Stains

Driving Miss Daisy

They spent the whole of the afternoon and parts of the night digging. The dirt was so solid that they couldn't get more than a few feet down. Occasionally they talked, some conversations about their past, others about how they'd travel or get away from Julien. Lots of the conversations ended in 'I don't know' even on past things. Mare asked what Johnny's wife looked like and he said he didn't know. He asked if Mare knew where her sisters were and she didn't know. The sun wasn't out, but the clouds in the sky dimmed and they could hardly see anything, so they decided to call it a night. The plan would take more than a day anyways, so they could use the digging time to think up something. He sat in the driver's seat of his car sweaty and exhausted. He put his gloved hands up to the warm air flowing from the vents. Mare leaning against the car door and looked at him.

"Where are you going?" Mare asked. She pulled the gloves off of her hands and looked at the redness of them. They had gone numb a while ago.

"Driving Miss Daisy to the boutiques." He said with a hint of sass in his voice. He had done this before and it's mostly following her through stores and her picking out expensive dresses that she would never wear again. It always happened after Julien did something stupid and Daisy threatened to leave.

"Sorry." She said, knowing it was her fault.

"We all do stupid things, but yours just happened to inconvenience me." Johnny said. He was quiet for a second, but he got a curious look on his face. "Do you ever think about what would happen if Lyndsey found out?" He asked. Mare's jaw clenched and she balled up her fist. The name singed the air and heated her cold blood.

"I guess I won't have to worry about it." Mare said.

"What if you saw her one more time? Like a near death experience and she floated down from the heavens, what would she say?" Johnny asked.

"Why does this matter?" Mare asked defensively.

"Because that's what you've got to think before you do something." Johnny said and Mare's body when on a pause, it didn't know what do or say. "If you know you're about to do something less than good, then you think 'what would Lyndsey say if I had to come home and tell her what I did?' And then you'll be less of a wreck." Johnny said. Mare didn't know how to respond so she just walked away quietly and stepped carefully through the tall grass. Her hands hurt to the bone and her body was frozen. She'd been sweating for hours and it was freezing her blood.

As she neared her car, she felt a weight sitting on her chest as if she'd been out all night and was nearing her house, not wanting to go inside of it. It was hearing the name again and she knew that was the cause of the pain. The feeling of abandonment was coming back to her and she couldn't run it off or hide from it. The distance to the car seemed to warp and she was pulling herself into the shadows, their hands twisted like branches reaching out to hold her in. She could feel their fingers scratching for her and their hunger for her growing stronger. She could hear their stomachs growling in the wind. It was the feeling begging her to come back and keep it company. Immediately, she turned away from the car and watched Johnny drive away. Then she felt the aching in her hands and her stomach.

It started when Lyndsey died. It could last for days to weeks and never show a sign of leaving.

As she thought about this, she thought more about Lyndsey. They met when Mare was a lot younger. She was going through the city with Greg and some other delivery boys to see what they could find. The boys needed to sell to the homeless kids that live under a bridge and next to the train tracks. Lyndsey was one of the kids they sold too, but Mare never knew about it. She had only been to the club deliveries or collected money.   

*Ten years earlier*

"One quick stop. Then we can go do whatever." Greg said as he walked them towards the bridge. There was a broad light filling up the ground and reflecting off the steal of sitting trains. Their mouths were clouded by smoke and steam from their warm breaths in the cold air. All of them wore heavy warm coats and tightened them around their bodies to trap their heat. "Plus, this'll be fun, you've never met these people." Greg said encouraging their rendezvous.