Christine Johnson - Grim anthology

“Us?” He casts a wary gaze around his room. “There’s more than one of you here?”

No, you only get one. But there are others of my kind in the world. There always have been.

“Huh. Hey, here’s a cool hat.” Eli holds it up with a flourish. It has three points and a giant purple feather, like one of the Three Musketeers.

Yes! Put that on my head. Now.

He laughs. “You like the bling, huh?”

I love the bling.

“Pimp my cat.” He tugs the hat down over my ears, then tilts it sideways. “Figment’s got swag, yo.”

Is that what you wish to call me?

“Or Fig for short. Is that okay?”

You may call me whatever you like. I hide my next thought from him: just don’t ever put me away.

“Well, Fig, guess what? You’re getting yourself some fine-ass boots.”

* * *

Over the past week, Eli has learned to entertain me. When he’s downstairs with his mother, he sets me on the windowsill or in front of his aquarium so I have something to watch. He leaves on the radio, which teaches me about current events and the latest musical trends.

When he leaves the house he brings me with him, buried deep in his messenger bag to school, or tucked into his guitar case to band practice, which double as makeout sessions with his girlfriend, Vanessa. He hasn’t gotten up the nerve to introduce me to anyone yet, so I have influence on nobody but him.

Just before history class on my third day of school, a girl behind Eli whispers his name. His chair creaks as he turns to her.

“Sorry about your dad,” she says. “I heard on the news.”

I expect him to growl “It doesn’t matter” or “whatever,” as he has to every other sympathizer. Instead he just says, “Thanks, Lyra.”

“I know what it’s like. I mean, I don’t have a famous father, but—”

“Semifamous.”

“Well. Anyway, I never knew my mom. She left right after I was born.”

He shifts in his chair again, perhaps turning all the way round. “That probably sucks more than not knowing your dad.”

“If they left, they probably weren’t worth knowing, right? At least, that’s what I tell myself every birthday.”

“Seriously. I never got a birthday or Christmas card. Just some child-support money in a bank account, but not as much as you’d think. Not with two other sons to take care of.” Eli lowers his voice until I can barely hear it. “When he died, he left the oldest one a house and the middle one a car.”

“What did you get?”

He pauses for a long moment. If I had breath, I would hold it. But he finally says, “Nothing.”

The bell rings and the teacher clops across the floor in what sound like platform heels. I can feel the vibrations from here.

She begins the lecture, on the French Revolution, a topic I know well, since I’ve heard it in classrooms ever since a few years after the event itself. The facts remain the same, but the perspective changes as the centuries pass.

I wish you’d bring me out in class just once, I tell Eli. You’d get much better grades, or at least I could keep the teacher from calling on you.

He gives the bag a slight kick to shut me up. Since I feel no pain, it doesn’t work.

For the record, girls think I’m cute.

No response.

Perhaps you could bring me out at band practice today, when you see what’s-her-name. The one who treats you like an imbecile. She’d find it charming, you carrying a tiny stuffed cat with a feather hat and silver boots in your guitar case.

No response.

Tap the bag once for no, twice for yes.

Eli gives a heavy sigh, shifts his feet beneath the desk next to my bag. For a long moment, nothing happens. Then finally, I feel a single tap. Followed by another.

* * *

“Oh, my God, he’s adorbs!” Vanessa squeezes my belly and shakes me from side to side, making my hat’s feather flop against my head. “Where did you get him?”

I appreciate that she refers to me as “him” instead of “it,” but her tone is a bit patronizing. She’s a year older than Eli, a fact she points out as often as possible.

Sitting on the basement couch with his arm around Vanessa’s shoulders, Eli says, “My father left him to me as a good-luck charm. Isn’t that hilarious?”

“Aww.” She strokes his cheek with the backs of her black-lacquered fingernails, then kisses him softly. “Are you sad you never got to meet him?”

“Not really,” he replies, but gives me a nervous glance.

Liar.

Eli opens his mouth to tell me to shut up, but catches himself in time.

Vanessa tugs my shirtsleeve. “Did he come dressed like this?”

“Of course. Where would I get doll clothes?”

I don’t bother repeating my call of “liar.”

“Eli, come on.” Behind me, Jules, the drummer, taps his sticks together.

Eli reaches for me, then pulls his hand back. “Take good care of him, okay?”

“I will.” Vanessa kisses me right between the eyes. My opinion of her is softening somewhat.

Eli takes his guitar and joins Jules and the other boy, Tyler, who fancies himself a lead singer but often seems more fascinated with his collection of unusual instruments.

As they play, Vanessa dances me atop her bare knee in time to the music. During a slow ballad, she rests me on her shoulder, my feet tucked into her long blond hair streaked with green and blue. At the end of each song, she waves me in the air, cheering with exaggerated enthusiasm. The boys scowl at her silliness, but it’s the most fun I’ve had since I reawakened.

The tunes are intricate for a songwriter of Eli’s age, but sadly, he’s the only one who seems capable of playing them. When they take a break, I seize the opportunity to speak to him.

You should go solo. You’re too good for these poseurs.

Eli doesn’t glare at me. Instead the corner of his mouth tugs into a sad frown. He knows I’m right, but he loves his friends.

Also the band name, Trending Frenzy? What does that even mean?

“Long story,” he says under his breath.

After the break, it takes Trending Frenzy a full hour to rehearse three more songs. Tyler keeps trying to change the key to take it up to his singing range and make it easier to play, but it sounds like crap when they do that. Even Tyler recognizes this truth, once I’ve sent this mental message to him ten or eleven times.

Eventually Vanessa gets bored and lies down on the couch, cuddling me close. She presses me to her chest, blocking my eyes and ears. It’s just as well—Eli is growing tired of my running commentary, and the band’s playing is growing ever unruly. I let myself zone out to the sound of Vanessa’s slow, rhythmic heartbeat.

“That’s all I can take,” Eli says finally. “I’m gonna grab a soda. You guys want anything?”

They grumble a response I can’t hear, then his footsteps ascend the staircase over my head.

“Lucky cat,” says a soft voice close to the couch.

Vanessa stirs, then gives a low laugh. “Jules. Where’s Eli?”

“Upstairs. Tyler’s in the bathroom.” He leans in, and her heart starts to race. “So I thought I’d come do this.”

Uh-oh.

They kiss, loud and wet, and her hand leaves me to move to him. I’m flipped on my back, looking up at their chins. Their mouths move like they’re starving.

Then Jules’s hand displaces me. For a moment I teeter on the edge of the sofa, long enough to see him reach down her shirt. Then his elbow tips me off the side, and I tumble onto the floor. I focus on the frayed brown fabric of the couch skirt and think to Vanessa with all my might, What about Eli?

She pulls away from Jules. “I can’t do this to him. His dad just died.”

“So? He didn’t even know the guy. He makes fun of that stupid ‘Ready, Set, Dance’ song all the time.” Jules leans in again, making a slurping sound against what I assume is Vanessa’s neck.