Full Circle

"Hey, pretty girl, can I offer you and your buddy there some coffee? C'mon, Matt, Hilarious House of Frightenstein is on, it's the one where Professor Julius Sumner-Miller demonstrates the Bernoulli Effect."

Matt peeled open one eye as Brendan brought in some sort of crazy hash pipe and offered the waking couple a hit, as a celebration of the chinook that had crept in overnight, raising the temperature to above the freezing mark in only a few hours.

"No, thanks, guys, I think that we're just going to head over to my place for a bit before Olivia has to take off."

Sophie and Brendan knew that whatever time that Matt had to spend with Olivia was probably short, so they kissed her sweetly goodbye and told her that they hoped to see her again soon. By the time Matt and Olivia were leaving, their hosts were again fucking themselves senseless, laughing like little kids as they did.........

Olivia held Matt's arm as they walked out onto the street, the air calm and above zero, the fury of the wind that would howl in from the Rockies stii a couple of hours away. She drew closer to him, thinking of nothing but the moment at hand.

"Hey, there's a Nellie's over in Kensington if you want to grab some breakfast," Matt offered, as if this was just another beautiful morning.

"I thought Nellie's was down on Seventeenth."

"It is, they opened another one over here a few years ago."

They walked arm in arm down the street and across the river as if they had always been together, and ate breakfast across from each other and bantered back and forth as if they always would. They then walked over to Matt's little house and made slow, languid love to each other until it was time for Olivia to catch her cab.

"Mrs. McClaren left the apartment building this morning at just after eight this morning, Reverend. She was with a man............."

Olivia walked into Bryce's study that night, to tell him that she was leaving. Bryce's face appeared as she had never seen it. Before she could say a word, he stood and held out an envelope.

"I know that you were with another man last night." His face was unshaven, he somehow looked like he would have if he had never met her; unkempt, nebbish, and, much older.

"One of you spies, Bryce? Is that how you know?"

"Yes!", he spat out, being caught off guard by her reply. He handed her the envelope. She knew far too much about the inconsistencies of The McClaren Ministries, the creative book keeping, the offshore bank accounts, the faked New Orleans footage, she was a liability to the way of life he had grown accustomed to.

"Get the hell out of here. Go back west and take that with you, harlot. Consider it as payment for your services. It should be enough to keep your mouth shut, and you out of my life. My lawyer will be notified tomorrow morning. The press release will state that you are on sabbatical in Equador."

Olivia took the envelope without saying a word, turned and walked out of the room, and their home, for the final time. The whole time, Bryce reminded her in a pathetic, third rate Elmer Gantry rant of the hellfire awaiting her......

Olivia had no idea that the fiery fate Bryce had foretold would come so quickly. The heat and searing fumes beat against her flesh, drawing the breath from her lungs as red hot fragments of burning metal and ash rained onto the steaming ground before her. A dark, leather gloved hand took her by the arm, gripping her hard and pulling her back.

"Hey, pretty girl, don't get too close to that thing! That shit'll burn a hole right through you if you arent careful!" Olivia turned and smiled at Sophie. It would be kind of tough to explain to Matt that she had burned herself after promising to be careful. But there was something about seeing metal actually being poured, seeing someone mastering it's ultimate form that she found.............intoxicating.