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Chapter Three

last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2021-09-06 16:19:08
CHAPTER THREE

Marie arrived at her mother’s hospital room with her hair slightly damp from the rejuvenating-bath-that-wasn’t.

“Hi, Mom.”

Her mother’s gentle face lit up. It was like opening the window and leaning outside into the morning air. Marie fairly breathed her in.

“Darling! What a nice surprise!”

“Surprise? Didn’t Aleta tell you I was right behind her?”

“Who?”

Marie sighed.

“They’re giving you too many medications, Mom. Where is Aleta? Did she run to the restroom?”

The old woman reached out and grasped Marie’s fingers.

“I love when you come to visit, darling. Brightens up my day.”

“I love coming, too. So tell me how you’re feeling.”

Marie leaned back in her too-stiff hospital chair and listened to her mother chatter on about things like the life cycle of Painted Lady butterflies and who was doing who wrong on her latest soap opera. It killed her to hear this . . . this prattle, because this wasn’t who her mother was. Talk on international travel politics, sure. Discussions on feminism and empowerment and gun control and evolution and creationism, definitely. But who won a toaster oven on The Price Is Right? Simple things for a simple woman, which is who her mother had become. She wouldn’t be coming back, either. Marie could feel this deep in her bones, in some primal way that she sometimes knew when it was going to snow days in advance, or when her skin prickled and she knew danger was close.

Funny how these ancient knowings kicked up sometimes and not others. How they bubbled to the surface like swamp water when it wasn’t important, but when it was important, she never felt anything at all.

She kissed her mother’s cheek and her mother chirped in delight.

“What was that for, dear?”

“Just because. Mom, I’m starting to get worried about Aleta. Even if she’s taking her time, she should be back from the restroom by now.”

“But I told you. I haven’t seen her.”

That oh dear no feeling in her bones. It leached out of them like calcium and rode her bloodstream. It zipped through her system, turning on alarms and raising flags and causing her to inhale far too sharply.

“But the soup.”

Her mother gestured at the cafeteria tray by her bedside.

“Turkey and gravy today, dear. It’s Monday. It’s the only time I’ve ever looked forward to Mondays.”

Grim Marie became Worried Marie. No thermos of soup. No backpack at the foot of the bed. No red hoodie tossed over the chair or the bed’s railing or even balled up in the corner of the room.

She had never desired so badly to see something balled up in the corner of the room before.

“Aleta isn’t here,” she whispered, and her hair rose, her eyes dilated, her breath hitched.

“Of course not, darling. You look unwell. Shall I call the nurse?”

“She never made it.” Her skin crawled, blood froze, her heart stood still.

They were true. All of the clichés were true. The way her heart pounded, her mouth went dry, her blood boiled, her mind shut down when she saw her second husband hovering over her tiny, little, shivering Aleta so long ago.

“She never made it.”

She said it again, and then she was up and out. Retracing her steps, looking at the route on the street and bus with new eyes. Had she missed something before? Something small and insignificant, almost, except that it was so incredibly important. Some breadcrumbs she could fit together and follow home until she found her little little oh-so-little girl safe and sound and at home.

And then she found it. On the third bus stop, something so every day and mundane that she had stepped right over it the first time, her eyes full of useless tears of self-loathing and the stardust of seeing Aleta and Mother again.

There, in the gutter. The concrete gutter full of cigarette butts and shredded newspaper and stagnant water and old coffees tipped and tossed aside. Joining the mess was a splash of something familiar. Homemade chicken noodle soup with made-from-scratch noodles. Carrots diced almost-but-not-too finely. Celery and bay leaves and pieces of chicken, spilled from a thermos that had somehow fallen from a little girl’s hand.

Grim Marie, who was now Terrified Marie, looked left and right. At the buses and cars whizzing past her, at the people who walked by like they only had somewhere to be, not like somebody was feeling her universe grind to dust around her.

Marie opened her mouth, and a sound came out. She screamed and screamed and screamed.

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    CHAPTER EIGHTEENOfficer Will took the call with sorrow. Grim Marie had taken her own life. She was found in the bath with expensive-smelling bubbles and a candle. She had used a razor.He wished this hadn’t surprised him.His heart felt heavy, but he tried to convince himself that at least she was at peace now, enfolded in the arms of her mother and her daughter. A third little urn lined up on the shelf, perhaps. At least the pain and misery of her hunt for The Wolf was over.He sighed.“I’m responsible,” he said aloud, and the words pierced. They twisted up inside of him like a jangle of knives and sharpened bones and Dead Marie’s razor blades.He had sent her after the man she believed to be her daughter’s killer. Told her to keep an eye out for any DNA he might drop. He hadn’t believed this man was The Wolf, but it didn’t matter. It gave her something to do. Gave her something to throw her heart and soul into, since she had little heart and no soul left. Picking up a littered

  • Little Dead Red   Chapter Seventeen

    CHAPTER SEVENTEENThe test results came back. This wasn’t The Wolf. Neither the DNA nor the bite marks were a match.She had done it, but it wasn’t worth it. Not at all.

  • Little Dead Red   Chapter Sixteen

    CHAPTER SIXTEENOfficer Will’s wife met her at the hospital.“Thank you for coming,” Marie sobbed. “Thank you so much.”“Of course I’d come,” Winnie said. She sat in the corner of the room while the nurses scrubbed and swabbed and collected everything they could. It was like being violated all over again, except with soft voices and lighter touches.The worst, Marie thought, was when she exposed her breasts. Bite marks everywhere. On her nipple and ribs and on her stomach.“I hope it helps,” she whispered to nobody in particular. “I hope it helps my baby.”They didn’t understand and she didn’t bother to explain, but pictures were taken. Bites were measured. Details were taken and carefully written down.It seemed to last for hours. At last they said she could go home.“I’ll drive you,” Winnie offered, and Marie nodded wearily.The car ride was silent for a long time. Marie leaned her head back against the seat and stared at the dark sky.“Thank you for coming today,” she sa

  • Little Dead Red   Chapter Fifteen

    CHAPTER FIFTEENShe walked into the police station. Officer Will took one look at her and leapt up from his desk.“Marie!”“Don’t touch me. I have DNA. Lot of it.”“Marie, what did you do?”He reached out to touch her but she pulled back.“Please. Could you take me to the hospital? Is that what I need to do?”The officer’s face changed. Anger and concern, yes. A little bit of hope. Something that looked like sorrow, but she couldn’t be certain. But underneath, something primordial and snake-like roiled to the surface. Hatred and revenge.“He assaulted you?” he asked. “I can’t believe he would be so stupid. Where is he?”“It wasn’t like that at all. He didn’t do anything that I didn’t ask him to do.”Marie didn’t realize another person could look so stricken. His concern was making her lose her nerve.“Please,” she said. “The hospital. Because after this is done, I really want to take a shower more than anything else on earth.”“Marie.”He reached into his desk for his ke

  • Little Dead Red   Chapter Fourteen

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