Me:(My voice comes out softer than silk) Evelyn? (There is no response) Evelyn? Guess where Mom is taking us?
Evelyn:(The tone of her voice muffled from speaking into her arm) Where?
Feeling like I cracked her armor a little, I permit myself to unleash the pure excitement that has built up in my little body, in the short span of standing there in her melancholy moment.
Me:(Yelling in raw, uncut ecstasy) Frozen Yogurt!
I witness her head shift as a sparkling sapphire orb peeks from beneath her lashes, like castle guards on night watch over the kingdom.
The air turns colder, and I am pulled from my memory. Flower petals are swirling like a tornado around me, as the voices of my mother and sister echo off the stone in the garden. Specks of light begin to form amidst the swirls as the memory breaks up into pieces in front of me. I reach out to touch what would have been the next segment, and I am pulled into it like a vacuum.
We are now in the car, and hits from the 2000s are playing on the radio. Mom and Evelyn have their arms outstretched before them, their hands clapping ‘bye’ to an imaginary being. It doesn’t take longbefore the all too recognizable building dominates the view from the windshield as mom pulls into a parking spot.
Me:(In a guttural gremlin voice) Smoothie Giant! (I shriek like a starving pterodactyl)
Mom laughs as Evelyn joins the yogurt chant. We climb out of the car and form a line to march in tune with our victory cries. At the register my sister and me have added almost every topping you could and our cups were overflowing with sticky sweet goodness. Mom reached in her purse to grab her wallet, and a man from out of nowhere shoves her into the glass display case of sweets made in-house.
The Man:(Brandishing his firearm and pointing it at the cashier, his identity completely concealed) Empty it into the bag! (He slams a burlap sack on the counter with his free hand) Now! All of it!
Cashier:(A college boy, unfazed by the pistol mere inches from his face) Take whatever you want, you won’t get far.
Not even minutes after the words left the cashier's mouth, a swarm of officers barreled through the store’s entrance. S. W. A. T. plastered across their breast plates.
Officer #1:(Cuffing the criminal) We all knew it was only a matter of time before you would try to attack another college student. Evidence led us to this one (She looks at the cashier, and nods). Thank you for your cooperation.
She began tapping the perpetrator's calves with her shoes, telling him he was allowed to walk and that this is the direction I need you to go. They clear the threshold before anothercop approaches my mom.
My concentration is broken again as a booming voice erupts from the shadows, “You can try and run, but you will never be able to hide. I will always find you.” It echoes through the small alcove of shrubbery—the thickness of the floral tornado thinning.
“Once I get my hands on you,” The voice cries, fueled by anger and a longing for vengeance. “I will ensure that you die slowly, little snake.”
A small clearing formed in the petals allows me to watch as Peter inhales deep, then shouts, “Suck my dick, y-you Selby fuck!”
Selby?
Was this thing that was after him once...
a Selby?
All in this moment, the misted figure appears again, placing its hand on Peter’s shoulder and violently jerking him to where he is now in a partially seated position.
Blood flies from Peter’s mouth as an invisible force cold cocks him across the face. He gurgles and chokes, trying to clear it from his throat. The mist solidifies into a man as he licks the crimson dots within reach of his tongue. Inhaling through his nose, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he releases a sigh of pure bliss. At the end of his exhale, he allows an animalistic grumble to escape.
Then, with euphoria on his tongue, he speaks, “Good thing Niven was a great nurse in her prime, or I wouldn’t have known whether you were diseased or not.” He swipes a spectral thumb over Peter’s busted lip. “Funny enough, you weren’t,” Putting it in hismouth, he sucks it clean, then continues, “But I always knew your family was filth—I cantasteit in your blood.”
The word ‘taste’ activates the memory once more, only this time, instead of the vivid image awash in bright pigmentation, its depiction is more akin to that of a scene from “Pleasantville”, devoid of color and indulging in the many shades of gray with hues and undertones of black and white. Peter’s screams act as an overlay, causing the moments in this memory to appear broken up into pieces, like fast-forwarding a VHS tape, stopping to play it here and again, to see where in the show you are.
The officer is speaking to my mom. Then, a whirling of images, assisted by sped-up sounds, rushes past me, and we are broken down on the side of the road heading back home from our frozen yogurt excursion.
Peter’s howls replace the screeching of the car, as the memory continues.
The front passenger side tire blew out, and Mom swerved as the remaining tires screamed for relief. We came to a stop—Evelyn and I both frantically threw ourselves from the vehicle and kissed the ground, happy to not be moving anymore.
Evelyn:(Almost in full hysterics) Solid ground! (loud smacks emanate from her direction as she physically kisses the asphalt)
Mom:(hollering over traffic) Girls! Girls, is everyone ok?
Now that I am thinking back on it, I don’t know why we wouldn’t have been ‘okay’, it wasn’t like we crashed. As I got older, I learned adrenaline mixed with fear was the reason we were all afraid after the fact. Another spout of fast-moving images, and we areall in Peter’s squad car on our way back home. Then the darkness consumes me, and the sound of reality pierces my ears.
