Out of the Black - Lee Doty [21]
Anne paused, uncertain. Grandma continued, "Don't be silly sweetie.... Go on." She said so softly it was almost a whisper. "We're all here for each other, you know." She raised one finger in mock lecture, "or at least we should be."
Anne took the poncho. The old lady gave her arm a pat, and moved toward the door.
"Thank you so much." Anne said, feeling horribly indebted.
"Don't mention it", she disappeared around the corner of the exit.
Anne was tearing the plastic wrapper off the poncho when her Uni chirped. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a thin hand disappear around the doorframe. She heard the sound of the old woman shuffling away quickly, giggling like a schoolgirl. "Get yourself a nice hot meal!"
Again with the homeless thing.
She pulled out her Uni and glanced at the transaction log. "CREDIT: $200.00 - SOURCE: ".
Reflexively, Anne moved toward the exit. She had to explain that she didn't need to work for food. She had to return they, but as she turned away from the mirror, her legs didn't do their thing and she almost fell. Could she actually be getting less coordinated? Moving from sink to sink, she slowly got more comfortable walking.
She abandoned her pursuit before she reached the doorway. At the last sink, she put on the yellow poncho. It was a large, one-size-fits-all piece of plastic, which is to say that it was a bit small on her. A little small, but a godsend! In the mirror, she looked like a big yellow ghost, but there was no blood visible except for the few small cuts on her face. She looked less desperate, maybe even less pathetic.
She would never be able to thank that sweet little old lady enough- not least of all because she would never be able to catch her.
She limped out the door, one hand on the wall for support.
Doorways and Keys
Pearly, perfect smile, diamond-hard eyes, fearsome symmetry and midnight style - the mirror showed Jin everything she loved in life- her outside. Of course, inside her soul was a lingering puff of smoke at best, hollowed out by her life's many wild rides, emptied by passion and indulgence, until only her bright, beautiful shell remained. And the hunger.
Where was Mara?
Nature abhors the vacuum, Jin thought, it was just physics... or was it chemistry? Either way, she was sure nature's carpets were atrocious- where was she going with that? She couldn't remember or really care. The point was that she was in need. The point was that here she was again, clutching the counter in another nightclub bathroom, waiting and burning with the need to feel human again, to be linked again to the family of man... to be filled and warmed by the blood of strangers and the magic of the twenty-first century.
The empty, bottomless hunger grabbed her from inside and she almost doubled over, her grip on the counter cracking one of her perfectly manicured nails. With an exercise of will, she unclenched her teeth before she broke a perfect tooth and cost herself another trip to the dentist. In desperation, she looked again to the source of her strength. And there it was: pearly, perfect smile, diamond hard eyes, fearsome symmetry and midnight style.
"Mara!" Jin shouted as the door opened behind her and the club's music and lights spilled in like a brash promise. But when she turned, she saw a stranger staring back, body covered in glitter, face covered in an enviable, unnatural smile. Harmony, Jin thought, half disgust, half desire. Jin could admit that her path was The Whole now, could admit that connectivity drugs were the only thing that could fill the hole inside her, but Harmony... she watched headline news now and again. She was wise enough to realize that tearing her own eyes out was not an acceptable speed bump on the road to bliss.
"Mara to you too." The stranger sneered, knowing Jin's pain. "You need some Harmony in your life, don't you, schaweetie?"
Jin swallowed hard to keep from drooling on herself. Not that desperate yet, she affirmed silently... not yet. Beta Tryptamine