The Mural Gazer

Episode 2 - Out the corner of an eye

The first thing she noticed, pulling into the drive, was the Matrix, gone. "Shit!" she hissed, annoyed at having to lug the groceries in herself, then start dinner. The least he could have done was texted. Asked if she needed a hand. She yanked on the emergency brake, shoved open the door and ejected onto the pebbled pavement. The texture always irritates her. She likens it to a sheet of course grit sandpaper, seen and felt from the perspective of an ant... No matter how hard she tries to shut out this daily vexation, Leanne can't. It surges into her, a malevolent injection, an infectious virus, whose salient symptom is a spirit of withering, harping, vengefulness.

Bitch! she muttered, under her breath...

She fumbled open the front door, annoyed he'd left it unlocked... again... schlepped through the foyer, into the kitchen, hoisting the bulging plastic bags onto the counter. Kettle. Tea. In automaton mode she put the water on to boil, then began unpacking the groceries. She was putting a can of diced tomatoes on the pantry shelf, when the kettle began shrieking. Turning toward the stove, she caught a flash of something white, through the passageway into the dining room. A note. "Strange," she groused. "He could just as easily have called."