Noir Mal Me

The doors made a squeaking sound as I pressed against the opening mechanism. We could hear Jeffy saying something. When I listened, I felt part of me split off and rush down the stairs a specter. I was staring at Jeffy as he slept on the couch. Then that part of me returned.

"He's asleep," I whispered. Bram had just finally calmed down to the point of lowering the M4 when my voice scared him, and he pointed the barrel in my direction. I held onto my chest. "It's me," I said again. I watched as additional droplets exited my mouth. They were flat just like ink in an inkwell.

I clamped my hands over my mouth. Then I heard Charlie's voice. He was on the first floor, three rooms down beyond the kitchen. The split part of me traveled down there and listened.

"Wendy," he whispered. "What's going on up there?"

"You hear bumping and you're asking me what's going on?" Wendy asked him. Their faces were distorted as I viewed them. Suddenly, they both stared in my direction. I returned to my body.

"Charlie," I whispered and pointed. Bram followed the direction of my finger, looking down at the burgundy-tinted carpet. When he lifted his head, he was clearly in pain. The conflict was … audible. The muscles in his face moving, the tightness of his chest, the work his vocal cords were exerting to keep him from crying.

"It's me," I said once more. Bram stepped to me cautiously. I nodded in encouragement. Inch by inch, he came closer. I'd never seen him more afraid in my life. When he stood in my space, he surveyed my entire body.

I was silent. I knew that if I made any sudden moves, I was going to be killed. I kept my mouth closed as long as I could. It was hard to do that, though, since it was filled with my inky blood.

There was a sizzling sensation along my tongue. He inspected every inch of me in the raven-colored suit. When he made a full circle around me, he leaned into me.

"Go into the bathroom and look in the mirror."

The bathroom was diagonally across from the room. I left and stood in front of the bathroom mirror.

My eyes were completely onyx including the sclera. My sunken orbital sockets were also ink black. I opened my mouth but there was too much coal-colored saliva. I bent to the toilet and spit it out. Then I stood back up and opened my mouth in front of the mirror.

I could barely see inside it. Everything was black as night. I lifted my lips to look at my teeth. Those too were stained. My face was turning bleached in an unnatural looking white.

"You feeling okay up there?" I heard Wendy shout followed by her footsteps up the stairs.

I flushed the toilet and ran back to Bram. He was holding himself up against the wall, his right arm so muscular that I could see every etched striation in the suit. When I was back in the room, he closed and locked it.

"We're fine, Wendy," Bram said.

"I can tell you ain't fine," she said as she tried opening the bedroom door, bumping into it with her momentum. When she found that it was locked, she jiggled it. "You two doing somethin' risqué in there?"

Bram exhaled as silently as he could to mask his shaking voice.

"Yeah," Bram said. "If you could give us a minute."

"Oh, say no more!" Wendy said. We could hear her going down the stairs. I turned to Bram. I could see him staring at me like I was an animal. His face was pale from fear.

"I'm sorry," I whispered to him. He shook his head once.

"Don't be. I did this to you." He stepped closer once again, the M4 slightly raised. I remained still as I could for him, though I was trembling now. The sloughing from my mouth ramped up when he got closer, so I stepped back.

The feeling receded and my mouth went back to normal. It was a response to him being near me. My body, the virus, wanted me to infect him. I pointed to the window, and he shrugged. I opened it quickly and spit it out.

"Ew," I whispered.

"Hey, what the fuck?" Wendy shouted. I gasped. She was outside smoking below me.

"There's no way we can stay here," Bram said anxiously.

"I know. But how to escape? Big laser on roof." I pointed. Bram hadn't thought of that I figured, by the way his shoulders sank.

"I'll find a way to shut it all off. Wait until I do. Once the dome is off, run." I nodded at him. Bram, nearly silent in his steps, unlocked the door and left the room. I glanced out and saw him pulling down the attic ladder.

His creaky steps sounded especially loud to me. My essence followed him up the stairs. I watched as he walked to the laser controls. He unplugged the mechanism to raise it. It wasn't anything that couldn't be fixed but it would take Charlie a little while to find out what was wrong.

He searched and found that there was a breaker box and an additional dome switch. I saw a small smile on his lips as he stared at the dome control. I wasn't sure why, but I could see him quietly crying with a smile on his face. It was one of disbelief.

When he hit the button, he turned to my essence as though I were there beside him. He stared at it as I remained. Everything on the peripheral in my vision was stretched out like trails and halos. I could only see him in the center, and I knew one thing.

I still loved him. That I knew as deeply as my existence. I felt tears in my eyes.

"Go," he whispered. I nodded and my ghostly part returned to me.

"Hey, what the hell is going on?" I heard Charlie say. I yanked the window up with force and stared at the drop. It was about thirty feet down. I could hear Charlie's heavy footsteps up the stairs. "Oh my god!" I heard him shout.

I jumped out the window and braced myself for the painful impact. When I landed, it wasn't even close to what I imagined. It felt like I landed on a packet of marshmallows. Standing up from a forward roll, I heard Wendy screaming and pointing at me, cigarette in hand. I sprinted toward the field.

When I was running it was like nothing I'd ever felt before. I had no direction. Everything beside me was blurry. Without a firm idea of where I was going, though, I'd end up somewhere I didn't want to be.

But now, where would that be? Instead of fearing the Noirs, I'd be fearing humans. I stopped on the top of a large hill overlooking the city below. The wind blew against my face and felt soft. I unzipped my hood from the suit and lowered it.

I watched as my formerly chestnut-brown hair transformed in front of my eyes. From what must have started at the roots, the jet-black strands were intermingling with the others. When I turned around, I could see a group of Noirs as they passed me. The humming in my head was now musical.

As they rushed by, a few stopped to stare at me. I hummed to them and I understood and conveyed the message that I was newly changed and that I was glad to see them. Several turned, pivoting and then they rushed to my space. As they came closer, I could see they were smiling.

"It's so nice to see you."

"You're welcome to join us if you'd like."

"The humans don't understand the beauty of Noir."

"It feels so much better, doesn't it?"

Every voice was ringing in my head all at once and I understood. None of them were moving their mouths. We were connected telepathically. It sent shivers of excitement through my body.

I smiled at them, and they all smiled back. The inkiness of their mouths appeared artful to me now almost as though they were all created from the a comic book. Some of them didn't appear the same as when I'd seen them as a … human.

I watched as they blinked at me, each of their eyes glowing with colored lights. If they had brown eyes, the light was amber, green they illuminated emerald. All of them had the same bleached chalky-white tone to their skin. Then I recognized someone.

"Sledge?" I whispered in her mind. She stepped forward to me and nodded. We hugged tightly.

"It happened the other day," she responded.

"And Richie?"

"He's still human. What about Staff Sergeant Darling?" I loved that she was now and always a soldier.

"He's human but he got an injection."

"I see. You know, I told him to be better to you. Did he ever become … better?" Sledge had her arms crossed but I could see that her eyes had a golden light to them that were suddenly blurred with tears. I smiled with my own tears.

"He was. We were. Thank you," I said. She nodded, covering her mouth, staring out at the city. After a brief pause, she turned back to me.

"You thinking what we are?"

"Leaving?"

"Yes."

"Yes, but I don't know why. Isn't that bad?" I asked.

"No," I heard from behind me. The ground was shaking as he approached. All the pleasurable sensations that I had been experiencing with the group were now gone.

"D'Arby," I said with my mouth. He nodded at me and smiled. I didn't feel good around him. The rest of the group cowered. Everything began to hurt, and I dropped to my knees like the rest. He crouched to me.

"You know me."

"Well, it's what I heard," I said, my body shuddering from the feeling of knives piercing every nerve. His large grotesque face was now in my space.

"From whom?" he growled.

"One of the scientists," I said. I sucked in a breath as the daggers filled my stomach, head, and chest. My hands were shaking as I wrapped them around me, hugging myself. I heard him hum but it sounded like a metal saw against a rusty pipe.

He leaned over me.

"Who was it?" he inquired again; his vocal cords sounded taut with anger. I refused to answer, biting my lip. He grabbed me by the throat. "It was Bram. Tell me where he is. Now!" he demanded in a roar.