He knocked at the front door frantically, hammering louder and louder, but there was no answer. He repeated this over and over but still nothing. He walked towards the lounge window and peered through to find the inside completely empty, as if no one lived there. Had she moved and not mentioned it? He couldn't quite understand. He walked around the perimeter of the house, where the overgrown garden would allow him, and stopped to check each window hoping to see any signs of life. There seemed to be no furniture, nothing to suggest anyone had lived there for a while. He was now understandably worried and equally confused. He made his way back to the main road and dialled his childhood friend David. David and Olivia were good friends from back in their teen years and he was hoping he might be able to shed some light on what was going on.
“Hey Danny” the voice on the other end shouted, with a cacophony of noise enveloping his voice.
“Hey Dave, have you seen Olivia today? I'm round her house and it looks like she's moved out, there's nothing here”
“Sorry Danny, I can't hear you properly. I'm here with Jim in the Stumble Inn” he replied.
That would explain the noise; it was a nice bar with a great selection of beers but terribly loud appalling music. It was only two blocks from where Danny was, so he decided to walk there.
“Ok, I'm going to pop over, I'll be there in five” Danny said.
And off he went, walking as quickly as he could, not that walking quicker was probably going to make a difference to what David knew or didn't know, but Danny was worried now and somehow walking quickly seemed involuntary. He arrived at the Stumble Inn, looked over at the bar and saw David and James sat on stools. David was a slight guy with Asian parentage, an Astrophysicist, someone Danny couldn't win an argument with. James was a Quantum Physicist, tall, blonde, slender but muscular, a guy who always got the best of everything, and someone else Danny couldn't win an argument with. They had both met James at University, the place where a lot of Danny's friends had met as their paths crossed.
“Hey guys” Danny said as he approached. He looked at the bartender and asked for an IPA that was swiftly placed in front of him. “So, I can't seem to get hold of Olivia today, she didn't show up this morning and her phone isn't working”
“Eh?” said James
“And I’ve just been to her house but there's no furniture, the garden looked like a jungle and-”
“Whoa Danny, wait" said David, “Who's Olivia?”
“What do you mean 'Who's Olivia?” Danny said frustrated. He didn't have time for ill-timed jokes; he was genuinely concerned about what was going on.
“Is she a new girlfriend?” asked James.
“Stop fucking around guys, Olivia. I am seriously confused about what is going on” Danny said, “Try phoning her mobile and you'll see what I mean”.
David and James looked at each other, both frowning,
“I really don't know anyone called Olivia, Danny” David said, “How do you know her?”
“What do you mean 'How do I know her'? We all went to college you asshole, stop messing around” Danny retorted angrily turning to James, “and you met us and her at Uni, which you know”
They both looked back at Danny, still completely confused.
“Look man, I'm sorry, I don't know what to say” David said, “We're heading over to Monique's in a moment for Samir's Birthday. Maybe someone else has seen this 'Olivia' you're talking about”
Danny was getting angry with their childish games so knocked back his drink in order to leave. He'd forgotten about Samir's little gathering and decided he should probably go around and see if anyone there could shed some light on the matter.
“I'm going to go and freshen up, I'll be there later” Danny said as he threw the bartender what he owed and turned away to leave.
“Okay, see you later” James said, by which time Danny had exited the front door, “Jeez, what the heck is wrong with him today?”
“God knows.” Said David, “Who the hell is Olivia?”
MONIQUE’S HOUSE
The doorbell rang and Monique dashed towards it excitedly. She opened it to find Samir, as expected, bottle of wine in hand.
“You didn't need to bring wine, it's your birthday, and I've stocked up with plenty” Monique said.
“Well I thought I'd bring a Merlot, you know how picky Emma is about her red wine” he said laughing.
Monique joined in with the laughter and ushered him in. As she was about to shut the door, she saw Mike walking up the pathway waving to get her attention.
“Mike, you made it” she said and promptly greeted him by kissing him on the cheek as he reached her. Mike shook Samir's hand and wished him happy birthday and they all made their way to the lounge.
Monique reached into the cabinet and pulled out some wine glasses and handed them to her guests. They had all known each other over fifteen years and had encountered lots of adventures together. Monique was of afro-Caribbean descent, an exercise freak and was always the life and soul of a party. She worked as a researcher into Artificial Intelligence, which she felt was the most exciting job to be in and she was making progress daily. They all had very different jobs; their connection was their shared histories from College and University. Mike was kind of the odd one out in the group of friends, a short dark-haired Caucasian; he had been separated from the rest while they went to University as he decided to go on a different
