Available Darkness Season 2

didn’t hear her, or maybe she wasn’t in the room. It was so hard to know up from down when seeing nothing but fog.
    Katya’s blur went in and out of focus, long enough for Abigail to see her finish dialing. She put the phone to her ear.
    “Hello?” Katya said.
    No!
    Abigail sent another burst from her body. The phone flew from Katya’s hand and crashed to the floor where Abigail heard it shatter across the tile.
    Katya screamed, and in that scream, Abigail heard it — the fear Talani warned of.
    “She’s afraid of you. How can she be friends with you when she’ll always think you’re going to kill her?”
    I’m not going to kill her.
    “I have an idea, Abigail … ”
    The voice held its pause, then:
    “ You don’t have to kill her. There is another way.”
    Abigail was silent, waiting for more.
    “You can partially feed from her, then turn her. You can save your life, and turn her into one of us. Then you two could be friends forever, if you wanted.”
    Abigail smiled, or thought she did. It was so hard to tell.
    She loved that idea. Abigail thought of Katya playing her pretty song again. Maybe she could even teach her to play guitar.
    What if Katya doesn’t want to be turned? Who am I to decide?
    “Who wouldn’t want immortality? She’ll thank you. Trust me. You know I’m right.”
    I don’t know how to do it.
    “I’ll show you, Abigail. Just get up and go to her before it’s too late.”
    Abigail lifted her head, opened her eyes, so heavy, and saw Katya standing over her, looking down.
    Their eyes met.
    “Do it, Abi. Now!”
    Abigail reached out, catching Katya’s hand as she tried pulling away. Their eyes locked.
    Energy coursed through Abigail, along with a flood of happy memories —

    Katya’s childhood spent with her doting father; a puppy she once had named Laika, after the first dog Russia sent into space, a dog which had sadly died; and dozens more memories, all like warm sunshine melting chocolate through her body.

    Abigail tried to find Talani’s voice in the current.
    Help me turn her.
    Talani was silent.
    Oh God. Help me, Talani!
    Nothing.
    Oh no, no, no!
    Abigail tried to break the current, but it was too late. She was riding it, high, drowning in the girl’s energy and memories.

    Katya was small, fresh from Ukraine. No friends in America, yet, so her father helped her meet some at Embassy Park, swinging and playing until they nudged their play into a circle of children.
    Katya was 12 and self-conscious, smaller than her peers. Then, from nowhere, she was 14 and several inches longer, from too few to too many, she was again as awkward as when she couldn’t get English on her tongue. But still, she made friends with a girl named Rosa. They were good friends and spent a lot of time together. Sleepovers, going to the mall, and a hundred other things that normal girls did, which Abigail would never know.
    Then Abigail was forced to stare into the worst memory, seeing how much Katya had cared for her, pacing her carpet for hours of worry when she left Abigail with Larry after they returned from the restaurant, then lying in bed for several more, flipping her body like a pancake on the mattress, over and over. Something in Katya loved the little girl who seemed so beautifully big inside.

    Abigail fell away, the ride finally finished. When she opened her eyes and saw Katya’s ashen flesh, eyes open and sockets burned to black. Nothing left of her only friend.
    She stared, lips trembling.
    Oh God, what have I done?
    Abigail screamed.
    * * * *

CHAPTER 7 — Larry

    Larry drove for a half hour before he thought to check his phone. He brought the screen into view, saw the red number on the green icon, then tapped it and listened to Katya’s voicemail.
    I hope nothing’s wrong.
    The pit in his stomach, deep and brimmed with acid, said otherwise.
    Larry played the message.
    “Larry, it’s Katya. Something’s wrong with Abigail! She’s lying on the floor and can’t get up. I don’t know what to do! I know about her real condition. Call me, please!”
    Oh shit. Abi!
    Larry spun the van in the middle of the street, nearly wrecking it, then raced back to Katya’s.

    **

    Larry was relieved to see Katya’s car in the parking lot. That was a good sign, he tried to convince himself. If an ambulance had taken Abigail away, Katya probably would’ve followed along.
    Unless they let her go in the ambulance with her — she is a kid, and Katya might insist. Say she’s