"Headstone Part Two" by Courtney ´ Shortney´ Rodgers

Domino is reading one of Ayjay’s books when the doorbell rings; she glances over at Ayjay who acts as if his mouth is glued together with superglue.  She sighs and walks to open the door. She finds Slick and Turtle standing on the front porch holding a basket.

“Where’s Ayjay?” asks Turtle immediately.

“Well… he’s not…” Domino stalls.

“No point in lying Blondie. We can see him right there on the couch.” Slick says, rather rudely.

“Let us in won’t you?” Turtle asks in a fake sugary, sweet voice.

“Yes, of course. “ Domino stands inside to let them in.

“Ayjay?” Turtle says again in that fake sugary sweet voice. “We’re so sorry to hear about your family. So we brought you some sugar cookies to cheer you up some. We know they’re your favorite…”

“Sugar cookies? How did you know I like those?” Ayjay glares at her.

“Because silly, we’re you’re friends.” Slick puts in.

“Oh. Right. Thanks…” Ayjay has an odd tone to his voice. He seems vague and confused.

“And we brought you this.” Turtle pulls a bucket of water from behind her. She throws it on Ayjay.

“This is ice water!” He yells.

“Never mind that. I’m so clumsy. Sorry.” Turtle apologizes innocently enough.  The sister wave and head back out the door.

                “That was very impolite.” Domino mutters under her breath. “Can you believe them? Demanding to come into your house only to throw a bucket of ice water on you!”

“I’m all wet. Excuse me.”  Ayjay stands up and walks up the stairs. The telephone rings. Domino hesitates, but ends up answering it.

“Rocklin residence.” She answers politely.

“Put the boy on the phone.” Says a husky male voice.

“I’m afraid he’s busy at the minute.”

“Put the kid on the phone. Now.”

“I’m very sorry, but he’s unavailable.”

“Good.”  The man has hung up on her. Domino has no idea what to make of the bizarre phone call.  Overhead she hears the bath water running. She settles back onto the couch with her book.

                Barely ten minutes pass when the sound of breaking glass pulls her away from her book.  She listens for a minutes, but hears nothing. Then a scream. A blood curling scream.

“Ayjay? You okay?” Domino calls up the stairs. His only answer is another scream.

Domino listens at the door; she hears water running and heavy breathing.

“Ayjay?” She says again.

“I’m stuck.” He says his voice strangled with pain.

“I’m coming in okay?”

“Butter knife’s on the wall.” Ayjay is referring to the knife his family uses to pick locks. Domino finds the knife in a knub in the wall and unlocks the door. Ayjay is sitting in the bathtub fully clothed as if he’d fallen in.

“I tripped over the plunger.” Ayjay coughs. A toilet plunger sits in front of the tub. His forehead is bleeding profusely.

“What happened to your head?” Domino asks.

“I don’t know. It just started attacking me. “He shouts in pain. “ Look.” He points to his barefoot. Domino sees nothing.

“What?”  Domino looks closers. His foot looks normal.

“Dom, don’t you see it?” He asks in frustration.  Domino shakes her head.   He tugs up his pant leg. His calve is raw and red. The skin seems to be pulling away from the leg itself.  Domino opens her mouth in horror.  Ayjay’s facial expression is pained.

“Come on, we’ve got to get you out of that water.” Domino tugs on his arm and pulls him up. He breathes a sigh of relief.  The second his feet hit the tile floor his cut stops bleeding and his legs stop aching and pulling. 

“Uh… okay that was odd… hand me a towel.” Ayjay says, his confusion of earlier seems to have disappeared.

                “These cookies are great try one.” Ayjay has one of the sugar cookies in his mouth and a second in his hand. Domino shrugs and reaches for one that is not soggy. She bites in, but spits it out immediately.

“They must have mixed up sugar with salt. Can’t you taste it?” She tosses the remainder of the cookie in a waste bin.

“Salt? I don’t taste any salt. These are the best sugar cookies I’ve ever eated. These are better than… than my mom’s.”  Ayjay can’t taste the salt, but oh how he craves it.

                Domino goes home when Ayjay’s father is home from handling funeral business. Later at home she gets a phone call.

“Hello?” She answers, ticked that she had to put down the book she is reading.

“Those idiots!” yells a voice on the other line.

“Excuse me?”

“Sorry. It’s me Ayjay. The idiots, the morticians said that my family drowned. “

“Drowned? They were inside the house. I don’t think you can drown on carpet, unless that’s some sort of new development.”

“No it’s not, but get this. They ‘drowned’ in salt water and took in kelp.” Ayjay’s voice sounds almost comical.

“What?”

“Look, that’s just what they told my dad. Does NOT mean it’s true.   You’re going tonight right? To the memorial and funeral?”

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be going?”

“Good. I don’t want to face smelling old people telling me how sorry they are, pinching my cheeks raw, and stuffing my pockets with stales mints.  Anyways, my dad went to the airport to pick some old people who are probably related to my mother 7 hundred times removed, will you come and help me iron my dad’s and mine suits?”

“If you want wrinkles in obscene places.”  Domino answers, commenting on her ironing skills.

“Why not? I might give somebody a laugh… or a heart attack.”

                Later once more in Ayjay’s living room, Domino irons Mr. Rocklin’s suit jacket. Ayjay is ironing his suit (really his father’s old one from 2045) on the coffee table.

“They don’t like me. My mom’s side of the family.” Ayjay says, resting the iron on the table.

“Why not?”

“Dunno. They think I’m odd or unnatural. Mom always said they were the odd or unnatural ones. What with their blue hair and wrinkles you can see from mars. After all, she’d always say, ‘they were raised in the 1990’s.’ ” Domino hears a hint of sorrow in Ayjay’s voice.

“Ayjay.” Domino says simply.

“Mom, she wasn’t my mother.” Ayjay shakes his head.

“But she was your mom.” Domino’s words seem to trigger Ayjay. He breaks down.

“Whoever killed them… deserves to die in a humiliating way. No funeral. Their body should be beaten to a pulp after they die and be thrown into a dumpster at a milk factory.”  Ayjay says really odd things when he’s upset.  Domino quietly sits next to him and lets him vent.  5 minutes later he’s composed and red eyed.

“Ayjay, pull up that iron.”

“Why?” the question comes out sounding like an insult.

“You want a hole in the seat of your pants? Be my guest.”

“That’d be really attractive.” Ayjay laughs as he pulls up on the iron. A slight brown burn on the seat of his pants looks like a squashed bug.  The telephone rings and Ayjay answers.
” Hello?”

“Hi Ayjay.” A slow girl’s voice says on the other line. Ayjay recognizes it as Slick’s voice.

“Yes?” He is no mood to talk to Slick.

“I just wanted you to know me and Turtle will be there tonight incase you needed a shoulder to cry on.”

“Great. Whatever… thanks.” Ayjay like many teenage boys is an awkward person on the phone.

“Drink some saltwater. You sound thirsty.”

“I’m not thirsty. Thanks for the advice, though. Bye.”

“Drink some saltwater.” Slick repeats.

“I’m thirsty.”

“Good. That’s what I like to hear.”

Ayjay downs two glasses of salt infused water.

                Ayjay, who dislikes people to verbally feel sorry for him, hides in the men’s room. He lets the memories of his fallen family taunt him. He doesn’t understand why or how they drowned. But now they are doomed to lie forever in the ground.  He fears he’ll forget them the second the last shovelful of dirt is thrown on top.  Ayjay washes and dries his hands about 50 times before the door opens and his father enters.

“Ayjay? You coming?”  Ayjay nods regretfully, but says nothing, his neck and throat are all tensed up and aching.

 He follows his father out into the small, crowded room. The six coffins lay open. The room is filled with people dressed in black, women with mascara running down their faces, and a ghostly chill.  A shiver runs down Ayjay’s spine.

“You want to put anything in the coffin, son before we close them up?”

“Can the breath of life be put in?” Ayjay makes the man feel awkward.  The coffins are closed and nailed shut. A short service is completed before a few short prayers.

“Now if you’ll all follow me I’ll lead you to the graveyard. “ Says the pastor who is present. He sounds as if he were giving a tour at a donut factory.  It is pouring rain outside, cold, chilling rain. 6 graves await to be filled.  Just as the 6 coffins are put into the ground and the group makes its way back inside Ayjay feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns to see Slick.

“Sorry to startle you. You doing okay, Ayjay?”

“Terrific.” He turns to get away from her.

“Me and Turtle lost our mom last year. We know what you’re going through. Us kids without moms, we got to stick together. Right?”

“Sure. Whatever. Can you please just… leave me alone for right now?” Silently he added “Or forever.”

“Sure thing Ay. You don’t mind me calling you that do you? Here’s our phone number. Just in case…” She grins at him with perfect white teeth.

“I hate her.” Domino mutters beside him.

“Join the club.”  Ayjay stares down at the slip of paper Slick handed him. 0277882.

“Mr. Smith. We need the boy NOW.”

“My daughters are doing their best, sir.”

“That is no excuse. Kill the girl if you must.”

“If… we did that he would never come to us. Willingly. He’s a 15 year old boy; let time take its toll on him.”

“No! He’s far stronger than we anticipated. That will take far too long we need the boy midnight a week from next Tuesday. Otherwise the entire illegal immigrant office is being put to death. Including you. Got that Mr. Jones?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Easy on the Salt.” Domino pulls the salt from Ayjay, who is pouring into his hand. “People are staring:”

“It. Is. For. My. Water.” Ayjay dumps the salt into a perfectly clear glass of water.

“You are so weird these days.”

“HIDE ME!!!” Ayjay ducks under the table.

“Oh honestly. It’s just some creepy man in an electric blue suit wearing a top hat carrying a dead fish. Nothing to be scared of.” Domino looks out the window to the pouring rain

“Great Aunt Daisy! Smells like a fat donkey working out under here.” Ayjay says from under the table. The man in the blue suit approaches their table.

“Yes?”

“Have you perhaps seen a boy around your age, perhaps five inches taller than you?” he asks in an oddly high-pitched voice.

“No. sorry.” The man walks away disappointed. Ayjay jumps up, but slinks back under the table.

“What?”

“Aunt Tessa: smells like an armpit, swears profusely, and notorious pincher of cheeks.” His voice is muffled. Domino looks over her shoulder to see an elderly lady with blue hair walking towards her. The scent of a public bathroom follows her.

“Have you seen my great-nephew, Ayjay I believe his parents called him…?” The old lady asks in a crackly voice that reminds Domino of a bag of potato chips.

“No, not recently.”  Domino tries to smile brightly, but the look of distain that crosses Aunt Tessa’s face encourages her not to.

“Always did disappear... That boy” Aunt Tessa walks away taking the unpleasant odor with her.  Ayjay pokes his head above the table before sitting in his seat once more.

“You’re a life saver.  Who was that man anyways?”

“Which one?” Domino looks around the room.

“The one in the blue suit who spoke to you. The one standing in the rain. “Ayjay stares out the window. Domino follows his gaze. The man has eyes as blue as his suit. Eyes that could pierce your soul. Domino turns away.

“I’m sorry Ayjay I gotta go home…” She says suddenly.

“It’s fine. See you around.”   Ayjay unexpectedly jumps from his seat and runs into the pouring rain. 

Instantly he relaxes, the tension he was feeling earlier in his neck is gone. He sits down in the rain, just sitting in the cold, driving rain.

“Are you alright, Ayjay?”  Ayjay looks up to Turtle’s face. He doesn’t answer her. “You don’t look so good. Do you need some help?”

“No. Fine.” Ayjay manages. The tight, tense feeling has returned to his throat and neck, choking him.

“If you say so, but I’d get inside if I was you.”  Turtle shrugs and walks back inside.  Ayjay struggles with breathing for a few minutes when the wind begins to change. He hears a deep, commanding voice.

“Young Man you need to go home.” It is not a suggestion. It is a command.  ‘Home’ seems to mean the place where you belong, not where you lay your head at night. Ayjay remains in the pouring rain for a very long time thinking. Just thinking. Gathering his thoughts.

He begins to walk to his house, his shoes squeaking with every step. Ayjay looks to the sky, the dark stormy sky, and asks “Where is home?”

The voice comes back “Home is where you belong.” The voice however is not disembodied as he thought it was. A Man in an electric blue suit stands at the end of the road staring right at Ayjay.

“Who are you? And why do you keep following me?” Ayjay inquires cautiously.

“The real question is who are you?” The man laughs insanely.

“I’m Ayjay Rocklin…”

“Are you sure about that Boy?  It’s about time you went home.”

“Where’s this ‘home’ I keep hearing about?” Ayjay wonders aloud.

“With your people.”

“But who the crap are you?”

“When first I appear, I seem delirious, but when explained I’m nothing serious.” The man turns and fades off into the distance leaving Ayjay in the still pouring rain with a whole set of new questions.

                In his bedroom, long after his father has retired to bed Ayjay pulls the piece of paper with the number Slick gave him out of his jacket. He dials carefully and listens to it ring twice before a cool female’s voice answers “Hello. You’ve reached the merfolk illegal immigrations offices.” Ayjay swears he hears faint bubbling in the background.

“Err sorry. Wrong number.” Ayjay hastens to say, but he is stopped.
 “No, this is the correct number. You are in our files. You belong below the surface.” The voice is obstructed by heavy bubbling noises.

“Sorry?”

“You belong here with your people. Here.”

“Where exactly is ‘here’?”

“The world is changing because you are destroying it. You’ve been on land for far too long. Look outside your bedroom window. What do you see?”

Ayjay, though not believing any of her hogwash, glances out the window. “Rain.” He answers flatly.

“Stick you right arm out of the window. Taste the rain. What kind of water is it?”

“Rainwater.” Ayjay does not feel like sticking his arm out into the driving rain.”

“Stick your right arm out the window. Taste the rain. What kind of water is it?” she repeats.  Ayjay follows her instructions, rather reluctantly. He licks the palm of his hand. He is startled. “It’s… its salt water.”

“What was found in the lungs of your fallen family members?”

“Gravy…”

“Gravy? Gravy was found in then lungs of your fallen family members?” the woman seems confused.

“No I meant  ... never mind. There was salt water in their lungs. Why does it matter? Who are you people and what do you want with me?”

“Come home.”

                Ayjay doesn’t sleep that night one bit or the next after that or at all in the coming month. The rain continues. The river swells. The fish die from all the salt that is pouring down from the heavens. Ayjay is dying of thirst.  He is irritable. He won’t speak to anyone. He doesn’t eat.   Domino isn’t hurt nor does she hate him. She worries about her friend. His father ignores him as if he were a dusty painting forgotten away in the attic.

                Ayjay is walking along the swollen riverbank, through the rain, when Slick approaches him.

“Hello Ayjay. Whatcha doing?” She asks sweetly. She stares at him with her shift, mysterious eyes.

“Nothing. Please go away.” He stares at his feet.  He steps into the murky water. Instantly his legs are in searing pain. He grimaces as a second stabbing pain hits him in the chest.  He has never felt worse pain in his life.

“I can help you with that.” Slick says, her voice revealing no emotion.

“How?” Ayjay manages

“Go home.”

“What?” Ayjay is on the verge of collapsing from pain and all Slick is doing is standing there on the bank telling him to go home.

“Return home by next full moon and your life will be spared.”

“What?  If... you …how?” Ayjay begins to babble.

“Silence. My sister and I will lead you home. Be ready to leave in one hour. Take nothing with you, but a jacket and salt.” Slick dives into the muddy water. Behind her a long fish like tail trails her and flashes in the light of the striking lightning.

                Ayjay pulls himself out of the water and sprints to Domino’s house. He explains as best as he can.

“I probably won’t be coming back for a long, long time.” He finishes quietly.

“You’re mad.” Domino shakes her blonde head in disbelief.

“Goodbye Domino.” He turns to head out the door.

“I’m coming with you.”

“No. You stay here. I have to go alone.” Ayjay says immediately.

“I’m going.  And you can’t stop me.”

“Dom, please stay here.”

“No. I at least have a right to know where my best friend is running away to and why.” Ayjay can’t protest to that. She seems prepared. She grabs a backpack and follows him out the door.

                “What is she doing here?” asks Turtle, glaring over at Domino.

“She’s coming with us.” Ayjay answers.

“Fine, but she must go back to her mother when we tell her to. Agreed?” Slick rolls her eyes at her sister.

“Agreed.” Ayjay and Domino both answer.  The four teenagers begin their walk to the seemingly unknown. Ayjay knows he will never see his father again.  He is leaving the life he knows behind him.  Ayjay doesn’t dare look back.

                They walk through rain, darkness, severe heat, and blistering cold.  Domino thinks Ayjay is being a blind fool to trust Slick and Turtle, but she holds her tongue.  Ayjay feels empty, hollow, and full of nothing. No thoughts. No feelings. No emotions.  There is a distinct change in his personality. He is darker, more aloof, more hostile and angry. Slick and Turtle see this as a positive thing. Domino doesn’t know Ayjay any more, he’s changed so much.

                “The 4 teenagers of Lsad that went missing last month are yet to be found. If you find any of them or see them, please let your local authorities know. Here are their descriptions once more.

Ayjay Rocklin aged 15

Domino Jaybird aged 15

Slick Smith aged 14

Turtle Smith aged 16.” A picture of each of the missing teenagers showed alongside their names on the TV screen.

“And now to this week’s weather, Tom?”

“Thanks Michael. Rain, Rain, and more rain. No change seems to be in the –”

“Stupid news report.” Ayjay’s father throws the remote to the floor.  He picks up the newspaper only to see the faces of his son, his son’s best friend, and his neighbors.  Their faces appeared in every police station, post office, newspaper, and J-Mart from Joan County to Bull County.

“I just want my son back.” Ayjay’s father knows that Ayjay is never coming back.

                “We’re nearly there. A week at most.” Turtle says pointing to a map. The other three huddle around a smoldering camp fire. They travel on the roads less traveled, often by the cover of nightfall.

“Good. I’m ready to see what all this voodoo crap is about. I’m sick of mud in my socks.” Ayjay growls.

“If you didn’t wear socks you wouldn’t have that problem, now would you?” Slick snaps. They are all tired, cold, wet, and hungry.

“Again I repeat Voodoo Crap.” Ayjay mutters before being thrown into a violent fit of coughing.  He wipes away the blood from his mouth.

“He’s getting really sick. Maybe we should go back.” Domino suggests quietly.

“No!” both Slick and Turtle yell at Domino.  “It’s too late. He didn’t look back.”  Turtle’s voice is strange, haunting, and distant.

“But he’s really sick! He could die out here! Look!” Domino puts her hand to his forehead, which is burning with fever.

“Get off of me!” Ayjay shoves her hand away. “I’m fine.”  He only coughs more violently. Domino hides the hurt look in her eyes. Ayjay scoots away from the campfire and lays his head on a rock.

“He’ll be fine once we get him home. Nothing to get all uptight about.”  Slick reassures Domino. Domino grits her teeth, biting back a hateful reply, and leans against a tree to fall asleep.

                By the end of the week Ayjay finds himself standing on a bridge looking out to the ocean, breathing in the salty air.

“This is where we must part, small blonde girl, and this where you return home Ayjay.” Turtle tells Ayjay and Domino seriously. She pulls off her sweatshirt and jeans.  Slick has already dived off the pier.  Turtle turns to dive off into the cold threatening waters.  Ayjay feels something pulling him, like a magnet to the sea. He suddenly doubles over in pain.

“Ayjay!” Domino gasps.  Ayjay’s face is turning a sickly yellowish green.

“Help me, please.” He begs, tears in his eyes. He is now feeling the worst pain any human can bear.  He yanks off his shoes in pure agony, and peels off his socks. Odd silvery green scales like things are forming over his feet.

“You’re not actually going to dive in are you? It’s three in the morning! The water’s freezing!”

“Below freezing. I gotta get into that water.” Ayjay struggles to breathe as he pulls his dirty t-shirt over his head.   His legs sear with pain. He sits down on the bridge and peals off his wet and muddy jeans. An eerie, strange rash is forming over his legs. They glow.  They burn.  His kneecaps begin to disappear.

“What’s happening to you?” Domino asks horrified.

“Get me in water.” Ayjay gasps.  Things begin to make sense in Ayjay’s mind. He knows what he has to do.

“What?”

“Just do it.” Ayjay begs, his throat closing up. She helps him to his feet. His breath is raspy and rattling.

“I’m never going to see you again am I?” She asks, not wanting to know the answer.

“No. Never. Not while one of us is still alive. I’m sorry for what a terrible person I’ve been.” He replies with difficulty. Domino swears she hears his internal organs rattling inside his chest.

“Don’t give it a second thought.” She hugs him. Tears fill both their eyes. “You’ve been the best friend I’ve ever had. The only friend that ever mattered to me more than myself.”

“Listen to me. Go back home. Take my money and take a bus home. We will never see each other again as long as one of us is alive. I’m never going to see anyone back home again.  Tell everybody I’ve drowned. Tell my dad I loved him and that I… will not miss him, not where I’m going , and put flowers on their graves once a week for me. And…” He searches for the right words. “… and tell Domino thanks.”

“She says you’re welcome.” Domino says quietly, looking into Ayjay’s eyes for the last time.

“Now…g-go.” Ayjay, struggles with the words. Domino helps Ayjay onto the railing. Ayjay dives off, down, down into the cold, dark sea.

                 A young man stands quietly in a cemetery. He has come to see a grave of an old friend.  He reads the headstone.

“Domino Katherine Jaybird.

April 17, 2072- July 13,

‘ Be a friend at all times, you never know when you have to help a half naked friend dive off a pier into a freezing sea at 3 in the morning to save their very existence. Stay Safe Ayjay, wherever you are.’

May She Rest In Peace”

“Excuse me, sir? What did she die of?” The young man asks a nearby gardener.

“Oh and Like I’d tell a complete stranger? Her mother wishes that only people who knew her know what happened to the girl.”

“Peanut Butter.” The young mans murmurs.

“Peanut butter? OH!! Peanut butter! Suicide. Drowned herself in muddy water.” The old gardener shakes his withered head and walks away.  The young mans lays a bouquet of seaweed on the grave.

“Thanks for saving my life Dom.” He whispers to the headstone.  He walks away without looking back.