April Showers
by December Maverick
Then along came the psychologist. They met on a blind date at a round fountain near a makeshift pavillion in Lincoln Center. Perhaps they had a few things in common. After all, they were both from Generation X or “children of darkness” as he sappily liked to pretend in his romantic heart. More accurately, he stood there alone and she arrived one hour late. Her face seemed as if it actually glowed in the September darkness, like an oasis of Spring in the otherwise dead Autumn month. April’s smile lit up the pavillion, her arms outstretched. Mike was disconcerted, but he hugged her in a reflex response.
And as abruptly as they met , she apologized and said she had to go! There was some kind of emergency and they would have to get together another time. Why did she even come here to meet me in the first place? There was a feeling he had. That feeling you get when you’re just a kid and you realize your first crush. The way your heart starts beating fast, and you know you will be thinking about this girl forever. He watched her walk away.
Mike waited nearly a week for her to get back to him. Plain and simple, he was obsessed with her. With one hug, April kept his heart in her pocket like spare change. There was nothing he could do. In matters of obsession, the spirit gets decimated and a man becomes a caricature of himself. In Mike’s case, he was a brilliant student trying to get into a decent medical school. And by “decent” he meant Harvard or Johns Hopkins. Before April his life had certainly been tough, but there was a simplicity to it, and perhaps a fatal innocence.
“I feel like we’ve known each other forever.” I certainly don’t feel that way, but just play along; she’s cute. Cute! The absurdity of that thought would mock him in the weeks that followed. They walked in the general direction of a nearby movie theater. “Mike, there are really two movies that I’d like to see. But if it’s okay with you, I’d like to see the earlier one. That way, we can talk a little more afterwards.
That seemed sensible enough. He didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, though. The film that April was pushing for was some artsy foreign crap, but she seemed so happy and pleased with him so far. Wouldn’t want to ruin that with any protests or complaints. I’ll let her know what I’m made of, but not now...maybe later. There was really no time to assess his situation, anyway. She kept asking questions. April couldn’t have been more than five feet tall, as she tilted her head practically towards the sky just to make eye contact with him.
How very odd this whole thing is. She’ll only ask questions about my life, but she won’t say a damned thing about her own. When Mike tried to ask her even the most basic questions about her own life, her beaming smile vanished and she turned to ice. The simple reward for playing ball and answering anything she asked him was that unbelievable smile.
And her eyes. They were so perfect. Not just her eyes, but everything around them. They were two precious gemstones framed by the prettiest, most delicate skin. The gemstones themselves were at once majestic and vulnerable. Mike bought two tickets and they entered the theater. She sat on the seat cross-legged. He couldn’t focus on the movie at all. In contrast, she was absolutely taken in by the foreign flick. He was invisible to her as far as he could tell. But the more she ignored him, the more interested in wanting to please her he became.
April became very warm again after the movie ended. She chatted up a storm, asking Mike all about his hopes and dreams. And the cool thing was that she even started to hint a little about her own life. Mike was particularly relieved that she was talking about herself for a change, at least in general terms. It turned out that April was studying this seemingly New Agey type of stuff; meditation and a “holistic lifestyle,” whatever that meant. Basic relaxation technique, however, was what she was chiefly talking about. The concept of it seemed so simple: just breathe and focus. But April had so much to say about it. Mike was slightly embarrassed that he wasn’t following everything that April was saying. “Mike? Mike, I asked you a question.”
“What? Oh yeah, I can definitely buy a bottle of white wine for us.”
April looked at him quizzically. “You already agreed to get the wine. I asked you what you thought about the Iraq war.” Mike looked at April incredulously. For one thing, April was talking about meditation and relaxation. He certainly would have recalled if she contrasted all of that hogwash with political talk. “April, please don’t take offense, but I’m loathe to talk about politics on a date like this. I mean, why ruin such a nice evening with this sort of stuff? “ And with that, Mike purchased a fifty dollar bottle of Alsatian pinot gris. Wasn’t he going to get a cheap pinot grigio? Whatever, just buy it.
April seemed slightly disappointed that Mike didn’t want to talk about the world. She had mentioned something about her father working in intel, and something else about never being able to forgive him. Why couldn’t he focus on her words? Normally, Mike was a very focused and aware kind of guy. April’s smile faded. Mike’s heart sank.
The doorman welcomed them inside. As they entered the elevator, he pressed “PH” for the penthouse. April was delighted. “It’s so interesting that you don’t have a numbered floor. Look at all the numbers we have to pass. One after the other. Three goes to four….six goes to seven….” This wine is going to taste so nice…. ”12 goes to 13”….There’s no thirteenth floor. What is she talking about? “Mike! The door’s open. Don’t just stand there, silly. Put your little key in the holeand let us inside.”
They sat together in the livingroom. April looked at Mike. Her eyes seemed prettier every time she did that. Maybe it was the romantic lighting. Am I even allowed to look at something so precious? Of course. I must. She said something about how I must look at them at all times during her meditation talk. I guess that makes sense. “So what are you interested in, Mikey? ”
“I don’t know. I’m very ambitious, I guess, about getting into a a good medical school.”
April shook her head disapprovingly. “Mikey, ambition is not a good thing.” She poured him a glass of wine. “Pay attention to me. Over here, Mikey. I told you not to look away.” Mike focused on April’s eyes, and his own eyes began to feel a bit heavy. “Just relax and breathe. Meditation is so important for me. Sometimes when I’m alone, I like to think about a candle and imagine what the gentle flame might look like as it flickers. If you look closely, you can see the flame reflecting off my eyes. Do you see it, Mikey?”
Nod.
“Mike. Listen to me. You will never be a doctor. You’re too young. You are my baby nephew, Mikey. “
Mike was watching a flame flickering, and he didn’t really care what April was talking about. He just nodded politely, hoping she wouldn’t notice that he was too busy watching the candle reflecting in her eyes. He was home now with Aunt April. It was perfectly normal to take off his shirt and pants and underwear and socks. April planted her little body on Mike’s lap, never losing eye contact. She smiled a disturbingly huge grin, and abruptly impaled herself on Mike’s hardened cock. “You’re a horse, Mikey. You have no ambition. You’re just here for me to ride!” And with that, she started riding him; whipping him over and over with her tight pussy. He lips bumped into his over and over, but not like they were kissing. He was just her galloping slave.
“Energy is everything, Mikey. Ambition is nothing. I want your energy. Give it to me now! Come to me now baby, and give it all to me!”
Mike came like Mount Vesuvius as April screamed in ecstasy. When the eruption was finally over, he just sat there with his shoulders slumped. He felt a wave of extreme depression, the likes of which he had never imagined. His ambitions had evaporated as soon as he came into this negative energy vampiress. “It’s all over Mikey. Follow me.”
Mikey followed the little monster into his bathroom, and she turned on the shower. “Mikey, step into the shower like a good baby nephew.” It was freezing cold.
“No. No, it’s too cold. Please Auntie April, don’t make me do it.”
Her eyes were now all he could see, and they were as dominating as they were surreal and pretty. Mike found himself sitting on the floor of the bathtub, as freezing cold water attacked his body. April looked at him. “Lie down on your back my ambitious little baby, and go to sleep.” She watched and smiled.
The bathtub overflowed after a while. Eventually, the downstairs neighbors below complained to the super. The super was not home and so he took another fifteen minutes to arrive. When Mike’s body was finally discovered, the police and detectives arrived within twenty minutes. Detective Thompson wandered around the living room. “It looks very much like a suicide to me, Sir.” He turned around and saw that a police officer was talking to him. Thompson didn’t reply. Instead, he just pondered to himself about the word “suicide.” Then he thought about his own life. I’m way too ambitious to just sign off on a suicide. There’s more to this. Think think think…..oh fuck it. I give up.
He picked up a cork from the rug and threw it haphazardly against the mirror. It bounced off on to the sofa. He stared at where the cork landed in disbelief. Then he slowly wandered over to the coffee table next to the sofa. He saw something there. He saw the one thing. Evidence.
A strand of red hair in white wine.