The Thin Blue Line

Hal hadn’t slept well, but as was his routine, he drove down to the Seaview lawn to gaze at the thin blue line where the ocean meets the sky. He was contemplating driving home and crawling back into bed when something thumped against the trunk of his car. He looked back to see a girl with short black hair in an altercation with a guy with blond ropes for hair. Hal could see that the guy was tall and wiry, but not his face, which was obscured by the girl. Hal considered yelling “Hey!” to get them away from his car, but he decided against it. They wouldn’t do any damage, and it was something to watch. He adjusted his rearview mirror when the girl let out a shriek. Overcome by a bout of masculine indignation, Hal opened his door.

“Get away from—” he began, but the dreadlocked guy was already frolicking, skipping rather than running away. As the girl turned to face Hal, he noticed her face was red. He wondered if she’d been slapped or if the rosy coloring was from crying. Her eyes were puffy.

“Are you okay?”

“Will you make love to me?” the girl asked. Both her expression and voice were earnest. Hal couldn’t help but notice her breasts were hardly concealed beneath a faded green tank top. Her black shorts rode high on her thick thighs, and there were a few scrapes on her shins, which prickled with irreverent black hairs. Hal’s observation happened in less than a second, as did his overall assessment. She was from the castle. Then he noticed her pupils, fully dilated, bigger than thumbtacks.

“What drug are you on?” Hal asked.

“It doesn’t matter,” the girl said, and approached Hal with an expression that might have passed for seduction if it weren’t for the rest of her face, which was a mess.

“Was that guy your boyfriend?” Hal asked, trying his best to ignore her slow, sashaying advance. He pivoted his torso and said, “You’re from the castle, right?”

“It doesn’t matter,” the girl said as she sidled closer. “Do you want me?”

“No,” Hal said with an uneasy chuckle, “and could you please step back a bit?”

“Do you want to push me?” the girl asked, her voice hardly more than a whisper. She lowered her eyes and let her index finger slide back and forth across her bottom lip. Then she smiled.

Hal shifted his weight from foot to foot before taking a step back. The girl leaned on his passenger door and began to thrum the top of his car with her fingertips.

“Do you think I’m pretty?”

“Listen,” Hal explained, “I don’t know you. I don’t know what your deal is, but you need to take it elsewhere. I’m not interested.”

As her expression fell, the girl slumped down on the grass and covered her face with her hands. She began to sob, her shoulders shrugging as she curled into a ball.

Hal asked, “How long have you been out of the psych ward? I assume you recently got out of Hilo Medical and heard about the castle? You’re staying there, right?”

“It doesn’t matter,” the girl said, her voice muffled as she spoke through her hands. Her head was bowed between her knees.

“Did you try to kill yourself, or have you been in and out—”

“Stop!” the girl spat. She lifted her head. Her eyes were bloodshot. “You don’t know me.”

Hal cocked his head as he processed her sudden shift. He looked from her eyes to her ankle, which had a marijuana leaf tattoo, crudely scrawled. “So, you’re either on meth or—”

“It doesn’t matter!” the girl screamed. It was the same blood-curdling scream that had caused Hal to step out of his car. He glanced around the lawn. There was only a woman up by the mailboxes, walking her little dog, within sight. She hadn’t even glanced in their direction.

“Okay, I’m done,” Hal said and made a move to get back into the driver’s seat. The girl, seeing his intention, was quick to spring up and dive into his car. She tried to close the door, but Hal grabbed the door frame.

“Let go!” the girl bellowed.

“Get out of my car!” demanded Hal. The girl suddenly released the door, causing Hal to stumble backward. She lifted herself up and over the center console and into the passenger seat. She buckled herself in. Hal, surprised by her agility, reached into his car, took the keys out of the ignition, and grabbed his phone from the ashtray.

“I’m calling the cops.”

“It doesn’t matter,” the girl said. She pulled off her shorts and squirmed out of her tank top.

“Wuh—what are you doing?” Hal stammered. Unlike her hair-stubbled ankles, her pubic region was cleanly shaven. She turned and pressed her back against the door and spread her legs. Hal noticed a tattoo of a sickle in green and black ink on her inner thigh.

“Will you video me?” the girl asked, her voice sultry as she began to rub herself with her middle and index fingers. Hal looked away, but then he looked back. This couldn’t be happening. He glanced up toward the mailboxes. The woman with the dog was gone.

“You can jerk off to this later,” the girl teased. She let out a soft moan and closed her eyes.

Hal dialed 911. “Yes, I’m on the Seaview lawn and—”

“Sir, I’m having tr—bl heangk…” The operator’s voice glitched before the call was disconnected.

“I’ve got a condom,” said the girl. As she tossed him a Trojan, Hal was at a loss. He flipped over the wrapper. How had she come up with a condom? None of her clothes had pockets, and she clearly hadn’t been wearing underwear or a bra. It suddenly felt too surreal, and Hal became dizzy. Was he hallucinating or getting a contact high from this, this…

“What is your name?”

“It doesn’t matter,” the girl dismissed. “Just video me or fuck me. No more questions.”

“Are you a demon?”

Her eyes flickered with a mischievous gleam before she sing-songed, “And what if I am?”

“Get out of my car,” Hal commanded, keeping his voice calm and even.

“Not until you play with me.”

Hal tapped his phone, but now his screen was black. Impossible. His battery had been fully charged before he left home.

“Let’s go back to your place.”

“Not a chance.” Was she in his mind? Hal felt his heart pounding in his temples and swallowed.

The girl looked at Hal curiously, and then her tone changed. “Fine. Just get in the car.” She swung herself back into a seated position. She crossed her legs.

“No, and I don’t know who you are, or what you are, but this is over. In the name of Jesus Christ, leave!”

The girl rolled her eyes and looked at Hal with something between disgust and disappointment. “If Jesus Christ were here, he’d fuck me.”

“What is your name?” Hal said, trying to muster authority in his voice, but the words came out shaky.

The girl rolled her eyes, turned her head, and stared out the windshield.

“You need to leave,” Hal repeated. A bicyclist passed on the red road, and Hal waved his arms above his head. The bicyclist waved back. Hal couldn’t bring himself to holler out for help. This was embarrassing.

“Look at the thin blue line where the ocean meets the sky,” said the girl. Her voice was dreamy. “That’s why you come here, right?”

“Yes, but…” Hal began, trailing off, taken aback.

“Then just sit next to me. I promise I won’t try to seduce you, but I need your energy. Give me… something.”

The back of Hal’s neck crawled. He shivered. “Are you a succubus?”

“It doesn’t matter.” Without looking at him, she patted his seat. “Sit with me.”

Hal lowered himself into the driver’s seat. As he cleared his mind and observed the thin blue line, he felt the throbbing of sorrow, a pulsing of despair, from the creature seated next to him. Trying his best to remain content, he allowed himself to be fed upon. It was slightly more unpleasant than donating blood, so after a few minutes, when Hal began to ache, he said, “That’s enough.”

“Thank you,” said the girl. She picked up her black shorts and green tank top from the floorboards. Hal nodded to himself as she dressed.

After she closed the door, Hal frowned as he watched her walk across the grass in the direction of the castle.

“That didn’t happen,” Hal mumbled to himself.