In a Nearby Church

by Bethany Cody

It’s been twenty-three years. Time enough to grow up, grow apart, get a girlfriend, a house, some debt, a dog called Austin, and a kid called No-Name. I heard about the promotion a couple months back and I’d say, “Congratulations,” but you’re not close enough to hear me.

So, why’d you come here? To visit the folks, what’s left of them in that dark pit in the ground? When you were nineteen, the day you left, I saw you kneeling on the grass talking to their headstones. You should’ve known they can’t hear you, anymore.

It’s been twenty-three minutes since you drove through open iron gates. The glass is frigid where I press bare fingertips, watching your tribe follow you through the churchyard from my perch in the loft. I’ve got to move now.

Out on the snowy soil, you barely recognize me.

“Cassidy, hey man.”

“Merry Christmas, Steven.”

You’re nodding; you see me take a step forward, feel the chill of air as I continue past you and your kin. Your girlfriend makes an ugly comment. You rub her arms like it’ll change her mind.

“Just give my brother some time.”

“He’s had more than a decade, Steve.”

In twenty-three seconds, No-Name’s frothing at the mouth and drops to the ground in spasms. Your girlfriend shrieks like a banshee. It’s in the cookies I left beside their graves, homemade gingerbread with white, sugary frosting.

You didn’t see them in the dark but a child’s eyes could. Grubby fingers untied the ribbon, reached inside and took what wasn’t theirs.

You’re rushing for the car. Tires churn over slush and gravel in a desperate struggle to get away, get to a hospital, a cure. Snow cover drapes everything in sea-foam white, rooftops, wide suburban streets ablaze with Christmas lights, the neighbors’ cars and front yard nativity scenes, the perimeter of the lake. It’s a blind turn you don’t see through the sudden flurry.

In twenty-three seconds, icy water closes over your car. That last part I hadn’t intended.

Bethany Cody is an Adelaide-based Australian writer of creative fiction, short stories, and poetry. She has received awards in the 2018, 2019 and 2020 Campbelltown Literary Awards as well as a commendation prize in the 2018 City of Rockingham Short Fiction Awards.