The Things Left Behind...

Full of cupcakes and banana pudding, Edgar DuHaven and I bounced back to the apartment. Thanks to the sugar, our varying medications, some taken, some not and the natural adrenaline flowing through our veins, we both got a quick glimpse of our former selves, those days in Hollywood, like walking through a parking lot surrounded by cars, seeing in the peripheral our transparent reflections in the windows. A flash of recognition, then gone. All that plus Edgar having to "piss like a race horse" had us running through the Lower East Side like a couple of mad men. It was nice, it was exciting and it was dangerous - a moment outside the lines. Steps from home, Edgar turned to me and smiled, "This was a good day." I laughed and shook my head, knowing these "good days" could only be few and far between. I, for my own sake could not afford many more...but it was a good day. A day of color, like as a kid with my crayons and book, making barns yellow and the chickens red, unbound by boarders, encouraging the pink land to touch the orange sky...flying while still firmly on the ground.

Edgar ran to our apartment building door, hopping from one leg to the other yelling, "hurry hurry," while I searched my pocket for the key. Not in the left front or the right - Edgar's worried face began to redden. Not in the right back or the left - nothing but Lil'Bit's tail. "Come on!" Edgar screamed. I searched my pockets again and again, but no keys, just the tail. "They must have fallen out...back at Kristina's?" I said to Edgar who was now buzzing the apartment, "She can mail them to you," he said quickly. I looked around the ground, hoping they might be found on the sidewalk, but nothing, "This is bad," I said to Edagr who was now speaking into the intercom, "I have to pee!" he said loudly into the little silver box, "let me in!" Walking to the door, I shouted, "She can't let you in, her Reaching Pole isn't long enough to hit the buzzer." But no sooner did I finish my sentence, the door buzzed open and Edgar ran inside. How is this possible? I know she didn't get a bigger Reaching Pole, she would have told me. "Wait!" I screamed to Edgar, but is was too late, he was inside and up the stairs.

Thanks to all that sugar, medication and the natural adrenalin of the day, I jumped forward, watching the door to the building quickly shut, I knew I had but a split second to act. Using muscles I had never used (I'm gonna be sore tomorrow) I ran, twisted and jumped toward the door, it closing fast...almost to it...just another inch and by the grace of God and my new found cat-like agility, just as the door was about to slam shut, I jammed Lil'Bit's tail inside. I entered, I yelled for Edgar but no answer. It was quiet. Too quiet. Slowly I walked the three floors to my apartment and saw the door slightly open. "Edgar?" I whispered, "Heather Mary?" But again, no answer. I put my hand on the door and slowly opened it to a dark room and every horror movie I had ever seen came flooding back to me. This would be the time to run away, to not, and I will repeat, to not walk into the dark and eerily quiet apartment, but something inside myself pushed me further...something old, crazy and dark itself, something stronger and scarier than anything lurking behind that door. I checked my feline reflexes, listened to my heart pounding faster than it had in years and I smiled...don't mess with Tommy, this cat's got claws.

I stepped inside, my eyes adjusting to the dark. I took another step and tripped on something laying on the floor. My hand reached for the light switch, but before I could turn it on, I heard the thing I tripped on moan. I looked down and saw that it was Edgar lying among the shadows. Then with a SLAM, the door shut behind me, the lights came on, I turned around and saw Kristina standing in the corner pointing a gun straight at my head. I looked in Heather Mary's room and saw she had been tied up and gaged, I looked down at Edgar, blood running from his head and then back to Kristina, her hands gripping that cold metal, still, stoic, her hair wild, her eyes wilder. God, she's hot. "Welcome home," she said. I smiled.

Too bad this will end badly for her.