Death of a Collector

By Jiwoon Choi

The most particular features of homosapiens would be hypocritical, a case of an unusal blending of virtues and vices, unlike the most common animals which they use hypocricy as their survival needs, being contrary to their moral principles they laid down.
The basic motivation for human beings, likely wearing a mask or imposing upon a person's good nature so as to conceal his act, is based on illusion for the protective instincts proper to mankind.
This story tells about hypocracy on the highest level using unusal narrative style. Whenever people say I love you, there may be
something to be considered as an intended hypocricy and may be committing it unwittingly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 20, 2016
• ISBN: 9791195680900

Book preview

Epilogue

Part 1

1. A Visitor.

I skived the last lecture of an introduction to entomology at the end of this term. By the time I reached home, The heat was still raging and dancing all around on the surface of the roads and was going up in the air. Although It was four o’clock in the afternoon, I felt the heat too much. I parked my outdated car, made by FORD Motor company, at a small flat corner in the backyard of my house and went inside the house by the back door. sunlight was stretching in the room from the floor to the window lengthily. I faced myself to my room at the end of the second floor with wiping off the beads of sweat falling down from the root of my ear to the scruff of the neck with my handkerchief. Every thing else was just as my room was all over the lot. Few pieces of under ware I didn’t pack properly was hanging on the corner of my bed. and socks, hairpins, girdle and even more nightdress have been on the floor as it was. Electrical goods such as MP3, bluetooth and others were on the scene. I have a habit of sleeping in plenty of clothes whenever it become cooler enough to feel at night, even though it is still hot outside. That was because of my mother and it was a kind of paranoiac. After she bolted the door from the inside, she would fall asleep in my room together. When my father often got dead drunk, she got beaten up from him sinlessly. Damn him! A regular demon! Where is King of Hell! Why does he catch this stupid person until now? She put a curse on him and cried bitter tears and went to sleep before I knew it in my bed together. Sometimes I felt a lot of sympathy for her. How had I acted in such case? I gave a scornful look upon her because she was a backward step like a loser.

Such a thing has become a part of my daily life and then I got started throwing myself in chaos as if I’m in the chamber of secrets. So I have never showed my naked body even when I was alone. I would make it as a rule before I knew it. I shoved all the scattered things into a drawer in a hurry and then I stripped off to take a shower although I’m not in the mood. I went to the bath room. When I turned on a faucet, Cold water came out. I withdrew myself suddenly and took one step back and adjusted the valve to come out tepid water and then went under the shower.

Tom’s face rose to my mind suddenly. The summer break is just around the corner. I’m preparing for the final exams but he didn’t say anything about the summer holidays. I would just follow in his steps as far as what to take a trip or volunteer activity during the summer vacation concerned. Tom is my friend from way back. Last winter he had talked about this and that three month ago before winter vacation started and also he urged me weigh up which to choose. Did he have fallen out of love with me?

I’m a girl of passive. I’ve never tried to resist or disagree with what he has said to me. he enjoyed popularity among his class mate in the same department. He was doing well, a good_looking guy, generally speaking, He has been a real stud in a rugby team at school and a man to be reckoned with his players. His status always used to make me cowered before him. I was worried sick about whether he will break with me or not. There is more to something than meets the eye. To some extent these thoughts I have adopted to the changing conditions all around me were uppermost in my mind.

I was out of the shower and put on my dressing gown and then went downstairs.

I was thirsty.

So I wanted to take some ice water or a bottle of juice out of the fridge in the kitchen.

I detected the squeak of the old wooden steps. The sun’s glare on the window frame still gave out a dying heat already. The ceiling and the walls were turning red and brought to mind a few burning scenes in the movie.

I opened the fridge door and grabbed a bottle of cold water. But I changed my mind instantly. There were a few bottles of cooled beer formed beads of water on the surface in a row.

Suddenly I was reminded of my father. I know there is definitely nobody to place it to chill, considering of the feelings of others, but my father. In some instances, his actions believe his words, but that is hardly the case. When anyone did the wrong thing, he would have behaved violently or hurled abuse at the person directly involved. But he soon regretted his hasty decision. He frequently acted violently against his wife and bothered her and then begged forgiveness for what he have done holding onto a locked door nob in front of my room.

Honey, that’s not really what I mean. I still love you. When I got home after having a drink with my friend, I had the munchies and raided the fridge. There were nothing in it. I was so furious that I couldn’t control myself. That was not What I mean. he said so. And he turned and clattered down the stairs.

I took two bottles of beer out of the fridge and drank at a gulp. My eyes almost started out from my head and a smell of alcohol tickled my nose and it was pleasantly tangy enough to have the chills. I got a kick from in a moment. I went to a little firm couch against the other wall and sat on it.

I thought I seemed to become lighthearted to some extent. Most of companies, school and others tend to close early in anticipation for a weekend break.

I wish Tom would make a phone call to me at a time like this. I want to have a very pleasant time with him wearing a semi-transparent two-piece suit with a red rose motif and a white lace around it’s neck at a hotsie-totsie Caribou coffee store - Which many of her colleagues go in and out of the store-in order that anybody couldn’t snag him and let rumors spread in a person’s ear by itself.

I have been caught up in a fantasy willingly.

At that time a silhouette of a person suddenly appeared out on the frosted glass by the left window. It was moving to and fro frequently as like a sea horse under the sea and blocked out light. At first glance I have guessed that it must be a passer-by. But it didn’t disappear and really got on my nerves. I stood up quickly and opened the window and stared on it around in wonder.

The sun’s light gradually has been getting weaker and the outside world was changing to realgar yellow.

There was a skinny person staring right at my house shaking his body from side to side by a big fir tree standing in front of my house.

He was about six -feet tall. Who is that? Anyway , who is he hanging out there for other?

All of my attention is now focused on that person looking at me. He suddenly stopped moving. He was just standing there with his eyes half-closed , not budging an inch. He was likely lost in thought as if he has been retracing his past actions and resolving something mysterious. A few seconds later he was approaching toward me with his duffel bag , which was leaning against a fir tree, on his shoulder, likely to be tired of waiting for someone.

I was looking at him with surprised eyes. He was blocking my view when he came close to me and his image got bigger.

He came right up to the door gate and set down his duffel bag and leaned it against a door post and took a look around house.

He have made a look filled with old memories. He fastened his eyes on a warehouse with a small door gate. I have never been there until this very day. The door frame was made of many pieces of hardened steel bars. And some pieces of tool with a heavy metal or lumbers have been stacked on the roof of it. So I have been not concerned with such trivial matters until now and have never taken a near view of the place since I have moved here. Why does he staring at the place? I asked myself to answer my own question but I could not ascertain the fact at all. When he pressed the doorbell , the sound of bird rang. I went to the door gate and opened the door in half. I showed my face and said to him. Who’s this, please.. looking at him with doubtful eyes. When I have only seen him from a distance, he seemed to be dark-haired, but it was in fact light brown coloured, grey -eyed, square faced, moreover, having high cheekbones. And it was difficult of approach for me. He looked pale and thin in the face. he was dressed in a fashionably worn-out baggy blue jean and T- shirt which was printed some swear words that some black men used to scribble on the wall. But his thin smile flickered on his face created a mysterious atmosphere. It seemed that he have led a quiet solitary life in a secluded place. Grey eyes and the white of the eyes were not easily distinguished since one is more vivid than the other. It reminded me a Greek gypsography that I have worked on detailed sketching during art class.

my name is Sam Hiddleton. Does Mr. Cox powell really live here, doesn’t it?. He told me in a high-pitched voice unexpectedly. His cultivated and distinguished voice made me relaxed the tension against him.

He is my father. He is out now. Maybe he’ll be in the evening about two hours later.

Isn’t there no way to contact him? Please tell him someone is looking for.

"No. Wait a minute. I wonder if he have brought his mobile. I’ll get back to you shortly.

I walked into my father’s room next to the dining room holding the door gate open. the cell phone of my father by the bed was there in having turned the power off. I came back to him and said.

He didn’t take his mobile with him. It was there. So I couldn’t contact him now.

I didn’t keep my eyes on him again. There was something repulsive and uncomfortable feeling flashed through my mind.

Can I wait for him within doors If you don’t mind? In fact I have been the owner of this house before. Maybe you don’t know all about this house. He told me a bit of his mind. As a matter of fact, I have been unaware about the history of this house until now. My father have sold the big house and moved out into this small house and then I came back to this place at my dad’s beck directly after school was over. So I have never seen him before. At that time I was going into my first year in high school. I have lived in San Jose with my grandfather. In that big house, there were two swimming pools, a movie screen and a large garden that some new beautiful flowers bloom in each season. I used to play tag at the garden with my grandfather chortling with delight when I was a child. My grand father collapsed with a stroke and lost his tongue and couldn’t move his limbs at all. He was only blinking and have had been equipped with something weird devices on his nose, mouth, head and wrists during hospitalization in university hospital. And then when I graduated from a middle school, he was dead and was buried in RoseHill cemetery park.

The next year my father sold out the big house and moved here. That’s all I know.

I don’t know about the reason why he have had bought this house and the price they have exchanged.

First of all it was considered for me that this man was telling a lie about this house. If I allow him to come into the house, I have suspected that he might attempt to rape me. I have read many articles about a rape case in the papers at least once every three days.

I was upset by his sudden remark. It was so confused that I have been felling tangled emotions like as an unsolvable quiz game. As a result, I couldn’t make my own decision.

Then I was saying to my self like this.

Susan, you have to be careful. He is likely to be a pervert to flee after having raped you.

See a spark in his eyes! Keep away from him strictly! Keep your distance from him from now on. To be raped by him, it’ll only make it harder for you. Stay close beside the phone and keep an eye on the movement of him. Yes, that’s what it is all about.

Don’t worry so much. I’m not that kind of guy. Don’t get me wrong. I got off scot-free from the notorious Northcounty prison a few month ago after having put an end the boring trial which has been trotting me off my legs for the last seven years. I have taken the rap of the first-degree murder criminal.

He already have learned about that I gave him a suspicious look at him. And although it’s very difficult to say, he uttered his own secrets in order to set my heart at rest daringly. Who say it in that way? I began clearing my mind of doubt because of his pure-hearted attitude.

Nevertheless, How can I let a man whom I met for the first time right now in? ,,,,, All right. Come on in and wait for my father. It’s hot weather outside now.

And I unlatched the gate all.

He wiped the sweat falling down on his forehead with a handkerchief and put down the duffel bag on his shoulder and leaned it against a door post and came into the house and sat on the couch after leaning his bag against the wall again.

His forehead was glistening with sweat.

Would you care for a cup of coffee or a glass of cool juice?

Oh, Great, Thank you. Coffee please

He touched the back of his neck and chucked the syrinx under the chin. He was flushed with tension and feeling nervous. I went to the kitchen and made a cup of coffee with sugared water. I walked toward him and looked at his thin blue-veined hands.

He asked me If you don’t mind , would you telling me your name?

Susan M. Powell

I have said to him very clearly and slowly as possible as I can. I wanted to imprint me whom I am very smart and hard to attempt to get easily in his mind. From the beginning he have dropped a hint about my ethnicity.

Did you come from Ireland?

Yes, My grandfather came from Dublin, but he has been dead for seven years

I told him about what happens without being asked and looked around the inside of the house and spoke so low as to be heard by me barely.

I guess that the inward part of the house have been changed in the mean time. The kitchen window was changed with a bigger one and balcony was expanded and also the color of the tiles were changed.

Now that he mentioned it, I have guessed that this man didn’t tell a lie to me completely. In fact, Not long after we’ve moved here, my father have repaired all of the inside of the house for himself. I remembered it that had happened long before. It seemed to be regarded for me that what he have said to me was true.

I was allaying the suspicion that still exist in my mind to some extent.

He lifted up his left hand when he holds coffee cup and took some more. He was likely left handed. I remembered that he have used his left hand when he put his duffel bag on his shoulder a little while ago. He divided a cup of medium hot coffee into four times. whenever he drink it, his syrinx has been moving up and down along the front side of his slim neck as like as a goose. It gave me an air of mystery and I was feeling sympathy for him because of his looks with a difference. I didn’t want to be with him any more. I felt a separation between of the two. I brought away empty coffee cup stealthily and said to him.

Please wait for my father watching TV until he get back to you. I have got something to do. And I approached TV set placed at the other side of the couch and handed him the remote control. He have said to me. Thank you

I went to my room upstairs.

There was a whirring of the air conditioner. I went up the stairs with my hair ruffled by the breeze from the machinery. There was not so much I have to do although I came back to my room. What I have said to him was little more than a weak excuse for a way out of the awkward situation and an unknown doubts. Something unfamiliar for me caused me to refuse to be with him.

The phone rang nearly at six o’clock in the afternoon. I could hear father’s voices from the receiver weakly.

Susan, What’s the news today?

Yes

What happened ?

Dad, you have a visitor and he is waiting for on the couch

Visitor? Who? What’s the name?

Sam Hiddleton

Sam hidd l….. When did he has come?

About half an hour ago. He said he knows daddy well

Um. A little.

What shall I do now? Dad

At any rate, go and have a look at him silently and look over what he is doing. I left the cell phone at home. I’ll make a phone call at a public booth in about ten minutes, you hear?

It seemed that my dad avoids meeting him and regard him as an unwelcome guest. Does he fell into a bias he must be a bad sort because of the fact either he has been sentenced to seven years in jail or he has been mixed up in a murder case?

I was truly confused about what to do next.

I felt concern about if something bad happened along with dad. So I didn’t relax my guard down. I opened the door and was stalking him to the end corner of the floor and was reclining on the beginning of the stairs enough to be invisible from him and was looking him through a hand mirror prepared beforehand.

He was looking for something unknown after he was unpacked his