Page 36 of Ripple Effect, Vol. 3

“I never lied.”

“Her real name is Natalie, right?” Her eyes are on me, but I don’t bother to answer or look at her, until she reaches out to the window beside her and I glance over, as she places her fingertip to a snowflake that dissolves against the glass. “They’re fractals. Did you know that?”

“What?”

“Snowflakes. If you were to magnify them, you’d find an exact replica of the larger object. They’re mathematical curves. It’s like peering into infinity. A unique little bit of infinity that melts so quickly.” With a sigh, she rests her head against the seat. “Just goes to show you how the universe works. Beautiful pieces of forever that have no stability to last.”

She’s smart, talking in some kind of poetic tongue that takes something shitty and turns it into what makes more sense to her.

We shouldn’t have become what we are.

I turn onto a side street, where I park alongside the curb, and she lifts her head, looking around, undoubtedly aware of where we’ve arrived.

“What are we doing here?”

“You’re going to show me where you watched me.”

Her eyes immediately dart somewhere beyond me, and I follow the path of her gaze toward the building behind me. “What for?”

“I want to check it out.” I climb out of the car and round the vehicle, opening the door for her. “Where’d you watch me from?”

Dylan stares down at her hands and raises her head slightly, pointing to the window where the glass is busted out, the room inside, dark and haunting. “Third floor. Second window from the street. Why is this important?”

I take her hand, leading her into the apartment building where the smell of piss instantly assaults my nose. Up the crumbling cement stairs, we reach the third floor, and I let her guide me to the apartment.

She comes to a halt in front of a faded brown door where one of the gold numbers has cracked away, leaving a half zero and its shadowed black mark on the wood panel. Giving a twist of the doorknob, she takes a step back. “It’s locked.”

With a furtive glance, I look around and slam my boot into the door, busting it open to a dark entryway inside. A blast of cold air rushes past as I step in front of Dylan and lift my gun. The blinking signs from the alley provide just enough light to make out each empty room, until we reach the source of cold air.

A soft glow illuminates the room, and I glance up to see the white Christmas lights above me. Twisting around, I catch Dylan lowering her hand from the switch and turn my attention back toward the two mattresses on the floor, where dirty afghans lay half-covering the faded flower sheets beneath.

Simple, like my own room.

“You slept here?”

“Yeah.” She crosses the dull, hardwood floor, peering out of the window, and her gaze falls toward something below. When she lifts it up, I can see it’s an empty bullet casing that she stares down at long enough to make me question its significance.

I step over an empty bottle of Jack Daniels, and as I approach, she shoves the bullet casing into her pocket, for whatever reason. “Why keep it?”

She shrugs, turning back toward the window. “Sometimes you have to be reminded of where you come from, right?”

The diner stands off at the end of the alleyway and the image in my head of her sitting at the window, watching me from her lonely little room, leaves a cold and empty ache in my gut. “C’mon. Let’s go.”

* * *

The diner lights up the entire block as we stroll up the sidewalk to the front, and I pause at the door, looking back down a dark alley between an old machine shop and the dilapidated apartment building we’d just left. No shadows trail our steps, no tingling at the back of my neck that tells me someone is watching.

All is quiet.

I lead Dylan to my usual seat just as Alice strolls up with a smile on her face. “What a pleasant surprise. Who’s this pretty lady?”

“Dylan,” I answer for her.

“And what can I get for you, Dylan?”

She orders fish and chips and I order the same, catching a slight pep in Alice’s step as she walks away.

“Why did you bring me here?” Dylan turns to face me, and I notice tears welling in her eyes. “Is this more of your torture? Giving me a piece of yourself so you can tear it away?”