Season of the Witch

Chapter 7: The Dead

"Here. This will help you sleep," Melanie said, handing Cordelia a mug of warm milk with honey and chamomile once she was calm enough to be tucked into bed.

Cordelia smiled softly and accepted the comforting drink. "Thank you." She took a sip and savored the warmth and subtle sweetness. She used to make the same thing for Melanie when she was younger and had trouble sleeping because of her nightmares.

"Where's Hank?" Melanie asked, wondering why he hadn't been around to help while Cordelia was in trouble. "Is he on another job?"

"I don't know. I kicked him out," Cordelia answered tightly, surprising her. "I just couldn't... not after he..." She bit her lower lip when it started to tremble, struggling to reign in her pain and anger so she wouldn't start crying again.

Melanie placed a gentle, comforting hand on her shoulder. "Do we hate him?"

Despite everything, Cordelia smiled when she heard that. She knew it was Melanie's way of letting her know that no matter what happened, she was on her side. "Yes," Cordelia answered and took another sip of her warm milk.

"Okay. He's officially on my black list," Melanie said seriously with a nod. Whatever that idiot did, it had to be serious for Cordelia to finally kick his lying ass to the curb. He was dead meat if she saw him again. "I'll go get those chrysanthemums I promised you earlier."

Kyle wandered around the tattoo parlor, singing drunkenly along to the song playing on the radio, Rosanna by Toto, while he waited for his friends Billy and Jimmy to finish. "Meet you all the way—Yeah-ah." He hummed along to the instrumental break. "Take you all the way. Do-do-do. Rosanna, yeah." He smiled and laughed when he saw the goofy expression on his own face in the reflection of an old porthole in the wall. He kept singing as he turned and moved along through the shop. "Take you all the way. Ooh-hoo-hoo." He laughed again, having fun. He loved this song. It reminded him of all the good times he used to have with his dad. His old man was the one who had introduced him to this band. It reminded him of better times, before everything went to hell. "Take you all the way. Oh, yeah... Seriously," he said, high-fiving one of his college friends. "Toto is amazing."

"Toto sucktitude," Jim said with a smirk.

"I will not argue about this, bro. Toto is amazeballs," Kyle boasted loudly. "Rosanna, yeah." He started scatting along to the music.

"Shut up about your incredibly gay crush on your incredibly gay band and get over here," Billy said.

"Seriously. Kyle, what are you gonna get?" Jim asked. "Come on, check mine out." Kyle walked over to have a look as his friend sat down on a tall stool and held his ankle up to show off his new tattoo.

"Let's see," Kyle said, staring at it. It was a bunch of Asian characters.

"It means 'Beginning and End'," Jim explained proudly. Kyle made a noise somewhere between a laugh and snort as he shrugged his shoulders and kept walking. "You know, dude, most of those don't even mean what the chart on the wall says they mean. You might have 'I'm a freaking idiot' on your leg right now." Billy laughed when Jim quickly glanced at his ankle again. "Seriously. You're gonna go out for Chinese food in a pair of shorts, and the whole wait staff is gonna be laughing their asses off at you." Kyle smiled and drank some more of his beer while his friends laughed.

"What the hell does 'Beginning and End' mean, even if that is what it says?" Billy asked.

"It's my life philosophy," Jim said. "It means, live right goddamn now."

Kyle looked from Jim to Billy. "You're full of shit," he told Jim, earning another laugh from his friends.

"Yeah, seriously, Kyle, get something," Billy said.