Ghostly wisps of steam were still rising from his exposed ruddy flesh as the man once more examined himself in the bathroom mirror. His dripping hair was plastered to his scalp. He could feel the tail end of those damp strands tickling his back. He definitely needed to get a haircut. As soon as he figured out how to get back home that's the first thing he would do. He'd go get a haircut and he would shave. He felt uncomfortable with the man looking back at him in the mirror with the soaked beard and ruddy complexion.
He quickly dried off with the clean towels seemingly provided just for him. Despite frequently sporting relatively long hair, he'd never been much for blow dryers. He vigorously applied the towel to his hair, struggling to wring all of the water out. This was always the most time consuming part of his day. He had always been able to get ready a lot faster when his hair had been shorter. Yeah. He was definitely going to get a haircut.
A cursory inspection revealed nothing in the way of a brush or comb so he did his best to smooth out his hair with his hands. He wasn't altogether too concerned about it. His hair had a way of settling into place regardless of how he chose to interact with it. As he shrugged his shoulders at no one in particular, the man become uncomfortably aware of the chill in the room. The shower's heat had begun to dissipate. He quickly dressed himself in his clothes. They were still pretty dirty, but he felt uncomfortable with the idea of ransacking this pristine house for something new to wear.
After pulling on his socks and shoes, the man made his way into the dining room, through the kitchen, and back into the living room, where he'd left the laptop and phone laying on a coffee table. A pristine LCD TV was mounted on the wall opposite a plush couch. Earlier he had turned it on but it seemed not to be receiving any kind of signal. He'd found no home phones either, although he wasn't surprised. It seemed uncommon these days to use anything else but a cell phone, and whoever had lived there probably had kept them on their persons.
He settled down onto the couch and let out a long, slow breath. It was comfortable, although he was still cold. Everything in the house seemed to be working, but there was no heat. Maybe it had been turned off in an effort to save energy while its inhabitants were absent. He wasn't sure. He decided not to investigate further and instead set his thoughts to examining the phone that was now glowing with renewed life.
The phone's background was a plain single color--black. Most people with smartphones tended to set some kind of background image, but not this particular phone owner. There were a lot of different icons on the phone corresponding to various different applications and games. He wasn't concerned with that, though. He examined the corner of the screen for the telltale symbol that indicated the phone was receiving a signal. "No Service," it said. Well. That was that.
He decided to dial 911. He'd heard that it was possible to do so even when a phone lacked service, in case of emergencies. He fumbled with the touchscreen while punching the numbers in and held the unfamiliar phone up to his ear after pressing "Send." There was nothing. No sound. No indication that the call had failed or succeeded. He tried a few more times to no avail. Still nothing.
He instead turned his attention to the laptop. If everything else was working in this house, then perhaps they had a working internet connection? It was no use, though. The laptop had died, ostensibly while charging the phone. He let out an exasperated sigh. What was he going to do? He dreaded the thought of getting out on the road again. The neighborhood he'd wandered into was a sparsely populated one. There was another house significantly further down the road. He supposed he'd have to keep looking.
Before resigning himself to that fate, the man decided to examine the phone some more. He pored over the phone's settings but could not find a way to get it working again. He was able to figure out that the phone had been owned by a guy named Todd. There were hundreds of pictures and recorded voicemails on the phone. He found his voyeuristic tendencies suddenly getting the better of him as he looked through the stranger's private data.
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