Burnout

by Taryn Eason

  I turned around. “You did this on purpose, didn't you? You set him up to come look at the lotuses.”

  “Guilty. But I told you I'd find you a job that you loved doing. And one that pays well, too.”

  I stared down at the official check for $22,000. I had never had so much money before. I was finally safe to be on my own. As much as I cared for Lye, I didn't want to have to trust him to take care of me forever. This was my safety net in case something ever went wrong. With my track record, I was afraid that it was bound to, eventually.

  But life was going so well at the moment that I had repressed any looming threats in order to stay in the present. Things were finally looking up. Delilah and I were on good terms, and Lye was doing better than ever. I had almost forgotten that there was anything bad threatening to break loose.

  Until the day Lye left.

  I felt shuffling and I opened my eyes. It was still dark outside. I could see Lye getting dressed by the light of the bedside lamp. He had on a black hoodie and I saw him in his closet, fiddling in his gun cabinet. I watched him slip a gun into his pocket, and another into a holster on his ankle.

  “Where are you going?” I asked, sitting up.

  “Nowhere, babe. Just go back to sleep.” He said gently.

  “No, something’s wrong. Please tell me what you're doing.” It was 4 am and I was already wide awake.

  He came over to me. He had a black backpack slung over his shoulder. “I can't tell you that, but I'll be back soon.” He kissed me gently and turned to leave.

  I sensed the fear in his voice and my stomach knotted. “No, please don't leave. Let me at least come with you!” I pleaded.

  “I'm sorry,” He breathed calmly as he shut the door.

  I rushed out of the bed and tried to stop him, but he had already left, speeding out of the driveway in a hurry. I sat back down on the bed, uselessly crying and praying, for the first time in a while, that he was going to be okay.

  My mind kept wandering to whatever dark creatures from his past that he was confronting. Why did he need a gun? Why couldn't he tell me where he was going? Why did he sound so uncertain that he would be back?

  The next two days were filled with my anxiously running to the window at every car that passed and working at random hours around the clock on my projects.

  I had just finished up my 1 am molding session when I heard the front door open.

  I stood up and ran inside, where I heard coughing.

  Lye collapsed onto a kitchen chair, blood running down his face from a gash in his forehead. His nose was purple and swelling.

  “What happened to you?” I asked shakily.

  He wouldn't look me in the eyes. “I'm sorry.” He whispered breathlessly. Tears were mixing with the blood on his face.

  I looked at his hands. His knuckles were bloody from fighting. My own hands lit up. “Lye, you can not leave for two days with no explanation, show up looking like this, and not tell me a damn thing. You better start talking, now.”

  “I couldn't save you!” He shouted suddenly, scaring me. “I tried. I was in Chicago talking with them, but they still want you dead.”

  The Glitch. The Glitch still wanted me dead. Lye was the bravest and strongest and most charismatic person I knew. But even he couldn't stop an entire gang.

  I looked at how broken he was. He did all of this for me. “Why didn't you take me with you? I could have helped you!”

  “Maybelle, they want to kill you. Pierre didn't give a shit about Colt, but he heard about what you can do and he's terrified of the fact that you even exist. He thinks it's dangerous for you to be alive. I tried to fix it. I tried. But he has it in his head that he wants to play God. He wouldn't even listen to me.”

  “Why is he so afraid of me?” I asked. “How does he even know that Colt wasn't a fluke?”

  “Apparently he’s been doing his research on the area because of Colt. He has eyes everywhere in the police force. They found a sample of your blood from the night of the greenhouse fire, the night when you met Colt. He had the police send it to one of his labs to test it. He doesn't even know who you are, but he’s convinced you aren't human. He’s crazy. He thinks you’re a demon who is targeting his guys. I couldn't get him to see reason. I think all the drugs he’s done have messed with his head. I'm so sorry Maybelle. The second they see us together, they'll send someone to kill us both.”

  From what I knew about Pierre Destrehan, he terrified me. How could you enlist your teenage daughter and her boyfriend into your drug ring? How could you ruin so many lives? From what Lye had told me, Pierre wasn't just a drug lord. He had made his fortune and rose to power by being a world-class hit man. Thankfully, he was a lot older now, but that just meant he had the opportunity to train others to do his job for him.

  I didn't reply. I was still in shock. I walked to the bathroom and dampened a towel. I returned, slipped down to the floor on my knees, and began wordlessly cleaning Lye’s wounds. I cleaned the blood from his face and added a bandage to his forehead, then leaned down to kiss him. “I'm just glad you're okay.” I said finally.

  He leaned forward and hugged me tightly. I never wanted this life to end.

  So the next week passed and I had sold another piece for $34,000. I let Lye make the deal online, since I didn’t leave the house at all. He was healing well though, with only slight bruising left around his eyes.

  Lye was at work when my phone started buzzing. It was a call from a blocked number. I was fearful, but I still decided to answer just in case.

  “Maybelle, I miss you. Please come home.” My mother whined.

  “Why would I do that after everything you've done?”

  “Because I was afraid of you. You're so much like your father and I've always held it against you. I didn't love you as much as your sister because of him.”

  It was obvious she was drunk. She probably had a few extra glasses of wine than usual before bed.

  “But you love Dad, don't you?”

  I could hear her sobbing on the other line. “I never loved your father, Maybelle, I just wanted to be comfortable.”

  I rolled my eyes and sighed. I had far too many problems to deal with this one too. “Why did you call me?”

  “Well I just-”

  “No, better question. What do you want from me?”

  “I just want my daughter back. I'm so lonely here without you girls. Delilah is too busy to talk to me. Calling you was the only thing I could think of that would make me feel better.”

  “Then could you do me a favor?”

  “What is it, sweetie?”

  “Hang up the phone and never call me again.” I said stoically.

  She sniffled. “Why?”

  “Because you should have learned by now. I'm not a second option or a replacement for Delilah. Go bother Dad with your shit and leave me alone.”

  I hung up as my eyes welled up, but I quickly realized it wasn't worth it and dried them. My mother wasn't anything like my father. She had at least tried to be a good parent. But that's just the thing. Choosing a parent to like shouldn't have to be like picking the best of two evils. I shouldn't have to settle for a parent that doesn't love me unconditionally.

  For the first time in my life, I was able to stand on my own. I had money in the bank. My sculptures were picking up so much popularity that I had enough requests to last the next year at least. Plus I had Lye backing me up, and even before we were together, he had struggled to teach me my own self worth. I knew that, even if the Glitch showed up tomorrow, or whatever else the future held, I still had right now.

  And my right now was pretty good.

  Chapter 22

  Lye shook me awake. “Get up, Maybelle, we have to go now.”

  I opened my eyes and looked around. Except for the bed and the chest-of-drawers, all of our belongings were gone. “Wait, what? What's going on?”

  “I don't have time to explain. Just put these on and get in your car and follow me.” There was a shirt
and pair of jeans lying at the foot of the bed.

  “Where’s all our stuff?”

  “Already gone. Hurry, babe.”

  I dressed myself and sat down in my car. Lye’s Audi was parked at the edge of the driveway in front of me. He began rolling as soon as I started my car. I hastily followed, yawning.

  Once we were about ten minutes out of the city, he called me.

  “Lye, where are we going?”

  “Someone from the Glitch found out we were staying together, and are sending someone, so we have to leave.”

  “You couldn't at least warn me first? Or let me help with moving?”

  “Nah, I had people who did that for me. I was planning on letting you sleep until morning, then I found out they were already on their way over.”

  “Wait, they were on their way to our house?”

  “Yeah. They're probably already there now.”

  I lost my breath. That was too close for comfort. Were we actually on the run now? Was this really my life?

  “How do they not know our cars, Lye?”

  “I changed the plates on them last night. I'm probably trading my Audi in when we get there as well. Your car isn't in your name, so we shouldn't have a problem with keeping yours.”

  It was crazy how well he thought things through. “So, um, where exactly is there?”

  I heard him laugh over the line. “That's a surprise.”

  After driving two and a half hours non stop, we came upon a gated community in a suburb of Indianapolis. The houses were large and lavish, even more than I was used to growing up. Lye pulled into a long concrete driveway and into a garage, past a bubbling water fountain. I stared at the columns on the front of the three-story house in awe.

  We drove side-by-side into a spacious garage and then shut the doors behind us.

  I was looking around when I noticed Lye stepping out of his car with an extravagant smile on his face. “Surprise!” He said.

  “Lye, this place is gorgeous! Did you actually buy this?”

  “Yeah, I bought it for us.” He wrapped his arms around my waist. “There’s only one tiny catch.”

  I looked at him suspiciously. “What is it?”

  “Go look on the kitchen counter.”

  I walked inside to a fully furnished and decorated house. I knew Lye hired a decorator because there was no way he came up with any of the designs on his own. I wondered how long he had been working on this.

  I entered the kitchen and saw a manila envelope sitting on the marble countertop, along with two jewelry boxes, one red and one black.

  I opened the red box and was greeted by a giant diamond ring. It was the largest diamond I had ever seen up close, and it was flawless. There was a smaller interlocking diamond band behind it. Inside the other box was a plain black men’s ring.

  “Look at the papers before you get the wrong idea.” He said, embarrassed by the wide-eyed expression I was giving him.

  I opened the envelope and two driver’s licenses fell out. One had my own picture on it, taken straight from my actual driver’s license. “Rivera, Sara E” was written on it. The other had Lye’s face and “Rivera, Victor C” on it.

  I turned towards him and compared the picture to his face, where he was nervously awaiting my reaction. “Rivera? That's kind of a… racial name isn't it? You're not even Latino.”

  He smiled. “I could pass, right? I'm pretty sure I'm the only Indian around here. Pretending I'm something else might help our chances of not being found.”

  I looked at my own license. “So why’s my name just ‘Sara’?”

  “Because I'm a second-generation Mexican immigrant who is living off his father’s oil money and you're my young white trophy wife, obviously.”

  I laughed. “You've thought this through, haven't you?”

  “I have.” He said sheepishly. Then he took the red box. “So without further ado,” he bent down on one knee and opened the box as I laughed, blushing. “Will you be my fake wife?”

  I pulled the rings out and slipped them over my finger. It was a perfect fit. “Of course, my fake husband!” I replied dramatically, sitting on his knee and kissing him. “So, where’s the honeymoon?”

  “Once you see our bedroom, you won't even want one.” He replied jokingly, slipping on his own wedding band. I felt incredibly immature for how excited I was at the sight of him wearing one. We had only been dating for two months, so it was way too early for actual wedding rings, but the sight of the one weighing down my left hand almost made me wish it was real.

  “Oh my God.” I said, taking in the sight of the master suite. “You weren't joking, were you?”

  “Yeah, I kind of went overboard on choosing my own dream house.”

  “It's perfect.” I replied, falling down onto the giant bed. “I couldn't imagine staying anywhere better.”

  “Me either.” He laid down beside me and laced his fingers with mine.

  “This isn't a real diamond, is it?” I said, staring at my ring. I knew the answer already, I just wanted to confirm.

  “Of course it is. Four carats of it. Do you like it?” He fiddled with it on my hand proudly.

  “Lye, you could have bought a house with this. Why would you spend so much money on a fake engagement ring?”

  He looked down and stared at it wistfully. “Everything is so crazy right now. I don't know what tomorrow will even be like. I wanted the experience of buying the perfect fake engagement ring, just in case I never get the chance to buy the real thing.”

  I pulled my hand away. “Don't talk like that. We’ll be fine, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  I heard the doorbell ring and I tensed up. Lye bravely got up to answer it and I followed.

  A balding middle aged man in khaki shorts and a tan brunette in her mid twenties were at the door.

  “Hi! My name is Dan Eagle, this is my wife Megan.” He shook Lye's hand firmly. “We saw we had new neighbors and we just wanted to welcome you two to the neighborhood.”

  “Thank you two” Lye responded. “I'm Vic, and this is my wife Sara.”

  Megan shook my hand. “Wow, you are so pretty.” She stared at the rock on my finger. “What is your secret to looking so young?”

  “I'm actually only eighteen.” I replied, kicking myself for not lying.

  Dan whistled and nudged Lye. “Woah, you must like them young, right?”

  He gave me a side-hug and kissed me on the head. “Just this one.”

  “Awe, you two are so cute!” Megan gushed.

  Lye invited them inside and we mingled. Megan was kind of an airhead, but she was an incredibly nice person. Dan was a real estate mogul in the area and he and Lye discussed investments over a beer on the back patio. It was the stereotypical suburban gathering, but I was thankful for finally having another girl to talk to.

  We all became friends in the following weeks. Dan and Lye hit it off well, but so did Megan and I, since she also had no friends in the area before marrying Dan. All the other wives in the neighborhood were so old and boring, according to her.

  “Vic looks like such a bad boy. Is that why you married him? To piss off your parents? Cause I would. You did well, girl.” Megan said one evening, sipping on a margarita by the pool.

  I thought back to how we had met. I figured it would be fun to incorporate parts of it into my story, but then I quickly decided against it. “I was seventeen and I met him at a party. I lied and told him I was eighteen already. He had no idea of anything different until he surprised me at my doorstep… and my dad answered.”

  Megan laughed. “I met Dan when I was in college and he was still with his first wife. They weren’t together for very much longer after that.” She joked pridefully.

  “I was still in high school and I remember Vic furiously apologizing like ‘No, I'm so sorry! Please don't have me arrested!’” I imitated dramatically.

  We laughed. “Do your parents still care about the age difference?”

  “Not really.�
� I replied. “They were more concerned with the tattoos than the age thing. What about yours?” Dan was twenty four years older than Megan.

  “I mean, they wish he was younger, but they always knew that I had expensive tastes and that guys my age couldn't really provide for me like I wanted. I feel like they knew it was coming.” She idly played with the salt around her glass with her finger.

  Vic and Don were playing pool inside, probably having a similar conversation.

  I hated lying, but our identities weren't safe. I couldn't shake the feeling that this was all so temporary. The house, the friends, Lye. All temporary. The way Lye talked about the connections that the Glitch had, we couldn't keep this up much longer. So every margarita, every barbecue here was met with a bittersweet emptiness that none of it was real.

  Apparently Pierre himself had recently paid a visit to Lye’s parents’ house and tried to figure out where we were hiding. I imagined them kindly explaining to him how the Reeki worked, unknowingly dooming me further once he discovered how he could get powers of his own. I remembered the few tv interviews I did a while back with Delilah and wondered when someone would recognize the connection. I treasured every day I could spend with Lye, because I knew Pierre was closing in on us, and fast.

  Chapter 23

  We continued with our fake lives like normal until a Tuesday in November, when Lye began acting strange. He tried to hide it, but I knew him far too well. I attempted to coax him into telling me what was wrong, but nothing worked. He wouldn't leave the house, not even to go to the store, plus he avoided eye contact with me and elected to distance himself from me whenever possible.

  After his second day of near-silence, he cancelled our plans with Don and Megan without telling me first. I was so confused by his actions. Why was he avoiding me? Had I done something wrong that made him unhappy?

  My stomach sank as the thought of him breaking up with me swam across my mind. What if he just stopped caring about me?

  What if he had started doing drugs again?

  I saw him walk down the hallway into the kitchen, so I stood and followed him, deciding to confront him. I took a deep breath and spoke.