Chapter 40
Lane (August 2023)
...
"Do you want to play a board game?" Ophelia asked as she rummaged through Lane's game collection. They started collecting board games when they started high school and when Lane moved in with Atlas, he threw out Lane's collection without telling them. After moving into the apartment, Lane was able to start building their collection from scratch.
Sure, what do you wanna play?" Lane replied.
They watched Ophelia dig through their bedroom closet, kneeling on the floor and looking for the perfect game to start game night with. After the break-in, Ophelia insisted that she should stay over to ensure Lane wasn't alone. She feared that Atlas would return and manage to get into the apartment again. They both feared that Atlas would do something drastic and Ophelia didn't want Lane to face it alone.
Ophelia had finally grabbed a box from the closet and showed it to Lane. She smiled, "How about Ludo?"
"I like Ludo," Lane laughed.
"Great!" Ophelia stood up and stepped away from the closet. "I'm gonna win."
"We'll see about that," Lane said. "Let's go to the living room. We can use the coffee table."
Lane rolled off of their bed and went into the living room with Ophelia following behind them. They cleared the coffee table of trash and cups and crumpled up papers and then Ophelia took the Ludo board and game pieces out of the box. She sat down on the floor and began to set the game pieces neatly.
"How do you want to play?" she asked. "Do you wanna play as one color or two?
Lane thought for a moment as they sat down at the table. "Let's do two."
"Okay, what colors do you want?"
"I want green and red."
"Okay," Ophelia chuckled. "Blue and yellow for me then."
They played multiple games and Lane had one twice. Ophelia had won only once and now they were playing their last game.
"I won't let you beat me!" she laughed.
"Then get both of your colors to the end before I do!"
"Why are you so good at this game?"
"Because it's my favorite," Lane laughed. "You picked my favorite board game."
"Damn," Ophelia replied. "I should've picked something else then."
"Nah, I like Ludo." Ophelia had all of her blue pieces at the end of the board. She needed to get her last two yellow pieces to the end but before she was able to move a piece forward, one of Lane's green pieces kicked a yellow piece back to the starting point.
"Dammit!" Ophelia said as she stared at her yellow piece back at the beginning. "You're going to win now."
"You still have a chance."
"I don't think so!"
"You're right. You don't."
Lane had already gotten all of their red pieces to the end of the board as well as three green pieces. There was one more green piece to go and Lane quickly got it to the end of the board, winning three out of four games. While Lane gloated about winning, Ophelia leaned back onto the floor and stretched.
"Okay, I'm done," she said. "You won and now I'm tired."
Lane Laughed at Ophelia as she pouted. "Do you want chips or something? While we figure out what we're gonna have for dinner?" they asked.
She nodded.
Lane disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and came back with a large family-size bag of potato chips and two cans of soda. They sat the snacks down on the floor next to the coffee table.
"Do you wanna order pizza tonight?" they asked.
"Yeah, we can do pizza."
"I'll order in a second."
"Is there another game you wanna play?"
Lane thought for a moment. "How about Old Maid?"
"Cards?"
"Yeah."
"I've never played," Ophelia admitted.
"That's okay," Lane replied. "I can show you. It's easy."
Lane went back into their room to retrieve a pack of playing cards, then they came back out into the living room to teach their best friend how to play the card game. Ophelia picked up on it quickly and ended up winning the first game she had played. After her win, Lane ordered their food for delivery and the two friends relaxed in the living room as they both scrolled on their phones.
"Ophelia?" Lane said to her.
"What's up?"
"Do you think Atlas will be caught?"
"I really hope so. They weren't able to question him, right?"
Lane shook their head. "No actually. I got a call from a detective and he said they looked for him at the house and at work and they haven't been able to find him yet. No social media posts, no phone calls to anyone. He's lost it."
"That's insane," Ophelia scoffed. "He's just gone completely insane. They should really have officers posted outside of this fucking building. Like, they can't find this douche? Clearly, he's plotting some bullshit."
"I'm scared." Lane rested their head on the coffee table after turning their phone off.
"I know. I'm scared too. How can they not find him?"
"Well if they do," Lane said, "I'm going to press charges."
"You have to! He broke in and stole your shit!"
"I know. And he's threatening me and violating the restraining order. I'm freaking out."
"That asshole will turn up eventually," Ophelia assured. "I just can't believe he's gone full criminal mode! Even this feels like too much for him."
"It does, doesn't it?" Lane laughed.
The conversation between Lane and Ophelia was interrupted by an odd sound. Lane looked around, confused as to where the creaking noise was coming from. "What the hell is that?" Lane whispered.
When they looked over to Ophelia, they saw her pointing to the living room window that lead to the fire escape. The sound was coming from the other side and even though the curtains were drawn, Lane saw the outline of a figure through the thin fabric. Lane's blood ran cold and they felt their face flush and felt cold sweat beading on their forehead.
"There's someone out there," Ophelia whispered as the creaking sound grew more frantic.
"Call 911," Lane whispered back. Suddenly, there was a loud cracking noise as if one of the window panels broke and separated from the frame. The cracking noise sounded forceful as Lane and Ophelia backed away. Then after what sounded like a struggle, it went silent for a moment before Atlas tore the curtains down and forced his way into the apartment. He held a crowbar in one hand and in the other, he held a large butcher knife.