Blood Fugue by Joseph D'Lacey

the door only faintly but he had a feeling there was someone there.
    In the semi darkness he watched the door swing open and saw a vague silhouette framed there.
    ‘Is that you, Jimmy?’ It was the voice of Maggie Fredericks. ‘They took Burt to the hospital. Kath’s with him. I think he had a heart attack.’
     
    After twenty-five miles of winding mountain roads Kerrigan was close to vomiting. He kept quiet about it though. Maggie’s kindness was the only thing that would reunite him with Burt and Kath, assuming Burt hadn’t already passed on. Maggie asked him questions from time to time but he didn’t feel much like talking; he knew whatever he told her would be common knowledge to all in Hobson’s Valley by the next morning. He kept his replies as short and unspecific as he could without coming over as unfriendly.
    The sense of emptiness that always stalked him pressed close as they drove down the far side of the mountains and finally onto a straight road in the next valley. His nausea eased but his dread increased.
    By the time they arrived at Maiden County hospital, Kerrigan felt weak and old. He walked to the coronary unit as if his legs had forgotten how and asked for Burt. The nurses shared a few hushed words and asked him to wait for a moment.
    It was Kath who returned, red eyed and shrunken with shock and grief. He could still see the love in her eyes, but there was anger there too. She hugged Kerrigan with the fierceness of chains, as if she’d never let go.
    Maggie hung back while they embraced.
    After a long time, Kath released him.
    ‘Burt’s not going to make it.’
    Kerrigan shook his head.
    ‘They said that?’
    ‘No. But I know him. He’s had enough. He’s been giving up for quite a while.’
    Kerrigan pushed his hand back through his hair.
    ‘Jesus, Kath. What happened?’
    ‘Oh, he was helping me in the kitchen. He never does that, you know. But he was excited. I haven’t known him to act that way for a long time. It made me happy just to see it.’
    She smiled at the memory of it.
    ‘He went out to call you and tell you to come a little earlier. He wanted to have a beer with you on the porch. When you didn’t answer, he figured you were already on your way. He went to get changed and he was laughing. ‘That boy sure is a sissy’ he said. He knew you were trying to make it down to us before it got dark. And then —’
     
    — Burt pushed his walker ahead of him, grinning and shaking his head. His boy had finally bitten the bullet. Tonight Jimmy would walk home alone, in the dark, and conquer his fear once and for all.
    Burt reached for the light switch in the bedroom, flicking it on and off a couple of times.
    ‘Darn it,’ he muttered. ‘Need a goddamned electrician now.’
    There was just about enough light from the hallway for him to see his clean shirt laid out on the counterpane. He shuffled into the bedroom and parked his walker beside the bed. The scent of the pot roast wafted in from the kitchen and Burt’s stomach growled. He slipped off his old shirt and reached for the clean one. There was a tap at the bedroom window and Burt froze, mid-stretch.
    ‘Lord above,’ he whispered.
    His eyes swivelled towards the sound. Framed like a living portrait was the face he’d seen twice in the last few days. The face of an impossibly old man. Except the face was worse tonight, swimming forward from a sea of blackness and melting. The ancient eyes widened, livid purple veins rising in the whites. The mouth tore open and the tongue spilled free, splitting into three snakelike fronds, each of which now licked the dirty windowpane—
     
    — he called out to me. He sounded frightened, Jimmy, like you used to when you were a kid and woke up in the night. His voice was tiny. I heard his knees crack against the floorboards and I ran to him. He was holding his chest and staring at the window. I held him before I called for help. He was so cold and so tiny, Jimmy. My man for all these