The Carousel Lies Chapter 07
Something inside Jasmine’s head gave a violent snap, like a wire tearing loose. The background noise around her blurred into static. She kicked off her heels and closed the distance to the heavyset woman in a few quick strides, grabbing her by the hair and slapping her hard across the face.
Blood poured from the woman’s nose. She lay beneath Jasmine, sobbing and begging for mercy, but Jasmine didn’t hear a word of it. She grabbed a serving tray off the nearby counter and brought it down on the woman’s head, again and again, until she couldn’t make another sound.
Jasmine spat at her, turned, and went home.
A delivery driver was standing at her door. Before he could say a word, the sight of her sent him stumbling back a few steps. Her white blouse was soaked in blood, her expression wild, radiating a warning that told anyone within reach to keep their distance.
He set the package down on the ground once he’d put some distance between them.
“Your delivery. Nobody answered the phone, so I left it here”
Then he turned and walked off without looking back.
Jasmine was completely drained, body and mind. She set the package aside and sank down onto the cold floor right next to it.
Cody still wasn’t answering his phone. Her thoughts felt rusted over, tangled and useless. In frustration, she kicked the package hard.
The next second, it hit the corner of the wall and spilled open, and a few pieces of clothing tumbled out. Clothes that had belonged to a little boy. Clean, but clearly worn.
Her mind went blank for a moment. She walked over and dumped everything out. Tucked inside was a note.
“Hi there. These are my son’s old clothes. They’re clean, and you’re welcome to reach out again if you ever need more.”
What did that mean? Was Cody out there asking strangers for hand–me–downs?
In that moment, it felt like a knife twisting in Jasmine’s chest.
She looked around the room, really looked, for the first time. The cheap toys. The rough, unfinished table. The bed frame that creaked. The crumbling paint on the walls. The range hood that broke down halfway through every use.
God. What had she done?
For the sake of one absurd, teenage promise, what had she done to her own family?
Jasmine fell apart like someone whose senses had short–circuited, laughing one moment, sobbing the next. She slapped herself, hard, again and again, until she finally collapsed to the floor and buried her face in a pile of Charlie’s clothes, crying until there was nothing left.
But there was no one left in that house to comfort her anymore.
Charlie and I took the train to a small town.
Housing was cheap there, and the weather was mild it took me three days to find a two bedroom place, about seven hundred square feet, for a quarter of what we used to pay in rent. I made sure it was close enough to the
preschool that Charlie could walk there on his own, which freed me up to take a full–time job.
After work, I went back to my old line of work, taking freelance translation jobs online. It wasn’t much, just a few dollars a day, but every bit added up. If anything, we were living more comfortably than before.
I never let Charlie go back to collecting bottles. He was old enough now that it wasn’t good for him anymore.
He moped for the first week, but after that, he slowly opened up again. I bought him a little yellow puppy, and after school he’d walk it around outside. The dog’s charm alone won him a whole circle of new friends.
Life without Jasmine was surprisingly easy. All I hoped for now was that she’d sign the papers quickly so we could finalize things. I’d stopped expecting anything from her. She could do whatever she wanted with her money.
“Dad, the chili’s ready! Come eat!”
Charlie’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I smiled and called back, “Coming!”
Jasmine spent the following days in a daze. The woman from the diner filed a police report, and Jasmine paid her off before heading home.
She didn’t go into the office. She didn’t answer anyone’s calls. She shut herself away and drifted through each day half–alive.
Then, one day, someone pushed open her door. Jasmine went rigid, and before she even looked up, she threw herself into his arms.
Josh trembled with emotion, dressed up the way he used to be years ago, clean–cut and handsome as ever.
