[Sodium_noir] Hell is Other People

[Liz Oleksyn]

Sinclair Party
1- 3am 

[Mara]
"I'm not afraid of ghosts, Christine."  Mara replies,
but listens to Christine's account.  She didn't doubt
that she'd seen it, but she had no insight as to its
nature.  "I don't think you're going nuts."   You
already were to work with LSS for so long.  "If you
want to talk to him, that's fine, but please make an
appointment first.  I don't like people dropping
in...unannounced." 

Christine stares at Mara blankly. Feels like she has a
chest full of broken glass and it is difficult to
breathe.  For a terrible instant she understands her
own mother, the victim. Slap me, shake me, push me
into the wall. Show me you love me. But don't look at
me as though I am already a bad memory. Don't tell me
it's really over. 

But it is and no flash of violence will ever hurt as
much as this distance. This barrier of ice. 

Christine looks away. "Appointment," she says quietly.
"Right."

She turns and walks blindly back into the ballroom,
immediately swallowed into the glittering crowd of
guests. Christine walks them unseeing, as if they
aren't there. She is barely aware that someone stands
right in front of her, wavering slightly, staring down
at her. She looks up into a familiar face. Jack. 

[Jack]
He’s smiling a wide, crooked, silly grin.

“Hi sweetie.  I really missed you...” Jack realizes
his faux pas in mid-sentence, the stupid presumption
of it, and tries to cover by stretching his long arms
and casually scanning the room. “....really missed
you... in this crowd. Lots of people. Lots and lots.”

In truth, Jack had careened across the room like a
pinball, bumping into tables, brushing against posh
party-goers, not-so-deftly avoiding waiters with
trays, all in search of Christine - needing an anchor
in a sea of unfamiliar faces.

“Soooo...” Still embarrassed by his bold declaration,
Jack avoids Christine’s gaze. “I...well, me and
Aurora... so, we...actually...are thinking it’s time
to hit the road.  Move on to the next watering hole. 
A guy named...” He screws up his face, struggling for
the name. “John, I think...he wanted to come along.  I
said okay. More the merrier.  Maybe all these stiffs
should join us, d’ya think?”

The goofy grin returns, and Jack looks all of ten
years old as he beams at her.

(tag)

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