“Mom, come look at the birdhouse me and Erica bought today,” Jesse called out excitedly, giving Serene an excuse to extricate herself from her wife’s arms.
Erica followed on Serene’s heels. “We went to the gardening store. I got the seed packets you wanted.”
“Thanks,” Serene said, trying to appear friendly, easygoing, but the thanks came out dull and flat, even to her own ears.
Erica touched her arm. “You okay? You don’t seem like yourself lately.”
They were heading out to the yard and Jesse had run ahead. He turned to wave excitedly, the sides of his hair pulled back in barrettes. Why did he have barrettes in his hair? Serene wondered vaguely, glad for the excuse that her son was rushing her along so that she didn’t have to answer Erica’s question. Jesse skipped across the yard and to a birdhouse that hung from the willow tree. Standing next to the tree was Mara, her face flushed red and closed up like a fist. Mara? What was she doing here? In fact, the yard had oddly expanded and Serene found herself standing near a precipice, thick layers of fog obscuring the plunging depths below.
“Mara, why are you here?” Serene sucked in her breath. This wasn’t her yard. She was out in the country somewhere. Behind Mara was a driveway and a large house perched over a plunging cliff.
“Why am I here?” Mara yelled. “Oh, that’s ripe, Dora.”
Dora.
Serene reached out a hand to place on Mara’s shoulder, calm the enraged woman. What had Dora done?
"Don't touch me!"
Mara's hand flew out, the palm striking Serene in the chest, knocking her off balance, and then, to her horror, she was stumbling back, losing her footing at the edge of the drop-off. She reached out her hands, grabbing at air, Mara's face a mask of terror. Serene fell back. For one sickening moment, she thought her life was over as she felt herself falling into open nothingness. Something rough and springy broke the fall. It was the sturdy bough of a tree growing out of the cliffside. Serene bounced off it, falling onto a narrow rocky ridge. Stunned, she looked up at the stubby bushes jutting out from the wall of rocky earth. Mara stood at the top of the cliff, her hand clamped over her mouth. Adrenaline surged through Serene's system. She hadn't fallen that far. The ridge was only three feet down, the bough almost level with the grassy plateau. Serene grabbed hold of the branch and pulled herself up, using all her core muscles to transfer strength to her upper body. It was the hardest pull up she'd ever done in her life. Gasping, she managed to hook one leg around the branch and swing herself up before inching her way toward the base of the branch and the lip of the cliff.
"Mara, help me," she called out, but Mara stood immobilized, hand still on her mouth. Incredibly, there were other branches to grab. Serene’s feet scrambled against the earthy bedrock, finding solid footholds to leverage herself. And with relief, she hooked one shoulder onto the plateau and then the other, dangling from her armpits.
"Mara!" She screamed, trying to snap the woman out of her shock. Mara’s face was losing shape. Sinking away and then coming back into focus.
What the hell was going on?
"Mara," Serene yelled, making another attempt at heaving herself up. Her arms shook with fatigue, but now she was chest level, pulling herself forward with her elbows, "Fucking help me!"
Mara shook her head no, and then raised her leg, bringing her booted foot crashing down on Serene's arm. The pain exploded through her body, followed by a staticky fear. A surge of adrenaline shot through her tired muscles, forcing the last bit of power she needed to pull herself up to hip-level. Mara's foot came at her face and Serene grabbed her ankle, giving a sharp, hard tug that sent Mara toppling forward and diving over her head. Serene shut her eyes, forcing back a sob at the grisly sound of Mara's body crashing through the foliage. With the last bit of effort she had left, she brought the rest of her body onto the grassy bank and then rested on her hands and knees, trembling out her exertion and the terror she'd just faced. It was minutes before she allowed herself to look down, but Mara was gone. Her body had disappeared entirely. Shakily, Serene rose to her feet, stumbling to the house, holding her swelling arm.
By the time Serene made it to the giant house on the cliff, Dora had taken over. She stood dazed before going to the sink to wash her hands. As if on autopilot, she dumped the coffee grounds from the French press down the garbage disposal, washed it and wiped it down with the rag from the floor. She washed her cup, wiped it down and put it away. She wiped down everything as best she could, the counters, the stool, the door handles in all the rooms and the handle of the front door, and then she got into her car and drove away.
58
Dora January 2020
Dora pulled into her driveway, got out of her car, walked into her house and stripped out of the dirt-streaked clothes, her shirt ripped. In the shower, Dora scrubbed away all the grime from her body, washed and conditioned her hair, arm throbbing all the while. Somehow she'd hurt her arm when Serene fell off the cliff at Mara's. Dora closed her eyes, letting the water from the shower head needle her scalp. She could still feel that terrifying sensation of falling into nothing, still see the terror on Mara's face. But what happened after? Dora examined her clothes when she got out of the shower. The shirt was ruined. She got dressed, placed the pants in the hamper and threw the top in the garbage outside. She picked up her cell phone
