Page 36 of Lilies from Hell

When the blond guy returns, he throws me a can of some brand of beer, which I clumsily catch. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to drink alcohol on an empty stomach, but I downed it anyway, almost in one gulp.

“I didn’t know you were a musician.” I look at James.

He is sitting in a corner, strands of brown hair falling across his forehead, brushing against the piercing in his left eyebrow. I have to admit that those sea-green eyes make him stand out from the crowd. He doesn’t have any tattoos, but he has quite a few piercings. Based on the protrusion in his T-shirt, I’d guess he even has his nipples pierced.

“Now you know,” he says, wanting to end the conversation. His apathetic answers and distant attitude are something I could get used to between now and the end of summer. After a couple more cans of beer, I feel like my bladder is about to explode. I bite my lower lip when I see Romina coming out of the trailer.

“I need to go to the bathroom. Urgently,” I murmur, jumping up and down on the spot.

“It’s the second door on the right,” she says.

While the others leave the trailer, I try to find the restrooms. I see that one of the two doors is half open and decide to take a peek to make sure it’s not the bathroom. On the other side, James is sitting on the edge of a bed with his head tilted on a small table covered with white powder spread out in lines. You don’t have to be very smart to know what that is.

I watch in bewilderment as he brings his face closer and closer to the table until he stops and throws his head back. I quickly slip into the bathroom, trying not to make any noise, deciding that for the moment it would be better to forget what I saw. After all, it’s none of my business what he does. When I’m done, I go looking for Romina and find her waiting for me by the door. The others seem to have already gone up on stage.

“Come on. It’s about to start.” She grabs my wrist and almost drags me to a spot in the second row.

For a moment, I feel a little suffocated by the number of people around me, but these feelings disappear when I see James ready to play the drums. How did he get there so quickly?

The concert lasts about an hour and a half. They play pretty well, and of course the fact that it is rock music is a plus because it’s one of my favorite genres. After that, we spend more time with Romina’s friends in the trailer. Now and then, I glance over at James. He’s chatting with the others as if nothing were wrong, and I don’t know why that makes my curiosity about him skyrocket.

A couple of hours later, I say goodbye and walk to where Lance is supposed to be waiting for me in the car. I only find my father in the driver’s seat with an unfriendly look on his face. Shit.

¹Lyubov’ : love

²Moya lyubov’: my love

³Ty krasivaya: you are beautiful

14

“You’re late.”

“Do you want me to make up an excuse? I’m creative today,” Denis asks, making me smile. “Want some?” he offers after taking a seat on the wooden bench next to me and handing me a blunt.

“Stop smoking that crap.”

“It helps you relax. You should use it, seeing how you’ve been walking around with that shitty face all day.”

My eyes go to his skull, remembering the first time we met in the military academy cafeteria. I wonder what I saw in him that day that made me want to make him my right-hand man and tie him to my side for life.

“You’re in my seat,” I said as I entered the cafe and saw him sitting in my chair.

The round table was in the center and had only one seat. Mine. Denis looked up, his confused expression changing to a mocking smile.

“Oh yeah? Where does it say that?” He turned around and checked the back of the chair. “I can’t see anything.”

Before he could take another bite of his food, I grabbed a handful of his hair and slammed his face into the plate, breaking it in two. I kept going until his nose began to bleed profusely and a small trickle of blood ran down his forehead. Then, with my finger stained with his blood, I wrote my name on the back of the chair.

“Do you see it now?” I asked with a grin, waiting for an answer that never came. He had fallen unconscious with his head on the broken plate.

I moved his body aside and took his place in the chair. Then I used the fork to take a piece of whatever meat was left, splattered with his blood, and shoved it into my mouth.

A few hours later I was leaving the infirmary after having patched myself up. I ran into him again, as if he were a barnacle I couldn’t get rid of.

“Have you come to kill me?” he said as soon as he saw me, attempting a smile.

“You won’t have that privilege. At least not yet.” I replied with a brief smile.