In the Dark, rain was pounding. The window hummed with it. The wind coming in from ocean maintained a steady pressure of wet churn on the window. Outside it was velvet black beyond the closed drapes. So dark that it may have gone on forever. The set of cheap white drapes seemed to hold back the ocean of black soft static right outside the window. Only one small desk lamp in the hotel room where he sat was on.
It was late, late enough that the interstate highway between the hotel where he typed and the nearby beach had quieted. The only company now was the wind, rain and soft hum of heavy truck wheels every few minutes or so. That, of course, and the typing. He had been drumming away on his laptop for at least and an hour and twenty minutes or so. It was so late, he thought. He was so tired.
There had been late dinner with the clients, after cases at the hospital had finished for the day. These guys always wanted him to take them somewhere nice... buy something classy... pay for the extra drinks. Maybe, just maybe, they could consider prescribing the new drug. Something about how the half life was shorter than the generic version. Or efficacy in their patient population could end up being less than previously studied, we should probably discuss it over another $200 bottle of wine, another plate of olives and charcuterie.
Whatever. The company credit card got drained same as that bottle, only the company always managed to make sure the card never ran out. Just file the right requisitions. His only job was to keep them talking, keep them buying. It didn't matter what the drug did. Just get it into the pharmacy. The company contracts they already had would do the rest. It wasn't that he disliked his job, he was fine with it. It sure payed well enough. Enough to buy a house and just a step above the cheapest furniture, support some interesting hobbies. That was nice for this early in a lifetime career. What was left of his friends from college were still renting. They were all spending money on brunches and nights out. That was about it. Not much time at home for him, though. Just enough to check on his potted plants, use the home gym a bit between trips. He bought that gym with his first bonus, by the way. Then back out the door for the next trip.
“Jesus Christ. Finally.”
He finished typing, flung himself back in the chair and crossed his eyes at the ceiling. That had taken a while. After the drawn out dinner he still had to make the 3 hour trip to the next hotel and finish up the requisitions for the previous day. The computer work was easily an hour or more each night. What time was it anyhow? He didn't care. The cheap digital clock radio in the hotel was off by some confusing amount anyhow.
“Uuuuhhhgg.” He groaned.
He looked back at his work and the desk lamp. It was a cheap gold light with a hanging ball chain. Three clicks gets you three different settings of dreary warm tone light right where your working and not much else. He didn't like staring at the computer screen in the dark, but the hotel lights were typically too much for how much time he had to put in. He gazed around re-familiarizing himself after being locked in on the computer.
Rubbing his eyes he got up from the desk chair he had been planted in. In the fridge there was beer, at least.
“Thank god for cheap Mexican beer.”
He grabbed one from the fridge. Just before he arrived he was happy to have found an all night convenience store. The beer was the happiest thing on his mind. The Dried up pizza he pulled from under the heat lamp at the time was less so. The clerk at the store even bristled when he payed for it. But, he was hungry. Any port in a storm, apparently.
He walked over to the window after clenching his fists and letting the cracks grind out of his hands. He leaned forward, tossing the cap over his shoulder onto the floor, and made an honest attempt to peer into the thick black outside. He stared for a long while will nursing his Mexican lager. It was definitely dark out there. He strained to judge some sort of distance, to see some shape in the ink. Nothing.
When he arrived he thought he could just barely hear the distant waves. He remembered the highway that should have been there and thought he had seen the fuzzy dots of highway light earlier when he left is car. Maybe they turn off? Maybe its just that rainy. Probably a combination of both. Either way, nothing now.
He stood in the in the sound of the rain. No other sounds, this late. The last set of truck wheels had been about 10 minutes ago. Just the hissing water. It was insistent. Sometimes it was comforting... somewhat. Nothing like a northeastern rainstorm. No thunder and lightning or theatrics, just voluminous pleasant rain. In this instance, pleasant was not the case, this was a bit more intense. Churning constant pour, distant gentle booms of wind. A louder wind rush, a flex of the window accompanied with an uncomfortable groan as the wet air pushed on the frame. He recoiled at the sound of the pressure on the window.
“Guess its wetter out there than I though.”
“You got that right.” He said.
He moved his head around in the window. Straining again to see if he could make anything out. He knew the highway should be there. A long strip running across the center of his view, maybe sixty yards out. He came in on that strip, heading south, made the exit at described by his helpful yet annoying rental car navigation. There was moonlight at the time. He could see the hotel up ahead on the right in his memory, illuminated just enough by the weak parking lot lights. A 5 floor block of beige rising out of the grass and shrubs. Not much else. This was one of those less populated parts of the coast. Too cold and too wet too often for anyone to want do anything but pass through. From time to time on the trip he could see light reflecting off the beach to the left beyond the grassed dunes, it was quite rocky... cold and uncomfortable looking. There had definitely been light posts overhanging the highway.
He leaned all the way to the right side of the window to get the best angle out and north along the coast, or what should be the coast. It was the 4th floor, during the day he should have easily be able to see dunes and water. The parking lot was on the opposite side of the building from him. Shouldn't there be some light from around the corner? Still nothing. Dark.
He marveled at it for a second. Dark road. Dark coast. Lights out. Moon now gone. Had he been a more sensitive personality it might have been slightly unsettling. He had been In plenty of hotel rooms. You see some wild stuff sometimes... or lack thereof in this case. It was kind of neat to him, really. He looked around the room. No light made it in from the hallway under his door. Only one lamp on. It was as if he was his own small island of light, surrounded by his plaster walls floating in a space of wet mist. He thought of the nearby ocean and imagined being awash in the dark outside in his little island. It Must have been how all those sailors felt in all those classic books and movies. Alone in the dark. The ridiculous comparison made him smile a bit. Comparing seafaring adventures with his late night snacking an internet surfing in a dark hotel room. He brushed if off.
Wandering over to the couch he dropped down and leaned back. It was about time to turn in. After busy days sometimes one needs to sit for a second and clear his head. The thought of trying the TV crossed his mind. Hotels had the worst TV, to chance it would mean ten minutes of thumbing through channels of commercials hoping to land on something half interesting. It was basically a trick to get you to upgrade the cable package for the night. He was thinking he should get his bathroom bag out to brush his teeth. The lingering taste of beer made him realize he was still a bit hungry. He took a deep slow breath... Then jumped.
“Ooh yeah, the pizza!” He remembered.
Perfect. He had forgotten about it. It wasn't going to be a great specimen, by any means, but he loved a late snack before bed. This will do. There was nothing like the relief of pizza after computer work. He headed towards the fridge. Beer in hand he tossed oven the door and snatched up the travel size grease stained box from the fridge, noting a single remaining beer in the cardboard six pack. Maybe one more when he was done to wash the pizza down? Back over to the couch. He hated going to bed hungry, something about the all day stress of having to act nice to people he didn't like. It wore on him. Having a nice bit of trashy food when you can be alone and relax always softened his mind up just enough to get to sleep... that and beer. He put the box and the beer down on the coffee table in front of him and flipped open the top to reveal... nothing?
“What the fuckin'...? ” he blurted without finishing.
He stared at an empty greasy boxy with a stained white piece of wax paper in it. He sat for a second, then looked around, his eyes focusing into the distance on nothing.
“I ate it.”
He waited...
“You ate it?” He questioned.
A gentle wave of confusion covered him like a warm blanket. His eyes circled around softly.
“Damn, I ate it.” He admitted
Now he was disappointed in himself.
“Yeah.. sure.”
This was confusing. He was definitely tired. He had been going at the same pace for three... a few days now. But completely forgetting that he an entire pizza was a bit much. He contemplated for a minute. He left the convenience store, he was back on the road. He ate a slice of pizza while driving because he was famished. He knew he would be at the hotel in a few more miles so he payed more attention to the navigation. When he got out he had his roller suitcase and the pizza. Beer he tossed in the roller just to get through the door. Wallet, phone, keys... he hit the button on the key fob to lock the rental. Talk to the crusty, unhappy woman at the front desk who gave him a courtesy package consisting of a paper bag with a two bottles of water, which he let her put on the pizza box. Up the elevator. Into the room. Got out the laptop from the suitcase, shoved the roller towards the bed. Took a break in the bathroom. Checked the phone while on toilet. Then Started a beer and got to work on the computer.
He couldn't remember eating the rest. He got up periodically to toss an empty and get a new beer, but that had been it. Who knows, though? The thought nagged a tiny bit harder. The long day, the drive, the stark coastal scenery, what was it... four beers? As he rolled it over in his head he convinced himself. Apparently, he was a little more gluttonous and forgetful than he thought. Understandable. He had had a few of those expensive glasses of wine before he said his goodbyes and thank-yous. The drive was long enough for him so sober back up with a bottle of water in the car. Then to polish off 4 more drinks. when he got here later. Maybe he should think about drinking less? He was still hungry.
Rummaging around the hotel room revealed that the courtesy bag the front desk woman had given him also contained a single serving package of some Italian cookies.
“Guess those will have to do”
He rolled his eyes as he opened the package. Washing the crumbs down with one of the bottles of water, he headed towards the desk. He pulled the string on the single work lamp that kept back the dark, leaving the room bathed in the dull blue glow from his still open laptop. His bag had rolled somewhere over near the bed next to the bathroom. In the now dark room, he stepped around the bed leaned over and felt around for the handle. Nothing.
“Cant even find the roller now, can you?”
He straitened up and let out a sigh. His disappointment in this evening was increasing. Another gust of heavy wind and rain on the windowsill outside in the dark made it seem like the room was sighing with him.
“Its here somewhere.” He stated with a hint of frustration.
He stepped back, and as he eyes began to adjust he walked forward sweeping his leg back and forth in the space between the bed and the bathroom door. When he smacked the corner of the nightstand at the head of the bed he let out a muffled expletive, then he turned back around and put his hands on his hips. It couldn't be gone, he knew it was over here. He knew he sent it careening over after he pulled out his laptop.
“Whats wrong with you?”
“OK, for Christ's sake.” The annoyance in his voice was considerable. He headed back to the wall by the entry to the hotel room, where the light switch was. He knew it was there, it was always in the same place in these hotel rooms. He felt around on the wall.
“Bet you a twenty you cant even find the switch.”
He grimaced in the dark.
“Piss off.” he muttered.
He was wiping his hands back and forth on the wall where the switch should have been. His frustration was mounting.
“Stupid hotel rooms...” He continued.
“Oh yes, its definitely the rooms fault. Have you considered...”
The click of the switch bathed the room in light. The shadows fled like lighting fast cockroaches. His small island now glowing, the dark pushed back beyond the borders of the wallpaper and wiring.
For one small, tiny second, he had a strange feeling. It was... almost as if he had forgotten something and hadn't yet realized what it was. Like when someone leaves the oven on, or walks out of the house without the car keys. Just ever so small. Then it was gone. He headed back to the bathroom. There, was the suitcase. It had rolled into the corner where the bed meets the nightstand, under the over hanging edge of the piece of furniture.
“Ahh OK.” The words came out in a relieved sigh.
He reached down and retrieved his bag of bathroom toiletries. After finishing the bottle of water, he brushed his teeth and prepared for bed. When he was finished, he returned to the desk and snapped shut his computer. He turned the small desk lamp back on to its lowest setting. After this many beers he knew he would be back up at some point and didn't want to walk into a wall on his way to the bathroom. He disrobed to his briefs and sat on the edge of the bed to take in on long breath and blow away the stress of the long day. Anther long soft whine of wind against the window. The rain still poured. He still couldn't see anything beyond the glass. He took his last look around the room, his small island of light. Laying down, he relaxed and let the mild drunkenness blend into warm sleepy relaxation. He was alone in the dark.
“Goodnight”