Godspeed

Chapter Nine

The hurricane predicted to hit Miami in under 36 hours had now earned a name of its own. 'Hurricane George'.

Unless you knew a terrible George it did not sound like the kind of thing that made you think disaster. Actually, it sounded unsuspecting. Friendly, even. It was the type of name that you uttered with a tone of indifference and little thought when you retold the happenings of a long day to a close friend. A side character.

Marley saw 'Hurricane Ava' more fitting. He knew a terrible Ava.

And it felt more than right to conflate her with a natural disaster. Perhaps 'Ava' might be the type of name, in ignorance, you said with a smile and a quickened heartbeat, but with wisdom you'd come to know better. Like a hurricane, a woman named Ava may seem far in the beginning and all the devastation she causes in the distance you never even heard of, but the moment she draws near you begin to take notice of her. The heat in the air dissipates as she brings rain with her, the tide speeds up to match your adrenaline and you think these are all good things. But the thunder after the lightning is unmistakable and the adrenaline isn't out of happiness, but fear. Marley Mason, as everyone should, became quickly aware that Avas held enough power to lift roofs off the top of houses and dismember hearts from ribcages with the same type of wind. How many other beautiful names were just as unforgiving? Today, Marley Mason though about that.

He exhaled.

Dark clouds were all over Bayside now and the air was fast and cold. Marley could see the palm trees whip and thrash through his bedroom window and he followed their movements. Maybe he invested too much, too quickly. Maybe he didn't know her that well. Maybe he misinterpreted what they were because he was Marley Mason, mute and slow while she was Ava DeLoughery ravishing and quick.

Maybe that's all there was to it. Maybe he was just as blind as he was mute. The world, he felt, was continuing to compound on the shaky slab of wood roofing his tiny bedroom. Lightning flashed outside.

The stretch of skin where Richie had punched him still ached. As did other places, but Marley could only handle so many sources of pain at a time before he was sucked into somewhere dark. Like last night when he had spent hours lying awake and the sound of Ava's footsteps leaving him were still lingering. He had thought of how badly he wanted to get revenge on Richie, he thought of how people like him never got their justice, he thought of how Ava managed to stomach leaving him there, he thought of how he couldn't even watch her leave, look her in the eye, because there was still blood and water and sand impairing his vision. When he thought of all these things last night, it did not matter that he was lying in the comfort of his own bed, at home, protected and safe. Somehow, he was still on that beach. Helpless. He cried, then, and everything went dark until this morning.

To avoid that happening again, on this gloomy day Marley Mason wondered how he could relieve the sting of Richie's fist on his face. Ice from the fridge downstairs was probably the correct route to go. The boy would have to put it in a cup with some water to avoid suspicion from his father, however, and then hurry back to his room as quickly as possible so it wouldn't melt. Ice. Just ice, for now. Marley concentrated. His chest cavity would just have to wait. He took his pillow and squeezed it into himself as if to at least temporarily clog, fill, jam, the hole already there long enough to get up.

There was a knock at the door. It opened and Tafari Mason briefly and stepped in, "Get ready," he told his son, "We're going to work." Tafari knew Marley had heard him, yet the boy did not move. The man sunk his teeth into his bottom lip and watched the boy for a moment. "You don't want to talk, mi know. But we haffi get up. Last day of work before the hurricane then we need to come back home and board up." Tafari went to shut his son's room door but not before he gave the lifeless figure on the bed a final glance and said to him, "Yuh will get tru it. Everybody get tru it eventually."