PART 2 • EPISODE 2
by Jonathan Shepherd
Jenna put the last plate in the cupboard. After surveying the apartment,
and being sure everything was in its place, she lit the fat, coconut
scented candle in the middle of the coffee table and sat on the couch.
Would Tanya still feel comfortable here after all this time? She craved
the sharp taste of vodka in her throat because she knew that wasn’t the
only difficult question on her mind.
“You’re worrying over nothing…” she muttered to herself, picking up the
remote and then setting it back down, thinking better of the distraction
television would bring. She knew they had been friends for a while, and
had trusted one another. Surely Tanya would understand.
Her busy mind snapped to the present when the chime sounded that someone
was coming to the apartment. She fixed her hair and stood up, wringing
her hands. How many nights had they sat here together, drinking tea and
speculating about what was really going on in the world, what would
become of them, where they were going with their lives? They talked
about all the questions of life and philosophy and laughed into the wee
hours, sure the whole time the certainty that they were friends would
keep them going.
That all seemed light years ago now, Jenna was sure she’d never felt so
frightened and alone as in this moment waiting for the apartment door to
open.
And when the click of the mag-lock announced the opening of the door,
Jenna was surprised to see Edward.
“Well hello there,” he said, “Tanya couldn’t make the trip by herself,
doctors orders… I think she’s going to be glad to be home, but she’ll
need some rest.”
Tanya was behind him in the hall, dressed in denim and cotton, her hair
framing her round freckled face. She moved slowly, cautiously, and gave
only the slightest smile of acknowledgement to Jenna.
“She’s not much one for talking, either.” Said Edward, “I’m hoping it
won’t be long before she’ll be back to playing chess, though. I’m
getting rusty and I can’t ever seem to beat my computer anymore.”
They laughed nervously and Edward went into the bedroom to put away
Tanya’s bag. Jenna looked at Tanya, noticing that she’d become a bit
skinnier, and then looked down to the floor.
Edward walked back into the room, stood in the doorway and clapped his
hands together. “Well,” he said, “I guess you ladies have some catching
up to do. I know Tanya’s going to be fine. Being back home will help her
get her bearings. Let me know if you need anything, okay?”
Tanya nodded, and Jenna went to him and gave him a big hug. He walked
out of the apartment without much fanfare, but looked over his shoulder
to Jenna as he left, knowing this would be hard for her.
Tanya walked behind the bar into the kitchen, pulled a tumbler out of
the cabinet, and poured herself some filtered water from the sink. She
drank it down slowly, then stood there, looking at Jenna for several
heartbeats.
“How are you feeling? Really… are you feeling better?” Jenna finally
broke the silence.
“I’m surprised, quite frankly, that you’re here.” Tanya’s voice was a
bit broken from the long lack of speaking.
“Wha… of course I’m… what do you mean?”
“I just figured you’d have been scared to see me, knowing you.”
Jenna looked down again at the floor, and realized at once how awkward
just standing here in the middle of the living room was, like being
naked in a dream before a crowd. She swallowed down the ice cube of
tears that was trying to claw its way out of her trachea and said
quietly, “You’re right. Scared. But not so scared I wouldn’t be here for
my friend…”
Tanya smiled for a moment, and then it melted away to emotionless stone.
“Friend. Right. I thought your best friend was Russian and made from
potatoes.”
Jenna felt like she’d been slapped. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. Just- while they were torturing me and stripping me of hope
and dignity I can remember wondering the whole time just how much vodka
was in your blood the night they took me…”
“Tanya… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean… I was trying to get the information we
needed to stop them!”
“The information? Don’t you think eventually what I kept seeing would
have become more clear? How did you know I wasn’t already on the verge
of seeing that the crash was past and not future? You know, I left the
apartment to find you- to tell you I’d figured something out. But you
were gone, and I was easy, distracted prey for them.”
Jenna tensed the muscles in her back trying to fight back anger and
sorrow and tears. Her lips trembled and she sputtered, unable to
articulate the words that were stabbing her mind.
“Anyway, though,” Tanya continued, calmly, her voice growing stronger,
“perhaps it was for the best. I feel stronger now. I know it was luck
that kept me alive, not my… friends. It all has more focus now. I mean,
really, there’s no reason for us to all keep going on like this now, is
there? The menace is has been averted… the cause has been justified…
with whatever casualties we must accept. Nothing holding us together
anymore. No more obligations. I figure you’d like that- now you can go
on about your life without worrying that you owe anybody a goddamn
thing, right?”
“T-Tanya… it’s not like that. It was a mistake, I know… but I had no way
of knowing they were watching… I don’t know… I’m so sorry…”
“Sorry? Sorry. Yes, I suppose you are. I’m sorry too, Jenna. I’m sorry
that I placed so much trust in a group of people who’d sooner leave me
for dead than even try to find out what had happened. Did you really
think they’d kill me? We speculated that we were uncovering a source of
evil that was unfathomable and we were right. I wish they’d killed me,
to be honest. It would have been quicker. Now I have to live with
memories that no human being should have to endure. All because you had
to have just one more… one more. You should be happy now, though- you
can go and drink yourself into a coma now and it won’t affect anybody
but you. That’s who you really care about most, right?”
Jenna looked around her and clutched at her abdomen- sweat appeared on
her upper lip and mixed with the salt of tears that had begun streaming
down her cheeks. “I-I’d better go…”
“…have a drink? Sure. That’ll make it all better won’t it? Anesthetize
yourself so you won’t have to face anything. At least this time it won’t
kill anybody, right? Except maybe you, if you’re lucky.”
Jenna stumbled like she’d been punched in the stomach… she grabbed for
her bag and went quickly to the door, it felt like there were weights on
her ankles.
Tanya stared ahead into space, drank another sip of her water, and let
the other woman fumble with the locks. The door slammed and the silence
of the apartment was broken only by the sobs coming from the hallway.
She glanced over at the candle on the coffee table and watched it
flicker for a moment before shooting a thought in its direction,
extinguishing it. The carbon smoke snaked delicately to the ceiling
until the red ember of the wick finally went black. A smile crept across
her face; the beings that were now Tanya shuddered with ecstasy as they
drank in the suffering they had caused and her eyes silvered over like
chrome.
