I MUST BE HEARING THINGS.

Everything was so loud. Was this what deaf people hear? Mrs. Lucifay wondered but quickly corrected herself. Deaf people hear nothing. Hearing so many loud noises is what makes me go deaf. I wonder what’s happening. A party, perhaps?

The thoughts muddled her mind, and she drove even slower. As she inched the car forward, some other cars flew past her, startling her and making her come to sudden stops. They must be new drivers, she thought. So impatient.

The loud noise began to worry about her. She did not wish to go deaf so soon. It would make buying groceries so much more difficult. Besides, she needed to hear the death threats on the phone properly. How was she going to respond if she didn’t hear the taunt? It occurred to her that perhaps they were warning her about some giant collision ahead. Her car slowed to a snail’s pace.

She turned left around the corner, her mind wandering to tiny trivial things. The noises suddenly stopped, and Mrs. Lucifay was glad of it. There wasn’t any danger now and she could drive without worry.

The scenery was a little unfamiliar. Perhaps the grocery store remodeled? If so, they didn’t do a very good job. The road was gray and dusty. The shops had broken lights and signs with missing letters. Mrs. Lucifay didn’t take too much notice though. She expected it to be the latest trend, like those makeup tutorials that made you look worse than before.

She parked at the sidewalk and stepped out of the car. The grocery store was nowhere in sight. I must have turned the wrong direction. Mrs. Lucifay stood in the street for a few minutes, confused and disorientated. She knew she was too tired to drive home if she could find it again, so she ventured to go into the best store on the street. The one in the corner had bright neon lights and electricity, which already was better than most of the other buildings.

She was too tired to read the sign that said: “The Leprechaun Pub”

As she opened the heavy glass door, she was immediately greeted by a strong scent of cigarettes and alcohol. People, mostly men, sat on tiny red stools in the dimmed lighting. The small pub was filled with raucous laughter and excited talking.

Mrs. Lucifay slid into a stool herself and ordered the first thing she saw. She had no intention of drinking it but felt out of place without a glass in her hand. It had been years ago when she last picked up alcohol and she was resolved to never take another sip.

“Hello,” a thin, scrawny man greeted her. He looked dizzy, obviously on verge of drunkenness. Mrs. Lucifay’s slow brain didn’t have time to respond.

“Hellooo!” he giggled. “My mom always told me to greet others when they greet you. It’s a custom in my family.”

“Hello,” Mrs. Lucifay said stiffly.

“You spoke!” he exclaimed, drunkenly happy. “How’re you? Why are you here?”

“I took a wrong turn,” she replied truthfully.

The man seemed to find this extremely amusing. “Ha! That’s what we all say to ourselves, isn’ it? We’re all here ‘cause we took a wrong turn.” He scratched his stubbled chin. “Well, I s’pose it would make more sense to say we made a wrong choice. I loved the wrong girl.”

“I turned left instead of turning right at the intersection,” Mrs. Lucifay explained, very confused.

“Ha, ha! That’s funny!” The man broke into laughter, tears streaming down his face. “Ha! I’m Kyle, by th’way.” He stuck his hand out.

“Pleasure,” Mrs. Lucifay muttered mechanically, gripping the sweaty palm.

“Y’know, it’s the custom to provide your name too.”

“Madeline,” she said, uncomfortable.

Kyle chuckled. “There y’go! Ah! Maddy. Pretty name.” Kyle, who was no more than thirty, acted older under the influence of alcohol. “Y’know, I knew a girl with a pretty name too. Ivory, t’was. Pretty name, pretty face. You’d never expect that ugly temper. Came back one night to find her with another of them men. She blamed him on me, too. Said I didn’t give her enough attention anyway.”

“I’m sorry,” Mrs. Lucifay murmured, though not very truthfully. She didn’t like Kyle much. He invaded her privacy too much and couldn’t catch on to the subtle signs of her annoyance. Her mind began to fog up and wander, different trains of thought merging into one until it no longer resembled thinking at all but rather a jumbled-up dream.

“—so I said, you didn’t do nothing either! All you did was beg me for money so you can buy your beauty crap and attract more—” Kyle stopped, noticing the loss of interest in his audience. “An’ that’s how we broke up,” he concluded hastily. “How ‘bout you, Maddy? Why are you here? What happened? Is it a relationship problem too?”

“No, it’s a GPS problem. Or the lack of one, for that matter.”

“Ha! Sarcasm! I like it!” He giggled some more and gulped down his beverage. “Now, I just poured my heart and soul to you. You needn’t be worried if it’s your relationship. I can help!”

“My marriage is perfectly fine, thank you,” Mrs. Lucifay said coldly, purposefully flashing her ring.

“Ah, tough one, aren’t you? Let me guess then. In-laws?”

“No.”

“Money?”

“No.”

“Job?”

Mrs. Lucifay sighed, realizing that Kyle would not stop until he pried out the truth. “No. It’s just that…someone left me,” she said carefully.

“Ah, I see.” Kyle nodded sagely. “My condolences. My cat went missing a few days ago. Nothing compared to what you must be going through now, but she was a very beautiful cat. Raised her since I found her by the dumpsters four years ago.”

“There have been a lot of cats that have gone missing. A person as well,” Mrs. Lucifay suggested, watching Kyle’s reaction.

He grinned devilishly. “Cats, I agree. That person…”

“Yes?”

“I’ve seen her posters. A blurry school yearbook photo, isn’t it? A little girl named Marine.”

“She went missing,” Mrs. Lucifay insisted.

“See, that’s the problem. That’s only what the posters say. A blurred-out girl went missing, and suddenly reappeared yesterday attacking a rabbit? I mean, how fake can you get?”

Mrs. Lucifay felt her heart quicken. “What do you mean?” she asked, attempting to keep her voice calm.

“It’s all a fake!” Kyle exclaimed triumphantly. “It’s all a government trick. They hired some child actress to do it all.”

Mrs. Lucifay began to breathe laboriously. She drank her alcohol in big gulps. Kyle was too excited to notice.

“They just want to make a big scene so they can prove police do half a shit. Then they’ll have an excuse to make you pay more taxes. It all adds up! This Marine girl was completely made up. She didn’t disappear, she never lived here!”

Mrs. Lucifay withdrew her wallet out of her pocket with a trembling hand. She sorted through it until she found her driver’s license. She held it up for Kyle to see.

Kyle’s all-knowing smirk slowly drew down along with his eyebrows as he read the tiny text on the card.

“My name,” Mrs. Lucifay roared, “is Madeline Lucifay, the mother of Marine Nicole Lucifay!”

Kyle’s face was scrunched up in disgust, his drunken stupidity dampening his danger instinct. He snorted and slapped the card out of Mrs. Lucifay’s hand. “Cut the crap. I thought you were worth wasting my time on. You’re just one of those government slaves. You must be the one who keeps on posting those shitty comments on the website. You disgust me. How much do they pay you to say things like this?”

Mrs. Lucifay rose and brought the nearest bottle on Kyle’s head.