Darling (8 page)

“YOU PIECE OF SHIT!” Spittle flew. “I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!”

Mike crawled to the staircase, stood, ran to his room, and locked his door behind him. He sat on his bed and listened to his father scream, his mother try to calm him. Eventually the front door slammed and his father’s car sped off.

He felt like crying. Yet a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He felt guilty for what he had said to his father, but it was the truth.

His mother knocked on the door. He moved to it slowly, deliberately, like he waded through mounds of sand. He knew what was coming and watched it all from somewhere outside of himself. His world was ending.

Not ending. Changing. Everything would be different from here on out.

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

She cried as she told him his father wanted him out of the house. They hugged and then she went to her room. Mike knew she was draining the contents of the whiskey bottle hidden in her underwear drawer.

He grabbed a bag and shoved clothes inside. When the bag was full he looked around for a suitcase. He thought one was in his closet, but then it hit him: it was in Allison’s room.

They hadn’t taken a trip since before she died. She had borrowed his suitcase for a gymnastics weekend in D.C. a few months earlier and hadn’t given it back before everything happened.

He tiptoed across the hall and stopped in front of Allison’s door. His mother cried behind her own door as he stared at the dusty outlines of old posters long ago pulled down from his sister’s door and boxed away. He hadn’t been inside in years. He wondered if it looked the same. He knew his mother cleaned it top to bottom every Friday, but he didn’t know how many of his sister’s things were still inside.

He took a deep breath and turned the knob.

A pale sliver of moonlight limped through the window and fell across the bed. He was startled by how much the room conformed to his memories. The brass bed with red sheets poking out from beneath a vanilla comforter. The scented candles lining the shelves and filling the room with a subtle hint of rose. The posters of Olympians, musicians, and poets.

It was like a dream of better days, a hazy memory fighting its way through the cold that had claimed the home and bringing a bit of warmth back. It was a fragile thing and Mike knew if he clutched at it that it would shatter.

He sat on his sister’s bed. It
was
warm and comfortable. It felt like home.

He hoped he had made the right decision.

* * *

The bottle of wine slipped from Eileen’s fingers and clanked onto the concrete.

“Shit.”

It bounced once before rolling away. She sat the two bags of food on her trunk and bent to grab it, one hand holding her black dress down to avoid revealing herself. She snatched the bottle up and found a small space in one of the bags where she could shove the neck.

She checked everything one last time before heading up the stairs to Dennis’ building. She had planned the evening when she first heard he was moving. She was making lasagna, followed by a chocolate and peanut butter pie. The bottle of wine was a favorite she had developed a taste for during a summer spent with her family in Tuscany and the black dress was slick and revealing.

“Need a hand?”

She hadn’t heard anyone approach and jumped. She turned to see a tall, thin man in a black shirt and jeans. He had dark, wavy hair and wore a pair of stylish glasses. He smiled.

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” he said.

“Oh. It’s all right. This place is just a little creepy. Especially at dusk.”

“Sure is. Let me give you a hand.”

She handed him one of the bags. “Thanks. I’m Eileen.”

“Jason.” He opened the front door and followed her in.

“What floor do you live on?”

“Oh. I don’t live here. Visiting someone on three.”

Jason laughed. “Boyfriend?”

“Yeah. Why’s that funny?”

“Just figures.” He pressed the button for the elevator and smiled again.

“What does?”

“Pretty girl like you, I was hoping to get your number.”

Eileen rolled her eyes, but still blushed. “Right.”

He laughed again. “Sorry. Worth a try though, huh?” They stepped into the elevator. “Nice dress, by the way.”

She glanced down to make sure the bottom hadn’t come up too high. It was still down.
Just a compliment, Eileen. Take it.
“Thanks. How long have you lived here?”

“Three years. My whole band used to live here, but they’ve trickled off to other places.”

“What kind of music do you guys play?”

“Rock. No ‘emo’ or ‘metal’ or anything. Just rock.”

“Cool.”

The doors opened and they walked to Dennis’ apartment.

Jason’s cell phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID and sighed. “Aw, shit. I’ve gotta take this. You okay the rest of the way?”

“I think I’ll be fine. Thanks for your help.”

He handed her the bag. “My pleasure. Maybe I’ll see you around.”

She just nodded. She was flattered that he flirted with her, but with things getting serious with Dennis, she wasn’t going to encourage him.

He opened his phone and chatted as he climbed back into the elevator.

She knocked on Dennis’ door. He answered in a towel, his hair dripping.

“Just get out of the shower?”

“What gave it away?” He kissed her on the cheek and grabbed a bag. They walked in and sat the bags on the table. “You look fantastic.”

“I know,” she winked.

“Now how did you get dressed up so fast after leaving my place and I’m still wet?”

“Secret female stuff. If I told you, I’d have to kill you.”

He laughed. “So what’s for dinner?”

She grabbed the towel and yanked it from him.

“Hey.”

She threw it across the room. Dennis didn’t bother covering himself; instead he put his hands on his hips and mock frowned.

“
I’m
for dinner,” she said and slowly pulled her dress up to reveal a thin ribbon of white silk.

Later, after dinner and dessert, they cuddled in a chair by the window. Dennis had changed into a pair of pajama pants and Eileen sat in his lap wearing one of his oversized sweatshirts. They stared out the window at the field. Drops of moisture in the grass captured the moonlight like a thousand diamonds sparkling below them. It was beautiful.

Except for the boarded up supermarket and skeleton of a shopping mall lying dead at the edge.

“So did your uncle Gary say why they never tore that place down?”

“Never said.”

“It’s a pretty horrible sight. Gotta be some kind of safety hazard, too.”

She shrugged. “Who knows? People in charge of that sort of thing are usually morons.”

“True.”

Eileen jumped to her feet. “Let’s go down there.”

“What?”

“Yeah. C’mon. Let’s go explore.” She grabbed his hands.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. Why not?”

“Um…I don’t know. Snakes. Rusty nails. Spiders. Crazy homeless people.”

“Chicken.”

He laughed.

“I’ll make it worth your while…”

He cocked an eyebrow. “How’s that?”

She leaned close to his ear and whispered what she had planned.

“Let’s go,” he said.

He found an old pair of gym shorts that, while they didn’t fit Eileen, they didn’t fall off of her, either. He grabbed a T-shirt, his cell phone, and his keys, and they both slipped their shoes on and went downstairs.

“I think we can get there through the pool area,” he said.

“Maybe we could skinny dip after…”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”

“Spoil sport.”

They heard splashing as they headed for the pool. Dennis hoped it wasn’t Karen swimming around out there. He was afraid his attraction to her would be too obvious. They opened the doors and stepped out onto the concrete.

The water was still and quiet. A slight breeze whispered through the brush.

He scanned the area. There was no sign of anyone. “I thought I heard someone out here.”

“Well, whoever it was is awful fast.”

The growth blocked the moonlight from the pool and the two floodlights positioned over it seemed to create more shadows than they dispelled. Dennis understood why the area was empty.

They walked around the pool and through the narrow walkway where he had glimpsed a fountain. When they approached Dennis finally had a clear view of it.

“Well, that’s definitely not family friendly,” Eileen said.

He nodded. The fountain wasn’t very large. A statue carved in the same style as the ones lining the courtyard climbed from its center. Yet this one formed both shapes: the satyr and the nymph. The nymph stood, bare-breasted, her hands raised together over her head and her fingers intertwined. Her eyes were closed and she bit her lower lip, forever locked in a moment of ecstasy.

The satyr was behind her, one hand covering the space between the nymph’s legs. The finger disappeared between her stone thighs, the cause of the nymph’s expression. The satyr’s other hand was pressed against her abdomen below one of her breasts, the fingers pointing slightly upward, indicating their destination. The satyr’s head rested on her shoulder, his eyes barely wider than slits staring down on Dennis and Eileen. A devilish grin stretched across his jaw.

“I don’t know if that’s supposed to be erotic or frightening.” She shivered.

“Maybe both. C’mon.” He tugged her along past the fountain to a little area with a grill, two tables, and plastic lawn furniture. It opened onto the field, the supermarket little more than shadow in the distance. The night was humid and Dennis wiped a trail of sweat from his brow.

“Well, there she is,” he said.

“Let’s Lewis and Clark this bitch.” Eileen took off through the grass. Dennis laughed and ran behind her.

“Wait up.”

“Catch up,” she yelled back at him.

He pumped his legs faster and hoped he didn’t catch his toe in a rodent’s hole. He overtook her and spun around, running backwards the rest of the way. “Slow poke.”

“Asshole,” she said.

He spun around and slowed in the shadow of the supermarket. Eileen jogged up with her arms outstretched. He opened his own to accept her embrace.

He misjudged her and she shoved him instead. He stumbled backwards and fell hard on his ass.

“Ow.”

She giggled. “Oops.”

He jumped to his feet. “Ha, ha.”

“Check out that graffiti.”

The side of the building was covered in spray paint. Some was the standard multi-colored tagging expected on an abandoned building, but the rest was unique. Strange lines cut weird angles across the wall. Spirals and circles were placed in odd patterns. He thought he recognized Arabic painted in one area and something that looked like Chinese in another. There were other shapes that were obviously language, but he didn’t know what they were.

“Dennis, is this Latin?”

He walked over and scanned the wall. “
Anapavo Eosphoros
.”

“Well, Mister Classical Antiquities, what’s it mean?”

“I…I don’t know. It’s not Latin, though. Sounds like Greek, but whoever painted it used the Roman alphabet instead.”

“Why are there so many different languages on here?”

Dennis shook his head. “Beats me. I didn’t know the average gang of teenagers was so multilingual.”

“You sure moved into
The Twilight Zone
.”

His cell phone rang. He pulled it out and frowned. “It’s Mike.”

“Aren’t you going to answer it?”

“I should let it go to voicemail.”

She shrugged. “Don’t blow him off on my account.”

“Alright.” He flipped it open and Mike started babbling.

“Whoa, slow down.” Dennis walked a few feet away, his phone pressed against his ear.

When he hung up, he walked back over, laughing. “Well, Mike’s moving in.”

“Sure he is. When?”

He shook his head. “Tonight.”

“What?”

“He tried to tell his parents and they got in a big fight. He was kicked out. He’s hanging out at a coffee shop with some of his stuff. We gotta go pick him up.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah. Why?”

She sauntered over and pressed a hand against his chest. “Because I still owe you something.”

He looked around and laughed. “Here?”

“Why not? No one’s around…”

He laughed. “We’re like a couple of animals.”

“Don’t get stodgy on me, old man. This is what our college years are all about. What’s the expression? Young, dumb, and full of…you know.” She winked at him.

Dennis considered it for all of three seconds. “Who am I to ignore biological impulses
and
social norms? But afterward we have to go get Mike.”

“Trust me. This won’t take long.”

* * *

He watched from inside the unfinished pharmacy as the girl went down on her boyfriend. He always thought of the shopping center with its open ceilings and exposed walls as an abortion, something that could have grown into a Blockbuster, a Subway, and a nail salon if it hadn’t been snuffed out during gestation.

It excited him, watching her head move back and forth, and his hand moved to his crotch. He gripped tight and moved fast, his excitement mixed with anger that his hand wasn’t her mouth. He grunted as he finished, even angrier now that he saw the boyfriend wasn’t done.

He thumbed the top of the knife that hung at his side, wondering if he could make it to the lovebirds before they finished. As he calculated the distance, the man whispered something and she pulled away. He fixed his pants, she stood, and they walked back toward the apartment building hand in hand, giggling all the way.

He slammed his fist into a board, splitting it in two.

He stepped out and watched their shadows disappear through the field. When they were gone, he went back into the pharmacy and leaned over the girl.

“It’s time,” he said.

She squirmed, her wrists and ankles straining against the ropes. She screamed something, but it was muffled against the duct tape. She couldn’t have been more than thirteen and a part of him felt pity for her.