Brick

“You've gone this far. Can't back out now.”

She took a deep breath, swung, and connected the brick to the back of the other girl's head. The crack of a fresh coconut cut the silence. Then a startled “oh!”, an innocent, surprised oh, the sound of someone walking in on their parents kissing, and Ophelia hit the ground. Angela was on her immediately.

With all her strength and frustration and anger, Angela raised the brick over the fallen girl's head, and brought it back down. Again and again the brick connected with Ophelia's head. Again and again a slippery thwok rang out, the brick in Angela's right hand getting redder and redder with the warm wetness of the inside of Ophelia's skull.

Ophelia's back spazzed out. Her arms shot straight out in front of her, superman style style. As her blood splayed the sidewalk, her legs comically kicked and jiggled, a dying clown. As Angela's blows scraped Ophelia's face against the sidewalk, breaking her teeth and tearing her cheek open, Ophelia lost control of her bowels.

Again and again Angela brought the brick down, till her fingers were cramped, her knuckles were torn and raw, and a deep concave had formed in Ophelia's skull. Ten times, twenty times... Angela couldn't count. All she could do was repeat the same forceful motion, red eyed and breathing through her teeth.

Soon, Ophelia stopped moving. Angela slowed, and stopped. Her dark olive sweater was covered in blood. Flecks of bone and tissue specked her glasses. She pulled a long blonde, bloody hair out of her mouth. Throwing the chipped and bloody brick to the side, Angela stood up to assess her work.

“Oh. Look at that” was the first thing that popped into Angela's head. “This is probably the first time I've ever seen Ophelia with a hair out of place”, was the second.

More than just a hair was out of place. Ophelia's long blonde locks weren't even blonde any more. A whole chunk was missing, ripped away to expose the shy skull underneath. A dark stain collected around her crotch, leaking out the sides of her tiny miniskirt. It matched the maroon puddle growing under her head, and the sick stink of shit and copper weaving its way through the air.

The adrenaline built up in Angela's head behind her eyes started to melt its way down her body and out the soles of her shoes. In its place came creeping the realization of what she had just done. She was going to get in sooo much trouble. The fact that no cars had come down this usually busy street... that no neighbors were walking dogs or on the streets... there were no curious faces peering out windows... Angela had been very lucky so far. But luck runs out. Her shoulders shuddered in remorse for what she'd done. Not because she killed someone she had known since before either of them had mastered the art of shoe tying; she didn't regret that at all. But she mourned the consequences that were to come.

After a few minutes of quick panic, Angela gathered her resolve. No. She was not going to spend the rest of her life in jail. She was going to get away with this. Angela grabbed Ophelia's right arm and dragged her lifeless body to the patch of shady trees between the neighborhood houses. Ophelias body flopped. Blood trailed behind her. Her arm twisted out of its socket. Ducking behind some underbrush, Angela spotted a grill leaning against the nearest house. Right away she realizes what she has to do.

Angela undressed the dead girl. Ophelia's cardigan was covered in blood, and her dress was stained with piss and shit. Angela put them on anyway. Her own clothes got even more blood spackled on them when she put them on Ophelia. Angela pulled Opelia's purse out of the way, and emptied the bottle of lighter fluid from the grill on the body. Striking a match, she gave a quick nod to her former friend, and tossed the flame her way. The body blazed instantaneously. Taking one last look at the life of her former self, Angela tossed her wallet on the body. Olivia's car keys in hand, Angela slipped away.

Six hours later.

Twelve hours later.

Two days later.

After five days of waiting for the sirens, her pulse racing with every knock on Olivia's door, Angela began to relax. News of the death of Angela Horn spread around the neighborhood. Never had Angela been so well liked. Never before had she been as pretty, as smart, as fondly remembered as when she had been beaten and set on fire by a crazy local homeless person. “A shining star”, her boss called her to the Channel 4 news camera. “My best friend in the WHOLE WORLD!” her roommate called her. She had a lot of new best friends. No one really noticed Olivia Soothson hadn't been showing up to work or answering her phone calls.

After writing the proper goodbye and fuck you notes to Olivia's work, family and boyfriend, Angela got in the car and headed south. She stopped at a charming, quaint boarder town and secured a job at the local university. While teaching there, she met an up and coming local politician, married him, and became a spoiled trophy wife. Their three beautiful children went on to become important pillars in the community and every year the family would go on a cruise an~~~

A loud honk snapped Angela back to reality. She had followed Ophelia into the middle of the street, right in front of a blue pick up. She smiled sheepishly and stepped back on the curb. From across the street, Ophelia turned around, frowned, and kept walking, her little hips sashaying importantly away. The brick weighed heavy in Angela's hand. She stepped across the street.

“Well”, she said to herself, her fingers tightening around the brick. “You've gone this far. Can't back out now.”

Ten Songs

Someone asked me recently to list ten songs that meant something to me. Songs that inspired me, songs that were associated with special memories or people.

Here's my list, as it was. Thinking about it now days later, its still true

1. Dangling Conversation - Simon and Garfunkel
This was my mum's music, and in high school I stole the cassette (parsley sage, rosemary and thyme) and played it to death because it reminded me of her blasting it all over the house when we were kids. This is my fav of the album.

2. Piano Man - Billy Joel
Same reason. And a great song

3. Orange Colored Sky - Nat King Cole (and me!)
I sang this with my jazz band when I was a senior in high school. It was awesome.

4. Ring Out Wild Bells - Alfred Lord Tennyson (lyrics)
I sang this with the region choir Jr year of HS. It was prob the most difficult song I've ever sung with a choir, but the night we preformed it, on stage with a few hundred people, a grand piano, and a giant auditorium, the swell of sound around and in me made me want to cry. It was beautiful and magical. I know that sounds kinda lame, but its true.

5. Float On - Modest Mouse
They're one of my fav bands, and when I saw them live was when I realized how much this song meant to me. Its a song about smilin through the hard times. Yeah.

6. The News From Your Bed - Bishop Allen
This band means a lot to me because my Sr year of HS I won a writing contest and got a script I wrote turned into a short film. This band let me use one of their songs as our main song. This song was not it, but it's the most listened to song on my itunes. Its about being alone on you birthday, but its totally upbeat. You'll have to hear it.

7. No Rain - Blind Melon
Blind Melon is an extremely underrated band. They've got an awesome discography, but this, their one hit, was my favorite song for a long time. It just makes me happy, ya know?

8. Sweet Caroline -Neil Diamond
Duh

9. It Doesn't Matter Anymore – Eva Cassidy
This is a cover of a Buddy Holly song by a dead girl with one of the most beautiful voices in the world. Helped me though some bad heartbreak. And its so, so pretty.

10. Playground Love – Air
Seeeeexxxy sexy song.


Honorable mentions:
shove it: Santigold
anything by the beatles (I can't pick just one album, let alone one song)
Sour Times: Portishead (the live version)
So Desperate: The Mountain Goats
I'm Always Chasing Rainbows: (only when sung by me)
Something off Paul Simon's Graceland