Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 248926 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1245(@200wpm)___ 996(@250wpm)___ 830(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 248926 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1245(@200wpm)___ 996(@250wpm)___ 830(@300wpm)
Later, her father apparently struggled with raising them. Meanwhile, Maxwell’s father doubled down with the sexual abuse.
But. . .Lunita killed her mother?
I swallowed. “H-how did you do it?”
She stopped slicing at the thigh, tilted her head to the side, and leaned it against her shoulder. “What?”
“How did you kill your mother?”
“Oh.” She kept her head like that and looked at the ceiling. “Um.”
Maxwell walked into the room and watched her.
His joint still lay on the balcony’s ground. Smoke rose from the tip.
“Uh. . .Oh yeah.” Lunita straightened her head and began to saw at the leg. “Anytime Daddy left, she stuck the needle in her arm. . .she always lay so still in her bedroom. Frozen. Sleepy. Very slow to. . .move. . .”
My heart boomed in my ears. “What needle?”
Maxwell spoke, “Em’s mom must have been on heroin.”
“Then, I put the pillow on her face.” A dark giggle left Lunita. “I laid on the pillow.”
Maxwell and I exchanged looks. I think that left us both speechless. Once again, anytime Lunita said something, more questions came about.
“B-but. . .” Maxwell took two steps forward. “But why?”
Humming, Lunita stopped slicing the leg and flicked the blood on the carpet.
“Yo, Lunita?” Maxwell clapped.
Jean-Pierre held his hand up. “Give her some time.”
“Fuck.” Maxwell walked back out the balcony and picked up the joint from the ground. “I don’t know about this. This is like a séance or something. Sometimes it’s better to just leave the dead and other shit alone.”
Lunita stopped flicking the bow and gazed off at Maxwell. She bit her lip.
He remained on the balcony and smoked.
She watched him and whispered, “He’s mad at me again.”
Jean-Pierre sat on the couch, right next to the dead woman, as if it were a completely normal thing to do. “Why is it so important for Maxwell to not be mad at you?”
“No. . .happily ever after.” She set the bow on the ground and walked away. “But. . .at least. . .I wanted some happy. . .for him. For me.”
I followed her, not willing to let her have more than three feet away from me. Right when I thought she was going to sit on the black couch, she began hugging herself and pacing.
She’s on edge. This isn’t good. Maybe, I should stop this.
Jean-Pierre left the couch and picked up his bow. “What do you mean no happily ever after?”
Lunita paced. “I. . .I want to go now, but. . .she’s still crying so. . .I can’t. . .”
I stopped her. “Who? Emily?”
Lunita nodded.
“You can see her?”
Lunita nodded.
Maxwell groaned from the balcony. “Man, let her go. This shit is not okay.”
I trembled. “What is Emily doing?”
“Laying in the basement. In a ball. Crying.” Lunita frowned at me. “Paolo must stay.”
“I know.”
She walked around me and returned to pacing. “Not fair.”
I turned around. “About Paolo?”
“About everyone!” She fisted her hands. “I. . .I was. . .”
Still holding his bow, Jean-Pierre backed up and leaned against the wall, watching us.
I ignored him and got in front of her. “What, Lunita?”
“I. . .” She frantically looked at Maxwell and then turned away. “I-it was supposed to be a big. . .”
“What?”
“A big wedding on the roof.” Her chest quickly rose and fell. She touched her head. “Flowers in the hair. Tons of them. All over.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Who’s wedding?”
Lunita’s eyes watered. “It. . .was our place.”
I stepped to her. “Who’s place?”
“A wedding on the roof.” She moved her hands around. “Everyone there. Family. Friends. Happy. Music. Flowers. So many.”
She went silent and stared at Maxwell.
“Pretty flowers.” Her voice screeched as she touched her head. “Even in my hair.”
I looked at Maxwell.
He gazed back at us like we were insane. Smoke left his nostrils. He had his hand in mid-air as if he had been about to bring the joint to his lips, but froze.
Lunita lowered her voice to a shaky whisper. “Wedding on the roof. . .flowers. . .in the hair.”
I moved my view from Maxwell and turned to her.
“But. . .they. . .” Tears edged by her lids, but didn’t spill over. Suddenly, she began hitting and scratching her face. “Hurt! Hurt!”
“No!” I ran to her and grabbed her hands, lowering them to her side. “Don’t hurt yourself!”
She fought against me. “Why?! Why me?!”
I pulled Lunita close to me and wrapped my arms around her.
Those tears spilled from her eyes. “Hurt!”
Then, her body didn’t tremble, it quaked against me. She tried to get away from my hold, but I kept her close to me, unable to let her go.
Goddamn it.
Even though everyone that hurt her was no longer there, I was desperate to protect her.
Lunita gave up escaping my embrace, looked at me, and screamed. “No wedding on the roof!”
My heart hollowed in pain.
Snot dripped from her nose. Sobbing, she screamed again, “No flowers in the hair!”