Skitter: A Love Story
Skitter: A Love Story
It was really quite by accident she met him. She had been wallowing in her pity patty thoughts all day. So far away from home now sitting in the shadows of her one room apartment. The smoke from her cigarette languidly making spirals up in the air. Her nostrils were so dry from the air conditioner she thought all the nose hairs would just break off and she would inhale them. I'd probably get some kind of pulmonary embolism too. She thought. It was nearing five o' clock and nothing seemed to excite her anymore. The landlord had come by earlier knocking on her door rather harshly.
Rap rap rap! Rap Rap rap!! Rap Rap Rap!!!
Go Away she thought. I don't have your money. She sensed movement out of the corner of her eye.
Skitter skitter skitter. Squish!!!
She raised her fist from the table. Yuck. Damn Roaches. A big one this time. Fuck. She got up rather slowly and made her way to the recliner sitting in front of her little 9" B & W television. Gotta clean this dead thing off my hand she reminded herself. She went to her little bathroom. If you could call it one. It was more like a closet with the clothes hangar bar removed. There was a toilet and a small stand-only shower crammed into the corner. No carpet. No porcelain tile. Just cheap manual labor.
Ahhh ... the water felt invigorating. She used a lot of antibacterial soap. Maybe too much because she couldn't stand cockroaches. They'd be one of the only things left after a Nuclear Holocaust? Poor things. Doomed to wander this planet. I guess this is their hell then. She thought. Looking in the mirror she knew she truly needed a shower. Her hair was a damned mess. She was a tattered old lady. "Old?" she thought. She quietly laughed a soft chuckle. She was only 28 but felt 40. Working at those drive-up dry cleaners had been taking it's toll on her. She did it all for so little. Her only bragging rights were the CD's she had amassed and nothing else. After washing her hands there came a soft rap at the door.
"Yeah!" she said loudly enough for whoever it was outside to hear.
"Autumn!" a feminine voice came through the cracks around the door. "Let me in! I heard about the bullshit that happened today!"
Damn sam does everyone know my business around here? She thought.
"Hold on." she replied carefully closing the bathroom door. If you closed it too hard it would just fall off. She opened the door to find her neighbor there. Her neighbor Amy Knights, a short blond adult dancer, stood there looking concerned.
"Damn girl. You look just fucked up!" Amy said as she pushed her taut young body past Autumn. Damn nineteen years old and a stripper! What a life. "Okay tell me from the start what happened."
Amy settled into the recliner after shutting off the 9" B & W. More cockroaches appeared out of the television grills. Not big ones but small ones. They seemed to have lost interest with what was going on in the television and now were listening in on them. Their little antennas waved madly back and forth communicating telepathic messages.
"Shit! Girl you gotta get this fucking place bombed." Amy said pulling up her legs onto the recliner. "Ok."
What had happened at work was Autumn who seldom missed work at the most two times was fired. That really wasn't the problem. The problem was the management who seemed like part of the good-ol-boy network seemed to be shocked that a transsexual like Autumn was working for them. Horrified. Mortified. "Holyshit! We gotta fire this thing!" Kind of response. The manager who seemed nice most of the time had pulled her aside in more or less words asked her to cut her hair. They wanted a boy. The same exact words that she'd always hear from her mother and father when they'd get in one of their drunken belligerent moods.
"Hey you alright?" Amy asked noticing that Autumn began to twitch rather violently. Suddenly she fell on the floor and began convulsing. All Autumn knew is that she heard echoes of Amy's voice and then saw lights and halos. That was it.
"Autumn can you hear me?" A light was flashing in her eye's. She felt so tired and just wanted to go to sleep. Who were these people and where did they come from? "Autumn! Autumn! Were going to the hospital ok? She felt herself being lifted onto a rolling gurney. The B & W was in the background of the cacophony of medical terminology.
Skitter skitter skitter.
The din faded as Amy hopped into the Ambulance and held Autumns hand. Her soft blond hair reflecting the placid, cold fluorescent light. It looked green. Amy's pleasant demeanor shone through. Her hand felt warn and soothing. She was giving Autumn life. Great the dancing ditz is saving me Autumn thought.
"Amy what happened? Why is my mouth hurting?" Autumn couldn't remember anything for the life of her. It was very disorienting and strange. Almost dreamlike.
"You had a seizure honey. Your okay now. We're just going to get you checked out okay? Amy said as the Ambulance began to bounce and jostle along the road.
28 year old Native American Female LOC times 1, temp 98.9, BP 129/78, resps 20, laceration to the right buccal area ...the voice on the radio seemed so far away as Autumn slipped into a somber sleep.
© 2007 Tyrene Banks