Joe Gribble - Darkest Edge

Maddie got up and stared meowing. The cat limped over to the sofa and looked up at Jackie. She meowed again.

“It’s dinner time, isn’t it Maddie?” Jackie asked the cat.

The cat stared up at her. Meowed again.

Jackie reached down to pet Maddie.

The cat pushed back against Maddie’s hand, enjoying the attention.

“I’m afraid I don’t have anything for you today, Maddie,” Jackie said. “Pantry’s bare.”

Jackie slowly swung her legs down and started to stand, grimacing in pain as she pulled herself up. She took the cane leaning against the end of the couch and took a tentative step toward the front door.

“Come on, Maddie.”

The cat purred, meandering around her owner’s feet as Jackie made her way slowly, haltingly, toward the front door.

Once at the door, Jackie rested, holding onto the wall to catch her breath. Her face wrenched in pain. She looked down at the cat, now sitting, looking up at her. “It’ll be okay, Maddie,” Jackie told her. She reached down and twisted the door knob, pulling the door open. As the door opened, the bottom of the door shoved the pile of unopened bills on the floor back. Jackie ignored the bills. Once the door was open, the drizzling rain drifted inside.

The cat started toward the door, then backed up when faced with the rain.

Jackie pushed the cat with her cane. “It’ll be okay, Maddie.”

The cat relented, limping out into the drizzle.

Jackie watched as the cat ran, as best it could, through the rain. A tear formed at Jackie’s eye, slowly rolling down her cheek. “It’ll be okay.”

Jackie looked out into the rain. The only activity she could see on this dreary day was the postman, wrapped in a rain slicker, headed towards her house.

Jackie closed the door and hobbled to the kitchen. She took a glass from the cabinet and filled it with water, then trudged back to the couch. Slowly, painfully, she lowered herself back into her spot. Jackie eyed the pill bottle, then picked it up and poured a couple of pills into her hand. She looked into the bottle, then poured the rest of the pills into her hand. She fondled the pills, rolling them over and over. Finally, she shook her head. “It’ll be okay,” she said and poured all but two of the pills back into the bottle. She swallowed the pills in her hand, followed by a drink of water.

She picked up the phone from the end table, hesitatingly punching in a number.

She waited, eyes closed, as the phone on the other end rang.

After a few rings, an answering machine picked up. “Hi. You’ve reached the Wilcox’s. We can’t come to the phone right now. Please leave a message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.”

Jackie started to put the phone down, thought better and put it back to her ear.

“Mark, this is Jackie. Just wanted to say I love you. It’ll be okay.”

Jackie slowly put the phone back into its holder.

Noise from the door caught her attention. Several letters fell through the mail slot onto the floor near the other pile. Even from where she sat she could read the big, bold letters on one of the envelopes: FINAL NOTICE.

Jackie laid back on the couch, closed her eyes.

“It’ll be okay.”

It hadn’t been long when Jackie was startled awake by the ringing of the phone. It was still daytime, though the clouds hid most of the sunlight, and Jerry Springer was still on TV. She let the phone ring out and the answering machine picked up. The voice on the other end wasn’t a surprise.

“Ms. Wilcox, this is City Power and Light. I’m afraid this is your last courtesy call. Your payments are now over ninety days past due. Since we still haven’t heard from you, it’ll be necessary to terminate your service immediately. Please call 866-0900 as soon as you can.”

The line went silent.

“It’ll be okay,” Jackie told herself.

Almost immediately the TV went off and the cool air from the window air conditioner stopped blowing in.

Another tear fell from Jackie’s eye. She reached over to the end table and poured the pills into her hand. “It’ll be okay,” she said as she put them all into her mouth and washed them down with her water. She laid back down on the couch.

“It’ll be okay.”

Mark Wilcox pulled into his drive after a long day at the station. He stopped his car in the drive, but didn’t get out right away. He sat silently. Nice neighborhood. Nice house. Not so nice mortgage.

The story he’d been working on about the shootings on the south side was due, and it was going to take another long night to finish it up. He had just enough time to eat dinner, play with his daughter for a bit, then head back to the office. Deadlines were a constant pain in the ass.

Mark got out of the car and trudged toward the front door. He reached down and opened the door partway. He paused. He wanted to go in, but he wasn’t looking forward to the silence. He knew Amanda would be nice for a while. Then the silence would set in. They both knew there was a problem. Amanda had been pulling further and further away over the last few months. Mark wasn’t sure why. Sure, he had been working long hours. Work had been hell. Trying to meet all the deadlines kept him at work a lot. The story he’d been working on lately wasn’t fun, so that didn’t help much. Examining all the murders in the city weighed heavily on his mind — made it hard to sleep, hard to open up and discuss any of the gruesome horrors with Amanda.

He smiled, though, when he thought of Rachel. Rachel, six years old, was the light of his life. She made everything worthwhile. He wished he had more time to spend with her.

He went inside, tossed his keys on the table in the hallway and slung his sport jacket over the chair in the living room. “I’m home,” he yelled.

Rachel ran from the kitchen to greet him. “Daddy,” she yelled as she jumped into his arms, wrapping her arms tightly around him to give him a big hug.

“Hi, sweetheart,” he said, lifting her up and hugging her. “Bear hug.”

Sarah squeezed him hard. “Bear hug.”

“Did you have a good day?” Mark asked.

“Sure did,” Rachel said. “School was fun. We got to go to the fire station.”

“Wow,” Mark said. “I bet that was fun. Did they let you spray the water hose?”

“No, Daddy,” Rachel laughed. “We got to sit in the fire truck. And you know what? They have a dog there. It was all white with black spots. We got to pet it.”

“Really?” Mark said. “What was its name?”

“Its name was Spot, of course,” Rachel said, laughing.

Amanda stepped in from the kitchen. “Glad you’re finally home. You’re kind of late. I’ve been waiting dinner. You could have called.”

Mark carried Rachel over to Amanda. “I know. I should have. Just got wrapped up in trying to finish the story. Deadline’s on top of me.” Mark glanced at his watch. “It’s not too late.” Mark leaned forward to kiss Amanda. She turned her head and his lips only met her cheek.

“Late enough. Deadlines are always on top of you,” Amanda said. “Get washed up and let’s eat. Rachel said she’s starving.”

“I am starving,” Rachel said.

Mark put Rachel down. “Then let’s eat! Get in there while I wash up.”

Mark took his place at the table as Amanda dished out the mashed potatoes.

“Yum. Pork chops,” Mark said. “My favorite.”

“Mine, too,” Rachel said.

The dinner quickly settled into the usual, uncomfortable silence. Mark kept engaged with Rachel, but Amanda didn’t say much of anything.

“Can we read a book tonight, Daddy?” Rachel asked. “Or play a game?”

Mark stopped chewing. He raised his head and put his fork down. “Sorry, Rachel. I have to go back to work. I have to get done with a project that my boss really needs me to finish.”