Faulty Design

Two men are pulled into a life or death situation in a hotel.

Kent stands with his hand on top of his car as he waits. After a moment, a man exits his apartment, nearly dropping his keys while holding a cage with both hands.


"How've you been, buddy?"


Kent offers him a friendly smile, but the other man silently and awkwardly gets into the car. Kent sits in the driver's seat and glances at him.


Wy sits in the passenger seat wearing his long black peacoat that's a bit too long for him. His silky brunette curls rest against his forehead, and with both hands he holds securely a plastic cage in his lap. Some sort of reptile, but the pet is hidden away somewhere under the mud.


Kent makes a gesture toward the cage.


"How is little Gaspard these days?"


"He's doing well."


Wy says tersely, not raising his eyes. Kent is respectively silent, knowing why he's resistant to conversation with him. He takes them down bumpy rural roads and near the edge of town.


They arrive at the hotel and Kent turns off the engine. The hotel isn't very large and the white paint is peeling in multiple places. Wy follows him in and they are greeted by the elderly owner standing behind the counter.


"We have a key waiting for us under the name Lija."


She nods with a smile and retrieves them the key.


With a quick glance Kent walks to the stairs as the elevator is out of order. Wy follows Kent up the short stairs to the second floor and Kent finds the room. Once inside the room Wy walks straight to a chair and sets down the cage, kneeling on the floor in front of it and begins digging through his deep coat pocket. Kent watches and tosses his own coat onto one of the beds.


"Why'd you bring him with you?"


Wy mumbles an answer as he sprinkles fruit flies in the enclosure and closes the lid.


"I have no one to take care of him while I'm away."


The admission stings at Kent's conscience and he all but flinches and looks away.


"Yeah, I know."


The swarthy frog unburrows himself from the thick mud and leisurely begins hunting the fruit flies. Wy watches for a long time as Kent relaxes on the bed, pulling up his pant legs and adjusting his watch.


"We're a few minutes late, bud. They should be here by now."


Without a response, Kent lays down on the bed and closes his eyes. His light brown hair slides from his forehead and rests on the bed. The dumpy frog catches and eats fly after fly, and Wy watches with his chin resting on his arms.


Eventually there is a knock on the door. Wy stands up in front of the chair and Kent slides off the bed and opens the door. Lija stands there, his face just as pale as it was their first meeting, though now it was lined and menacing. Wy feels his throat tighten and he steps back. Vale walks behind Lija as they enter the room. Her hair is thin and wispy as it falls past her shoulders, and her eyes are dark and clouded with emotion.


Kent closes the door behind them, feeling confused at their silence.


"First things first; a precaution. I need to make sure neither one of you is wearing a wire."


Lija says while facing Wy, his back towards Kent. Kent comes forward and steps between the two.


"Is that really necessary? You expect us to do that?"


"I need to see. As of this moment I don't trust either of you."


Vale reaches her hand inside her jacket and pulls out a small black gun.


Kent takes a half step back and the room is silent for a moment. With a reluctant sigh, Kent pulls off his shirt. Wy begins undressing behind him and he doesn't look, focusing instead on his jeans and shoes. Vale walks around him, scrutinizing every inch. Kent glares at Lija as he walks past him to Wy. He hopes this is over soon.


"Alright, put your clothes back on."


Lija says dismissively, walking away from Wy. They rush to get redressed. Kent quickly pulls his t-shirt on and yanks it over the top of his jeans. Wy doesn't bother to rebutton every one of his buttons, instead he just slips his long coat back over his slim shoulders. Kent pulls him closer and wraps his arm securely around his shoulders.


"I want your phones, your room key and-"


Lija gestures to Kent's wrist watch.


"Your watch."


Kent yanks his phone out of his pocket in a fit of anger and hands it to Vale along with their room key. Wy does the same as Kent fumbles with his watch. His large fingers struggle to grasp the flap and pull it out of the metal loop. Wy comes forward and undoes the loop for him and hands the watch to Vale. Kent's face is red with anger and humiliation, and Lija smiles.


"We'll be back soon."


Lija informs. He and Vale leave them alone in the room again, this time locking it behind them. Kent grunts as he hits the wall with his fist.


"Damn it!"


He holds his pained hand to his chest and turns around. Wy stands there silently reading a folded newspaper. Kent walks closer.


"What do you have there?"


He moves it so he can read it as well.


The newspaper reads 'There has been an attempt made on the life of Bobby Shirewood, twenty-eight-year-old architect. He lies in Bunbury Hospital's ICU in a coma with intensive brain damage. Police are still looking for the suspects.'


"Remember Bobby, back when you worked with us?"


Wy nods.


"He was always friendly; a good guy."


"A great friend."


Kent sighs, leaning back against the wall.


"I don't understand why anyone would do that to him."


"Yes you do."


Wy's eyes are troubled, his brows fixed low and creased. Kent stares at him and he's forced to remember.


Three months ago. Wy, with his curls brushed back from his face, walks down the stairs in the library holding a thick book. He smiles so his dimples appear as he walks to the table where Kent stands. There is a large paper sprawled on the antique desk and Wy sets down the book next to it, turning to a page somewhat in the middle.


"This is what I was thinking. See?"


He points to the page, the sleeve of his oversized peacoat brushing along the page as well. Kent directs his attention to Wy.


"Like the large business buildings they had in Glanis before they tore them down."


Kent nods, tapping the pencil against his chin, then moving over to the paper and making some more scrawlings. His arm flexes under the short sleeve of his shirt as he makes several long lines on the paper.


A man dressed in a white button up sweater raises his head as he watches them from a few tables away. His faded blonde hair is combed back neatly and he closes the book he was skimming through as he stands. When a shadow falls over Wy and the paper, Wy turns around to meet the man's stretched smile. The man's skin is almost as pale as his sweater, and his smile is very friendly.


"Hi there. I'm Lija."


He says with a nod of his head, and Kent and Wy kindly greet him back, saying their names. He looks down at the sketch they're working on.


"I was right, I thought you guys were a couple of architects. What are you two working on?"


Kent moves the paper slightly, and watches as a woman with light brown hair with wispy ends approaches Lija and loops her arm around his. He's startled momentarily, then looks down at her and smiles back at the men.


"Oh, this is my girlfriend Vale."


"Nice to meet you."


Kent and Wy both mumble, and Lija gestures to Kent.


"You were saying?"


"We were put in charge of designing the new News Bureau."


"Really, the one they use now has been up for over seventy years. What's wrong with it?"


Vale questions curiously, her green eyes meeting Kent's.


"Faulty design, won't last much longer."


Kent says gravely as he continues working. Wy watches him, but he feels compelled to look at the man and he sees he's smiling at him. He forces himself to smile back politely despite feeling awkward. He takes his hand out of his pocket and lightly touches Wy's arm.


"You don't happen to know a friend of ours, do you? Bobby Shirewood? He works as an architect too."


Wy's eyes light up and he nods.


"Yeah, we know him. We work with him."


"Really, that's great! See he's a good friend of ours, and we've been trying to get in touch with him, but I think maybe he changed his number or his phone broke, I don't know. But we really need to see him, could you tell us where about he lives?"


Kent raises his eyes and watches Lija and Vale as Wy gives him information about Bobby. With a smile, they nod, backing away.


"Thank you, guys so much. Have a great rest of your day. Good luck on the design!"


And they turn away and leave the library. Wy looks up at Kent and they make eye contact, not saying anything, and not knowing what to make of it.


They only had two or three chance meetings with Lija and Vale again through the next three months. They might call them acquaintances, but Lija was always excited to call them friends. These chance meetings never came to much, just five minute conversations.


Kent rubs his hands over his knees and looks over at Wy in the hotel room.


"You think Lija attacked Bobby?"


"I think we unknowingly helped Lija attack Bobby. I just hope he doesn't die."


Nausea sets in Kent's stomach and he sits down on the bed. Wy comes over and sinks down into the bed next to Kent and cradles his own face in his hands in despair.


Time passes, though Kent has no idea how much, and he jumps up from the bed when a key is pushed into the keyhole. Lija and Vale enter the room and Wy takes his head out of his hands and looks up.


"The police have been questioning some of my friends and family. Now I have one question and I'll only ask it once. Which of you tipped off the police about me?"


Kent freezes and doesn't even look at Wy, though Wy glances at him.


"Answer me."


Lija says darkly, stepping forward. He wasn't a very tall man, though taller than Wy. When they had met him he had a friendly, harmless demeanor- not of that is here now. His pale hair is combed back revealing his pale, lined forehead. His eyes bore into Kent's eyes, dark and void. He was almost clean shaven, perhaps a few days late for his next shave. He dressed neat and casual in a light gray sweater and trainers. Apart from his eyes, he looked like any dad you'd see picking up his little girl from grade school.


"Neither of us."


Wy answers and something changes in Lija. Slowly he smiles and turns to Vale.


"Vale, take Kent for a walk. Explain things to him."


She nods and grabs Kent's arm, pulling him towards the door. He looks over his shoulder at Wy.


"W-Wait, I'm not leaving Wy. Wy!"


She presses the gun to his side and pushes him out into the hall.


"Go."


She demands and the door slams closed. Wy's brows pull together in worry as he watches Lija sit next to him on the bed.


"Your boyfriend worries too much about you, you can handle yourself."


"He's not my boyfriend anymore."


"Oh."


Lija says quietly, surprised, pressing his knee against Wy's.


"He never loved you."


Lija whispers, moving his upper body closer.


"He never cared about you."


He leans forward and kisses Wy, and Wy doesn't move. Lija pulls back, giving Wy space, and he brushes his fingertips over his curls gently.


"You need to be honest with me, Wy. Did you talk to the police?"


Wy shakes his head, "I didn't."


"Then it was Kent."


"No, Kent didn't either."


Lijah bares his teeth, grinding them violently.


"You're not being honest, Wy."


"Kent and I didn't talk to the police at all, I swear-"


His plea is cut off by a hard punch from Lija, throwing him down on his side on the bed. Lija punches him while he's down, then he grabs him by his shoulders and pulls him up into a sitting position again.


"Tell me!"


He shakes Wy who is speechless and he punches him again.






Vale leads Kent out onto the only balcony the hotel has. There's not much to look at, just dry dirt and dead weeds, though the rural sky is quite a sight. Kent stares up at the deep blue sky and wonders out loud.


"What are we doing out here, Vale."


"I wanted to talk to you without Lija around. He has a one track mind."


"I know, he won't give this up."


He looks away from the sky and looks at Vale. Her eyes are dark emerald and serious as she speaks.


"He won't."


Kent sighs and turns away from the balcony, leaning his back against the ledge.


"I don't know what to tell him. It wasn't me or Wy that talked to the police, it must have been another one of his confidants."


"Maybe, if he had any others."


She says lightly and leans against the ledge as well, brushing against his side. Noticing the closeness, Kent looks down at her.


"But against all odds, I believe you, Kent. You wouldn't rat out your friends."


She meets his gaze and holds it for a moment. When he doesn't look away, she leans up and kisses him gently. A moment passes and he closes his eyes, only to suddenly open them and move away from her.


"What's going on here, what are you trying to do?! I need to get back to Wy."


He rushes back into the hotel and she follows slowly behind him.






Lija now has Wy roughly pinned to the floor with his own body weight.


"Bobby threatened to go to the police when he found out I was selling to his sister, now look at him! You think I won't do the same to you or your boyfriend?! Which one of you told?!"


Neither of us!"


Lija manages to get one of Wy's arms pinned down and hits him again in the face. Weakly Wy hits at him with his free hand, but Lija's strikes cause his brain to fog and slow. His hits weaken and Lija lands another loud blow.


There is a commotion when the door opens and Kent shouts.


"Wylie!"


He runs forward and begins trying to pry Lija off of Wy.


"What's going on here, guys?!"


Kent shouts in confusion. Pulling Lija off Wy is a harder task than he thought it would be. Lija's stronger than he looks. Once he's off, Kent tosses him towards the door. As he's helping Wy up off the floor, Vale picks up Gaspard's cage. Kent lets go of Wy's hand and steps forward.


"Come on, don't do this-"


Lija hits him across the cheek and pushes him backward. Wy screams as he's shoved back by Lija as well.


"Don't take him!"


He stares directly into Wy's bruised eyes.


"If you don't want us to kill your pet then you'll tell us who has been in contact with the police."


Lija walks out without another word. When Kent sees Wy he's covering his mouth with his sleeve and tears are dripping off his chin. His voice is desperate and hoarse.


"I didn't talk to the police, did you?"


"No."


He answers as he brings Wy to his chest in a comforting hug. His chest feels hollow as Wy cries.


Minutes after minutes go by, and Wy's tears dry as new ones fall. Wy and Kent share a space on the edge of the bed, and abruptly Wy gets up and walks over to the window, leaning over and pulling off his shoe. He slams the bottom of the shoe against the window, but it fails to break. Kent gets up quickly and runs over to him, gripping his arm.


"Whoa Wy, what are you doing?!"


"I'm leaving."


"We're on the second floor."


"We walked up ten steps!"


Wy exclaims, and Kent grips his other shoulder.


"You're going to break your leg."


"Better than what they might do to us!"


Wy tries to take back his arm, but Kent won't let go. Wy shoves him back by his chest, and slams the shoe into the window again, this time shattering it all over the floor. Kent steps forward again and grabs both of Wy's arms.


"What are we going to do?! Jump out the window, break our legs and limp away into the dark?! Don't you think they'll chase us down?!"


Kent lets him go and walks back to the bed. Under his breath he continues.


"They'll shoot us down."


Wy drops his hands and drops his shoe to the floor near his feet.






The hotel room is deathly quiet as the key turns and the door glides open. Lija walks in, his boots loud against the floor, and he sets Gaspard's cage down on the dusty desk. He looks with cold eyes at Wy.


"This could have been easily avoided."


He walks back out just as silently as he came in. Wy approaches the desk. The walls of the cage are caked in blood and chunks. In the middle of the enclosure lies Gaspard gutted, empty and no longer bleeding. Wy covers his mouth, choking and heaving. He runs to the corner of the room and bends over, trying not to hurl.


Kent steps toward the cage, his face contorted in disgust at the lengths his 'friends' would go to get the truth. The truth he knew. He hears a soft thud and looks back at Wy. He has collapsed on the floor and has started sobbing into the sleeves of his coat. Kent looks away guiltily. He could've ended this by now.






Hours pass by hours of nothing. Hours of Wy sniffling into his coat, and hours of Kent sitting numbly on the bed. He sits uncomfortably on the edge, mulling over his choices and not knowing what to do. If he confesses, they'll kill him, and what will become of Wy?


There is the sound of a key jingling in the keyhole and the door swings open. Lija enters their room once again, holding Kent's cellphone.


"Why is this person trying so desperately to get in touch with you? This 'Cordelia'?"


Kent stands from the edge of the bed.


"That's my sister."


"Did you tell her anything?"


Vale questions with underlying threat as she comes forward. Kent's expression hardens.


"I told her everything. That you and Vale killed my coworker, that you used me and Wy to get information on him. And she was the one to call the police."


Vale curses angrily and swiftly looks to Lija who is frozen in fury. Kent continues.


"My sister knows where I am and who I'm with. She knows that if I don't answer three calls or three texts, that I'm in danger. She's definitely already called the police."


Lija throws the phone against the floor, and it ricochets. He walks to where it lands and crushes it with his boot five or six times. The pieces scatter across the floor and Lija looks up, and if looks could kill then Kent and Wy would both be dead from his seething glare. With a mere frustrated growl Lija leaves and Vale follows him out.


Kent drops to his knees and delicately picks up his phone barely holding together. Wy slowly stands from his spot on the floor, and his voice is but a whisper.


"Did you really tell your sister, are the police really coming?"


"Yes."


Kent answers, throwing his useless phone back onto the floor, and it lies there in a heap of junk. He stands, staring down the pile.


"This is my fault, Wylie. I contacted the police; I told them about Lija and Vale and Bobby. I left you because I thought I was protecting you. I thought if you knew nothing then he wouldn't hurt you."


Wy stares at him through his swollen eyes and gestures to his face, speaking dryly.


"Good idea."


He turns away from Kent and walks to the cage. Kent moves away and opens the door, glancing down the empty hallway only lit with a few dim wall lamps. Lija and Vale couldn't have left yet and it doesn't feel safe to venture out of the room quite yet.


He looks away from the hall and sees Wy sat slumped on the bed with his back against the wall. His head hangs down and tears roll down over the bruises scattered across his face. Kent walks over and sits down on the bed next to Wy, and wraps an arm around him, pulling him tightly to his side. Wy's fingertips shake as he holds the bloody plastic cage, now empty of life.


"They killed him. It's my fault, I should never have brought him with me. I should have left him with your sister, but I had too much pride for that. It's my fault."


"No, I understand why you didn't. You were hurt. It's not your fault. We just trusted friends when we shouldn't have."


He pulls him closer in the snug hold and leans his cheek on his messy curls. Red and blue lights shine into the room and loud sirens ring in through the broken hotel window.