Chapter 28 : I went to a serial killer's lair (Part 3)

The guy was obviously nervous and trying not to appear so. He said "well, let's go in," and walked a wide path around me through the kitchen into what would normally be the living room, and toward the hall to the right from there. I was familiar with this floor layout, it is very common in this area. The hallway would lead to two small bedrooms, with a bathroom in between them. I hesitated, thinking I should just walk out that back door and take off. But really... now I was super curious, I knew there's no way in hell I'm doing anything with this guy, but I kinda want to see what's going on in here. Also I'm confident that he can't take me if it comes to a fight, so, I slowly headed toward the living room.

It felt like I was walking in slow motion. From the kitchen entrance I could see a large rectangular stainless steel table taking up a lot of the living room. I remember thinking this looks like a surgical table. It looked like it could rise and tilt, and it had a recessed channel running all the way around the edge. In hindsight, I now know what that was. It was 100% a mortician's table. Dude had a mortician's table in there. But at that time, I thought it looked like a medical table of some sort. There was some other office-type cabinets and stuff around, I think, but now all I really remember is the table in that room. The large front window looking out onto the street was covered by vertical blinds that were closed.

SG65 said something like "This used to be a doctor's office, like I said. Come on back here."

The hallway revealed the room setup that I expected. The first bedroom door was closed; the second door was open to a small, very clean bathroom. At the end of the hall was the other bedroom, which looked like, if the doctor's office story was true, had at one time been converted to an exam room. He said "we can go in that room if you want, go ahead take a look," and he stayed by the other closed bedroom door. The back bedroom door was open, and I could see that the walls were covered in a honey-colored wood paneling, the type you might see in a den or office that hasn't been updated since the early 1970's. I slowly took a few steps down to that door, trying to be very aware of what Mr. Creepy was doing behind me. He didn't move.

When I got up to that room, the first thing I noticed was the door had a keyed deadbolt lock, like the back door. This room locked from the outside. I wondered if there was a lever on the inside, but, I pretty much knew the answer to that question without needing to check. I also saw... a chair. A non-swiveling, plastic desk chair with thin metal legs, sitting near the center of the room. The room had old, dark carpet, and those wood paneled walls. I noticed that the walls were completely paneled with no windows... and I know that room had at least one window, probably two, so whoever did that paneling went over the windows. There was also a phone in there, plugged in, and sitting on the floor. It was an old office phone, probably from around the 80s or early 90s, dingy beige plastic with several buttons to manage different phone lines. Just sitting on the carpet near the wall, with the chair at a slight distance facing the phone. There was nothing else in that room.

I was standing at the threshold of that room, with one foot slightly in, absolutely NOT going past that door. I looked back at dude, he was still standing by that other door, just nervously smiling at me, trying hard to look casual, but obviously very nervous or... something. He said something like "well... what do you... want to do?"

Instead of answering, I felt around the back side of the deabolt lock. Sure enough, nothing there but the smooth wood of the door. It also dawned on me that I did not see a light switch anywhere for the ceiling lamp. Where was the switch? Who knows. It should have been just inside the door, of course, but that original switch was covered up by the paneling. He mumbled something about not having the key to that lock, don't worry about it.

I turned back to face the guy and just said... "What is it that YOU want to do here?" My skin had gone ice cold as I realized that I was way, way, WAY too far into this apartment. I was running through my options in my head. What is this guy going to do? He doesn't appear to have any weapon or anything in reach, but... who the fuck knows what goes on in this place? "What are YOU trying to do?"

He was almost totally derailed by that. He stammered out.... "Some..... hot.... man to man.. fun?" with the weakest smile I've ever seen, looking like he was just a hair's breadth away from panicking.