Somebody else we used to know.
A chill ran up and down Karoshi's spine. Not a quick burst; a thick, prolonged, stone-cold chill. It took a few minutes for the imaginary ape to recover from the initial shock, at least long enough to rise to his feet and leave the plighted redhead girl's bedroom - when the thought haunted him again. And again. And again, and again and again. It was embedded to him unrequitedly yet magnetically; like sharp nails repeatedly scraping at his rapidly deteoriating core.
His name. Six letters, two syllables, one person. By god, his name--
Marvin.
It had been a long time - over a year - since the bastard last crossed his mind. But when it did, the memories clicked into place just like yesterday. And here, clicking into place meant that they reopened the emotional wounds he believed had finally healed by his absence--from his existence.
Karoshi tried to ignore him by thinking back to other things; Goo Goo Gaga herself. He thought about the good times they had so many years earlier, rolling around the grass, looking at each other's innocent and carefree faces, completely devoid of all the division that has developed. How he loved and adored her back then. He did this repeatedly... and everytime, one way or another, found himself drifting back to just moments ago.
Oh, how he hated and despised her now.
"That bitch... that bitch!" The ape fumed as he stomped across the nearby hallway, replacing his dread with a trademark scowl. She was just lying. He'd seen that irritatingly convincing pained glare and heard that supposedly fracture tone before. And he, at least briefly, just had to fall for it again by acting uncharacteristically mature on her presence, instead of just giving her the smackdown that had become oh so long overdue. She just...
Walking down the stairway, he brushed into an azure oval and a pile of chestnut brown fur. Karoshi shrugged and continued on; but sensed that they were moving. Turning back to face them, he realized that they were not objects but actual people; one of them an imaginary friend and the other his apparent creator.
"Bloo!" he exclaimed with a toothy grin, recognizing the blob instantly... and gave his young companion a sneering glare. "Liam Gallagher in midget form? Your band sucks!"
The child was not amused. "Mac. The name's Mac."
"Ahhh," Karoshi replied. "In that case, I hope you lay off the McWhoppers, bucko!"
He followed those words with another giggle, resting his giant rear on the tip of the handle, about to slide down-- when he felt the child's arm tugging at his fur.
"Karoshi," Mac said, with very plain anger. "We need to talk."
"Talk?" the ape scratched his head mock-innoculously. "So your mother still hasn't told you about the birds and the bees? Oh, you sad thi--"
"Very funny." the boy snapped. "For your information, I know what happened. Goo told me everything that happened... what you did to Frankie yesterday afternoon."
"And for your information," Karoshi replied smugly-- and then he realized exactly what the human had just said. "Wait just a goddamn--"
And all of a sudden, Mac's venomous scream filled their eardrums, causing Bloo to pull back a few inches and Karoshi to flinch against the railing.
"THAT WAS LOW, YOU JERKFACE--VERY LOW! FRAME HER SO THAT SHE'D GET UNJUSTLY PUNISHED AND YOU'D GET OFF FREE? I DON'T BLAME FRANKIE FOR WHAT SHE DID! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT SHE SNAPPED! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT THE ENTIRE HOUSE IS CURRENTLY ENDURING THIS ORDEAL! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!"
It was a good thing they were the only ones in the hallway, because the silence afterwards was very tense... for Bloo. Karoshi just leant back against the wall with beefy arms proudly spread behind his head, adorning a shiny smile.
"Yes indeedy-o," he remarked. "It's also my fault that prejudice still exists, wars are still fought and Metallica haven't made a half-decent record since the Black Album."
A swelling of fury arose inside of Mac - one that quickly suppressed and choked into a speechless, hopeless gag. "You..."
"Shaddup." Karoshi simply ignored his anger and motioned towards the blob. "Yo, Blooregard, let's ditch this joint before you also start believing his bullshit."
He was one floor lower - still within eyeshot - when he realized Bloo hadn't budged an inch. "Hey, what are you...?"
Karoshi froze when he saw the utter blankness in the azure friend's face, his eyes narrowed and lips barely opened.
"No," Bloo simply said. "Goo's right."
What? The ape was aghast. "Don't tell me--"
"I was there, Karoshi." the blob said. "What Goo told us, about what happened after the prank we pulled on Frankie, while you were gone--I was there. I saw it happen myself."
Karoshi rolled his eyes. "You too, huh?"
"No, you unsanctimonius punk," Mac spat, his heart as dark as the clouds. "You're the one that's mistaken."
Sighing antsily, Karoshi opened his mouth to speak again-- but before he got the chance, Mac simply stormed down the stairway. "Screw this," was all he muttered as he vanished from sight.
"Pfft, screw him." the ape sneered, before turning back to the blob. "You up for a couple rounds of Halo?"
But Bloo did not respond at all. He simply gave him a blank glare, and then fled through the stairs to follow his disillusioned creator's path.
Karoshi himself would take a while to speak, opting to lean against the wall with a twinge of shock. He wasn't surprised to see that dweeb of a boy act the way he did, especially considering that he was apparently becoming very good friends with Goo... but Bloo too? Was something going on; something he wasn't aware of? Was the girl actually right. The thought frightened him, hardened his face, scrunching him with wrinkles of genuine worry--
For a few seconds. Afterwards, he gave another atypical shrug. Meh, blobby never seemed all that bright either.
Feeling more assured, he set down the stairs away, although heading to the direction opposite of the azure friend and his creator, and then heading down all the staircases he could see until he reached the floor level, with a smile. Clearly, he had nothing to worry about.
- - -
Now standing at the heart of the not-so-empty entrance foyer, the expression of worry returned to his face. And this time, they were going to be a little more permanent.
Clearly, he did have something to worry about.
The gaggle of imaginary friends that erratically occupy his surroundings had a variety of reactions to his presence; from disgust to revulsion and fear to fury, some stopping cold in their tracks and others picking up the pace to rid themselves of his sight as soonly possible. None of them were terribly kind... and all of them seemed to indicate towards the same signs.
Karoshi shrugged it off again. It worked... for a few seconds, and then the same unsettling sensations returned to bother him. He tried it again; and the marginthis time was less than a single second, before the thought returned to him. And again, and again and again. It was as if it were embedded to him magnetically, as if sharp nails continued to chip away at his core--
His body. Chocolate dark hair with tinges of grey, lips as thin as a razor and a presence that resembled a living zombie. By god, his name--
Marvin.
He thought he'd finally gotten him out of his mind; the last few minutes went by without the bastard crossing his mind. But when it did, the memories clicked back into place, like they never left in the first place. And clicking back into place meant that they harmed wounds which had nary a chance to heal.
"That asshole... that asshole!" He muttered to himself; not exactly a scream, but loud enough for anybody nearby to notice. To his relief, he was now walking through the living room area area, which was oddly empty... with the exception of a female beaked bird-plane thingy, which sat on the sofa.
"Hey, Yoshi!" Karoshi said with an attempt at sarcasm, somewhat shaky considering the slight tremble in his tone. "Having a bad fashion day or something?"
The imaginary friend narrowed her eyes. "Co-co."
"Coco? That your name? Ok," the ape inquired, making his way to the empty spot in the sofa. "If you don't mind--"
"Yo si."
Before he had a chance to sit, he felt a large figure loom to his side. It was a beast-like imaginary friend, highly comparable to him in size and fur, but also carrying huge bony horns across his nose, with a face of genuine innocence--which hardened into anger as he bore into the ape.
"That seat is mio," he snarled.
"And Donkey Kong?" Karoshi said. "Yeesh, is this a house for imaginary friends, or Nintendo char--"
And the beast creature stomped his feet on the ground, causing a brief but sufficient quake. "MY NOMBRE IS EDUARDO!"
"Ahhh then," Karoshi chuckled very nervously. "I guess I'll just leave," and he instantly tried to hurry away from the two of them--but felt the beast's meaty hand clasp at his shoulder and halt him from moving.
"YOU MEANY! TU ERES BIG MEANY!" he cried out. "POBRE SENORITA FRANKIE! WHAT DID SHE DO? DIOS, YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!"
The silence afterwards was twice as long as his short but infuriated outburst. Coco crouched herself on the sofa's edge, a rare instance in which she protected herself from the very being that usually cowers from the others. Karoshi looked a little taken aback... for a few seconds, and then rolled his eyes.
"Oh, never mind," Karoshi turned his back on the two imaginary friends to leave; though this time he did a double-take to ensure he wouldn't be pestered... but saw that Eduardo instead simply chose to slunk defeatedly onto the sofa, his large eyes welling with tears.
"TE ODIO!" he said, more choked than furious, and then buried his hands on his face. Coco approached the beast friend and patted him across his wide back. "Co-co, co-co..." she said comfortingly; and then turned a very venomous glare to the ape. "CO-CO!"
By the time she finished, Karoshi already left from their sight. "Whatever, Eddie."
- - -
More imaginary beings, more dirty glares. Though this time, they were less frightened and far more angered; some of them had clenched fists and carried murderous expressions, as if they were about to just snap and knock the ape out cold - and some of them really did - but they ultimately held back. His huge stature was too much for them to handle.
As usual, Karoshi just ignored all of them, and focused on where he was now: the outside yard. It's scenery wasn't the sickly vivid orchestra of colors he'd been expecting; it was in fact the exact opposite. The grass was beat flat on the soil, the terrain's once sparkling green embittered with a thick grey, with all sorts of insects infesting and feeding on the remnants. Taking a closer look, such setting actually brought upon a smile to his grizzled face.
For a few seconds. And then it happened. His woozy little mind raced to make sure otherwise, but too late. It was tied to him magnetically, with the sharp nails returning en masseto further scrape away at his core.
His self. Bleak, brooding, a glint of playfulness repressed by his thoroughly dark and grey exterior. By god, his name--
Marvin.
He wouldn't leave his mind. He wouldn't leave. The bastard was on the verge of finally escaping his thoughts; then he's reminded, again. And again, and again and again. And when it did, the bare-open wounds were aggravated, adding fresh layers to his gritted suffering.
It was a good thing the present crowd somewhat thinned while all this occured, because Karoshi now because so furious that both of his hands curled into hammy fists, and his mouth agape with vitriol. "AGH, DAMMIT, GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" He threw a left, right into the empty air--
And, just barely, pulled it back in time, before it could connect with a tall imaginary friend with scarlet stitching and a pair of strawlike eyes over his oval head.
"Karoshi!" he exclaimed, while both of his uneven arms were wound tightly behind his back. "I've been looking all around for you..."
Karoshi's mouth cracked wryly open, with hints of a wisecrack towards the fellow named Wilt(probably one pertaining to his dreadful musical taste)... but after a moment and much struggling, nothing arose. Nothing; except a very annoyed sigh. "What do you want, stalk eyes?"
"It;s about Goo," he said. "Do you know where she is?"
"I..." Karoshi stammered innocently in reaction... and then the full thunder of the question hit him. Where was Goo? He knew. Of course he knew where the girl was; he just saw her. Most likely, she was bawling her eyes in the guest room, with Mac and Bloo for company. That wasn't the matter. The matter was whether he wanted to tell that complete dork of an imaginary friend where she was. And, more importantly to him, why did he want to know?
He braced to respond with a blatantly misleading "no" - when the tall friend spoke again.
"I just got off from a very important call in Mr. Herriman's office," he said, his gaze darkening. "It's a woman named Mrs. Goodman. She claims to be Goo's mother... she says that the entire family is very concerned that Goo didn't turn up early last night as expected."
"Well then," Karoshi scoffed. "Why didn't they come here?"
"They would've were it not for the weather." Wilt said. "They said that they're now coming to pick her up."
"Oh, swell then."
Karoshi spun to dive back into the withered scenery - when he was thunderstruck again. And this time, being thunderstruck meant that a smile iron-gripped his face, so big and so wide that they seemed to almost stretch back past the considerably thick confines of his mug.
They were coming to pick her up. Yes, they. Her parents.
At last. No more Goldy, at long fucking last. No more Goldy.
Karoshi processed those magic words again: No more Goldy.
To comprehend the genuine joy surging his venomous ire would be overlong. All that needs to be said is that it took the third time of contemplating that most joyful of thoughts for him to do something that was completely uncharacteristic of him: seize the tall imaginary friend by the scruff and wrap his skinny frame across those arms for a prolonged and genuinely affectionate bearhug.
"Oh, thank you THANK YOU THANK YOUUUUU!" Karoshi was, very much literally, hopping up and down with the joy of a sugar-crazed little boy, taking a confused Wilt along with him. "FINALLY, I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THAT BLASTED LITTLE GIRL TO--"
GET OUT OF MY GODDAMN LIFE AND CRAWL BACK TO THE HELLHOLE IN WHICH SHE WAS SPAWN! howled inside him, about to burst from his ever eager lips - but just in the nick of time, he realized better. Instead, he put the friend down, straightened himself into a normal pose, and curbed his mighty grin into a faux but convincingly warm smile.
"To return to the safety of her home," he said with a chuckle. "Maaaan, have I been worried! But things seem to be under control, right?"
Wilt did not know what to do except give the blankest of nods. "...oh-kay..."
And with rather peculiar conveniency, a distant but instantly recognizable shrill rang through the foster home's wide-open entrance, reaching well into the outside yard in which the two stood.
"It's the phone again," Wilt said, turning(somewhat relievedly so) his back on the ape friend and facing the sound's direction. "I guess I'll see you later."
Karoshi did not respond to the fellow's last few words as he hurried to re-enter the house, nor did he have much of a chance to do so. And nor did he care. All he could think about was the very thing he'd been longing for, and thought he would get the moment he set foot in this place.
No more Goldy.
That thought, that very thought... it made him want to hug others affectionately, dance, kiss, celebrate as if he'd just saved mankind from an all-powerful menace. They made him want to shout, holler, weep for joy, hop around until his legs frizzled and he was left crumpling on the ground; in which afterwards he'd likely roll around with a blonde broad that wore nothing but undergarments that were as big as either of his hands rolled into a fist. Those were fantasies, of course. But to be honest, they were quite meaningless and ancillary with respect to what he'd just accomplished in reality.
NO MORE GOLDY.
Nothing could stop him now. NOTHING. All the previous bad memories and painful experiences, just waste about to be purged from him. The so-called wounds were non-existent, just figments of his imagination. And that name... oh yeah, those aforementioned six letters and two syllables which represent that particular dude. Karoshi realized that the name no longer carried a possesive effect on him. Now, he just saw it for how crappy and silly of a name it was. The Martian? Paranoid Android? Karoshi thought, leading himself into a raucous laugh. "PLEASE!"
That laugh carried him all the way to the gates which separate the famed mansion and the rest of the world. The continuing sight of the weather's destruction couldn't put a proverbial damper on his joy. Nope, not the bent gates, not the half-destroyed bus, certainly not the umbrella which lay absently on the sidewalk--
And then Karoshi suddenly became very ill.
The umbrella. Sleek, black, folded up and so tall that it would completely cover both ends of the path were it to be turned sideways. So simplistic, yet so similar. It was as if... a flash to the past...
And it happened again. Try hard as he might, it was attached to him magnetically, like sharp nails that successfully broke past the outer core--and now moved in for the kill.
His heart. Hollow, clinical, a bastion of goldenness returned to a morsel of vain hope, which further shrank into nothingness the more it remained contained in it's personal prison. By god, his name--
Marvin.
Karoshi processed those words again. They reminded him of not some cartoon alien or some depressed android, but a teenager, with a boy's innocousness yet the grayness of an elder, very close and yet so far away--
He wouldn't leave. The bastard just WOULDN'T FUCKING LEAVE. The ape was right about thing; there weren't any emotional wounds... because the whole of his emotional psyche was bare-open in seething red, allowing the scars to dig deep into the blisters, slash open the veins, poison the blood, cripple the bones, reach with five wide-open fingers containing razor-sharp spikenails towards the heart. His name--
Marvin.
By god, HIS NAME--
MARVIN.
- - -
Wilt was left more than a little uneasy by the second of two consecutive high-priority calls. A news reporter? He was very confused by this at first, but upon inquiring some of the fellow residents, he realized that news of last afternoon spread like fire across the local press. And now, they were coming to ask for further details?
That fear was confirmed wholesale when, heading through the gate area, he spotted a couple of local news vans pull up on the outside sidewalk, cameras already prepared and reporters trickling out the back with microphones handy. Even more frightening yet, was regarding that particular ape named Karoshi, whom he expected around these parts--but all he saw was the bus, the umbrella, and slight hints of footmarks across the sidewalk's wetness.
- - -
Blur. The faster he ran, the thicker it became. The buildings served a surreal circular backdrop, and the pavement before his feet melted into a rabid stream that flowed through it, up and down with no end in sight. Of course Karoshi didn't slide down it, as he was consciously aware he was still running; but he'd become so numb that it didn't make much of a difference.
He couldn't avoid it, no matter what he did. It was hopeless, he knew all too well. But he couldn't stop either. Even though he knew he was going to lose, he didn't want to. Hedidn't.
Voices. They snaked around the back of his head, a pitch perfect assault on the senses, planting memories that he'd struggled hard to forget, memories he thought he ensured would never come back. Memories that were about to come back anyway.
- - -
"Mom, how..."
"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?"
"Goldy, Karoshi, I promise you; It won't be for long. A week at best, a couple of months at worst."
"How can you do this to Marvin? He--"
"--has become too unstable and too much of a threat to himself and this household. I assure you, he is in good hands!"
"GOOD HANDS? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND? HE WILL BREAK APART THERE IN NO TIME! HE CAN'T LIVE WITH SUCH BRIGHT WHITE COLORS-"
"That's exactly what the clinic will be for. They'll help him control his violent tendencies and overcome all of those other urges of him, until he becomes a normal and calm person. Until then, he's too dangerous to reside with the rest of the world--"
"But, Mom..."
'How can you? HOW CAN YOU? HAVE YOU NOT HEARD ANY OF THE STORIES? THOSE BASTARDS WILL NOT HELP MARVIN, THEY WILL UTTERLY AND COMPLETELY ABUSE HIM UNTIL HE'S NO LONGER BREATHING! HOW CAN YOU BE SO HEARTLESS? GOD, YOU'RE SO FUCKING HEARTLESS!"
"Karoshi--watch your potty mouth, and stop being so dramatic. Quite frankly, those stories are lies. We know what we're doing, and it will be for the better. It WILL be for the better..."
- - -
His heart. Still hollow, still clinical. But the morsel of hope was no more. The prison itself was decayed, long devoured and chewed on by the earthworms.
His self. Still bleak, still brooding. But there was no hint of playfulness left. The dark and grey was now just that.
His body. The chocolate dark went grey, the grey went white, and the white poofed into nonexistence. The lips were gone, now just two uneven gaps on the jaw. He resembled a zombie... but he wasn't living, nor was he breathing.
It took a very, very long time for Karoshi to uncork himself from his cowering fetal position on the rank-smelling mound of dirt, take in an earnest breath, and stare boldly towards the source of the shadow that haunt his body. The rest of the surrounding he suddenly located himself in didn't matter. All he cared about was what lay in the front.
It was a rusty plaque inscription on the floor, which read:
Marvin K. Goodman
August 11, 1988 - November 3, 2004
Marvin K. Goodman. His name.
He was dead.
- - -
Thunder roared distantly but nonetheless noticeably up in the surrounding hills, empty except for a brief sampling of small wooden houses. Lightning soared in all it's bitter might, burning past the thick gathering of clouds and striking fear upon anybody near. After a brief period in which it was believed the sun would beam brilliantly after a harsh night, it was proved to be a fluke; Wilson Way was doomed to more of Mother Nature's gloom.
Rain. Tiny, scattered, faint at first. But they grew. Grew slowly, from novice to intermediate, like a gradual crescendo--until the orchestra reached it's peak, an army of drops which assailed the earth with nary a twinge of mercy, turning what was an already weak soil into a thick puddle of mud, with the tombstones and crosses essentially serving as flotsam.
But the water Karoshi was concerned with at the moment wasn't the rain. It was something else entirely, from a different source: not from the heaven's epic scope, but from the aftermath of his shattered core. No matter how much they pounded at his sizeable frame and beat even the longest specks of his fur hair onto skin level, they couldn't dim the scathe of the lines that strolled down his face, sheltered only by the collective set of ten fingers, clasping tightly to one another and pressing onto it.
He was crying.
And more than that--
He felt guilt.
"Why..."
Karoshi did not know how much time had elapsed, nor did he care about how more he would allow to pass. All he knew was that he sat on a nearby pillar - just as barely able to rise above the puddle as it was to support the size of his rear - weeping copiously into the negligible comfort of his two hands. All he cared about was the traumatic past, the broken present--the nonexistent future.
Goldy. Not Gail Goodman, not Goo Goo Gaga; to him, it was simply Goldy. But that didn't really matter now. All of these names led his train of thought to the same focus of attention... the little girl who gave him birth through the power of imagination; her original imaginary friend...
He loved her. That was all there was to it. He loved her, with equally the sincerity of the spring breeze and the ferocity of a thousand suns. All of these things he did, from his very conception, for good or ill--he did it for her. He did those things with her in mind. He wanted to craft a better future for him and her, especially after the untimely death of Marvin.
Oh, yeah: Marvin. Eldest son of the Goodman family, big brother of Goldy, his own surrogate brother by default... he loved him too. There would be no use denying it now. He only wanted to live a good life with both of them. He didn't want it to end like this. He didn't want Marvin to die, or Goldy's friendship to fall apart, or for him to be sent to some nuthouse for imaginary friends, and thus--
Karoshi recalled those words; vaguely distant yet painfully fresh.
Somebody else we used to know.
A chill ran up and down Karoshi's spine. But he didn't think of Marvin.
This time, he thought of a redhead girl.
Frankie.
Karoshi shut his eyes - or rather clamped them down even harder, as they were already closed - struggling to develop a coherent image of her. Bleeding reds and light greens were all that appeared in front of him, but slowly the fogginess receeded at the same time it began to take shape. As they did so, he contemplated what Goldy last told him. Had a breakdown? Slapped that old granny lady, docked that jackass of a rabbit? Singled out Goldy for personal insult? Even now, such things seemed to be simply ridiculous, and he wasn't in a position to--
And then the image of the girl finished forming.
He saw it. Not a lazy blur, but as clear as light and yet bleak as the dark. Obviously, it was just a thought and not actually happening; but he endured the pain, saw the horror, sniffed the tension, heard the screams. He felt everything.
Somebody else we used to know.
That second chill was reckoning time. The time, that at last, with a taste of deep sorrow and bitterness, he realized... Goldy was right.
That girl, that poor girl... no; poor both of them. Girl and boy. Marvin... and Frankie. They...
SNAP.
SPLAT.
Mud spread all around Karoshi, filling his sight with brown and literally engulfing the cusp of his eyeballs in it's thick moistness--drilling him with pain on every tip of his body, like a needle entering an ear and going all the way until exiting through the underside of the index toenail. And his body was weak, though not completely so, as he still had enough energy in both of his arms. He fell, suddenly and harshly. He could just pull himself up this instant, and rise back to his feet.
But he didn't. Both arms just wallowed deep in the mud, along with the rest of his body. He didn't pull himself up because he did not deserve to.
So, Karoshi would simply lay there. The deep layers of brown overtook the multicolor tinges of his fur, his arms eventually lost all strength,the mud became firmly engraved onto his eyes--and then began to seep deeper inside. All the while, he felt his body shrink and his breathing stall... and then lost all sense; everything faded to an absolute black...
- - -
Karoshi...
A voice. Whose it was, what kind, even what tone, he didn't knew. All he knew that it was his own name, and that somebody called for him.
Karoshi...
The ape arose, eyes still held shut. He budged his body slowly, expecting to sense the might of his makeshift burial--but it was nowhere to be seen. The mud was gone. His body was set loose, free of everything except gravity itself... in this case, an oddly comforting bed which actually seemed suited to his massive frame.
Karoshi...
And his eyes opened. His first surprise was that they were no longer steeped in the brown, and that the pain which overtook him was gone. In fact, his suffering hadn't simply left; he felt as good as new; as if he could hop up and down all day and still remain at his physical peak.
Which led to his second, far more substantial surprise: he was no longer in the cementary.
Instead, he was in some medium-sized room, unknown and familiar at the same time. Unknown, because he obviously hadn't been here before. He could tell that it was an infirmary of sorts; but it lacked the clinical, stark whites of general hospitals. It gleamed with colorfulness, though in a way that indicated this was more of an unique place than a pediatrician's place.
Familiar, because the features and setting narrowed the possibilities in his mind to one: Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends.
He was so wrapped up into the surroundings, that it was an utter surprise when he learnt the identity of the very voice that spoke his name: a young redhead woman wearing an emerald hoody and purple skirt.
"Hey, Karoshi," she spoke, not with rage or bitterness; but with a kind smile. "How are you doing?"
- - -
A/N - Just a reminder; since Karoshi is Goo's imaginary friend, this technically does NOT contradict my statement that this story is told from Goo's perspective. The final scene takes place some days later--which means it's chronologically after Precious, and thus Frankie's back at the house by then.