The Reject: Your demons held you when no one would. by Lewis Eldrik

Author:Lewis, Eldrik
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unclean Souls
Published: 2023-01-21T00:00:00+00:00

SATURDAY JANUARY 10TH 2015

Morning mist wrapped around the campus, turning buildings into gray hulks of threatening stone. Even the birds were silent, only the stillness of plants and the sleeping earth sounding in the dark places. Gliding through the shimmering mist, Cesare made his way across the grass to Elizabeth’s shack.

It hadn’t changed, but it had only been a few weeks. Years had passed to the flesh he called home. They'd known right where to put the daggers, going for crippling cuts, knowing exactly how to maim. For all that, he stood looking at the shack, willing to give her another chance and desperately hoping she’d give him one.

Sighing, he walked lightly across the inset paving stones, careful of the winter flowers poking their heads above the grass. Traceries of steam rose from slick shingles, the rising sun turning them golden with the first rays of dawn. It wasn’t much to look at from the outside, but as he pushed open the door, a flood of memories came to him. Deception turned gold memories into tinfoil and glue, mockeries of the treasures he’d thought they were.

The room was a discarded corpse, its soul gone elsewhere, leaving it a dissected, lifeless thing. Cesare set about getting the pellet stove fired up. Oregon wasn’t the coldest place he’d been, but it wasn’t warm, and there was no telling when Elizabeth would show up. He’d rather be working next to a warm fire, then bouncing around the rib cage of a cold corpse, unwelcome and out of place.

He was sweeping when she opened the door. Hesitating on the threshold, she mastered herself quickly. They'd made up as best they could, but it was little more than a Band-Aid across a torn jugular. Jeans tight in the hips and thighs, hugged her figure with the ease of worked in denim. A forest green sweater wrapped her body in soft folds that blurred hard edges.

“We need to get the gardens ready for spring planting. The weeds shouldn’t be bad, but I want to look over the beds and see what needs to be done. Getting new soil down before the weather changes should be a priority,” Elizabeth said, voice carrying through the small room.

Cesare loaded the cursed wheelbarrow while Elizabeth picked over the tools Cesare had laid out. After this long together, they didn't need to talk about what they were doing. Silence enfolded them like an old friend, equal parts loved and hated, speaking of what had been and everything lost. It was an echo reaching into the future, tainted with the easy companionship they’d thrown away, edged with the bitter reality of the knives they’d butchered their friendship with.

Hefting the bags of soil wasn’t any easier than it had been the first day. The ends came down and slapped across yellowed bruises that ran over his chest and arms. Despite his hate for the unholy bags, he welcomed the work. No one was counting on him here, all he had to do was sweat and hurt.

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