Thaw Fickle Buskin

Problem Areas

The truck pulled up to a house surrounded by hedges and a bed of dying flowers. The lights inside were on, a neon yellow against the dark evening storm. Shane patted my shoulder reassuringly, even though he had no idea what was going on.

"Good luck, my dude," he said.

I turned towards the driver. "Do you think you can drive me back across town?"

The driver looked towards the horizon. The clouds above us were already getting ready to form something terrifying. "I don't think so," he said. "I need to get these guys to a safe place or else they might get sucked into a cyclone. That's how messed up they are."

I sucked in sharply. That meant I needed to go all the way across town with a tornado at my back.

I don't know how much longer I can hold back the full storm. That's what Kanoa had said before I left. I wasn't completely sure what that meant, or even if it was literal, but I couldn't take any chances. I thanked the group of stoners for driving me the valuable few blocks to the foster house and hopped out. I grabbed the bike from the bed of the truck and threw it onto the sidewalk.

The truck drove away, the thick black fumes from its exhaust drifting away ferociously. I thought for a minute how I should do this. I didn't have any reason to not just walk up to the door and ask for the pills. There was a possibility of the foster parents asking about Kanoa, but I would just have to assure them Kanoa was safe.

Taking in a deep breath to restabilize myself, I started towards the door. I put my hands in my pockets and was startled to feel something wet and sticky dripping down my spine. I retracted my hand and saw blood smeared on my palm. I remembered my wreck and winced. Now wasn't the time to worry about that. I could deal with this when everything was normal again.

I got to the door and knocked hurriedly. It took a moment for the door to swing open. I was met by a scruffy-looking woman I'd never seen before. She looked me up and down with deep concern lining her wrinkled face.

"My dear, why are you out in this storm?!" she exclaimed. Before I could answer, she grabbed my arm and started dragging me inside. "You could catch a cold!"

"OH, well, uh..." I started to say, but I was already inside the warm house.

The woman shut the door behind me and began scanning my state. When she got to my face, her eyes narrowed suspiciously. I averted my eyes away from her, uncomfortable with the attention.

"You're that Faller girl, aren't you?" the woman asked. Her voice turned from genuine concern to a judgemental tone.

"That would be me, yes," I responded.

The woman scoffed. "I can't believe I let you into my house. I know your mother, you know. She talks all the time about how great her daughter is. Her gay daughter."

She said the word with a certain accent, bitter and completely ignorant in tone. My heart sunk, unsure of what to do. I opened my mouth to speak, but I wasn't sure how to respond. My mother knew...how could she not? Never once have I talked to her about boys. But why was she telling everyone about that?

The woman shook her head and put her hands on her hips. "Well, anyway, I suppose it would be discriminatory of me to not take care of you. Let me get you a blanket; it must be freezing out there."

Without waiting for me to respond, the woman went into another room. I stood there for a moment, unsure that conversation actually happened to me. That was why I stayed so quiet about my personal life around Bennu. Once people knew your secret, it spread like a conflagration, hot and destructive.