Tracy continued to flip through her photos, “this is really weird…”
“What’s weird?” Becca asked.
“The pictures at The Bean… there’s this guy…”
Becca adjusted her chair so she was right next to Tracy and then leaned over to get a better view of the camera screen, “What guy?”
“Right there…” Tracy pointed to a picture of her posing in front of The Bean. Some thirty feet behind Tracy there was a man dressed in all black.
Becca’s eyebrows furled, “Trace, that place was full of people, I mean, he’s sort of creepy looking but…” Before Becca could finish her sentence, Tracy continued to flip through the numerous pictures Jason had taken of her in front of The Bean. The man was in all of them. Motionless. Unmoving. Unnoticed by everyone else in the pictures. “…Jason, you got to see these.”
Zach was telling Jason about the storyline of a different game now, but stopped as he and Jason stood up behind the girls to see what they were looking at. Tracy flipped through the pictures again and Becca looked up, studying Jason’s face, trying to note his reaction. “He’s in every single one.” Jason had seen something like this before. At the airport. Just yesterday. A man standing in the cell phone lot, staring at him as he picked up his friends. It wasn’t the same guy, but he looked just like him.
Jason took a step back and looked around. He felt a wave of paranoia wash over him as his friends looked up at him, asking if he was alright. It wasn’t just that the guy was in all the photos, and it wasn’t just that he never noticed him when he was taking the pictures. It was that the guy in the photos was looking directly at the camera. The guy was looking directly at Jason.
Chapter Seventeen
The train slowed to a stop and the group shuffled on. They found a little corner of the car that was unoccupied and sat down. Jason remained contemplative with a thoughtful look stuck on his face. He hadn’t spoken much since seeing the photos at lunch, instead, he was lost in thought trying to make sense of the situation in his head. He thought that maybe it was someone he knew, trying to play some weird joke on him and his friends, but he couldn’t explain how anyone could have planned to see him driving by at the airport or at the Bean. He thought that maybe this had something to do with his dad – he was a powerful and wealthy guy, after all, and Jason thought that maybe he had made some enemies along the way, or maybe hired some private protective service. Both ideas seemed completely preposterous, but he was desperate for an explanation, regardless of how irrational they might have been.
“Jase, you doing ok?” Becca asked. She was concerned by his lingering silence and withdrawn demeanor, but wasn’t totally convinced that the situation was any more than a creepy coincidence. Wearing black wasn’t all that uncommon and there was no way for Jason to know if these people he’d seen over the last couple of days were just weird guys staring at a bunch of different people. There was nothing to suggest they were targeting Jason.
“Yeah… sorry guys…” Jason shook his head playfully, like he was shaking the thoughts out of his mind. “You guys are probably right.” Jason chuckled. “This is a huge city and there are people everywhere. You’re bound to run into a couple nutty people from time to time, right?” He forced a laugh, trying to do his best to calm his nerves and remain outwardly jovial.
Attempting to shift the focus, Zach jumped in, “So, where are we off to now, Mr. Tour Guide?”
“Right, well, we have dinner plans in the Gold Coast area tonight, so, if you all are up for a short walk…” Zach groaned and Becca backhanded his arm, “…I figured we could walk up Michigan Ave, see some of the stores, then head unto the neighborhood on the lake front just north of there. The homes there are incredible.”
“I think that sounds perfect,” Tracy said, smile wide. “I’ve been looking for a new purse anyway.”
A few minutes later, Jason signaled to his friends that it was their stop. They filed off the train and down the stairs onto the crowded street. They began their walk north, crossing the Michigan Ave bridge that spanned the Chicago River. After a number of impromptu photoshoots of the giant steel and stone towers stacked on either side of the river, the group emerged onto the north side and into the center of Chicago’s premier shopping locale. Tracy fluttered her arms and clapped excitedly, turning to the other three with a maniacal grin and a squeak that rivaled the sound of a bird.
For the next couple hours, Tracy led Becca in and out of, what seemed to Jason and Zach, every single store on the block. Tracy’s passion for fashion and outright knowledge on the subject was even enough for Becca, a self-proclaimed clearance rack shopper, to get in on the action. The two of them danced around countless aisles of clothes, shoes, and accessories while Jason and Zach followed along so as not to lose the girls amongst the merchandise. Eventually, the guys decided to find a bench at the entrance to the umpteenth department store, giving the girls a thirty-minute time limit, swearing that they would send a search party to find them in the sea of garments if they weren’t back at the end of their allotted time.
Despite the sheer number of stores visited, outfits tried on, and hours spent perusing, Tracy managed to acquire only two bags of merchandise, and Becca just one. Zach, clearly reacting to his growing hunger, quipped aggressively, “all that time, for that?” pointing to their bags.
Tracy rolled her eyes and sighed, but decided it wasn’t worth her time to attempt to educate Zach on the science behind fashion and shopping. Jason, in an attempt to deflate any tension, broke in, “Alright, the girls had their fun, so, Zach, why don’t we all make our way up towards the restaurant and get you – all of us – some dinner.” Thinking it best to cover his bases with full disclosures, he added, “Our reservation is in one hour, so I think we still have time to take a stroll through the neighborhood just north of here.” He eyed Zach to see if there was going to be any debate he might need to stave off, but, to all their relief, there wasn’t.
The four of them made their way up Rush Street to where it converged with State, then, after a few more corners, they wandered further north up Dearborn. While the buildings grew smaller in height and width the further north they ventured, the more ornate and stately they became. Red brick facades, flanked with large stone trim, and enormous white columned buildings stood next to large brownstone rowhouse mansions, with iron fences and balconies. Large planters, surrounded by knee-height decorative enclosures, housed various plants and trees that hung over the thin streets. The group stopped several times to admire the grandeur of the buildings and homes, taking photos and pointing out their favorite features.
With dinner still thirty minutes off and the restaurant a short five-minute walk away, Jason decided to guide everyone into the neighborhood to get a better look at some of the larger homes. Jason led them east away from the main road and into the neighborhood that bordered the lake. The group slowed their brisk walking pace and stared in awe at the beautiful Midwest mansions that some of the city’s elite called home. They went north on Astor Street, stopping for several minutes in front of the Charnley-Persky House, a Frank Lloyd Wright original nestled in amongst the other sophisticated estates. Jason told the group that they could simply head another couple blocks north, then they would have to make their way back towards Dearborn to meet Ryan for dinner.
Tracy, Becca and Zach chatted amongst themselves as they slowly continued up Astor, while Jason hurriedly finished reading a plaque on the old Frank Lloyd Wright home. He turned to catch up with the others who were a mere half block ahead of him when he heard the echo of a meow reverberate off the stone faces of the houses around him. It was impossibly loud, yet he couldn’t pinpoint the location of any cat and his friends didn’t seem to heed any noises. He continued walking towards them when he heard the same amplified meow again. It sounded much closer than last time and caused him to jump and look around reflexively. Ahead, Jason could see that his friends, once again, didn’t seem to hear a thing, and continued walking ahead, laughing and chatting, oblivious to whatever sounds he was hearing.
Cautiously, Jason took another step further when he heard another meow. This time, though, the cat sounded closer, more localized and not as echoey as before. He glanced around, slowly this time, when he felt the soft fur of a tail rub against his calf. Looking down, he saw a white and gray cat with crystal blue eyes looking up at him. In an effort to put himself at ease, he knelt down to pet the cat and dispel any lingering anxiety he felt from the ominous feeling enveloping him. As he reached out to pet the cat, it turned and darted through an imposing iron fence surrounding an immense stone mansion. Once inside the confines of the fence, the cat turned back towards Jason, sat on its haunches, and stared unblinkingly at him.
When Jason looked over in the cat’s direction, he found himself slip into a trance where sound vanished and his vision tunneled. He could no longer hear the distant hum of cars or the occasional wail of a siren, and he couldn’t see anything besides the white and gray cat on the other side of the fence standing in front of the beautiful stone edifice beyond it. Jason noted a shift in temperature, not externally, but inside him. He was getting warm, beads of sweat forming around his hairline and on his hands. The cat’s blue eyes dug into him while Jason mindlessly studied the intricately designed path leading from the sidewalk to the base of the wide stoop. Large bay windows, adorned with heavy maroon drapes, flanked both sides of the massive stone portico. Towering marble columns framed the sturdy double doors and, as Jason lazily moved his gaze upward, he noticed the upper floors were peppered with long, rectangular windows outlined by complex stone ornamentation. The whole upper right side of the house was covered in ivy that crept towards the front from around the corner. Jason’s heart was beating hard and fast. He was feeling excessively warm as his eyes drooped back down to meet the icy blue intensity of the cat’s glare.
A loud ring broke him from his spell. Jason looked around, his sight returning, the sound of cars back at a normal decibel, but in a state of utter confusion. Another ring. He knew that sound, but couldn’t identify the source. Another ring. His hands dove for his pocket where his phone was. It was Ryan. “Hey, hello, Ryan?” Jason stammered.
“Hey hey! Just got to the restaurant, I know I’m a couple minutes early, but wanted to see if you were seated yet or what?”
“Yeah, umm, no worries…” Jason chuckled softly, “No, sorry, we aren’t there yet…” Jason looked around, making sure the world had returned completely back to normal. “We are just a couple blocks away… should be there in a few minutes.”
“Umm, you sound like you need food. Anyway, see you in a bit!” Click.
Jason looked up the street, but didn’t see his friends. He walked slowly towards the next corner when Zach come walking around it. “Found him, guys!” Zach yelled behind him. He looked back at Jason and asked, “Where on earth did you go?”
It wasn’t a concerned question, but it made Jason recoil nonetheless, “I was just behind you guys… wasn’t I?”
“Well, yeah, you were. Then we got to this corner,” Zach pointed at the ground, “but you weren’t behind us anymore. We waited a few minutes, then the girls walked ahead thinking maybe you went down a different street, so I walked back to that Lloyd house or whatever, thinking you found some other plaque to read, but you weren’t there.”
Jason just looked at Zach, speechless. None of this made sense, he was behind them the whole time. He couldn’t have been stopped for more than a minute, max, but to just disappear from his friends, that didn’t make sense. “Zach, I swear, I didn’t go anywhere…” Jason was shaking his head as if he didn’t believe his own words himself.
Tracy yelled from down the street and waved her arms, “Helloooo? Am I the only one that wants to eat?”
Zach and Jason turned to look at her, then Zach said nonchalantly, “Meh, whatever. Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”
