Me & Death Read Online Free PDF Page A

noticed her. Maybe dying brought out her natural whatever it is. Or mine. She looked hot, I tell you.
    She got her day pass from Orlanda at the front desk and walked across the lobby, head high. I stood. She was near the foot of my staircase now. She looked up, saw me, and stopped. So did the awful music playing in the background. I’d been trying to ignore it ever since I arrived at the hotel – headache-making stuff you’d expect to hear over the phone while you were on hold. Anyway, itvanished now, leaving only a breathing silence, and me, and the girl.
    I took a step and almost lost my balance. Ironic, after that childhood scene I had just witnessed. I grabbed the banister to steady myself. Kept walking. The girl smiled and pushed her hair back. Her dressing gown had blue teddy bears on it.
    We met at the bottom of the stairs. I stopped. I was drawn to her like a needle to a magnet … but I didn’t know what to say.
    She spoke.
    “You’re in color too!” Her voice was husky.
    “Uh, yeah.” I took a breath. Seemed like I’d been holding that last one in for a while. I noticed the awful music again.
    “You know what that means?”
    “Yeah. I’m here visiting. You and me, we’re not going to die.”
    “Well, not today.”
    We laughed together. Her breath smelled spicy. I was close enough to see her eyes now. Dark like her hair.
    The bearded guy put a hand on her arm. “We have to go, Marcie,” he said sadly. “It’s time for your vision of sorrow.”
    “Give me a second,” she said, without turning her head.
    I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Yeah, she was hot, but she was also someone else going through what I wasgoing through. It was like she was proof that what was happening to me was real. Not a dream.
    “Marcie, eh?” I said. “I’m Jim. From the neighborhood. You know.” I pointed at the floor. “Down there.”
    “Yeah, I’ve seen you on Roncy.”
    She hesitated and then held out her hand. I took it. It was soft and warm. I can’t tell you the last time I shook a girl’s hand. Never, I think. I didn’t know the right time to let go. She was the one who finally pulled away. An awkward moment, and yet at the same time not.
    “So you’re sick, huh?” I said, gesturing at her gown.
    “Oh. Yeah. Yeah, I’m in the hospital. Some kind of high fever. I got up to go the bathroom and passed out. You?”
    “Car ran me down,” I said.
    “Bummer.”
    We laughed again. There was a kind of click inside me. I don’t know what else to call it. It seemed to go all down my back. She felt it too, like she and I were following the same thought along the same set of nerve endings. How do I know she felt it? Good question.
    “I thought I was dreaming,” she said. “I mean … floating up to the sky and finding a hotel. That sounds ridiculous. But if it could happen to you too, then maybe I’m not dreaming. Know what I mean?”
    “Oh yeah.”
    The bearded guy grabbed Marcie’s arm. “Time to go,” he said. He had a nasal voice. I didn’t like him. She protested, but he was stronger. He pulled her upstairs. The soles of her bare feet were dirty, I noticed. After a few stepsshe stopped struggling and went along with him. Denise had been stronger than me too.
    A little kid stood about spitting distance away from me, staring at me quite openly, the way they do.
    “What’s your problem?” I said.
    He didn’t answer. His thumb was in his mouth with his first finger curled around the top of his nose. I figured he was interested in me because of the color thing. I was alive and he wasn’t.
    “Beat it!” I said.
    He shivered but didn’t beat it. Just kept sucking his thumb. His gray curly hair hung wet and limp in a modified Afro. He wore camper-style shorts and knee socks. He was scared. And there was something …
off
about him too. Why didn’t he run away?
    The lobby was empty. Just me and the dust and the carpeting and this creepy kid. I went right up to him, thinking to scare him off. He