Three Little Birds

Point of View

July seventh:

Mykel was smiling as he walked through the door to his tattoo parlor. He was surprised to see his next appointment so early, and before his smile could widen he heard Mattie gasp just under his breath. She had yet to notice him as she stood smiling. "Hi. I know I'm early so if you..." Her eyes shifted just slightly to the right as she noticed to whom she was face to face with. "Mattie bear?"

Mykel felt Mattie's fist in his back, gripping onto his shirt as if for balance. The venomous tone as he spoke made the hairs on Mykel's neck stand on end. "You don't get to call me that anymore. That died when you left me in that fucking closet." Before he had a chance to respond to Mattie or even process the onslaught of information he'd just received from this short exchange, Mattie bolted. In his haste to chase after him, Mykel didn't realize the glass to the door slightly cracked at the bottom. He wouldn't notice until the next week and wonder briefly how it happened before emotion will sweep him up in its current and nearly drown him in the undertow.

He called for Mattie to stop! please stop! but his cries once again fell on deaf ears as he watched the distance between them grow. He didn't realize until that moment how fast his lover was. When Mykel rounded the next corner he stopped, bent over at the waist, hands resting on his knees, he searched the thin crowd that filled the sidewalks. There was no sign of him. Standing there the span of one hundred and twenty heartbeats he searched and, coming up empty, turned and walked dejectedly back to the shop. When he returned she was still there waiting, her eyes red and cheeks puffy, but her eyes for the moment dry. She was sitting but stood as he entered. He eyed her carefully, his mind racing in twenty-five directions at once. He felt dizzy and nauseous. "I, uh...wasn't expecting that." Mykel wasn't sure if she was talking to herself or him. He didn't reply. Finally, she looked up at him before breaking eye contact and looking at her surroundings, her eyes finally settling back on him. "Is there somewhere we can go to talk?"

Mykel frowned and crossed his arms defensively across his chest. "About what exactly?" Mykel noticed Lilly sitting quietly at her desk, trying not to be noticed and very much invested on the scene playing out in front of her.

"My brother. Please."

Mykel eyed her eyes that so closely resembled Mattie's, only with more golden flecks spattering the pattern.

"Lilly," his voice was calmer as he spoke to her, "cancel and reschedule my appointments today please." His eyes hardened slightly as he looked back to this stranger's face that looked so much like the one he'd just kissed. "We can talk back here." He led her into a back room where he pulled up a stool and motioned her to take a seat. "What exactly do you want with him? And why now...almost nine years later...why do you want him in your life now?"

"He's my little brother...I've always wanted him in my life," she said with a small shake of her head as she downcast her glance.

"Oh, really? Is that what you told him when you abandoned him? When you just left him in that fucking closet like he was less to you than the dog shit you stamped over in your haste to get out..." Mykel pursed his lips together and took a deep breath knowing that his anger would get him nowhere. He took a step backward when he realized he was frightening her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, this whole thing has kinda thrown me for a loop. Mattie...shit, Mattie." He pulled out his phone from his pocket and hastily dialed. "Pick up, mon bonheur. Pick up, Mattie. Pick-fuck." He hit the end button and scrubbed a hand over his face, took a deep breath, and looked at the woman a few feet away from him. "O'Neill wasn't on the registry. Change your name?"

She glanced up at him with a look so familiar he had to sit before he fell. "How do you know I'm just not married?"

Mykel shrugged and dug around for a cigarette. He didn't smoke them often but the nicotine calmed his nerves. He offered one to her but she declined. "I suppose I don't, but since you're not wearing a ring, there's no indention from a ring on your finger...I just took a shot in the dark."