Seven-X by Mike Wech Page B

old coffee and bodily fluids that drip like a leaky faucet out of this old geezer next to me. If he sneezes on me one more time, I’m going to kill him.
    Maybe that’s what’s making me crazy! Maybe that’s what makes me feel like I want to stand up and scream at the top of my lungs. 
    Or take this chair and smash it across the face of the next person who says, “Happy Holidays,” with a fake I don’t want to work in this shit hole smile. Maybe we’re all holding back. Holding on, hoping that nothing happens this happy day to push us over the edge. 
    I’m not the only one with this look in my eye. I see it a thousand times a day in a thousand different ways, masquerading itself in fake smiles, exhausted eyes, slumped shoulders and voices that crack before feigning that happy tone that says, “I’m fine and how are you?” 
    So you know what I’m going to do. I’m going to stand up, shut this computer off, take a deep breath of cold air outside, and wait patiently for this problem to get fixed. 
    Then I’ll move on to my next problem and smile and joke like it’s any other day.

VIDEO LOG:                                                 
    FRIDAY DECEMBER 10, 2010 - 3:13 PM
     
    ENTERED BY MELODY SWANN
     
    This is first recording in the second batch that Eddie sent me.  I’ll describe what I see. Someone is pointing the camera in a workshop or computer place or store.
     
    “Alright. Test. Test. You working now. Let’s see… 
    Play it back and… 
    “Alright. Test. Test. You working now. Let’s see… 
    Perfect! I got it!
     
    Melody: He spins the camera to his face. It’s some dorky kid, about 25. He looks like Jesse Eisenberg from “The Social Network.”
     
    Kid: “I’m the king! Yeah baby! Put that on your show Eddie. I should have my own reality show. Bobby Ray, master of repair, or Precision Master. I like that. The Fix It Man. That’s it!  The Fix It Man! Bobby Ray the Fix It Man, on TLC!”
     
    Melody: He turned the camera around and is walking out the door. I see Eddie sitting. He’s pointing the camera at Eddie as he says, “Yo Eddie! Hey man, good as new!”
     
    Eddie walks toward the camera. He looks tired, asking, “Thanks. What I owe ya?”
    “Three forty-nine,” the kid tells him.
    “What?” Eddie asks, shocked.
    “You should see your face, bro. I had to put on a whole new plate. You’re only paying for the part. I’m giving you a deal.
    “Thanks.”
    “What’d you do? Pound a nail into this with a sledge hammer.”
    “What? No!” Eddie tells him.
    The kid points at the camera and shows Eddie. “Something got a hold of this. Pushed the whole end in. Nobody’s hand could do that. You’d need like a fucking dinosaur claw or something to do that shit. Put that much pressure on it!  A vice grip. Fucking Transformers or something. Terminator bro!” 
    “Let me see,” Eddie asks as he picks up the broken piece and puts it in front of the camera. “It looks like a claw mark. It’s deep,” Eddie tells the kid. 
    “Dude. Maybe a bear stepped on it?”
    “Maybe?” Eddie answers. “Did you get the flash card out?”
    “There’s no card in there.”
    “You sure? I had one.”
    “Positive man, there’s no way, you could get it out, unless you took off this plate, see,” the kid says as he turned off the camera. 
     
    Melody: That mark on the plate was huge. Some kind of animal did that. Maybe it could be the same thing that bit the leg of that Spanish guy. He must have taken Eddie’s camera. Maybe he sent that flash card too. I just heard Eddie say it was missing. I wish I knew this when I talked to him. I could have warned Eddie about that. Who knows when I’ll hear from him again. I’m worried.

JOURNAL ENTRY:                                       
    FRIDAY DECEMBER 10, 2010 - 7:30 PM
     
    I’m sitting at the crossroads. Actually it’s Denny’s just off Interstate 10. But I feel like it’s my