Chapter Text
“You know what his last words were?” Lenny pops a bubble of chewing gum, before taking it out and squishing it against the grassless dirt that litters the park. All the old grass died, and the new grass won’t grow. The imperfections that would be covered by greenery are now on full display. Piss stains, cigarette butts, and Lenny’s biggest contribution, chewed bubble gum. Her cap sits backwards on her head while she squints into the sunset, covered in the orange glow of the afternoon. She fucking loves it here. David doesn’t. The whispers are loudest here, but he comes anyways because Lenny refuses to go to any other place. Tonight, the whispers speak soft words of malcontent. So soft that sometimes they get swept away with the light breeze of summer rolling through the city, sometimes they get smothered in the dust clouds that now wander the streets.
“Wh-who’s last words?” David looks behind him at the swing set, which squeaks and sighs on its own accord. For the past hour, it has been going through its motions, speaking when he looks away and playing dead when he casts his gaze towards it. When they were kids he wouldn’t go near it, despite Lenny’s generous protests. He had assumed that the whispers he always heard came from the swing. It’s not like he’s ruled it out yet, either. As he turns his back, it predictably rattles its chains in anger. David shakes his head.
Lenny turns to David in disbelief. “Have you been listening to me for the past ten minutes, man? My fucking dad.” She shoves him, hard. David recoils and twitches. Lenny has done that to him all his life, and he gave up explaining to her how mad it makes him years ago. Because she will never get it.
“Oh. Sorry, I guess. Wh...what were his last words?” David rubs his arm and leans away. The screeching from behind him gets louder, and so do the whispers, for a moment. And then Lenny speaks, which calms the beast down enough for David to focus.
“He said: Don’t be like your whore mother. And then he fucking died.” Lenny scoffs and spits at the ground. It lands in the dirt and slowly settles. And there it will stay.
“Oh.” David zips up his windbreaker and shivers. The sun is setting and taking all the warmth with it.
Lenny squints into the fading purple sun and her neck twitches in annoyance at his response. This time she decides to remain silent, probably because she’s not sure she could have given a better answer than ‘oh’ either. The last light in the sky becomes a thin line and then dips. The swingset stills.
-----------------------