It was a grey, wet day. The streets were empty as people retreated to safety behind doors and shut windows. Worse still, the rain cut the power and inside was grey too. It was terrible weather to order food in, or do anything. Unless you were Joe
Minutes before, grey clouds dotted the blue sky. Joe ordered pizza to soothe the growling monster in his belly. Soon after, the skies opened, and all hope was lost.
He lay in bed and stared at the ceiling. His stomach continued to growl, but he was too lazy to do anything about it. Doors flew open and then shut again down the hallway. He was also too lazy to close the windows.
“I’ll get a mop”, he said to himself.
Some more laying around, some more door slamming, and he fell asleep. Soon, the familiar ring of his doorbell swept through the rooms and woke him. It rang again and again.
He thought, “Probably just the rain,” then rolled over and tried to sleep some more.
Three knocks hit the front door. A short wait, and then some more knocking.
Tap. Beat. Tap. Beat. Tap.
Joe sat up; a bit confused – it was raining buckets after all. However, the sound of knocking could not be mistaken.
He took his time. Placing one foot after the other, he moved towards the door. The pace of the knocking increased.
Tap-tap-tap. Tap-tap-tap.
As he turned the door handle, he thought:
“Is opening this a good idea?”
The thought of being a murder victim drained the colour from his face. He stopped.
Then a person spoke from the other side of the door.
“Hello? Is anyone in there? Your pizza’s here!”
Joe let out a sigh of relief and flung the door open.
“Oh, thank God, I thought I was gonna starve,” Joe said.
“Well, we always deliver. It is our motto,” said the delivery guy.
Joe reached into his pocket and paid. He tried to close the door, but the delivery guy blocked it with his foot.
Eyebrows furrowed, Joe said, “Is there anything else I can help with? A tip?”
The delivery guy pushed the door open.
“No, but there is something. Aren’t you going to check your food?”
“Um, sure,” Joe replied.
He opened the box.
“The pizza isn’t sliced.”
“Oh, my bad, I was the one who made the pizzas today. Everyone keeps quitting for some reason. I’ll cut it up for you.”
His face expressionless and his eyes on Joe, the guy reached into his side bag and pulled out a kitchen knife.
Joe, still confused, wondered what happened to regular pizza cutters.
“Do you mind if I come in?” The delivery guy asked.
Before Joe could reply, the guy had pushed past him and walked into the living room, leaving behind a trail of water. A few methodical cuts later, he had the pizza cut into equal parts. One would be forgiven for thinking it was the work of a surgeon.
The delivery guy held the knife in one palm and traced its blade with the index finger of the other. Joe’s mouth turned dry at the sight of it.
“Thank you for uh, cutting it. It looks gre-“
“Aren’t you going to taste it?” The guy cut in, then continued, “Go on. Taste it. It looks delicious, right?”
His stare seemed to pass through Joe as though looking into his soul.
Joe’s heart had been beating faster already, but now it dared to jump out of his chest.
“No, I-I need a drink first. Like a Coke or somethin-“
“Taste. It.” He cut in again.
Joe didn’t know when his hand started to move towards the box. He didn’t even know his mouth had opened and bit into a slice. The taste swam through his mouth- spicy, savoury. The flavour didn’t seem earthly.
He moaned with pleasure, “Oh… God, this is lovely.”
A grin spread across the delivery guy’s face.
“Thanks. It’s a new recipe I’ve been working on. It would be good as a last meal, don’t you think so?”
Joe’s eyes widened as he turned to look at him.
“Huh?” Joe muttered.
“Did you even check who brought your food? Shame.” The guy said with no emotion.
Joe felt his chest start to close. The walls seemed to shrink inwards, and his lungs didn’t seem to work. As he fell to his knees, he thought,
“Could this be it?”
The guy squatted next to him and used the knife tip to raise Joe’s face to him.
“Get up,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with it. Breathe. In through your nose, and out through your mouth.”
He seemed disappointed. Using the knife, he pricked Joe’s cheek till it bled.
“Be more careful next time,” he said.
As he left, he shut the door behind him.
Joe lay down for a while and stayed there long enough that the rain stopped, and the power returned. Only then did he get up. He picked up the pizza and took it to the kitchen.
Then, he turned on the microwave.