Rattlebones (bxbxb)

Make it Better

I'm not exactly sure when my life started going to hell.

It unquestionably hadn't been when I kidnapped Eugene Wilder from his funeral. No, bad things had been happening to me all my life. As if I was this negative force that attracted terrible things. But there was a silver lining to it all, it meant that I didn't have to interact with most of the human population, they just naturally avoided me.

So why was I now currently stuck in a van with a skeleton, a dead guy, and a skater boy? It felt like I was acting out a terribly written fanfiction.

"Why the hell does this keep happening?" Iggy questions from the front seat. "Darcy, man. We need to figure something out."

"What do you mean figure something out? I'm not some dog that you can just kennel because it pisses everywhere." I reply from the backseat. Madam is seated beside me, their boney kneecap digging into my thigh. I can feel them staring at me with their hollow eye sockets, and while it's not disturbing per se, I'm slightly weirded out, as one is when a talking skeleton is glaring daggers at them.

"He's talking about you destroying everything that you touch when someone pisses you off." Eugene pipes up, and Iggy turns onto the highway to take us back home. "Ever since you got that crystal thing stuck to your forehead, you've opened a portal to hell, burned a man's face-off, and turned someone into a skeleton."

I cross my arms, suddenly feeling all attention on me. Normally, I would have relished the feeling, I was a sucker for devotion, but this was different. I was being blamed for something that I had no control over.

"It's not a crystal," Madam speaks up before I can attempt to defend myself. "It's a third eye. I should have realized it sooner. Before I tried carving it out of your humongous forehead."

"A third eye?" Iggy questions from the front seat.

"Third eyes aren't literally eyes," Madam explains to us. "They're objects used to see into the spirit realm. That's why Darcy has been frying everyone who looks directly into the light when he has a meltdown. He's opening his third eye. "

"So why are you still alive?" I ask him, unable to keep from sounding slightly cynical.

"I'm not sure," Madam replies, and then they look down at their boney hands. "It's strange, but I can feel some kind of force holding me together like glue."

"And that's coming from me?" I ask him, and then I lift an eyebrow. 

"Oh God, don't flatter yourself," Madam says, and then their voice lowers when they gesture to Iggy."It's coming from him."

Igor? It couldn't be. He was as mundane as they came. He skateboarded, worked at McDonald's, and did other normal things that I couldn't wrap my head around.

And yet every time I turned my back on him, something else was happening to Eugene that I couldn't explain. And Iggy was there, every time, watching...waiting. Did he know what he was doing? Was he aware of the extent of his power? I knew that I needed to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. I needed to test him, and figure out if he was the source of Eugene's life.

"You can just drop me off at the Dollarama over there," Madam tells Iggy, once we've been driving for what seems like forever.

"Are you sure?" Iggy asks skeptically, and he glances at Madam in the mirror, then shudders at the sight of their boney face. "You're a...er, skeleton now. Is that even safe?"

"It's fine. I've dealt with worse, believe me." Madam assures them. "In fact, this isn't so bad, actually. I think I'm warming up to the idea of not having flesh and blood. At least now I can fit into that pink corset that I have hanging in my closet back at home."

Iggy pulls up to the Dollarama, the lights from the building illuminating our car for a moment. It's strange, the whole thing. The skeleton in the sequined shirt and vest exiting our car, bones click-clacking as they grab their bag and close the door. 

"Hey," Eugene says, and he stares out at Madam. "Will we ever see you again?"

Madam shrugs a little, and then they look towards the open road. "Maybe on TV." They reply. "I feel like I have a story to tell. I want the world to see me for who I am now that the world can't force gender-conforming beliefs on me. I want to be Adam, the person who I've always been inside." 

We all watch them...Adam, slowly walk away, growing smaller and smaller before they vanish into the store. Seconds later, screams erupt from inside and several employees come running out.

Iggy pulls back onto the road, and soon we're on our way again.

"So. Whose house am I staying at tonight?" Eugene questions and he glances back at me. I have my forehead pressed to the glass and I'm staring out at the trees and the fences as they pass by. I feel like I'm the angry mom in the relationship, Iggy is the dad and Eugene is the kid caught in the middle. It wasn't fair to him for us to be fighting, even if the argument was partially his fault.

"You can stay with me." I offer up, and I sneak a glance at Iggy, who makes a face. "Iggy babysat you last time." And it was perfect timing for concocting a plan to reveal his secret power.

"Babysat?" Eugene scoffs. "I'm eighteen years old. I don't need a lame-ass babysitter."

"Dude, someone totally needs to babysit you." Iggy argues, "Especially with your crazy uncle on the loose. I'm pretty sure he saw our faces earlier. Or at least Darcy's face. Nobody can mistake him for anyone else."

Eugene sighs heavily and then he sits back in his seat, going silent for the rest of the ride. I think our argument had really affected him. But he wasn't the only one. I was slightly concerned about two murderers on the loose having seen my face, especially knowing what they had done to Eugene. Who knows what else they were capable of?

Iggy pulls up to my house a while later and he parks on the curb before turning to look at me. 

He's infuriatingly attractive.

"Hey, Darce? I'm sorry about earlier, okay?" He tells me, and his voice lowers a little. "You were right. We should have each other's backs."

I move to open my door and then I stop and I study him, searching his eyes. I can see myself there in the reflection, and I look small. I feel small, too. Like I was naked for him all over again. "It was my fault," I reply finally. "All of this is my fault, Igor. But I'm going to make it better, okay?" I get out of the car before he can pull me back in. "Go home and get some rest."

"I don't know if I can." Iggy stares down at the steering wheel, and then he looks back up at us, his cheeks flushing slightly. "I'm so used to sleeping next to you two now. It's going to be weird."

"If by weird you mean better, then yeah, it is." Eugene comes over to stand by me and he puts his arm around my shoulders. "At least now you don't have to listen to Darcy moan like he's getting laid all night."

I elbow him in the side, "Shut up! It's a sleeping condition!" I hiss at him. 

Iggy rolls his eyes a little. "Good night, guys." He tells us, and then he slowly drives away.

"Come on," I tell Eugene, and I stare up at my house, the lights on inside. "I think I'm ready to face my imminent demise." 

Eugene shoots me a weird look. "Didn't you tell your moms about the trip?"

"Not really," I say, and I start past him, jamming my hands into my pockets. "But that's not important. I'm ready to tell them about being gay." It was time. Time that they knew about who I really was, just like how Madam had found themselves in the most unexpected way.

I just hoped that they could accept me for who I really was inside.