Fluorescence: The Complete Tetralogy

by P. Anastasia

  “I know,” I replied. “I’m here now.” I held her close as she nuzzled her face against my shoulder, her soft brown hair tickling my neck and the gentle warmth of her hug reminding me how precious life really was.

  Her grasp loosened and she looked up at me and grinned, her beautiful eyes narrowing with joy. I smiled and pressed my thumb playfully to her chin. She was taking this so well; it made me very proud of her.

  “I missed you, too. I’m going to take you to meet some friends of mine, okay?” I said, reaching down for her hand. “They’re nice kids and I think they’ll like you, so don’t be scared, alright?”

  “Can I play with them?” she asked, looking up at me with an innocent, inquisitive grin. It made my heart skip a beat.

  I chuckled. “No, Lucy. I’m sorry. They’re a little too old for that, but we’ll find some new friends for you. I promise.” I took a deep breath and sighed, her smile bringing me to my knees again. “I’ll do everything I can to make you happy.” I embraced her a second time and she hugged me back—harder than before. “I love you, Lucy.”

  “I love you, too, Daddy.”

  My throat tightened.

  Chapter 5

  Five years ago…

  The door hung open and lamplight filtered out through the crack. The television had been left on and late-night infomercials resonated from inside.

  I didn’t want to go in, but I had to confront her. I had to cut it off once and for all. She was poison, now more than ever, and being near her would only make the habit creep back into my bloodstream.

  Things had gotten out of hand, and if she wanted to pry child support money out of me, she’d have to prove the damn kid was mine to begin with—something I seriously doubted, knowing she’d do anything (or anyone) to support her filthy addiction.

  “Angie?” I nudged the door open with my shoe and wrinkled my lips at the smell of mold and piss that drifted out. I walked past the kitchen and into the living room where the TV was.

  “Angie? Where the hell—”

  Then I saw her on the couch. Her head was dropped back against the cushions and she was staring up at the ceiling with a sickly, glazed look in her eyes.

  “Christ, Angie.” I inched over to her, side stepping piles of crap she’d left everywhere, immediately noticing the line of cocaine on the end table beside her limp arm.

  “Shit.” I grimaced. She’d been on it for so long, the highs had tapered off—a side effect of long-term snorting. Back when we’d first hooked up, she was the most social person in the world.

  Confident.

  Invincible.

  Just like anyone else who gets high on cocaine.

  At first.

  Then it hits you—the low. The need to get more and more because the highs aren’t cutting it and reality is bleeding back into focus. You start thinking your life is shit. You’re shit (by then you are). And that you’re not worth a damn thing to anyone. Depression. Darkness. It eats at you, closing in until you’ve lost touch.

  I backed out of the game just before I crashed. But not without help… Eli’s help.

  “I-I came to tell you I’m out,” I said, hoping she was coherent enough to comprehend.

  “I don’t care,” she slurred, twisting her neck to look at me while the rest of her body remained dead still. “Go. I don’t give a shit what you do.” She dropped her head back and stared at the ceiling again.

  “Good. Then we’re clean. Don’t come begging me for money anymore, Angie,” I added, backing away. “And don’t even think of pinning that—”

  That’s when I heard it. The painful cry of a baby screaming at the top of its lungs from another room. I took another look at Angie—her eyes rolled back in her head—and then I shot a glance at the room across from us. “That damn thing,” she groaned. “All it ever does is cry. All it ever does is keep me up because it needs shit. Milk. Changing. What-the-hell ever.”

  The baby kept wailing and I waited for Angie to budge, but she didn’t. Not that I had expected her to. She was crashing so hard that nothing else mattered to her. I’d seen others go through it. You could put a gun to their forehead and they’d likely dare you to pull the trigger. No fear. No connection with reality.

  “Damn it, Angie,” I hissed beneath my breath. “Damn it.” I walked behind the couch toward the sound of the cries and crept into the room where the baby was. A nasty smell saturated the room and I choked, covering my nose and mouth with my arm as I stepped over the threshold.

  I switched on a light. Only one bulb came on out of the three screwed into the rickety ceiling fan overhead. It was enough light to see the large black plastic bin in the center of the room with a blanket hanging over the side. A sickness came over me and my jaw tightened in anger.

  That bitch had no idea what she was doing. This was no way to raise a kid.

  The feeling worsened as I leaned over the container to look inside. There was the baby, wrapped in an old towel, nestled atop a pile of damp, soiled newspapers and paper towels.

  I slid a clean corner of the blanket out of the bin and bent down to take the crying baby up into my arms. I cradled her head as carefully as I could with one hand and tried to hold my arm like a sling. It was difficult at first—especially for a man who’d never touched an infant in his life. I got it after a few careful shifts of my hand position.

  The baby must have felt secure because she stopped crying and looked up at me. Her dark, sparkling eyes gazed into mine and we stared at each other for a few moments. She had fair, golden skin and dark hair sprouting from her chubby round head.

  The baby was in poor shape. Dirty and malnourished. I could hardly believe she had survived this long in these conditions, probably damn near starving. No wonder she’d been howling for attention.

  I knew for a fact that Angie slept around—one of the many reasons why we’d split—and for the longest time, I had convinced myself that her baby couldn’t have been mine.

  But as I looked down into the baby’s dark eyes and they peered up into mine, I realized something.

  Through all of the hell, drugs, and alcohol she’d been exposed to, the baby looked… okay. Maybe there were underlying things going on, but as far as I could tell, she had five fingers on each hand, five toes on each foot, a nose, a happy curl to her thin lips, and two pretty brown eyes that were now locked intently onto my face. She looked perfect, unlike her mother, who was sprawled out on the couch high on snow and as sallow-skinned as a zombie.

  This baby was strong. She’d barely been alive a few months and, already, she was a survivor.

  Just like her father.

  Just like… me.

  Chapter 6

  I located the group resting in an alley behind a shopping strip. Alice was the first to greet us. Brian followed behind her and Kareena hung back. She looked unsure, or… uncomfortable. I caught her glaring at Lucy.

  No way she could have figured it out that quickly, right?

  No. She was smart, but so was I.

  Guilty conscience.

  “Hi,” Alice said in a gentle voice, bending down to eye level with Lucy, who was now grabbing my hand and huddling near me. “My name’s Alice.”

  Lucy tilted her head to the side and her grasp on me loosened.

  “My name’s Lucy,” she said, raising her hand up and waving shyly.

  “Your sister’s adorable,” Alice said, looking up at me. “She definitely looks a lot like you.”

  I shrugged. “But she’s the prettier one.”

  Alice laughed.

  Lucy was remarkably intelligent for a five-year-old. I’d coached her early on about the importance of hiding her true relationship to me from new people. Eli knew the truth, but I wasn’t ready to come clean with the Fluorescent Ones. For a lot of reasons…

  Okay.

  Mainly Kareena.

  I couldn’t imagine Brian and Alice freaking out about the difference between her being either my dau
ghter or my sister, but Kareena—definitely. Even now, she was straggling several feet behind the others, leaning up against a brick wall, pretending not to watch us.

  Brian approached Lucy next and knelt down to greet her—a small gesture that made me grin. He was a few inches taller than Alice, but his coming down to Lucy’s level made him much less intimidating.

  “Hey,” he said, offering her a hand. “Nice to meet you, Lucy. I’m Brian.”

  She looked down at her feet and shuffled in place bashfully.

  “It’s okay, Lucy,” I assured her, setting a hand on her shoulder. “He’s a friend.”

  “I know,” she muttered. “Hi, B-Brian.” She tangled her hands together, wrinkled her lips to the side, and continued to look away from him.

  Brian glanced at me, confused, and I shrugged again.

  “Well, uh… Lucy,” Brian added. “I’ll try to get Kareena to come over and say hi.” He came to his feet. “Alright?”

  I nodded. “Thanks.”

  Brian walked off. Alice followed, waving sweetly at Lucy again before turning away. She seemed to really like her for some reason. Or maybe she just liked kids in general. I couldn’t tell.

  I looked down at my little girl and grinned. “You like him, don’t you?” I asked, once Brian was out of earshot.

  “I don’t know…” Lucy lied, twiddling her fingers.

  I knew meeting Brian had made her a little nervous, but there were obviously some other budding emotions swirling around in her head at the time. It made me chuckle. Maybe Brian and I didn’t hit it off so well at first, but Lucy clearly had a fondness for him already.

  Why on Earth the kid was so freaking popular with girls was beyond me.

  Finally, Kareena came over. It was strange seeing her without the glittering diamond stud on her nose. She crossed her arms and scrunched her lips, making no effort to hide her discontent.

  “Hi,” she said, glancing at Lucy and looking away. “I’m Kareena. Um…” Her gaze met mine briefly. “I don’t like to be bothered, so try not to get in my way, okay?”

  I narrowed my eyes at her. And mouthed “what the hell?” at her through clenched teeth.

  “What?” she said, raising her voice. “I don’t like kids, okay? Quit judging. I just… don’t. I know she’s part of your family, but she’s not part of mine. I’m being honest.”

  Lucy whimpered and reached up for my hand.

  “It’s okay,” I said, running my fingers through Lucy’s hair. “She’s joking. I promise. Why don’t you go talk to Brian and Alice for a minute? They want to be your friends.”

  She squeezed my hand harder but then worked up the nerve to let go and jaunted over to where the others were standing.

  “Now that was a dumbass thing to say.” I sneered at Kareena. “Really.”

  “Sorry.” Kareena scoffed. “I’m not going to pretend I like kids when I don’t and I’m not obligated to. I didn’t like that boy Brian had to stay with when he was being fostered either, and he was, like, ten or something. What’s she? Like, three?”

  “Five,” I corrected. “And old enough to do a hell of a lot on her own. Don’t judge her, either.”

  “Okay. Whatever.” She huffed beneath her breath. “God.”

  I almost wanted to call her out on her idiotic behavior—at how irrationally uncomfortable she was around a child. She was overreacting.

  “You got back fast,” she said, interrupting my chain of thought.

  “Uh, yeah. With some help.”

  “Oh, shit.” Kareena’s eyes widened.

  “No. Not the Saviors,” I replied. “The Prism, I think. I couldn’t tell, but I think it was one of their portals.”

  “Oh, good.” She heaved a sigh of relief. “I was… sort of wondering if they’d step in to help. They said they were watching us and…” She looked down at my wrist. I’d have forgotten about the alien bracelet already if it weren’t for the subtle plume of white I could always see curling around my wrist. “With the bracelets and everything… I was sure they’d do something for us if we needed them to.”

  “Yeah, but… not without reason,” I said, taking a deep breath. “Don’t tell Brian yet, but people saw me. They… saw my light.”

  “Oh, no! How could you let them!? How the hell did you—”

  “I didn’t do it on purpose! Quiet down!” I shot a look at the others who were now sitting on the ground beside Lucy, talking. “I was trying to get Lucy back and some cops showed up, some shit went down, and my fluorescence started glowing right while I was standing in the middle of the damn yard.”

  Kareena groaned. “Oh, crap. Now what? What if they start to think something’s going on? What if people start looking for us? Or… fluorescence?”

  “I don’t know right now.”

  “Did you notice anyone taking pictures?”

  “Not that I saw. It was just for a minute or two. That’s all! The cops were going to try to take Lucy away. I panicked, and it just happened.”

  “We need to be more careful,” she interrupted. “The other day, I saw on the news something about a mystery disease that’s killing random people around the states. I mean, if they start to actually see weird shit happening, we’re going to be really, really screwed.”

  “I know. I know.” I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. Then I exhaled and opened them. “It’s hard enough to find a safe place to sleep at night. If people start asking too many questions, we could all be in trouble. But I’m not going to let anything happen to us. I’ll make sure we’re safe. We’re going to have to stay alert for any information we can find on how much people know about us and the disease going around.”

  “Sounds like a good idea.” Kareena fell silent and looked back at the others. “Is she going to be okay? With us, I mean?”

  “You mean with you?” I replied, with a trace of “back-off” in my voice.

  “She’s just a little kid. We can barely get by as it is.”

  “I’ve been taking care of her for this long, Kareena. Leave her to me and don’t worry about her.” I took a step closer and looked into her tired eyes. I wanted to be angry with her for being so rude to Lucy, but I knew Kareena was only using her attitude to mask her fear.

  She was scared. She needed support and she desperately wanted someone to care about her, even when she pretended not to. Brian cared, but not in the way she hoped he would. Not the way I had begun to…

  A stroke of my fingers through her hair provoked a fleeting smile in her eyes.

  “I’ll try not to worry so much, David,” she whispered.

  My fingers drifted down her arm and I smiled. “Thanks.”

  I wanted her to trust that I had at least a few things under control, even if I didn’t…

  Chapter 7

  “The death toll has risen from 216 to approximately 587 statewide, due to what many are calling the Ghost Plague. In less than one week, the number of deaths has nearly tripled, leaving scientists baffled and the public outraged. The increase in sudden deaths by the phantom killer doctors and scientists are still struggling to decode has government officials warning people to stay vigilant but stay calm. Officials report there is no evidence that the infection is transmitted through the air or by physical contact.

  Doctor Matthew Hannigan, a senior microbiologist with the CDC, claimed at a recent panel that doctors have been unable to find any information on exactly how this disease chooses its victims. We attempted to contact Dr. Hannigan for questioning, but he has not returned our calls. A spokesperson for the CDC has assured the public that they are doing everything they can to find a cause and cure for what some believe could be the next SARS pandemic.”

  “No shit, it’s not SARS,” Kareena said, clicking off the television and tossing the remote onto the end table. She lay down on the hotel bed and kicked off her shoes. “Good luck finding a cure for something you can’t see,” she added and glanced back at me. Her expression turne
d solemn. “Sorry, David.”

  Whatever was killing people was inside me, too. Kareena was the only person who could actually see it, but that didn’t mean I could ignore the gut feeling creeping through me that something was wrong with my body—even before she had pointed it out. It could end me in an instant. Without warning.

  Kareena once told me it was probably from smoking, but we both knew that wasn’t the truth. That, and she was a hypocrite for assuming I would be the only one dying if that were the case. She harbored the habit, too. Albeit, intermittently.

  I stood in front of the window, peering out at the quiet, near-empty driveway. Fireflies flashed against a colorful backdrop. Dusk rolled in, cloaking the sky in rich, dark colors.

  Now that we were migrating closer to my home state where people might recognize me, I held off waving around my fake detective’s badge. Without it, a couple of sweet, carefully baked lies helped us grab two rooms at a small Ma and Pa style motel just on the outskirts of the city.

  “So, I take it we’re not going to be alone again any time soon,” Kareena said, crossing her arms and looking over her shoulder at me.

  Lucy lay on her stomach, propped up on her elbows, busying herself with an activity book Brian had purchased for her from a nearby gas station. I was grateful he accepted her presence with such grace, unlike…

  “She’s not deaf,” I said, turning to face Kareena.

  I walked past the bed where Lucy was coloring and ran my fingers playfully over the top of her head. She craned her neck up at me, squinted and grinned, and then went back to work on her connect-the-dots page. Crude, unsteady lines were a sign of fatigue.

  “Yes. I know,” Kareena answered.

  “You really think you’re entitled to everything, don’t you?” I added, sitting down on the corner of Kareena’s bed.

  She huffed angrily. “Your loss.”

  “What? What does that mean?” I touched her arm.

  She looked me up and down quickly and her lips thinned. “If you don’t know, I’m not going to spell it out for you.”