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To say she had been enjoying Halloween might have been a slight...understatement. Vera had fallen in love with it and had set about buying this item and that to put around the house. Skulls and Pumpkins. Bats and witches hats.

Okay she might have gone a little overboard but it had been her extra money and she had decided she could do with just making coffee at home. Now at least the inside of their home was ready for the season. The outside could do with a bit more TLC but she wasn’t about to drag out the ladder and get on the roof to hang up the giant spider she had her eye on. So instead, she had settled on a blush bat that stuck to the window by the front door. It was a start…

For now, Vera had finished decorating and was turning on the Halloween specials. Lifetime and Hallmark had all of these going on but they seemed to all share one thing: plot. So she had become particle to ABC’s 31 nights of Halloween. Tonight’s special: The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The commercials had just finished and she could hear the start up music before she reached for the remote and….

The annoying, blood curling sound of static filled the room.

“UGH!” Vera hissed, quickly pressing every button on the remote besides the mute one before she even looked at the device. Two seconds later, an a curse word or two, the TV was muted and she was flipping channels. Static. Static. More static.

“What the...Isaac! Are you playing a joke on me? It’s not very funny!” Vera called out, giving a pout to her voice as she stood up and crossed the room to the device. If she couldn’t fix it, smack it.
---

Even with her back towards him, Isaac held his hands up in defense, “How could I? I’m in the kitchen and you have the remote?” He shook his head in astonishment at how quickly things became his fault when they suddenly stopped working. FIrst the Keurig, then the toilet and now this. Funny how that happened.

That noise thought, definitely brought back memories from his childhood. Felt like it was only last week when he had to stand behind the TV adjusting the antenna for his biological parents. Seven years old with a father who was a drunk b*****d that loved all types of sports. What more is he loved to bet on them. It didn’t take much imagination on what happened if the team he was rooting for lost.

“There’s probably a power outage somewhere that knocked out the cable. You can either give Comcast a call and see what’s up or we can watch a movie instead. Your choice.” He picked up the knife to cut the garlic pork loin roast into medallion size pieces.
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“I don’t know how you could but you did!” Vera clapped back, heading towards the television to check the cables. All of them were plugged in and a wiggle later told her they were all secure. “I just do what I was told to use them! So you told me wrong.” In truth, she was more joking than anything. It was a tease now that if it broke, it was on him. Okay, so the keurig might have been her but the toilet surely wasn’t!

Help….Me…

Jerking her head up, Vera nearly smacked it against the wall. “Did you say something?” She asked, glancing across the room towards the kitchen.
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From the kitchen Isaac rolled his eyes. “No. Just leave it alone and I’ll be there in a minute.”

In less than a year he had went from being a well respected, and still is while at work, Staff Sergeant to a domesticated man slave in his own home. In less than six months he’d taken up title of chef, mechanic, plumber, and electrician. Now, to add to the list, she will be considered the cable repairman. Joy

It’s not that he really minded helping out but there were times it would be nice if Vera figured a few things out on her own before demanding his attention. Times like now, where dinner was nearly done save for the gravy which needed to be constantly stirred else it would thicken too much and burn at the bottom of the pan. He knew she meant no harm with her comments, it was fine; in all honesty it was nothing compared to the hazing that went around the post but nonetheless it got a bit exhausting.

A dash more of milk brought the gravy to a decent consistency but left it a little bland so he rummaged through a few of the spices and added a few shakes of onion salt, garlic powder and italian seasoning to the mix. “Ok,” Isaac moved the pan off the hot burner and put a lid on it to keep it warm. “Will you get the plates ready and I’ll figure out what’s wrong with the TV?” The meat had already been cut and covered with a piece of tin foil and the mash potatoes had been moved to a hot pad on the countertop so it was out of the way. All that was needed was the green beans that had been left simmering on the back burner and the butter from the fridge.
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“Sure….” Vera offered though she didn’t move at first as she eyed him and then looked back at the TV. She had heard...something. Right? She had already lost her mind so could she really lose it a second time?

“I think it’s trying to come back on.” She mumbled, finally stepping away from it as Isaac entered the room. One glance back at the device and she moved to head to the kitchen.

Help…..help….me… the voice appeared again, a whine almost as nerve wracking as nails on a chalkboard. coming…

Vera stopped in her tracks and looked back at it.

“What was that?”
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“What was what?” He turned to look at her, confusion written all over his face. Unless she had some hypersensitive sixth sense or could read his mind, Isaac was positive he hadn’t made a comment out loud.

With all the decorations she had purchased lately, it was clear that Vera was really into this particular holiday. But perhaps she was taking it a bit far by pretending to hear voices. Ghosts didn’t scare him in the least, nor did zombies or any other of those Halloween monsters. However, he did hope she didn’t decide to up the ante and decide to jump out of a closet at him.

After several moments of waiting for these ‘voices’ to start telling them their life tale Isaac finally cleared his throat. “Dinner!” He pointed to the kitchen where he heard the distinct sound of a thick gravy bubble popping from not being stirred then a hiss when it hit the hot burner.

Only after she turned around to get the plates ready did Isaac start fiddle farting with the cords behind the TV. Once all devices had been turned off and surge protector cycled through he re-plugged everything in then moved on to the modem and router. When both rebooted he made sure that all appropriate lights were lit up green before turning on the TV.

Again his ears were assaulted with the high pitch white noise that had surprised Vera the first time it happened. “It has to be an issue with the cable-” He paused for a second when he heard someone ask for help. Assuming it to be Vera he turned the TV off again and walked into the kitchen half expecting to see her with an annoyed look on her face and a jar held out to him to take off the lid. To his surprise she had her back turned towards up as she used the ladle to pour the gravy over the mashed potatoes while humming, or mumbling something to herself. “I think the cable is just out. I’ll call them in the morning to see what’s up. For now why don’t you pick a movie?”
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“Hm” Vera questioned as she picked her head up, and looked over her shoulder. She had been making sure to not turn the potatoes into soup with too much or too little gravy as she was souping it out so she hadn’t heard him join her. Since walking into the room, she hadn’t heard any thing but the sound of the warming liquid she was messing with now.

“Damn.” She mumbled as she set the ladle down on the napkin near the pot. “I was really looking forward to Hocus Pocus. Oh well. Didn’t we rent the Thor: Ragnarok movie? If we still have it, why don’t we give it a go? I’ve been curious to see what the Lightning God was up to as everyone else was beating their skulls in.”
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“Unless you returned it on your way to work it should still be in the drawer under the coffee table.” Renting from RedBox kiosks was kind of her thing since he usually just logged in to Amazon Prime. I guess I should probably be thankful since that is probably down too.

“I’ll get the drinks if you can take those into the living room.” Isaac got two glass cups from the upper cabinets then walked over to the fridge to get the pitcher of water. If there was one thing he did religiously it was make sure he drank water with every dinner rather than juices or soda. Sure he had them from time to time but growing up the choices were always water or milk and to be honest, milk just wasn’t his go-to choice unless they were eating something spicy.
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She really needed to get better at remembering his habits on where things went. There was organization to so much that he did and pattern that it really should not have been hard to follow. But, sometimes her mind just got distracted.

Grabbing the plates, she carefully balanced one in each hand making her way to the living room before setting them down on the coffee table. Only then did she look in the drawer and smile seeing the familiar red case. “It’s here.” She called out cheerfully as she picked it up and moved to put it into the player. Sure most things were online but in moments like this, it was nice to have a backup.

Turning the TV back on, she quickly flipped it over to the HDMI setting to avoid any chance of hearing that nails on the chalkboard like sound. Silence followed and she let out a long sigh. Really, must have just been the wind or some show trying to break through the static. So odd.

Going to sit on the floor between the couch and the coffee table to eat easier, she waited for her dinner partner. “All set!”
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“You can go ahead and hit play.” Isaac took a heavy seat on the couch next to Vera after setting the glasses on the coffee table. For a moment he looked at her and honestly couldn’t help but smile to himself.

Despite all odds in losing everything down to her own identity, Vera had managed to rebuild and take responsibility of her own life. It could have been so easy for her to have used her amnesia as a crutch, an excuse to stay holed up at home. But instead she planted her feet firmly in the ground and marched forward.

She wasn’t quite 100% independent yet, still leaning on him to do things for her that she didn’t want to learn how to do on her own; or perhaps it was because she assumed he already had the knowledge. Either way, there was still room for her to step up but at least she had found a job and with it made friends at work. All in all she was a pretty amazing woman.

Before she could call him out for staring, Isaac turned his attention back to the TV once the movie started playing. “Thanks for helping out.” For a second he hesitated, just a second before daring to reach out, take her hand in his own and give it a light squeeze. It lasted only but a moment before he let go to reach for the plate she had prepared for him.

She was definitely special, that was for certain.
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Shanyume