this world will break your heart

Part 2: The Hertseller - Chapter 34

I'm standing in the kitchen, scanning the headlines.

I read about the angel and the plans to extract the technology from the bodies of the dead. These valuable implants are still transmitting in decomposing hosts. They are still logging and flashing in the morgues. EXCON scientists have new data to log! What happens when the beings are all gone and only the bits of metal remain? An entire population has been wiped out, but what is left over is invaluable.

I am looking at the sleeping statues that never quite made it to bed, intertwined, and peaceful. Lost in an opium haze, the perpetrators of this crime have drugged themselves into quiet. Nobody wants to go up to the barracks; instead, they celebrate in desperation with chemicals and group sex.

"Hey." I almost jump out of my skin as I hear the voice behind me.

Mal, wearing a suit and an undone tie, walks over. Showered and with his hair slicked back, he almost looks like a real human.

"Can you give me a hand. I can't seem to get this thing to lie flat." He holds up his claws reminding me why manual dexterity is challenging for him.

"Where did you get that suit?"

"Francis Neufchatel's got a whole closet of them on Level 12. I don't know why he wears robes all the time when he could dress like this. Plus, talk about serious brother issues that confuse the fuck out of me." Mal steps closer. "Have you ever tied a tie on your sweetheart, Nerissa?"

I shake my head, "Never had a sweetheart." I walk over to him.

"Really? What about that guy you used to hang around with? Not in here...Hakeem was clearly way out of your league. No offense."

"None taken."

"I mean, there was this other guy. Outside of Fred's...you two were like brother-sister sexy, always running around together. You can't tell me there was nothing there."

"Who? Sonny? Yeah, no way!"

"He was a face, wasn't he?" Mal lifts his chin as I step so close to him. I feel his breath as he exhales and inhales.

"Where are you going, Mal?" I look over at the backpack stuffed with bits and pieces, clearly stolen from the museum of technology.

"This scene is going to get really dark, really fast. I've seen things fall apart before and let me tell you, it's all fun and games setting it up but when it comes crashing down, it's not pretty. I got a turquoise glow and a bag full of priceless artifacts. I think I'm going to be okay."

"But it was your idea!"

"Shhh...keep your voice down...people are sleeping. You really are fucking rude Nerissa. You know that, don't you?"

I pull his tie really tight for a moment and his breathing changes but his smile never does.

"You can't just leave people. You need to take responsibility for this mess."

Mal swipes me across the stomach and I release the tie. The pain shoots through my body and I'm almost knocked backwards. It's been so long since I've felt that: angry, bleeding, and bruised.

"Nah, not my scene. Okay baby, this is where I make my way out. I'll see you around." He puts his hand on the elevator button, then stops and turns to me.

"By the way, whatever happened to Sonny?" He looks at me, crumpled and bleeding against the place where the kitchen floor becomes the kitchen wall.

I look at him.

"How did you think I became EXCON?" I struggle to get out the words.

"That's seriously baddass, Nerissa. I never thought you would have done it," he nods as if we are friends.

The elevator arrives.

"Okay, that's my ride. Man, this feels like an honest goodbye, doesn't it?"

He smiles. Mal picks up his pack and slips into the elevator, turning the crank silently, until he disappears under the floor.

Even his exit, in its struggle for authenticity, is just a classic song lyric.