Not Alone Anymore

Little Somethings Press #4/January 2022

Julia became distracted from the television by a flicker in her peripheral vision. A closer look revealed a swooping and darting creature-a bat!- in the darkened living room. Julia darted herself, into her bedroom closet, where she hid until morning. 

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She awoke on a heap of clothes to the rattle of the backdoor.  Jackson -here to get the rest of his stuff.  She thought of staying there in the closet, but he would open it, look at her with that pitying smile, the one  he used when he told her about Becca. 

Julia forced herself out into the daylight of her bedroom.

 “What happened to you?” he asked, garbage bag in hand, ready to empty his dresser.

“There was a bat. In the house.” 

“Call an exterminator,” he said, back turned. 

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Afterwards, she stared at  computer images of bats, noticing how their ears were like Mickey Mouse’s, their eyes were so innocent. She hadn’t known bats had just one breast fed baby a year, or that they ate those hateful mosquitoes and pollinated foods like avocadoes and mangoes. She discarded the information about rabies, already feeling quite insane.

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Night fell. Walking from room to room, Julia turned off light after light, proceeding in the pitch darkness, sensing her way easily through the house. She thought how blackout curtains would perhaps be more welcoming, hospitable. 

She awoke the next morning feeling slightly disappointed. No bat encounters, as far as she knew. 

After breakfast, washing dishes, Julia jumped, noticing a bat clinging to the kitchen curtain, shaking. Shutting off the faucet, she studied her special visitor, listening to its slight sweet chirps and moans. Julia began to shake and moan too, holding onto the edge of the sink, collapsing into the sobs she had held back for so long.