Evelyn led Trevor down the grassy path. The sun was still bright, and so he wore shades. She had thus thought it best to have a picnic in Rock Creek Park after five, when dusk would soon approach and they could enjoy Veronykah Cahmet’s live jazz concert that would start at seven. She knew the show was important, a massive free event encouraging people to reconnect with each other after weeks of distrust and alienation followed by days of grieving over all the lives lost, over the siege that had almost destroyed Evelyn’s neighborhood. Everyone needed time and space to heal.
Still, neither she nor Trevor were ready to be among throngs of people just yet. They wanted to appreciate the time they had together, to reclaim the oasis of safety and care they’d begun to enjoy with the onset of the Afflicted. They’d been together almost every day since he’d been released from the base hospital a month ago. Trevor simply told his family he would see them when he saw them.
He lifted his shades for a moment, squinted, and pulled them low. “Still too bright out here,” he mumbled. Most of those who were demon eyed had become sensitive to bright light ever since their recovery, evenweeks later. But bright light didn’t bother Evelyn, maybe because she’d only been Afflicted for a brief amount of time. She’d never let on to Trevor that she’d almost succumbed. Saw no reason to, as what she’d endured seemed like nothing compared to the others, though truth be told, she’d gone throughsomething.
She vaguely remembered once again becoming connected to Linda, like they’d had another special moment. How she’d blacked out on the curb and woken up to disarray. Cars overturned. Broken glass. Uprooted trees. People mulling about, crying and moaning or just staring in the distance as ambulances and military vehicles arrived. She’d passed out in a war zone, she realized, and miraculously survived.
Evelyn had no marks from her ordeal, but parts of Trevor’s body were scarred by the blistering heat that had seared his skin. The deep, dark grooves and welts might never vanish. (His new favorite thing to do was stand in front of his still-cracked bathroom mirror and whisper, “Gangsta.”) Evelyn couldn’t have cared less about the scars. She thought he was as scrumptious as ever.
“I felt like… like it was taking you away from me. Like it wanted everything that we’d created,” he said as they sat on a picnic blanket. That had been his way for days now, to bring up random memories of what he’d encountered with the dorlis. Like ideas had been swirling around in his head and he needed a moment before the right words came.
“Mmmm… I think I understand,” Evelyn replied. Trevor ate his turkey sandwich with one hand and kneaded the picnic blanket with the other. He touched everything constantly, Evelyn included, like he was relearning textures. She had begun to think that maybe her next campaign would be helping the Afflicted get the word out about what they’d endured. About the things that they’d learned to love anew. To give their stories the dignity they deserved. Her advertising contacts were still legit. Everyone at Mtume who’d succumbed had recovered, thank goodness.Fitzroy had even reached out and asked her if she wanted her job back. Evelyn would never step foot into that office again, but a consultancy might work. On her own terms. Whole new world.
After they’d finished their meal, she took Trevor’s hand, kicked off her sandals, and let the music carry them as they danced. Veronykah let loose a scintillating “ooooh” that sinewed itself into early evening sky. Evelyn caressed Trevor’s broad shoulders. He stepped back and took off his shirt. (He would’ve taken everything off if they’d been inside.) She caressed the scars on his back, felt his pecs press against her bosom, his lips on her neck, her lips in his curls. They swayed, fingers laced, palms enclosed, the grass dewy beneath their feet. This splendor, what she’d envisioned weeks ago in her apartment. She let gratitude engulf her spirit as darkness came and stars arrived and her dancing blue ascended, for Evelyn no longer had to imagine that she had been embraced by heaven.
