[so let the fireworks burst]

part 6// -END.

---

(is the show over?)

...

And so we begin.

(it’s the fundamental rule, didn’t ‘cha know?)

She sees the scars on her neck, her arms, her heart. And she sees the family in front her, perfect silky skin, and it seems that the white-teeth smiles are part of the package deal.

Her lip is jutting out, eyes bloodshot, and the air around her seems muggy. Is the sidewalk moving by itself?

Where am i, she thinks, “I” being lowercase. Who am i. What am i.

(is i I?)

The family is a blur. And then she sees no family. She sees the crowded city known to the world as New York.

(BuT where aM i?)

She staggers clumsily on the street, and throws up on the shoes of a man exiting the Plaza hotel.

Good-bye, Paciottis.

-----

How long has he been watching her?

He watches the rich man scuttling away, yelling profane words at the girl with the matted hair who stands, hands on her stomach, keeled over with some unknown emotion.

He should be going.

(but the show)

And yet he stands, watching.

He knows who she is.

(help her, yes?)

How pathetic, he thinks, and he absentmindedly reaches in his pocket for a cigarette when he laughs at himself in dry contempt. He gave up smoking ages ago.

He looks at the girl, who has gotten back up on her feet, and is resuming her staggered walk, forging a crooked path of her own—

(-- wasn’t she following someone?)

And he follows her crooked path, minding a crack and a bump on the way.

-----

How long has the man behind her been following her?

Well, she knows him.

Well, she thinks.

She remembers a man with a smile like the Cheshire Cat and a gleaming bottle in his hand.

She remembers memories she doesn’t remember having.

She remembers a hand around her neck.

She looks down to see the same hand wound around her neck.

They are both looking at each other, and a sick smile comes on to both of their faces, gleaming in the dim light of the moon and the artificial lights of New York.

Reliving a memory that never existed, for one. The other, making a memory to remember everything else.

(the show must go on)

The first firework explodes in the background.

(just sit back and enjoy the fireworks.)

-----