Fade Away
RIA’S LEFT HAND dipped into the coarse sand that lined the beach, each grain heavy in her moist palm. The sand quickly seeped between her trembling fingers and back into the sea of yellow-brown. Her head consciously rocked back and forth as the event replayed in her mind.
The boy, rocking in the backyard as his mother screamed in the dining room. The once comforting room that last night turned bleak and alien. Gracie’s dilated, drowning eyes that so vividly reflected the picture of Rowan on the mantelpiece. The handgun that firmly reminded Gracie that she had couldn’t stop, that she was vulnerable. The knife that gleamed at her from behind the man’s naked buttocks, as the room grew further and further away.
Ria’s head never stopped rocking and her body could only tremble as the recollection of events took its toll. The shriek of her high-pitched voice caused a scurry in the group of birds that pecked at the deep sand.
The man’s manic face penetrated her mind most clearly. His lowered brows emphasised the mixture of desire and menace in his bulbous eyes. Earlier, her mind had consciously blurred some details of the scene. However, since she had reached the silence of the beach, the graphic details had started to work their way into the repeating log of events in her mind.
The blood, dripping from the edge of the table onto the dark brown carpet on which she stood.
That distinct, salty aroma which pierced the air. The reflection of Gracie’s son in the mirror as she turned away.
The sharp edge allowed her to regain her consciousness.
The knife in her right hand stood out in the silent stillness of the beach, the image of Gracie’s son fading as it sliced through the branched tree of veins that haunted her arm.
