Banshee

 The soft cushions of the leather couch cradled Kim's sweaty body. Her vision was fuzzy and dark, like looking through smudged sunglasses. She blinked rapidly, hoping to remedy her skewed sight.

Then she heard voices: male and female.

"Yes, I did call 911."

"She needs to get better mascara."

"There's no way that was mascara."

Kim recognized those voices. She must be on the couch in her office. But why?

"Well, what could it have been?"

"Never heard anyone scream like that before."

"I know! It was unnatural."

"She must have had some kind of seizure."

"Yeah, it seemed her dog sensed it was going to happen."

"Oh, definitely."

"Don't worry, Kim, I'll take care of Groot while you're at the hospital."

###

"You won't believe this, but I had my first hot flash last night. It was so disgusting!" Kim wasn't sure if that was TMI. But she was the broker and founder of this real estate firm, so she had the right to say whatever in the hell she wanted. However, she did find it uncomfortable to talk about. She just couldn't stop thinking about last night's sweat fest.

"When did you have your last period?" Shelly asked.

Kim scanned the faces of the 12-member team of real estate agents gathered at the conference table. Mostly men. Men didn't want to talk about this crap. Kim had never felt comfortable talking about female plumbing issues either. And this was not the time nor the place nor the company to speak of such things. She shouldn't have started this conversation.

Just not thinking clearly today.

Moving on. "Jeffery, you have a new listing?"

Subject changed.

###

Every day was "bring your dog to work" day. Kim brought Groot, a two-year-old male wheaten terrier. Other team members brought their dogs as well, and all the canines got along.

During the Monday meeting, Groot lay in his bed behind Kim's chair at the head of the table.

Suddenly, he started whining—high-pitched and annoying.

All conversation stopped.

Groot went to Kim and pawed at her lap, still whining.

She rubbed his head. "What is it? What's—"

Kim sucked in a loud breath, stood straight up as if her spine had instantly become a metal rod. Then she started a low, guttural growl. She began to drool...long strands of saliva slinking from the corners of her mouth. People gasped.

Kim faced the table, placed her hands on it, and crawled on top. She sat on her heels, stretched her torso and arms forward, and pointed at Jeffery, who was seated at the other end of the table. Her index fingers were side by side.

Lips parted, teeth gnashing; Kim let out a shriek that had the agents covering their ears. Thick, black tears oozed from her eyes, made mad streaks down her ruddy cheeks, and dribbled onto the table like globs of old motor oil.

All the dogs in the building barked.

Most of the agents sped from the room.

Jeffery plastered himself against the wall behind his seat and stared at Kim, his eyes and mouth wide open.

The shriek lasted for at least 60 seconds.

Kim collapsed onto the table.

###

At the hospital, Kim was informed that her scans were clear. The results from the cultures of the tears would take a few days to come back. The doctor had no answers for her regarding the shriek.

She stayed overnight and then went home at 10:25 a.m.

Kim had just put on pajamas and was ready to relax when she received a phone call from Shelly, one that put her in a fetal position.

###

Heading south on I-85 in his very expensive, high-performance BMW, Jeffery was breaking the speed limit—10 miles over. It was no big deal, but it was raining.

He was in the fast lane. As always. He rarely got to drive his car the way he wanted. It could go from 0-60 in under three seconds.

Jeffery eyed the long stretch of asphalt ahead of him and listened to Hush by Deep Purple as loud as the car's sound system would allow. He was about to gun it when he saw a sedan slide from the northbound lane, coast through the grassy median, and head straight for him.

"Shit!" Jeffery stepped on the gas.

The sliding car missed him but wrecked into the truck behind him.

Looking in his rearview mirror at the carnage of the colliding metal and glass, Jeffery yelled, "Holy hell."

That's when he started to lose control of his vehicle, zig-zagging, the road water washing up onto his windows from the right and the left. And then everything in Jeffery's world stopped.

###

At home, Kim sat on her sofa, weeping. Her father sat beside her, hugging her shoulders.

"I can't believe this."

"I know," said Marcus. Then he let out a hefty sigh. "I have something to tell you."

"What?"

"It's about your mother."

Kim scowled at her father. They never talked about her mother.

"It's about her death."

"You want to talk about that now?"

"Yes, it relates to all you're going through."

"What? How?"

Marcus covered his eyes with his hand. "How do I put this...? Your mother suffered from the same...affliction you're suffering from now." He looked directly at her. "The shriek. The black tears. You're what is known as a Banshee."

Kim stared at him as if he had grown another head. "That's not funny, Dad."

"I'm totally serious. Banshees shriek at people who are about to die. It's why your mother killed herself."

She took a good, long look at his aged, hard-lined face. He wasn't lying. She should be mad that he hadn't told her this long ago. She wasn't. Couldn't be. She was too numb and too tired to feel anger toward him.

"Be prepared. People at work will stare at you; they'll talk about you, wonder things about you, even be afraid of you."

"Is that what happened to mom?"

"Yes."

She began to cry again.

"I'm so sorry, honey."

After 10 minutes of weeping, Kim drank the hot tea her father had made. Groot went to her and sat beside her on the couch, which reminded her...

"Dad, Groot whined at me just before it happened."

"Yeah, nearby animals can sense the episodes before they happen. Don't know why. I've done a lot of research but haven't determined why that happens."

"What all have you discovered in your research?"

"Well, that only women are Banshees, that it starts at menopause, that you'll be a Banshee until you die."

"Fantastic. Didn't you know this was going to happen to me?"

"We hoped it wouldn't. Your mother's mother said it might skip a generation."

"Hey, well guess what..." She sipped her tea. "You should have warned me."

"I'm so very sorry." Marcus kissed his daughter's forehead. "But seriously, what good would that have done?"

Kim thought about that. Her only response to his question was a shrug.

###

Kim stood in the bathroom, blowing her nose. Her father had left a few minutes ago. She was still struggling to process all he had told her, and she was seriously thinking of retiring to avoid everyone at work. She could do it.

Then there was Jeffery to think about...his funeral. Dammit. This was all too much.

She had worked so hard to get to where she was in life. A multi-millionaire at age 30. One of the premier real estate brokers in Greenville, South Carolina. Now she was...what? Some kind of supernatural being? Seriously?

She had so many things she still wanted to do with her career, her personal life, and perhaps with Jeffery.

Had her mother experienced similar disappointments?

Kim began to cry again.

But then...

Groot came into the bathroom and started whining. That high-pitched, annoying whine. And he pawed at her.

"What the hell?"

Kim looked at herself in the mirror—big eyes, gritted teeth...drooling.

Then, the clear tears became thick and black.

She pointed at herself. "I wasn't expecting that."

And then...the shriek.