The Paper Kingdom

Chapter Four.

GERARD.

Her washroom looked like a hospital. It might have been bigger than her bedroom, or at least close to the same sizes. All the walls were painted a crisp white, the floor was completely tiled with white as well. There was a mint colored countertop, which was covered in small jars, that were all painted a shade of pastel blue.

“The jars?” I ask.

“Jamie.” Was all Juliet said. “Everyone thought he was crazy. But he wasn’t. He was trying to tell me something.”

I looked at the jars. There were 5 rows and 22 columns. Each one had a little yellow label on top.

“Jamie collected things. He kept them in his school lunch containers but those were gross and dirty so I re-did it after it all happened. Put them in these nice painted containers.”

“So what did he collect?”

“Everything.”
I read a few of the labels, in an scrawly but readable handwriting that belonged to Juliet.

Teeth
Bones
Cigarette Butts
Rocks
Receipts
Letters
Lighters
Glasses
Toy Car Wheels
Hair
Black and White Crayons
Snail Shells

That’s more than a bit odd. I opened all the ones I listed in order.

The teeth were gross. Some still had blood on them. The bones were worse.

“Bones, Juliet? That’s weird.”

“The old cat. I think his name was Whiskey or something. Something boozy. I named it when I was 16. Carrie-Ann run him over with a car. Me and Jamie had a funeral and all. A year later, when Jamie started collecting shit, he dug up the bones and yeah.”

“The cigarette butts were all mine, not Jamie’s, but he used to go through the ashtray that sat in the kitchen and pick them out. The rocks and receipts aren’t that weird, I suppose.” Juliet commented as I peered through the jars. The rocks, I just glanced at. They weren’t that interesting. But the receipts were. And they weren’t Juliet’s receipts. I could just tell. Juliet wouldn’t buy an extra large tub of vanilla ice cream and an entire chicken at a grocery store called Dollar Groceries.

“Who’s receipts are these?” I wondered out loud, reading another one from Walmart, which was another large order of marshmallows, chocolate ice cream, and fudge. I read almost all of them. I felt, seeing as I’d become obsessed with television as I was constantly bored with life when I couldn’t sleep, like I should be doing some Sherlock Holmes level of deducing the evidence but I wasn’t as clever. All I mentally noted was, no fruits, no veggies, only sweets. And large quantities. I looked at Juliet, all skin and bones, she was. She wasn’t eating that shit. So who was?

“Carrie-Ann’s. I think.” Juliet muttered. “Why?”

“Who’s Carrie-Ann?” I asked. About two theories popped into my mind: ex-girlfriend, unlikely seeing as Juliet seemed pretty straight to me, or sister, a lot more likely, and Jamie would have access to the receipts.

“A lazy pig. Or, in other terms, my mother.”

Mother.

It was clear Juliet lived on her own, which was pretty unusual for an eighteen year old to have acquired such a large apartment and clearly not be in college. We never brought up jobs, but she had to have one.

“So you don’t like her? Why?”

“You just have to meet her to understand. Actually I should visit her, but I don’t want to, with Jamie gone and all.” Juliet sighed in frustration. “Imagine being raised by a dog who can only think about food. There’s Carrie-Ann.”

I chuckled, because Juliet was stunning always, but she was cute now, all pouty faced and frustrated.

“I’m sure she’s not that bad.” I said. “I used to complain about my mom all the time, then I grew up and got over it and actually missed her.”

“Aw, your little family life is so cute.” Juliet teased, but there was something vicious about it. I was noticing by now that Juliet, behind her tiny, ballet-dancer-esque exterior was vicious. She had no sympathy when Helene was crying. That’s strange seeing as Helene’s daughter is lost in the woods fighting a witch. I had sympathy, Victor had more sympathy than me, but I felt bad for her. Juliet just seemed angry.

But there was one flaw in my theory.

Me.

I was sad. I was talking about Lindsey, which is something I do my best to avoid doing and she comforted me. It didn’t feel forced. Did she have sympathy for me? I wasn’t sure.

“Do you want to meet Carrie-Ann than? Prove yourself right?”

Of course I did.

“Does she live near? Isn’t it a bit late?” I speculated, running one of my hands through my hair.

“Well, of course, seeing as she lives Alabama. But that’s what Skype is for.” Juliet walked into her bedroom, and emerged seconds later with a MacBook in her hands.

She opened the program for skype, and I noted she only had one friend. She must only use Skype for calling her mother or something.

After the dial tone for skype rang through a couple times, which I mentally noted, sounded like someone melodically drowning, a face appeared beyond the screen. The computer glitched a couple times, and then it settled on the woman. She had a doughy face, and you could tell from her arms and her many chins that she wasn’t just a little chubby, she was morbidly obese.

“Hello darling.” Juliet spat.

“It’s been ages since you last called, Juliet! I was worried to death about you-” Carrie-Ann spluttered, getting a little flustered.

“Save it for someone who cares.” Juliet said, finding a cigarette and lighting it. “Carrie-Ann, this is Gerard.”

“Why are you in your underwear? And why does your boyfriend look like he’s thirty?” I became increasingly self aware of small wrinkles on my face, and the fact that I did not look as youthful as I had, maybe, ten years ago.

“He’s thirty-seven.” Juliet said, raising an eyebrow, almost as if she was testing her mother.

“Are you a couple? I’ve never met one of your boyfriends before, Juliet.” Carrie-Ann smiled. Juliet looked angrier by the second and I was getting uncomfortable. “And Juliet, you should stop smoking, it ruins your looks, and your health.”

“I don’t want to talk about me, mother, let’s talk all about you.” Juliet droaned in a low voice. “How are your looks, and your health. Not looking too good now is it? And you haven’t touched a cigarette since the eighties.”

“You used to be so sweet.” Carrie-Ann said quietly. “Now you just sound like Colin. You’re a lot like Colin you know.”

“Who’s Colin?” I interjected. I had tried to sit patiently, beside Juliet on the sofa, in my black boxers, the dark hickey present on my neck but her life was too intriguing.

“Juliet’s father.”

Of course. In her family, I suppose parents are referred to by their first names. Strange. I was almost forty, and when I went to visit my old house, I still referred to my parents as Mom and Dad. It was like that was their name.

“Listen, Carrie-Ann, I’ve got to go to sleep, or at least give it a try, since Jamie and all. Maybe send some of those pills you get for your chronic pain if you come visit. Bye.” And she clicked the red button, hanging up the video call.

“You could have been nicer. She wasn’t that bad. She misses you, you know.”

“She made my dad leave, and she can’t control her own actions. Carrie-Ann is scum, whether her vagina crafted me or not.”

A long drag of a cigarette, and a deep exhale ended the conversation, as Juliet lay her head onto my shoulder, gently pushing me so we were lying down and fell asleep, with my arms wrapped around her small body.

Notes

sorry for taking so long with this chapter....

this is pretty much a really long filler too, it sucks

shit should start going down in the next chapter though

:)

PS I MISTAKENLY CHANGED FINN (JULIET'S SURNAME) TO ARROW. IF IT SAYS ARROW AND IT SHOULD SAY FINN, JUST COMMENT AND TELL ME. I'M TRYING TO FIX ALL THE LITTLE FUCK UPS.