Goblin Fruit

by S. E. Burr

  Andrew ate mindlessly, shoveling food into his mouth with the other patients, completely oblivious to the very large cat-like goblin dancing impossibly on the top of his head.

  “Audrey!” Clarity said, coming up behind her.

  Audrey stared at her brother.

  The goblin stopped dancing and stood still, staring back. It looked like it weighed forty or fifty pounds, but it balanced weightlessly on Andrew's head as though suspended from invisible strings. As Audrey watched, it raised its hand toward its mouth repeatedly, pantomiming a spoon, and then pointed down at Andrew.

  Audrey shook her head.

  The goblin snickered and leaped. Its movement was ridiculously graceful, an imitation of a ballerina. Landing on Kevin’s head it perched there, motionless, and pointed down again. It winked.

  Audrey hustled forward and set a goblin fruit capsule on Kevin’s spoon.

  “What are you doing?” said Maria, watching horrified as Kevin put the spoon in his mouth and ate the capsule, bright juice dribbling down his chin.

  Audrey laughed, and Clarity and Maria stared as the spoon dropped from Kevin’s hand to the floor. A long moment passed and then Kevin blinked and looked around the room and at each of them in turn.

  Clarity gasped.

  “Kevin?” said Maria, taking a step toward him.

  Kevin looked at her and stood up, pulling the gloves off his hands. He wiped the vibrant orange juice from his chin and lips and then reached toward her with a juice covered finger.

  She stepped back. “No.”

  He lurched toward her, and she ran from him around the table. She grabbed Clarity, who stood frozen and staring, and pulled her along.

  Audrey stood still by the wall. “Hey man,” she said dazedly, “knock it off,” and then she slid down the wall and sat leaning against it on the floor.

  Clarity and Maria ran into the kitchen and locked the door behind them. Kevin beat on the door with his fist, as they slid the wooden island toward it. Pans stored in the bottom of the island tumbled out, crashing onto the tile floor, but it didn’t drown out Kevin’s pounding and great feral, animal-like cries. They got the island in front of the door and leaned against it with all their weight.

  18

  Nick and Anna heard Kevin’s pounding as they came in the front door. “What is going on?” said Anna, walking toward the dining room. Peering in, she saw patients at the table shoveling air into their mouths from emptied bowls and Audrey on the floor, her back against the wall, talking to herself. Anna screamed as Kevin lurched toward her.

  “What?” said Nick, coming up behind her.

  She pulled the stun gun from her purse, aimed and fired it. The metal electrodes hit and attached to Kevin's chest, and he began to jerk and then fell to the floor. He lay still, his eyes open but unseeing, his chest moving steadily up and down.

  Anna stared at Kevin, eyes wide, frozen in place.

  Nick sidestepped his wife and, coming into the room, surveyed it coldly. He flipped open his phone and pressed a button. Putting the phone to his ear, he said "Marcos, get in here. There's a mess." Hanging up, he walked briskly to the kitchen door and looked in through a hole Kevin had pounded into it. Clarity and Maria were crouched behind an island, still pushing against it to keep the door closed. "You can come out,” Nick said. “It’s safe."

  "Nick?" said Clarity, her voice shaking.

  "Yes, and Anna's here as well."

  Maria and Clarity pulled the island away from the door. Maria peeked through the hole and then unlocked it, and she and Clarity came out, their eyes fastened on Kevin's limp body.

  "Good," said Nick as Marcos came into the room. He turned and gestured toward Kevin. "Take that one to bed and guard him just in case."

  Marcos nodded.

  "Wait!" said Anna, rushing forward. She knelt beside Kevin and put on a pair of gloves she pulled from her pocket. Carefully she removed the electrodes from Kevin's chest. Two small circles of blood formed on his shirt where they had been, but he didn't react at all.

  "Okay," said Anna, getting to her feet and backing away. Marcos grabbed Kevin under the shoulders and dragged him out of the room.

  By the wall, Audrey started to giggle. She shook her arms and shrieked, imitating Kevin getting shocked. "That was great," she said. She kept talking, muttering to herself, too quiet for the others to understand.

  Nick looked at her and then at Maria and Clarity, who hadn't moved since they left the kitchen. "So, what happened here?"

  "She..." Clarity glanced at Audrey and back at Nick. She stepped forward. "We went to a party to buy goblin fruit to give to my mom. We thought it might help her."

  "You gave her goblin fruit?" said Maria.

  "Yeah, but I mean, I didn't think it could do any harm. She's dying anyway."

  Anna shook her head and left the room. The others followed her into the living room and watched through the doorway as she checked Sara’s vital signs.

  Coming back into the living room, Anna said, “She seems unchanged, but I can’t believe you. Why on earth would you think that was a good idea?”

  “The storybook Mom made me, in it the girl is saved by eating more fruit.”

  “It’s just a story,” said Anna. “Why didn’t you talk to anyone first? Your dad?”

  “I didn’t think there was time.”

  “Then you should have talked to me.”

  Clarity nodded, near tears.

  “Audrey gave goblin fruit to Kevin,” said Maria.

  “Audrey’s on fruit herself,” said Nick.

  “The fruit dealer must have made her take it,” said Clarity, shaking her head. “She wouldn’t have…not with her brother catatonic. I was going to go with her to buy it, but Jamie was there, at the party, and she needed help.”

  “Thank goodness you didn’t go!” said Anna. “You promised your dad you’d be careful.”

  “I know,” Clarity said and started to cry.

  The phone rang.

  Anna answered it. “Hello…Hi Frank…” her voice was strained. “No, everything’s fine,” she said. “Will you be back soon?” She smiled. “Tomorrow. Great.” There was a pause, and Anna glanced at Clarity. “Clara’s busy right now. Can I have her call you back later? Great. Bye.”

  Hanging up the phone, Anna walked over to Clarity and wrapped her arms around her. “I know you’re having a hard time. I shouldn't have let you leave.”

  Clarity shook her head, wiping at her tears. “I should have told you our plan. Thank you for not telling dad what happened.’

  Anna nodded.

  Clarity stepped back. “Kevin came out of his catatonia,” she said.

  Nick grunted. “He’s back in it now, and he attacked you.”

  “But it has to mean something, right?” Clarity said, looking at Anna. “Maybe it’s a clue about the cure.”

  Anna looked away. “Maybe. Why don’t you sit down and rest? Nick and I will take care of things.” She looked at Maria. “Do you need to get home?”

  Maria gave a sharp intake of breath. “Ay! Yes, my father. I need to go.”

  “I'm sorry,” she said several times as she made her way to the door.

  “Don't worry about it,” said Anna. “Be with your father,” and Maria left.

  “Audrey?” said Clarity.

  Nick stepped forward. “I’ll put her to bed in Frank’s room.”

  Clarity sat down on the couch and Nick and Anna got to work, Nick getting Audrey to bed, Anna doing the same for the patients. Nick put disposable sheets on Frank’s bed, fetched gloves for Audrey, and firmly ordered her to put them on. Then he half led, half supported Audrey out of the dining room and across the living room where Clarity was wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket, her book open on her lap and sipping hot lemon tea.

  Nick led Audrey up the stairs. “There are goblins everywhere, man,” she said as he helped her into the bed. Nick shook his head and turned to leave.

  “I thought Clarity was crazy,” she said.

/>   Nick turned back. “What?”

  “Crazy,” Audrey said, chuckling. “I thought she was crazy.”

  Nick stared. “Does Clarity see goblins?”

  She was nodding off. “Goblins…” she muttered.

  Nick grabbed her by the shoulder, shaking her roughly. “Audrey, does Clarity see goblins?”

  She opened her eyes, blinking several times. “She sees goblins. There are goblins everywhere, man.” Her eyes closed again, and she started to snore.

  Nick stepped back and stared down at her, noticing the corner of a baggie sticking out of Audrey’s pocket. He left her there and went down the stairs.

  In the living room, Clarity was talking to her dad on the phone. “I’m alright,” she said. “I was just upset about…Mom. That’s why I couldn’t talk, but I’m glad you’ll be back tomorrow.”

  Nick pulled a pair of gloves from the dispenser on the wall.

  “No,” Clarity said. “Save your battery. I love you, too. See you soon. Bye.” She hung up, and Nick headed back up the stairs.

  In Frank’s room, without putting it on, Nick used one of the gloves to grab the corner of the baggie, and he pulled it from Audrey’s pocket. He held it out in front of him, seeing that it contained a single remaining capsule. Gingerly, he placed the glove and the baggie into his own jacket pocket and then headed back to the living room.

  #

  Marcos watched Kevin lie in bed. He didn’t do anything except lie there and be catatonic. After many minutes, Marcos shook his head and left the room. Heading down the hall, he paused by an open patient door, peering in as Anna tended to a patient. He moved on, stopping at the end of the hallway and looking into the living room.

  Nick stood by the couch, looking down at Clarity as she stared at her book.

  “Laura sacrificed herself,” she said.

  “What?”

  She glanced up at him. “Lizzie. She was willing to endanger her life to save Laura’s. That’s what made the fruit its own cure, Lizzie’s love, her sacrifice.”

  Nick shook his head. “You and that book. It’s weird.” Covertly he pulled a glove from his pocket.

  19

  I was looking at my book and talking to Nick; I was sitting on the couch, and he was standing beside it when all of the sudden, Marcos barged in and pinned Nick up against the wall, his arm pressing up against Nick’s throat.

  I screamed.

  “What are you doing?” I said. “Stop it!”

  “He was going to make you take goblin fruit,” Marcos told me.

  “What?” said Anna, who had just run into the room. “That’s crazy.”

  Coming forward, she grabbed her purse from where she’d set it on an end table and pulled the stun gun from it. She disconnected the spent cartridge, its wires dangling, and rummaged hurriedly in her bag for the spare.

  Nick was turning purple. “Let go of his throat!” I said. “He can’t breathe!”

  Marcos eased up on Nick’s throat, and he coughed and sputtered.

  Anna found the cartridge and attached it to the stun gun.

  “You bastard!” Nick said, between gasps.

  “I’m calling the police,” I said, moving toward the phone.

  “No!” Nick said, and that stopped me. Why wouldn’t he want me to call the police?

  “That’s not necessary,” he said, still a little short of breath. “If Marcos will just let me go everything will be fine.” He looked at Marcos. “I’m not going to give fruit to anyone.’

  Slowly Marcos let go of Nick and stepped back.

  Anna relaxed, lowering the stun gun, and moved closer to make sure Nick was ok.

  Suddenly, Nick hit Marcos with a wicked right hook. The bodyguard was bigger than Nick, but it was not for nothing that Nick worked out seven days a week. Marcos stumbled backward. Grabbing the stun gun from Anna, Nick fired it at him. The electrodes hit him in the chest, attaching there. He shook violently and then fell to the floor and lay still.

  “Nick!” Anna screamed. “His heart!”

  Nick shook his head, seeming completely calm. He pulled a latex glove off the hand he had punched Marcos with. His knuckles were bleeding. Squatting, he put his fingers to Marcos’s neck. “He’s alive,” he said and stood back up.

  “Why were you wearing a glove?” Anna asked.

  Nick gave her an annoyed look. “I wanted to be safe putting Audrey to bed.”

  I shook my head. That was a lie. “You weren’t wearing it earlier,” I said.

  He didn’t answer. 75 He seemed at a loss for words. Nick, charming, smooth-talking Nick, had nothing to say.

  For a second no one moved. We all just stared at each other. I decided I didn’t care what Nick said, I was calling the cops. I edged toward the couch and grabbed the cell phone off its arm.

  Nick sprang at me. He ripped the phone from my hand, and it fell to the floor and slid away. Holding onto me with one hand, he tried to pull something from his pocket with the other. I tugged on my arm and pried at his hand, but I couldn’t get away. He was hurting me. He was so strong.

  Anna grabbed him from behind, trying to pull him away from me, but Nick elbowed her in the face. Blood gushed from her mouth, from a split lip, as she stumbled backward. He let go of me for a second, turned and hit her again. She fell to the floor.

  I ran toward the door, but Nick grabbed me. He forced me to the floor, and then he got on top of me. His knees were on top of my arms, pinning them down.

  Tears were running down my face from pain and shock. I’d known Nick my whole life. He was Anna’s loving husband. She adored him. He was like a part of my family. “Why are you doing this?” I asked.

  He laughed coldly. “You see goblins.”

  I didn’t know how he knew that, or what it could possibly have to do with the horrible things he was doing now, but I didn’t deny it. “So?” I asked.

  He took a glove out of his pocket. “So, aside from being crazy, you have the genetic trait I need. As soon as your body’s introduced to goblin fruit, it’ll start to make the chemical in pure form.” He put the glove on.

  I had a sick feeling in my stomach. “My mother?”

  He nodded. “She saw goblins too.”

  He smiled, as though he were having a fond memory. “One drop in her water and I got my own fruit factory.” He looked down at me. “But she’s dying, and I need a new factory” He pulled the baggie containing the goblin fruit capsule from his pocket.

  I shut my mouth tight.

  He pushed the capsule against my lips, trying to force it in, but it burst and leaked, smearing juice across my mouth. I could smell it. It smelled like citrus and cloves, like earth and summer, like a cool glass of juice on a hot day, and more, so much more than that. It smelled wonderful. Like sunshine, and home, and, I realized, a bit like my mother. How could something that smelled that good be dangerous? Wasn’t our sense of smell designed to tell us what would be good for us and what wouldn’t?

  I very nearly opened my lips and ate the goblin fruit. I would have, but just then the smell was cut off, and I came back to my senses. Nick had pinched my nose closed, cutting off my air. My body screamed for oxygen, but I kept my mouth firmly closed. Nick stared down at me, casually watching as I suffocated…

  20

  Nick smiled when Clarity passed out, and her lips finally parted. He was moving to shove what remained of the capsule into her mouth when he was shot from behind.

  Anna crawled across the floor to her husband and checked his pulse. She looked at Marcos, standing on his feet, the smoking gun in his hand. “He’s dead,” she said.

  She moved to Clarity and put her fingers to her neck. “Alive.”

  She knelt over the girl, put her face in front of Clarity’s and looked at her chest, watching for the rise and fall that meant respiration. She didn’t see it.

  “She’s not breathing.” She wiped the goblin fruit juice from Clarity’s mouth quickly with her sleeve and then began rescue breathing—mouth to mouth
resuscitation.

  After a short time, she stopped and checked again for respiration. She nodded her head. “Okay. Okay. Alright. She’s breathing.”

  She moved back and looked at Marcos. He hadn’t stirred since shooting Nick but stood watching the scene, in statuesque silence.

  Anna tasted blood and something else. She reached a hand up to her mouth, and then stared at her fingers, at a drop of vibrant juice, mingling with her blood. She hadn’t been thorough enough wiping it from Clarity’s face. She looked a final time at Nick and then began to convulse. She fell backward to the floor and went limp.

  “Oh hell!” said Marcos, finally moving. He tucked the gun into his pocket and ran forward. “Anna. Anna!” He shook her, and she didn’t respond. She was breathing; her eyes were open but unseeing. Picking her up, he carried her to an empty bed in a patient room and tucked her in—the center’s newest patient.

  21

  I came to and screamed, scrambling away from Nick’s body to the side of the room. I didn’t know what had happened. Marcos was gone. Anna was gone. There was Nick on the floor. Blood.

  Marcos came into the room carrying a sheet and a damp towel. I stared at him, horror-stricken. He worked for Nick. He was his bodyguard, his friend. He had to be in on it all.

  Slowly, he laid the sheet over Nick’s body and then squatted down in front of me. “Are you okay?” he asked, reaching out with the towel.

  I flinched away from him.

  “It’s for your face,” he said, still holding it out.

  Slowly, I took it and wiped at my face.

  “You stopped breathing for a little while,” Marcos said. “Anna had to resuscitate you.”

  My face wiped clean, I dropped my arm to my side, and the towel fell to the floor. I stared again at Nick’s sheet-covered body. I didn’t know how to feel. I’d known Nick my whole life, but I hadn’t known him at all. It had all been a lie.

  Marcos turned, looked at the body and then back at me. “I had to do it, Clarity. He would have made you a zombie. I couldn’t let him.”