The day was as clear as it could be. From the terrace of the tenth floor
of the Equity Tower, one could see for miles and miles. Evan was standing
there, in front of the glass, just millimeters away from a one hundred meter
drop. But he wasn’t looking downward. He was looking across the park in front
of the building and a little bit upwards. There was some sort of bird flying
around, possibly after having spotted a delicious rat or something down between
the trees. It was a majestic site.
Evan didn’t move a muscle, as he
looked on, mystified by the gracious movements of the bird. It was so agile and
beautiful, only an event that could’ve been created by nature itself. Evan
didn’t want to miss the moment for one second, as he knew it could end soon.
And so it did: the bird suddenly dropped from the sky, flying downwards at top
speed. It disappeared between the trees. Evan waited for several minutes, but
the bird didn’t resurfaced. Maybe it had been successful. He wanted to believe
that.
Evan moved away from the glass
and walked slowly towards his kitchen. Mind you, Evan had no clothes on: no
socks, no underwear or shirt. Not even a towel or a baseball cap. He was naked
as he always was at that time of day, which was past midday. The man was one of
those people with so much money that they didn’t need to care about schedules
or time in general. Besides, he loved to do his work and other commitments at
night, when he felt most comfortable. During the day, he would rather sleep and
eat.
In the kitchen, Evan fixed
himself a bowl of his favorite cereal. He poured some almond milk on it and
then started eating it right there, just by the coffee machine. His empty cup
was in the sink, as well as plates and other stuff from past days. Evan wasn’t
a good cleaner and he preferred when he came back from work and everything had
been cleaned and organized for him. But the lady that did that was sick and he
did not want a stranger to come into his house just like that. He’d rather do
it all himself.
So after finishing his bowl of
cereal, Evan did something he hadn’t done in a long while: he did the dishes
and then checked his refrigerator for rotten vegetables or fruits or products
past their expiration date. Nothing was out of order and he was able to get it
all done in a matter of minutes. He wasn’t one for doing those sorts of things
but the truth was that his work had begun to feel repetitive and boring to him.
A change of pace would suit him right, as well as doing things he wasn’t used
to do. The moment made him have several ideas, right on the spot.
One might think he could’ve
wanted to put on some clothes on before going ahead, but he didn’t. He decided
to check every single drawer and closet in his two-story apartment and get
everything he didn’t want to keep out of the house. He looked for some big
garbage bags in the kitchen and then started on the living room. There wasn’t
much there besides his bar, fully stocked at all times with the most expensive
wines and spirits from around the world. However, he did find some underwear
that wasn’t his. He just smiled and moved on.
There were lots of drawers in his
studio. He threw away a bunch of office papers that he wasn’t going to use
anymore and several other notes and small objects he just hated. There were
things inherited from his grandparents and parents and he really despised some
of them. There was this bowl of marble balls that was supposed to be an
ornament but it had always made him crazy because it reminded him of how strict
his father was. When he wanted to use the marbles to play, his father would
practically yell at him.
There was never real violence on
his house. After all, he didn’t really have a relationship that strong with his
parents, he didn’t even see them enough during a whole year. It was rather sad
but he always smiled telling the story of how he learned his parents birthday
dates when he was about to enter college. The funny part, according to him, was
the fact the he learned those facts by accident and not because they wanted him
to know. It was like learning the birthday date of a beloved movie star. A far
away star.
He filled a whole garbage bag in
the studio before moving on to his downstairs bathroom. There was not a lot
there, only some old flu medicine and ointments he used sometimes when he was
sick. It was funny that he had all of that there, as he would never use any of
that. His parents only intervened in his life when health was an issue,
probably because they knew that if he died, there would be no heir of blood
running the company. As if it mattered, but it seemed important enough to them.
After so many years, he still did
things to keep them happy. He would do parties in his apartment with various
friends of his family and the company, even if most of those people barely knew
his name. He treated old friends of his parents and grandparents as if they
were elders of great wisdom, but deep inside he knew there was no way he could
really trust any of them. They were all around because of the money. Same
happened with his so-called friends, vultures flying around him waiting for
something to fall on their lap, a job or some money or compensation.
In his bedroom, he threw away
various pieces of clothing. Being naked, he smiled and thought of the whole
situation as ridiculous. But then, he realized it wasn’t an accident that he
liked being naked around his home so much. Back when he was young, Evan had
been thought that the human body was practically something to be ashamed of. It
was only during his years in college when he learned that shouldn’t be the
case, when he started to explore his body and those of others.
He remembered wearing ties every
single day, not only to school but also in the house and to all formal events
to which his parents were invited to, and there were a lot of those. His former
house was one of the gigantic mansions where you might imagine a caped crusader
living in. But nothing of the sort happened there. He did imagined to be an
orphan many times in his life, but he was reminded many times that he did have
parents and that it was important that he was their son.
Evan’s future had always been in
the company. He had no control of his work life and, to be honest, he didn’t
want control over that. In college, he soon discovered he wasn’t really interested
in something in particular. He liked numbers and sometimes watching movies and
also music. But would have never thought of been an accountant, becoming a
filmmaker or learn to play any kind of instrument. He had no passion for any of
that. The only thing that ignited passion in his heart was his private life.
He lived to invite random people
to his house. He met them at galas or bars or even cellphone apps. Sometimes he
would say how much money he had and other times he would create some sort of
story, like the one where he was a caretaker for some rich people and how they
paid him the bare minimum to take care of their houses as they sailed through
the Caribbean. And people bought all those lies because they wanted and also
because Evan was a very good liar.
He got four garbage bags filled
to the top. He took them all himself to the deposit downstairs, wearing a
hoodie and some gym pants. As he put on the bags on a large container, he saw a
picture escape one of the bags and fall softly, like a leaf, on the floor.
Evan picked it up and saw his own
face looking at him. It was a very old picture, from his early youth. He was
maybe five or seven years old. And he was smiling. He seemed so happy and
eager, so full of life. Evan wondered what had happened to that little boy, to
his spark.
