How He Got There (fiction)

"I bumped into Ray," Gretchen said. It landed like a thud and then Cathy put down her wine glass.

"Ray?"

"Yes. He was asleep on the sidewalk. I think he lives there…on the street."

Cathy couldn’t find the words. There were thoughts that came to mind, like "good" and "piece of shit" "I hope he rots", "What goes around comes around" etc, but she didn’t think Gretchen would like to hear that. She knew how she felt about Ray.

"I didn’t wake him. I was scared what he might do if he saw me, so I sort of circled around him because I wasn’t really sure it was him. He looked terrible. His skin looked raw. He had one sock on. Walking around the city with one sock on. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to know how he got there."

"How he got there," Cathy repeated, hearing enough. "It was a downward spiral for that piece of shit. He flushed himself down the toilet and then resurfaced on the sidewalk- you should’ve kicked him back in the gutter."

Gretchen fell into silence and thought about Ray’s wide open mouth as he drank in his sleep. His cracked lips and sunburned face. The intense lines that aged his hands. Those hands that were once clasped around her neck, and his bloody lips smashed against her ear.

"I don’t like they way you look at him. I don’t like the way he touched your fucking arm and I don’t like the way you laugh at every FUCKING THING HE SAYS!"

Calling her at work. Coming in and having coffee, watching the two of them. Looking out for signs of affection from across the street. 

Washed up on the sidewalk. Not much of a threat anymore. It had been 12 years since she last saw him.

Harry coming up the driveway with his signature backpack and Ray watching from the window. He had only swung by to return her uniform after a shift, Harry often forgetting to bring one of his own. She was clocking out and he was clocking in, so once again, she’d do him the favor.

"Can I borrow your uniform again," he asked, catching her at the lockers.

"It’s sweaty today. I don’t think you want this."

"I like it pre-sweated. Makes them think I’m working hard."

"If the sweat doesn’t convince them the stink will."

"I like your feminine stink."

She laughed, handing him the threads.

"God," she said, as Harry used her shirt as a pillow, his eyes closed and pretending to sleep with a smile.

Ray grabbed a stone out of a potted plant and headed out the door. Before Harry could explain his visit to Ray, the stone was jabbed into his teeth smartly- three times. It made a clacking sound like marbles. Harry backed off in a daze, dropping Gretchen’s uniform and drooled out blood. Ray was still marching toward him and Harry felt light-headed. He tripped over his footing and waved his arms in semi-circles while Ray moved in for the kill, shoving him to the ground and stomping on the back of his head. He wanted it to cave in. He wanted to smash it like a pumpkin. 

Gretchen was out at the time with Cathy, discussing Ray’s recent episodes. Cathy warned her repeatedly that it would only get worse, but Gretchen couldn’t bring herself to call the cops. She loved Ray more than any human being in her life. Harry was just a friend, but Ray was assuming the worst. 

She came home to Ray being arrested outside of their house. Harry had already been taken away by the paramedics- he died of severe head trauma after a week in life support and Ray went to prison for three years for assault and unintentional manslaughter. He was let out after two years. He changed his name and disappeared the best he could. 

Cathy didn’t want to hear about Ray anymore. If she saw him on the street she would kill him. She was tempted to contact Harry’s parents- they had to know. Maybe the cold sidewalk was punishment enough, but as long as the sonofabitch was still breathing it didn’t seem like enough justice. Harry had been breathing too, braindead and fluid leaking into his brain.

"I didn’t know what was happening," Ray had said. "I was soo angry and everything just went white, like I was having a sunstroke. I woke up and the kid was face down on the driveway." 

Gretchen excused herself to the bathroom.

Cathy was upset. Upset that Gretchen had to tell her- she would’ve been better off not knowing Ray was still around. It felt like a new responsibility and she would have to deal with it or Gretchen would wear this on her face forever.

Gretchen felt a tinge of vomit, her saliva turned sour and she spat up in the sink.
She threw up because she knew she still loved him. She loved him and it made her sick to her stomach.