As soon as it’s over, the hard boundaries of the world rush back in, moving at light speed, from some distant, unseen horizon until in an instant they have settled in place, taking shape again as the walls, fixtures and furnishings of her bedroom, and then, more slowly, they release into the room all the misplaced thoughts they found along the way. Beyond these walls wait hungry wolves. Rose scoots her body towards me, resting her head on the fleshy…
At first, everything moved quickly. We kept to the state highways and frontage roads that hugged I-40, jumping back onto the interstate only for an exit at a time. We had to stop once for gas, near Sanford. I pumped gas while Julika went into the service center to pay, in cash. We only added a handful of gallons, so we could keep moving. There was no point in wasting cash anyway. When we were back on the interstate, I…
“I will be there,” I tell Dee. “Elle is in Atlanta today, so I need to wait until two-thirty to pick up Tyler, and then I will drive down.” She starts in again, and I cut her off: “Yes, I’ll be there.” The note of annoyance was deliberate, and apparently it was received. “All right,” she says. “See you soon.” I hang around the office for a while, not doing much, and then pick up Tyler from school. “Hey bud,…
Finally, I could hear it too, though barely, through the rattling of the cicadas. The smooth jingling of the creek somewhere deeper into the forest, but nearby. “There,” Julika whispered. Her breath was warm on my ear, but I couldn’t see where she was pointing. She pinched at my wrist, and whispered again: “Run.” We ran. She ran and I followed her. Within seconds, I could barely see her. I crossed my forearms in front of my face and ran,…