“I’m so wet,” Tanya grits, “and it’s your fucking fault.”
They start tonguing each other and pushing and pulling to-and-fro.
Sveta clamps down onto Tanya. Tanya wraps her arms around Sveta. They’re holding each other so tightly.
Tanya lets her legs fall open and Sveta starts rubbing her pelvis between them.
I decide to look down at the carpet.
When I look back up, he is standing. He is holding a knife.
THAT’S THE KNIFE FROM THE KITCHEN, I SAY
The girls stop what they’re doing. There is saliva and bite marks all over their faces.
“Hey,” Sveta asks him from underneath Tanya. “What are you going to do with that?”
HIS BLUE EYE LOOKS COMPLETELY EMPTY
“Moshe?” I say.
He’s shaking his head.
THE GIRLS ARE UP ON THEIR FEET
“Woa, woa…” Tanya is saying.
SVETA HAS HER BACK AGAINST THE DOOR
She’s trying to turn the doorknob with her hand twisted behind her.
HEY, WHY’S YOUR DOOR LOCKED?
Sveta says.
I don’t know where to look.
Tanya starts laughing and her voice is so loud.
I KNEW IT
“I knew they were gonna fucking kill us!” Tanya says, “You’re gonna fucking kill us, aren’t you?”
CUT IT OUT
Sveta says. She’s trying the door again.
THE DOOR IS LOCKED
He says.
The knife is still at his hip.
ARE YOU REALLY GONNA KILL US?
Sveta swallows.
“Duh!” Tanya yells out. “What do you expect, your cute boys are a pair of psychos, Sveta, durochka!”
OH NO
Sveta makes an O with her mouth. Her eyes are silky.
“Oh,” she says.
“Oh,” she repeats.
Sveta undoes the button of her jeans and slowly pulls her zipper down.
“If that’s what you wanted, you could have just said so, Moshe, you already know I have a super crush on you.”
He shakes his head. “It’s Misha.”
WAIT
Sveta chirps out. Her voice is getting higher and brittle.
“I’ll do whatever you want, honestly I will, whatever you want, I’m really good at it, you know, at all the things that you want, I’m really good and I actually like doing it, so whatever it is you want, I also really want to do that with you.”
“I don’t want that,” he says.
HE GRIPS THE KNIFE
Both of the girls start screaming.
I REACH OUT TO TOUCH HIS SHOULDER
He looks down at my hand. Then at my face.
“It’s me. It’s your brother,” I say.
“My brother?”
He tilts his head.
“I don’t have a brother,” he tells me.
WHO WANTS TO GO FIRST?
He asks the girls.
MOSHE, STOP
I say.
HE PUSHES ME AWAY
My back hits the wall.
THE DOORKNOB IS RATTLING IN THE DOOR
The girls are trying to break it.
PLEASE, MOSHE, PLEASE
“Get away from me!” he barks.
He sounds just like a dog. An angry dog.
I’m scared.
THE FIRST JUT GOES INTO HER STOMACH
There’s blood leaking down Tanya’s jeans.
Sveta is trying to break the window to get out.
THE SECOND JUT GOES INTO HER ABDOMEN
Tanya is hacking up blood. Tanya looks down. She is staring at her own wounds with total vacancy.
THE THIRD JUT GOES INTO HER CHEST
Tanya lets out a dry choke. It’s weird. It’s almost a laugh.
She stumbles back and falls down onto the bed with her arms open like an angel.
Sveta faints.
M
The necklace is ice cold around my neck.
O
“Why are you crying?” he yells at me.
S
I’m crouching against the wall. The wall that faces east.
H
I’m sweating. I’m ice cold.
E
I tap my thumb to my finger. Un, deux, trois. Un, deux, trois. But I’m still here.
GET UP
He barks at me again.
“And help me.”
I DON’T WANT TO HELP YOU
I whimper.
He points the knife at me.
I’m scared and confused.
“Are you gonna kill me too, Moshe?” I murmur.
“Moshe,” he says to himself and squints. “Moshe, Moshe…”
He squints and squints and squints.
He turns away from me. He walks toward Sveta’s body by the window.
THERE IS BLOOD EVERYWHERE
In my room. Where I sleep. In our room. Where we sleep.
HE WIPES HIS HANDS ON HIS TORSO
Leaving bright red streaks across his chest.
THE DAY IS FALLING
The curtain is not fully drawn.
The light from the window cuts the room in half.
OH NO
The knife is in my hand.
OH NO
The knife is in Svetlana’s chest.
OH NO
Three holes, leaking.
BROTHER?
I drop the knife and he drops to his knees. Ouch. I’m afraid he’s cracked his knees.
I’M WIDE AWAKE
He’s yelling at me. His voice is high and nervous. He sounds like a baby pig. No, he sounds like a little boy.
RÉMY
“We have to put them in the tub.”
BROTHERS
I take the feet, he takes the under-arms. We haul their bodies to the bathroom one by one. We fold them into each other in the tub. He tells me to run the water cold. I run the water cold. It fills their toes and their folded legs and rises up to their hips. Their heads are flopped over their knees. The water takes their hair and makes it soppy and coinciding.
MY HANDS ARE IN THE COLD WATER
His hands are in the cold water too.
He tries to intertwine his fingers into mine. A sinking boat.
SEPULCHER
Your eyes are cold. Let me.
Your lips are cold. Let me.
Your heart is cold. Let me.
The water is cold.
MY HAND SLIPS OUT OF HIS HAND
I take my hand out of the water.
“You did something bad,” I tell him.
His blue eye squeezes. It looks like it’s going to break.
“So did you…”
HIS TWO HANDS
They are fishing about in the tub. He is braiding Tanya’s hair into Sveta’s hair. Dark into light. Tangled, wet threads.
WHY, I ASK, WHY, WHY, I ASK, WHY, WHY, I ASK, WHY
Un, deux, trois.
THERE IS A KNOCK ON THE DOOR
When he stands up, the water rolls down his fingers and drips onto the floor.
My throat is empty. I’m touching my collarbone.
The water is flooding over the sides of the tub, spilling across the floor, running up to the shoes of the man in the leather jacket and Brewers hat standing in the doorway.
THE BATHTUB
DRIP
Sveta.
DRIP
Hey, Sveta.
Sveta.
It’s me.
DRIP, DRIP
It’s your bestie, Tanya.
HELLO, HELLO, HELLO
You up?
Whatchya doing?
Do you
