Comorbidities by James C. Harberson III

Author:James C. Harberson III
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Markosia Enterprises Ltd
Published: 2022-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

It was a week ago when things got real and unreal at the same time.

I heard them when I walked into the living room.

It felt like a garden, except no flowers grew there. They stood in vases and were replaced every three days. Live plants were too unruly, inefficient. Which was just like Miranda. Everything nailed down. Even the nails. Ironically, or maybe because of that, she was also beautiful chaos. And I always knew, even when I asked her to marry me, that she’d never be sated by me, or, honestly, any three people. So, when I found her spreadeagled on our couch fucking somebody else, I wasn’t exactly surprised. What did surprise me was that that someone else was Malcolm. She was his lawyer, which is why she’s on me about ethics. Lawyers aren’t supposed to fuck their clients. Still, he’s a seducer. It’s part of his success. And I imagine one night they were reviewing documents and she probably asked him a question and he replied that, whatever the answer, he was pretty sure he’d find it in her pussy.

Miranda didn’t see me till I stumbled backward, accidentally disturbing a vase, which smashed and spilled the flowers it held. Knowing Miranda was unruly didn’t make the betrayal any easier. Of course, Miranda might argue it wasn’t a betrayal at all, since I knew going in this was possible.

“Ajax—I—I—”

Her eyes rolled back. Aneurysm.

I went into shock. Malcolm called 911. They couldn’t help her.

Malcolm and I haven’t spoken since.

Chapter 5

Bebe spoke from my fireplace mantle. Her head fit snugly upon it. Her body sat on the couch, naked. I tried quite hard to ignore her still-undeniable beauty. Beside her sat Elle, also naked, also magnificent, also decapitated. Elle’s head sat beside Bebe’s. They were professional lovers and business partners.

“I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“All of it. I mean, we’re dead, but I can still do this. Bebe’s body rose and approached the fireplace. She turned her head towards Elle’s, then Elle’s towards hers. They kissed.

Konrad rose. “Maybe this afterlife thing isn’t so bad.” Elle and Bebe, still kissing, flipped him off.

Bebe then turned her head towards me. Elle chewed on her ear.

“I mean, I love camming, I love cosplay, I love—”

Ben: “Present tense.”

“Huh?”

“You’re still using present tense, and it doesn’t make sense, but it does. Everything is present tense. Forever.” He put his head in his hands. His intestines again came free.

Bebe continued. “I’m dead, right?”

“Legally. Clinically. Corporeally.”

Elle stopped chewing. “Don’t blame Beeb. She’s always the valedictorian. But, that said, your answer doesn’t feel like an answer.”

“You’re dead and you’re not dead. Like Schrödinger’s cat.”

Phyllis smiled. “But you’re only as dead as you feel.”

Bebe smiled. “I don’t feel dead.”

Ben, again: “I feel pretty fucking dead.” He smiled. “Can you get me reincarnated?”

***

The car cost as much as much as keeping Fluxe in his body for the last year. It pulled up before a Rodeo Drive jeweler where three armed guards protected a quarter billion dollars’ inventory. Zoe Fluxe wore a dress of diamonds spun into platinum.

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