Ezequiel was glad I’d asked to meet him.

I studied myself in the bathroom mirror and scanned my face for a change. Either there was nothing or I couldn’t find it. Same old eyes.

I brushed my teeth. Applied mascara. Slung my backpack on. Fumbled for the keys, went outside, closed the door. As I was about to turn the key, I stopped. Why bother lock up if we’re leaving? I left the door open. Tossed the keys in my bag and headed toward the precinct.

Ezequiel was at the entrance when I got there. I gave him a quick kiss. He wasn’t angry I hadn’t called. He asked if I wanted to go to his house and I said no, I’d rather drive around.

“Where?”

“Wherever. I need to talk,” I said. But as soon as we got in the car, I fell quiet.

He said he wanted to get something to drink and I nodded. We pulled over to a grocery store run by some old woman. Ezequiel told me to choose whatever I wanted and I grabbed two beers from the fridge. All I cared was that they were cold. I flashed them at the woman and asked her for a packet of peanuts.

“I’ve got them by the kilo.”

I asked her for a hundred grams.

Ezequiel didn’t want beer. He asked her for three nips of something or other, and we left.

We drank for a while, stood on the pavement. Then Ezequiel said:

“Let’s split.”

We got in the car.

I set my half-empty beer between my feet and ate a fistful of peanuts to stave off a stomachache.

“Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

“We’re going away,” I said, like that was all he needed to know.

Ezequiel went quiet as he drove. I waited for him to say something else.

“We’re going away, Ezequiel, we’re leaving the house.”

“What for?”

“I can’t deal with the people or the earth anymore.”

He looked as if he hadn’t heard me, just kept driving like it was nothing. Then he slowed down and turned into a dark, empty street.

“I’m done with dead people,” I said.

Ezequiel pulled up to the curb and parked in front of a tree, his hand still on the steering wheel. I stared outside. I sipped on the beer again and again.

“Far?” Ezequiel asked.

“No clue.”

I finished the beer, opened the door, got out, and tossed the bottle. I was trying to figure out how Ezequiel and me could carry on together, and it was all the same to me. Talking on the phone, texting. There was nothing I could say, nothing to comfort either of us.

I sat back in the car and looked over at him.

“We’ll think of something.”

I looked down. Ezequiel was quiet. He drank. I eyed the second beer.

“Take me to the cemetery?”

“The cemetery?”

I said yes, but that we should hit another shop first. We were gonna need a lot more booze.