Mr. Lonely (Original Story) - twentyfourhourshortstory contest run by @mctiller

Mr. Lonely

Meet Mr. Lou Wynn. A respectable gentleman, but a very lonely one. He muddles through his life going to his boring, dead-end job every day for the past ten years. He's never had many friends and has never really fit in with other groups of people. He usually goes home to his empty one-bedroom apartment, eats his dinner for one, and then watches endless hours of television before going to bed and doing it all over again.

That is until one night when his cable stops working and his television turns to nothing more than static . . .

"Oh, what now! The one joy in my life doesn't even want to spend time with me!" he said as he tossed the remote control onto the table. He immediately called the cable company to see what the problem was. After speaking with a nice woman on the phone, an appointment was set up for a repairman to come out on Thursday between the hours of 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM. This annoyed Lou very much, as he had not missed a day of work in almost 8 years, but he had to have his TV. In fact, it was all he had.

Lou was miserable for the next two days. With no TV, he tried passing the time by reading the newspaper, a book he has been meaning to read for years, and even a magazine that had mistakenly been delivered to his apartment. None of it was as fulfilling as watching the lives of characters he had grown to love unfold on the 50-inch flat screen on the other side of the room.

When Thursday morning arrived, Lou was up at 5:00 AM anxiously awaiting the cable guy. After unfulfillingly reading the morning newspaper and eating his breakfast, he found himself pacing the living room floor. He would stop every fourth or fifth pass to stare out the window of his third story apartment to see if he could catch a glimpse of the repairman's impending arrival.

At precisely 9:09 AM the truck had pulled up outside. Lou rushed out his apartment door to the elevator to greet the man who could make his life right again. As the man stepped out of the elevator, Lou reached in immediately to shake his hand and introduce himself.

"Hello, Sir! My name is Lou, Lou Wynn. Thank you so much for coming out. I just don't know what is wrong with my connection."

"Hello Lou, I am Bill. Shall we head to your apartment?" he asked as he was still standing in the elevator doorway, blocked by Lou.

"Yes. Yes. Sorry, right this way."

As the repairman worked on the cable box and the wires he made what seemed like some small talk. He asked Lou if he was married or had kids. Lou replied, "No, I have never really found the right woman, or even one that would have me."

"Have you tried going out to that bar I saw down on the corner or maybe that Tinder thing I have heard about?" Bill asked.

"No, I am much too old for those things. Maybe ten years ago, but not now." Lou answered.

Bill dug a little deeper. "Well, don't you get lonely here all alone in this apartment? Wouldn't you like to have someone here to talk to . . . to be with?"

Lou exclaimed, "Oh, what I wouldn't give to have someone to be with and to talk to. I would give anything."

Bill said, "Anything?"

Lou replied, "Yes, anything."

At that very second, Lou's 50-inch flat screen TV came back on. It was tuned to an old episode of The Twilight Zone. Bill hit the mute button and said, "Oh, I used to love this show."

Lou was overjoyed. "Thank you so much, Bill. I really can't tell you how happy I am to have my television back," he said as he patted Bill on the back.

"Okay Mr. Wynn, now there is just the matter of this contract." Bill said.

"Contract?" Lou inquired.

Bill ensured him, "It is just a formality for the company."

"Oh, okay then," Lou said as he began signing on the line.

"Now then, let me sign it here." Bill signed his name. He then continued, "I almost forgot. Here is your brand new remote. It has a few new features on it, but they should all be self-explanatory."

About two hours later, Lou was enjoying his first weekday off in nearly eight years watching Days of Our Lives, a show he normally never got to watch, but had secretly loved from the time that his mother watched it when he was a child.

Suddenly the television went black. It had just shut itself off. Lou was not at all happy. This time he threw the remote across the room as he yelled out "Here we go again! That good for nothing repair. . ." Lou suddenly stopped talking, stopped moving. Then he rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Somehow, someway he could now see through the walls of his apartment and into the apartment next door: the apartment of the young female artist, who apparently liked to paint in the nude. Lou just stood there watching and wondering what was happening.

He realized right before this began that he had thrown the remote across the room and it had hit the wall. He decided to go get the remote and see if he could figure out what was going on. There was a new second channel button on the new remote. Lou pushed it once. Suddenly he could not see into the young artist's apartment anymore. He looked all around and realized that now he could see into the apartment on the other side with a young couple that had two children.

He pushed the channel button again. This time when he looked around, he noticed that he couldn't see into any of the apartments next to him, nor across the hall. As he walked to get a drink of water to possibly break him out of this spell he was under, making him imagine these things, he passed that window again. He noticed that he could now see right through the walls and into the second-story corner apartment across the street. He grabbed the remote and pushed the button again and again. With each push, a new apartment across the street was revealed.

Over the next week, Lou didn't leave his apartment. He didn't answer his phone. He had no contact with the outside world. He just stayed there watching his new, more life-like "television" programs all day and all night long. He was never happier.

Then a knock came at the door. A voice called out, "Mr. Wynn? This is the police." Another voice added angrily, "And your boss!" Apparently some of Lou's co-workers became concerned when he was all of a sudden not showing up for work. They forced the boss to call the police and have them do a safety check to make sure Lou was alright.

Lou, a usually clean-shaven and neatly-dressed man (out of style by a few decades, but neatly dressed nonetheless), answered the door in a t-shirt, a robe, and a six-day-old beard. His boss, Mr. Hamilton, cringed at the sight of him. "Are you all right, Mr. Wynn?"

"Oh, umm, yes," Lou responded as he straightened his robe. "I have just been feeling a bit under the weather." He feigned a cough ::cough cough::

Mr. Hamilton inquired, "Will you be joining us at work any time soon, Mr. Wynn?" as the officer looked around the apartment to make sure everything was in order.

"Well Mr. Hamilton, I do not believe I will be returning to work. Could you please have my things mailed over to me?" Lou responded.

"Are you sure, Mr. Wynn?" Mr. Hamilton asked as he was being nudged out the door along with the police officer. Lou replied "Yes sir," as he closed the door.

Lou then picked up the phone in one hand and the remote in the other. He hit the channel button until it returned the young artist's apartment as he ordered a pizza.

To TV lovers everywhere: When the cable guy shows up at the very beginning of his appointment window, ASK FOR ID! At the very least, read any and all paperwork he asks you to sign. Otherwise, you may end up making a deal with a man who goes by many names -- including Bill.

This story was written for @mctiller's twentyfourhourshortstory contest. For more details check out this post: 24 Hour Short Story Contest

Please let me know what you think of my story. I do hope you enjoyed it.




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