“Friction” By: Leo Weng

I don’t like to write a diary. I seldom write things. I have nothing to commemorate or to let go. I think it was a joke that Dacky recommended me to record everything happened. I said no, mind your own business. Everything is deep in my mind. She kept persuading; I kept refusing…” Gigi read the message out loudly so that everyone in the room can hear.

  The room was filled of miserable faces. Everyone felt downhearted of Bobby’s death, specifically, Bobby was murdered.

  “He is such a great guy,” sighed Jacky. Jacky was Bobby’s biological elder brother. Their father was a manager in Soon Limiting Company, one of the biggest companies in Asia. He was successful in his youth, graduating from Yale University and receiving an appointment from his dream company. Two years later, he met his girlfriend Sophia and had their first child.

  However, He failed to deal with his fame. Jacky’s father became a touchy drunkard after marriage. He soon lost all his properties he had in gambling and became as poor as a beggar. At that time, Sophia had been pregnant for 8 months. There was no option left for the pitiful parents but abandon 5-year-old Jacky. Jacky was raised up in a middle class family. Two years ago, he moved over to London and was employed as a bartender in a bar that is situated beyond Bobby’s apartment.

  “We are supposed to call the police,” I said.

  “Don’t you know he was a drug-trafficker?” Jacky kept his voice as low as possible.

  “He’s dead now. Police wouldn’t find nobody’s trouble.”

  “Oh, shut up. There is a drug cartel out there. The police are going to find an evidence for what he and his company have done. If we are queried, we will be in big trouble. He should be the one takes the responsibility for his death. He deserves it.”

  He was right. We shouldn’t bare a hand in his death, but I was still looking for someone to blame on.

  “Then I will find it myself.” I shouted. Others turned around and looked at us. I shouldn’t shout it out. Anyone in this room could be the murderer.

  “Shouldn’t we give him some help Mr. Jacky?” said Gigi. She was an excellent detective, and an excellent wife for sure. Gigi and Jacky got married last year. Gigi sacrificed her career as a detective and turned into a housewife after marriage.

  “Alright Mrs. Gigii. What clues have you found so far that gives you that passion and confidence to solve this?” Jacky stood up and questioned Gigii.

  “Is he left-handed? This diary demonstrates a trait that he uses left hand,” Gigii expected that her husband knew something about Bobby.

  “Why is it important?” I asked Gigii.

  “Then we can know if it was written by Bobby himself” replied Gigii.

  “You mean it may be made up by somebody?”

  “We have to figure it out.”

  “I didn’t know much about him. I haven’t met him since he left London, Uh… more than one year ago,” said Jacky.

  “When was that?” Gigii asked.

  “It was… March 2005. That was the second time I met him since I had moved here. He came to the bar with a woman and they were wearing formal suits, ordering a battle of beer and sitting in the corner. After a while, the woman left but Bobby stayed. He called me to bring another beer to the table and asked me to stay. He then gave me the key of his apartment and asked me to keep it safe. I once went to into the house and saw packages of drugs and saw a letter lying on the table.”

  “What did it say?”

  “It talks about how he treated his wife badly. After the death of his wife, Dacky, selling drugs had become his financial source, but I notice the writing was sloppy. It took me ten minutes to figure out the whole passage.”

  “Then he must be left-handed.” I thought.

  “Let’s wait for tomorrow morning. I know somebody who knows Bobby very well,” said Gigi. Gigi and Jacky turned around. They were about to go.

  My house was 30 miles away. It took quite a long time to get here. I asked if I could stay over in their house for one night. Gigii accepted my request immediately. Jacky seemed to be grouchy, but he didn’t come up with a word of advice.

  “Who are we going to visit?” I asked as we were on the way home.

  “Sophia, Jacky’s mom. She must know something.” Gigi replied.

  “Why is she not there, in the funeral? If Bobby is her precious child, she should have come,” I was confused.

  “You don’t know, James.”

  The next morning.

  When Sophia was in a great misery and fear, she heard knocking on the door. She faked a smile and then opened the door for these special guests.

  “Hi, how are you?” greeted Jacky.

  “Just a couple of affairs, I mean deaths, on my mind,” Sophia said it with tears.

  “Sorry, I don’t mean to disturb you, but may I ask you what the deaths are because I have no idea what is going on these days,” I asked

  “Well, specifically, yours are one of them.” Sophia replied with a scared tone.

  “What are you talking about?” I was in shock. My hands were shaking in an unconscious way. A click sound took me out from my reverie. When I looked back, Jacky was carefully locking up the door. Gigi wasn’t in the house. She disappeared. They were about to murder me.

  “Sorry, we are here to inform you your death,” Sophia drew out a knight with her left hand.

WORKS CITED

Photograph of Diary of Sophia Peabody Hawthorne.Google. May 28, 2010.hawthorne-sophia.jpg

Amano group.Google.May 28, 2019 ked0 Li