I can hear the little girl’s bare feet slapping frantically along the floor as she runs back and forth through the old schoolhouse. She keeps shouting for her friend, for Colby, and it makes me wonder why he hasn’t answered her yet.
It brings me back to simpler times, before Bevie was born. I would call for Pollyx and he would appear like a knight on a steed, ready to slay any malady that may have befallen me.
And now he only cares about Beverly, I think, as a tear rolls down my cheek. Instinctively, I lap up the drop as soon as it reaches my lips, completely forgetting that I don’t have to live on my tears anymore. That kind strangers have taken me in and are providing me with as much as they can.
I begin to flex my fingers to keep the feeling in them, wondering if I’ll end up losing my legs at some point. After seeing how much everyone here adores Colby despite his deformity, I know it wouldn’t be as bad if it were to happen to me. I think mostly it’s because it would be out of an act of kindness. I can’t imagine anyone here leaving me to rot on the floor, and I have a feeling that it would be done in the kindest way possible.
Still.
I’d like to be whole when the end comes, which I feel is so goddamn near.
There may not be any more countries to wage wars, but there’s still the personal score I have to settle with my daughter. I don’t know if I’d be able to deal her a fatal blow, while she wouldn’t hesitate in the least to take my life.
All for Pollyx.
For a love that never should have been.
One more corrupt and fouler than the politicians that unknowingly led us all to this fate of suffering in dry heats, poisonous air, polluted oceans, with no cure in sight.
No hope.
Nothing but a toxic wasteland where people fight to survive every day on the scraps of nature that aren’t tainted by the wills of strong-headed men and the laws they broke to drive us here.
“Where have you been?!” The screeching sound of Lillian’s voice startles me as I use my hands to push myself as best as I can and fall down onto my elbows.
Everything takes time, Heidi. You’ll be able to sit up by yourself again soon enough.
“Don’t yell,” comes the muffled reply, followed by another angry screech. “Lils, that’s not how good girls behave. Please, stop screaming.”
A humph, and the unmistakable stomping of a small foot, makes me chuckle.
I guess all little girls are carved from the same wood because Bevie used to behave like that too when she was that age.
“How’s our friend doing?” comes Colby’s voice as they approach the room I’m in.
“She’s fine,” Lillian growls at him. “But you won’t be if you don’t tell me where you’ve been.”
Colby laughs, Lillian screeches again, and into the room they both walk, with him cradling her in his arms.
“I’m sorry, Heidi. Did we wake you?” he asks me softly as he lingers just inside the door.
“No,” I assure him as I shake my head. “I was already up.”
“Lils, why don’t you go make a snack for us?” he asks her, giving her a kiss on the cheek and setting her down on the floor.
I watch as her cheeks become crimson as she steals a glance at me. I smile at her and give her a wink, which sends her on her way.
Colby comes over and takes a seat on the floor next to me. “I … uh …”
“Yes?” I prod him gently.
“I was at your house today,” he says as he pulls his knees up and drapes his arms over them.
“What?” I ask in shock as I attempt to sit up again. “Ugh,” I grunt when I fall back onto my elbows.
Colby reaches forward and steadies me before he uses his strength to lift me and set me against the wall. Once he’s certain that I’m secure, he takes the empty spot next to me, sitting down again, and running a hand back through his hair.
“I know this is going to sound crazy,” he begins uneasily, “but I made a deal with your husband.”
I arch an eyebrow expectantly. The only deal I would imagine Pollyx making at this point is to get rid of me so that…
“And he wants you back.”
My eyes become misty as tears of hope start to pool in them. I never once dreamed in a million years that I would hear those words and had resigned myself to going to my grave, believing that he didn’t love me anymore.
“He does?” I ask in a trembling voice.
Colby nods as he steals an uncomfortable glance in my direction. “I made a deal with him. A trade.”
“What kind of trade?” I press as the tears of hope run down my cheeks.
“You, for Bevie. I have until midnight to make good on this promise, Heidi, but I want you to tell me honestly if you want to go back to him. If you don’t, I’ll figure something out.”
I smile sadly at the young man who’s torn between doing what’s right and keeping his word. “Pollyx will be the only one besides her that knows how to get the rest of this off my body. Even if it isn’t love anymore… I want to go home,” I tell him softly.
He blows out a breath as he lowers his gaze for a moment, then turns his gaze toward the door. “Eat well, Heidi. I don’t know what he has stored, but it smelled rotten when I walked into your home. We’ll leave whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, and Colby nods as he gets to his feet.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to check on Lils and help her carry everything back here.”
As soon as he reaches the door, a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach makes me call out to him, “Colby! Is she … is she…?”
He shakes his head. “No. I didn’t bring her back here. You’re safe for as long as you want to be, Heidi.”
I nod and turn my face toward the boarded-up window, letting his words sink in.
Safe is where Pollyx is.
But Bevie is out there somewhere and there’s nothing to stop her from going back home and trying to finish the job she started when she finds me there.