Fallout Dreams

ava 07

police, animal control, caution tape, reporters, question after question, belligerent ex, gary's stoic brothers and sobbing father; "i gotta get out of here," miava pleaded, and friends came to the rescue.

gari-jean escorted the twins to nolan's car and promised they'd be safe at the tri-delt sorority house.

the prospect of new friends vanquished mia's fear of wild animals and replaced it with the fear of looking like a wild animal. her cellphone served as a mirror as she applied makeup to make it look as if she'd been awake for an hour instead of a day.

ava was just glad to get away from the curly-haired bastard who creeped her address and showed up uninvited.

they arrived fifteen minutes later.

ava felt like succubus in the sorority house with macabre black hair and gagging contempt for masquerades. the triple-triangle insignia garnished every opulent fixture in the plush mansion from the marble fireplace and candelabras to the entryway keystones and gari-jean's ankle. a life-size statue of a warthog... baby-blue couches with tall backs... a room-sized oriental rug... ava half expected marie antoinette to emerge with her pastel-pleated entourage fanning themselves in corsets and feathered hats. instead, she was greeted by a cult of gari-jean lookalikes fixated through fake eyelashes and faker tears on the massive flatscreen at the heart of the grandiose living room. (ava watched wonderment blossom across her sister's fancy face as she ogled every detail. this is what mia always wanted, she thought. and i ruined it.)

a round of hushes spread through the girls as the the morning news resumed. a female anchor spoke in front of a picture of the lane's house.

"disturbing evidence of an animal attack was discovered at six-thirty this morning in the woodland outskirts of goshen. the victim was twenty-year-old gary marsh, a junior studying agriculture at the university of arkansas. friends of gary say the boy may have been inebriated when he wandered into the woods alone around midnight last thursday. police say they're still searching, but they're not hopeful."

the blond congregation sucked the air from the room with a collective gasp.

it wasn't the phrase "not hopeful" that broke ava's heart, but the tears welling in nolan's eyes.

all at once, every yellow head and mascaraed eye turned to the twins.

"is that really your house?"

"did you see it happen?"

"what were gary's last words?"

mia ratcheted up the waterworks and answered every question with practiced grace.

after several minutes, nolan touched her shoulder. "hey, i think i need to get outta here."

without looking, she raised her pointer to say, "one more minute," then continued to bask in the praise of false concern.

ava leaned toward nolan and said, "my sister can be cold."

he shook his head. "it's not that she's cold, it's that she pretends to be warm."

suddenly, gari-jean pushed herself onto the back of the bronze warthog, stretched her arms, and shushed the masses. "it's been a strange morning, sisters," she began, "but tri-delts don't let tragedy stop them from marching forward! my new friend wants to join our ranks next year. her name is mia lane and she just announced she'll be throwing THE PARTY OF THE SEMESTER in gary's honor! eight o'clock saturday. the very same house where gary lost his life!"

* * *

that night, the speakers let mia play her shitty music for the very first time.

shredded caution tape thrashed outside the front window like arms of a dying spider. out back, flashlights continued to probe the woods, their sporadic glow illuminating lacy bits of foliage like foxfire.