ANTIFA SPLATTERPUNK by Eric Raglin

Author:Eric Raglin [Raglin, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eric Holt

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Florence brought a blisterpack of Loratadine and a minipack of tissues out of her handbag, took one of the latter for herself, and then handed both to Kayleigh. Florence didn’t have allergies, which she took as proof of her own mother’s good sense and lack of snowflakey neuroses, letting her play in the mud and whatnot. Odd then that her nose felt tickly when she wiped it, cleaning off the blood Kayleigh had covered her in.

She lifted her phone from her thigh. Kayleigh looked back at her from the screen, all contortion and damage. Beautiful. Of course, some smart alec somewhere might check the time it was first posted and then sift through some of the other members’ social media like Zapruder footage for a chance glimpse of Kayleigh already bruised. He might read her injuries and say that under their dazzle of blood they didn’t look brand new. Let him. Let them all sputter and wring their hands, let them prove beyond a shadow of a doubt it didn’t happen. It did not matter. The lie had gotten there first and would always be there first, gold medal in its fist.

She opened the relevant Facebook page and selected the best photo, where Kayleigh had looked up, her open eye limpid and imploring as a saint’s. She started typing, Religion of peace, crying emoji, angry emoji–

A bead of blood landed on the screen. She swiped it away. More replaced it. A quick little patter in a triangle formation. Must’ve missed some–

She looked at herself, strangely reflected. The planes of her jaw and cheeks half-visible in Kayleigh’s temples, in the squinch and shine of her eyes. And just above, in the black dark-mode screen that Florence preferred, she could see a shiny bead of blood crawling from her own right nostril.

As she took another tissue to wipe it away she felt it creep, distinctly, over her top lip. There was no pain but it was definitely coming out of her; it wasn’t Kayleigh’s. She was about to turn to her and say something like I’ve heard of women coming on at the same time but this is ridiculous, when Kayleigh’s hip pocket buzzed against the seat. Kayleigh wiped her nose hurriedly, licked her lips and tossed her hair.

“It’ll be Ollie, he’ll just want to know where I am.”

“He knows where you are.”

“Yeah but he’ll want proof.” Florence realised Kayleigh had made herself camera-ready. She smiled with her crust-lined, spit-glossed mouth. “It’s just a thing we do.”

“Oh for goodness sake, if you shouted he could hear you.” Although that might not be true. It was getting loud over there, an indistinct roar without the beat of their normal chants. Kayleigh was frowning lightly at her.

“...no,” she said. “He didn’t come. I was gonna tell you before. He’s still, you know. A bit. I didn’t even see him this morning. He was still in bed. I got a lift with Sally–” her voice faltered, looking at Florence. Her working eye went wide.

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