Rubies on the Ground (Blogophilia 3.8)

Jeremy turns into the complex and slides down the hill unnoticed. Beige exterior blending into the background, the car looks better than those it passes. But that detail never matters. It is mission go and he is outside himself. Roasted pulled pig all over the ground. Glorious, Glorious it will be. Slowly, he directs the car across the rubble. The stars are perfectly aligned. He can feel it. They way he has it set up, not even the Behavioral Assessment unit working together would figure this out. It will be a banging good show.

A stray daffodil struggled in the cracked pavement, shining in rebellion to despair. Filtered sunlight glinted off cracked panes, the decaying brick buildings showing the ghosts of the past. A petite woman negotiates her way across the lot, laundry on hip, and a small girl attached to the other. Another day spent in their field of diamonds. Simple errands accomplished without the fear of assault.  Such a luxury compared to the villages they came from. 

He hears a thud, then a scream. It seems to be coming from within his head. Shaking it off, he drives on to the back of the complex. When he was here earlier in the week, he noticed his old apartment was vacant. The back bedroom would be the perfect place to conduct the party. His own DJ stand, so to speak. A single parallel space lay open between his building and the next one. Perfect. It will give him full view. Dancing behind the wheel, he slides the car into place. 

As he exits the car, he wonders if it is too early. Nah. There should be plenty of time to prepare. Walking up to the breezeway of his old building, he glances around to see if there are any neighbors in the halls. The smell of peppers and onion from someone’s breakfast fill his nose. The oompah of a Tejano song blasted from the apartment on the left.  He strolled back to the car.

Scanning the parking lot, he sees a crowd gathered near the place where the car shook. Women were wailing in grief. It was then he noticed two dark figures curled up on the pavement. The scene could have been a model for a painting, “Mother and Child in Repose” or “Rubies on the Ground”, if it were not for the puddle forming around their shells,. In reality, it looked more like “Humpty Dumpty on the Ground”.Their great fall looked permanent.

One of the crowd started pointing toward where he was. Oh, shit. It’s going off wrong. In the background of his mind, he could hear Morgan from Criminal Minds shouting at him: “Come on Genius, do something genius like”. He grabs the duct taped package from the back seat and disappears into the breezeway of the building closest to him.

Cutting left as he exited the building, he starts working his way towards the front of the complex. Everything was going wrong and he was going to be the prey, rather than the predator.  He passed building after building, until he realized he was about even with where the child was laying. The building had the windows on had been boarded up and abandoned. Maybe he could hide here.

Looking through the hall, it appeared the crowd had doubled and they were still looking at the Toyota. If he was quiet, he might be able to come up the stairs without being noticed. Approaching the entrance, he heard pounding on the stairs. So much for it being abandoned. A group was on its way to check on the commotion. He ducked into the bushes on the side to wait them out. As soon as they cleared the other side, he quickly made his way up.

Stairs went three at a time as he ascended. When he got to the top floor, there was a door ajar in the apartment overlooking the parking lot. It also appeared to be empty, so he closed the door and bolted it.  There was now a crowd looking at the Toyota. Oh, the cops are going to come, but not the way he had planned it. 

It had all been under control. How could he screw up like this?

Sinking to the floor, the crystal tears of failure began.

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Topic-Michelle Marko King

Pic-Nissmech

Pic guesses;Humpty Dumpty (in blog), diamonds in the sky, big bang, solar egg, spring egg.