The story inspired swelled into something huge. I posted the first story last Wednesday for #QueerBlogWed.
Here's the second part, which relives Caitlin's memories, beyond the setting where the dust bunny, heat wave, and blood splatter are happening, along with the ghost connected to all of them...
Smiling and talking was easy, so easy it was almost natural. Nothing she said mattered.
“Look at the peace sign.” Someone nudged her, grinning a bit. What was her name again? “Along with the crucifix, the jade hat, and the mouse ears!”
Caitlin glanced at the girl with the purple streak in her short dark hair, wearing all of those things.
“Some people will do anything for attention,” she muttered under her breath, turning her back on the spectacle. Caitlin walked in the opposite direction, while the rest of the ground smirked and giggled over Purple Hair.
Whatever. She was already bored.
By the middle of the day, she’d forgotten about it. This was her time alone, to stride across the park at high noon.
Yes, it was hot. Spirits tended to be sleepy and dormant. It was the one time of the day Caitlin dared to be alone. She didn’t need a crowd of people around her, she could walk alone, listening to the wind in the trees, smelling the flowers.
Plants were so much more pleasant than people. Prettier, too.
Caitlin strode at a brisk pace until she came to the garden. At which point, she slowed down, strolled past lillies, snapdragons, plum trees, Japanese maples, breathing in the air.
If only she could be like this all the time.
She stopped at the bench which offered a great view of a cluster of purple flowers she didn’t know the name of. At first, she didn’t even notice the person who dropped onto the bench next to her.
After all, this person gave her plenty of space.
“I can never make up my mind.” Her voice was soft, inobtrusive, mingling with the winds and smells.
“What?” Caitlin turned to look at the speaker, only to see the purple haired girl who’d been mocked at school.
“Do I feel spiritual? In what way?” The stranger didn’t turn or look at Caitlin. She kept her gaze fixed upon a distant group of rose bushes. “Do I want to wear jade or my pentacle? Am I Christian? Am I pagan? I myself am not sure.” Gray green eyes, slightly slanted darted in Caitlin’s direction, direct and serene. “Sorry if I bothered you with my confusion.” She fingered with each symbol around her neck, eyeing it. “It’s my normal state of being.”
“One you have to express? It seemed like you were trying to make an impression.” Caitlin leaned back against the bench, arms spread out behind her. “You certainly caught the eye of the people with me.”
“Completely unitentional. An unfortunate side affect of being myself.” The girl smiled, giving Caitlin a sideways glance. “We can’t all blend it.”
“Can’t you?” Caitlin asked, putting an unintentional edge in your voice. She herself blended in, every day, making an art of not standing out.
“Not in a way which wouldn’t drive me completely mad.” The girl smiled, transforming her rounded cheeks and snubbed nose into something unique. Almost sagelike. “Doing what you do every day looks exhausting.”
“You’ve been watching me?” Caitlin raised an eyebrow, wondering if she shouldn’t feel uneasy. Wondering even more why she didn’t. “Why?”
“I’m curious.” The girl brushed a lock of purple hair off her brow. “Why spend time with people you don’t really care for?”
“I don’t dislike them,” Caitlin protested. “They’re all right.”
“Are they?” The stranger withdrew her arms from the bench to hug herself. “They’re not your friends. Not really.”
“Why do you care?” Caitlin asked, getting a little irritated. This girl was pushy. What’s more, she was intruding on Caitlin’s alone time. “Why don’t you stop analyzing me and tell me what you want?”
“To talk to you.” The girl dropped her arms, stretching them out in front of her. “I’m Micki, by the way. Like the mouse.” She pointed to the hat she wore. “What’s your name?”
“Caitlin.” She wondered if she should have given her name so readily. She wasn’t sure if this stranger should have it. “Why do you want to talk to me?”
“I’ve seen you visit this garden, noon after noon.” Micki gestured to the purple flowers ahead of her. “You seem like a very different person when you’re here. Someone worth talking to.”
“Picky about whom you converse with, aren’t you?” Once more, Caitlin surrounded herself with a barrier of old fashioned words. Anyone who was frightened off by them wasn’t worth the time of day. “Why me?”
“I’m not sure.” Micki smiled, once again transforming her face into a human landscape of curiousity, pain, intelligence, and serenity. “Perhaps if we converse, I’ll find out.”
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