kaolin fire presents :: writing :: fiction

"ATornLeaf.0"

words

A twist of the cap shifted gears on her frustration; blood, from a fucking Frappucino. They didn't have fucking hard edges, so why the hell was she bleeding?

Sure enough, the cap's edge was serrated, like an ant at its leaf, or a punk with way too much time on his hands. She went up to the front of the store, butting in front of a bitter but suppressed line.

Before anyone could muster the verve for protest, she held her palm up to the clerk, who nearly fainted.

"Got any gauze?"

"I--I--how did--what--"

"Gauze, you know? White padded stuff to make clotting work? Someone pranked your fucking Frappucinos." She lifted the bottle in his general direction, but didn't care enough to show him. She wanted something to stop the bleeding; it wasn't a lot of blood, but the whole situation, this on top of everything else--it was too much.

In the face of the clerk's continued uselessness, she placed the Frappucino on the counter, and walked outside. She heard the clerk call out to her faintly, "Miss--you can't leave that there. Miss--miss, are you alright?" but she was gone.

Frank was sitting there, in his black BMW convertible, freshly washed, freshly waxed. "You made me drive you to the store and then you didn't even want anything?"

"I want a divorce."

Pressing the bleeding palm against the heel of her other hand, she turned and walked away. It wasn't about turning a new leaf--she had to rip it right out.