EYEHEARTZOMBIES

Seth led the way back up the stairs, Elijah coming up behind him. The man had definitely been deflated by the girl’s death. It was good to see him back in control of his emotions again, but sad that it took such a horrible event to bring it about. Seth wondered how everyone else was reacting to the change.

When they reached the top of the stairs, Seth saw that everyone seemed to have made it up to the front desk. There were three older people, two men and a woman who looked to be about sixty-five, that he had seen from the reading area earlier. A heavy-set man in his late middle years that Seth hadn’t seen before could have been the man who was coughing in the rows of books earlier. Standing off to the side, propped up against a billboard advertising the winter book reading program was the girl from upstairs. Seth met her eyes for a second, then looked away, not wanting to turn red. The librarian was still behind the desk, but she seemed to be sitting now instead of standing, since he could only see her head and shoulders. They were all looking at him in the dim light of the flashlight with sad eyes.

“So,” he started, not sure of what to say in this kind of situation. “I got the police on the phone. They’re gonna send someone when they can, but they said the power is out all over the city, some sort of massive power outtage, I guess. Dunno when someone’ll get here, but I guess it doesn’t matter now. Don’t know if they’re sending a squad car or an ambulance or what. Guess it doesn’t matter….” He trailed off, realizing he was just repeating himself wildly. He looked over at the dead girl.

She was still laying on the floor where he and Elijah and put her, her arms folded over her chest. Elijah must have moved her arms, then. Her eyes were still closed, which Seth was very greatful for. He’d be too creeped out by lifeless staring eyes, he felt. He took a couple of steps toward the girl and shined the light on her. He watched for a few seconds, hoping to see her small chest move up or down, to show any sign of life, but nothing moved. He knealt down and stuck his index and middle fingers against her throat, feeling for a pulse. “Sean?” Elijah called softly from behind him. “She’s gone, kid. We all already checked her. There weren’t nothin’ we could do, Sean. It’s OK.“

Seth stood up, satisfied that she was indeed dead. He swallowed a sudden lump in his throat and turned around to face the group again. “Alright. Well, then I guess we just wait. I’d like you all to stay here so you can tell the police what happened. I mean, I know I’m just some kid and you don’t have any reason to listen to me, but it’d be best for…her. Geez. I just realized we don’t even know her name. Anyway, uh, I guess it’s up to each of you.” He nodded as if to cement his comment, then turned and sat the flashlight, beam up, on the circulation desk. Then he went and sat on the waiting room style chairs next to the dead girl’s body.

Everyone just stood where they had been for a few moments. The fat man coughed and that seemed to jar everyone from their quietude. The two older men looked at each other, shrugged, and went to fetch chairs from the reading area. The older woman just waited for one of them to bring her one. Must be married, Seth thought. Elijah came over and sat down next to Seth, one empty chair between them. The girl from upstairs and the coughing man both stayed where they were, shifting their weight to the other foot to keep from putting either leg to sleep. He looked worried, but she just looked bored.

The librarian rolled her chair over to an opening in the side of the desk and leaned around so she could see Seth and Elijah. “OK, so what happened down there? You said you got the police?” Her voice was thick with worry and it started to bring out a Southern lilt to it. “Police” came out “poh-lease” and you could tell she was just inches away from adding on “hon” to most of her sentances. Seth looked at her in the dim light. She was a medium-toned black woman. She wore glasses and had a bit of a permenant squint to her eyes. He guessed she’d been at this job all of her life. He waited until the older men came back with two chairs each and everyone had been seated, the coughing man taking the extra chair.

“Well, like I said, I got the police on the phone. They didn’t want to send anyone over, said they were swamped with other calls, more important stuff, I guess. I told ‘em it was an emergency and that someone had been hit by a car, so I guess that was important enough for ‘em. Said someone or something’d be by when they could. That’s it.” Seth looked around at everyone’s faces in the dim light. Mostly shadows and deeper greys.

“Well, Sean, the way I see it — ” Elijah leaned forward to make is point more prominent.

“Seth.”

“What?” Elijah turned, a tiny bit of shock in his voice at being interrupted.

“My name is Seth, not Sean. In fact, before you start telling us what you think, I think we should get everyone’s names. Better than ‘hey you.’” Seth looked at the librarian pointedly, wanting her to start the circle. She leaned back in her chair for a few moments, then stood up so she could address everyone.

“I’m Virginia Clawson,” she said, laying a hand on her bosom. I’m the daytime librarian durin’ the week here at the library.” She smiled in the dusk and looked over at the heavyset cougher.

He didn’t bother standing up. In fact, he leaned forward, one hand on a knee, elbow jutted out to the side. “Bob Williams,” he said and then nodded. He turned to look at the older woman who was sitting to his right. She seemed a little started by the fact that he was being so brusque, but she decided to play along.

“Oh, well, I’m Maureen Jackson. I’m a retired school teacher. Oh, and this,” she gestured to the man to her right, “is my husband, George.” George nodded and waved a little before realizing it was a strange gesture for such a situation. He was probably around seventy years old and her wore a soft felt cap that tapered to the front. He wore rimless glasses and had shiny blue eyes, even in the dim light.

The man next to him stood up to answer the summons. “Hi, my name is Billy Wilde. I, uh, I come to the library pretty often with Maureen and George here. Anyway, uh, nice to meet you folk, the situation not withstanding.” He almost gave a little bow, then sat back down. He had a hat in his hands, a fedora, and he started turning it in his lap, obviously nervous.

Only the girl and Elijah were left. The girl stood up from leaning against the wall and tugged on her jacket. It was one like soccer players and track runners wore, bright yellow with green piping. A bit light for this weather, but it was far from freezing outside anyway. “I’m, uh, I’m Ruth Combs. Uh, hi.” She gave a little wave herself, more than George had done. Instead of leaning against the wall again, she came and sat in the seat between Seth and Elijah. That only left one introduction.

Elijah looked around the circle and sized everyone up before introduced himself. He didn’t mention that he drove a taxi or that he had been the one to hit the girl. He just said his name, Elijah Powell, and that was it. He looked at Seth, obviously impatient to get back to what he had been wanting to tell everyone before Seth had interrupted. Seth just waved a hand at him, motioning for him to continue. Elijah cleared his throat and started. “So, as I was saying, I think we need to just get everyone’s informaiton and then most of us can leave. I mean, we know everyone’s names and faces now, so it’s not like we couldn’t help the police if they…. I don’t mean to say someone’s going to get in trouble or anything. I just…. Anyway, I don’t think we all need to hang around. Just a few people to explain what happened. We’ll all leave our addresses and phone numbers and names and then the police can follow up or whatever they do.” He looked hopefully around the circle.

“Well, it’s still raining pretty heavy out there,” Ruth said. She pointed at the ceiling. “I can still hear it hitting the roof. I don’t really want to go out in it and get all wet.” The elderly trio nodded at this, obviously not wanting to get soaked either. Seth thought they must have come on the bus.

“I have a taxi sitting out there,” Elijah motioned. “I could take whoever home.” His eyes fell on the dead girl. “Free of charge, of course, considering.”

Seth suddenly got rather angry. “Why don’t you tell them WHY your taxi just sitting out there, Mr. Powell? Why don’t you tell them how it was YOU that hit the girl?” His hands were clenched into fists, sitting tightly on his knees. Ruth looked at Seth and then turned to look at Elijah, as did all other five pairs of living eyes in the room. Only Seth looked at the floor, at the girl.

Elijah sputtered for a second, his eyes bulging at Seth. Finally he recovered himself a bit and said, “She stepped out in front of me, Sean. I — “

“SETH!” Seth turned to look at Elijah, his eyes wide with anger. He didn’t know why he was so upset, but he couldn’t help but think of Elijah trying to run away earlier. He didn’t know why he was so attached to the young girl, but he’d be damned if he saw her killer run away before the police could question him.

“Seth, Seth. Sorry. I’m horrible with names. Seth, I didn’t see her. She stepped — no, stumbled — out of the alley and right into my path. There was nothing I could do! She just…jumped out at me.” Elijah wasn’t look at anyone now, just staring at the floor and his hands.

“Well, I just think it’s the most horrible thing that’s happened in this library,” Virginia said. She stood up again and walked around the edge of the desk. She stood looking down at the girl. “Did you get her name or anything? I just can’t imagine what it must be like to lose your little girl like that. I don’t have any children of my own, but I’ve been raisin’ my nephew for the past three years. His mama couldn’t take care of him, so he’s living with Auntie Gini now….” Seth stood up and walked away from the group, into the reading area.

The rain was still coming down, as Ruth had pointed out, but it wasn’t as heavy as it had been. The clouds were letting a bit more light come through and the day had gone from slate to concrete. The sky might be lighter, but Seth’s conscience was heavier. He couldn’t believe the girl had died. And he couldn’t believe how goddamn long it was taking the ambulance or sherrif or patrolman or whoever the hell was coming. Where were they? Was the power outtage really that bad?

He turned around to look at the group again. They all seemed unfazed by the event, but they weren’t really involved. He noticed Ruth wasn’t sitting next to Elijah any longer. She had gotten up and was walking over toward him. He knew this wasn’t the time to be thinking thoughts about girls, but he couldn’t help himself. The curse of being twenty-three, he thought.

Ruth noticed that he saw her walking over and picked up her pace a little. She gave another little wave when she was about five feet away and said “Hey” quietly. He waved back and halfway grunted “Hey” himself. She hugged herself and sighed, obviously trying to think of something to start off with.

“So…he — Elijah — hit the girl, huh? With his taxi?”

“Yeah. I just happened to walk out when it happend, too. I was on the steps, well, about to be. He was speeding down the street. The rain was coming down and he said she stepped out of the alley. I guess she did. All I know is that I saw him drive by, then heard a thump and saw his car bounce over her. He stopped, but it had already happened by then.” He looked at Ruth, hoping she’d be sympathetic. She gave him a little smile and nod.

“So then what? I mean, did you give her mouth to mouth or somthing? Or just bring her in here?” She apparently wanted him to continue with the story. He wasn’t sure he could handle explaining it all again.

“Yeah. Yeah, we picked her up and brought her in here.” Seth decided to leave out the blankness of Elijah’s response after hitting the girl and the little fight on the library steps. They wouldn’t do anything but make Ruth hate Elijah, and that wasn’t Seth’s intention. “Then I tried to call on the phone, don’t know if you heard me talking or not. But the power went out. So I had to go down into the basement to get the police on the phone. I guess they’ll be coming before too long. I hope they do, at least. I’d hate to think of everyone being stuck here for hours because of me and some dead girl.” He shrugged.

Ruth reached up and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry about it. It’s raining out there anyway so no one’s really eager to go out in it. You know how this city is, no one has a car if they can help it. Too damn busy with all the taxis anyway.” She winced after saying that. Seth chuckled a bit to show he got the joke and didn’t take any offence at it. “You want to go out on the front steps?” Ruth looked at him with hope in her eyes. “Get a bit of fresh air?” He nodded and they started walking for the doors.

They pushed open both of the glass doors inside, then Seth led the way throught the solid wood door to the outside. The rain had died down but the wind had picked up. He noticed that he must have put his coat down somewhere inside, but he didn’t feel like going back in to get it. He rubbed his arms a bit and looked up and down the street. Nothing moved but the rain.

Ruth pointed at the taxi that was still parked halfway on the sidewalk, the driver’s side door still open. “Guess that’s his cab, huh?” She took the steps two at a time and started walking toward the car when she reached street level. Seth started after her just when her feet hit the pavement.

“Hey! Thought you didn’t want to get wet?” He smiled when he said it, not really caring about the rain or the wind or the cold. Anything that took his mind and eyes off of the dead girl laying in the library. Ruth reached the taxi and looked at the ground behind the rear tires.

“There’s blood.” She pointed at the small pool of blood that had come from the girl’s mouth. “Guess you saw that earlier, though. Did you look down the alley?” She was standing again and turned around to look down the dark path, the taxi completely forgotten.

“Uh, no, no I didn’t. Didn’t even think about it.” Seth followed behind her, and stopped beside her at the mouth of the alleyway. “Should I go get the flashlight? We’d be able to see better.”

“What?” She smiled. “You scared of the dark?” She stepped into the alley and stopped.

“What’re you doing just standing there?” He was smiling in spite of himself, complete intrigued in this girl that had come out of nowhere in such a strange time. “Why’re you just stopped?”

She didn’t turn around. She took another step forward before answering him. “I want my eyes to adjust. You can’t see anything out there ’cause it’s so dark in here. It’s….There. I can see something further down the alley. Let me go get it!” And she disappeared into the blackness. Seth could hear her tennis shoes scuffling against the dirty floor of the alley. She stopped about halfway back, her outline just barely visible to him, and stooped over to pick something up. When she stood back up, she turned and smiled at him, her teeth glowing in the darkness. “Found something!” She held whatever it was above her head and ran back to him.

When she reached him, she held it out in front of her to show him. It was a small purse, pink and plastic, with Hello Kitty on the side of it. “Not what I’d expect from a fifteen year old girl,” Seth said.

“Fifteen? Ha ha, no. She was only about thirteen. I wonder what a thirteen year old girl was doing wandering around, though? Seems pretty strange to me. Well, let’s see what’s in the purse.” Ruth opened the small plastic clasp at the top of the purse and started to rummage around inside.