There's a catch
Vic stood leaning slightly over the desk where her design team sat gathered around, sleeves rolled up to her elbows, hands pressed against the table. She could feel her body heat up from the day's exertions and a drop of sweat trickle down the side of her body as she spoke.
"I already have the venue booked and ready. Matt sound and Matt light," she pointed at the two brothers seated across from her , "we'll take a trip there Sunday afternoon, see what we can do with the space." They nodded. Then followed the satisfying air of murmured agreement with her plan. She sighed softly and sat back in her chair, marking the end of another successful day. Then, something caught her eye. Outside her studio door, someone was peering in. It gave her such a start that she almost shot up from her seat before realizing it was only Georges. The memory of a text he'd sent her earlier that day saying that he might stop by later on surfaced in her mind, and the tightness in her stomach eased into a rush in her loins.
"Alright everyone, good job," she got up again to embrace her team goodbye and clear the paper clutter off her desk, "have yourselves a wonderful weekend, you deserve it." One by one they walked out of the studio greeting Georges as they did until it was only Vic left in the room. He walked in and shut the door behind him. "Long day at work?" he smiled, walking towards her. "Oh, you have no idea."
She threw her arms around his neck, already gnawing at his lips. he picked her up and plopped her on the desk, sending the pen holders tumbling off. He slid his hands up her shirt, fiddled with her bra clasp. "I'm all slippy and sweaty." she gasped in the heat of it, but he shook his head, unable to speak as he finally got the clasp to open but was painfully interrupted by the shriek of Vic's mobile. "Fuck." she sighed, looked over at her phone on the other side of the desk, "oh, it's mum." "Oh, for god's sake!" Georges threw his hands in the air, "Can never get a moment alone with you."
Vic laughed, it did seem that every steamy moment they managed to steal was always rudely cut off by something else. But it didn't bother her much at all today because she hadn't herd from her mother in weeks, and she would've very much loved to be in her company this evening.
She fixed herself up and gathered her things, "I have to go." she said, apologetically gazing into his eyes, soft and green. He understood. "What if I came round your place tonight?"
Her breath caught.
He was looking at her expectantly, that innocent glimmer of hope in his eyes striking her like a jab in the heart. She tried not to sound unnerved, "I'm terribly busy this weekend. I'm letting my crew have some time off but I still need to be working on everything else behind the scenes, I probably won't even be home that much." He sighed, "What about your mum's back garden when she isn't looking?" "Don't be stupid," she walked to the door, "I'll see you later." and closed it behind her as she walked out.
From the rear-view mirror, Vic could see the dying glow of the sunset as she drove into the woodsy suburbs, where she lived. The evening with her mother had gone quite well. First there was the news that her back was getting better, which allowed her to be more independent and mobile around the house. Vic hadn't seen her so free and joyful in a long time that it almost brought tears to her eyes when she shared the news, life finally lighting up her face again. Then there was the news that her sister was to come back from Finland in a few months to have her wedding home. She couldn't really remember when the last time was that she'd looked Esther in the face, talked to her, hugged her. It'd seemed her fiancé had come and swept her off to Finland a little after they'd met, which had to be about three years ago. So it was very good news that she'd decided to have her wedding here, where everyone could celebrate without having to worry abut sleeping in a foreign space.
But as she looked onwards, where the darkness slowly engulfed the world ahead, she felt the warmth of the day fleet away as though it only existed in the city. As she drove on, she became increasingly overwhelmed by the urge to turn around and go back to her mother's place, run back into Georges' arms run back to her studio where all she could think about was how much work was pending at the moment. Anything was better than returning to her street, to her wretched house.
By the time she got to her street, darkness had already enveloped everything in sight. The dainty homes that lined the street glimmered with compound lights, amidst them, her compound was a patch of black. Unlit, unalive. She shuddered.
It seemed to stare her down as she pulled up to it, the upstairs windows giving an eye-like glint, glaring accusingly as she walked through the door. The hallway lights flicked on, doing nothing to settle the uninviting air that fogged the house.
She could smell him.
Putting her bag down on the hallway dresser, she made her way up the stairs. As she went on, steadily, one foot in front of the other, she tried to recall the events of the day, tried to relive the joy, the passion, the disconnection from dooming reality. Just to drown out the noise of tense silence.
Then there it was, the faint catch of breath, then a sigh. She wouldn't have noticed it if she'd been concentrating hard enough. But now that she'd heard it she couldn't ignore it. Instead her ears grew keen and she heard it again, coming from just above the unlit landing. Taking a deep breath, she urged on. She reached the top and turned on the lights. Nothing.
Her shoulders dropped in a release of tension, but stiffened up again as she heard a grunt. He's frustrated, she thought, frustrated that he didn't get to go out today, to play with his friends.
The pang of guilt struck her again, like the first time. The feeling of utter shock and disbelief at what she'd done. It had all happened so fast she didn't even have the time to process it. She only had to act quick.
Her face contorted helplessly, throaty sobs escaping her mouth. "I'm sorry." she cried. His smell grew sharper, more putrid. She made her way, hesitantly, to her bedroom door.
It had been a hazy night, her head was buzzing with thoughts about her upcoming show, back when the idea was still exhilarating and fresh. She'd been so dazed that she didn't see the glint from the lights hitting the metal shape of a bike, nor the small figure on top of it.
The rancid stench pierced through the crack of the open door, Vic reeled back, hunched over and gagged so hard that her throat burned. Nevertheless, she swallowed hard and walked through the door.
The memory of it seemed to have swept itself off her mind for she could barely recall what she was thinking or feeling in that moment. As if for that second her senses went numb. What she remembered of it was her looking down at the limp, twisted figure of a little boy. His skin giving its last glow from the headlights.
Almost as if on autopilot, she'd carried him to the back of her car and tried to squeeze him in with his wrecked bike. She didn't start to feel the weight of it until she'd pulled up to her gated compound, parked her car and turned it off. Seated there in deep stillness, she felt the life she knew and had recently come to love slip off her hands and shatter, now she was chained to this immutable sin. For a moment, it was too much to bear and she screamed and hammered her head against the steering wheel, willing herself to die until she drifted back to her senses. "I can get through this." she said to herself. All she had to do was take responsibility until she was free of it. Take care of him until his skin was gone from his bones.
And so tonight, just like every other night since three weeks prior, when it happened, she walked to her bed where he slept, oozing and crumbling away. Crawled in next to him and stared at his grey, rotting features. "I hope the day wasn't all that bad for you." she caressed the shoulder of his cotton shirt. A long silence stretched on. "I know but people are already starting to ask questions", she sobbed, "You'll have to go soon." She turned away from him, shivering. Squeezing her eyes shut she willed herself to drift into heavy slumber and repeated the secret wish that she would either wake up to find him gone, or not wake up at all.
