Robert C. Day's Blog, page 34

Armpits

He sees
You leave.
Sweat collects
In his armpits.
But his eyes
Are dry.

Tear

(continued from Fled)

Highup in the mountains, Danwas peelinghisnavel. The small knife had teeth a plenty and had bitten into Dan’s fingerson so many occasion that, at night, he kept it under a heavy rock – just in case. Now, holding the knife just so in one hand, and pinching his navel tight in the other, he began the delicate spiral incision. Round and around, fluid spurting at every turn, he dug into the tender flesh. The thick skin yielded easily under the knife and Dan wasextra careful...

Fled

(continued from Start)

As the windows blew out, shards of razor-sharp glass flew towards Raju’s unprotected back, intent on slicing themselves deep into his flesh. Not one of them found its mark. Unconcerned, they flew on towards Larry’s inviting white flesh, revealed as the towel covering his hips was ripped from his body by the bow-wave of air. Try as they might, the only thing the splinters found was the wall behind Larry’s rapidly detumescing naked form.

Larry and Raju’s eyes found each...

Start

(continued from Boom)

The sex-laden sub-bass of Usher’s Crash pervaded the dance floor of the very nightclub in which Chad had been stalking Carrie a bare hour ago. Midnight saw the dance-floor heaving with bodies, limbs moving in a way designed to signal availability in one sense or another, and the multi-coloured lights pulsed in glorious abandon.

Danny had scored. His face was aglow. Since his wife had left him six months ago for his best friend’s girlfriend, he’d been in a bit of a slump...

Boom

(continued from Screaming)

The enormous explosion paled into insignificance beside the rampant galloping of Carrie’s heart. She barely noticed the cinematic bloom of light – orange against the night sky. As shards of rock and glass began to fall around her, she barely flinched. Her eyes were on the window above. The window whereChad stood in all his midnight glory.

She’d always lived by her emotions. They overtook her in fierce waves and established her teachers, parents and friendsas cleane...

Screaming

(continued from Awake)

WhenRaju arrived home laterthat night he could tell, by thesound of the water shushingthrough the pipes, thathis wife, Larry was in the shower. He was tempted to join him, but let that thought go. Since deciding to devotehis every waking thought to God he was tending more and more towards celibacy. He found the ins and outs of sex to be rather distracting andway too basic for his needs.As helocked the door behind him hedebated, for the millionth time,on telling Larry a...

Awake

(Continued from Release)

It had taken Chad what seemedlikeforever to fall asleep. Images of Carrie on the pavement outside the nightclub, her face, arms, lips, the faint taste of blackcurrant on her tongue. Should he have called her when he got home? Would she have been sleeping? Should he have gone in the taxi withher? Shehad seemed to betoo drunk; too upset; too lovely. Shouldhe call her now?Wait untilmorning? Drop by her house on the way to work?

He didn’t know why shehad beenin so much p...

Release

(continues from Clench)

Raju glanced in the mirror at the kid in the back seatand thought of making small talk. He let the thought go. She looked zoned out. Drugs probably, he thought. Then he let that thought go too – floating upwards to join its brothers in the nothing-o-sphere.

If the boy hadn’t already paid her fare and told him where to drop her, there’s no way he would have picked this one up. She had the stink of bad karma, not to mention the stink of wet sidewalk. A big smear of mud...

Clench

(continues from Heal)

From his glassed-in eyrie, Larry glared down at the impossibly young people milling around the nightclub entrance. Friday evening, mid-summer, the end of a gloriously hot day – the sun dipping, bands of cloud taking its colour and sweeping it across the sky in wild shades of orange and pink.

And there he was. Alone in the office. Again.

Weary from beating his head against the script they needed for the next morning he rubbed his eyes. Almost done now, yet the contempt h...

Heal

(continued from Break)

Concern overtook his face as frowns a million miles deep creasedhis forehead. He had followed her out of the nightclub when he saw her expression change from joy to pain as she read the screen of her phone.

In love with her since 7th grade, he had been drawn to Carrie against all intentions until, finding hismoth-like inclinations beating ineffectually against her glare, he resolved to hide himself. Yet he watched her still. From afar.

Not heeding his clothes, he knelt...