May
“Sarah, what the hell is this?” I dropped my purse on the floor as all the energy rushed out of my entire body and Sarah glanced up from the kitchen sink. There was blood and featherseverywhere, and she wore my cooking apron to cover her clothes.
“I saw it in the park earlier and thought, how cool would it be to have a real bird skull?” She spoke like butchering a bird in the kitchen sink was an obvious route to go, and I couldn’t even think to breathe let alone form a response. My sister frowned at my silence, then turned to me fully to showcase the cleaning gloves I kept under the sink. “I’m being safe about it— I have gloves on.”
“O-okay. I . . . I’ll just . . . leave you to it. Make sure to clean up after yourself.” Sarah nodded and turned back to the sink, and I sluggishly reached for my purse. The stress of the past two days smacked me in the face and my shoulders slumped as I shuffled heavily out of my apartment. The sun warmed my crown as I stood on the small risen step to stare blankly at a crack in the pathway.
Digging my phone out of my purse, the world moved around me, not the other way around, as my thumbs struggled to tap the screen hard enough to work. Inhaling a shallow, shaky breath, I held my phone to my ear in a clammy palm and my teeth damn near chattered. I wasn’t tense. I wasn’t upset. I didn’t know what the hell I was supposed to feel.
“Couldn’t wait until Friday?” Oran’s sultry voice barely registered in my head, and my mouth dried as my brain stopped working. “Hello? May?”
“My sister is dissecting a dead bird in the kitchen sink.” Oh, God, that was not a sentence I’d ever thought I’d say. Stunned silence met my declaration. Licking my lips heavily as a confused crease formed between my brows, I opened my mouth to force my tongue to work. “Can you come pick me up?”
“Of course. The car should be there in fifteen minutes or so. Uh, so why, exactly, is your sister dissecting a dead bird in the sink?” Somewhere, somehow, I realized he’d put me on speaker and his voice muffled ever so slightly as he posed his question. “Where’d she get a dead bird?”
“She thought it was a good idea. I d—” My phone beeped, and I pulled it from my ear to stare blearily at the caller I.D. “One sec. This is my mom.”
Switching over to my mom, I took a massive breath that did nothing to fill the emptiness in my chest, and my mom was already talking before I lifted the phone to my ear. And she just kept talking even though I didn’t understand what she was saying. I was just too frazzled by the fact Sarah was . . . cutting up . . . a bird . . . in my sink.
“M-Mom, okay, shut up for a second. Why are you calling me?” At the very least, I knew why my momwasn’tcalling me— she never even asked about Sarah these past few months. “I’m on another call, so if it’s not important, I’m going to hang up.”
“I was just calling to chat. I wanted to know how your week went so far.”
“Um, yeah, I’ll call you later. I’m kinda dealing with something right now. Okay? Bye.” Transferring the call back to Oran, I opened my mouth and nothing came out, so I cleared my throat roughly. “So, yeah, I have no idea what’s going on anymore and . . . I need a damn break. I’m so stressed out. I need to move. I can never cook in that kitchen again.”
“I don’t blame you, May. Have you eaten yet?” Shaking my head even though he couldn’t see me, I rolled my lips between my teeth, and Oran sighed heavily. “Do you want me to order you some pizza or something?”
“Yes, please.” Raking my hand viciously though my hair, I sucked in a whistle of a breath and blinked hard. “Did I really just walk in on that?”
“I don’t know— I wasn’t there. Why would Sarah think it’d be a good idea to do this?” Glancing warily over my shoulder, I heaved a massive sigh as I pinched the bridge of my nose. Finally, my brain puttered into action, and Oran was patient on the line as I furiously organized my thoughts. What more could I say? The issue was fairly straightforward.
“Sarah doesn’t have great impulse control, and this isn’t the first time she’s done something so . . . out of the box. One time, when she was little, she got as many caterpillar egg sacks as she could and left them under her bed until they all hatched at once.” That story was definitely one of the more innocuous ones. I rubbed my forehead with the butt of my palm. “I can’t deal with this right now. I’m frostbitten from work, and I wanted to go home and sleep, and—”
“I’m not sure there’s anything else youcando in this kind of situation, to be honest . . . ” Trailing off, Oran clearly didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know what to say. I just didn’t want to hang up because . . . what the hell, man? “Work was rough today?”
“Yeah. I mean, at least everyone is full-on ignoring me now instead of openly talking shit like they were on Tuesday. You know, I know you feel really bad about it, Oran, but I was only hanging onto this job because David promised me that promotion. Both teams I’ve been with obviously don’t care about my contributions or my skills or even teaching me a few things to help me improve. So, I’ve been thinking about it, and you might’ve actually done me a favor. I’ve decided to start looking for a new job at a new nautical firm.” I could hear it in his voice that he felt bad about my work environment, and I’d been mad . . . at first.
But it wasn’t like Oran made that animosity pop up out of nowhere.
“Are you just saying that to make me feel better?” His wry tone made me pause as I sat down on the step to hold my purse in my lap and frown at the pathway stretching out to the street. “It’s okay if you are, but it’s not working, frankly.”
My lips thinned as memories rushed behind my lids when I blinked. David wasn’t that great a boss. As a matter of fact, the firm itself wasn’t all that great of an atmosphere for someone like me, just out of college and all that typical crap. I had done my research when job searching the first time, and this firm didn’t have the best reputation.
How lucky could I expect to be, getting a job at a great firm, though? Even though the past two years were basically for nothing, I chose this particular job at this particular place because I knew it wasn’t all that. I wanted to start out half-cocked and work my way up. I didn’t want a great work environment to stop me from taking an advanced position somewhere else.
“I’d hazard a guess that’s why David was stringing me along with the promotion in the first place— so I wouldn’t try to find a new job with better people and he could keep stealing my work while I held out hope. This isn’t the first time in these past two years I’ve considered finding a new job, and really, the only thing you did was hasten the inevitable. The gossip being spread about me at the office was already pretty bad. Why not make it worse by adding sleeping with the boss to that list?” My brows furrowed at my own mini-tirade and I absently tugged at the ends of my hair. “I mean, as much as it sucks, you gotta remember also that my co-workers are investing real time and energy into speculating about me. That’s kinda funny, when you think about it.”
“Well, if people are talking about it, we might as well do it.” Smirking lightly, I sat back a little to tear my eyes off the sidewalk, and the sky above me brightened as the sun peeked out from behind a cloud. “Seriously, though, if you’re looking for a new job, I may be able to help with it.”
“Okay, Oran, no offense, but you’re not associated with me professionally, so a recommendation letter isn’t going to do anything.” A car pulled up to my apartment building and I frowned under furrowed brows.Had we really been talking that long?I stood up to head for the sleek, black vehicle.
“Actually, I have been doing a little research myself, surprise, surprise.” Shutting myself in the back seat, I set my purse next to me and grunted softly in acknowledgment as I buckled. “I’d like to talk about it with you another time, once I have a bit more concrete information.”
“Sure, yeah, okay. I haven’t really started looking yet, so you have time. I highly,highlydoubt I’ll get a good recommendation letter from Jerry, and certainly not David. He can’t get a job. I heard Jerry huffing because David is moving across the country because he can’t get a job.”
“Well, I doubt he’ll find employment there, either, if those people do their due diligence.” Nodding as the car pulled away from the curb, I glanced dubiously out the window at my first-floor apartment. What was I going to do about Sarah? I legitimately couldn’t handle her— not now, with my job in jeopardy.
“Hey, Oran, do you think I’m a bad sister?” The sudden change of subject led to silence and my mouth dried at the very limited actions I could take. I could send Sarah back to our parents, but she’d get kicked out if my mom backed up her threat. I could put her in her own place, though I’d have to move in right next to her. It’d be less than preferable.
I didn’t want to stir the pot because I didn’t want her getting arrested or something for being stupid.
“I think you’re a great sister, May. You’re not Sarah’s mother. If you really feel that overwhelmed, you should sue them. Get their attention. Show them you mean business.” I guess I could do that. Gnawing on my bottom lip, I closed my eyes to heave a sigh through my nose. “I’ll supply you Landry. He’s a very good lawyer. He may not have much information about family court, but as you’ve experienced, he’s very good at covering up that fact.”
