Bloodstone

about 1,300 words

My lawyer was sitting across from me with a woman I’d never seen before. Outside one of the officers waited to return me to my cell.

“Laura, this is Ms. Morgan. She’d like to hear what happened.”

“Didn’t you record it a couple times now?” He had his tape recorder again in fact. I didn’t mind, I just wondered what he was doing with all of the recordings.

“Yes, but Ms. Morgan would like to hear it in person.” He looked at the recorder and I shrugged, so he did the whole introduction thing, stating the date and time, and getting my permission recorded. I glanced at the sensible Ms. Morgan with her easy to care for, short brown hair and respectable pants suit.

“Well, it started with the stone…

*

I bought it on eBay. I still don't know why I bought it. There was something about it, the smooth, curved lines, the opaque blood red coloring. I wanted to touch it, to run my hands over its surface. It's hard to explain how I felt. I justified the purchase by deciding it would look great on the little table just inside the front door. Right now the table had a white runner across it and that stone would be beautiful there. I could display it like a sculpture. Maybe that sounds ridiculous now, but that was how I justified it.

It came three days after I made my payment, a heavy brown cardboard box that felt slightly gritty to the touch was waiting for me on my doorstep. I lifted it, for a 3’ by 2’ package it was heavy. I had to set it down to get a better grip before carrying it into the house. I felt a sort of relish in slowly opening the box once it was on my dining room table. It had a very unusual scent which called to mind hot days and dry sand. It didn’t smell of the ocean. I never found a way to convey that scent to others.

When I pulled the cardboard away white tissue paper in delicate waves was all I could see. My breath caught. This was it. It was mine now. There was this pause, this moment of time when blood pounded in my ears, sweat formed on my brow and my vision blurred. I couldn’t stand that feeling, it was so intense. I ripped away the tissue to reveal the stone. It was amazing. No picture could do it justice.

The stone seemed to pulsate in time with my heart as I lifted it from the box. Its smooth exterior was soft and warm and there seemed to be a movement in the center. I could feel it pounding outward against the surface. There was a knock at the door. As if it had pulled me back from a trance, the sound dissipated the sensations I’d been feeling. I set the stone on the table again and went to the door. For some reason I was disappointed to see my boyfriend Jim, his handsome face framed by the small window in the redwood door. I opened it.

“Hi Jim,” I stood in the doorway.

“Laura, you look beautiful today!” He pulled me into a hug. It was annoying. I had an irrational desire to tell him to leave me alone. He pulled back and looked into my eyes. I usually loved his intense green eyes, but that day they seemed dangerous. I stared a challenge into them. “Laura? Bad day at work?” He tried to walk into the house, but I was in the way.

“No, it was about the same as usual.” He was about half a foot taller then me, lean but not muscular. His sunny blond hair was brushed back in a casual boyish style that made him look weak. That was suddenly how I saw him. He was weak, nothing to worry about really. I backed away from the doorway to let him in. He might be useful if he stayed. Suddenly I remembered my acquisition. I grinned, the excitement of it coming back to me.

“I got the stone today, do you want to see it.” The smile he directed at me was puzzled, but he nodded and I led the way into the dining room after closing, locking and bolting the front door.

“You bolted the door.” His statement startled me. I looked at him, and for a moment I felt all of my usual emotions for him. I shook my head.

“I have no idea why I did that. I’m sorry Jim. I seem to be acting strangely today.” A tension which had begun to grow between us, invisible until that moment, lessoned. He smiled, his lips tilting up ever so slightly and his eyes creasing on the edges.

“It’s okay, we’ve both been under a lot of stress lately.” He was right, although stress had never made me think of someone kind and giving like him as dangerous before. Nor had stress ever made me think he, of all people, seemed weak. He could beat me at any sport without even trying hard.

“I suppose you’re right,” I turned and took the last few steps into the dining room. The stone was in the center of the table, and the box was gone. I didn’t remember getting rid of the box, or setting the stone that far onto the table. Jim laughed.

“You paid money for that?”

“What’s wrong with it?” I felt a rage so deep that it was difficult to contain. It was every bit as bad as the anger I’d felt when I was 14 and my mother refused to let me go to homecoming. The cutest boy in the school had asked me to it too. Jim shrugged at me, sobering

“Nothing, I mean if you like it. It’s just so black.” He looked at it again. “Honestly Laura, it looks like something from a horror movie.”

I pulled the stone towards me. I didn’t see how he could say it was black. It was such a deep, rich red. As I held it, I empathized with it. Jim was being mean. How could he call such a beautiful thing ugly? It was the closest thing to perfect I’d ever seen. The thumping in my ears grew louder. Jim was coming towards me. He was speaking, but I don’t know what he said. I knew he planned to take the stone, to hurt it. I knew I had to stop him, but I couldn’t think with that thumping in my head.

Th-thump, thump.

Th-thump, thump.

Th-thump, thump.

*

I could hear them talking quietly beyond the thumping. It was more muffled in the prison, but it wasn’t gone.

“What happened to her boyfriend?”

“No one knows. All they found was blood, but with the quantity that they found…”

“They don’t have any leads?”

Jim was missing. They had taken away my stone. It was evidence. I didn’t understand how it could be evidence of anything. I felt sorry for it, all alone. It should have been on display somewhere. If only I hadn’t bought it, someone else could have had it. Then it would be happy right now, instead of being all alone. Even as I had those thoughts I found them confusing. The stone couldn’t feel. I mean it was just a stone, right? It was just a beautiful stone. If I got the chance maybe I would sell it on eBay, then it could go to the home it deserved. I decided to do that, as soon as they let me go. Then I could look for Jim.

“They probably won’t be able to get a conviction without a body.”

Th-thump, thump.

Th-thump, thump.

Th-thump, thump.

I miss Jim. I wonder where he’s gone.