Read Online Disconnection by Erin Samiloglu - Free Book Online Page A

eight.
What a bunch of losers
, Sela thought. It always amazed her some people could take heavy issues like murder—serial murders, for Pete’s sake—so casually.
    Suddenly exhausted, Sela grabbed a nearby milk crate and turned it over, using it for a seat. She rested her head in her hands. Dean had worn her out last night, in more ways than one. Sela smiled to herself.
But what a wonderful way to tire
.
    Sela lost herself in the sweetness of her solitude.
It’s nice to be alone, if only for a minute
. Most of the time, coming outside to the back of the café only meant more conversation. Kitchen workers usually waited by the back door, feeding their expensive nicotine habit as they voiced their gripes (poor salary, injuries, cheating girlfriend, broken-down car) to whoever would listen.
    But
, thought Sela,
there is no one here now. I am alone now. Deliciously alone
.
    Or, she thought she was alone.
    She was not prepared for the hand that reached around her shoulder from behind, grabbing hold of her arm.
    Sela stood and turned around quickly, knocking over the milk crate in her haste. A shaggy bearded man
(he’s gonna kill me good God he’s gonna kill me)
held her flesh in a tight grip.
    Sela reeled at his appearance. Red and blue veins popped from his forehead, wrinkles lined every decomposing curve of his face. His eyes were pale green, like the color of mucus. His mouth opened and closed with silent laughter, revealing stubby diseased teeth and black gums. His breath reeked of dead animals and decaying earth.
    The day darkened under the man’s appearance. Clouds rolled over the sky and the city began to die in silence. Sela stared hopelessly into the eyes of her captor.
    The man before Sela was a monster. When she looked more closely at him, she saw snakes were slithering upways and downways, sideways and longways along the breadth of his skin.
    He wants to kill me
.
    Quick, nauseating repulsion rose in Sela. “What do you want?” she whispered as she worked at swallowing the hot saliva that had risen in her throat.
“What do you want?”
    “Are you saved?”
the man asked.
    Sela struggled to free herself as she watched the snakes feed on one another, their tongues darting out and rising from the old man’s skin, pushing in, pushing out, slime to slime in hungry reptilian ropes. Sela thought she was going to faint—either faint or die, and she wasn’t sure if fainting was the better option. “Let go of me,” she tried to say, but it sounded more like,
“Le gaf me.”
    The man’s grip only tightened.
    He’s going to kill me this lunatic monster…
    His smile broadened, and out came a worm from his tongue. Snail shells peeled apart from his black gums and fell, shattering to the ground.
    The man whispered in a hoarse, sinister voice,
“They’ll find you if you’re unclean. The time for the redeemer is at hand. The fish is hooked. They bring you to God if God can’t come to you.”
    And then he let go.
    His abrupt release caught Sela off guard. She stumbled backward, barely able to catch herself before falling. Quickly she regained her balance.
    The time for the redeemer is at hand
.
    Sela shivered. Her hand reached up to where the man had touched her. Her arm was burning from his grip. Sela clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut as she ran inside and made her way to the bar. She could hear the man behind her, his echoing laughter ringing like gothic church bells.
    When Sela opened her eyes again, she saw her boss—rickety old Frank, hard as nails on the outside, sweet as pumpkin pie inside—within the kitchen, sampling Carlos the Chef’s coconut cake.
    “Frank,” Sela called, her voice trembling.
    Frank looked up from the cake. His expression tightened with concern. Sela had never needed him for anything. She had worked at the diner so long, she had almost become self-sufficient. Frank let go of the fork in his hand and walked up to her.
    “Everything okay, Sela?” he asked, his meaty