The Very Last Days of Mr Grey (9 page)

He screamed out a curse, but even he couldn’t hear it.

Emily changed six lanes in one smooth yet frightening move, and took the off-ramp.

He felt the rear end slide out as they took the circular exit at three times the posted limit.

The stoplight came into view and Mason saw that it was red.

This is how I die
, he thought.

Emily stomped the brakes and magically turned the wheel somehow to go into a controlled skid.

They stopped.

Mason looked out his side window, at the rear bumper of the car less than a foot in front of them. The license plate had one of those little circled E’s. The top of the car was adorned with a light bar. Its paint scheme was black and white.

The officer got out of his car. The traffic light was still red.

He approached.

Emily pointed at something.

Mason didn’t dare move.

The officer looked where she pointed, back to her, back to the thing she still pointed at.

He looked like he was going to say something.

Emily got there first. “New brakes.” She shrugged. “Came out of nowhere.”

The officer shook his head, looked past their car, at the line rapidly forming behind them. Horns sounded from far up. He turned and looked at the light, which was green now. He shook his head, got back in his car, pulled out, and turned left.

He looked at what she had pointed at. A raccoon sat, just off the road, observing the scene. Mason shook his head. “I can’t believe you have a license.” Then he said, “I’m alive.”

Emily got the car straightened, ignoring the horns as she backed up into a several point turn. She twisted to look behind them, waved, then put on her left blinker. She shrugged. “I don’t.”

“No, right.”

She continued forward.

“Right! Turn right!”

“Jesus, calm down.” She swerved right, Mason felt impact. Horns blared.

She screamed something at the person behind her. Then she turned right.

“You’re supposed to stop.”

She just looked at him.

They drove on.

Minutes later, they pulled into the lot of the shopping center where the mechanic’s was located.

Mason confirmed that the car that had hit them was still following.

Emily parked.

The car pulled up behind them, about twenty feet away. A large man got out.

“Awesome,” Mason said.

Emily looked behind her. “I got this.” She undid her pants.

“Whoa!” Mason shouted. “What—”

“Chill.” She took her pants off. Mason was relieved when he saw underwear, but also still disturbed.

She opened the door and got out.

Mason sunk down in his seat, adjusted the side view mirror to get a better view, and watched. It was all he could think to do.

A man got out of the car, left the door open.

Quick escape, Mason thought.

The man said something.

Emily waved at the air, now standing in front of him. She came up to his chest, and she wasn’t a short girl. “Oh,” she said loudly. “I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t realize.”

Mumbling of the man.

“I know it’s my fault…”

Mumble mumble mumble.

“I’m so totally sorry…” She lowered her voice, and now Mason couldn’t hear her words.
Mumble mumble mumble mumble, mumble. Mumble.

The man gestured cryptically at the air at this. Mumbled something.

Emily went on: “I’d
really
appreciate if…” mumble mumble “help me…”
mumble mumble mumble mumble.

The man grumbled something, gestured toward his car, then hers.

“Oh my God,” she shrieked, “really? You’re definitely right, you can’t even see it. You’re too nice though. Really awesome.” She hugged him. He held his hands slightly away from her body, patted her shoulder once, twice.

She held on long enough to make even Mason uncomfortable. “You rule,” she said releasing him. “Thank you thank you. I love you.”

The man motioned indistinctly, mumbled something, then headed back to his car.

Mason watched in shock as he got in his car, got it turned around, then left.

Emily got back in the car.

“Are you kidding me?”

“What?” she asked, pulling on her pants.

“It’s weird.” The mechanic gestured at Mason’s car. “You’d think there’d be more damage.” He finished wiping his hands on a cloth and stuffed it into the pockets of his overalls. “But it’s fine really. It wouldn’t start because the battery cable was loose.”

“Thanks for being honest.”

“No need to thank me.” He reached into his pocket. “Just think of me if you get that fixed.” He gestured with the business card at the body damage, then held it out.

Mason took the card. “I will. It’s good to drive for now though?”

“Perfectly A-OK.”

Mason had already paid, worrying about whether he’d be tracked through Emily’s credit card, then discounting the notion as ridiculous—he was picking up his car from the place the cops dropped it off at. If they were after him, they would have been there already.

While the attendant who’d helped him pay had been very helpful in swiping Emily’s metal Amex and giving him a receipt, she’d been less than helpful in letting him know the state of his car, or indeed if he’d even be able to drive it out of there. The fact that the bill wasn’t itemized just made things more confusing, and the price had seemed lower than Mason had expected.

Now, Mason got in, glad that he would be able to drive himself out of here. Very glad.

He examined the interior, flipped the visor down. “Where are the keys?”

The man jolted, one hand going up, index finger extended. “Be right back.”

Mason continued looking around the car after the mechanic left. In a cradle attached to the dashboard, he spotted something that made his heart melt. The cradle too was partly melted, but his phone seemed fine.

“My phone!” Mason cried triumphantly. He looked around some more, opened the glovebox, which now stuck a bit. His passenger seat was charred, and was damp to the touch. But the wallet in the center console storage was pristine. “My wallet!” he held this and the phone to his chest. “I love you.”

“You should see a doctor about that. Or a shrink.”

Mason turned his phone on and checked his email.

“Are you sure you’re all right?”

“Yeah.”

“I can drive if you want.”

He looked up at her, pausing his email processing. “I’ll take my chances.”

“Cock eater.” She punched his face.

“Ow! Mother—” He rubbed the spot.

“Oh, shit. Are you okay? I meant to hit your shoulder.”

“I’m fine shitface.”

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to. The car, and the angle…” she trailed off, gesturing vaguely.

Mason frowned. “Yeah?”

“You can punch my boob if you want.”

The mechanic interrupted, “Uh…”

Mason and Emily turned to look at him.

He held up the keys, jingled them once. “Here you go.” He held the keys to Emily, then Mason, then settled on a spot between the two.

Mason glared at Emily, then took the keys.

Emily frowned, then smiled with realization. “We like to change it up,” she told the man.

“Have a nice day.” The man hurried back into his shop.

“Prude.”

“You look like you’re twelve,” Mason said.

“At least I don’t look like an old man. Besides, would a twelve year old call you a taint-licking scrotum-sucker?”

Mason felt he didn’t need to answer that.

Emily walked around and got in the passenger side.

“What are you doing?”

Emily grimaced as she sat. “Your seat’s getting me wet.”

There was silence for a moment. Then Emily brought her leg under her to sit on and said, “Making sure you get where you’re going okay.”

“Oh.” Silence. “How do you plan to get back?”

She looked where her car was parked, then at Mason. “Where are you going?”

Mason sighed. “Your store.”

“I’ll walk back then. I can drive alone when it’s dark.”

Mason started the car with resignation. The woman probably wouldn’t be there, and at least this way he’d have someone to talk to.

He glanced in his rear view mirror as he left the lot. He wondered if he was jeopardizing Emily. Wondered why he was even letting himself take the risk.

He looked over at her. She was watching him. She smiled when he turned to her, rubbed his shoulder. She didn’t need to say what it meant.

They watched the sunset through the large glass windows of All American Independent Coffee (which, as it happened, served no coffee at all from America—any of them), sipping free coffee and eating free pastries. Mason had several, and only now, finishing his sixth, was he beginning to feel satiated.

“I can wait with you,” Emily said.

He’d already told her that he was supposed to meet someone here, and she was supposed to meet her friends tonight who were helping her get ready for her birthday tomorrow night.

They stared at the last rays of the sun, the parking lot already mostly dark, the streetlights lit and shining through a haze of high fog, or very low clouds.

Mason downed the last of his coffee. “You don’t want to leave your friends to do all the work.

“Besides, you shouldn’t be gone when your parents get back. They’ll freak.”

She twisted her bottom lip. “Yeah. I hope the demons aren’t back yet.”

Mason hadn’t even thought of them. “They aren’t with your parents?”

“Brother’s at Kaitlyn’s. Sister’s at Tommy’s.”

Mason raised his eyebrows. “Already with the boys?”

She laughed. “No, she doesn’t like boys yet. Tommy’s the gay one.”

“Oh.”

“You’re so weird.”

“Me?”

She looked out the window. Her car sat across the street. “You’re right, I better go.” She got up and hugged him. “Are you okay old man?”

“I’m fine, Creepy.”

She stared at him, frowning.

“Really, now go.”

She took out her phone. “I’m here. Whenever.” She waved it at him.

“I know.”

“You’re going to go home and rest when you leave, right?”

“Right.”

“No stops beforehand.”

“No, Mom. I promise.”

She ruffled his hair. “Take care, Son.”

And then she was gone, seeming to become transparent as she walked ever deeper into the fog.

He watched her reverse lights come on. He watched her back out of her space. He watched her exit the lot. He watched her taillights until they were swallowed by the fog.

He pulled her coffee toward him—still half remaining—and sipped. He cringed at how sweet it was, but soon his taste buds adjusted, and he sat, sipping, waiting for Sera and hoping he wasn’t completely insane.

By that Christmas Travis and Mason have become good friends, and so Mason goes home with him to catch a concert three days before the holiday before going home to his own parents.

That night, as they’re having dinner before leaving for a hopefully debaucherous night at an epic concert, Travis’s sister’s strange friend joins them for dinner.

Travis’s family has the odd tradition of making the guest answer the door, and so Mason opens it to reveal this strange girl.

“You,” he says, surprised.

“Jesus man, I’m not that bad.”

Mason looks over her head and sees a girl about his age getting into a
very
nice car. He watches as she puts the top down.

Emily looks over her shoulder. “My sister’s crazy. It’s like sixty degrees.”

But Mason hardly hears this. He’s too transfixed by the girl in the car’s profile. He knows her.

She turns, and their eyes meet.

Mason thinks she frowns, but can’t be certain. He raises his hand to wave. Before he can, Emily shouts, “I’m fine! Bye!”

The girl waves, then peels out.

There’s a heart-stopping moment where Mason thinks she’s going to jump the curb, but she gets the car under control and disappears around the corner.

Mason is left with his hand half-way to a waving position.

“She’s never going to get her own car if she keeps driving like that.” Emily turns back and looks at him. She shakes her head. “She’s not that hot,” she says, and pushes past him inside. “Hey Taylor, I’m hooome!”

He didn’t have to wait long.

When Sera walked in, she, without a word, sat at his table, grabbed his coffee, tossed it several feet into the trash, and took out her tea set. “You’re late.”

“Hey! I wasn’t done with that.”

“What have you been doing?”

“Calm down lady. I was in the hospital.”

“I am calm.” She poured tea from a thermos into a cup. “When was the last time you took Crumble?”

He frowned at her. “You don’t seem surprised. How did you know I would be here?” He shook his head. “And I don’t want tea, dammit.”

She looked past him. “A full day, I know you took your first dose at least.” She looked him in the eyes. “So it’s been approximately thirty hours, yes?”

Mason shrugged. “I don’t know. Not like it did anything. I thought you came here at three?”

She ignored this. “It did far more than that. Why do you think you’ve been able to do what you have?” She shook her head.

“What have I been able to do?”

“Haven’t you noticed?”

“I’ve noticed my life’s gotten a lot more dangerous since I met you.”

“You must have noticed. I know it works on you.”

“I noticed the danger.”

She looked up at him. “You just said that. Are you all right?”

“No! I was in a car accident!”

“Then you’re lucky I came back. I was already here today, you know. Where have you been?”

He stared open-mouthed at her. He thought a car accident was a pretty good excuse. He said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we had a contract.”

“We had much more than that, Mr Grey. Do you realize how important this is? How important you are?”

Mason shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

She sighed. “You are, Mr Grey—”

Mason put up a hand. “Why is everyone suddenly calling me Mr Grey?”

“That’s your name. At least according to the records.”

“What records?”