Fiends

breathed hard. The mask clung around her mouth, wet.

    ‘What’s wrong?’ Allan whispered.

    ‘Nothing. You’re… I’ve got to leave now.’

    He took a step toward her. She stopped him, hands against his chest.

    ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘Perhaps we’ll see each other again.’ She backed away from him.

    ‘Don’t go.’

    Without another word, she whirled and fled.

    The moment she vanished from sight, Allan ran to the mouth of the alley. He spotted her to the right, dashing up the sidewalk, her shimmering dress afly, her arms pumping, her long bare legs striding out, her sandals clapping the concrete.

    ‘Ligeia!’ he cried out.

    She didn’t look back.

    What if I never see her again?

    Maybe that’d be for the best, he told himself. What sort of relationship could we have, anyway? She has to wear that mask. Too grotesque to go anywhere without it.

    I’d be better off…

    She darted around the corner.

    ‘No!’ he yelled into the night, and sprinted after her.

    The hell with the mask, he thought as he raced up the sidewalk. Who gives a shit! Who gives a shit what she looks like!

    He ran harder than he’d ever run before.

    Pounded around the corner.

    Skidded to a halt when he saw her no more than fifty feet away.

    Obviously, she hadn’t thought he would pursue her. She was walking slowly, head down, arms swaying limp at her sides, sandals scuffing along. She seemed lost in her thoughts, crushed by a burden of dejection.

    Ligeia, Allan thought. What have I done to you?

    He ached to rush forward and take her into his arms and make everything all right.

    That might only make matters worse.

    Is she upset because I got carried away in the alley? She’s the one who started it. And that dress! Nothing on under it. What did she expect?

    Maybe that isn’t it. Suppose she’s falling in love with me and knows it can’t work. Maybe that’s why she fled.

    Whatever the reason, she was probably in no mood for Allan to put in an appearance.

    He couldn’t just walk away, though.

    So he decided to follow her. He crept closer to the building fronts, ready to duck out of sight if she should start to turn around, and made his way forward, matching her pace.

    Find out where she lives, he thought. She’s bound to head for home, sooner or later.

    He felt guilty, sneaking after her. Spying on her. It seemed like a betrayal. But he kept at it, knowing that if he quit he might lose her forever.

***

    It went well for two blocks.

    Then she stopped at a street corner. Though there seemed to be no traffic, she stood and waited for the light to change. As Allan watched, she began to turn around. He rushed forward, dodged into an entry way and stepped on the ankle of a derelict huddled in the darkness. The filthy old man flinched, moaned. With a gasp, Allan lurched away from him and staggered into the middle of the sidewalk.

    He jerked his head forward, spotted Ligeia at the corner.

    Facing him.

    ‘Ligeia!’ he called. ‘Please!’

    She flung herself around and leapt into the street. Without checking for traffic.

    ‘Look out!' Allan cried.

    The teenager bearing down on her yelped. Ligeia tried to lean out of his way. The teenager swerved, but not in time.

    The bicycle slammed into her, tumbled her to the pavement, twisted away and hit the curb, its abrupt stop hurling the kid against the handlebars.

    Ligeia, sprawled in the street, started to push herself up.

    As Allan ran to help, the kid jumped from his bicycle, let it fall, and hurried toward Ligeia. She was crouched, trying to stand, her back to him. ‘Geez, lady. You okay?’

    She looked over her shoulder at him. Her mask gleamed in the streetlights.

    ‘Yeeeah!’ he gasped, and bolted for his bike.

    Even before he got to it, Ligeia was up and running. The kid started to pick up his bike, but dropped it and scampered out of the way when he saw Allan bearing down on him.

    Allan hurdled the rear wheel.

    Ligeia had already made the other side of the street.

    ‘Wait!’ he called.

    She didn’t look back, didn’t slow down.

    She was fast. Not as fast as Allan, but almost. It took all his speed to gain on her.

    ‘Please! Stop!’

    She had to be hurting. A patch of skin over her right shoulder blade was scraped raw. Her skirt was torn, and drooped away from the scuffed cheek of her buttock. Her pumping arms showed Allan abraded elbows. Her whole body must be afire with pain.

    ‘Why are you doing this?’ he gasped.

    ‘Leave me alone!’ she cried out.

    ‘No! You need me! I need you!’

    ‘You… don’t know me!’

    ‘I know you’re lonely. I know I care about you. We can’t lose each other. Please.’

    ‘You’ll hate me!’

    ‘Bullshit!’

    ‘I’m…’

    ‘I don’t give a flying fuck if you look like Godzilla!’

    Reaching out, he grabbed her left arm. She tried to twist free of his grip. ‘Stop that!’ he snapped. And tugged her to a halt. Turned her roughly toward him.

    Clutching both her upper arms, he pushed her backward and pinned her against the accordion gate of a pharmacy. It rattled as she hit it.

    ‘Settle down.’

    She quit struggling. She gasped for air. Her breath gusted out the front of her mask.

    ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

    She shook her head.

    ‘You shouldn’t have run.’

    ‘Obviously.’

    The remark made his throat tighten. He drew Ligeia gently against him. And her arms wrapped around him. He pressed his face against the mask, felt her cheek through its slick fabric. They held each other for a long time.

    Then Ligeia whispered, ‘I don’t want to lose you so soon. Before we’ve even…’

    ‘You won’t.’

    ‘You haven’t seen my face.’

    ‘It doesn’t matter.’

    ‘Think so, huh?’ She squeezed Allan hard against her, then eased him away. ‘I… I’ve got to show you.’