|
|
Clanking and screeching filled the air outside and invaded the quietness of the house. The Nelsons did nothing to stop him, nor did they bother to see what he was up to. She couldn’t watch him frantically cling to hope, to foolishness. Dina retreated deeper into the hall listening to a fool, pitying him. # It was deep into the night. Will was working by porch light, fearing time. Dina stood in the hall fearing a doorknob. The wind was once again howling. The leaves were going to fall. An electronic chirp caused her to check her watch, 2:03 am. Dina locked up her emotions and walked down the hall. Time felt as if it slowed as if it drew in on itself almost stopping. The doorknob turned under hand and she floated into the room unable to breathe or speak. In the bed was a sleeping girl, Marie. Marie didn’t wake in Dina’s presence. She was having a hard enough time breathing. She was suffocating to death on the extra cell masses in her lungs. Out the girl’s open window, Dina could see Will smiling. The paint and brush rested on the ladder’s top most step. In the dim light of the porch light and his car’s waning headlights, there twinkled a wet, painted leaf. Will thought he was trying to fool death, but mainly he was fooling himself. As the wind picked up, only one leaf remained. Fear that his plan wouldn’t work reflected in his eyes. Again the watch chirped; the last leaf fell. For a moment Will tried to peer into the dimly lit room. He saw Marie, sleeping, her head tossing. For a second he thought he had won. But Dina stepped into the light, her black hood and robes moving in an ethereal wind. Her one skeletal hand reached down into Marie, cutting the string that held her soul. “Nooooo!” cried Will.
The pity, it came back. She reached out to him, wanting take away
his sorrow. She reached out and cut his string. As she watched
his body fall, she thought this was the kindest thing she had
ever done.
*************
|