#AtoZChallenge 2022 – Charlie – This is Another Story

Contain Mature Theme, please be advised.

Charlie

Charlie suddenly feels awake as a pair of hands run across the bare skin of his chest and a tongue snake down his throat, nearly choking him.

Lisa, no Tiffany, no whatever her name is, apparently this is how she says good morning, Charlie thinks as he sits up and tries to get her tongue out of his mouth. “Good…morning.”

“Mornin’,” she replies in a way that makes every hair on his body stand up.

Grabbing his phone on the nightstand, he checks the time, 8:10. Ha, he laughs mentally. So much for promptness.

Two days ago he changed the notification sound on his phone. Before that, it was the opening of a beer bottle. It was so annoying. It made him check his phone every time someone opened a bottle of beer which for some reason, was his friends’ drink of choice.

So he decided it was time for a change. For over 30 minutes, he sat on his couch selecting and listening to every single notification sounds on his phone, some he had to let it play multiple times before making the decision. In the end, he chose the sound that resembled knocking on doors. There, he thought, now that’s something I don’t hear everyday.

Except now…

Someone is pounding on his door. “I’ll be right back.” He says as he peels what’s-her-names’s hands off, wraps his naked body in a robe, and trudges out of his room, down the hall to his door.

On the other side of the door stands a giant with a shiny bald head and stiff jaw. “Charlie?”

“Um… may I help you?” Charlie responds in a somewhat frightened voice. The man reminds him of the Rock, of someone he should not mess with.

“Are you ready?”

“Ready for what?” Before the man can respond, it dawns on Charlie, “Wait, that email for the Millionaire’s Mansion, it was real?” He remembers how excited he was to receive the first notification under the new sound, knock knock, but that excitement was short-lived as it turned out to be a spam email, naming him one of the chosen 5 to stay at the Millionaire’s Mansion.

“Does it even exist?” Charlie hasn’t meant to say this aloud. He sighs. I guess I’ll find out.