Dividing Earth: A Novel of Dark Fantasy by Troy Stoops Read Free Book Online Page A

choice. Move, she commanded her body, but nothing happened until her finger twitched; then her thigh cramped; her toes crinkled up, causing another cramp to seize her calf. She screamed and lurched over the bedside. The hangover throbbed, a living thing trapped in her skull. Her sheets in her hands, she suffered through a series of dry heaves, in between which she told God she would never get that drunk again, would, in fact, forego alcohol forever . . . . Then she remembered the evening’s conclusion.
    Sitting up, eyes wide open but focused on nothing, she ran through the events, figured her memory covered only half of them. Tears filled her eyes and she shook her head, as if she could clear the memories by force of will.
    In the other bed, Grady coughed.
    Mary held her breath a moment, then her voice broke the silence, “Grady?” A tear ran the length of her cheek.
    Grady stretched out lazily, yawning.
    Mary didn’t know what to say, didn’t know how to say it, but didn’t know if she could even if it came to her. In the end, she only asked, “Why, Grady?”
    Grady sat up, resting her torso on her elbows. What had been blonde spikes last night was now a matted mess. Her makeup had faded and run; mascara masked her eyes; acne scars littered her cheeks. “Why what? Aren’t you beat? I’m trying to get my fuck-me sleep.”
    “Do you know what happened to me?” asked Mary.
    “What do you mean do I? You were initiated. We all are. You got your college cherry popped. It’s alright—you still got the box your cherry came in.” She grinned.
    “I—” but then Mary couldn’t speak anymore. Her body broken with sobs, she wrapped her arms around herself, rocking back and forth on the bed.
    2
    Grady watched Mary cry and something about it bothered her. It wasn’t that this preppie twat was a little worse for wear, nor that half a dozen frat brats had taken her for a test drive. Normally, whenever anyone lost it she told them to buck up, to get over it. She’d grown up with alcoholics and if that didn’t harden a person against phony emotions, nothing did. But Mary’s tears didn’t seem for show.
    Last night, she’d been annoyed with Mary for accepting Randall’s attention. She’d expected nothing less of Mike, but she’d hoped Mary would leave it. But she understood now that Mary had been shocked by his quick and ruthless gaze, then paralyzed by Everclear.
    Grady had known about men for a long time, but Mary knew nothing. Oh, she’d probably bedded down with that boyfriend she’d spoken of, but she obviously knew next to nothing about fucking, about getting your field plowed, about throating a guy until you either puked or made him come, or both. She didn’t know about the rocketry of sex, only about the fairy tale they showed you in the movies, where women never lost the sheet wrapped around their torsos and a fire always burned in the background.
    Mary was still crying and Grady hesitated out of habit: Ma became furious whenever approached in the midst of a drunken outburst. Grady took a deep breath, then rose. She sat next to Mary, who did not seem to notice her until she spoke. “I’m sorry, honey,” she said, the words strange in her mouth. She slid her arm around Mary. “I don’t know why, sugar. I really don’t,” she said.
    “Why doesn’t someone stop them?”
    “Honey, that’s just the way boys are. The way frats are.”
    Mary uncrossed her legs, slapping her bare feet onto the cold tile. She rubbed herself and winced.
    Grady stood, grabbed Mary’s arm. “You want to go to the cops?”
    Mary shook her head, whispering, “They did this to both of us, didn’t they?”
    Grady ran a hand through Mary’s hair. She held her close, kissed her cheek, looked away into a corner. “Lots of people have done that to me,” she said.
    3
    Mary knelt before her. “Do you love him?”
    Grady exploded with laughter, unfolded her legs, touched Mary’s shoulders with the sides of her feet. “Are