Fell Upon Creased Palms

“ You may have mastered something . You’ve learned to sculpt the perfect face for the world’s adoration. It broke sweety. A while ago actually .” Almon says as he paces carefully back and forth in Navien’s view. He throws a bucket of stinging ice water on Navien’s sleeping face. The sting where your head is held still by a numbing ache. Navien gains consciousness startled and uneasy with frantic anxiety. He was never seen so out of character which intrigues Almon merely enough to pause and observe his new mannerisms. Minutes of silence and disappointment disconnect the two.

“How- What … WOAHHH! What in th-” Navien stammers, snatching his cuffed wrists.

Almon interrupts a pondering pace to holler all in his face “ WHY?!! I know you’re not asking ME like we’re in your house. You’re mad fucked up . Your spirit is so lost and your eyes are dead. So let me clear it up for you. You recall an Amara ??”

“Amara? Amara. Am- Ye- Yea. That’s my ex-girlfriend.” Navien sweats coldly and glances at the repulsive stain left at the left corner of the room. The room’s eccentricity depends on the unknown hue of the stain. Another look over and one can notice the seemingly odd texture as well as the shape of 3 distorted hamsas jumbled atop of each other.

“ So a thief AND a liar is your truth– a damn shame. And you’re too beautiful for this to be…who you are. Let's stay on track though. Amara, the lady who you targeted, is my older cousin on my mother’s side. I was on the phone with her the night you broke into her house. She became hysteric. She was so hysterical she slept over at my house that entire

month after. She briefly lost herself and I had to pour life into her. To get rid of her paranoia. ”

“ Oh my. I didn’t think about that. I’m so sorry ” Navien sniffles insincerely.

Almon softly chuckles and drops his smile as he screams “ I DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOUR SORRY’S RIGHT NOW!! They’re worthless. They’re false. You can suck that damn tear up too. It kills me how … you see situations like this in a movie or a true crime documentary. Shit someone you know goes through this. You never actually sit up and think about how you could have a person like this sleeping with you and loving you. That night we shared an Uber, you enamored me and I couldn’t resist but my discernment was too loud about you. Listening saved my life.”

“ Wait…I- I- love you though. Can we forget all of this ? Start on a clean slate? Please? I love you, Almon” Navien pleades and pouts.

“ Mmmmmmm nahhhh. I might’ve and could’ve loved you if you hadn't been sick enough to have a false identity. And truth be told, I love a grudge. You’re sick for what you do. It gagged me how you executed it so well. You got a whole groove to your plan , this is not your first .

How long have you been like this?” Almon asks, not letting a millisecond blink interrupt his intense peering into the vacant hazel eyes across the room. Almon’s fingers discreetly tap the voice record app on his phone as soon as Navien opens his mouth to respond.

“ Like what? What person am I ?”

“This is the worst time for you to play dumb beloved,” says Almon shaking his head.

“ Okay. This is the first time I ever confessed my sins to any lover of mine. When I was 20, I was sleeping in disgusting, roach and bed-bug-infested motels around the west side of DC. That for sure is where I never belonged. I didn’t have the money or the status I felt fit my worth. My beauty though. That’s what I knew could carry me. I never gave off the impression of a homeless man or had an aura of desperation because I dressed myself well and put myself wherever opulence lingered. I found those places to be familiar. Thus, it was divine timing that I met this white man named Ryker Alexander. My god, he was so wealthy. Thinking of his smile still brings me memories. I would say I was a concubine of his but that’s not correct. He treated me like his sugar baby, more of even a trophy husband the way he idolized my looks. He bonded his trust for me so quickly that it made it effortless for me. That man took me shopping on the weekends to buy pristine gold jewelry, Chanel, Dior, and pretty much all of the designer brands I desired. I got to travel to Italy, Spain, Brazil. First-class?? Yup, every time. I miss that time ” Navien looks up at the ceiling reminiscing.

“You had a time. Didn’t you?” Almon scoffs whilst smirking.

“ In exchange, all that was expected from him was to depend on him financially, maintain my beauty, share intimacy with him, and participate in um- orgies with him. Whole time he never had a clue I was homeless before I met him. He left me at his house alone one night and I found multiple secret stashes in his house where he kept expensive gold and diamonds. Finding the first spot had me bruised by how dramatic the fall was. My attention ignored the pain and went directly to the bright bin in the middle of the room. Yellow diamonds - ouuuuu. I took about a million dollars worth of the diamonds and ran right to the pawn shop. That first bag I pawned blessed me with my loft and my car. For 20 years, I’d been going out of my way searching and wondering where I’d meet my thrill. Like a never-ending rush of caffeine. I guess it was kismet to end up here. 5 million dollars and a slightly lavish lifestyle. All from Alexander. Can’t say I didn’t do anything good for my life. A year later I had to cut ties with him because he noticing his jewels in certain spots were coming up missing and would constantly complain about it but he was so obsessed with me that he never accused me of it.”

“ Or he was just … moronic? A hopeless romantic? I don't know. Wait a minute, hold up. Yall were having orgies???? The mystery’s never shallow with you” he shrugs.

“ Saying it out loud, it does ”

“ Soooooooo Orgies, Diamonds, Gold, Prostitution. What's next ?” with the blankest smile.

“ HAA. You’re too funny my love. Babe, you never finished your story of how you caught me.”

“ Ha-Ha! You’re like actually the perfect psychopath. That baby shit is over it… Oh yes. Amara only gave me a vague description of you. She didn't have any pictures of you. Why you didn’t give her any pictures?? You’re mad sexy. But very smart of you, I’ll give you that. Merely her retelling of the story brought your path in alignment with mine. And I firmly believe that similar to how symbolism is ingrained in literature, life is coincidental. You’ll see a blue jay on the most mundane Tuesday and the next day, the cafe barista will veer a supposed conversation into how she recently saw a red robin and blue jay coupled together on top of her car. Makes me think why does divine timing work so well? You and I got closer and closer until 2 months ago, I was up late at 3 am, staring at my pink and white swinging hearts then over to the starry night. My mood lightened up from the chaotic Thursday I was having. Then this thought raised me. Navien is probably the bum we’ve been looking for. The next morning we chatted over lovely peach sangrias and strawberry waffles. I brought your name up and she confirmed it when I showed her a picture of you. Crazy that when I had the picture, I’m-”

Navien interrupts, “ How were y’all so certain it was me though?”

“Honey, you, her, and I are the only ones that know where her extra key is and no windows or doors were broken into. Nothing alerted the police the house was forced into or vandalized. No damage was done. When Amara checked for your social media and your number, she was blocked. Ghosted. Damn! She had no idea of your last name, where you lived, your background, nothing. Como se dice “seasoned” ?” Almon tones condescendingly.

“ Why thank you” Navien cheeks and blushes as an attempt at a fake expression.

“ Don’t be flattered. It would feel so just to call the cops right now cause you're smirking like this is a game.”

A moon-eyed Navien flails his reckless, tensed body on the bed, pulling his wrists to the point of bruising “WHAT?! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO! Please Please Please Please ”

“ You tried me and I’ll always be the first one to take it to hell.”

Dissociation washes over Almon and his attention shifts to his phone so he can get a hold of the police. The sweat and now- lukewarm water accumulated on Navien’s palms permits him to twist his hands out of his bondage and he leaps straight for Almon’s neck. Without enough time to react to Navien’s lunge, he gets light-headed from the impact . Out of his reach and away in the horrid- stained corner, his phone starts its dial.

“ Hello, 911 . What’s your emergency ?”

Almon’s vision clears simultaneously as Navien grips and pins his arms onto the floor. While reaching for his phone, Navien’s swollen hands place themselves, one on top of the other, over his larynx. The determined rage aided his focus. The vulgarity of the choke made his intent extremely clear. The choke ranked itself to be a sadistic style of apathy. He intended to crystallize the title and the fate of an ex-lover.

His whisper projects to a bassful voice, “ I can’t let you ruin me. I built myself too beautifully to let anyone strip me. You’ll die knowing how much I loved you.” Barely able to raise his knee to his back, kick his feet forward, and claw at Navien’s forehead; Navien rings his neck empty of the rest of its air. Any twinkling constellation of life residing in Almon’s glossed eyes fades and dies out. Succeeding a lack of memorable final words were a consistent wheezing, a pause, and a falling tear from the right eye then the left eye. Out of breath and processing the depth of his decision, Navien palms his face inside the same hands he bullets the blame. A frantic and panicked shaking of his palms accompanies a sob that anyone would feel inhumane not to cry with.

“ Hello, sir, we heard everything you said. The police are on their way.” However, the remaining 6 seconds of the ending phone call consisted of his sniffles. Navien dries his sore eyes and reaches for the phone. Sadistically he kisses his inanimate cheek. He hesitates touching him again then picks up his dead body, admiring Almon in his arms with regret flooding his mind. He gently lays him on his back on the bed's left side. The left cuff bounced on the top of Almon's cornrows.

“ I hate. I fucking hate myself. Why did I do that! I had to though. I had to. I had to. I had to. ” Navien reassures himself, standing over his former lover.

“ My love was right. Who did I become? What do I become now?"

Navien snatches Almon’s black leather coat out of the closet, knocking the entire rack of hangers off the pole. Inclining his urgency, he throws the coat on and runs to Almon’s cup of keys at the front door. Curiosity urges him back to the mysterious stain. Its origin is now destined to be forever an enigma. He dismisses his thoughts of figuring out what the stain is. It could be tied to his spiritual niche or an aesthetic interest. None of which penetrates Navien’s anxious state. To his convenience, Almon’s car is parked out of view of anyone who comes into his side of the neighborhood. Navien eases the car out of his climactic scene.

4 police cars fly past the Nissan Rogue and towards Navien’s peripheral vision. Soon after an involuntary breath hold, he takes a lung-releasing sigh of relief as he slouches into the driver’s seat. His oils and sweat stain the headrest. He nearly yanks the sun visor off its clip to look at himself in the vanity mirror; the only thing that takes his mind off elsewhere is how sculpted his cheekbones are.

“I’m absolutely pleasant to look at”, lightly tapping his cheekbones with the index and middle fingers.