Saving Lucas

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

“Sir, you need to calm yourself down. We are here to help you. Please calm down. My name is officer Paz and—”

“Shut up. I don’t need help. Shut the hell up!” The man on the third floor of the building answered. He was shouting his lungs out for the policeman to hear him. Figures.

The policeman shook his head and reached for his radio. “This is officer Paz. I’m here at the PhilTrust building. There is a man standing on the ledge—“

“Copy that officer Paz. We’re sending back up now.” 

The police radio crackled as Anton inched himself towards the commotion. Spectators gathered around to see the unusual sight, and were multiplying exponentially. Or so he thought. 

“What happened here, officer? I was passing by and—“

“A suicide attempt. He wants his brains scattered on the floor. Might as well let him do it and grab a beer at Bourbon. Too bad it’s part of my job,” The policeman answered with a bored sigh.

Anton looked up at the man. The stupid man standing on the ledge of the PhilTrust building was dressed for a formal occasion; meeting with the executives probably. Anton shrugged and sighed and looked bored. This was none of his business, he thought. He had a couple of things that had to be done, like look for a new apartment, buy that spiffy sweatshirt over at Guess, get his hands on those new Sperry arrivals, and check out the new poker arena the waitress had told him about a while ago. Man, if she wasn’t such a flirt. After Anton finished his meal, the waitress motioned for him to wait at the back of the breakfast shack. They made out and almost scored home base if it wasn’t for the waitress’ phone. She told him that the manager was looking for her, told him to wait for her at the poker arena. Such a tease, he thought. For him, money turned on women. And now he had lots of money. You do the math. His life was turned upside down earlier that day, and waiting for someone to splatter his innards on the street in broad daylight was not part of his plan. He was about to walk away when his phone rang. He looked at the screen and saw that it was an unregistered number.

“Hello?” He greeted.

“Pleasant day to you, Mr. Diaz.” The voice on the end of the line sounded like one of those monotone robots in thriller movies that made teenage girls shiver.

“To you, too. Who is this?”

The voice at the end of the line ignored his query. “Do you see the man on the ledge, Mr. Diaz?”

He paused to look at the man standing on the ledge of the building. He couldn’t help but mutter ‘idiot’ under his breath. 

“Yes, yes I see him. Why?” he finally answered.

Silence.

“Hello? Who—”

“I’ll give you five seconds. I need you to go into that building and rescue the man. Walk in or walk out. It’s your choice.” The voice crackled.

What the hell?

“What do you mean rescue the man? I don’t even know the guy. There’s a police officer standing beside me. I’ll give him the phone. You can talk to him and—“

“Mr. Diaz?”

“Yes?”

“Anton Diaz, age twenty-three. No mother, no father. Bank account wiped out. Two police records, one for assault and one for car napping. Should I elaborate further?”

“What the—“

“We know all about you.”

Silence.

“Mr. Diaz?”

Anton mustered his voice and eventually found it. “I can find you, you know. I can hire people. You said you went through my bank account?” he bragged with a nervous chuckle. “Well you should have seen how much money I—”

“Piece of advice Mr. Diaz, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Who do you think put that money to your account?”

Silence.

“Put simply, we know all about you. We have the resources. Do you want to see what else we can do?”

Anton hesitated. Then: “What do you want?”

“Five seconds, Mr. Diaz.”

Anton looked up at the man teetering on the ledge of the building then looked at the opposite direction. He tried to look for the man speaking at the end of the line, but he never saw anyone. Passers-by, both in a rush and sauntering along the streets met his eye. The situation confused him, and he didn’t know what else to think.  Finally, he smiled.

“Oh, I get it,” he laughed. “Are you laughing your guts out right now, Pete? Where are you? Are you in that cheap restaurant across the street? I’m coming over—”

“Five.”

“Yeah, very funny, Pete. If I lay my hands on you—“

“Four.”

“Dammit, man. I’m serious. This isn’t funny anymore.”

“Three.”

“Wait!” he yelled frantically. His eyes were darting everywhere, trying to search for answers. He can feel his gut going colder by the minute. “Who the hell are you? Why are you doing this to me? Is this a prank or something, because it’s not funny. I was just passing by. I don’t know this guy—”

“Two.”

“Please! Listen to me!” He yelled. He paused to calm himself down and dragged a deep breath. “Look, I don’t know who you are, and what the hell you want. I was just passing by. I work at Supermart. I don’t know anything about saving lives whatsoever. For chrissakes I pack groceries for a living. You have to listen to me.”

Silence. 

“Please. Leave me alone. I enjoyed your little prank but that’s just about it. You win, okay? I’m hanging up now.”

Jeez. He thought. He looked around for someone, or something, like a camera or a neat-looking man with stiff hair and a microphone, like that sleek host on an all-prank tv series. He held the phone against his ear and listened for the other line to die. 

“Hello?” He said after a few moments.

Silence.

“Hello? Are you still there? I’m hanging up—”

“Mr. Diaz?”

Anton closed his eyes and let out a nervous sigh. After a few moments, he opened his mouth.

“Yes?”

The voice of the man at the end of the line sounded like he was smiling when he said one word that would change Anton’s life forever.

“One.”