Читать книгу Inevitable Loneliness - Deshaun Peoples - Страница 4

The house grew damp as the queen drew tears from her eyes letting them fall upon her face. Little lily and phoenix sat in the living room growing numb to the noise of the crying. They sat on that leather couch and began to look at each other knowing of what they should do without saying a word. They stood in unison and made their way down the now cramped hallway and made it to their mothers door. They stood there for just a moment hearing the now silent cries of the queen. They glanced at each other and broke as lily tapped on the door. A sliding noise scratched up the door as it climbed to the top. The queen now stood on the other side of the door complimenting the children pose on the other side. Mommy could only stand and look at the knob of the door deciding whether to open or not for a child should not see their mother cry. The children tap again only a little bit harder. The knocks quietly echo yet there’s no response. “Mommy,” they both say “can we come in”. The doorknob jiggles and is slowly twisted gently throwing the door open. They stood there standing in front of each other for just a moment until suddenly lily and phoenix lunged at the queen wrapping their gentle arms around mommy’s water-born face. She wraps her arms around her little ones as the tears slowly fall down her face. “Don’t scare us like that mommy” lily says. “Yea don’t you dare” phoenix continues. The queen slowly regained her strength as her children light bore into her heart. The tears slowly disappeared and as a shivering smile crept on her face. Time seemed to disappear as if it no longer mattered. It seemed as though a light grew in windowless room.

The sun slowly greeted the moon as he let it come to take over. The front door crept open as you could hear keys jiggling with a clanking sound. The door was shown open as you see the king coming in. The lights were all off and the house had no semblance of light coming through. He tiptoed and looked in the kitchen to see no one. He walked down the hallway to see the mother's room door wide open. He looked inside slowly and saw his queen with her little princess and protector all snuggled together. The queen was in the middle in a curled stance with the princess and protector hugging around her back. Little lily’s pink dress still on and Phoenix’s arm wrapped tightly around her with her hand reaching towards mommy. The king sneakily walked in and grabbed the cover at the front of the bed. He gently grabbed it and quietly dragged it over the sleeping ones. He slowly walked out of the room and dragged the door closed behind him. He walked away from it and went to the living room and sat on the couch undoing his suit. He grabbed the remote and turned on the Tv to the arrival of the news. “The count of those infected with the red flare virus has now risen to 2,000 cases. This is a drastic jump from previous accounts of the virus though it is all isolated as the CDC says they have it under control.” He switches the channel recounting “I'm pretty sure we’ll be fine. They always overexaggerate shit”. He sits in silence watching the Tv until sleep finally calls his name and greets him.

“So when’s the funeral gonna be,” the king asks while sitting in their room.

“They’re not sure as of right now due to the red flare virus. They say that she had it and that's what she had died from” the queen replies sitting next to her king in bed.

“People are starting to go crazy buying toilet paper for some reason,” he says motioning a finger around the side of his head.

“Things have gotten pretty bad though. I don't know what we're gonna do with them since there’s no school” she replies

“I'm pretty sure we'll find something; we always do.”

The tv at the end goes talking on that faithful morning “The cases of red flare have now risen to 200,000 cases worldwide with 60,000 deaths within a three-day span of time. Make sure to stay safe and to wash hands frequently for it can last on surfaces for up to a week. Make sure to not touch your face too frequently as it can get in through this way”.

The little ones lay in the other room so unknowing to the history taking place right before their eyes. Little lily goes outside to see the blue sky outside complementing her eyes as she looks down at the roses at the front of the house. She kneels down towards them. “How are y’all doing,” she says gently caressing the petals. She walks to the hose and twists it open to the water dripping out. She walks it over the flowers putting it at there roots. The water hits the floor seeing the ground grow wet. “I bet you’re thirsty,” she says in a baby voice. The queen comes outside seeing her watering her friends and says “How are they doing”.

“They’re doing great” lily replies giving an achieving smile.

“It feels good bringing something to life huh” giving a coy smile towards lily.

Lily smiles and continues watering the roses as the queen walks to the edge of the road. She looks down the road seeing all the green Luscious trees rustling in the breeze. Phoenix walks outside to see his world. Lily stands watering the flowers but steps in the watery grass. She begins to lose her balance almost falling but her protector was there to grab her. “Careful now,” he says holding his sister. Mommy walks back inside leaving the two outside trusting them. “How have you been since we can’t go to school anymore”

“I’ve been okay but I want to see my friends”

“I know but we can’t”

They are rudely interrupted in their conversation when they hear a speeding car shooting down the road. The engine blasted loudly like a bomb going off. The car skidded to a halt in front of the house on the other side of the street. The dog in the backyard of the house began to bark as the man stepped out of his car. He wore a white t-shirt that was obviously turning brownish, shoes with the front ripped open, and a hat that said: “hunters rule”. His eyes looked dazed as though he was drunk with madness. He slammed the door shut on his truck and proceeded to make his way to the back of the bed. He grabbed a black bat from the bed and began stomping his way to the front door. The white Maltese dog in the back continued barking louder. The man banged on the door with a closed fist almost breaking it. A man with a red shirt threw the door open to see the other holding a bat. “You think you can hoard all the shit you want huh bitch” the man yelled waving his bat in front of him. His voice was so raspy like he had smoked which he probably did.

“I didn’t hoard shit” he replied

“Oh, yea really bitch I fucking saw you taking all the shit from the store and followed your ass back here so I’m positive you fucking did,” he said with his voice growing even larger. His muscles began to show as he tightened his wrist around the bat even harder. The man's wife came shooting out of the house saying “get out of our yard”. The man holding the bat immediately hit her dropping her to the floor with her nose bleeding. Little lily and phoenix stand there watching with their eyes being corrupted by the blood. The man steps in to help his wife but the other with the bat pushes him away shouting “Back the fuck up or you’ll get worse than her whore ass”. The man grips his bat walking away towards his truck as the dog continues barking. The white dog makes its way through a crack in the fence running at the man. The man turns around and kicks the little dog angrily shouting “Little shit”. He looks at the couple at the front of the door and shouts to them “Since you want to fucking hoard shit from everyone else” as he proceeds to grip his bat and slams it on the ribs of the little dog. He keeps jerking his hand up In the air to slam it down on the defenseless pup. Lily and phoenix can only jerk with every hit on the dog mesmerized by the ensuing horror. The cries of the puppy shooting out like screams as blood begins to taint its white fur yet the man doesn’t stop so much to the point where the dog can only twitch giving out a soundless yelp. Phoenix wraps his hands around lily pulling her in close shielding her away from the death being shown. She sheds tears into his shirt as he leans his head into her shoulder. The sound of bones being broken was all they could hear. The man finally stops the beating with blood and fur dripping down the bruised bat. The puppy now in blood-soaked ruins as he twitches away from life. The yard no longer green but instead tainted with red and white strewed around in pieces. The cries of the wife piercing across the town as she looks at her mangled pups twitches. The queen and king come shooting out of the house seeing the horror of blood and their kids standing holding each other. The man steps back into his truck as the roars of the engine shoot to life and he trugs off in the distance. The queen picks up her little princess and the king picking up the protector. The tears get blown into their shirts from their awe-struck children. The image of the puppy twitching continuously shooting across their minds showing no peace in between thoughts. They walk them inside and shut the door on the bloodied streets as they say to each other “we’re leaving”.