Blood and Picket Fences

Honey and Pills: Grayson Chapter 5

Kara looked empty, a million miles away as she traced the lip of the teacup. Her fingers shaking as she did so, her eyes brimmed with unshed tears. Silent words moving across her lips, but no sound came out, her voice lost or forgotten as she stared into the tea cup like it would hold some sense of hope or understanding. Yet, the tea cup did not speak back to her.

Grayson clutched the pills in his hand, like white hot pokers against his flesh as he edged his way towards her. His movements more awkward than normal. Unknowingly moving as his father had, as if approaching a wounded strange animal which was likely to flee or bite back. He had to shake it off. He had to force himself to move normally, to catch himself in his actions and to not treat her like she was broken, even if a voice in his head screamed that she was.

If she noticed him approach she didn't indicate it, still muttering silent words into her empty tea cup as he cleared his throat softly. She didn't look up. "Kare-Bear?" he tried again, setting down a small glass of water in front of her. Her head tilting towards it as if wondering how it got there before looking up, her wide eyes seizing on his face before she bit her lip and nodded carefully.

"I-I have something for you," he said outstretching his hand. Pills revealing themselves before her, her eyes moving to fixate on them before she snatched them up aggressively, he thought she would throw them at him, at her ferocity, but instead she shoved them into her mouth one pill at a time with no explanation of what they were or what they would do and swallowed them dry. Moving to gulp down the water as if she hadn't drank anything in years after they were gone. The water disappearing from the glass at a frantic rate before it was empty and she put the cup down with such a force that he thought it might break. Her shoulders trembled as she breathed deeply looking back at him as if she had a question before shaking her head and placing her head on the table her forehead resting on outstretched arms, openly weeping now.

"I-I had to kill Ida," Her voice was almost so low he missed it. His eyes widening at her confession. "I shot her, she got back up and I shot her again, there was blood everywhere," she whimpered. He hadn't expected her to talk. "Sh-She was like the others outside." her whispering voice almost drowned out by the whistling of the kettle. He didn't know what to do, to comfort her or to get the tea?

In the end it didn't matter, his father was back, one of his mother's night shirts, her robe and slippers grasped in his hands. It was her favorite set, the robe fuzzy and warm and familiar. He felt his heart crack a little as he thought of his mother, trapped in her Miami hospital. His hands tracing circles on Kara's back, hands smearing more with blood. She needed a bath. His medication would kick in soon, and he had no idea how long it would take for the sleeping pills to work.

He made eye contact with Benzion and they both nodded the understanding between them that she took the pills, as he put down the clothes and moved to take the kettle off the stove. "I'm going to get the couch bed made up in the game room," he smiled awkwardly back as if Grayson hadn't seen him do it, putting the bread knife back in the drawer as well. His actions odd, his words loud enough to shake a nod out of Kara, before he disappeared from sight again taking the clothes with him. If the plan was to be quiet no one had really followed through, and yet there was no pounding on the door like there had been earlier when his dad had gone outside to check. Something was different now, and as much as he wanted to go interrogate his father he stayed behind afraid that Kara would disappear if he left her alone for even a second. He waited for her to speak again, to tell him more about what had happened, yet minutes ticked away, his back to her as he took steadying breaths preparing himself for whatever horror had occurred. But she didn't tell him. He might have stood there for five whole minutes before he had the courage to turn around again, still not sure what to say about her words. If she wanted tea she said nothing. If she wanted comfort she said nothing. If she wanted to continue her story she said nothing. The waiting made his shoulders tense and the unease twist in his gut. Finally when he couldn't stand the silence anymore he turned as if there had been no silence at all.