For Shits and Giggles [2024]

Chapter 06

The happy, morning sun shone brightly through the open window, casting a warm glow across the room. Surprisingly, Gracie hadn't come downstairs yet; a departure from their usual Friday morning routine. Typically, Santiago and Gracie spend this one morning a week together. With the altered paper route on Fridays, Tommy wouldn't arrive at Gracie's house until after she had already left for work. This also meant that Camilo wouldn't be there either—a fact that swelled excitedly inside Santiago's heart as he floated up to her window. He had imagined her adorable reaction to being gently awakened, only to freak out because she had slept through her alarm. However, what he found instead was a gloomy Camilo and Paola— their expressions grim and somber, which Santiago knew could only mean one thing.

"She died," he cursed underneath his breath, having let himself into her bedroom through the second-story window.

The answer was written in the paleness of her face and the cracks of her dry lips. Gracie had two black eyes so big that Santiago felt ashamed for finding her this cute, like a tired raccoon with way-too-big goggles.

"Yes, she did," Camilo responded. He was sitting on Gracie's bedside, holding her limp hand, stroking the top softly with his fingertips. Camilo glared at Santiago suspiciously, hating how casually he let himself into her bedroom. Was this a common occurrence?

"How painful was it? Did Felix do it? I swear I'll—"

"We don't know what happened," Paola interrupted him, her voice was low and her hands were resting neatly in her own lap. She wore two white gloves for protection; gloves which she was ready to rip off at the slightest sign of dirt. The white color made it easier to spot any speck of dust or imperfection and Paola found solace in that; knowing she was visibly and verifiably clean.

"We had some work left to do at the Café today but she wasn't answering her phone," Paola added. "I called Camilo to see if he knew where she was."

"I found her here like this," Camilo finished.

"Fuck," Santiago mumbled to himself. He thought about her pain in those moments before death took her, and his blood began to boil. Her smile flashed in his mind, then her tears. The tears he'd seen so many times before. He thought about her shocked, terrified face; her dead body decorating the Earth, like the most beautiful, horrific painting you'd ever seen. He thought about how he could have saved her, if only he had been there.

He thought about how hopelessly, tragically in love he was, and how there was nothing he could do about it.

Santiago gripped his fists, digging into his palms hard enough to draw blood. Paola glanced at his hand nervously, willing the blood not to drip. What was the point of having these stupid powers, Santiago thought, if he wasn't there to protect the ones he loved most?

There was no one to blame, not really. But he turned to Camilo anyway, who sat comfortably by her side, "And where the fuck were you then?"

Camilo flinched as Santiago yelled and squeezed Gracie's hand tighter.

"It's not his fault," Paola jumped in again. "Henry and I were the last ones with her. We should've driven her home..."

"No," Santiago growled, keeping his eyes on Camilo. "You follow her around like a goddamn dog and the one time she actually needs you—"

Camilo was opening his mouth to respond when Gracie began to groan, and they both quieted down immediately. She shifted her body in bed and opened her eyes slowly, painfully, and they were a deep, golden color.

Everyone knew Gracie's eyes changed colors; from their naturally dark brown, to a bright, shimmery gold, sometimes even red, and then back. Some people lost their eyes or sight completely, but luckily for Gracie, that was it. In fact, as far as body curses went in Pleasantwood, Gracie truly was one of the lucky ones. Some people ran nonstop until they died from exhaustion or dehydration, just to wake up the next day and start running again. Others became allergic to oxygen, developed nails that peeled like paper, or had flesh that melted like popsicles off the stick any day over 32 degrees fahrenheit. Thank goodness all her eyes did was change colors.