Conversation · Empathy

"I can respect that."

"Who are you kidding, kid? You can't take down a man several times your size. You'll end up dead yourself."

"You made a big fucking mistake there." He steps back, breathing heavily. "A huge mistake. Say goodbye to all the shit Cuno would've hooked you up with. You and Cuno are done."

"Professionally."

"Told you, you shouldn't deal with that f****t." The little one behind the fence sounds relieved. Light as air suddenly. "He's fucking nothing."

She won.

[Leave.]

"About that shooting... I didn't mean to... It was only a warning shot."

"You need backup. I'm here for you."

"Okay, kid."

"No it's not okay." He points to his eyes, then yours. "C is Cuno's go-to, Cuno's protecting her. You fuck with C, you fuck with Cuno. You threaten her, you threaten to take her away..."

"You said she's... insane?"

"Yeah, she's psycho." He leans in even closer. "None of that kiddy-psycho, cat-burning shit -- she does the real deal."

"Whoa..."

"Yeah." He watches it sink in.

"What's the real deal?"

"Snuff radio shit... Believe me, pig, you don't wanna know."

Like the private radio stations Noid mentioned?

He doesn't want to think about it. It isn't just another boast.

And he doesn't want to even think about it. This isn't just another boast.

"Let's leave it at that."

"Yeah -- let's."

"Is she your sister?"

"Fuck no, she's not my sister. She's just a stray who got in. Like a mad dog or some shit."

"Stray?"

"Yeah, she was just there." He points at the apartment building behind the fence.

"What was that, Cuno?" The little one twists her neck, looking at the building.

"She was in the hallway, dripping wet." Cuno flinches, then lowers his voice even more. "By the fucking shoe rack. In the dark."

A shoe cupboard just off to the right? Have you been to this place?

"Why was she dripping wet?"

"Cuno's got no fucking idea. Her hair was all wet. I think she pissed on the floor too. She was there for three days -- in the corner. Every time Cuno went out."

You know this. The body goes into a kind of revulsion shock. Murder hangover. That's what it could've been.

I don't want to know this.

I know you don't. But the thought still comes -- she was hibernating after doing it. Takes a moment to shake it out of your head...

(Return to the conversation.) "You said she got in? How?"

"I don't know..." He looks at you suspiciously as you come out of your thoughts. "Someone left the door open. Cuno comes home, she's sleeping under the desk, under a pile of clothes. Like a dog."

Someone left the door open? It was him. By accident or...

...on purpose.

"What about your parents?"

"Cuno's dad doesn't give a shit. Doesn't even see her there. Or thinks it's fucking Cuno..." He points at himself. "Shit's all on Cuno."

Cuno? Cunoesse? Two of a kind.

Murder hangover? From when she...

...killed a kid, yes. Makes them look for a quiet, dark place and just hibernate there. Usually goes on for a few days up to a week.

Must have been her first one. You only get it on the first one.

"You said she got in? How?"

"I don't know... someone left the door open. Cuno comes home and she's sleeping under the desk, under a pile of clothes. Like a dog."

"That hallway there, with the janitor's closet?" (Point.)

"Yeah that's the place. She was just balled up near the closet. Psycho-style."

"You think she has anything to do with the dead man?"

"Cuno wasn't around. And C was with Cuno. Told you this already."

"Where were you?"

"Look, Cuno's gonna put you at ease. We didn't do it."

He speaks the truth, my liege.

"Yeah, she would've liked to fuck him up. But she didn't. Cuno wasn't around. And C was with Cuno."

"Why's she called Cunoesse then?"

"Cos' she fucking looks like Cuno."

"You don't know her name?"

"No one knows her name. Cuno calls her C."

"What's that language she uses -- napakymppi, fägäri?"

"Fuck knows -- she says it's the song of her people or some shit."