What if I ain't no violinist?

97. Twoset Cleaner II

Brett ran to the bins and grabbed one and dragged it over. He was out of breath by the time he placed it in front of Eddy who looked very confused.

"Eddy... I don't think..I'm tall enough.. but.. I.. think if it was..someone as.. tall as you..."

"OMG Brett, calm down, will you please slow down??"

"I think the bin was put here so that someone could have a look at you in your bedroom."

"OH F*CK"

----------------------------------------------------

Eddy made a lame attempt at scoffing.

"Oh c'mon Brett, that's not funny."

"No sh*t Eddy, I don't think it's funny at all, but when you put the two together, there's only one possible answer. Some weird sh*t is happening and I think you're being a target. Are you sure you don't have any... suspects?"

"Hell no. Look, I haven't broken up with anyone recently, in fact, I haven't had a... partner in ages. I haven't even been on a date in months..."

Eddy momentarily hesitated to tell Brett all this but he was a bit freaked out with what he'd been told and wanted to find out why this was happening to him so he tried to volunteer as much information as possible.

"Eddy... I know it's none of my business, but.."

"Brett, it's okay, just ask whatever you want, I don't mind."

"You... um... you um... bat for our team.. yeah?"

"What?"

"Um.. if you were to go on a date, it would be with a... guy, yeah?"

Eddy shifted uncomfortably.

"Um... yeah..."

"...I'm only saying this because this bin has been moved under your bedroom at least 3 times already. If this person was peering into your bedroom window, he or she must be pretty tall, at least as tall as you. So I'd place my bets that it's a guy. You see, if they were as short as I am, they would've given up and not bothered to move the bin 3 times..."

Eddy felt a chill down his spine. The thought of someone peering into his bedroom window made him feel very uncomfortable.

"Brett, what do you think I should do?"

"...I think you should report it to the police."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes...! Just report it as something weird. Perhaps it is a random guy that fancies particular men? Like, maybe this tall person happens to like tall Asian men? Maybe there are other similar reported cases in the area? If so maybe they could patrol the area."

Brett wheeled the bin back to its designated area and they both went back inside Eddy's building.

As Eddy was unlocking his front door, Brett looked through the hole in the door where the door scope used to be.

"Eddy, you can see a good part of your living room from this hole now."

"What !?"

"Have a look."

Eddy closed his door again and peered through the hole in the door from the outside. He was able to see the corridor that leads into his living room and was able to see about a third of his living room, including the dining table where he normally sat to do his work.

"OMG..."

"Eddy.. I'm getting genuinely worried about you. I don't want to scare you but I really think you should report this to the police."

"I... I dunno, they might think I'm overreacting."

"I don't think so. You should also organise a locksmith to fix up your door scope as soon as possible. These things are meant to only see outside the unit from the inside, not outsiders to peer inside. In the meantime, let me fill up the hole for you with something.. I can't use anything sticky because it will interfere with the actual repair job....do you have any aluminium foil? I'll fill up the hole with some of that and I'll secure it with some tape from the inside, yeah?"

That evening Eddy was feeling rather uneasy as he had his dinner and tried to wind down for the night. He struggled to relax and enjoy his evening after the conversation he had with Brett. Eddy had no idea who could have possibly taken out his door scope or had been moving his bin under his bedroom window.

"Eddy, maybe you could ask a family member or a friend to come and stay with you?  Look, I know you don't know me that well, but if I can help.. just give me a call, yeah?"

Eddy didn't want to appear like he was overreacting and decided not to report the incident to the police yet, nor contact his family or friends as Brett suggested.  He certainly didn't feel comfortable calling Brett as he hardly knew him personally.

Then a thought dawned on him.

....Brett?

Oh no....

Eddy remembered how Brett blushed when his eyes met his after Eddy had scoffed at Brett's suggestion that some random guy could be fancying him.  Eddy placed his palm on his forehead and grabbed his hair in his fist.

...But Brett was the one who suggested I report this to the police...!

...Besides, he said he was too short to look into my bedroom window by standing on the bin.

...Or did he just say those things to cover himself? Was the bin thing a distraction so that he wouldn't be a suspect?

Eddy was so confused, he tightened his fist and pulled his hair.  His lips quivered.

Just then Eddy heard a small noise of something falling to the floor. It came from the direction of where his front door was. He got up from his sofa and headed towards where the noise came from. He saw something on the floor in front of his door. Eddy was very neat and tidy and he just had Brett come and clean his flat today, his corridor was meant to be spotless. He crouched down to pick up and inspect what was on the floor. It was the little plug that Brett had made from aluminium foil with some tape on its end. Eddy remained squatted down on the floor as he looked up along his front door and noticed the hole was now open again. Someone outside his door had removed the plug by pushing it into his flat..!!

Eddy stood up and peered into the hole.

To Eddy's utmost horror, his eye met another eye staring right back at him.

Eddy gave out an inaudible scream as he fell backwards. He kicked his feet and scrambled in panic as he shuffled back up his corridor, entered his bathroom and grabbed a large bath towel and ran back to his front door and placed it over the hook above the door scope hole.

He heard some noise from the other side of the door and the next instant Eddy saw a thin rod being shoved through the door scope hole as it created a tent with the towel that Eddy had draped over the hole. The whole sight absolutely terrified Eddy.

He was too scared to scream or say anything.  He crawled back into his living room into a corner where he knew he could not be seen from the hole and with shaking hands he pressed the dial button for the local police station that Brett had insisted Eddy save in his phone.