#11 IN ACTION
(PARIS)
Buried deep below the everyday life of our society lives a world of nightmares-of violence and murder no one dares speak about. It is called the Sinner's Society.
In the murky waters of Chicago's underworld I'm arranged to marr...
Holy fuck (noun): the moment you come inside a hot tight hole and believe, for a split second, that there is a god.
—Alex
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"Did you find your answer?"
What words are these? They startle me, and at first I think I've heard him wrong. Deverel's leaning across the table while my significant other is twenty feet away, waiting in line for my food. When did my beloved start standing in a queue for food?
"You and me," Deverel says. "That is the answer."
I blink at him before I realize he's making a joke. I laugh and go back to looking at my magazine. Actually, it's not really a magazine. It has... pictures of a castle. I flip the page. The same castle. Flip again. And again the castle.
"Paris..." I don't look up right away. I'm afraid to. If I look up and see that he's not joking, something terrible will happen.
"Paris." He reaches out and touches my hand. I jump, pull back. My chair makes a loud screeching sound, and Alex looks over. I pretend that I dropped something and reach under the table. Under the table are our shoes and legs.
There is also a golden coin lying at my feet; I pick it up and resurface dragging my thumb over the engraved seal of Satan. Its heavy. I turn it around and see a satanic sabbatic goat inside an inverted pentagram. I carefully place the coin on the table.
Alex is at the front of the line ordering my food, and my Russian lit professor is waiting for my response, his eyes heavy with burden.
"Are you drunk?" I hiss. "What the fuck?"
"No," he says. Though he doesn't look so sure. For the first time, I notice the skin around his eyes is sallow. He's going through something, maybe? Life is being bullshit.
"If this is a joke, you're making me really uncomfortable," I tell him. "You should go. My husband is here." What am I saying? Why am I not calling Alex? Can't he see Deveral? Frustrated I hit the side of my fist on the table. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
"I don't have much time, Paris." His eyes move to the coin, which is resting between our hands.
"Don't have...Wait? You're sweating," I say. "Did you take something, are you on the crack?" What type of drugs make you sweat like that? Crack? Heroine?
I want Alex to come back. I want everything to go back to normal. I spin around to see what's taking him so long.
