Darkness Girl: Trickster God

Chapter Thirty-Five: Common Decency

'I hope I'm not interrupting anything.' 

'Get out. Now,' said Forester. 

Sarafina closed the freezer door slowly. She turned around, ignoring the feeling that cold worms were crawling across her skin.  

The man in the doorway was wearing a light blue dress shirt with an open collar, which revealed a glint of gold at his neck. He had a touch of grey at his temples and a square, thick shouldered frame. He took off his sunglasses and carefully placed them in his top pocket as he stepped inside. 

'Looks like you had one wild party,' he said. 

'Why are you here?' said Sarafina. 

'I think it's time you and I had a friendly chat.' 

'She has nothing to say to you,' said Forester, rising out of his chair. 

Gareth turned to look at him. He towered over the younger man like a broad oak looking down at a sapling. 

'Cool your jets, Lancelot.' 

Forester blushed red and clenched his fists. 

'Forester, it's okay,' said Sarafina. 

'Sarafina--' 

'Thanks for your help today,' Sarafina cut him off. 

Forester dropped his eyes to the floor. 'Do you want me stay?' 

'I said, thanks for your help.' 

Forester walked to the door reluctantly. He threw a brief, pleading look back at Sarafina and was gone. 

Gareth smiled. 'That was ice cold.' 

'It's none of his business.' 

'That's funny. That was what I wanted to talk to you about: things that aren't your business.' 

Gareth was still smiling as he walked towards Sarafina, but there was an edge of aggression to his voice. She forced herself to stand her ground and meet his eyes as he came closer. 

'Do you know what happens to little suburban girls who go around trying to clean up streets they had no business hanging around in the first place?' 

Sarafina crossed her arms. 'If you think you can intimidate me in my own house, you're dead wrong.' 

'You think you've had it rough because you're supporting your kid sister? Boo-hoo. You have no idea what it means to be in the gutter.' 

'How about you? Those expensive clothes and that big swagger don't make you worthy of respect. You're a bottom feeder. At least most drug dealers have the common decency not to pretend they're selling medicine.' 

Gareth held up a fist for Sarafina to see. It was a cross-hatch of scars, and one of the knuckles had been pushed inwards, giving his fist a wonky, misshapen look like a ball of clay. 

'I get respect because I go out there and take it. You can keep trying to get in my way, but you should think about all the things you've got to lose first.' 

'You've never seen some poor kid puking their guts out on the floor because they were stupid enough to believe they were getting a cheap drugs.' 

'Stay the hell out of my business.' 

'No. You stay out of mine.' 

Gareth stepped back. He didn't bother to smile anymore. The edges of his nostrils had gone white, and he looked like he wanted to lash out at Sarafina. She carefully slid one foot back a little way to brace herself for an attack. 

Instead, Gareth pulled himself away with visible effort and shoved his hands into the pockets of his tan coloured pants like he was holstering them. 

'I hate girls like you. Dumb little things who think they can push a man around because they have a bit of attitude.' 

There was a scream from outside. Sarafina felt a sickly tendril of fear wrap around her. 

'You really shouldn't have left you sister in the car.' 

Sarafina's lips pulled back in a snarl. 'Leave her out of this.' 

'Too late. Like I said, you can pretend you're tough, but you've got too much to lose.' 

'You're a plague rat. You spread your filth on everything you touch.' 

Gareth ignored her. He drew his sunglasses from his pocket and put them on. 

Frustrated tears blurred Sarafina's vision. She hated them, but she couldn't help it. 

'She has nothing to do with this!' 

Gareth pulled his glasses down with a finger and looked at Sarafina over them. He smiled again. 

'I'm not here to negotiate with you. This is a punishment. If you take something from me, I'm going to take something from you, and it's going to hurt you a lot more.' 

Sarafina lunged forward, stabbing her fingers towards a nerve cluster in Gareth's side with clinical accuracy. Her fingers hit their mark and twisted painfully. 

Sarafina let out a surprised yelp. It was as if she'd driven her fingers into a block of concrete. Gareth's body was hard as granite. 

She tried to jump back and recover, but Gareth was too fast. He caught her by the throat and slammed her backwards into the fridge. Sarafina felt the world spin around her as the back of her head hit the hard metal. Gareth's fingers dug into the flesh of her neck as he held her in place. She winced and gave a struggled cough. 

Gareth leaned in close. There was an animal intensity in his eyes, and his heavy breath washed over her in heaves. She could smell the wet scent of sunscreen and sweat wafting off his body and coating the inside of her nostrils. 

'This is what you get when you push me.' 

Gareth unclamped his fingers and Sarafina dropped like a doll. She took a long, wheezing breath, dragging the air in through her crushed throat. She could see Gareth's shoes in front of her, and reached out to grab the cuff of his pants. He casually kicked her in the mouth and the material slipped out of her grasp. She tried to rise, but her extremities felt like they were full of cotton wool. She fell sideways onto the floor. 

Through blurred vision, Sarafina watched Gareth turn and walk towards the door. The pieces of broken glass spread out across floor glinted in the morning sun like shards of ice. Their sharp points of light grew fuzzy as Sarafina looked at them, until finally the darkness closed around her vision and she lapsed into unconsciousness.