FUSE

Chapter 6

He's Big and He's Mad.

Richard shuffles through the door with his head hanging and his fingers link together behind his back. He reminds me of the guys on TV walking handcuffed into jail. Michael trots in behind him, furiously typing on the iPad, floating in front of him.

I sit on my rock, swaying forward and backward. As Richard approaches, I grind my teeth.  

"Hi, Annalise. Sorry for killing you."  

Glaring, but not speaking, I watch him plop onto the rock next to me. If I still had blood, it would be boiling. Even now it's difficult for me to remain seated when all I want to do is to jump up and smack his pathetic face.

"How are you?" Richard asks.

The cork holding back my fury pops. "I can't believe you. What part of "Do Not Kill" don't you get? "

He appears to wither into the rock.

"Well, Einstein," I say. "Let me explain, it includes shooting people while they eat their breakfast. How many did you kill? Wait, don't answer that, I don't even want to know." I smack my hand on the rock and flare my nostrils at him. "I'm busting my butt down there to fuse, and you're off breaking every rule and law." Crossing my arms in front of my chest, I stare directly into his eyes. "I hope you were—at least, respectful to your mother!"

Richard rolls his eyeballs back into his upper eyelids. Obviously, the wimp lacks the courage to face me.

"I know. I know," His hands clutch the sides of his head. "I tried to be good, really, I did. But, it's easy to understand the rules when I'm sitting in the debriefing room. But, you know Big Guy wipes out our memory of the mandate before we're born down there."

"So, what!" I scream because I just really need to shout. "This is your excuse for being an awful human being? Richard, the rules are published on Earth. Walk into a church, a synagogue, a court room, a temple, or even a movie theater." I smack my head. "You're an idiot, Richard."

Finally, he looks up at me. The sight of his big teary eyeballs boils my blood. "We're not going to fuse are we?" He asks.

Shaking my head and doing the heavenly version of exhaling. "Richard, this is not rocket science or even algebra. Just the fact that we're sitting in this room, waiting for a debriefing with Big Guy to begin, equals no fusing. "

"You don't have to be so nasty, Annalise. You killed me lots of times. Shall I refresh your memory?" He asks, in a voice oozing out bad attitude.

I turn away and then look back. Richard doesn't look like the boy in McDonalds. That boy was thin and had blue eyes. Richard's eyes are grayer and no one would call him "Slim."

We sit next to each other, staring forward. Anger and frustration radiate from both of us. I can't take it. "You don't look like the boy who shot me. He was handsome and," I scan him from head to toe. "Thin."

"I gained weight in jail. Lots of carbs and lots of sitting. He's going to send us back down, isn't he?" Richard asks, while drumming his fingers on his blue jean covered thighs.

I don't lose my temper easily, but honestly, I delivered this exact speech after the last umpteen deaths. Richard could make an angel blow his non-existent temper.

The anger inside me expands building pressure behind my eyes and in my ears. "We'll be lucky if he sends us back down!" Centuries worth of resentment detonates. "He doesn't have to keep giving us more chances. You know there are other places he can send us, and you know those places make Earth look warm and fuzzy. So listen very closely to what I'm about to say. When Big Guy gets here, we will plead, grovel, and beg for another chance."