I cut hard to the left toward Fort Tyron Park when I see it ahead, and she crashes forward – not anticipating the turn – into a huge streetlight and two trees. Her impact sends the streetlight and trees crashing toward the street. She stands up on the sidewalk and brushes herself off casually and I see that everything’s falling toward a passenger bus. I change direction, maintaining my speed and jump straight at the falling light and trees, knocking them awkwardly past the bus and safely onto the street behind it. I crash to the ground on the other side of the bus, rolling to try to absorb the impact. The bus continues past us both, braking to a halt a few dozen yards down the street, and I hear people on the bus screaming and crying, mostly in what sounds like fear and relief. Kneeling in the street, catching my breath, and trying to get my bearings, I see her blonde head looking back and forth between the streetlight and trees, the bus, and me, as if trying to assemble a giant puzzle. Her light blue eyes narrow and her mouth curls up into a sinister smile. A sound like a child’s laugh escapes from her throat and I realize that though I couldn’t have done anything differently, I’ve made a horrible mistake. She lifts off the ground effortlessly and flies over to the bus, and then, her eyes locked on mine the whole time, she plunges her hand through one of the glass windows, grabs a passenger by the neck and hurls him out of the bus and up into the air. She does it over and over again until there are at least half a dozen passengers in the air falling towards the street.
•
I grab the first neck I find and fling it cavalierly into the air. I do it again and again and again. I’m not sure how many times. When I look up I see Bonnie running and jumping into the air, catching people like little carnival prizes and setting them down as gently as possible onto the street. I’m laughing so hard my cheeks hurt. But before I can reach for another passenger, she’s launched herself at me and forced us back over another stone wall and into another park. Her shoulder in my gut knocks the wind out of me momentarily. When I open my eyes we’re both on the ground catching our breath. It’s funny to realize that my endurance is kind of crap since I never have to make this much effort. I’m about to reach out and break her stupid arm when she swings her right fist at me and the punch sends me into the stone wall. I find myself partially-imbedded in the stone and with a broken jaw. I take a minute to focus my energy on healing my jaw, which proves to be a mistake, as she’s in front of me before I can extricate myself from the wall.
“Who are you?” she asks coldly. I decide not to answer her questions while stuck in a wall and instead try to kick her away. She jumps backward, narrowly avoiding my kick. I lift myself out of the rock, but as I step forward she’s in my face again. She reaches out and grabs me by the neck, lifting me off the ground. This is totally insulting. I’m pissed, and annoyed to admit that though I’m sure I’m stronger and faster than she is, she’s still giving me a run for my money. I claw at her fingers, digging into the bone. She doesn’t flinch.
“Why would you do that?” she asks, true confusion and horror in her voice. I assume she’s talking about throwing the passengers around. My jaw is almost healed, I think I can probably speak, but I talk into her head anyway as it scares the shit out of her.
<Why not, Bonnie?>
“Why are you doing this?” she asks again, tightening her grip on my throat. And just then I see her eye catch on the stone around my neck again. I recognize the look in her eye; it looks like how I felt when I first found it. She thinks it belongs to her the same way I know it belongs to me. She’s almost hypnotized by it and I take the moment to thrust my palm into her arm that’s holding me up, right where it’s locked at the elbow. There’s a satisfying snapping sound as she screams out and I drop about a foot to the ground as she releases me. The fear in her eyes is palpable as she holds her arm and tries to figure out how to finish this fight with a broken right arm. I touch my neck and clear my throat in a ladylike way that I think Liz would appreciate.
“I’m doing this because I can,” I say simply.
°
Lola stands over me, reveling in her victory. She leans in and picks me up by the neck, the way I had picked her up mere moments ago, showing me how quickly the tables can turn. I have this strange feeling that it’s a lesson I’m not going to have a chance to remember. She stares at me for a moment and, looking into her eyes is like looking into an abyss that I can’t understand. I’ll never be able to reason with her, never be able to understand her.