by Jonah Hewitt
“Do you want anything?” he finally asked. She shook her head “no” vigorously, too afraid to speak. If she opened her mouth who knew what would come out of it!! Probably something awful like, “Hey…my mom died in a car crash and her body was stolen from the morgue in Philly, do you want to take your shirt off and do some housework?” Oddly, she did feel like sharing the first secret with him, as if it would help relieve the burden. She just felt instinctively that she could trust him, but she didn’t know why.
The cashier bagged up their items and he started to slowly walk to the entrance just a few feet away. Her card was in his bag so she had no other choice but to follow.
“You ok?” he said as they walked to the door.
“Hmm? Oh, yeah…fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” she said defensively, but as she thought to herself she realized there was plenty to worry about. Other than losing her mother, hearing that her mother’s body had been stolen, and being chased by a mysterious longhaired phantom and a small crisis of conscience involving her mixed feelings for a potentially wonderful new guardian and a small boy she had only just met, but who desperately needed her, why, aside from that, Lucy was fine. But she didn’t dare say that, though she really wanted to.
“Really?” he seemed incredulous, “You look worried, is there something wrong?”
“Nah,” she tried bluffing, “I’m probably just a little nervous about the…y’know…tonsils.”
“Appendix.”
“Right.” She cringed from embarrassment and rolled her eyes. “That’s what I meant to say.”
They reached the door and he paused.
“Well, it was nice meeting you, Lucy.”
“Over so soon?” Lucy thought, but she didn’t know what to say so she just stood there awkwardly pulling her hair behind her ears and then forward again. Then he pulled his hair behind one ear too. She smiled. And then the oddest thing happened. Just as she was certain he was going to lean in and REALLY kiss her this time, or at least give her a brotherly hug, he paused and a look of disgust crept across his face. At first she was horrified she that she must have had a booger hanging from her nose or something worse, but then she noticed he was actually looking past her, at something beyond her in the lobby. She turned around to see what was the matter was. There in the lobby waiting room were two strange young men – well one was a teenager really. One was tall, the other short and they were loitering about without a purpose and only occasionally did they sneak furtive peeks in her and Schuyler’s direction.
“Um…do you know those guys?” Schuyler eventually asked.
She turned back to face Sky, “Um…no…why do you ask?” Lucy said genuinely surprised.
“Well…it’s just…I dunno…they’ve been staring at you for the last several minutes.”
“Really?” Lucy said. She turned back to look at the two strangers. Instantly they both turned their eyes away the moment she saw them. They were looking at her. She turned around, frightened. Sky looked concerned too and slightly angry. She slowly turned around to look at them both one more time. They were looking at her again. They tried to pretend that they weren’t of course, by staring at their shoes or the ceiling, but they were acting really suspiciously. Lucy took a long, hard look. They were the oddest-looking pair she had ever seen. The short one on the right was thick and stocky with spiky red hair. He looked young, maybe fourteen or fifteen tops. He wore a dirty jeans jacket and dirty pants smeared with filth. He looked like he had spent the night in an alley. His face was pock marked and acne scarred and heavily freckled. He had a blunt, squashy nose; heavy brow; thick, bushy eyebrows; beady eyes and boxed ears. His jaw was broad and massive but his lips were thin. His mouth hung open in an expression of perpetual cluelessness, revealing his crooked teeth. He looked like he hadn’t learned to breathe through his nose yet. Despite his heavy jaw and brow, he looked doughy and indistinct, like a sculpture made by an alien from another planet who only had a vague idea of what a human should look like. He was positively ugly and brutish looking. He looked mean, stupid and threatening.
Lucy instantly hated him, but as unpleasant as he was, he wasn’t anywhere near as disturbing as his odd companion. The one on the left was tall and lanky with pointy knees and elbows. He was not what Lucy would call handsome, but compared to the other red-haired one he was positively attractive. He appeared to be in his mid-to-late 20s. “Some kind of slacker, loser or gamer geek for sure,” thought Lucy. He had a few days’ growth of beard and straggly, unkempt, dark-brown hair, pointy features, and saucer-like eyes with an expression that was lost somewhere between horror and exhaustion. He looked like those pictures of soldiers that had been at war too long, but the strangest thing about him was his outfit.
He was wearing ragged sneakers, blue-green scrubs for pants and a gray hoodie zipped up all the way to the neck with the hood up. Weirdest of all, on top of the gray hoodie he was wearing a crisp, white-silk blazer that looked like it must have cost a fortune. It was the kind of blazer you only saw on male models in fashion magazines and he wasn’t that type at all. It was glaringly white and shimmering like a snowman in a coal mine. He looked positively ridiculous. Maybe he was trying to be ironic, Lucy thought. It certainly stood out. To top it off, he was holding up a large, lurid, electric-blue lollipop, but he stared at it like he didn’t know whether to suck on it or throw it away, so he just held it loosely between thumb and forefinger as if he were holding it for someone else.
The thought that these two were stalking her or checking her out was really unsettling. “No…I’ve never seen them before in all my life,” she said with an air of apprehension, but even as she said it, she wasn’t so sure. There was something awfully familiar about them, especially the brooding red-haired teenager. She looked at him intently for a moment. He glanced her way and then quickly turned away. In that instant though she thought she saw something dark and terrible, like a large monstrous, black dog. When she felt it she fell back a little, but Sky was there to steady her.
“Hey, you ok there?” Sky asked concerned.
“Um…yeah…it’s just that those guys are so creepy.” Lucy blinked a time or two. What had she just seen?
“Yeah, hospitals at night can attract a lot of weirdoes. Sometimes you have to watch out for yourself.”
“Great,” thought Lucy, “As if things weren’t bad enough, now she had a couple of creepy stalkers, but that last thing wasn’t like the usual creepy, pervy vibes, it was almost like…well…it was almost like the way the longhaired, grey-eyed woman made her feel. Lucy didn’t dare look back at the red-haired teenager again.
Schuyler eyed them both contemptuously. He was watching out for her. How sweet.
“Well you should watch out” Schuyler began after a minute, “Sometimes the creepy older guys like to hit on pretty fifteen year olds.”
“Yeah…” Lucy said absentmindedly, not really listening. She was still thinking about the vision of the black dog when she realized what he had said. Wait! What did he say?! “Pretty!?” Did he just say she was “pretty!?” She was in a state of near catatonic joy for a second. It didn’t last before paranoia and self-doubt overwhelmed it. “Wait,” she thought again, “Is ‘pretty’ good? Or was that something you said to your little sister? Do I want to be ‘pretty?’” Only then did her mind catch up with the rest of what Schuyler had said.
“Wait…How old do you think I am?!” She hadn’t meant to say it out loud, but now it was out there like a dead rat on the dinner table and she couldn’t take it back.
“Fifteen,” Schulyer just replied casually. “Why? Oh, I’m sorry, are you sixteen? I have a hard time guessing people’s ages.” He turned away and looked shy for a moment before peeking cautiously back her way.
“Um…no…I’m fifteen,” she said beaming. “Yeah…a fifteen year old in princess kitten pajamas,” she thought to herself, and then she regained a bit of confidence. “Shut up, brain! You’re not ruining this for me!”
He looked nervous. It
was strangely gratifying that he could get nervous too. It made her feel far more confident for some reason.
They stood there awkwardly for a moment. Lucy was trying not to look directly at the two creeps or at Schuyler. She just wanted to enjoy the moment when she was mistaken for a fifteen year old.
Schuyler broke the silence first, “Oh! I almost forgot.” He reached into his small bag and pulled out Lucy’s purchase. “Your card.”
“Oh,” Lucy muttered, she had forgotten about it. “Thanks.”
Schuyler held it out to her, “Wouldn’t want your friend’s stepdaughter to miss out.”
Lucy reached up slowly to take it from him. She let her hand pass a little farther than she needed to. As she pulled it slowly away, her hand brushed his, and she had another one of her inexplicable, spontaneous fantasies. They were sitting on a rooftop overlooking the Manhattan skyline. Then suddenly they were somewhere else. She didn’t know where they were, but there were narrow streets and fabulous architecture in rich colors like in Mexico somewhere. Then just as quickly, the scene changed again. Now they were standing on a vast, empty, gray plain she had never seen before on the edge of a cliff overlooking an immense black pit. There seemed to be strange, blue fire around them everywhere. In her daydream, Schuyler leaned over and put his hand gently to her face as if to kiss her, but the fantasy disappeared the second Schuyler spoke. It was…odd.
“Well…later,” he said simply. Schuyler turned to go and Lucy danced on her feet like she had to go to the bathroom, uncertain if she had the courage to do what she was about to do next.
“Um…Schuyler…I mean…Sky,” Lucy called out nervously.
He turned around, “Yeah?”
“Um…I’m up on the fourth floor too, where your grandmother is...so y’know…maybe the next time you come by to see your grandmother, maybe tomorrow, you could…” He gave her a querulous look and she thought she had said too much. She started backtracking, “But…y’know…if you don’t want to…"
He looked a little unsure for a moment and Lucy was certain she had crossed a line somehow, but he just smiled and said, “Sure. I’d like that.” It took everything she had inside to not to do a little dance and scream, “Yes!” but she managed to restrain herself.
“You take care of yourself, Lucy.” He turned to go for the second time and then five steps away he stopped and looked back and shot her a carefree smirk and a wink, “See ya later, freckles.” Her mom had called her that. That pet name had always annoyed her, but coming from him, it was just…magical. She watched him walk out into the lobby.
As he passed near the two creepy strangers he made a quick head fake in their direction. They both flinched and nearly jumped out of their skins. Lucy laughed. Sky was totally looking out for her. What a sweetheart. Sky looked like the kind of guy that could handle himself. Heck, he looked like the kind of guy that could probably mop the floor with those guys! The two stalkers were so intimidated by Sky’s gesture they practically stumbled over the top of each other to get out of the lobby. Schuyler watched them go as they elbowed each other past the double doors and headed out outside and down the street. Confident that she was safe, he then walked to the end of the lobby and over to the elevators, he made one last look her direction, smiled that carefree smile that Lucy would always remember and then turned the corner and was gone.
Lucy leaned her cheek against the doorframe of the gift shop and sighed.
“Wow. He was cute,” Amanda’s voice came from behind her.
Lucy’s eyes widened to the size of ashtrays. She quickly spun around and gave the elegant woman in amber tinted glasses a horrified look. “Amanda!”
“What?” Amanda chuckled, “I may be over thirty but I’m not dead!”
“Amanda!” Lucy said again through gritted teeth. This mortified Lucy, but she laughed all the same. It was like something her mother would have said.
“What? All I’m saying is that there are times I wish I was a teenager again, especially if there are hotties like that roaming around the...”
“AMANDA! Could we please not talk about it here?”
“Ok, I get it. We can’t talk about boys or bodily functions until we’ve known each other for at least two weeks. Right?”
“Right,” Lucy agreed and laughed a little.
“Still…” Amanda turned to gaze off in the direction where Schuyler had disappeared from view. “There was something special, something almost…unnatural about him, wasn’t there?”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Lucy tried to soft-pedal it, but she thought Sky had been almost…well…supernatural. Guys like that – kind, sweet, funny and good-looking, without being vain – only existed in teenage romance novels, but just for a minute she let herself wallow in the sweetest indulgence of all…the indulgence of…possibilities. She clutched the stepdaughter-having-twins-card to her chest and sighed.
Amanda just stared relentlessly at the spot she had last seen Schuyler. Her eyes narrowed in intensity and her whole expression was cold and foreboding. Lucy didn’t like it. Even when she didn’t speak, Lucy could tell when the cold and stern Amanda took over. She hoped this was just maternal protective instinct. What mother wasn’t concerned about her daughter when it came to teenage boys? She seemed to stare at the spot for a whole minute or more, like she could look through the walls and still see him around the corner. Her eyes tracked the unseen Schuyler not to the elevators, but to somewhere else beyond. Lucy thought that was odd. Not even her own mother was that paranoid about boys. Whatever the reason, when she turned back to face Lucy, the kind and funny, cool and stylish Amanda was back.
“Well, I have some good news,” she said brightly.
“Really?” Lucy really needed to come up with another word to say.
“Really. But we can’t talk about it here… C’mon, let’s get our things and go.”
Lucy and Amanda gathered up their purchases and brought them to the check-out counter. The cashier gave a forced smile, she must have guessed Amanda was corporate, but her eyes betrayed a silent, “Finally!”
“I can get that for you, honey…” Amanda said, grabbing at the card Lucy was holding.
“No! That’s ok! It’s already paid for!” But Amanda had already snatched it away.
“Congratulations. Twins. Stepdaughter?” Amanda said out loud. She looked at Lucy with her brown cow eyes over the top of her amber glasses. “Is there something you want to tell me, Lucy?”
“Ugh…no! Just…give it back.” Lucy grabbed it back and stuffed it in her pocket.
Amanda regarded Lucy with a knowing and sly look. Then she leaned over to whisper in Lucy’s ear, “You aren’t the first one to do something foolish for a cute guy, y’know.”
“Yeah…I know,” Lucy replied shyly, and she pulled her hair behind her ears again. Amanda stood up and smiled at Lucy admiringly and Lucy felt a little less embarrassed.
They paid for their things and the cashier practically closed the shop doors on their heels.
“C’mon, honey, we have lots to talk about.” Amanda held out her elegant, gloved hand and Lucy didn’t hesitate to grab it. They walked out into the Lobby, hand in hand carrying their bags. For a moment it was just like those glamorous movies where two best friends go out and buy fancy clothes for their night on the town, only instead of a fancy schmancy street in Paris or Hollywood it was the lobby of the Harrisburg Hospital and instead of designer clothes it was a couple of t-shirts, some toiletries and a bag of cheese curls, but it didn’t matter. It still felt the same to Lucy – that is it did at least until she saw the dirty face of Yo-yo pressed against the lobby window. As she walked away hand-in-hand with Amanda she saw the look of shock and abandonment in his eyes. He was white as death, his eyes like empty glass bottles, vacant from horror.
Chapter Twenty-Five
The Chamberlain
“Come along Nefer, don’t hesitate, we have much to accomplish.”
The Chamberlain said this with even less urgency than one m
ight say, “I’ll have another date-and-honey cake, please.” The Chamberlain hadn’t spoken much since he had bidden Nephys to follow him out of the chambers of the Great Master into the vast dark corridors of the temple. Thankfully, with his Death Sight, Nephys could follow the Chamberlain’s heart-flame through the dark hallways. The Chamberlain’s soul light was small, faint, but clear, like the lights of many that had been in Limbo a very long time. The Chamberlain was a tall man so that even though he didn’t seem to walk with any great speed, his stride never wavered. Nephys had to skip every third step in order to keep up.
“Yes, Chamberlain.” Nephys tried to bow while struggling to keep pace and only lost a step in the process.
Ever since they had left the chambers of the Great Master, he had been struggling, not only to keep up, but also to understand what had happened. The Great Master was terrifying but ancient and sickly. It had never occurred to him that Death could be ill. One of the few graces of the afterlife was the cessation of disease. No one was sick in the afterlife because everyone was already dead. Illness was a trait of mortality, but if Death were ill, did that mean it was mortal?! He had always assumed Death was…well…deathless – as permanent a feature of the universe as the stars – but then he wasn’t even certain about them anymore. He had read in some texts that had come to him recently to copy about strange things called supernovas where the very stars could explode and then shrink to a nothingness so dense it could consume everything, even light. He didn’t really understand it, but it chilled him to think that stars could die. He didn’t believe it at first. In his home country they had called the stars to the north, “The Imperishables” because they never set below the horizon, but nothing seemed to last forever anymore, so maybe they would die out too. And if a star could die, why not Death? It was too much to think about.
