She stands in front of him, wringing her hands. “So it’s over? Just like that?! Is there someone else?” Unshed tears brighten already luminous green eyes.
He looks uncomfortable, sighs and tries not meeting her gaze. “Yes Marsha. I’ve met someone else. Look, I just don’t see how we can work out. You know I get bored easily. Tanya is, well she is a bit more exciting for me. More my style.”
She bites trembling lower lip, squares her shoulders and folds small arms. “Did you ever love me Danny?”
A cool night breeze appears, causing him to shiver. He rakes a hand through his already tossled hair. He really did not want to be discussing this right now; in the evening, standing under a street light. What had started out as a casual walk together, was turning into their break up. Yes, it had been inevitable. Danny just wanted a better moment to break it to her. She looked so fragile and vulnerable right now. He feels ashamed for a brief second.
“No. I’m sorry. I mean I love you but I was never IN love with you. But I think it’s only fair to tell you that I’m falling for Tanya.”
Marsha mulls over this bit of information thoughtfully. Then nods her head slightly. “Okay.” was all she responded.
This surprises him. He raises his eyebrow questioningly. “Okay as in?”
She gives him a small smile. “Okay as in, I wish you the best Danny.”
It's somewhat of a let down. Deep inside a tiny part of him had wanted her to protest.
An uncomfortable silence follows.
“Friends?” He asks.
“Sure.”
“So. Give me a text when you get home Marsha?”
“Of course.” She gives another brave tremulous smile.
He half waves and starts for home. That hadn’t gone at all how he had planned it in his head. Crossing the street when he was not even a block away, Danny looks back to see if Marsha is alright.
But Marsha is gone.
This makes him pause. He looks all around him to see which direction she may have taken. The streets are still, shadow filled and vacant. A frown furrows his brow. The breeze comes again and Danny pulls his light jacket closer around him, zipping it up all the way.
Turning back, he continues. He doesn’t remember everything being so quiet when they were walking. Mind you, what they did enjoy together were interesting conversations. Chances are they were so lost in the topics, they’d not have noticed the world passing by. Still, this road did have steady traffic most nights.
His designer shoes staccato on the sidewalk. Danny stops and listens. He has no idea what he’s searching for. No rushed footfalls trail behind him. No one is anywhere.
Unnerved, he quickens his already hurried pace. The trees beside him rustle in leafy whispers that seem to have nothing to do with the wind. An owl hoots its displeasure at his passing and stretches its wings wide, taking flight above him.
When did the night become so ink black? Where stars did not twinkle and the moon hid behind voluminous puffy blue-gray clouds.
He flips open his phone. Bright yellow light glaring in his eyes, he blinks, then refocuses. Time to call for a cab. The darkness is beginning to get to him.
“Fuck!” He swears. There is no signal bar. He holds his phone up as high as he can reach. Blip. One faint bar. Danny swings it to the right. Nothing. To the left towards the road. The signal strengthens. He brings the cell down to call but even the keypad light flickers on and off. Stepping off of the curb, he makes sure the street is still empty. And it is.
The further in he walks, the stronger and more steady his signal. Till finally it holds while he attempts to dial. Like most males, his fingers are too big for the buttons. Disgustedly, Danny hangs up and starts dialing over again from the wrong number he punched in. His patience is wearing thin. He just wants to reach home, call Tanya and enjoy the rest of his fucked up night.
A dog’s bark reaches him. The sound increasing, becoming more of a pained yelp. With phone against ear, he looks up, a scowl upon his features. His eyes then pick out a figure under the streetlight where he and Marsha had parted.
And she is there. Watching him.
His stomach clenches with a butterfly’s twisted flutter. As distracted as he’s become, he doesn’t notice the fluorescent truck lights behind him.
Vehicle grill and Danny mesh as one. Blood, hair, bone and tissue fuse with the road. Looking like a dropped fruit that someone has stepped in and smudged about. His cell catapultes into the air, bursting into tiny glass shards.
Horns blare on the busy road. Traffic has come to a complete halt. “What the hell was that fucker thinking?” Someone yells. Onlookers clamor forward from both sides of the street. Some to assist, some to stare in morbid fascination at Danny’s mushy remains. Their voices a loud din within the busy night.
Marsha remains under the light. Those large incandescent eyes of hers unwavering in their stare. Her lovely lips begin to move, her voice joining the movement a few seconds later. She calls out, beseeching the dark. “Come my darlings. Let’s go home.”
The sound weaves within shadows and corners. Reaching two sets of ears, as though from a far away dream. Black figures lift sniffing noses covered in red. They hear the beckoning and lope silently towards Marsha. Their paw pads imprinted on what is left of Danny.
When they are by her side, she pats their heads and coo’s gently to them.
As they leave, the charcoal night swallows them whole.
The streetlight’s bulb suddenly explodes. Pitching that part of the avenue into a thick ebony shade.
And sirens wail in the distance.
“The Break Up” Written by ©®™ Atusha Avarus, Serial Writer
He looks uncomfortable, sighs and tries not meeting her gaze. “Yes Marsha. I’ve met someone else. Look, I just don’t see how we can work out. You know I get bored easily. Tanya is, well she is a bit more exciting for me. More my style.”
She bites trembling lower lip, squares her shoulders and folds small arms. “Did you ever love me Danny?”
A cool night breeze appears, causing him to shiver. He rakes a hand through his already tossled hair. He really did not want to be discussing this right now; in the evening, standing under a street light. What had started out as a casual walk together, was turning into their break up. Yes, it had been inevitable. Danny just wanted a better moment to break it to her. She looked so fragile and vulnerable right now. He feels ashamed for a brief second.
“No. I’m sorry. I mean I love you but I was never IN love with you. But I think it’s only fair to tell you that I’m falling for Tanya.”
Marsha mulls over this bit of information thoughtfully. Then nods her head slightly. “Okay.” was all she responded.
This surprises him. He raises his eyebrow questioningly. “Okay as in?”
She gives him a small smile. “Okay as in, I wish you the best Danny.”
It's somewhat of a let down. Deep inside a tiny part of him had wanted her to protest.
An uncomfortable silence follows.
“Friends?” He asks.
“Sure.”
“So. Give me a text when you get home Marsha?”
“Of course.” She gives another brave tremulous smile.
He half waves and starts for home. That hadn’t gone at all how he had planned it in his head. Crossing the street when he was not even a block away, Danny looks back to see if Marsha is alright.
But Marsha is gone.
This makes him pause. He looks all around him to see which direction she may have taken. The streets are still, shadow filled and vacant. A frown furrows his brow. The breeze comes again and Danny pulls his light jacket closer around him, zipping it up all the way.
Turning back, he continues. He doesn’t remember everything being so quiet when they were walking. Mind you, what they did enjoy together were interesting conversations. Chances are they were so lost in the topics, they’d not have noticed the world passing by. Still, this road did have steady traffic most nights.
His designer shoes staccato on the sidewalk. Danny stops and listens. He has no idea what he’s searching for. No rushed footfalls trail behind him. No one is anywhere.
Unnerved, he quickens his already hurried pace. The trees beside him rustle in leafy whispers that seem to have nothing to do with the wind. An owl hoots its displeasure at his passing and stretches its wings wide, taking flight above him.
When did the night become so ink black? Where stars did not twinkle and the moon hid behind voluminous puffy blue-gray clouds.
He flips open his phone. Bright yellow light glaring in his eyes, he blinks, then refocuses. Time to call for a cab. The darkness is beginning to get to him.
“Fuck!” He swears. There is no signal bar. He holds his phone up as high as he can reach. Blip. One faint bar. Danny swings it to the right. Nothing. To the left towards the road. The signal strengthens. He brings the cell down to call but even the keypad light flickers on and off. Stepping off of the curb, he makes sure the street is still empty. And it is.
The further in he walks, the stronger and more steady his signal. Till finally it holds while he attempts to dial. Like most males, his fingers are too big for the buttons. Disgustedly, Danny hangs up and starts dialing over again from the wrong number he punched in. His patience is wearing thin. He just wants to reach home, call Tanya and enjoy the rest of his fucked up night.
A dog’s bark reaches him. The sound increasing, becoming more of a pained yelp. With phone against ear, he looks up, a scowl upon his features. His eyes then pick out a figure under the streetlight where he and Marsha had parted.
And she is there. Watching him.
His stomach clenches with a butterfly’s twisted flutter. As distracted as he’s become, he doesn’t notice the fluorescent truck lights behind him.
Vehicle grill and Danny mesh as one. Blood, hair, bone and tissue fuse with the road. Looking like a dropped fruit that someone has stepped in and smudged about. His cell catapultes into the air, bursting into tiny glass shards.
Horns blare on the busy road. Traffic has come to a complete halt. “What the hell was that fucker thinking?” Someone yells. Onlookers clamor forward from both sides of the street. Some to assist, some to stare in morbid fascination at Danny’s mushy remains. Their voices a loud din within the busy night.
Marsha remains under the light. Those large incandescent eyes of hers unwavering in their stare. Her lovely lips begin to move, her voice joining the movement a few seconds later. She calls out, beseeching the dark. “Come my darlings. Let’s go home.”
The sound weaves within shadows and corners. Reaching two sets of ears, as though from a far away dream. Black figures lift sniffing noses covered in red. They hear the beckoning and lope silently towards Marsha. Their paw pads imprinted on what is left of Danny.
When they are by her side, she pats their heads and coo’s gently to them.
As they leave, the charcoal night swallows them whole.
The streetlight’s bulb suddenly explodes. Pitching that part of the avenue into a thick ebony shade.
And sirens wail in the distance.
“The Break Up” Written by ©®™ Atusha Avarus, Serial Writer
