Everybody turned to look at her. Some were stunned and others looked worried. Romilda glanced up at Lyric as he walked around the table so he was closer to Harmony. Despite herself, Harmony’s heart leapt in her throat when she smelled his musky cologne.
“I’ll excuse it for today,” Lyric said as if he was a benevolent ruler absolving Harmony of her debts. The entire room seemed to breathe a collective sigh. “But, remember to check yourself before you interrupt your Latinx queer peer. Even though whiteness isn’t your entire identity, it is partially there and will come out at inopportune moments.”
Even though this was normal procedure when something like this occurred, Harmony always had to reign in her feelings. She wanted to argue that part of her was also Latinx but she knew that would get her nowhere. Besides, she knew she was in the wrong.
“I’m sorry for not allowing you to express yourself uninhibited, Romilda.”
Romilda didn’t seem completely satisfied with the apology but knew that nothing else had to be done to make the situation right. Lyric nodded, satisfied, and then turned to answer Romilda. “No, you do not have to attend. I would highly encourage you to speak to our health insurance representative so you can see the ways that you can have the chip completely covered under your plan. It is an outpatient procedure so you would only have to take one sick day.”
After the rough beginning of the meeting, the rest of the time passed without incident. Harmony found herself obsessing on and off about the mistake and barely remembered all that was said. When they were dismissed, she was so distracted, that she realized she had gotten turned around. It wasn’t that far of a walk to her cubicle but she knew she would be late. As she expected, her computer was locked when she arrived and Lyric received a notification about it.
He rounded the corner a few moments later and insisted she sit down. Wordlessly, she slid into her chair and he reached over her left shoulder to type in the password. He left as quickly as he had arrived, but she still felt the warmth of his presence.
***
Harmony finished out her workday like any other day. When she sat quietly in the stillness of her car she allowed herself to cry. She used to cry nearly every day after work before she got the Thought Conductor, but once she was eligible for implantation, she was so excited. The rumors she had heard about the chip’s effectiveness gave her so much hope. Most of her crying, panic attacks, and spirals were gone. There were only certain moments, like today, where a new circumstance cropped up and the chip wasn’t programmed to handle it. The occasional dissatisfaction with her mundane office job and loneliness seemed to be something that would never resolve no matter how much therapy or medical interventions she had.
By the time she left the parking lot, most of the cars had gone. She pulled out onto the road and drove to the outskirts of Kimber where her home was in a little subdivision. Since her workplace and home were on the eastern side of town, she rarely drove downtown for anything. Everything she needed was within a 5-mile radius and keeping to smaller roads helped keep her anxiety down as well. When she reached the cul de sac at the end of Evergreen Drive, her house was nestled between a cluster of evergreen trees down a slight incline. The house was an A-frame made with dark wood siding and brown shingles. The door was bright red and in the very center. The pathway leading up to the door was made of stones, and a detached garage sat a little further down the hill.
She had tried to decorate the inside of the house rustically. All the colors were earth tones and the floors were all hardwood. A very excited Sheepdog bounded up to Harmony and licked every inch of bare skin he could reach.
“Rufus...who’s a good boy? Who is a good boy? Yoooou are. Do you gotta pee?” She raked her hands all over his fur and talked in an excited, high-pitched voice.
He bounded for the screen doors and barked as if to say, “Yes!”. She slid it open for him and he bounded into the fenced backyard. She shut the door behind him and started making dinner. Tonight it was just leftovers. She didn’t feel like cooking, but that was how she felt on most nights. As the food rotated in the microwave, she went to her bedroom to undress. Every article of clothing came off and a giant t-shirt and shorts went on. The food was beeping as soon as she stepped out of her bedroom. In a quick motion, she grabbed utensils, the bowl, and napkins and swung around to plop on the loveseat. She was very invested in a show called Non-Binary Inquiry and hoped that Quincy would give the red rose to Jayden.
A few minutes into the reality show, she suddenly heard Rufus barking very loudly and persistently. Confused by his aggravation, she set her food down and proceeded to the back porch. Before stepping into the cold, she grabbed her windbreaker hanging from a hook near the sliding doors and slipped her shoes on. Her yard was dotted with more evergreen trees, a few blackberry bushes, and a neglected garden. The brisk air cleared her mind to where her aggravation subsided to be replaced by curiosity.
“What is it, boy?” She peered intently at him for some kind of answer.
Her gaze followed his and her breath caught in her throat. On the ground was a body. It appeared to be a child. She cautiously moved closer and looked down at the form. It was a child around 8 years old. Blood had poured from the child’s nose and right eye down her neck and all over her chest where it had dried. She wasn’t breathing.
Tears welled up in Harmony’s eyes and she felt her chest tighten. Wanting more excitement in her life seemed like a bad idea to her now. She couldn’t catch her breath. She put her hand on the tree to steady herself. She closed her eyes and focused on her coping skills. Breathe in and out. In and out. When she opened her eyes she braced herself for the horrific sight, but the child was no longer there! Her eyes scanned the area around the place where the child had been and beyond for some clue as to what was happening. She felt like she was losing her mind.
Rufus continued to bark and Harmony petted him absently to try to calm him down. Her brain was frantically trying to piece together the situation so she didn’t lose complete control. This was not the reality she knew and she could not understand what she had seen. She then pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight. Nothing was on the ground to show the body had been there. There was no indentation in the dry grass, no blood...no nothing.
When she had walked about four yards away she suddenly felt cold all over. Before her was a darkness that could not be illuminated by her flashlight. It remained dark and out from the depths white flecks floated out into the world. Between beats of her heart, she thought she could hear distant screaming from within this blackness. She was too afraid to step any closer for fear of being sucked into the void.
Rufus had followed behind her and began to sniff out the darkness. “Stay back!” She grabbed his collar and led him back inside the house. “I don’t know what to do, Rufus.” She turned off her phone flashlight and stood in her kitchen, still shivering from whatever that darkness was. One of her biggest fears was losing her sanity and this seemed to be something crazy. But she knew she wasn’t crazy and that she needed to do something about it. She dialed 911 and waited with bated breath.
CHAPTER FOUR
HARMONY’S ANXIETY WAS easily dispelled after she called the police. Dispatch seemed very concerned with what she had said and told her that the police were headed her way. She made an executive decision to resolve this particular anxiety. The reverberations of fear that were going through her body were unnecessary now because the police were on their way. She clicked the notification on her phone stating that her anxiety levels were high and selected the “resolve” feature. There was a warmth that spread from the chip in her left forearm to the base of her skull. Having to “resolve” anxiety in this way had been less frequent because the treatment had been successful for over a year. Most of her stressors were predictable.
Before the knock was heard at the door, Rufus went bounding from the back door to the front door. Harmony followed, trying to keep pace with her furry friend. When she swung the door open, there stood two police. She could not identify their gender just by looking at them because of the nondescript double-breasted black suits and full metal face masks. She had only ever interacted with law enforcement when she was parked illegally and usually their identities were not concealed during those interactions. She had heard that their identities were only kept secret in dangerous cases.
To Harmony’s dismay, new fears vied for attention in her brain. “Was she a threat? Did a serial killer stumble into her yard? Was she unintentionally an accomplice?”
Wordlessly, the taller of the two cops held out a tablet and it said, “Show us.”
“Okay, sure.” Harmony was a ball of nerves but she scrambled to her back door and flitted around trying to decide if it was polite to let them go out first or if she should. Rufus decided for her by barreling out ahead of everybody. She hurried behind but the police were in no rush.
When they all finally reached the place where the darkness was they didn’t say anything. They waved their high-powered flashlights across the dark patch but no light could penetrate it. Harmony held her breath. It was bizarre and she hated that she couldn’t see the expressions on the officer’s faces. She needed validation that she wasn’t crazy.
After what seemed like an hour, the taller officer held out the tablet again for her to read the screen. “Do you have anywhere you can stay tonight?”
“Stay?” The last thing she expected was to be kicked out of her house. Both officers nodded mechanically. “I guess. Let me make a call.” She stepped to the side and pulled out her cellphone. She ignored the notification telling her she was stressed and decided to call the one person who made her even more stressed. “Hi, Mom.”
***
Her blue GMC turned left into the Woody Pines subdivision and down a mile before reaching her mom’s cookie-cutter home. Wendy Latham lived on the exact opposite end of town from her daughter, but that’s how Harmony liked it. With traffic, it took 30 minutes to get across town, but since it was so late at night, the trip was closer to 20 minutes.
Woody Pines was predominately populated by people in their mid to late 50’s. The Home Owners Association was very strict about residents keeping the lawn perfectly manicured, only planting certain types of plants, cleaning out the gutters regularly, and not making loud noises after 10 pm. Harmony hated it, but her Mom claimed that it was much better to live in a new home with fewer repairs than an old home. Wendy had needed to call a repairman more times than Harmony did for her 1970s home, however, so this argument seemed to have holes in it.
Once in the driveway, Harmony exited her vehicle with her personal belongings and Rufus. The house was built in a brick Farmhouse style and pink azalea bushes flanked the small front patio. Inside, it smelled like gingerbread and coffee. Her mother rarely baked, but she liked buying gingerbread candles and burned them frequently. Her mother dropped heavy hints all the time about Harmony birthing her grandchildren so they could come to the house to bake. She insisted that the addition of grandchildren would inspire her to bake more.
Her mother appeared from the hallway looking disgruntled. “You can have your old bedroom.” She said simply.
“Okay. Thanks.” She gave her mom a hug and a kiss.
“What happened? You never explained.”
Harmony was already leaving her mother’s voice behind to unload her personal items in her bedroom and Rufus padded along behind. He began sniffing everything in sight but seemed satisfied with the familiar smells. Her mother followed and peered around the corner expectantly.
“I’m not sure. There was an injured child in my back yard but she disappeared. The police were very weird though. They were in full gear and insisted I find somewhere to stay.”
“Did you ask them why?”
“I didn’t, Mom. I was frazzled.” Harmony rolled her eyes.
