“Something smells good.” Gwen let herself in through the back door, unannounced. “So, Betty Crocker, want to tell me what happened last night?” I almost had a panic attack before I realized that she must be asking about Alex. Asher was still my secret, and I wasn’t sure if I should tell her about him, or not. I didn’t want to put her in danger if I didn’t have to. She plopped down at the kitchen table and grabbed a slice of bacon to munch on.
I turned around as I whisked the pancake batter. I stared at her, surprised. At least I tried to look surprised. It probably looked more like I had a gas pain. “You don’t know? Alex asked me to marry him, so we hopped a plane to Vegas. Soon, I will be knocked up with the first of my 2.5 children. You’ll be their godmother, of course.” I smirked at her and winked. “We are hoping for a nice house in the suburbs.”
She gave me stink eye. “Anybody ever tell you that you’re a smartass?” She got up to help herself to a can of soda from the fridge. “I just wanted to know how your evening went after I got Marc home. Oh, by the way, remind me never to go out with him again. I know girls like the sensitive type, but he’s a bigger girl than I am.” She sighed dramatically as she popped the tab of her can. “I need to find a nice caveman somewhere, but they just don’t make ‘em like that anymore. She took a long swallow of soda. “In the meantime, I plan to live vicariously through you. So spill it.”
I turned back to the stove and dropped a spoonful of butter into the iron skillet I had heating up. It sizzled nicely and began to melt instantly. “Well, before it was over, Alex fell and hit his head. He’s fine, by the way. It was no biggie.” I cringed inside. I hated lying to Gwen. She was my best, and if I were being honest, only friend. On the other hand, telling her the truth, which was so far out there as to be laughable, seemed like a bad idea. Not only that, but I felt like the less she knew, the better. I wanted to tell her, but then I was afraid someone would show up and kill her. It wasn’t completely out of the question.
Gwen sat back down and went back to picking at the bacon. She eyed me from under her lashes. Uh, oh, she was onto me. “So how did you get him home? Your little ass sure couldn’t carry him.”
“Some guy helped me get him to the car and I drove home. He was pretty much awake by the time we got there. He walked into the house on his own.” I crossed my fingers behind my back. “With a little help from me, that is. Then I walked home.” Keep it simple. Another reason I hated lying was because I couldn’t keep my facts straight for crap. So much easier just to tell the truth. “So how are you feeling today? You looked pretty rough last night.”
She shook her head. “I’m ok.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to go see a doctor? You still look kind of pale, to me.” The doctor couldn’t fix what ailed her, but I thought changing the subject might get her off my back about Alex.
She snorted. “Straight from the mouth of Snow White. I feel ok. No blurred vision, or nausea. I can google it later, if I get sick, again.” I knew she wouldn’t go see a doctor. Gwen was never that sick. By the time she self-diagnosed the results would come back as leprosy, or something worse. I went back to pouring pancake batter.
My dad came tripping down the stairs about that time. “Good morning, girls.” He rubbed Jazzy’s head in passing. She just gave him kitty stink eye, clearly not feeling affectionate, not with her belly already full. “Breakfast smells amazing.” He poured his coffee and grabbed the newspaper I’d laid out for him beside his plate. He looked better this morning, not nearly as haggard. Maybe Asher was wrong. Maybe I wasn’t draining the life out of everyone around me. My dad might have just been working too many hours, lately.
I placed the pancakes on my grandma’s platter and set it in the center of the table before taking my seat. It was nice, having my two favorite people together and eating a home-cooked breakfast. I felt completely domestic, and even a little normal, as I made me plate and took the first bite. Mmmm… butter and maple syrup.
“So, what’s on the agenda for you girls, today?” My dad glanced up at me as he happily heaped food onto his plate.
I shrugged. “Depends. We could use some groceries. If Gwen feels like it we could take a trip downtown later, and stock up. Jazzy is down to the food she loved last week, but now can’t stand. We need toilet paper, paper towels, stuff like that.” I batted my eyelashes at my best friend. “Will you be my chauffeur? Pretty please, with sugar on top?”
Gwen rolled her eyes at me, but nodded. “I’m in. I feel ok. Not awesome, but ok enough for Wal-Mart.”
Apparently, my dad didn’t pay attention to how bare the cabinets were getting, after my wreck. We were out of just about everything in the kitchen cabinets and the toilet paper was seriously low. I’d been able to grab some stuff, like eggs and milk, at the little market down the street, but we really needed to stock up again. Dad was so glad to get out of grocery shopping he slid his debit card out of his pocket and passed it to me, no questions asked.
I had been put in charge of the family shopping just as soon as I got my license, but my wreck had kind of put a stop to all of that. I was still supposed to be recuperating, for one thing, and my car had been destroyed when I rolled it, so I lacked transportation now.
“Thanks, Dad. Do you want me to pick up anything in particular?”
He rubbed his jaw, and considered my question. “I could use some more razors. You could grab some deli meat for sandwiches; turkey and ham. Some new onions and tomatoes wouldn’t hurt, either.” He took another bite off his fork, chewed carefully while he thought about it.
Gwen grinned that evil little grin she gets right before something shockingly inappropriate comes out of her mouth. “How about tampons? Ya run out of those yet, Iz?” My dad choked. Biscuit, covered in warm sausage gravy, slid past his lips and lodged firmly in his throat. His eyes watered and he gasped for air. Almost absently, Gwen reached over and thumped him on the back with a little too much enthusiasm. She still had that evil little grin on her face.
***
“You know, if Hannibal Lecter were real, he’d probably look at the people in Wal-Mart as part of an all-you-can-eat buffet,” Gwen mused.
I snorted, I just couldn’t help myself. “Your mind works in mysterious, and terrible ways, but you’re probably right.” I grabbed a box of canned cat food for Jasmine. “And you aren’t allowed to watch ‘The Silence of the Lambs’ without me, you know. Best movie ever.” I grunted as I hefted an industrial-sized box of kitty litter over the side of the cart. For such a delicate little thing, Jazzy sure pooped a lot.
Gwen held up a big bottle of Jergens. “It rubs the lotion on its skin.” I had to laugh at her. That line was a classic and cracked me up every time she quoted it, which was often. She seemed to think about it seriously for a moment. “Nah. I’m pretty sure Hannibal would have better taste than some of these a-holes.”
“We,” I gave my cart a hard shove, “are some of these a-holes.” I always managed to grab that one cart with the squeaky wheel that wouldn’t turn properly. Every time.
“Really? Cause I swear I just saw Elvis go down that aisle over there.” She pointed off towards our right.
“Keep it down, I’m pretty sure that was a woman.” Mostly sure, anyway.
“Exactly my point. How did I let you talk me into this trip again?”
“Well, I needed a chauffeur, and you might be slightly brain damaged, but you took pity on me.”
Gwen grinned at me as she put some nail polish in the cart. “Bless your sweet little heart, I just didn’t want you wiping your ass on old tube socks.” She couldn’t have timed that any better; two, shall we say, larger ladies came around the corner on scooters just as she said it. I ducked into the next aisle so nobody would know we were together. I still caught the looks of disgust and outrage about the tube sock comment, though. Gotta love Gwen. She always went for the shock and awe factor when dealing with people. Well, the shock part, anyway; there was usually very little awe involved.
I got about two secon
ds of warning before I smelled that spicy scent that seemed to always precede Asher. He appeared right next to me, and in spite of my best intentions, I flinched and yelped just a little bit. Presumably, he was checking on me to make sure I didn’t sprout fangs or something. I had just about convinced myself he was a figment of my imagination. I felt fine, after all. I felt, well…normal. Uncommonly ordinary. Yet here he was, somehow larger than life.
I glanced back to see if Gwen had caught up to me yet, but she was still looking at nail polishes. I dropped my voice, as much as I could. “You couldn’t wait till I got home?”
Asher tried to look innocent, but I wasn’t convinced. “Are you well, Isabel?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m good.” I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms against my jeans and tried not to stare at him anymore than I could help. He was really pretty, though. Way too pretty to be what he was. Death. What a strange and freaky thought.
Gwen came up and hit the cart with her hip, blissfully unaware that we weren’t alone. “Iz, are you talking to yourself again?” Well, crap. I looked like a lunatic standing there talking to herself. Gwen couldn’t see Asher. I was probably destined for a padded cell somewhere. They probably wouldn’t give me anything sharp, and I’d have to write my letters home using crayons.
“Just trying to blend in,” I answered casually. “I’m not the only one around here talking to herself. I think I saw a guy go by who’d peed on himself.”
“Where?” Gwen swung around, looking. Sadly, she probably wouldn’t have to look very hard to find someone who fit that description.
I gave Asher a dirty look. We needed to have a long talk about him popping in on me when other people were around. I did my best to avoid looking up at him whenever Gwen was paying attention to me. If he found my little problem amusing, I really didn’t want to know. It would probably just piss me off.
“Never mind. I must have been wrong.” I took off for the grocery aisles at a fairly good clip, considering I only had three good wheels that would spin on my stupid cart. Neither of my long-legged companions had any trouble keeping up with me, however. Must be nice.
I watched Asher carefully, from under my lashes. Even though I was the only one who could see him, it was amazing how the crowd parted to avoid him. It looked like a river rushing around a huge rock; people just automatically side-stepped around him, even if it meant running into another shopper, or clipping someone on the heel with their cart. Avoiding Death is a deep-rooted instinct in most people. Kind of made me wonder what might be wrong with me. I obviously didn’t have any sense of self-preservation. Asher made me nervous as hell, but I kind of liked him.
I stopped to grab a bunch of bananas when he leaned down and whispered to me. “You should take your friend and leave, now.” What the Hell? Why would he whisper when, presumably, nobody else could see or hear him? I couldn’t very well argue with him, either, not without looking like an idiot.
“Henry? Is that you, Henry?” My head swiveled and the tiniest little old lady reached a hand out to Asher as she started past him. She had the brightest smile that I’d ever seen on anyone’s face. She was pushed along in a wheelchair by what I imagined was probably her daughter; they had the same silvery, blue eyes.
“Look, Alice, it’s my old friend, Henry,” she said, delighted. Her caretaker looked confused, and slightly annoyed at the interruption to their grocery shopping. She sighed as she tried to move past us, but the old lady wasn’t going to be deterred. She put the brake on her chair and stopped right in the middle of the aisle to speak with Death.
Asher knelt down beside her chair and gently took her hand. “Hello, Agnes. How are you, dear? You look lovely.” His voice was gentle and smooth as silk. Agnes simply glowed under his attention. Whomever Henry had been to her, she had really liked him a lot.
Her daughter, or caretaker, or whatever she was, stood staring at me bug-eyed. She couldn’t see Asher, so all she saw was little Agnes sitting in the middle of the aisle having a whole conversation, all by herself. I couldn’t take my eyes off of either of them. I wasn’t stupid; I knew what was about to happen. He’d warned me to take Gwen and to get out of there, but I couldn’t make myself look away. It was like a train wreck, just waiting to happen.
The whole thing was surreal. On one level, there was this busy produce section, just full of people shopping; all of them, blissfully unaware that Death was so close that they could brush right by him. And on the other level, there was a life about to be taken.
Agnes’ caretaker tried to get her attention by gently tugging on her shoulder, but she only had eyes for her ‘Henry’. I felt Gwen nudge me, trying to make me move along, but this was fascinating, and sort of beautiful, and I was the only witness to it. I didn’t want to leave.
Little Agnes smiled so sweetly at Asher, that my heart nearly broke for her. How she must have loved her Henry. He took her hand and kissed it once, then lightly placed his hand over her heart. His eyes were kind, I thought, and maybe even a little sad. Agnes gave a faltering breath, sighed, and died right there, under his hand
There was only a split second of peace before all Hell broke loose. Her daughter shook her a little harder, trying to get her to respond, but Agnes was already gone. Then she screamed for help, and people started pushing, rushing forward as they tried to get a good view. Someone yelled for 911 to be called. A few idiots even whipped out their cell phones to get pictures of the old lady who’d just died. Gwen yelled at me, and tried pull me backwards, out of the way. Through all of that, I watched Asher.
He pulled a mist of silvery pink out of that withered body. It looked like a fine chain, at first, then gradually formed a more rounded silhouette. It danced and shimmered under the fluorescent lights, then seemed to get its bearings, and disappeared. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen and I wanted to cry, it was so beautiful. Wow. Just, wow. What an amazing thing to witness.
I let Gwen pull me down several aisles, away from the screaming and crying; away from Asher. “Oh, my Gawd, did you freaking see that? That poor woman just died. Right there in the damned produce aisle!” She was so upset she was shaking.
“Hush… I know. I saw. It’s ok, Gwen.” She looked at me like I’d lost all my marbles.
“It’s not ok, Iz. There is a dead woman sitting between the bananas and the freaking cherry tomatoes!”
“I know. Calm down before you scare some little kids.” She seemed to come out of it, and looked around, embarrassed. Gwen hardly ever loses her cool, much less in public. We had stopped just outside the Halloween section. Which just happened to be right next to the Christmas section. Go figure.
“Ok, I’m calm. I’m good.” She placed her hands on her hips as she paced. Then, stopping abruptly, she stabbed a finger towards the way we’d just come from. “There is a freaking dead lady over there.” She looked a little green around the gills, like she might just throw up at any moment. There was a white ring forming around her compressed lips.
“Why don’t you go to the restroom and splash your face with cold water, before you yak?” I walked along next to her, tried to calm her before she scared the shit out of some of the kids still wandering around looking at costumes and candy buckets. How was I staying so calm? I had just witnessed something supernatural. I really should be freaking out, myself.
News spreads like wildfire, apparently, because the Halloween section cleared out quickly. I did see one little boy watching me with a funny expression on his little face. He must have heard the commotion, but he didn’t look scared. I smiled at him, trying to make everything seem as normal as possible. I didn’t see an adult with him, though I doubt he was more than ten or eleven. In all the chaos he’d probably wandered away from his mommy.
I didn’t have time to give the kid much thought, however. Gwen still looked like she was about to lose her lunch. “What about you, are you ok?”
I nodded. “I’m fine. You go ahead and wash up. I’m just gonna wait out here with the cart.” She nodded and
took off at a pretty fast clip. I wondered if she would make it all the way to the restroom without having a problem. I wished she could have seen Agnes’ death the way that I had. It had been peaceful, and beautiful, and even kind of breathtaking. I had never expected that. It was just too bad that it had to happen in the middle of a busy shopping center. There just wasn’t a lot of dignity to dying in public. On the other hand, I didn’t think Agnes really cared. She was off to bigger, and hopefully, better things.
I felt a tug on my hand and looked down to find the little boy I’d spotted earlier. “Hey, there. What are you up to?” He shrugged, tilted his head as he watched me. “Where’s your mommy?” I wasn’t used to strange little kids coming up to me for no reason. Didn’t anybody ever tell him about Stranger Danger? Guess not. He was a cute little kid, though. He had shaggy, dark hair, skin the color of copper, and really pretty brown eyes. “What’s your name? I’m Izzy.”
A couple of teeth were missing when he grinned at me. “I like you, Izzy. You’re different.” Great, whatever that meant. Strange little kid.
“Um, thanks. Do you want help finding your mom?” Or dad, or responsible adult? Anybody. He shook his head and darted away with a giggle. Okay, then. All in all, it had been one helluva trip for groceries.
***
Asher was suspiciously absent for the rest of the afternoon. Gwen felt unwell again, so she went back home after she helped me get my groceries in the house. Small wonder, she had just had a really bad shock, on top of the energy drain she’d been experiencing. A little rest would probably do her a world of good. Getting away from me might help, too. I didn’t think that I stole her energy, but I had no way of controlling it, yet. So, better safe than sorry.
I found myself feeling antsy, like I had way too much energy building up inside. Probably left-overs from what I’d taken from Asher the night before. I put the groceries away, and picked up the house. When I finished, I went outside to rake some leaves. My dad usually waited for all of them to finish falling, then rolled over them with a lawn mower a few times to mulch them. I got to them before he did, this year.
Wings of Darkness: Book 1 of The Immortal Sorrows Series Page 11
