Comfortable Madness First PDF 4-13-18

The Beginning of the End
The bar was closed and empty. It was quiet and dark and
warm as a wish. None of the little lamps on the tables burned. Neon
signs turned the walls blue and red and green. Track lights glowed
in strips on the ceiling.
Angie paid me a hundred bucks to clean the place three
times a week. I stacked chairs and pushed a heavy mop around the
room. Little steps. Music in my head. It was a narrow little dance. I
washed glasses and wiped things down. All in all, it took two
hours. Two hours of quiet and time alone.
Angie worked in her office, doing receipts and all the
paperwork that kept the place running. Sometimes Tayla came
with me, but tonight, tonight I was alone. Kind of.
Gid came and went like a bruise. He hid in the bathroom,
sometimes the storage room. He whispered promises, but it didn’t
matter. I wasn’t talking to him. I had things on my mind and they
were none of his business.
“You can’t ignore me forever,” he said.
I turned away.
“Everywhere you go,” he said, “I’ll be there.”
My hands gripped the mop handle too tight. My knuckles
popped, and my fingertips turned white.
“We’re tied together,” he said. “Forever.”
I spun too fast and slipped a little on the wet floor. I didn’t
fall but I looked ridiculous.
“Show me,” I snarled.
He backed away.
“Do it,” I said. “Your face. Show me.”
He held up his hands.
“What’re you afraid of?” I asked. “If you’re real, if any of
this means shit, show me. Show me! Goddammit it! Show me.”
Something shifted. I saw an eye. I saw a forehead’s dome. I
saw him fade a little. I stopped.