By Russell Richardson
Losing his job and girlfriend in the same week is hard enough.
Then Kyle starts to disintegrate.
Unexplainable sand appears in his bed and on the apartment floor. While sitting on the toilet, he rubs his knee and finds more sand in his palm. The harder he rubs, the more he produces. Panicked, Kyle goes to his doctor.
“Interesting,” muses the doctor, exploring a forearm with a magnifying glass. “Your skin is becoming sand.”
Kyle is horrified. “What can be done?”
“There’s no medication to prescribe, so. . . .” The doctor shrugs. From his stool, he marvels at Kyle. “Maybe don’t wait too long for your next check-up?”
Kyle is disconsolate. He hates revealing himself to others but seeks out a support group. About five people meet at a park behind Costco where the group facilitator works. The group welcomes Kyle. They seem nice enough but are in sorry shape. One man has stumps for hands. Another, in a wheelchair, is only a torso. Everyone looks gaunt. A strong wind blows grit in Kyle’s eyes. It makes him tear up.
A woman named Annie limps over. She pours the contents of her shoes into a Ziplock bag. Kyle asks why.
“We preserve ourselves. Otherwise, we’d be lost.”
She’s right. Everyone holds a Bell jar or some vessel. The realization that he could be simply blown away by the wind is harrowing. Now Kyle weeps.
Annie holds his wrist. “I’ll help you.”
They shop for Tupperware together. They vacuum his apartment, careful not to commingle plain dirt with his remains. They put his sand in storage—already a quart container’s worth. He is surprised by how quickly Annie joins his life. Kyle feels better with her, even if he secretly cringes at the thinness of her waist.
The muddy bathtub is a constant nuisance. His clothes get baggy, so Kyle wears sweats and slides. He cranes to see over his steering wheel now. His disability claim is denied, and no wonder—who the hell has ever heard of this affliction?
At a family reunion, everyone comments about his appearance. He chooses not to see these people again. Now Kyle only spends time with Annie and the group.
He makes love to her. They move slowly and carefully and lose half themselves in the sheets. Afterward, Annie vacuums the bed. In the moonlight, she is an unsettling hourglass.
They awake to find her in two parts. She sits up on her elbows, pulling away from her hips. “At least you got to enjoy my vagina while it was attached.” Kyle expects her to sob in his arms, but instead, she laughs and laughs.
At the next meeting, the facilitator is absent. A friend conducts a wellness check and reports, “He looks like a bread loaf with a shrunken head attached.”
“Tell me about it,” says Annie from the basket beside Kyle.
Rail-thin now and half his original height, Kyle is an emaciated child carrying the laundry basket to his car.
They sit for a moment without driving. He asks, “Would you ever commit suicide?”
“Not long as you’re alive,” she says.
He cries again. No one has ever felt that way about him.
She moves in, which helps with the rent. They are in a footrace between bankruptcy and disintegration. Her arms dwindle to twigs, and he feeds her like a baby. Kyle’s not well, either. His closet is full of his containers. He can barely reach the light switch and wonders who will remove him once he disappears.
When the facilitator dies, a service is held on the beach. Kyle brings Annie in a tote bag. She’s a neck and a softball-sized head with a few strands of hair. He cradles her, and they watch from a distant dune while people pour out jars of sand.
When the beach clears, they face the ocean. Kyle’s body is rapidly shedding now. They lay with their temples touching and surrender to the end. He puts his ear to her mouth to hear her whisper: “I thought I’d never find you.”
Who knew Kyle could be so happy? The wind scatters their remaining particles. By sunrise, the beach is empty and quiet, except for the lapping waves.
* *. *
Russell Richardson lives in Binghamton, NY with his wife and sons. In addition to running a freelance digital design business, he serves as the site manager and lead editor of Posting and Toasting, a New York Knicks fan community. Russell continues to write and illustrate, with over two dozen publishing credits, including several children’s books whose profits support children with cancer. His YA novel, Level Up and Die! and his short story collection, Nocturnal Medley: Fourteen Weird Tales, are both available on Amazon.com.