Read Online Obscura Burning by Suzanne van Rooyen - Free Book Online

reverse.
    “Told her we were holding a memorial.”
    “Really? What did she say?”
    “Nothing. I didn’t hang around. That woman scares me.” I pull out, and there’s an ominous crunch of metal.
    “Fuck, Kyle. You hit someone.” Danny’s hanging out the window. “Hey, you OK?”
    A familiar voice spits curses at us. I groan.
    “You gonna go sort it out or what?” Danny punches my shoulder.
    Of all the people I could’ve hit, I ram into Mya. Her bumper’s toast, and her right headlight is busted.
    “I’m really sorry.” I slam my hands into my denim pockets, so sick of saying those words.
    Mya fumes, her face twisted up in rage. She looks about ready to tear my eyes out.
    “You’ll pay for this.”
    I want to say it’s her fault for driving around in some ridiculous paper-thin European car, but I smile instead. “Do you like my sombrero?”
    She doesn’t respond. A vein thumps beneath the skin at her temple, and her mouth hangs open a little.
    “See you at the dance, Mya.” I tip my hat at her and get back in the truck. I pull forward, reverse at an angle and manage to scrape past her, only just missing a side mirror.
    She’s raging at me, but I ignore her and drive out of the lot grinning.
    “ Qué demonios, Kyle?” Danny gawks at me. “Why you being a dick?”
    “She’s a prissy little cow.” And does it even matter when I’ll wake up tomorrow in a different world?
    “Sometimes it’s like I don’t even know who you are anymore.” He shakes his head. “You never used to be such a jerk . ”
    “She knows where to find me. I’ll pay for the damages.”
    We drive in silence for a while, chewing dust that blows in through the window, squinting out over the parched landscape. Again, I consider telling Danny about my double life, but the words get snarled up in my throat. There’s tension between us, like Danny’s waiting for something from me; the perfect moment to start talking.
    “So…” Danny starts, and my moment’s lost. “A termite walks into a bar and says, hey, where’s the bar tender?”
     
    * * *
     
     
    Hector bids me adios , leaving me outside the kitchen with several large garbage bags. A cool breeze blows hair across my face. I stink of cheese and beans.
    Footsteps crunch across the gravel parking lot, down the narrow path that runs around the back. I dismiss whoever’s there as some hungry passerby. I’m hauling bags, letting them crash into the Dumpster. One splits its seam and I’m showered in leftover burrito.
    “This him?” a guy asks. In the dark I can’t see his face, and I don’t recognize his voice. There are four guys standing in a semicircle around me. They don’t look friendly and my palms start sweating.
    “Yeah, that’s the pendejo who hit my car.” Mya’s standing in the shadow. I can only just make out the figure down the path, but it’s her voice all right.
    “Hey, I said I was sorry. I’ll pay for the damages.” I raise my hands. Four against one isn’t exactly fair.
    “Yeah, you’ll pay for sure.”
    They rush me and I manage to get in a few blows. I recognize lanky Nicholas from the basketball courts right before he punches me in the mouth.
    If I didn’t have a cracked rib, I’d have lasted longer. It doesn’t take long before they overwhelm me. I’m down on the ground trying to shield my left side, dark faces glowering at me.
    “That’s enough, Benny. Kill him and who’s gonna pay?”
    I should’ve known her brother wouldn’t be dead in this life. Through a swollen eye, I see Mya walk over, hips wiggling side to side. I sure as hell am not going to pay now.
    “ Mula ,” she says by way of final insult, and spits, just missing my face in the dark.
    They saunter away, laughing. I roll onto my back, trying to take short, shallow breaths, but the pain in my chest is excruciating. Close my eyes, fall asleep, wake up, and the pain’ll be gone, at least for a while.
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Danny’s dead
     
    Sunlight