When Life Turned Purple (12 page)

“Also,” said Russ, “you know about all those martial weapons, like what you talked about before.”

Edison smiled. “Those were Japanese weapons. I’m Chinese.”

“Oh,” said Russ. “Sorry.”

Evan slapped his palm down on the table and turned to Russ. “I can’t believe it—my heart’s beloved being micro-aggressed by my own brother.”

“Suck it up,” said Russ.

Edison chuckled. “It’s okay,” she said. “It’s the ‘Me Chinese, me play joke’ rhyme that really gets to me.”

“Ingrained racism,” said Evan. “It’s the reason why I never let a Chinese person hand me a Coke.”

Edison elbowed Evan in the ribs.

Evan grunted and sprawled over the table as if wounded. “Urgh,” he grunted. “And I thought you girls were supposed to be so cute and docile.”

“I think I’m still cute,” said Edison. Then she turned to Lia and said, “Anyway, back to you, Lia.”

Lia smiled.

“My situation was still different than your situation,” said Edison.               “There was nothing wrong with my looks. My mom validated me and gave me good, sensible advice. But at least you came to some good healthy habits because of your experience.”

Lia nodded. “Yeah, that’s true. I really learned a lot and my health is better off for it.” Then Lia took a shaky breath and said, “But it wasn’t just that, there was other stuff, too. It was always one thing after another.”

Russ frowned. Lia’s voice suddenly sounded higher than usual. And it trembled.

“Like with hairy legs,” said Lia, tears forming in her eyes.

“Hairy legs,” Russ repeated, staring at Lia with growing concern.

“Yeah,” Lia sniffled. “Despite having really fair skin, my hair is totally black! And we needed to wear shorts in PE. So I had to shave my legs every
morning
or else you could totally see the hair starting to grow at the root because of the contrast between my skin and the hair. Like I couldn’t just shave them at night and expect for them to look okay.” She hunched her shoulders and grabbed a fist full of hair. “And I begged my mom—
please
, let me get them waxed! But she said no, that’s too expensive or it’s not good for my skin or it doesn’t really work—all of her millions of excuses for saying
no
! So I said—
please
, let me do laser! But no, that was also too expensive even though the results are permanent. Then I was like—could I at least use those self-tanning lotions on my legs? But she was like, no, they’d make my legs look orange, and that would look too weird with my face and arms a totally different color.”

“Well, that
would’ve
looked really weird,” said Russ, picturing Lia’s ivory face and arms with bronze legs.

Lia, even paler than usual, stared at him with wide wet eyes.

Evan clapped his hand to his face and kept shaking his head while making little sounds of angst and looking at Russ.

Edison smiled kindly at Russ and said, “That’s true, Russ. But the point is that Lia was very self-conscious about what many girls consider to be an embarrassing problem. She needed a solution, but her mother kept blocking her and acting like Lia’s problem wasn’t important.”

“Right!” said Lia. “It was like snow leopard legs or something—and she kept saying that nobody would notice and that it didn’t matter—but it did!”

Lia suddenly reminded Russ of Emma toward the end. Was this how all girls ended up? Or was there something in Russ that brought the crazy high-strung hysteric out of them?

“Russ,” said Edison, “if it had been your daughter, what would you have done?”

“Well, I wouldn’t have liked the tan legs with the ivory face, that’s for sure.”

“Okay, so what would you have done?”

Russ thought for a moment. “Whatever she wanted, I guess.”

“Even expensive laser hair removal?”

“Sure,” he said. “If it wasn’t dangerous and it really worked, I’d do that for her. Why should she suffer?”

Evan sighed with relief. “I believe you’ve redeemed yourself, Russo.”

Russ glanced at Lia, who was smiling at him now, though her eyes were still wet.

“Exactly,” said Edison. “But Lia’s mother didn’t really care about her. You do. Lia’s needs weren’t important to her own mother. But they’re important to you.”

“Sure,” said Russ with a snort as he took another swig of beer. Suddenly, the image of Emma sitting on the couch crying loomed in his mind. He put his beer down and stared at the table top. Maybe she’d still be alive if….

The sound of Evan’s hand slapping down on the table jolted Russ out of his musings and his head snapped up to look at Evan. But Evan was staring off to the side and murmuring, “Mom and Dad…I just can’t—” He threw up his hands.

Edison was nodding with tears in her eyes. “I know,” she said. “I also have regrets.”

Russ looked around at everyone. Lia was staring at him in concern with tears flowing down her cheeks.

Had Lia somehow infected everyone with her hypersensitivity?

Lia took a deep, shuddering breath and said, “But the thing that gets me the most is all those girls....”

“What girls?” said Russ.

“Those girls who left me notes or rang me up at night to pour out their hearts.” Lia paused. “There’s so much abuse. Stepfathers, uncles, boyfriends....” Lia looked at Russ. “They needed someone to talk to. And for some reason, they chose me.”

Edison cocked her head to one side. “I can see why,” she said. “There’s something about you…I also feel like I could confide in you....”

“Okay, but just don’t!” said Russ.

Startled, Lia and Edison glanced at Russ.

Then Lia’s phone rang and when she held it up to see who was calling, Russ saw that it was from the department.

“Hello?” she said in a low voice.

“Have you looked out the window?!” Russ heard a man’s voice holler.

Lia’s eyes widened and she shot Russ a look.

Russ turned around and saw that the pale moonlight streaming in through the window had a violet tinge to it.

“What the—” he started, then got to his feet and made his way to the window.

He stuck his head out and looked up at the sky.

The part of the sky he saw was covered with new sparkly purple bubbles.

And now the moon was behind them.

Russ swore.

“Is there a new one?” asked Evan in a low voice.

“Hell, yes!” said Russ. “And not just one, but—hell! I don’t know how many!”

“What?”

“Yeah, they’re overlapping! I can’t count them!”

He saw everyone look at each other, then slowly rise from their chairs and walk over to where he was standing.

He moved over so they could poke their heads out and see.

It all would have been beautiful if the entities hadn’t been so mysterious and threatening.

And if they hadn’t been driving everyone crazy.

While they stared up at the sky, Russ looked out and saw others looking out their windows and the few people out on the street were also looking up at the sky. He heard ragged cries of anguish and guessed that other people were also experiencing their own regrets and pain.

Russ marched over to the coat he’d left on the couch and grabbed it up. “Come on, Lia,” he said. “We’ve gotta get home.”

Evan, still leaning on the windowsill, looked at Russ and said, “Give it some time, Russ. You guys can stay here for the night.”

“No,” he said. “We need to move.”

Evan shook his head.

Edison and Lia were looking from Russ to Evan.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” said Evan. “These things are obviously affecting people in a weird way, making us crazy.”

“I feel fine,” said Russ, even though he actually felt jittery.

Edison glanced at Evan and said, “Even if you feel fine, what’s going on out there? How are people driving? How are people behaving on the street?” She paused. “What will happen when you get out of your car to go into your building? And what will you meet when you get inside the building—you know, like what kind of state will your neighbors be in?”

Russ frowned.

Lia turned back to gazing out the window again, speaking with a quiet intensity into her phone.

“It’s too unpredictable,” said Evan.

“But if we wait,” said Russ, “things could get worse.”

Evan and Edison looked at each other, then back at Russ and nodded.

“True,” said Evan.

Lia walked over to Russ and picked up her coat. “I need to be at my computer,” she said.

That settled it for Russ.

“Are you guys okay here?” he asked Evan. “Do you want to join us?”

Evan glanced at Edison, who stared at the carpet, apparently deep in thought.

“I think we’re fine,” he said.

Russ glanced at Lia, who was staring at him helplessly, her eyes full of unexpressed thoughts. “C’mon, baby,” he said. “Let’s go.”

Russ slid his gun out, but kept his finger off the trigger. Evan strode over to the door and Russ opened it, listening. He heard muffled cries coming from the other apartments. He stuck his head out and noticed that the hall was empty. Then, putting his gun under his coat, he gestured with his head to Lia and they quickly exited with Russ leading toward the stairwell instead of the elevator. No one said goodbye. Russ edged open the stairwell door and listened carefully, but he didn’t hear anything. He opened it further to look, but he didn’t see anyone. He glanced back at Evan, who watched him from his doorway. They gave each other a nod. With his free arm, Russ brought Lia with him into the stairwell.

They stepped lightly and quickly down the four flights of stairs, hearing muffled cries of angst in the hallway around the second floor. They both watched the door as they descended, but didn’t stop to check out the cries. Russ performed the same listen-check when they reached the door to the underground parking lot, then they skimmed pavement all the way to Russ’s car. Russ noticed that Lia kept very close to him, but didn’t hold on to him, for which he was grateful. He needed every limb free to protect her if it came to that. As they approached the car, Russ ducked his head to see underneath.

Nothing.

He checked through the windows, then unlocked the door, bringing Lia through first, his leg under hers so that they got in together. As Lia maneuvered herself over the gear shift and into the passenger seat, Russ turned the ignition and pulled out of the parking spot.

“Keep looking all around,” he told Lia and saw her nod out of the corner of his eye.

They made it out of the garage, Russ checking the street carefully before he pulled on. Then he pressed on the gas pedal. They sped silently through the night, Russ leaning with both hands on the steering wheel, his head craned forward close to the windshield and his eyes darting back and forth. A few cars were out, and they sailed past Russ and Lia. When they got to the freeway, Russ shifted into the shoulder lane. Lia glanced at him, but didn’t say anything. As with the speeding before, Russ figured the police themselves would be too distracted—either by the new bubbles or by their own emotional state—to bother with, much less notice, Russ’s swift driving. Anyway, he’d rather risk dealing with a cop in pursuit than any other possible risk right now.

As they approached their apartment building, Russ deliberated whether to put the tire lock on the car. Should he take the time? Would they have time later? So far nothing was happening, but Russ felt the compulsion to get things secured fast, like how people feel when there is a hurricane on the way—at first, the wind just picks up like on any other windy day, but you still know you don’t have much time before the storm strikes.

As Russ pulled into the parking space, he held up his gun. Normally, he wouldn’t because of the panic it could cause—flashing your gun could cause an incident if a jumpy weapons owner was around—but now it was dark.

“C’mere, baby,” he said, his free arm maneuvering Lia into his lap to exit together so he could cover her if necessary as they got out. Russ and Lia scanned the vicinity with their eyes. Just as Russ was about to close the car door, Lia tugged on him and pointed toward their building. Russ cocked his ear toward the building.

It sounded like someone was having a breakdown in the stairwell.

Russ and Lia looked at each other, her fair skin tinged with pale violet in the eclipsed moonlight.

“Maybe it’s above our floor?” Lia’s words came out like breath.

Russ chewed his lower lip and nodded. Maybe. But what if it wasn’t?

He carefully unlocked the driver’s side. Not only wasn’t he attaching the tire lock, but he also needed for the car to be unlocked in case they needed to jump into it again. But should he leave the door itself open? If they needed to make a run for it, an open door was better. But if they could make it into their apartment, an open door was also an open invitation to car thieves. So in that case, should he lock it?

“Should we stay in the car?” breathed Lia.

Russ shook his head no. A car was no security. They needed to get into their apartment. That’s where they had secure shelter, food, and everything else they needed.