Soolie Beetch and the Dying Light by Gypsie Raleigh

Author:Gypsie Raleigh
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: User Shoes Publishing
Published: 2015-12-15T22:00:00+00:00

seventeen

Bernad hadn’t left his bed since the incident, though it wasn’t really his bed any more than it was really his room. The house was Mam’s domain, both he and Pap knew it. Every surface was polished and dust free. No more than two items of décor per surface, no more than three colors featured per room, and everything tidy and complementarily paired. Bernad was the ugliest thing in the house.

“You ever gettin’ out of here?” Pap had asked that morning from the doorway.

Bernad had responded by turning to face the wall.

“Welp,” Pap had said. “I’m goin’ down to the store.” And that was that.

Even Mam was out most of the time. Her son’s disfigurement had caused quite a stir in the community, and Mam felt compelled to manage it. “For his sake,” she said. What did he care? She hadn’t really tried to get him out of bed either. “Just remember to cover your face if anyone visits.” But no one had. In the end, Mam was the only one who came by regularly, once or twice a day to clean the room and make sure there was food in the cold cellar. Not that he ate much.

He hated eating. The way he couldn’t seal his mouth around a spoon or chew a piece of chicken without the greasy juices dribbling out one side. The way the stiffened side of his face resisted when he tried to open his mouth so he couldn’t stretch his jaws more than a thumb’s width. Every bite was a labor that made him feel like a monster. He hadn’t spoken since the incident.

Bernad touched the withered side of his face. It was dry and stiff under his fingers. It didn’t hurt. It had never really hurt. In a way, it would have been better if it had. Instead, it was as if the Beetch girl had punched him in the face, and for a flash of a moment, he had felt what it was to die. Then he had felt his face crumple up like an earthworm dropped into a flame. He shuddered.

No one had talked about it around him, how he had been hurt, the unnatural horror of it. Or how it had even happened: no one knew. Even the Doc had looked away before stepping back to exchange murmured words with Mam.

Soolie Beetch. He wanted to scream at her, he wanted to make her look at what she had done to him before he broke her face. He wanted to never see her again. He wanted… A pang of shameful regret twinged in his heart like an infected hangnail. He snarled and stuffed it down with resentment and self-pity. His life was ruined.

Why should he get out of bed?

Hobby and Kip hadn’t come to visit. Not even to gawk, point, laugh. Not even to throw things at his bedroom window. Not that he would have responded.

Not even Winny would pay attention to him now. He’d had a real shot with her before.

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