Ten-Zero-Nine: A Rishi’s Wish Prequel

By C.M. Martens

Some things you can't take back.

All Steve wanted was to find the balls to tell the girl of his dreams how he felt.

And he finally had.
Today was that day. A day engineered with no distractions. A day for just the two of them. No roommates. No cowardice. No second-guessing that the friendship they'd built over the last year wasn't more.
Today was the day his hellish existence would move into the light.

Snatched away by four simple words, Steve's day turns dark. From one second to the next, taking his future in his hands turns to a speeding train bearing down on him.

Each day more torturous than the last, he’s forced to watch his love slumber through the whole experimental procedure. A procedure that has never worked. A procedure that turns her from his friend into subject 10-0-9.

When she wakes, when she finally comes to, the first to survive, Steve wants to take it all back. The nightmare he'd been living was nothing compared to this.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stealing Shade Productions
• Release date: Oct 21, 2021
• ISBN: 1955738068

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

Today was the day.

His day.

Weeks of monitoring her schedule, and their roommates, to finally nail it down. A rare day she worked just the lunch shift, so would be home by late afternoon.

The others would be at work until well into the morning hours. Even his schedule dictated he be away from home all day and night, but he’d begged off to take advantage of this rare opportunity. Four of them in a two-bedroom apartment left little chance for alone time.

Which was why he’d switched his schedule. Why he’d called her at work, hanging up every time she answered, until she didn’t, his cue to cut out. This secret he held he’d kept for too long. This day, his day, was the day he’d lay it all out. A day he’d ensured he’d have unadulterated time to make his reveal.

From the parking lot, he watched her key herself through the door, watched through the window as she moved across the floor to drop her bag on the table. He delighted in the pleasure that lit her face as she acknowledged the unique gift of silence.

Her expression in this moment of quiet coaxed a smile from him, a grin that turned frown when hesitancy overcame excitement. He hadn’t considered she’d have her own plans; hadn’t considered his surprise might intrude on her day.

He stepped away. If she wasn’t receptive to him, if his presence was intrusive, he wouldn’t be able to follow through.

Another step took him farther from his goal. He could concede this wasn’t his day. There would be other days.

A last glance through the window highlighted her athletic form leaned back against the refrigerator. Eyes closed, peaceful grin illuminating her face, brought his mind back to his original plan.

A moment of bravery put him in motion, the searing nudge of doubt quieted under her spell. The shadows of the building he hid behind fell away, the path ahead lit by an afternoon sun radiating humid waves from the lot.

Then, the door she was behind lay in arms reach.

He paused, breathed, paused some more, hand hovering over the doorknob.

Today was the day. His day.

Today was the day he’d tell the girl he’d love from first sight how he felt.

With feigned confidence, he entered the next phase of his life. Burdens that weighed on him, burdens only Ray shared, would mean nothing after this afternoon.

No longer in the kitchen, Dee stood in the center of the tiny living room pressed between the ratty, second-hand couch and third-rate television that took up most of the space.

Steve stared, the idea of how much had changed in the last two years washing over him. He remembered when he and Ray could afford nicer things. He remembered when life had been simple; when getting Ray to class had been his most significant stress, when their lives lay out like bright beacons ahead of them.

But that had all changed. If not for Dee, Steve’s life would be nothing but one long stream of terrifying nightmares.

But he didn’t dwell on that. Not now. Instead, he watched Dee move in slow circles as she swayed to the music pumped through the small stereo she insisted they have. Arms extended, head back, eyes closed, she danced to an underlying melody only she heard entwined in the sounds.

Music was how they’d bonded; what had solidified his insta-love for her. Some days he wondered if music wasn’t the source that kept her heart pumping life blood through her. Before any decision or conversation, she was detailing the appropriate playlist. He could determine her mood based on her music selection. While her face might feign collectedness, the music never lied.

Now, the melodic harmony explained her joy this moment, her reverence for the space that was filled with nothing but her and the music.

For minutes he stood, watched her, smiled with her. Only when she moved into the small bedroom her and Kim shared, did he reconsider his plan.

She hadn’t seen him, hadn’t heard him come in, hadn’t noted his watchful presence. He stressed simple observation had turned awkward stalking and wracked his brain with how he might alert her he was there without scaring the crap out of her.

He hesitated again, contemplated leaving before she noticed him.

No! Today was his day. Their day, and he wouldn’t falter.

With tightened resolve, he latched down this timidity to stand his ground, even as he shuffled through ideas of how to let her know he’d come home. A loud throat clear? Should he bump the table? Scrap a chair across the floor? Maybe slam the door as if he’d just arrived?

Undecided, he lost his chance.

She came out of her room, shirtless, jostling fresh clothes.

Stunned, embarrassment mixed with delight at her partial nudity, he froze. When she pulled a shirt over her head, erasing the chance she would see him, he swallowed hard. No way not to come off as a creepy stalker now.

A few strides took her from the threshold of her room to the kitchen. Shirt covering her face, she tripped over the two-seater table. A chair crashed to the floor, and when she stumbled, he darted forward.

Contact brought a panicked yelp from her, and she balked, twisting with arms trapped in her shirt, vision blocked by the makeshift mask.

Rather than let her go, he pulled her close, tightening his hold so she wouldn’t fall.

It’s just me, he choked.

She went rigid, paused her attempts to free herself before going limp.

Steve? Hi. Well, this is embarrassing.

He didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t sure he could have said anything. His tongue was heavy in his mouth, fingers tingling where they rested against her bare skin.

Despite his hold on her, she yanked her shirt down, revealing blushed cheeks.

I didn’t mean to scare you. Steve found his voice though he was incapable of moving. Close to her, hands around the bare skin of her waist, his mind pressed him to say all those things he’d planned to say this day.

Yeah. Heart attack. I didn’t hear you come in. Night off?

The lie was ready on his tongue. Devin asked for the hours. I thought we’d hang out.

Did his voice sounded as strange to her as it did to him?

They stood nose-to-nose, the perfect vantage to judge her reaction to the situation that heated his blood. There’d been moments over the last year when he thought she felt the same as him, but too many other moments made him doubt.

But today was the day. Today, he would clear the air, even if it meant the ruination of their friendship.

Her blush deepened. She stepped from his grasp, not speaking until she’d turned her attention to the refrigerator humming its struggled attempts to continue its purpose.

While she rummaged through containers of take-out leftovers, none of which were edible for consumption, Steve righted the toppled chair, pretending not to ogle the love of his life while she leaned into the chill container.

If Ray knew how he felt, he would have long told Steve to go for it. But Steve’s level of confidence didn’t match his buddy’s. Not to mention the constant flirting between Ray and the girls was off-putting. It was part of what made Steve question those moments he imagined Dee’s reciprocation. Their relationship was low-key. They were friends. Steve’s personality couldn’t match the obnoxious, extroverted temperament of Ray’s, and Steve had let that intimidate him for too long.

Dee gave up her search for something worthy to eat, and turned back, pushing the door closed with a kick. The smile she threw him erased his trepidation. She was happy to hang out with him. He hadn’t ruined her evening by interrupting her solitude. He just hoped this wouldn’t be one of those times she pulled away, resetting her walls against the next step he’d wanted since that very first moment.

It was another reason he’d never made his move. In a year he hadn’t once felt it the right time to tell her. Whenever he felt their relationship might shift to the next level, she pulled away, and he resigned to wait. But he would wait no more. He would doubt no more. Today was his day.

Should we hit the club?

Her suggestion surprised him, though he knew her time spent in places with low lighting and loud music was the only time she freed herself of whatever it was she ran from. As much as his need to make her happy compelled him to assent, remaining steadfast in his plot allowed him to shake his head.

I was thinking something quieter.

She raised a brow, waiting for him to reveal his plan. Not that he had one. Not specifically. He hadn’t mapped out how he would guide a conversation towards expressing what had run through his head every second of every day for months.

I’m in love with you, and I think you love me, too.

The words lodged in his throat, the setting not right, the timing not perfect. He couldn’t just blurt it out. He knew her well enough to know that dumping this on her with no preamble would scare her. She would run, close down, regardless of how she felt in return.

He knew little about her roots. Her drivers license told him she was from New York. Not the New York you’re thinking of, she’d explained. An internet search revealed the small town even smaller than what he’d considered small, smack dab in the middle of nowhere. He never thought there was so much open land in a state as influential as the Empire State and there wasn’t much information to glean from finding this town she’d lived in on a map, that he could only assume she’d grown up in.

In a rare moment of openness, Dee once explained that her mother had died before she’d formed any memory of her. Beyond this, Steve could only postulate. She never spoke of other family, of a father, or a brother or sister; never mentioned a hometown, friends, school, nothing.

His mind conjured all manner of stories in place of her narrative. His search had revealed no serial killer rampage, or other awful headline to suggest some horrific event had sent her across the country to hide.

If the rest of her family were dead, why not tell him? Why talk about her mother, but not the others?

He’d considered an abusive boyfriend. That anyone might willingly harm her made him ill. This scenario kept him up nights as he envisioned what he would do to protect her.

He wished she’d confide in him, wished he knew how to breach the walls she’d constructed around herself. She’d come close on occasion. Phrases she’d let slip when she’d had one too many drinks, which didn’t happen often. She drank enough to take the edge off, but never enough that she lost control. It was one of the multitude of things he loved about her.

When she thought no one was watching, he’d catch the shadow of some dark pain shroud her expression. Whatever she’d run from, she hadn’t escaped.

He wanted nothing more than to take that pain, to take it as his own so she might be happy. If he could give her that, give her joy, replace her sorrow, his life would have all the meaning it needed.

‘Quieter’ means Ray won’t be there.

He furrowed his brow. Is that a problem?

She laughed. "So not a problem."

He chuckled along, the heart that had dropped to his stomach resuming normal function.

Alright. Dinner on the couch with a movie?

You know me too well. That sounds perfect.

CHAPTER TWO

The chug-chug of Ray’s pickup truck cut through the quiet.

Steve met Dee’s eye, and they shared a look of quiet desperation before Steve let out a sigh.

Dee countered with a groan. "Both of you have the night off?"

Steve glared daggers towards the parking lot. I guess so.

The pair waited, stared at the door in a fog of irritation, knowing mere seconds separated them from their current calm and Ray’s boisterous energy. No matter what they planned, Ray would never concede them alone time.

Steve’s mind swirled with how he might get rid of their red-headed roommate, not concerned with why he was there so much as that he wouldn’t be there long.

After long seconds of suspense, Ray fell through the door with enough bangs and stomps to make an army proud. Stopped short by the disappointed expressions trained on him, he preened. If he noticed his friends’ distress, he ignored it. Steve had his money on Ray’s complete ignorance, rather than his lack of care.

Well, hey there! What are you guys doing home?

He gave Steve a pointed glance Steve couldn’t interpret.

If Dee noticed the look, she didn’t mention it.

She asked, Why? Didn’t think anyone would be home? Have a hot hooker coming by?

Ray pinned Dee with a look. Hoping to join?

She scoffed before making her way to the living room where she flopped out on the couch, disappearing from view.

Steve went to follow, but Ray caught his arm, whispering, We lost another one.

Steve’s heart stuttered, the blood in his veins turning to ice.

He held Ray’s heavy gaze. Time stretched between them while Steve considered every way this could not be happening. This was his day. This was not the day for their world to crash down around them.

While his stomach seized against what they had to do, he struggled to breathe, to fill his lungs with air so he might speak. The hypothetical worst-case scenario had happened. The contingency that gripped his sleep in debilitating nightmares, their last resort plan that would steal the last bit of joy from his life, had come to pass.

Of all, this