When I was a little kid I was eyewitness to a murder. I was nine at the time and staying at my aunt Flora’s apartment for the summer because my folks both worked every hour. I loved being with her because she doted on me. Being with her was always a treat because she’d spoil me rotten and she always made the best plans for days out and things.
The only blot on the horizon was her neighbors, Mr Bowers and Mr Lee. The building was two story and my Aunt lived on the second floor. The apartments were in a row facing onto a long corridor. As you came up the stairs first you passed Mr Lees apartment, then Mr Bowers was in the middle, and my aunt lived in the end one. Mr Bowers was a raging alcoholic. He was unpredictable and obnoxious, and would have his TV blasting through the walls at random times of the day and night, but the moment anyone else made any noise he’d bang on the walls and come out and start shouting the place down.
My aunt said he hadn’t always been that way, and when she first moved in she did actually date him for a while, but once the drink got a hold of him he was a changed man. I don’t think I really understood at nine, all I knew was he was scary and loud and I’d sneak past his door in case he came out and yelled at me, which he did from time to time. My aunt told me it was probably best for us to try and stay out of his way, which we did.
Mr Lee however wasn’t taking that kind of behavior lying down. He gave as good as he got. Countless times we heard them in the hallway arguing. My aunt and I would just hunker down in her apartment watching cartoons until it all quietened down, and as I say, a lot of the time we’d be out, visiting the park or the cinema, or some museum exhibit with dinosaurs (which were always one of my favorite things as a child). Even the downstairs neighbors would complain bitterly about him, but sadly everyone owned their own apartments, including Mr Bowers, so the other residents didn’t really have any way to get him out.
On the day of the murder I was outside my aunt’s apartment, playing with my toy cars. I was sitting cross legged in the corner of the corridor under the big window at the end. I guess I was hidden in the shadows so Mr Lee and Mr Bowers didn’t see me there, plus I was totally absorbed in my game in the way only small children can be. First thing I heard was Mr Bowers banging on Mr Lee’s wall, next thing Mr Lee was out and hammering on Mr Bowers’ door. He was out like a shot and the two of them were yelling and screaming at each other. I remember thinking I’d never heard them so bad. Mr Lee actually physically grabbed Mr Bowers this time. They had never actually gotten physical before, I remember Mr Bowers yelling, ‘Get your filthy hands off me’
Mr Bowers ended up at the bottom of the stairs with a broken neck. The police were called and even though Mr Lee tried to deny it, the whole building had heard the ruckus, and there was also the little fact of my statement, sitting wide eyed in my Aunt’s apartment while the police very gently asked me what I’d seen.
I’m now living in my Aunt’s apartment. She died recently and left it to me, which is what she’d always planned. Of course it’s twice as big now, because when Mr Bowers died he left his apartment to her. During their brief period of dating, in a romantic moment he made his will out, leaving all his earthly goods to her as he had no other family. He never got round to changing it because the booze took hold. She had the two knocked into one. It’s an enormous apartment and worth a small fortune now as it’s in a prime area.
I really miss my aunt, I remember curling up with her all cosy, and her telling me how it could all be mine one day. Telling me to hide in the hall and wait for a really big row, and explaining to me how easy it would be to push a drunk old man down the stairs. As I said, she made the best plans.
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Credits to: hrhdaf
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