The Fall by Jeff Bowles

Author:Jeff Bowles [Bowles, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: God Machine Publishing
Published: 2019-06-14T06:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

The she-monster that emerged from the black blood swamp had no name, and it kind of bummed her out. She knew she was a monster, in both the physical and metaphysical sense, because the first thing she saw was her gangly, blackened body dripping with gore. She breathed in, breathed out. It hurt worse than any pain she’d ever felt.

Pain …

Pain …

Actually, she couldn’t recall much pain. She remembered kissing Danny Blake in first grade, as well as the startling realization puppy dogs exploded when they get hit by cars. Boys and girls expected different things from life, and death was bullshit, freakish, and not at all recommended.

That’s it. That’s all her mind would allow.

Oh, wait! Yes, she also remembered that Satan, the Prince of Darkness, had dressed up like a teenage girl and had asked her, right before things went black a while, “Are you my baby?”

Now that was an odd question for him to ask, wasn’t it? Not as odd as a question as, Hey, yeah, am I Satan’s baby? but still, pretty fucking odd.

The black blood swamp was a horrible place, because it contained all sorts of tall ruined buildings and people dying everywhere. The she-monster had been in a dank old cavern, then it went black a while, then she popped up …

Here?

Where was here?

It was a narrow two-lane avenue with a median full of nasty rotten palms. Tons of decayed little shops with nice cars slammed right through them. The she-monster found herself wading through the crosswalk. Black blood churned and glugged and splashed at her swaying breasts. The blood had recently been much higher, she saw. The greasy, red high-water mark edged the tops of street lights tall like needling licorice. On the corner of the street, a corroded road sign grew like wheat from a large pile of meat. One side read, BRIGHTON W. The other side read, RODEO DR.

Hmm.

Rodeo?

Like with cowboys and clowns? And broncos thrashing round till your body broke in half?

Or was she perhaps misreading it entirely?

Perhaps the sign was an advertisement for a rodeo doctor. Dr. Rodeo? The she-monster didn’t think that was right. Usually she was smarter than this. A thought popped in her head that made her freeze in place and thumb her nose.

Dead.

She was supposed to be dead.

Wait, was that right? She was supposed to be dead?

It was a huge deal if she was. Might be good to bring to someone’s attention. Let’s go find somebody, she thought. A nice police officer, lawyer, or friendly politician, so we can straighten this out right away. The monster waded a block or two, then she decided to go into the store called Gucci.

Gucci? How do you pronounce that? Gucky? Goosey? Wow, she had no idea. The She-monster stumbled and lurched for the big red door like a bright bursting Christmas present. As she reached for the handle, the metal melted and slicked her blackened stump-fingered feelers with molten iron. Holy cow!

Maybe she should go through the glass?

Um, yeah. You should probably just go through the glass.

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