Snippet
Just a little snippet between James and Wanda. I'm still a touch sick, and this hasn't been edited so sorry for grammatical/spelling errors. They're not always like this, they can be really very friendly with each other too, this was just what came out.

:::

It was usually silent in the house, it was small, just one story with a kitchen, sitting room and two small excuses for bedrooms. James stood at the sink, idly washing dishes in the running water of the sink, hunched forward with his forehead resting against the cabinet above the sink. It was hard to get energized to do anything; he couldn’t ever tell if it was this second attempt at life that exhausted him or the actual logistics of being technically dead. It was a good thing to wonder about when doing nothing in particular.

“Eh, you wanna go out to the store?” Wanda’s voice with her own distinct accent floated in from the other room, small clacky noises following her when she put assorting things away in the other room.

“Not really, you go.” Was his quiet reply, unsure if it was heard over the running water and clanking dishes. Wanda rarely even set foot into the kitchen, as far as she was concerned James could live in there, which left any sort of food responsibilities up to him.

“Haven’t we got nothing to eat?” She questioned, peeking around the corner and leaning in the door frame.

“We’ll live.”

“You’ll live, you don’t have to eat regularly.” She said with a frown, crossing her arms and glaring at him in hopes he’d give in a do as she told.

He frowned, one of the plates slipping from his hands and into the bottom of the sink. He’d been dead for a few months now, obviously there were things about him that weren’t the same as living things, but it was still touchy when they were pointed out. Pretending he was still alive worked for him, at least until Wanda saw fit to hold it above him.

“Now do we need to go to the store or not?” She said, annoyance barely hidden in her tone.

“I don’t know why we would, I guess you do.” He pulled the drain plug out of the sink to let it drain, turning and exiting through the other door out of the kitchen.

“Hey! Come back here!” she shouted, moving through the kitchen to follow him and grabbing the back of his shirt. “What’s wrong with you?”

James shrugged her grip off, turning to face her since she didn’t appear to be letting this go. “I don’t know what you mean.” The petulance of his tone couldn’t be hidden.

“Oh don’t you bullshit with me James-“

“Never.” He cut her off, turning and rushing off before she could say another word.

---

Spending a night away from ‘home’ had never been so easy since Wanda. It used to be that the hardest part was just staying up all night, but since sleep was impossible for him now it wasn’t so hard. But sleep and unconscious were two different things.

Alcohol never really held an allure to him before he was dead; drink himself into unconsciousness was a new way to ‘sleep’. It wasn’t foolproof, since he didn’t always drink enough to make it to unconscious if he was already drunk.

He walked down the street, debating with himself what to do, he had a few options, none of which were sounding especially appealing at the moment. Really, just going home and lying down was all he wanted, for some reason he just felt more fatigued than usual today.

Maybe he could be nice, do the grocery shopping Wanda had wanted, and by the time he was done with that he’d be ready to go back. If not, he was an adult, he could make it through one more gritted teeth conversation tonight. It was hard for him to forgive Wanda some days.

---

“We’re closed.” Wanda called when she heard the front door open, sitting at the table where she met with customers and flicking some small bird bones across the table in frustration.

“Clo-“ she repeated and turned in her chair to see who was walking in, but stopped when she saw it was James. There was a long moment of awkward silence that followed while he waited to see if she had anything to say to him, before giving up and walking into the kitchen with the grocery bag in his arms.

Wanda sighed, turning back towards the table in her chair and leaning on the table. It was a very slight nuance in his personality when James was upset, just another step towards perfect stoicism. Clearly this new façade of a life wasn’t easy for him.

Some days the guilt would consume her, when she’d find him passed out in his small bed. She hadn’t found out until a week ago or so that he wasn’t able to sleep anymore, he’d kept it from her carefully night after night. The guilt had overcome her, she tried to stay up all night to see how it was but fell asleep when she realized trying to mimic wasn’t any way to make James feel better. She never knew how to make James feel better, she wondered some days if she ever would.

::

~Dottie