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| (visual by Tony the Misfit via this license) |
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dispatch seven
Tarn-Pit by Drew Kalbach
debuted 1 July 2009 | kept 1052 times | click to keep
Jean put her bra back on. The clock radio announced, "Twenty minutes of classic rock coming up next after these messages and a word from our sponsors. Have you ever felt alone, like nobody is there?" Jean took her toothbrush from the medicine cabinet and scrubbed her teeth. Outside a police siren blared dull, sharp, then dull again, and Jean spit foamy paste into the sink. She grinned large and looked at her teeth up close. She licked across the surface.
In the kitchen, eggs scrambled and toast popped from the toaster. She put a shirt on and went downstairs. She looked at the eggs, then at the toast.
"Good morning," Jean said.
"Goodmorning," Aubrey said.
Aubrey scraped the eggs from the frying pan onto a plate. He handed the plate to Jean. Jean took the eggs, stared at them, and sat down.
"What happened at the duel?" Jean asked.
Aubrey took some toast from the toaster and put it in his mouth. He chewed and looked at Jean. Jean looked down at her plate. Dogs barked outside. Aubrey chewed. "Nothing happened," he said.
"How did nothing happen? It was a duel," Jean said.
Aubrey walked over to Jean, knelt beside her, took her chin in his hands, and looked into her eyes. She smelled of toothpaste and eggs. He stared. She scrunched up her nose. Aubrey smelled like blood and sweat. Aubrey’s shirt was stained and wet. Jean reached out and daubed at the blood.
The door opened. Jean stood up. Aubrey’s father limped in.
"Aubrey!" Jean screamed.
Aubrey ran into the room, grabbed a lamp, and hit his father in the skull. His father put his arms up defensively, but he was weak and the lamp was heavy. It broke through his arms and smashed into his skull. Aubrey’s father fell to the ground. Aubrey stood over him, beating his skull until it looked like nothing, like nothing Jean had ever seen. Not human. A pile of soil.
"Oh my god, Aubrey," Jean said.
"I’m sorry you had to see that," he said.
Aubrey sat down next to his father’s body and stared. Jean went into the kitchen and returned to eating eggs. She poured some ketchup on the side of her plate. She ate the eggs and ketchup slowly. When she was done she went outside to check the mail. Aubrey and his father’s corpse sat in the hallway, bloodied.
"No mail today," Jean said.
"I didn’t expect any, did you?"
"No, I didn’t. I had to check," she said.
Jean sat down next to Aubrey. Aubrey looked at Jean. He was pale from the blood loss.
"Should we take you to a hospital?" Jean asked.
"It was an honorable duel, he should have stayed at the tarn-pit," Aubrey muttered.
"A hospital, though," Jean repeated.
"It’s against the rules to leave once you’re beaten," Aubrey said. "It’s against the rules."
"But a hospital, for you," Jean said.
"How were the eggs?" Aubrey asked.
"They were good," Jean said, "I put ketchup on them."
"Good, good, they always need ketchup... like the tarn-pit needs rules," Aubrey said.
She put her hands on his thigh. He looked at her and Jean felt disgusting. He stood up and walked into the kitchen. Jean followed.
Aubrey took his shirt off and dropped it into the sink. There was a long red gash in his side. Jean took a dish towel and placed it hard against the wound. Aubrey stood leaning over the sink and vomited. Jean held the dishtowel. Aubrey sweat and vomited. She watched. The dishtowel filled with blood and the blood started to drip on the floor.
"Aubrey, a doctor," she said.