honea byrne

 "So how's Lil Nicky doing?" He asked. He was wearing a long sleeve black shirt that had an eyeball on the chest part. "He's fine. Just got him in daycare. Can't stay long, got him in his crib. Hopefully, he won't climb out of it." She replied. Then he got up and walked down the hallway to a small fridge about two feet high and a foot wide. He kept it at a temperature of about 45 to keep the batch fresh. Had a padlock on the door-he kept it there thinking that if he ever got raided the cops wouldn't be able to get in it. She heard the key go into the lock. Heard it twist and unlock. And this was her moment of happiness for the day.  She was calculating the time the whole high event. She'd have a conversation for no longer than ten minutes. Then maybe two hours in the backroom, "The Waiting Room," is what he called it. She could never remember his name. He was super nice. Told herself he actually cared about her with the questions he...

  “Is there nothing I can pay to be right again?” Maddie cried as she pleaded. It was the most anguished cry she could ever remember. Like morning sun rays piercing through the cracks of walls, his face reemerged from the blackness of the hood. He looked down on her. He looked down on her. She remembered that look. Had she remembered it before? Her mother had long dirty blonde hair. Had many wrinkles in her once silky smooth face-For the way time had its way with people was catching up to her. She looked at him and he looked down on ‘Baby Maddie.’ “We got the good life now, Joe. It was a nice home. A bit aged outside but still attractive with the ionic columns on the sides of the entrance to the front door. Had beautiful marble floors and cypress wood on the walls. There was a new couch, ugly now a days, that was orange leather. Even had a large state of the art new colored Zenith television and vinyl, eight track player combo. The fridge was always full of food. Maddie had trave...

 "I don't know how-rather what sort of blood was in the sacred bowls where 'their holy water' was." She looked at the clock on the wall. She was telling herself she was bored with his story that had to be psychotic from his obvious drug use. None of it was true. "He asked all of the girls that were so infatuated with his presence, 'What is your name?' He had them in a line of thirteen. Ordered them to be unclothed as he wrote different sigils in blood above their hearts. A different symbol for each girl in attendance. But she noticed he had a different seductive tone with her as he asked her what her name was. She thought he was totally willing until the time came. 'My name is Katherine?'" That look in his eyes actually trespassed through her. "How did he know things she could not know or not yet know?" Surely it was a psychic vampire technique. "'No my sweet child. Your name is Crow. You Are My Messenger. You will come...

  When she had done this before, she used to laugh at that too. She was fine for the first year or two. She was a stay-at-home mom. He was everything she thought she wanted. It was a beautiful life that she thought she wanted. He was a tenured college professor of Science. “You left our child to do…” his voice was fading. She was on the nod. He walked to her, leaned down. Was face to face. She feared the chair would break. His eyes were full of tears. He definitely didn’t want to, “I want you out by the time I get back from work,” She knew it was for real this time. “The law will com to escort you out.” Then he dug into his pockets. Took out a roll of cash and threw it in her lap. He walked away quickly. Stomped his way upstairs and cried. She hated to fall asleep in that chair to the sound of his crying. She woke up about two am. She knew where he hid his wallet. Took out his black American Express card, took their seven month old son, Copernicus, and the new BMW suv that he bou...

  She had salon styled, type on magazine covers, hair. And a body that you could bounce a quarter off of-was so tight. Surely this could be the one. The one that can save me. I walk up to her and say that classic line, “If I wrote the alphabet, I’d put you and I together.” She starts giggling in that giddy way. “hey my name’s John and uh what’s a pretty goddess like you doing here?” We kick it off immediately. We find out we like the same things. Being with her. Being with me is like it is a better piece of me, a better piece of her. We get married, it was a dream like wedding. Then she goes with this guy who actually approached her… I look at the blackbirds on the wire. Some of the birds I think are crows. The others, I’m not sure about. I remember I was supposed to meet you at around noon. And it really bothered me when you never showed up. I waited thirty minutes. My father raised me to always be on time and to always do what I say. I was nervous, anxious, and angry. Then when...