Mari sat on the basement stairs, staring at nothing in particular. Her mind raced with all kinds of scenarios but nothing made sense. The faint glow from the kitchen above was about as faint as any idea that stayed in her mind before another one took place. But there he was. Cowering in the darkest corner of the basement. The slight purple-ish hue coming from the small frosted window of the basement door was her only indication of how long they had sat there like that. That and the sudden realization that she suddenly could not feel any parts of her ass or her legs. That was quickly moved aside by the one question that she needed answered. How in the hell did Michael survive that fall?

She saw the news. She remembered the last time she spoke to him. She remembered racing to even reach the damn bridge just to see if she could catch him before he did something stupid. The fog that covered everything. Driving slow and thanking God for the earliest of morning hours that there was no traffic but cursing the damn marine blanket, because damn a layer, with how thick it was. She sighed. He flinched. But they didn’t make eye contact. Mari unfolded herself slowly. If he wanted to attack her, he could.

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said, still not looking at her. She could hear the whisper from his corner but it was clear as though he was in her ear. She didn’t know how to respond. One step at a time, she backed away slowly. The sharp tingles from the waist down gave her no choice but she made it to the top of the stairs. He never came into view. Closing the door wouldn’t matter if he could hear her thoughts at all.

Once it felt like the blood remembered how to move throughout her body and her legs warmed, she walked over to the sink and just leaned on it. Four a.m. A full week later. The body was found. She ID’d it and went back south on the 5 to her home. He was gone. He was supposed to be gone. Mari laughed. Could the undead pay rent or would she still need to sell this house by the end of year?

The sound of the unhinged floated towards him. This was not how he wanted to show up but as he fell into the icy water, something grabbed him. The pain was gone. He could breathe but somehow managed to die anyway. If it wasn’t for the incubation period, a backlogged coroner and a brief moment being out of the damned ice chest, he’d be in a box, playing along with the funeral arrangements, he thought. But Mari’s laugh was wrong. It soon turned to tears. He could smell the salt as soon as the first one crest over her lower eyelid and hit the air. That was worse than just knowing she might be sad. He sighed. The convulsions were finally beginning to slow down. The cold felt almost normal. But then something far worse was coming.

A worried and loud whimper. A hiss. Mari wiped her face and went back to the opening at the top of the stairs.

“Uh…Mari. Mari?!”

Mari walked quickly down the stairs in spite of everything in her asking what the fuck her problem was.

“Um…hi. I—-the—-can—-can someone turn the sun off?”

Five a.m. It was barely even up. The cool of the day would stick around for another 6 hours at least. He patted at his arms like he was on fire. Underground. With a window that barely got light.

“What the hell,” she asked her twin brother. Heat filled her hands.

“Mari, please.”

“Dude. It’s the fucking sun. What am I—-you’ll have to come upstairs. At least there’s A/C,” she said with a shrug.

He looked up at her, nodded, and then they started laughing for a moment. A/C. Right. That would help.

D. Ondria

05272024

P.S. if this is your prompt and you want to be tagged or a link to your site, just let me know. Not all prompts have info on them… All found on/via Pinterest or Instagram