I shrugged, pulling my sneakers on. “I dunno.”
His voice was like a hammer to my ears. “Are you going to eat something?”
I grimaced, stalking to the corner and grabbing a can. I violently poked two holes in the can of tomato soup with a screwdriver and drank the contents, with Joseph staring down at me with an amused expression.
“Are you going to wash those?” I snapped, pointing at a collection of dishes in a tub by the wall.
“Mmhm,” he nodded, putting his spare hand up to grasp my waist.
I swiped my mouth with my sleeve and darted out of his way. He frowned.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, surprised.
I stared down at my feet, trying to think of a nice way to say he was driving me crazy and I needed some space. Instead, what came out was, “You’re just really annoying me right now.”
He laughed but, when he saw my face, he stopped. “Why, what did I do?” he asked, confused.
I looked up at his beautiful face and softened for a second. I knew it wasn’t fair but before I met him, I was very used to being alone. Even in the forest, I’d had a chance to get away from everyone. Here, we were always in each other’s space, squelched together with nowhere to run. The softening only lasted a second because in that moment, it wouldn’t have mattered what he said… everything he said or did was irritating me.
I reached my hands up and put them on his shoulders. “Nothing. I’m just going nuts in this place. I need some space. From everybody. I feel like if you stand there looking at me any longer or tell me to eat or do something, I’m going to say something I regret,” I said.
He pursed his lips for a second, and then his mouth cracked into a grin. “You know, you’re kind of annoying me too. Why don’t you get out of my space for a bit?”
“That’s all you’re going to say?”
He parted the curtain and turned back to answer. “At least you warned me this time, before you went all crazy on me.”
I smiled and threw the empty can at him. It bounced off his elbow. “Ouch!”
As soon as he left, I felt his absence like a sharp sting.
Lunch with Rash was always pretty entertaining, lunch with Rash and Essie even more so. I didn’t know her very well, she was quiet, but I liked the two of them together. It brought a bit of light to this shadowy world.
Today he was juggling cans of beans and trying to hold a conversation at the same time. It led to dented knees and lots of laughter, especially from Essie. She was a giggler, and every time Rash dropped a can and swore, her whole body shook with little fits of high-pitched giggling. Orry was standing between my knees, swaying back and forth.
“You coming up to the surface with me tomorrow, Soar?” Rash asked in a strained tone as he tried to concentrate on the cans flying above his head.
“Yep. Wouldn’t miss it,” I said, my eyes moving in circles, tracking the cans and putting bets on which one was going to hit Rash in the head. Kidney beans, definitely. I smiled to myself.
A can rolled behind me, the crunch of a foot stopped it from rolling over the ledge.
“Ahem!”
Rash’s concentration lapsed, and the cans tumbled towards his face and crotch. I tried to hold it in, but when one landed square in his lap and his face scrunched up as he rolled over the ledge, I burst out laughing. It was made worse by Essie, who giggled and then hiccup-burped. Rash shouted from up from the lower level, “What a lady!”
Even Orry’s eyes lit up. He clapped and held his hands up like he wanted me to pick him up. Arms swooped in from behind me, and I realized Orry wasn’t looking at me.
“Darling boy, miraculous grandson of mine,” Pelo exclaimed as he lifted Orry over my head and into his arms. I hunched my shoulders, trying to not to get upset. It was my fault anyway. I’d allowed Pelo to spend time with Orry. They’d bonded or something. My mouth was a flat line, jealousy carving an unflattering wrinkle in my brow.
Rash’s head popped up, just his eyes, like a toad above pond water, and then he scrambled over the ledge. He grabbed Essie by the waist and squeezed. She jumped and then smacked the side of his face. I liked her.
Pelo opened his mouth to speak, my ear inadvertently closing over as the air rushed over his lips. Then Careen bashed into him from behind, clipping his shoulder. Essie stared her down like she was hoping she’d burst into flames. It was unnecessary. Careen was already on fire. Her face was red, and her eyes intense. She grabbed both my shoulders and shook me.
“I’m going to kill him!” she shouted.
Pelo took a step back, Orry still in his arms, “Is it all right if I take Orry for a walk?” he appealed, snatching at this opportunity. Careen’s fingers were still digging into my shoulders. She was ignoring everyone. I nodded to Pelo, who strode off quickly with my son on his bony hip.
“Did you hear me?” Careen hissed. Her face was red and blotchy, like she’d been crying.
I put my hands on her hands and pulled them off me. “What’s he done now?” I asked, rolling my eyes. Pietre was still being as difficult as he possibly could. The only time he managed to be halfway decent was when I brought Orry to him. Other than that, he scowled, swore, and treated Careen like dirt. If he weren’t already injured, I’d punch him. In fact, I wasn’t sure I cared about his leg any more. He needed a good punch. I squeezed my hand into a fist.
“He’s just… well… he’s just being Pietre,” Careen said as she flopped down next to Essie, who surreptitiously shuffled a few inches away from her. Careen’s nostrils flared as she glanced down at Essie, but she didn’t say anything to her. She focused her hurried talking in my direction.
Careen wasn’t easily rattled, but she was at the end of her patience with him. She prattled on about every insulting thing he’d said to her in the last twenty-four hours, my face getting tighter, and my heart angrier with every venom-dipped sentence she recalled. “He kicked me out, Rosa. I don’t know what to do. I think I love him or at least, I used to. It’s like when they chopped off his leg, they took the good parts of him too,” she said sadly. I waited for the weirdness to come. The part where she flicked off her seriousness and said something strange. A few seconds later, she swung her head towards Rash and asked, “Did you cut your hair? It looks darker.” I clenched my teeth together, straining not to laugh. Rash took one look at Careen and chuckled whole-heartedly.
“Sure Red, I’m like the reverse Samson. The more you cut off, the darker and more powerful I become!”
Careen looked at me confused, and I just shook my head. There was no explaining Rash.
Once Rash had calmed down, he draped his hand on Essie’s knee and leaned his head down to her rounded shoulder. “Soar?”
I was gazing distractedly down at the black water canal. It looked like oil, chopping and moving as the current carried it swiftly through the underground town and out to somewhere else. I wondered where it went. Did it look black on the outside?
“Soar!” Rash yelled out, his hands to his mouth, the name bouncing of the walls, “oar… oar… oar.”
“What?” I snapped.
He leaned back from me, but in a comical way. “Whoa. No need to get snarky. I just thought…”
Careen was staring at the ground with her head in her hands. She was exhausted. Sometimes I wished Rash could be serious for just one second. Living like this amplified everyone’s characteristics. I hated that the things I loved about people were turning on me.
I sighed. “You just thought what?”