The Disguised Assassin

“You just called your dad?” Justin asked. He looked at his best friend and said, “you, my friend, are loosing it.” John looked at Justin with anger in his eyes.

“Don’t you get it?” John yelled as he shook Justin. “My dad was behind all of this.”

“Don’t take out your anger on me, man,” Justin yelled back as he shoved John away. “I’m not your dad so I don’t see any reason why you would want to kill me with all that shaking.”

“I’m sorry, man,” John muttered a bit calmer as he smoothened Justin’s roughened suit. “This whole thing is now making me crazy.”

Justin looked at his friend with pity in his eyes and said, “I get you. I understand you’re angry. Just don’t release all your frustrations on me, alright?”

“Yeah, dude,” John muttered.

Justin stared at the key in John’s hand and asked, “what’s up with the key?” John raised the key to Justin’s face and shook it.

“This key was given to me by my dad today.”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“So?” Justin asked as he shrugged. “What’s it for?”

“He came to me this morning and told me that you called and told him about last night,” John replied and Justin scratched his head.

“Yeah, about that. I actually planned to tell you this morning about it but–”

“I’m not angry or anything,” John said, interrupting Justin’s excuse.

“Okay?” Justin muttered as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “So what happened?”

“What happened was, he came to tell me to move out of my house,” John explained and Justin shrugged. “Don’t you get it?”

“Get what?” Justin asked. He was very much confused now.

“My dad was the one who burnt down my house, Justin,” John shouted unable to control his anger attracting the attention of some of the firefighters. Right now he was losing it completely. He looked around him and adjusted himself as he saw that all eyes and attentions were now on him.

“My dad was behind the fire,” he whispered this time. Justin looked at John for some seconds before laughing loudly. It was now John’s turn to be confused. “What’s funny?” he asked with confusion written all over his face.

Justin’s laughter subsided after some minutes and he wiped the tears that were now forming in his eyes as he held his aching ribs. He was still chuckling find it hard to control his laughter. John was indeed funny.

“Well, you are,” Justin said as he chuckled lightly. “Don’t be stupid, John. Your dad can never burn down your house. He is businessman and he will not venture into anything that won’t profit him and I assure you, John, your house most definitely is one of them.”

“Is that an insult?” John asked.

“Not an insult, good friend, but the mere truth,” Justin replied. “By the way, why will your dad ever want your house on fire?”

“Now, that’s the question you’re supposed to ask,” John scoffed “My father met me today and gave me this key cause he wanted me out of my house and into some new mansion he bought last week. I rejected the offer but he insisted. He just handed me the key and then left.”

“So, you’re saying your dad set your place ablaze cause he wants you to move into the new place,” Justin asked with a raised brow and John nodded. “C’mon, John You can’t be serious.”

“I am, Justin, and I believe this whole thing is part of his whole political ambitions stuff,” John muttered.

“Could you guys keep it down? I’m trying to freaking sleep,” someone shouted, obviously a neighbor. John and Justin turned and saw John’s annoying neighbor, Henry, standing on his porch with nothing on but some short boxers.

“First you fill my place with smoke from your annoying house and now you’re here ranting god knows what and disturbing my sleep.” Justin turned to his friend who was now fuming and mumbling nonsense, his eyes red with anger.

“Calm down, buddy,” Justin said. “Let’s go talk somewhere more private,” he said as he grabbed John and pulled him away from the house and towards his car.

“Yeah, you better run,” Henry shouted before entering back into his house and slamming his door.

Justin pushed John into the car and closed the door. “What’s wrong with you, dude?” he asked angrily. “You’ve been acting so aggressively since today.” John simply rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. He felt a headache brewing in his head.

“Look, man, this whole thing is just stressing me out,” he muttered. “I didn’t sleep well last night, I got flirted on by Latonya, my dad burnt my house. If it were you how would you act.”

“You’re going through some weird stuff and I get it. But putting it out on others isn’t right. And you can’t blame your father blindly for your house. You might have forgotten to turn off the stove or maybe there was a spark. Anything but your dad couldn’t have caused this.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” John rubbed his face repeatedly and sighed. “I just need some sleep.”

*******

There was a knock on John’s window. John turned and saw a fireman standing outside of his car with one of his neighbors, Fiona. The fireman motioned for him to come out of the car and John nodded.

“What is it, sir?” John said as he and Justin stepped out of the car.

“Name is Pharell,” the fireman said as he shook John’s hand. “Here with me is–”

“Fiona,” John said, completing Pharell’s sentence. “Yeah, I know her.”

“Good morning, John,” Fiona greeted and John nodded in reply.

“Well, Fiona here says she saw the person who started the fire,” Pharell explained.

“You saw him?” John asked and Fiona nodded. His curiosity was really getting the better of him and he was really desperate to catch the person who did this to him.

“As you know, John, I’m a light sleeper,” Fiona said and John nodded in agreement.

Fiona was a light sleeper and was awaken by even the slightest noise. That was why he had stopped using his alarm clock. She always complained of its loudness so he resorted to his phone own instead.

“Well, I was woken up early by the loud noise. I thought it was your alarm clock again but you were already out of the house. I walked up to my window to investigate and saw a man in black overalls break your door open and walk inside. I didn’t think too much of it so I went back to sleep only to be awoken later again, this time by the smell of smoke.” Fiona explained while John listened with keen interest.

“She was the one who called us about the fire,” Pharell explained. Just as John was about speaking, he heard someone call his name. He turned around to see who it was and his face squeezed in anger.

“John,” his father said as he walked up to him. “What happened?”