A Bomb: Part Twenty-Four of Angel

“. . . Someone please sedate me

Manage my pain, please

Rip this palpable organ from my body

I’m in so much pain

Please, just press OK

Let them take me, please

And let the scalpels decide

I can feel it pouring out. . .”

Two months now.  I’ve been watching them get passive with each other.  I think my boy may have cheated on Macy’s.  Or maybe Macy’s . . . .  But, he never left the house.  As for her . . . she wasn’t paying attention to us.  I’m not selfish.  I just thought maybe we could still be friends.  But she’s distancing herself.  Just like Adam and Sam.

“Macy . . . .”  She was on her laptop again.  She’d been glued to it almost entirely for the past month.  Something changed after they unpacked Adam’s boxes.  Macy “hmm’d”, but didn’t look up.

“We need to talk.”  Helen had been practicing this with herself.  She’d rehearsed it for the mirror.  Even thought of all of the different outcomes and responses from Macy.

“I know.” Macy said.  She gave Helen and understanding look.

Helen nodded and bit her lip.  Turning away, Helen felt like crying.  And they did.  They wailed.

From somewhere, deep inside, Adam and Sam must have heard it.  Adam, Sam and Victor were hanging out at a pow-wow.  Adam got a phone call.

“Hey, I can’t talk right now.  Can I call you back later?”

Sam could barely hear the words over the drums.

Adam asked: “Who was that?”

Sam said: “No one”

The smell of burning sage drove the boys outside.  It was dark, cloudy.  They walked a few meters under the shade of a tree.  Even though it was cloudy, the sun seemed to bleed through, casting a radiant glow all over the Henry High School campus.  Sam looked ready to fight.

“I’ll miss you so much,” Macy held Helen’s hands

Tears were streaming down Helen’s face.  “I’ll miss you too.”

It was better for the boys.  And that was what mattered.  Adam would get new friends.  Sam would go back to hanging around Jerry.  They would both move on.  Macy grew tired after having to drag Adam through the home-study program.  What undignified bullshit.

“No what’s bullshit is you’re being a total hypocrite!”  Adam yelled back.

Sam feigned appalled: “What?”

“Don’t act like your shit doesn’t stink, asshole.”  Adam spat.

A crowd had gathered now to watch the fighting lovers on the mound.  While the great pine shadowed over them, standing witness.

“I know you’re cheating on me too!”

Macy put her head in her hands.  “What now?” She asked.  Her heart was beating hard and fast.

Helen was laid on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.  “I guess I should start packing.”

There it was.

Sam stared at Adam.  Helen got to her feet.

Sam: The only reason I was cheating on you was because you never talked to me!

Macy watched Helen find her purse.

Adam said, “All you ever wanted was sex.”

When was the last time we hung out? : Sam.

“Maybe if you had been around more often, we would have.”

Maybe if you would have actually let me touch you.

Streams of color slipped into Helen’s purse.  A long sash.  Make-up.  Brushes.  It was just like all the other times she had watched her pack her things.  Except this was different.

Adam: You never tried to talk to me!

Sam scoffed.  Darker clouds began to move in.  The sun was muted now.  Wind pushed the crowd around.  The stirring in the corner of his eye made Adam twitch.

You never gave me attention!  FUCK YOU!

Slowly, the color seeped out of the room.  It became dark and cold . . . .  The zipper of a gym bag pulled back.  Or was it forward?  There was rustling in the room next door.

Victor stood at entrance of the school gymnasium, in clear view of the boys.

Don’t fucking call me.  Don’t email me, don’t text message me.  Don’t come anywhere fucking near.  Fucking asshole.

As Sam took off a silver ring, a bolt of lightening split the sky.   Then the boom.  Deafening.  All of the people around the mound gasped.  The tree leaned backwards and moaned towards the sky.  A branch came crashing down.

When Sam shoved the ring into Adam’s fist, the ground shook.

The slamming trunk door was louder than she remembered it.  Macy jumped when the car honked and its headlight flashed.  There was hot water in the kitchen, boiling softly.  Macy knew it was Helen’s favorite.  Ten more minutes, Macy prayed silently, just ten more minutes.

Doors slammed inside the cul de sac.  Helen looked out the window.  It was the boys.  She could see Victor at the truck, look up nervously at her.  Or towards where her face would be, if the sickly black and grey sky weren’t reflected off the window.

At the door, Adam only looked at Helen briefly before walking further in, disappearing behind his door, and closing himself off from the rest of the world.

“Are you ready?” Sam asked his mom.

“Yes.” She looked at Macy, whose eyes were pleading and trembling, watery.

Macy covered her face with a long-sleeved hand and nodded.

“Let’s go.” Sam said.