Rox

“I hate you all,” I yell, enraged beyond bearing as I bang though the door at the Egan’s on Thursday night after a day spent cleaning the genuine, real life pits of hell, the nuns bathrooms.

I’m covered in…oh God, things. Unspeakable things that are wrong and…I cry a little inside at the smell that’s permanently seeped into my nostrils as shudders of revulsion skitter through me.

How I ended up being the only asshole to get picked up for this…

I mean…why! And the worst part of it was Lizzie vehemently denying to all and sundry that she sent us in there to rob a nun. I mean…I was speechless at that point and so horrified that my own aunt was selling me out.

Okay, so I sold her out first but she’s evil, she understands pain. And just…whyyyyyy!

After my oh so short victory and celebratory slice of chocolate cake with Lizzie and Mari after we returned her purse, there was a knock at the door that had those two rats scurrying to hide the evidence and think up a story to tell the father.

Of course I was so okay with that, I mean we’ve all been lying to the man at one time or another for years to escape what he calls, learning the way-which usually involves volunteering in the community, mostly at the shelter-and I so would have lied my ass off to the man. With a straight face.

Until I opened the door to see him standing there with a cop. And sister Agnes. And a disappointed look that made my boobs shrink with fear for my immortal soul.

Lizzie, being Lizzie lied through her teeth and denied it all, even when they pointed out the purse she didn’t even bother to hide, the church lost property tag still attached to the strap.

Mari, well she just snarled at them she ain’t no stinking rat and continued to eat her cake as if the threat of imminent arrest wasn’t breathing down her neck.

I was sweating so hard I felt my hair frizz instantly as the cop took one look at me and frowned.

Lizzie, for all her lip kept smiling serenely and even invited them in for tea and cake while I continued to panic so bad I could hardly breathe. And yeah, despite her continued freaking denials, I was not the one who cracked. Nuhuh. All it took was two minutes of solid agony on her part for her to point the finger at me and sing like a bird.

Mari too, that lying rat bastard! Although, okay, I get it. She’d straight up die if she has to clean toilets in her condition, but I don’t care! She sprinted like a champion just fine this afternoon so she can’t be all that Goddamned delicate and she’s been stuffing her face with cake so frequently that should have been impossible!

And mama was right! Prostitutes are good people. I learned that doing hard time in the slammer after the church sent me up the river for felony burglary.

I feel wizened now. Part of the streets. Like I learned something from doing my time.

“Oh stop whining girl and get upstairs. Lord above you smell putrid.” Lizzie huffs as I stomp into the living room, so ready to kill someone I could scream. Things. Bad things have I seen. Bad things in my hair.

My lip trembles a little when I see Mari and Gray sitting on the sofa, her shoulders shaking as she studiously avoids my eyes while uncle Ian covers his nose and gives me a look so full of pity I want to screech.

“But, but this isn’t, I didn’t, and you, both of you.” I stutter, fighting rage tears when Lizzie rolls her eyes and pinches her nose closed.

“Shower. You smell worse than Abe’s underpants after a night of drink and unclean doings!”

I mean…

What do you call it when people snap and kill their entire family I wonder as I fight the absolute fury that courses through me when Abe and Davey start snickering and Ginny purses her lips, slapping Blay’s head when he mumbles something that sounds like ‘Unclean’.

“You filthy rat! We have a name for people like you in the joint.” I snarl, my eyes bugging wide and fierce.

“The joint? Oh give me a break. You were in a holding cell for sixty two minutes before I convinced that old crone to take pity on you and show mercy Roxeletta.” She scoffs making me see red.

Blood. Everywhere!

“Mercy? Mercy would have been taking me out. Mercy would have been just putting me out of my misery. What I just experienced…” I shudder, begging my stomach not to spasm again, blinking back tears as the reek wafts up at me again.

Aand then it happens. I really am going to kill them all because just when I think my humiliation cannot get any worse Ty steps out of the kitchen and catches a whiff of me.

“Whhhhyyyy!”

****************

Ty

After Rox lets out a shriek that has my ears ringing and rushes up the stairs, yelling death threats at anyone she knows, I see Lizzie’s shoulders shaking while Tink tries and subsequently fails to hold her laughter in another second.

“Mama! You’re terrible.”

“Terrible? Why Ginny girl, why in heaven’s name would you say such a nasty thing to your dear mama?” she gasps, her innocent and downright hurt expression making Ian snort so hard I hear him choke and mutter something uncomplimentary beneath his breath.

Rus is also suffering the need to laugh as Lizzie tears up, looking for all the world as if she’s about to expire from sorrow. What a crock.

“You sold her out to those nuns. Mama, you know what those women eat. It’s not right,” Tink says softly, shuddering hard enough to make Blay shake beside her.

“She sold me out first. Family sticks together girl and don’t you forget it.”

“They saw her mama! It’s not as if she could deny any of it.”

Lizzie sucks at her teeth and throws Mari a wink, her lips pursing.

“Pfft. Were there cameras? Video of Rox leaving the scene of the crime? Any proof that says an escaped mental patient didn’t make their way into that office and rob a woman of the cloth?” she asks so stoically even I can’t stifle a chuckle of amusement.

Tink rolls her eyes, speechless long enough that Lizzie smiles victoriously.

“Exactly. Far as anyone knows that’s the story and it would have been completely fine until your cousin decided to break under the strain of them nuns.”

“But mama, the father saw her.”

“He’s old, and blind, no court of law would have believed his accounting. But she had to go and squeal. I told Marveline that girl was too soft but did she listen to me? No.”

“Soft? I’ll give you soft you evil old bag.” Rox yells from halfway up the stairs, her wet hair hanging down her back in chunks as she flies down the steps and flings herself at Lizzie, those deep eyes of hers blazing so brightly it startles me a little.

Enough that I almost miss catching her and pulling her away from Lizzie, arms flailing wildly as she screams in rage. I know for sure Lizzie isn’t human when the old girl just sniffs and holds her ground.

“Soft.”

“You! I, the toilet and, no air!’ she yells again, her face going red and splotchy as she finally collapses against me and starts sniffling. “It was horrible.”

I want to laugh and by that I mean piss myself like Blay is doing right now but laughing at my poor, traumatised Rox is just not…safe right now, I think as I turn her and pull her into my chest, stroking her hair with a shudder when it yields a piece of something suspiciously yellow and corn like.

“Shhh, I know. It’s all better now.” I croon while holding in a heave when I have to shake my hand to dislodge…

Never eating corn again. Ever.

“Never gonna forget. Ever. So much. Everywhere. They don’t chew, I swear to God they don’t chew Ty. And one-” she stops abruptly and swallows on a gag before looking up at me teary eyed. “one of the toilets…was full and the flusher didn’t work and then I puked and it made more of a mess and then sister Agnes made me fix it.”

“Oh hush your babbling and take it like a real woman! Come on. Dinner.” Lizzie barks, making us all jump to.

I somehow manage to get Rox calmed down, no easy feat when she’s talking about killing and plausible deniability, and usher her into the dining room, all while trying not to think about how sick I am for getting hard after what I just picked out of her hair.

And then I know that Lizzie Egan, aka mama Bad is in fact married to the big man downstairs himself because sitting on the table, front and centre is a bowl of fried corn and mashed peas.

By the time I wrestle my girl out of there and into my car I’m fighting the urge not to laugh so hard I shit myself while Ian locks and bolts the door, obviously very aware that his precious red fox is in mortal danger.

It’s only as I pull up to my apartment that I think to ask the most glaring question of all.

“You’re not angry at Mari?”

She was the one who got Rox into this mess after all, well as far as I can tell from the story Tink told while bailing Rox out of the slammer after the father agreed to drop the charges for some hard labour of course.

Rox looks back at me, her sweet, beautiful face so serene I feel a chill race down my spine.

“She has exactly seven months to live and then all bets are off.”

So. Totally love this woman.