The Map to You by Lindy Zart

Author:Lindy Zart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2017-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

7

Blake

Opal is a being of constant movement, whether it’s her hands or her feet; some part of her is always in motion. The only time I’ve seen her perfectly still was last night while she slept. She looked peaceful in my arms, calm in a way conscious Opal never is. It felt nice, holding her like that. As I unlock the shed door, she shifts and fidgets with restless energy, bumping into me once.

“Are there zombies locked up in there?”

“What?” I ask.

“I saw a zombie once.” Opal runs a finger down the length of the white metal siding as she continues. “It was this guy at a hospital I worked at for three days.”

I glance at her as I pocket the key. “Why were you only there for three days?”

She shrugs and turns her head to the side. “I decided I didn’t like the area. Anyway. I know he was a zombie because he died, and then he came back to life with red eyes and sores all over his face.”

I want to ask her if she’s ever just stopped moving, just stayed in one place long enough to make it hers. She grew up not having that, and to her, it’s normal to be untethered. I always claim to want the same, but I think, under the right circumstances, I’d want something different. With the right person, I’d want more. Some kind of permanence in a world without much of it.

Opal says, “I asked him his name and he said, ‘Brain.’”

“Are you sure he didn’t say, ‘Brian?’”

“Pretty sure. Do you think there might be some in there?”

I give her a sidelong look. “Not that I am aware of.”

Opal grins, her eyes twinkling. “So there’s a chance?”

“There’s also a chance you’ll stop telling outrageous stories, but I find it unlikely.”

Her husky laughter slides down my back like nails dipped in lust.

I grab hold of the door and pull. It groans, shudders, and finally gives in, swinging open to show darkness and dust. The air is thick and hot from being trapped inside the sturdy walls for too long. I don’t even know the last time I was in here. Every time I was, I saw my grandpa’s unrealized dream. Like the pond out back, this too is a reality he never got to witness in its completion. I finished the pond; I couldn’t bear to do the same for this.

“My grandpa had a lot of ideas,” I explain as I step into the large space. I look behind me, thinking Opal is there, but she isn’t. “No zombies,” I confirm with a touch of exasperation.

She pops inside, immediately going still. And then she’s walking, turning this way and that, drinking up everything she can see. Soaking it up with her animated, imaginative brain.

“Wow.” Awe resonates through that single word.

Moving to the wall, I flip on the lights. They’re fluorescent, and it takes them a minute to heat up from where they rest along the high, vaulted ceiling. They flicker on, one at a time, bringing the interior of the large building into better sight.

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