Violent Souls by Byron Bartlett

Violent Souls by Byron Bartlett

Author:Byron Bartlett [Bartlett, Byron]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781647041083
Publisher: Bublish, Inc.
Published: 2020-05-23T20:41:48+00:00


CHAPTER 23

AUNTIE BELLE’S HOUSE

Belle sets the kettle in the red-eye. It’s an older model, analog. She stands back when she turns it on—the older models had a tendency to spray the beam when they started up. Getting hit by a stray redeye was painful and scarring. There was rust on the bottom which flaked off every time the door closed. The legs on it cracked and broke years ago, so she had it set on a pile of metal sheets, enough to keep it from scorching the floor. It takes a second. There’s a bright yellow glow which shines through, since the door isn’t flush.

Side note: they were called “redeyes” as a slang term. Funco Concern Inc. used esnes as the testers. They ended up blind, the light burning their retinas, leaving them a dark red color. On a positive note, the esnes were given five Funco Polyblend Coats as a settlement. Unfortunately, there were six of them. But, as the arbitrator said when the esnes complained, “Them’s the breaks.”

Belle retrieves the kettle and pours the piping hot capulusno into a plain black mug. She then opens the andeleof and grabs a carton of beost. She screws the light blue cap off and takes a sniff. It’s a bit past its date, but the taste of the capulusno will cover it up. Well, that and the whiskey she adds. Belle adds a generous amount of whiskey.

She limps over to her comfy and well-worn kitanda. It has a perfect groove that wraps around her butt like a bird’s nest around its eggs.

“Project, Game Channel,” she orders, and the silver box in the front of the worker’s room starts whirring. Light flickers from the top, then steadies. A green-colored word appears above it: Loading. There’s a green light on the silver box which blinks rapidly to indicate the CPU is still working and not stuck.

Belle is sipping her capulusno, careful not to burn her tongue. An arm’s length away from her is a blue humidifier, about three feet tall. Belle developed BHD (Burt-Hogg-Dube) four years ago. It was part of what drove her into retirement. The disease is manageable, thanks to medicine she mixes into the humidifier. When it was at full power, and properly mixed, the mist from it was light pink and in the air for an hour, waiting to be sucked in. Now it is spitting out a yellowish-brown mist, meaning it needs a refill of medicine.

Belle groans as she gets up and walks to a silver armari, which holds five bottles of whiskey and one bottle of medicine. She pulls out the white bottle. It’s very light. She opens it and looks inside. There’s nothing but a couple of drops.

Belle makes her way to the kuoga locus . She flips on a light and out of the corner of her eye, sees a furry visitor scurry into a hole in the wall.

“Don’t run off, Valence.”

The visitor sticks its twitching nose out of the hole. When it recognizes the scent, it comes back out.



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