by Eli Constant
“Yeah, sure.”
“Don’t put it off, Tori. It’s important.”
“I know. Look, I already spoke with him after you left to help Mikey.” I change the subject. “How’s he doing anyways?”
“Mad at himself mostly and still worried I’m going to can him.”
“I mean, no one would blame you if you did, Kyle. He did get drunk while at work.”
“You don’t understand the circumstances, Tori. It was a hard day for him.”
I wait for more of an explanation, but he doesn’t give one. “Well, it’s your bar and you’re his boss. I know he seems like a nice enough guy.”
“He is.” Kyle’s voice is firm.
“I’m headed home from the coffee shop now. I had breakfast with Mr. Barrington.” I’m a huge fan of the subject change.
“How’s he doing?” Kyle seems relieved, too, that I’ve switched topics.
“As well as you’d expect.” I can’t keep sadness from tainting my words.
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose a kid.”
“You and me both.” I sigh. I hate that I don’t know what to do. That I don’t know what my next step is. I need to call Terrance. I know I do, but I hate taking away his day off. He needs it and I’m sure his family needs it also. “So I’ll see you at home later?” Now when I change the subject, it’s to change the one in my head and not the one in our conversation.
“Yeah, probably after closing though. I don’t think Mikey should be alone here, at least for the next few days.”
“Okay, see you then. Maybe we can order some food? I’m craving Chinese.”
“You’re always craving Chinese.”
We laugh because it’s true. I am always craving Chinese, but this time, I want to order from my favorite restaurant for another reason. Even at this moment, I’m resisting calling Mei and making sure she’s okay. I can’t get Doctor Sherwin’s expression out of my mind, the way he’d looked when he’d first seen her. The glassiness of his eyes. I realize that it was… need that I saw there.
Maybe I’d text her when I got home. Just to make sure she got back to her parent’s restaurant okay.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
I do text Mei as soon as I get home. Her response is ‘Um… are you sure you’re okay today? You’re acting strange’.
But I don’t care that she thinks I’m being weird—even though the sting of Andrea’s jab is still there, below the surface of my skin—I’m just glad she answers.
The sun is going down and I’m making a sandwich for dinner when Liam joins me in the kitchen, having obviously entered his preferable way, through the bedroom window. He’s closed it this time at least, blocking out the chilly wind.
“Liam, I’d really prefer it if you’d knock. And use the front door.” I motion at the entrance with the butter knife I’m holding, still coated with jam.
“Romeo came to Juliet via the window. If it’s good enough for Shakespeare...” He shrugs nonchalantly.
He’s standing beside me now and I elbow him in the stomach gently. He feigns that it hurts. We smile. “The difference is, Liam, that we’re neither lovers nor living out a play that ends in both main characters dying.”
“We could change that.” He edges closer, teasingly.
It’s all a bit too chummy-chummy for our own goods. I’m with Kyle. I’m with Kyle. Should those words have to be repeated over and over again in my head? No, they shouldn’t. If you’re with someone and you love them, then you shouldn’t have to keep reminding yourself of that fact. Dammit. I was up the tunnel of love, in a boat with two guys, and no end in sight. I bet they were even both expecting smooches at some point. In the dark, no-holds-barred, lip locking.
And you know what was the worst part?
I’d totally kiss them both. Me, the girl who claims to be monogamous, who was once engaged to the best guy on the planet and couldn’t imagine ever loving someone else.
I make Liam a sandwich also, without asking. He takes it with a ‘thanks’ even though I can tell from his expression that he’s less-than-fond of peanut butter and jelly. We sit at the table in companionable silence—me eating and Liam just sitting there looking out the window, seeing nothing because it is all but pitch black out now, his sandwich untouched in front of him.
Periodically, I pick up my phone and check it. No one’s called, of course, and I resist the urge to text Mei yet again.
“You do remember that you can just check on her with your power now, don’t you?”
I jump; Liam interrupting the silence is startling. I guess I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts. “Oh, yeah, of course. It’s just habitual to use a phone, you know?”
“Sure, I understand.” He’s smirking though, obviously reading my thoughts and knowing that I’ve totally forgotten about the whole ‘tasted her blood, keep track of her safety’ thing.
“Seriously, I’m just used to using a phone.”
His smile only widens.
“Oh, shut up, Liam.” But I’m smiling also; I can’t help it.
Closing my eyes, I reach for her with my mind, I remember her blood, I follow the taste and feel of it across the miles.
She’s standing in her parent’s restaurant, wiping her brow with a white towel as she stirs fried rice in a giant wok. She huffs as the rice spills over the lip of the cookware. “Dad, when are you going to hire a new sous chef? Ping’s been gone for over a month and you can’t handle this all week when I’m not here.”
Her father responds in Chinese and I can tell by his tone that he’s berating her for not speaking in their native tongue as well. He does speak English, and rather well too, but he prefers Chinese when it’s just him and the family. I get that. He wants to keep his history and culture alive.
Mei responds in Chinese too and I pick up a few words here and there. It’s a shame I’ve never learned, especially since I’ve been her friend for so long.
“She’s safe,” I say as I pull back from her blood and rejoin Liam at the table.
“Good.”
I go to take a bite of sandwich, but then I feel a little fluttering in my chest, like an old fashioned alarm clock ringing loudly. The kind with two bells on the top that vibrates against tables as they sound. I slap my right hand over where my heart resides in my body and my eyes go wide. “God, that’s weird.”
“What?” Liam focuses on me, his eyes closing slightly. “Oh,” he says, surprised “I thought you said Mei was doing fine?”
“She is. I mean she was. What do you mean?”
“That feeling… that means that someone you care about, someone whose blood you tasted, is alarmed or scared. It could be surprise too though. Whatever they’re feeling, it’s enough to set off your blood senses.”
I close my eyes again, frantically reaching for Mei. I see her again, but this time she’s standing at the front desk taking someone’s order. Her voice is strange, distant. I force a change of perspective so that I’m looking at her back instead of her face. I peer around her, to the owner of the voice that’s asking for a special number 3.
It’s Doctor Sherwin. He’s being charming, disarmingly so, but I can feel Mei’s discomfort. Her intuition is saying that something’s wrong. Just like mine is.
“You’re a very beautiful girl, Mei,” Doctor Sherwin says as he hands over his card.
“Thank you,” Mei mumbles mechanically, processing the payment.
“Have you worked here long?” Doctor Sherwin takes back the card, sliding it into a brown leather wallet embossed with his initials.
“Yes,” Mei says simply, offering no further information.
“I saw a car outside with one of the college’s student passes on it. Is that yours?”
She nods and now her intuition is screaming at her. I can feel it, racing through her blood and making my pulse speed. “Yes, I started there in the Fall. I’m a bit of a… late bloomer I guess.”
“That’s a good school. My niece was there last year.
Her name’s Karen. Did you happen to know her?”
Mei shakes her head ‘no’.
“Well, that’s a shame. I’ve a feeling you two would have been thick as thieves.”
“Is that all for you today?” Mei asks, a quivering in her voice that only someone really listening would notice. Doctor Sherwin is too wrapped up in his assessment of her to realize she’s scared. The look in his eyes is back, that glassy insatiable need.
The restaurant phone rings. Mei’s father is yelling Chinese shortly after the ringing dies. Then Mei’s mother is yelling, in English though and at Mei. “Mei, that boy just called again. You tell him that when you are at work, it is not social hour!”
Mei doesn’t respond, but I can feel her body wilt a little. She knows she needs to tell them that Dean is more than a friend, but she also isn’t ready to face the backlash.
“Special guy in your life your parents don’t approve of?” Doctor Sherwin is smiling and I think it’s meant to look sympathetic. “I’ve been there. My mother hated my first wife.”
“Dean’s just a friend,” Mei mumbles. “It’ll take about ten minutes to put together your food, if you’d like to have a seat.” She motions to the booths and tables. Her discomfort is beyond tangible now. It’s a choking sensation in my throat.
“Wonderful, that’s not long at all.” Doctor Sherwin winks at Mei. “I suppose I’ll need to tip you.”
“No, that’s not necessary.”
“Nonsense,” he says, pulling out his wallet once more and taking out a hundred this time. He stuffs it into the glass jar to the right of the register. The writing on it would have been cultural appropriation anywhere else, but here it just makes sense. “Tipping is not a country in China.” Sherwin laughs throatily when he reads the words out loud and then he’s turning and walking towards one of the chairs in the corner of the restaurant.
When he sits, he makes sure to position his body so that he can watch Mei. She’s not made a move for the money he’s put in the jar. I can feel she doesn’t want it.
I try to stand in my kitchen, still blinded with my eyes closed and my mind on Mei. I knock over my chair as I walk, fumbling towards where I know the coat rack and the door is. I half-hear Liam move behind me, but the sound is not important. Only focusing on Mei is important. I need to get to her.
“Tori, you can’t be in two places at once. You have to let go of her.”
“No,” I murmur, my voice sounding disembodied. “I need to watch what happens. I need to see.”
“Fine,” Liam says and his hands lift my hands to set against his shoulders. He’s in front of me with his back my direction. “Hold onto me. We’ll go together and I’ll drive.”
I nod, but the action feels even stranger than my speech sounded. It’s surreal, to see one thing, but be living another.
Making our way down the stairs is awkward. I feel like I am standing in one place, like I am just behind Mei, but I know that I’m really just behind Liam and he is trying to lead me down the stairs without me falling and breaking my neck.
When he touches my head, I know we are outside and he is lowering me so that I can move to sit on the passenger seat of the black business sedan.
In the faraway corner of my mind, I hear the car crank and I feel it begin to move.
But I only have eyes for Doctor Sherwin and Mei.
He’s taking his bag of takeout now, smiling and saying goodbye to Mei. Her body is relaxing, fraction by fraction, as he moves to walk out the door. When he is out of the building, I hear her breathing change. She’s glad he’s gone.
“Mei, delivery order ready!” Her mother’s voice calls from the back. Her mother is not so strict about using Chinese at home.
“Coming!” Mei calls back. She looks towards the front of the restaurant once more; making sure Doctor Sherwin isn’t coming back. The front windows have green and gold oriental-print window treatments and she can’t see the parking lot. I can’t either. I wish I could though, the lot would be bright and visible by the yellow glows from the tall lamps.
He has to be gone though. He already has a victim he hasn’t gotten rid of. He’s not ready for another girl. He can’t be.
“Ugh, not them again.” Mei groans, reading the delivery ticket. “They order so much and then tip me nothing.”
“Just do your job, Mei. You get paid more than most delivery drivers.” Her mother waves her off with a quick flap of her hand.
“You don’t even pay me minimum wage.” Mei protests, but it’s halfhearted. I know she’s had this whole wage conversation with her mom before and she’s never going to win the day over it, so she just lets it go. “Be back in about twenty.”
Her mom doesn’t respond. I would have, had I been the mother and this was my daughter. I would have told her to drive safe. I would have said I love you.
But nothing bad’s going to happen, I mentally urge, so she can hug her daughter when she returns.
“Liam, where are we? How much further?” I expel the words, and it’s still like speaking through a cloud.
“Two more blocks.”
“We’re not going to get there before she leaves.”
Mei is getting in her car. She’s set the delivery food on the seat next to her and even buckled it up so it won’t fall over. She told me a while back that she’d learned her lesson back in high school, when she’d dumped nearly a gallon of hot and sour soup all over her little Honda, to always secure the food. The Honda’s long gone, but I bet the smell is still there, to plague whatever poor sap bought it.
“She’s pulling away from the restaurant.”
“I see her.” Liam responds. My body feels the turning of the vehicle and the sensation is so very odd, because Mei is also turning her vehicle out of the parking lot. The actions are almost synchronized, but not. It nearly leaves me nauseous.
“Wait.” My physical body lifts my left arm and slams my hand into Liam’s chest. I feel the car roll to a stop. My ethereal self, the blood self that is hanging onto Mei’s every move, changes perspective so that I can see through the rear window.
He’s there. I’d seen the bright white car, just the glimpse of it, in the rear view mirror, but I hadn’t been sure. Now I am.
“He’s following her, Liam.”
“I see him.”
“Hold back, let him go first. If we stop him now, he’s going to go home, fly away with his wife, and he won’t get caught. He’ll get away with killing four people.”
Liam sounds uncertain. “You want to use Mei as bait?”
When he says it like that, says the blatant truth of it, my nausea increases. “Oh my God, no. Fuck.” The shock I feel at even thinking of doing something so awful loosens my hold on Mei’s blood and I fall back into the full reality of my body. “Dammit, I’ve lost her.”
“Just take a deep breath and refocus. Or,” Liam points, “look ahead with your physical eyes.”
I do and there I see Doctor Sherwin’s Mercedes following Mei’s delivery vehicle. He’s staying several car lengths behind. She has to have noticed him. Anyone would have noticed him.
Pushing hard, with all the power I can muster, I reach for her blood again. Thankfully, the memory of it is still fresh that I am rocketed forward until my mind is once again in the car near her.
She’s turned the radio on, nineties pre-war classics. And she’s singing, loudly and off key. So carefree, so alive, so close to a serial killer. Come on, Mei. Look in your mirrors. See him behind you. I urge her without words and I know she will not hear me. She won’t look in the mirrors, not for a long time yet. I remember taking driver’s ed with her. She failed twice.
“She’s getting ready to turn,” Liam says, his voice once again flowing to me through thick air. I don’t need him to tell me though; I can see that she’s activated her blinker. Even that little bit of traffic safety is a one in a thousand chance of Mei doing.
I see the road sign as she turns. And it’s not good. The road goes in a wide ‘C’ to
rejoin the main drag. It’s about ten miles long and there are no street lights. It’s also not well traveled and I’m worried that it’s going to be a hell of a lot more obvious that we’re following Doctor Sherwin… following Mei.
“Liam, do you think you can keep up on foot?” I’m back in the seat beside him, watching with eyes through windshield. I feel spent, like the magic inside of me is waning. I didn’t know that could happen.
“Tracking people is taxing. I’m surprised you’ve been strong enough to last this long,” Liam answers my unspoken question. “And, yes, I can keep up on foot.” Before I can tell him to, he turns onto Briar Road, headlights off, and he pulls over to the roadside, so far over that the car is angled towards the ditch. The door is open and he is gone in a flash, my mouth hanging upon to tell him to keep me informed.
I can hear his car. I’ll be in seeing distance in a moment.
Thank you, Liam.
He doesn’t respond. I push up the middle arm rest and slide across the now flat surface of the front seat. Liam’s left the car running and I shift into drive. I’m far enough behind now, I can drive and not be seen.
Or do I back up and wait at the other end of the road?
The other end of the road, I decide, shifting down from drive to reverse. No one’s on the main road and I flip my lights on so I can see and not miss the opposite end of Briar Road.
Can you see him yet?
No. Liam’s voice sounds frustrated.
You have to be close, Liam. You said you could keep up.
I can keep up, dammit. Tori, everything’s dark. You need to listen for her. Where is Mei, Tori?
I close my eyes and call on the power, but it is a thin, flighty thread. It is a bird’s fluttering heartbeat, in the last throes of death. I push and I push and I force the failing heart forward. And I see Mei, for a brief second, slumped against the body of Doctor Sherwin. She’s being carried to his car, which has slammed into the back of Mei’s delivery vehicle and pushed her into the ditch. He’s still on the road though.
And he can pull out quickly to drive.
His lights are off too. The white car should be bright against the darkness of the night, but it’s not. Because the moon is still a sliver in the sky that is suffocated by the snowy clouds above.