BOOM

I.

(tick tick tick tick tick)

Ulee was pissing on his car. Jeffrey Walls looked at the
young man and his shoulders dropped. Every morning Ulee and Pierce met him at
his car, and every morning he caught them doing something gross on or around
his car. Well, except for that one morning when the only thing that greeted him
was the steaming pile of dog shit that was sitting right next to the driver’s
door. He didn’t see anyone near the vehicle that morning, but he knew it was
them. It was always them.

Ever since he bought the silver Nissan Altima, Ulee picked
on him about. He just had to say something. At least that was how it began. Now
they knew Walls wasn’t going to do anything about it, and they had taken their
actions up a notch. And Walls wasn’t going to fight. He just was not one for
confrontation. He couldn’t seem to find the strength to stand up for himself.
He usually felt numb to those around him.

Ulee turned at the sound of the vehicle’s owner striding up
the sidewalk. Jeffrey had left the apartment a little earlier for work,
thinking he could bypass this whole experience. He glanced at Pierce as he
walked by. Pierce had a little gleam in his eye to match the multiple piercings
tattooing his face. A smile crept across his lips as Jeffrey walked by.

“Morning, Walls,” he said. Jeffrey nodded slightly his way,
than turned his attention to Ulee.

“Shit, Walls.” Ulee was zipping up his fly. “I’m really
sorry. I had to go so bad, and….well, ya know.” Ulee grinned his big stupid
What
the fuck you going to do about it?
grin. Pierce stepped behind Jeffrey.

“I mean, its okay? Right, Walls?” Ulee flexed his muscular
arms, covered with black inky designs of dragons and half dressed women. Even
though Jeffrey was a head taller than both men, he seemed weak and complacent
in his white shirt, striped tie, and khaki pants.

“It’s fine. I need to get to work, Ulee.” Jeffrey barely
mumbled the words. He didn’t make eye contact, only shuffled towards the
driver’s door. Ulee stepped out of the way with a slight bow.

“It’s such a nice car, Walls. Silver, man, that’s a tight
color on those Nissans.” It was the same thing all the time. They always
complimented him on the car. It was brand new, a graduation gift to himself,
the only thing he owned that was worth something. “What do you think, Pierce?”

Pierce slid up beside Ulee, the chains connecting his bling
rattling slightly.

“Well, I’m not much on those Jap cars. Seems like a bunch of
rice eaters wouldn’t know anything about precision performance. But hey, it is
a nice looking automobile.” Ulee nodded his head in agreement.

Jeffrey grabbed the door handle. He quickly let go of it
when he noticed it was wet. Ulee and Pierce were rolling on the grass laughing
hysterically.

“Just a little joke! I swear no harm!” Ulee was cackling
like a hyena. “Shit, his face, Pierce.”

Jeffrey held down the bile trying to escape from his
stomach.

Ulee had pissed on the door handle.

(tick tick tick tick tick tick)

Jeffrey pulled the car out of the apartment complex. He
stopped at the small gas station on the corner and went to the bathroom to wash
his hands.

He scrubbed hard under the water, rinsing the soap suds down
the rusty drain. Once he was satisfied the piss germs were gone, he splashed
water onto his face and slicked back his hair. Jeffrey stared in the mirror at
his reflection. His eyes seemed hollow. They were bloodshot from lack of sleep.
The bones stuck outward from around the sockets.

He rubbed the high cheekbones he had inherited from his
father. He frowned at the pale skin stretched across his tight forehead.
At
least I got rid of the glasses.
He hated the black horn rims, and opted for
contacts his sophomore year of college.

Jeffrey looked down at his shirt. There was a wet stain
above the belt, slowly drying a soft yellow color. It was where he wiped his
hand after getting into his car. Good thing he had an extra dress shirt at work
in his locker.

Those fuckers. I hate them. I hate them so much.

The faucet dripped steadily in the sink.

drip drip drip (tick tick tick)

Jeffrey dried his face and brought out a small bottle of
aspirin from his pocket. He hadn’t even made it to work yet, and the headache
was already in full swing. He emptied half the pills into his mouth and slurped
water from the faucet.

(tick tick tick tick)

He slammed the paper towels into the wastebasket.

“Please fucking go away!”

The door slammed against the cement wall as he stalked back
to his car.

II.

It was going on three months since the noise had begun. The
incessant countdown in his head, drumming away sleep and sanity inch by inch
until it wore Jeffrey down to another level of numbness. After two weeks of no
rest and throbbing headaches, Jeffrey finally went to the doctor for some help.

He sat in the white observation room, looking over the
diagrams describing particular illnesses he was sure he had or was surely going
to get in this horribly unlucky life he led. When he had memorized all the
posters in the room, he stared numbly at the white walls until the doctor
arrived.

(tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick tick)

Like ants marching to the beat of the devil’s drum.

The door opened and a short, balding man entered,
stethoscope draped around his neck.

“Hello, Jeffrey. I’m Dr. Neese.” Neese was reading over the
notes and information gathered from Jeffrey by the nurse earlier.

Jeffrey nodded his head slightly in reply. The doctor sat on
a small stool and rolled over to the examination table. He looked at the young
man seated in front of him.

“What seems to be the problem?”

Jeffrey sat up a bit straighter on the table.

“You see, uhm, I’m having a little problem sleeping.” Neese
nodded his head as if he already knew all the burdens that Jeffrey carried on
his shoulders.

“Tell me about it.”

“I really haven’t slept in about two weeks. I keep hearing
things.”

“What kind of things?”

“Noises.”

“Like voices?” Neese started jotting notes in a small pad.

“What? No, no, nothing like that.” Jeffrey was a little
surprised at the question. But he understood the underlying meaning of it.
I’m
not crazy. No matter what you think, I’m not losing my mind.

“It’s like a ticking. A clock ticking all the time.” He
closed his eyes, feeling the lack of sleep weighing on him, but when he
re-opened them the feeling softened.

Neese shook his head and made a few more marks with his pen.

“Let me ask you. Is the “ticking” more in your ears or in
your head?”

“Both. And it’s not just at night. I hear it all the time.
At work, at home. I can hear it right now.”

Dr. Neese rolled the stool back to the small desk and looked
over the file folder. “Is there anything else you’re noticing with the sound?
Fever, nausea, anything like that?”

“No. I just hear the noise and can’t sleep. I mean, I’m not
tired, or not as tired as I should be. I still go to work and everything.”
Jeffrey took a large breath and let it out. “It just won’t stop. All day long I
hear it until I almost forget about it. And then I notice it again.”

The doctor nodded. He returned to the file folder.

“It says here, Jeffrey, you just graduated from college.
Architecture degree.” Jeffrey nodded. “It also says your parents died in a car
crash your sophomore year. Neither one survived.”  He looked up sadly at his
patient.

Jeffrey nodded again. Neese continued. “You don’t have any
other family. You’re not married. What about work? How’s being an architect?”

“I’m not. An architect that is.”

Neese seemed confused.

“I couldn’t get a position. The economy is shit, I mean,
excuse me. No one is looking for new architects right now.”

“I see. The economy’s been crappy to us all.” The doctor
smiled. “Even to us doctors.”

He took out a prescription pad. “Here’s what I think.
Physically you check out super healthy. So I’m thinking this is a mental
thing.”

Jeffrey began to object. Neese stopped him.

“I know what you’re going to say. I saw the notes on the
counseling you had after your parents’ death. I’m not talking grief related or
depression mental thing. I’m talking more of a stress related condition.”

“Oh.” Jeffrey nodded. “You know, I do feel stressed out a
lot. I feel like a lot of pressure is always bearing down on me.”

“Exactly. And that can lead to loss of sleep, which in turn
can lead to the body experiencing even more stressful tendencies. In this case,
the sound you keep hearing. It’s like a ringing in your ears.”

Jeffrey watched as the doctor wrote out a prescription. “I
am going to give you a powerful sedative to help you sleep. Do not drink
alcohol with it and do not take more than what is prescribed. But it should fix
you right up.”

Jeffrey leaned back. “Thank you, doc. I’m glad you can
help.”

Neese smiled. “That’s what I’m here for.” He handed the slip
of paper over to his young patient. “So it sounds like a clock, you say,
ticking down to something?”

“Yeah, like that stopwatch they always showed before 60
minutes.”

“Huh,” Neese laughed, “I wonder what it’s counting down to?”

There was a long pause before the patient responded.

“I don’t know.”

(tick tick tick tick tick)

III.

The pills did not work. He took the prescribed amount the
first three nights, hoping upon hope he would finally sleep. Nothing. He
doubled the amount the following night and then tripled it. By the end of the
week he was taking six at a time and nothing changed. He spent most of his
nights parked in front of the television, watching whatever late shows were
lucky enough to get the 3 a.m. slot. After another week of no sleep, no rest,
he began driving around the city and stopping at whatever happened to be
opened.

Jeffrey spent many nights walking the aisle of Big Mart,
looking at clothes he could not afford or the big screen TV he dreamed of
owning. One night he came upon a small set of workout weights that were heavily
discounted. On a whim, he bought them. That night he started a steady routine
of pushups, crunches, flies, and curls.
I’ll wear myself out until my body
has no choice but to pass out.

It didn’t work. He never felt tired. But he found he did
like the feel of working out, of pushing his body as hard as he could. He would
sweat out the wounds of the day: Ulee and Pierce, work, bills and student
loans, and gasping for breath almost forget about the sound. He would turn the
water to burning hot in the shower, and there under the stinging droplets, it
would come back from the depths of his mind.

(tick tick tick tick)

Jeffrey thought over all of this as he turned into the
parking lot of High Tec Stereo & Sound. He had worked at High Tec for the
past six months. It was the only job he could find after graduation. He
garnered a nice windfall from the life insurance his parents had taken out, but
it was almost gone having been swallowed up by the student loans needed for
Georgia State. The electronics store wasn’t the ideal place Jeffrey wanted to
be, but it paid the bills.

He pushed open the glass door of the store and walked into
the sweltering showroom. It was going to be a hot day, but Donovan never turned
on the air conditioning.

“We’re not one of those corporate box stores. This isn’t
Great Buy or Stereo City. I’m small fish,” Donovan gritted between his nicotine
stained teeth. This was the response whenever someone asked him why they never
turned the air on. Jeffrey always wondered how much air conditioning they could
have if Donovan didn’t own a brand new Lincoln Continental.

He walked through the rear of the store to the employee
locker room and grabbed the extra dress shirt in his locker. While he was changing,
he heard Griffin come in.

“Hey, Walls. Damn, you been working out.” Jeffrey quickly
buttoned up his shirt in embarrassment. Griffin was the senior salesman at High
Tec. He was a few years older than Jeffrey, but where Jeffrey lacked self-esteem,
Griffin more than made up for in bravado.

Griffin was very popular with the employees and customers,
as proven by his being top salesperson every month for the past year. He also
dated Allison, the store secretary, and the most beautiful woman Jeffrey had
ever seen.

“You ready to go out there and make some money, brother.”
Griffin grinned maniacally at Jeffrey. “Let’s go find some suckers, yeah. Make
some money and then bang some pussy, hey Walls?” Jeffrey looked at Griffin and
tried to return his smile. It came out looking like a half-crazed leer. Griffin
never noticed.