13 Minke Street

The dim street light cast a yellow glow on the pavement where Jeff flicked a cigarette butt that had burned down to the filter. 

He quickly glanced around before instinctively stamping out the cigarette with his shoe sole, grinding it back and forth.

“Damn it…” 

Jeff angrily shook his foot. He had forgotten that the soles of his shoes were nearly worn through, letting the heat burn the bottom of his foot.

The night wind blew cold gusts up and down the street. There were hardly any pedestrians left, just a few hurrying by with heads lowered under hats and scarves.

Jeff turned up his coat collar, giving himself a sense of concealment and protection despite the grease stains on the folded flaps.

Up ahead was 128 Minke Street. The row of houses from 50 to 200 were all connected buildings. Whether bought or rented, the occupants were unlikely to be rich, but they could at least be considered middle class. 

The house before him was home to a family of three – the husband was a doctor, the wife a teacher, and they had a seven-year old son.

During the day a maid would come to clean and tidy up the house, but she didn’t stay overnight – after preparing dinner she’d go back home.

Additionally, this family had a habit. Every Saturday night they’d go out as a family to watch performances at the theater.

The front door opened and the husband, dressed in a black suit, came out first to start the car parked near the house. Then the wife, wearing a red dress, led her child out of the door. After locking up the door behind her, she was laughing and chatting with the child as they got into the car.

The car drove off.

Jeff licked his lips, hurried forward and leapt over the short wooden fence that wouldn’t even stop a small dog. After landing on the flower bed, he took the steps two at a time and pulled out a key to insert into the lock.

Click…

The clear sound indicated that the door had been opened successfully.

Three months ago, Jeff had been a mover providing relocation services to this family. The trusting wife had given the moving company a copy of the keys to their new home. Jeff had secretly duplicated one for himself. 

Though at the time he had been hesitant about whether to steal from them – he had almost lost everything back then. Now he had no hesitation whatsoever because he not only had nothing, but also owed a buttload of debt.

After opening the door, Jeff slipped inside and swiftly shut it behind him. 

“After tonight, you should understand the need to change locks after moving.”

The first floor had an open kitchen and dining area, plus a maid’s quarters in the northwest corner.  

Jeff headed straight upstairs without turning on lights, using the flashlight he had brought instead. Its beam was somewhat unstable.

“Damn it!” Jeff silently cursed again. He knew it was because the batteries were running low. But that was also because he had spent the money meant for new batteries on a pack of ‘Morv’ cigarettes costing 5 lira.  

He forcefully banged his elbow on the flashlight a few times. The beam brightened a little.

The second floor had the master bedroom, a small study, and a bathroom. 

As for the third floor, because it was an attic, it was used as the child’s bedroom.

Jeff pushed open the door to the master bedroom. Inside were a large bed and various antique cabinets. He was certain any valuables would most likely be in this master bedroom, though he’d check the study as well before leaving.

Hiss… Hiss… 

The sound of electrical friction and static came through.

“Welcome to the Storytime with Roger, I’m your old friend…Alfred. Tonight’s moonlight is beautiful. No matter what you do under such beautiful moonlight, it seems like you will be accompanied by a sense of happiness…”

Jeff was startled by the sudden voice and looked down to find an old-fashioned tube radio.

“Damn it, they left the house and still didn’t think to conserve electricity!”

Jeff reached out and turned off the radio.

He then started rummaging through the dressing table drawers. Generally the lady of the house liked to keep frequently worn jewelry and household cash in them. Finding a jewelry box would be even better.

Click… 

At that moment, the sound of the front door opening came from downstairs.

Jeff was so frightened he nearly jumped up.

Immediately after, he heard the sound of high heels coming up the stairs, clearly headed straight for the bedroom.

Jeff hurriedly closed the drawer and turned off his flashlight.

He was just a thief, not a robber. Stealing and robbery were two completely different concepts, even in the eyes of the law.

Most importantly, he simply didn’t have the courage to be a robber!

The high heels approached swiftly, almost impatiently. 

Jeff didn’t have time to think further. He could only throw himself down and roll under the bed.

Creak…

At nearly the same time, the bedroom door was pushed open.

Tap!  

The light came on.

Doing his best ‘pseudo plank pose’ under the bed, Jeff saw a pair of red high heels walk up to the dressing table. After a period of rummaging, there seemed to be the crisp sound of a pill bottle opening and pills being poured out, followed by the sound of swallowing. 

Then came a series of relieved gasps.

Jeff watched the high heels remain stationary in front of the dressing table for a long time. Then the woman turned around and the high heels started moving again.

Ring ring… Ring ring…

A phone rang.

The high heels left the bed area and went to the tea table under the window sill where the phone was placed.

The woman picked it up.

“Yes, yes.”

“Mm, mm.” 

“I had originally planned to go with them, but suddenly felt unwell and had to come back to take medicine, so I let them go tonight while I rested at home.”

“It’s nothing, don’t worry, thank you for your concern, I’m fine.”

The woman hung up the phone, turned around, and walked towards the bed. 

Thud.

Stepping on the backs of her shoes to slip them off, the high heels nearly fell right in front of Jeff’s face. They were so close that Jeff could even smell the scent coming off the shoes.

Immediately afterwards, the bed shook slightly. The woman seemed to have flopped down directly on the bed.

Clearly, having left her husband and child behind after a long day at work, she could finally relax for a bit, even if it was due to illness. But it must still feel nice.

Under the bed, Jeff started thinking about what he should do.

He now somewhat regretted not having put on a mask beforehand. If he had known only the woman was coming back, he could have easily threatened her with a masked face, telling her not to move while he left.

He believed the woman alone wouldn’t have dared make trouble, plus he hadn’t managed to steal anything yet. The other party…might just let the matter drop without even calling the police!

But that was just his wishful thinking. Even now, knowing there was just a woman lying on the bed, Jeff didn’t have the courage to crawl out from under the bed and threaten her. 

Jeff opened his mouth as wide as he could to breathe silently, hoping to relieve the tense emotions he felt at the moment.

Wait until she’s asleep, wait until she’s asleep.

Once she was asleep, while her husband and child were still not back, he could sneak out from under the bed without making a sound, and safely leave without alerting anyone.

The woman lying on the bed was humming a song, and the sound of pages turning could be heard.

Damn it, why aren’t you sleeping yet?

Jeff didn’t know how long the woman had been reading her book above, because right now under the bed, he had lost all sense of time.

After a long time….

Slam.

Jeff heard the sound of the book being closed.

The woman got off the bed, barefoot.

She started walking towards the bedroom door, yawning as she went.

Was she going to take a bath? Jeff felt a moment of elation.

While she was bathing, he could slip away!

However, what disappointed Jeff was that with a ‘click‘ sound, the woman had already walked back. What followed was the sound of static from the radio.

Ssssssssss…

The woman lay back down on the bed and picked up her book.

The radio started playing light music, and the woman hummed along.

Damn it, was she planning to wait until her husband and kid got back before sleeping!?

As one song ended, a man’s voice came from the radio: “After the brief rest, welcome back to Storytime with Roger. Let’s continue the story we were telling. Our lady Catherine was lying on the bed with a book in her hand, listening to music – she’s enjoying this brief leisure of the night. In fact, she had always envied full-time housewives, because for a woman, having to work outside while also taking care of household affairs and children was truly exhausting.”

“Sigh…”

Jeff heard the woman on the bed let out a sigh. She seemed to have similar circumstances.

However, just then, the words from the radio made Jeff’s hair stand on end!

“But what Catherine didn’t know was that as she lied in bed enjoying this rare moment of leisure, there was actually someone lying under her bed right now…”

“……” Jeff.

“……” The woman.

The sighing and sound of pages turning from the bed abruptly stopped.

The sounds from the radio also halted, as if the signal was bad or the old radio had some problem. Static filled the air once more.

At that moment, Jeff’s heart felt like it had leapt to his throat. He felt the overly still atmosphere made it somewhat difficult to breathe.

“Hehe…haha…”

Laughter came from the woman on the bed. She seemed to be easing her own embarrassment, though the main purpose of the laughter was to dispel the oppressive feeling from having scared herself. If not for the circumstances, Jeff really wanted to laugh along – Look, ma’am, don’t listen to that jerk on the radio spouting nonsense, how could there possibly be someone under your bed?!

However, just then, Jeff saw a foot slowly stretch down towards him.

The woman had shifted her body towards the edge of the bed.

Jeff looked at the foot, his own fists slowly clenching tight.

He saw the woman’s toes were also clenched tight.

The woman seemed very inclined to get out of bed and look underneath, and Jeff knew clearly what she would see once she did….

But the woman’s feet, after just touching the floor, slowly retracted back up again. 

Phew…

Jeff let out a long sigh of relief in his heart.

Unknowingly, he was already drenched in cold sweat.

But as he gasped for breath, he had to deliberately control it – he hated this situation, hated this predicament, he even hated the wannabe thief that was himself.

Perhaps five minutes had passed? Jeff couldn’t be sure – he didn’t have a watch, and it was impossible to keep track of time under the bed.

Suddenly, Jeff saw a strand of hair fall down from the bed. 

From under the bed, Jeff could almost visualize this scene – the woman slowly and quietly leaning down, trying to peek under the bed.

The hair grew longer and longer, falling down more and more, the foremost strands almost reaching the floor.

Jeff just stared dumbly at this scene. He was unclear how to deal with it later.

Should he kneel down and plead, plead with the woman to spare him and let him leave?

Or should he use the most arrogant threatening voice to make the woman quiet, then leave?

Seems like…the first one suits him more.

The hair had touched the floor;

Then, the woman’s forehead slowly appeared in Jeff’s field of vision.

Just a little more and Jeff would meet the woman’s eyes. But that also meant the woman would likewise see him under the bed.

Jeff held his breath – he was so anxious and nervous that he forgot to breathe. He just stared fixedly at the woman’s lowering forehead.

Then, the woman stopped moving.

It seems that the woman was also very scared; a little too afraid of seeing someone under the bed.

Although she knew taking a look would be the best way to relieve her doubts and fears, she didn’t dare continue…

The woman’s hair hanging on the floor began to rise back up; the woman’s forehead also disappeared from Jeff’s sight.

She laid back on the bed, breathing heavily, and Jeff finally realized he seemed to have been holding his breath for a long time. He opened his mouth to gulp in air greedily. 

His head felt a little dizzy, and tears began to form from the corners of his eyes. He wanted to cry. He wanted to go back to the streets now. Even if he faced the cold wind, he would sit casually by the flower beds, smoking and spitting. He’d spit very loudly and exaggeratedly with no shame at all!

He had no idea how much time had passed, but there was no more movements on the bed.

She should be asleep now, right?

Jeff estimated the time. When the woman’s husband and child got back, he really wouldn’t be able to escape.

He was already so afraid of just one woman….when the man returned, he’d probably lose all courage.

She’s asleep, so…I can go, right?

Jeff started to slightly shift his position. He was already diagonally prone under the bed; now, he carefully flipped over onto his back, then slowly began writhing his body, gradually moving his upper body out from under the bed. All this writhing made Jeff feel like an enormous worm.

His left hand pressed on the floor, his right hand clutching at the side of the bed, many parts of his body began to lightly exerting strength, to slowly extract himself out from under the bed.

The first thing to poke out was Jeff’s head.

Previously, the reason Jeff turned face up before leaving the bed was because when exiting from under the bed, he wanted to ensure his line of sight could continuously monitor the bed.

Whereas if he came out lying on his stomach, and the woman on the bed behind him suddenly screamed…. Heavens, Jeff felt that if it happened that way, he would be scared to insanity!

Slowly wriggling out, he saw the bedside. He saw the woman’s hand dangling down by the bedside.

Gently moving out further, he saw the woman’s hair. She should be asleep, she should be sleeping soundly, definitely. 

It was just that her sleeping position wasn’t great. Her husband wasn’t home now, so she should be sleeping in the middle of the bed!

As Jeff carefully wiggled out from under the bed, his movement suddenly halted. He noticed a gap in the woman’s hair, indicating that she wasn’t lying down. Instead, she appeared to be leaning over the bedside, supporting her head with her hand.

Who would hold up their head while sleeping?

So she might have her eyes open now, looking at the floor in front of her.

And if he continued wriggling out, he’d likely meet her line of sight!

In that moment, Jeff felt his scalp go numb. He really wanted to just take the plunge, fully extract himself from under the bed, but…but he didn’t have the courage.

In the end, he could only frustratedly and slowly wiggle himself back under the bed. 

When his head was obscured by the bedboard again, his racing heart finally settled down.

This space under the bed gave him an immense sense of security, like he had returned home.

Just then, the sound of a car engine came from outside, and then it stalled.

Immediately afterwards, there was the sound of the door opening at the entrance on the first floor, followed by a boy’s laughter.

The man and child was back.

But Jeff didn’t feel like he was done for. He felt a little…relieved.

He looked forward to either being discovered and then rushing out, being stopped and beaten up by the man, or being caught by the police called upon later.

Either way, even if he was locked up at the police station, it’d be infinitely better than this.

A series of footsteps came up the stairs.

The bedroom door opened.

Jeff’s face happened to be facing the direction of the door.

He first saw a boy’s sneakers. He’d wanted that style himself when he was 5 or 6 years old; it was expensive, and wearing them could make a person seem much more confident.

Right after, he saw a pair of men’s leather shoes—very refined. They were not the kind polished with shoe wax, but rather replaced with new leather shoes.

“Today’s performance was great.”

“But I got a little sleepy watching it, Dad.”

“Haha, when you’re a little older, you’ll understand. How about this, next week Mom and Dad will take you to the zoo, okay?”

“Really?!” 

“Of course.”

“Mom, did you hear that? Dad said he’ll take us to the zoo next week.”

“I heard, I heard. Alright George, go wash up, it’s time for bed. Dear, you should take your son to wash up, I’ll go make George’s bed.”

A pair of red high heels walked into the room from outside.  

Jeff felt this family’s atmosphere was really warm. If he’d had such a warm home before, that would have been so nice.

“Alright alright, go wash up, let me tune the radio; they should have the stock reports on now.”

The man seemed to fiddle with the radio antenna. The static noise that had already blended into the night suddenly grew louder, then disappeared again. 

‘…This is a wonderful nighttime story, isn’t it? Everyone, no matter where they are, has their own partner accompanying them; no one’s alone. Alright, thank you for listening to tonight’s Storytime with Roger. Next up is the news on stock reports—I believe you’ll get rich again….’

The radio started playing light music as a transition between programs.

Get rich…haha, get rich.  

Jeff felt that it was laughable. If he hadn’t listened to his friend’s advice to sell the house his father left him and buy a stock that was sure to skyrocket, how could he have fallen to this state?

Just then, the family of three who were standing at the door started moving. The father had taken the son to the bathroom, while the woman went upstairs to make her son’s bed.

This was his chance! 

Leave the bed now, rush down the stairs, open the door, run out, and he’d be safe and free! Jeff made up his mind.

As he braced his hands on the floor getting ready to exert strength….

Suddenly, his figure froze stiff.

A question suddenly flashed through Jeff’s mind: the lady who came into the room just now had returned with her husband and child. So, who was the woman lying on the bed this whole time?

She….who could she be? Wasn’t she lying on the bed? So how did the family of three who just got back not see her?

“Shh.”

From the back of his head came a soft breath. It was slightly cool, gently caressing the nape of his neck.

Jeff turned his head back somewhat dumbfoundedly.

Under the bed, nearly pressed against his back, he first saw a pair of legs. Then, looking down, he saw a face; no, he only saw a pair of legs.

The face sat in between those legs.