. : HELLACIOUS : .

The End

Day broke as Kash stealthily climbed through the unlocked window and touched carpet.

The Redwater house was dark, all was silent.

Kash sighed.

I made it.

But then the floor light flickered on, revealing the bane of Kash's existence. Billy sat in the armchair across the room, placid and hospitable. Their eyes met in mutual hatred before gold drew Kash's attention.

On his knee rested the lamp.

"D'Jinn. You're back." He greeted. Kash breathed through their terror. "Better late than never I suppose. You have a good time?"

I wonder if he can sense Malcolm on me. His fingerprints. His lips.

"It was a decent night." They said, running their tongue over their teeth.

Billy hummed and rubbed his stomach in contemplation. "No need to speak softly, you're not going to wake Roz."

"She's a light sleeper."

"I know. Boy, do I know. She sleeps so fitfully that when she woke up next to me this morning she screamed." The lamp wobbled on his knee like a tightrope walker. "Without you there to steady her bonds she finally got a good look at me. It was a rude awakening. To say the least."

"That's too bad." Sweat danced down Kash's temples."...Where is she?"

"Gone."

"Gone?"

"Yeah, she packed her stuff, took the Ford, and left. She didn't ask a word about you."

"Oh."

"I've never had a wife leave me before." The refrigerator droned from the kitchen. "It's an... odd sensation. Can't say I like it much."

"Oh."

There was danger in the unprecedented. There was no standard for losing a wife.

No set punishment.

No warning.

Forget thin ice - Kash had one foot on a banana peel and one foot in a hole. And it was raining oil.

"Don't like it all, matter of fact." He said real slow.

"Oh."

"You had one job, D'Jinn. What'd I say? Be back before four. And you can't even do that right." Billy smiled with all his teeth. "Where were you?"

"Does it matter?"

"It could."

"I don't think it does."

"Since when did you start thinking? I don't remember giving you permission to think."

Billy set the lamp on the end table and pulled the hoary muzzle from his back pocket.

"I can't let this transgression go unpunished. I'm sure you understand."

Kash raised their chin in defiance.

"Punishment? All these years I thought you were tickling me."

Billy didn't take too well to the comment.

Back in the basement, every major bone broken in several places, they clung to the sight of the lamp.

He must keep it in the house.

It's been under my nose this entire time.

The D'Jinn tried to reach their soul out to its other half but was met with resistance. A magical barrier surrounded their lamp, barring all communication between the pieces.