Page 15 of Whiskey Shivers

“Truth be told, I’m going a little crazy around the house. I understand why you wanted me to have some cool-down period, but I was ready to come back to work Monday after… well, after…” I played it cool, acting like I was more bothered about the whole thing than I could honestly say that I was. I lived in a secret world steeped in fuckin’ violence. Nothing honestly surprised me anymore. The only thing that especially bothered me about this whole thing was how badly it’d affect Cor… but me? I could compartmentalize that shit just fine.

Still, the rest of the world expected me to be some kind of traumatized, so traumatized I would be. Seemed to me like it was somehow becoming chic to be some kind of fucked up; and to be honest, while I’d never begrudge a person their feelings on any given subject, there were a lot of people out there that didn’t know the first fuckin’ thing about what being traumatized really meant.

I mean, you didn’t see or hear me whinin’ or cryin’ about seein’ my daddy shot in front of me. Dyin’ in my fourteen-year-old arms over a dispute over his latest batch of shine.

Tell you what though, where the law’d failed my pops? I hadn’t. And those motherfuckers ain’t seen my eighteen-year-old self comin’. Their bones still rested up in some remote holler of the Smokies and I slept just fuckin’ fine about it. Still, I missed my pops every damn fuckin’ day.

“You know it’s okay to not be okay, don’t you, Mike?” Mrs. Donal asked quietly, and I smiled at her.

“Oh, I know it. I just find it helps to keep busy. I’m just tryin’notto tear into another room of my house that don’t need it. Been tinkerin’ out in the garage some, but this place gives me purpose. Y’know?”

“Well, if you’re ready, far be it from me to stop you coming back, now,” she said.

“Actually, that’s only partially why I’m here,” I told her.

“Oh?” She settled back in her seat. Mrs. Donal was a grand old lady, her short, iron-gray hair perfectly coifed and she always wore an impeccable and professional skirt suits that reminded me of the same sort of thing the principles in my school wore whenIwas a kid. Like there was some sort of dress code or some shit, unspoken throughout the land. I don’t know… still, she looked on at me with some interest from behind her rimless glasses as I pulled my phone from my back pocket and I cued up one of the two videos that’d I’d recorded for Corliss.

My voice emanated from the small screen,“Okay, it’s rolling – you can say what you want.”

Mrs. Donal’s smile was both sad and amused as she listened to my Fable say how much she missed everyone and how very sorry she couldn’t be with them. She also lit up when Cor mentioned she would record a second video for the students to tell them how much she loved and missed them all and how she would work hard to return very soon but that it would be awhile. The first video was the truth, the second was a kinder and gentler thing to let the school know that she was alright and would see everyone as soon as she could.

“That was very sweet of her,” she said, handing the phone back to me. “Very kind of you to have been to see her, Mike… although I know an ICU when I see one.” She winked at me.

“Yeah, well, I had to see for myself, you know?”

Mrs. Donal gave me a look over the rim of her glasses and said gently and so very kindly, “You know she’s engaged, right?”

I smiled. “I do.” Then the lie slipped out nice and easy, “Nice guy.”

She smiled and seemed to relax some, and I said, “We’re just friends. Got some things in common and she’s easy to talk to. I’m… I’m glad no one holds it against me, me comin’ unglued on that feller. I mean, I didn’t know he wasn’t a real student when I did and… I just couldn’t fathom anybody hurting Miss Legare like that.”

“It’s alright, Mike. I can’t imagine seeing something like that myself. I’m glad you were there to save her life.”

I nodded and said, “You want I should email these to you?”

“Yes, please.”

We went through all that stupid shit and I effectively dismissed myself. Good deed done for the day, I took myself back to the hospital.

CHAPTERNINE

Corliss…

“The hospital says I could come home in a few days, so I need some clothes. I’m sorry to bother you but…”

“Yeah, no, babe, it’s no bother! I’ve got most of my afternoon clear. I’ll bring them right now.”

“You’re sure?” I asked.

“Yeah, yeah! I’m sure. I’m glad you’re feeling better. I bet you’re ready to come home.”

“Honestly, I just want to shower in my own shower,” I said.

“I bet. Do you want anything specific?”

I gripped the phone just a little bit tighter and thought to myself just howweirdit was that Mark was all of a sudden being nice. Attentive even… I’d had more than a few suspicions already. He hadn’t visited me at all while I’d been in ICU except for the one time, and he’d only been once or twice since I’d been discharged from ICU into a regular room, each time for a maximum of ten to fifteen minutes. Like he couldn’twaitto get out of here. That led me to be suspicious it was because he had someone else that he was more interested in being with out there. I didn’t have any other evidence, mind you, but I just knew in my gut, it was more than just not liking hospitals.

After almost two weeks in here, I was so ready to go home, but I was also extremely nervous about it. I mean, there was no way I was in any shape to take care of myself, not with the broken clavicle and my arm in a sling. Doctors warned me it could take up toten weeksfor the bone to heal and I would be in the sling a minimum of eight of them.

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