Caitlin Kiernan - Silk

“Where you goin’?” and Niki shrugs, looks west, and the sky and the brown earth seem to go on that way forever, azure Heaven and the World below and her trapped somewhere between.

“I just needed to walk.”

“Sure,” Daria says. “Would you mind some company?”

“I’m okay,” and Daria apologizes, turns back toward the truck stop. “No,” Niki says. “It’s all right. You can stay.”

“Thanks.”

“You know we’re almost out of cash again,” Niki says.

“We’ll all get jobs in Boulder. It’s a college town; I’m sure there are plenty of shit jobs. Don’t worry about the money, Niki.”

“Daria, are you still scared?” and Daria looks east over her shoulder, the wind through her hair that’s faded cinnamon and grown out blonde at the roots.

“Yeah,” she says. “I don’t think it just stops. You wanna walk some more?”

“No,” Niki says and takes the ball bearing out of her pocket. “This is far enough, I guess.” The constant caress of her fingers has almost worn away the ink, but she can still read her name in Spyder’s handwriting.

“What is it?” Daria asks, and Niki doesn’t answer, holds the steel ball in her palm. It glints in the bright sun like old chrome, and for a moment she just lets it catch the light, silver and the bright scars lacing her arm. And then she squats down and digs a shallow hole in the ground with the fingers of her other hand, puts the ball bearing inside and pushes the dirt back into place over it. She stands up and taps the spot with the toe of her boot until it’s smooth again.

“Nothing, anymore,” she says, and Daria puts her arm around Niki, and together they walk back to the truck stop.

“Heaven’s net is wide;

Coarse are the meshes, yet nothing slips through.”

Lao-tzu, Tao Teh Ching

Silk was Caitlín R. Kiernan’s first novel. She has since written six others, including Threshold, Low Red Moon, Murder of Angels, and Daughter of Hounds. Her award-winning short fiction has been collected in four volumes-Tales of Pain and Wonder; From Weird and Distant Shores; To Charles Fort, With Love; and Alabaster. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her partner, doll maker Kathryn Pollnac.