[Eelskin]

16

It was about a week before I could leave the hospital, and almost two months before Veronica could follow. I had a broken arm, twisted ankle, and a pretty major concussion. There was nothing physically wrong with Veronica, other than a few minor bruises, but the doctors wanted to run about seven thousand tests on her before they felt they should let her go. My realisation about her addiction turned out to have been pretty accurate, actually. She went through an awful withdrawal period; though she suffered no physical symptoms, emotionally, she was a wreck.

The first thing she did when she woke up was reach for her wrist, before she remembered what had happened. Once she took a moment to realise where she was and why, she began wailing in mourning. She wouldn’t talk for over an hour, she just cried into her hospital bed in loss, embarrassment and self-pity. I tried to comfort her, but she wouldn’t speak to me any more than she would to anyone else. I touched her shoulder and she shrugged my hand off.

The military had an understandable interest in what had caused her to grow, as well as the medical staff at the hospital. We were both questioned pretty intensely about the bracelet- how it worked, how it was powered, how it was controlled, where we got it, what we had planned to do with it. Needless to say, I didn’t know the answers to most of their questions, and the answers I could share were private or embarrassing. In a way, it’s kind of lucky that so many people saw her, because I shudder to think of what might have happened to her had the military gotten a hold of her without very many people having seen her. She might have just disappeared.

As it turned out, the public wanted to see her and to know that she was alive and well. So after she had been in the hospital for a few days, she conducted a very brief interview with a couple of journalists who took her picture, asked her some leading questions, wrote something witty and fed it to the public. Veronica did not enjoy the interview in the least, but then again, she wasn’t enjoying very much at all, at that time. She didn’t want to see me, or anyone else, or talk, or eat. She just slept a lot and kept quiet when she was awake.

--

Once the tests had all been run, and it was concluded that there was no sign of any long-term effects, and once the military had concluded that we had told them everything we knew about the bracelet (which was true), she was given some antidepressants and sent home. I picked her up at the hospital and drove her back to my place. The ride was mostly silent.

Once at home, we lay down in bed together. I watched her from behind and admired her- just as I had done so often before. I had gotten so used to that provoking a reaction from her that I began to wonder what was wrong, before I remembered that she no longer had the bracelet. She asked me if I was thinking about her. When I replied that I was, she began to cry again, softly. She turned around and hugged me tightly. I hugged her back.

--

Over the next couple of weeks, her life slowly returned to something resembling what it had been before. Going to work added to the normalcy that she needed from her life at that time, and it helped to distract her from her thoughts and memories. I had been back at work by that point for a while, and I was doing okay, but it was difficult knowing that there was nothing I could do for her. She was functioning, she was doing all of the day-to-day things that made up her daily life, but I often felt that she was just going through the motions. I sometimes looked at her and almost wished that we could have the bracelet back- before catching myself and remembering that my memory was being very selective. When she had had the bracelet, how often had it terrified me? How frightened had I been that it would become difficult to control? Now that I had actually seen the destructive potential of the item, how could I possibly wish to have it back?

And yet… every time I looked at her, for just a moment, I wished for exactly that.

--

One major change in Veronica’s life after that afternoon was that she had become immediately recognisable. It was obvious when she walked down the street. Some people were subtle; most weren’t. People would point and stare and take pictures. This did nothing to improve Veronica’s mood. I thought about how if she had had the bracelet, this would be exactly what she would want most. Now that she could no longer actually feel the internal lust and attraction that all of these people had had for her, their outward displays of interest seemed like a cruel mockery. Even my own attraction no longer excited her as it once had.

We were once eating lunch at one of our preferred restaurants, a month later, when she met the gaze of someone behind me. I could see from the expression on her face that something was unusual about this person, though; she wasn’t hurt or angered or saddened by this particular meeting. I turned around to see a young man, younger than we were, having what appeared to be a business lunch. I saw him excuse himself and stand up to walk over to us. Veronica didn’t seem embarrassed or upset as she usually did, just… curious.

He walked up to her and stood awkwardly, not quite knowing what to say. But he must have read something in her eyes, because he finally managed to ask her, “Do you recognise me?”

“Yeah.” She replied quietly. I took a long look at the guy, but I was sure that I had never seen him before

He smiled. “Well, I… I’m just really glad you’re alright. I was worried when you disappeared into the hospital for so long. I’m glad I got to see you outside again.”

She smiled at him, and it seemed a genuine, tender smile, not forced or polite. “Thanks.”

He hesitated, then extended his hand. “I’m Lee.”

She shook it. “Veronica.”

“Yeah, I know,” he replied, smiling. He looked at me and nodded a greeting, took in her image once more, and returned to his business lunch without looking back.

I turned back to Veronica, who was still smiling softly to herself. “Who was he?”

She looked off into space as she answered, clearly enjoying the memory. “He wanted to live in my bellybutton.”

--

It was two years later that we found ourselves back at the flea market. I hadn’t wanted to go back there at first, but Veronica had encouraged me to go back by myself the year after we got the bracelet, because she knew how much I had enjoyed it there. So I did. And I actually had fun, just like before. It was the same old flea market, and it made me feel good that some things didn’t change.

I had kept my eyes open for the old man who had sold Veronica the bracelet in the first place. I wasn’t really sure why. Was it out of curiosity? What would I even say to the man if I did see him? What if he offered to sell me something? I hadn’t exactly planned ahead. But I always found myself walking by the spot where he had been that one time.

Well, it was a moot point, since anytime I looked, I never found him. And the year after I began going back, I asked Veronica if she wanted to join me on one trip. She did. And sure enough, she had fun too, for the same reasons as I usually did.

So you might imagine my surprise and dread when I saw him there again. He had the same booth, set up in the same place, and I noticed him before I even saw that he was talking to Veronica.

They were too far away for me to hear what they were saying, but my imagination immediately began to whir. I stood still for a moment, thinking about what I was seeing. Is he selling her something? Is he selling her the same kind of item? Something different? My god, what the hell are they talking about? My heart leapt into my throat as I saw him lift up a box and open it. I couldn’t see what was inside, but I began to sprint toward them, dodging through the crowd. I have to stop them. I have to stop him from selling her any more magical things. I didn’t even notice immediately when she shook her head and turned away. When I did notice that she wasn’t talking to him anymore, I stopped and slowed down, but continued moving forward. She was walking toward me slowly, looking at the ground. When she looked up, she met my eyes and smiled. She could tell from my face that I had seen the man behind her.

“It’s okay,” she told me as I reached her and stopped. Her eyes were wet and she was breathing slightly heavily.

“What? What happened?” Did he sell you something?” I looked at her hands to see if she was carrying anything.

“No. I was… I didn’t even see him at first. I was just looking at his booth and suddenly he was there. And he asked me if I was looking for something specific… but I know that he recognised me. From the way he looked at me and the way he spoke, I know that he knew who I am. So I said no. And then he turned around and he picked up this little box, and he opened it and he showed me this ring inside. And he didn’t tell me what it was, but… I… I knew I didn’t want it.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” she looked in my eyes and smiled. “I mean, I don’t need it. Whatever it was, I don’t think I need it anymore.”

I stared at her for a moment. “I’m… not sure I understand.”

“David…” she took one of my hands in hers. “I think I’m okay.” She hugged me, put her face against my shoulder and began to cry softly. I held her back, confused, and she broke the hug. She looked back up at me. She was crying and smiling at the same time. “I want to go back home, David. Let’s go.”

I nodded. “Okay.”

As we turned away, I looked back at the booth with the old man, to find that it was no longer there. It was a young woman selling microwaves. I looked back at Veronica to see that she wasn’t even turning around. She was just holding my arm, walking forward, smiling to herself.

We got in the car and drove home.

END