The Great Unknowable End by Kathryn Ormsbee

Author:Kathryn Ormsbee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

16

Stella

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10

Kim drives through the downpour, toward Red Sun.

“Shit, shit, shit,” she says—one long, sibilant string. “I don’t even know if it’s going to wash off. Stell, can you tell? Is it eating away at the car? Is it staining the paint, can you see?”

I find this funny, though not the kind of funny I would ever laugh about. It’s only that Kim seems more fixated on the state of her car than the fact that we are driving through blood rain.

Though . . . I cannot be sure it is blood, and I cannot tell if it is doing permanent damage to Kim’s Gremlin. All I can do is stare, mesmerized, as bright red liquid runs down the hatchback window. The car is a two-seater, so I sit on the rear floorboard, jammed next to Galliard’s bicycle. We could barely close the hatchback with just the one bike, so Kim begged her Ferrell’s friend, Janet, for some utility rope to secure my bike to the roof rack. Now I am thinking we should have strapped both bicycles topside. A pedal is rammed against my back, and since there’s no room for me to readjust, I can only wince through the pain.

“Sure you want to be let out in this?” Kim asks Galliard, even though she already asked him three minutes ago, when he first requested to be driven back to Red Sun. Now we are pulling into the Moonglow Café’s empty parking lot.

“It’s almost curfew,” Galliard tells Kim. “I’ve got to get in there.”

“Sure, okay, but don’t you think staying alive is more important than beating curfew?”

“It’ll be fine. It’s not like it’s acid.”

“Blood,” says Kim. “It’s blood.”

“No, it’s not.” Galliard sounds impatient, and I am annoyed that I cannot make out his face from the back seat. I only catch angles of his chin and cheeks in the rearview mirror.

I am about to tell him he should stay in the car, and we should wait it out. I do not get the chance. Without warning, he throws open the passenger door and steps into the rain. Kim doesn’t scream at him. Neither of us does; I think we’re too stunned. We both watch in hushed suspense as Galliard straightens to full height. He turns his face to the sky and opens his mouth. This, at last, solicits a response from us.

“The fuck, man!” Kim shouts, as I simultaneously yell, “Don’t!”

Galliard closes up his mouth. He pauses, assessing, then speaks. “It’s just water. Water that’s red.”

“Or it’s arsenic,” I say. “Or some tasteless toxin. You wouldn’t know the difference.”

“It’s water.” He moves around back and opens the hatchback.

Kim shrieks. “No sir! No sir! Don’t drip that fucking freaky rain in here.”

“It’s water,” Galliard growls, reaching in and hauling out his bike. I help, shoving at the front wheel.

“My baby,” Kim mutters, shuddering as Galliard brings the bike down in a less-than-gentle descent. “My poor baby.”

I start to laugh. I can’t help myself; this is what That Stella would do.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.