Cruel World(53)



“I just wanted to know what you looked like,” Ty said. His voice was small, uneven.

“Sorry. You…I’m just,” Quinn said and looked up as Alice stepped into the room. She glanced from Ty to him and then back again, understanding slowly gracing her features.

“Ty, let’s get you ready for bed,” she said.

“But it’s early, and I took a nap.”

“Tyrus...”

“Okay.”

Alice handed him the tape-wrapped dowel, and he shuffled out of the room, tapping with the makeshift cane. Alice hesitated for a moment and then followed him toward the bathroom. Quinn cursed under his breath and faced the window again, watching the dead neighborhood.

~

It was full dark by the time Ty fell asleep in the upstairs bedroom. Quinn had drawn all the curtains an hour before and hung an extra blanket over the window closest to the fireplace in the living room. With the flames set to low, only a slight glow rippled behind the glass, squat shadows dancing on the new carpet beyond the mantle.

Quinn sat before it, the AR-15 on the floor beside him. He’d watched the streets in front of the house until the daylight faded to nothing, like an oil lamp being turned down. The buildings blended with the trees into amorphous shapes, and the streetlamps came on near the neighboring commune of houses, scattering the shadows beneath the hedges and benches lining the sidewalks. He threw a glance at the sliding door opening to the back yard, assuring himself that the two-by-four he’d found in the garage and jammed into the frame would be sufficient as a lock.

Unless someone really wants to get in. Or some thing.

He brushed the thoughts away as Alice returned to the living room, her own weapon hanging from a sling she’d attached to it earlier in the afternoon. She sat down a step away, folding her legs beneath her like a child awaiting story time. In the flickering light, she appeared even younger. Before he could stop himself, the question fell from his mouth.

“How old are you?”

Alice turned her head toward him, coating one half of her face in light and the other in darkness.

“How old do you think I am?”

“I’m not answering that.”

She smiled. “Smart guy.” After a long pause, she looked back at the fire. “Twenty three. How about you?”

“Twenty.”

“Not even drinking age yet.”

“Nope.”

“I could tell you weren’t much of a drinker.”

“I could tell you were.”

“Touché.” She fingered the stock of her rifle and turned to him again. “I’m sorry if Ty made you uncomfortable earlier. It’s just how he sees people…”

Quinn shook his head. “It’s fine. I didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?”

“Didn’t want to scare him,” Quinn finished, throwing Alice a look before rising to peer out of the window. When he was satisfied that the street was quiet, he sat down again.

“You wouldn’t scare him. He’s a whole lot more mature than I give him credit for. It’s probably my fault he is that way.”

“I would say that’s an advantage now with how everything is. Things aren’t going to get back to normal for a long time. If ever.”

“Yeah,” Alice said, flipping her sling back and forth with a fingertip. He watched her for a moment, gauging whether or not to ask the question that had been in the back of his mind since the night before. He glanced at her left hand, and she caught him looking. “No, I’m not married,” she said, waggling her fingers. “Never was.”

“I thought he might’ve gotten lost in all this and you didn’t want to talk about it.”

Alice huffed and shook her head. “I hope so, wherever the bastard is.” Something told him to remain silent, so he did. After another drawn out pause, she spoke in a low monotone. “He was an exchange student from Spain, came our junior year of high school. He was going to be a pro soccer player, or ‘futbol’ as he always insisted. He was so cocky, so sure of himself, it was almost off-putting. But there was something else there beneath that fa?ade. He had a love for life I’d never seen before. He wanted to see the world, try new things. The way he was so open and honest and fearless, it was disarming. Charming even,” she said, stabbing a finger into the carpet.

“I got pregnant, and he left the next month. Never looked back, never answered any of my calls or emails. His parents vouched for him, always said he was ‘out’ or at a futbol tournament. I let them have it one day and told them that their son had gotten me pregnant and then ran away. They hung up on me and then changed their number.”

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