HARMONY

Part 31 "It's falling apart..."

Sparrow pulled the last piece of thread through the mangled flesh above Steve's eye. The very act of breathing still caused tremendous pain, leading Steve to believe that Rex had cracked, if not broken a rib. Or two.

"Thank you," he said, taking care to use the minimal movement of his swollen lips.

"Of course," she said. She bit the thread with her teeth. "I'm just so glad I found you."

"Me too."

"You can't let Rex get away with this." She pulled a last strand of hair from his blood encrusted face. "He's a bully."

She stood and walked to the end of the bus, paused at the door, and left. Her slight step had caused just enough movement in the bus to make Steve groan.

A bully? Like he just gave me a wedgie and took my lunch money. Steve's fingers gingered across various new lumps of flesh. Damn this hurts. Bus ride's gonna be a bitch. His new-found ability to tell time by the darkening shades of sky, told him he had maybe two hours to figure that out. The distant thumping of concert confirmed it.

With the movements of a spider crossing its web for prey, Steve crawled to Vance's seat and dug into the crevice. He pulled out the dirty leather pouch and dumped the rainbow of pills into his palm. Picking through the assortment, his whispered their names as if to conjure their powers. "Whites to sleep, reds to wake. V for Vicodin." A cupped hand to his swollen lips and he completed the ritual with a swig of warm Jack Daniels.

Each organ in Steve's body twisted with rot. Not pain. Not even nausea. Just a disintegrating sensation of decay. Steve felt his flesh again. Touching, poking, prodding. Almost expecting an alien to tear out from his gut and eat his head. Even hoping one would. 

*** Meanwhile, Michelle faces the loss of everything she thought they had worked so hard for...

Michelle crushed out the cigarette on her granite counter top. She eyed the orange fluorescent flyers announcing the "Estate Sale" in a neat stack on her once-polished dining room table. She walked to them and tapped her finger on the top. With a mad thrust, she launched hundreds of flyers into the air. They floated in a disordered dance of confetti before settling across her dull marble floor.

Fighting tears, she surveyed her mess. "Screw all this." Her back slid down the wall. "All I wanted, I just wanted, to have a happy family. To have... " Her voice drifted through the chambers of her highly decorated prison. "To give them the best...the best of everything and to be happy." Those damn tears. "I didn't do anything wrong." She sobbed. "We were supposed to be so happy..."

Knock Knock. "Shelly, honey. Can I come in?" The voice froze her.

"Mom?"

"It's locked and I can't find my key."

Michelle closed her eyes and tried to find her breath. "Coming." She opened the door and looked at her mom.

Audra returned the look, but with an edge of sadness, not madness. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lost it."

Her mom's five-foot seven-inch frame had the look of movie stars from the days before the distraction of color. Shoulder-length hair, in her natural color of moonlight, fell organically in a soft bob. Although approaching seventy, her skin blushed with the gentle contours of a still sea reflecting the setting sun. Her most unremarkable feature was her eyes. They were just brown and set a bit too far apart, as if to take in a little extra piece of the world. A simple blouse tucked into simple pants, a plain wedding band and the Timex Drew gave her years ago completed the picture.

"Your key is in the outside zipper pocket, remember?" Michelle looked past Audra to the grey Volvo parked four feet from the front curb. "I wish you wouldn't drive."

Still on the porch, Audra craned her neck to look past Michelle. "Need help?"

Michelle twisted the knob. "A little."

Audra made a half step forward, but Michelle didn't move.

"I can't help you unless you let me in."

Fighting the burn of tears, Michelle stepped to the side and let her mom in.

Audra reached down and picked up a single flyer. She read it and then got onto her hands and knees to gather the rest into a pile. Michelle stood at the door wiping the droplets from her cheeks with quick movements.

"Well, this mess isn't going to grow legs and clean itself up."

"Mom, you don't have to do that." Michelle scooped up the rest and dropped them on the table.

"Russ updated me about Drew," Audra said. She leaned against the counter, looked at the grey ashes and then to Michelle. "Did I remember to tell you my garden has an infest of snails?"

Michelle pursed her lips together and nodded. Speaking would mean tears and she didn't want to go there. The house closed in around her, seeming to simultaneously shrink and expand with the dying breath of slaughtered game.

Audra dug in her purse. "Maybe I should go."

"I'm sorry Mom. I just don't know what to say."

With a triumphant tug, Audra pulled her keys out. "The best advice given to any parent is by an airline stewardess." She cupped her hand over her mouth. "Oxygen mask goes here first."

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