Morning After

Putting the bizarre dream behind him, Mo got up, readying himself for school. He paused to sniff the air in his room. Did it really smell kind of like flowers because now it just held the odor of stale smoke and gym socks? Any trace of flowers more than likely a product of his over-heated imagination. On his way over to Tom’s, walking through the clear cool morning air, he paused and lit a smoke before shambling onward, tired and exhausted from a fitful night’s rest. It had seemed so real, so lucid. Arriving at Tom’s house, he took one last drag before flicking the cherry off his cigarette and putting the butt in the pocket of his Mac jacket before walking up the drive to the side door of the two story home. He knocked politely before letting himself in. Up the short set of stairs to his left, he saw Tom’s mother, a short squat woman with an absolutely radiant smile on her rounded face.

“HI Morris,” she said, flashing him her smile. She was one of those morning people with an irrepressible attitude at the onset of the day, unlike Morris who even on his best day would never be considered a morning person.

“Hey Mrs. Garfield,” he replied with a perfunctory nod. “Morning, Tom about?”

“Actually,” she paused, “I haven’t seen him this morning,” she said, “Usually he’s up by now.”

He moved up into the kitchen and sat at the table in the nook while she disappeared down the hall.

“Tom?” he heard her call from elsewhere in the house. “Tom?”

She reappeared in the kitchen. A slight frown on her face.

Morris also frowned.

“He’s not in his room, the family room, or the bathroom,” she said, looking back down the hallway out of Morris’s line of sight.

“He’s not here?” he asked.

“He probably just went in early, you know, catch up a little on his studies,” she surmised.

 “Um, yeah,” Morris added, it had on occasion happened before, but usually Tom gave him a heads up to tell him not to swing by. Pulling out his phone, he gave it a quick check but there were no new messages from his friend. Tucking his phone away, he got up. “Tom said you guys went out last night?” Morris asked.

She nodded, “Mr. Garfield took me to the movies, you know we’ve been dying to see that one, you know with the girl and guy who get separated by war but find each in the end, oh drats, I can’t think of the name for the life of me, but it was good,” she beamed.

He nodded. Getting up from the table, “Guess I’ll have to fly solo today,” he said, moving to the stairs.

She smiled and nodded. “You have a good day,” she encouraged.

He paused at the stairs, “Tom say who popped by last night?” he asked.

She seemed to consider it a moment, “Not that I think of, not sure we saw Tom when we got back,” she answered.

Mo nodded. Weirder and weirder. “You have a good day too Mrs. Garfield,” he said before letting himself out. Where was Tom? Who had come by last night? Pulling out his phone, he texted, ‘Where you at?’ and sent it to Tom.

Walking back down the drive, he put his phone away and retrieved the half smoke out of his pocket and lit it, drawing in a lungful. A bad feeling gnawed his belly. What if the Graces had come for Tom? Would they do that? He shook his head, jumping at shadows after the creepy day yesterday where they seemed to stalk him all day. Why would they come for Tom and not him? Didn’t make sense. If they were going to come after someone you would think it would be the guy they suspect saw what happened, not the friend. Right? What about the messed up dream, climbing around on some gigantic woman? He really wished he had some chronic to help his brain mellow out.

Arriving at school, he immediately went to Tom’s locker to check and see on his friend, but Tom was nowhere to be found. Sly’s locker was a few down, but he wasn’t around either. He wondered if maybe Tom and Sly were ditching together.

Pushing through the throng of students, he moved toward his own locker to drop off his jacket.

“Hello Morris,” said the voice of Elisha from directly behind him, tone friendly enough but the sound of it startling him nonetheless.

Turning around to face her, he shook his head, “Fuck,” he cursed, meeting her brilliant green eyes surrounded by long dark lashes.

“Fuck? Not at the moment, but maybe later,” she teased playfully.

He blushed. “Why are you girls following me?” he asked, voice rising in pitch, a few students in the vicinity turned to see before she swiveled her head and cowed them to look away.

Moving in closer to him, she smiled broadly, eyes sparkling. “Because you were a naughty boy and spied on us yesterday. I know you saw something you shouldn’t have, that’s why I’m here,” she said, voice low, barely audible.

“No I didn’t see anything,” he said, “I just snuck under the bleachers for a quick hoot is all,” he explained, hastily, feeling incredibly uncomfortable at her proximity, close enough for him to inhale her fragrance.

Putting her hands on his chest, she cocked her head and arched an eyebrow, “So you didn’t see us out there?” she inquired. He tried to take a step back, but bumped into the lockers.

“I mean I saw you guys in the distance, but I didn’t see anything else, you know, like nothing weird,” he chuckled nervously. “You know?”

“Nothing weird you say?” she asked, lower lip pulled in between her teeth as she opened her eyes wider.

He shook his head.

“Nothing weird like what?” she asked, face innocent eyes wide.

“I don’t know,” he babbled. “Like nothing out of the ordinary, you know.”

She smiled again. “What’s really funny is how your friend Tom joked with Silke yesterday. Apparently you were, what were the words she used, tripping balls about something you saw out in the sports field? Something you shared with your buddy Tom,” she commented.

“Nah, you know, that’s Tom just being stupid,” he dismissed. “Silke probably just misunderstood the shit he was going on about is all,” he snorted dismissively.

“Mm-hmm. You know what I think, I think you saw everything,” she whispered leaning in closer, eyes dangerous. “I think you saw us take Len out there and turn him into a tiny little guy, then you watched as Susannah sucked him down her throat into that trim little belly of hers for his just desserts. I also think you’re as scared as a little rabbit right now because you don’t know what to do. Am I right Morris?” she asked, her warm breath on his neck, firm breasts pressing against his chest.

He felt exactly like a rabbit! Taking hold of her upper arms and clearing his throat. “No,” he babbled, shaking his head.

She chuckled. “You know, up close like this, you are actually pretty cute,” she purred, licking her lower lip.

He pushed her back away from him, still shaking his head, heart pounding in his chest like a Tommy Lee drum solo.

She broke contact and moved away from him. “You have no idea how much I want to take you right now,” she grinned. “Make you small and have my way with you,” she cooed.

“Where’s Tom?”

She grinned and shrugged her shoulders, eyebrow raised.

The buzzer rang, “I really need to get to class,” he blurted, pushing away from her to the side.