“Good. That’s really not cool what you did to Derek.”
You shrugged. Again, not giving a shit. Maybe losing a finger would convince Derek to give up the gang life.
“You really saved my ass back there.” I placed a hand on your shoulder. I wanted to give you a hug, but you looked like Tyrell. “Come inside.”
You followed me like a stray dog who’d never been allowed indoors. In the kitchen, you wouldn’t stop pacing as your eyes took in all of our appliances. I was stunned again at having Tyrell, or at least his body, inside my house.
“Will Tyrell remember this?”
“As if he dreamed it.”
“Trippy.” I poured us both glasses of Kool-Aid and passed one over to you. You stared at the cherry-red liquid, not trusting it. “It’s Kool-Aid. Fruit punch flavor.”
“It’s so… red.”
Yeah, kind of like the blood you’d sucked from Derek’s finger. Like slurping up an oyster, you savored that shit. I had my doubts about you being an angel. Or maybe my idea of how angels were supposed to behave was completely wrong.
“Try it,” I said.
You took a sip and made a face. “So sweet. This is how you get cavities, Orlando.”
I chuckled. I had great teeth. I only ever had one cavity in my life. Having the dentist’s drill inside my mouth scared the shit out of me—and not for the regular reasons—so I brushed and flossed my teeth compulsively after that.
I thought the drink might gross you out, but you guzzled back the whole thing in one go. You were fun to watch. Like a baby discovering its own feet.
“Do you do this often?” And then because you were giving me a weird look, I added, “Body-snatch.”
“No. Not very often.”
“But you did it for me?”
“Yes.”
“How long has it been since the last time?”
Your eyes met mine. It was… intense.
“The last time I inhabited a body or the last time I interfered in a human’s life?”
I swallowed. I wanted to know both, but since you were offering me a choice. “Since you last interfered.”
“Ten years.”
I did some quick math. “That was… that was for me, too?”
You nodded and stared as if waiting for me to catch up.
“Did you get in trouble… for that?” I didn’t want to utter his name out loud. Fucking Roger, the friendly, fun-loving child molester. I thought about that motherfucker all the time. Saw him in my nightmares too. I was ashamed to admit it, but I was glad he was dead. I never had to worry about seeing him on the street or having to tell my mom. She still didn’t know. No one did, except you.
“Not too much,” you said.
I felt bad, but damn, I couldn’t have handled much more of that shit. I’d stopped brushing my back molars for a while then because I didn’t want to put my toothbrush too far into my mouth. I was lucky my whole mouth wasn’t filled with cavities. It felt rotten, fucking disgusting. Even now I could taste it. Him.
“I’m glad you interfered. Then and today.”
You glanced away and seemed embarrassed. I wanted to give you something to thank-you, other than Kool-Aid, but what do you give to a guy without a body? I had a little weed up in my room. My mom usually went out for drinks with her co-workers on Friday nights, so she wouldn’t be home for a couple more hours.
“You want to get high?” I asked.
