Phosgene

My Parents are screaming at each other again.

“Whatever you say about me Lucifer, I am The Good One! You will not take that away from me!”
“Of course you are,” my father replies sarcastically. “You probably think the white side of the chess board is the good side, too, just because its white. You’re stupid, Faith. You always overlook the obvious. Maybe there is no good one and no bad side, that there are no fucking sides.”
“There are always sides. We all make choices. You are choosing to abuse me.”
“You know what I hate about you? The fact that you make me look like a douche-bag because you don’t get my sarcasm so I have to make my disdain for you obvious. It does nothing for my PR. You make me look like a cunt…”

I walk into the room. The two of them both jump.
“Hey, Phos,” Lucifer says, almost softly.
“Why are you fighting?” I ask.
“I’m trying to convince your mother not to abandon you.”
Lucifer looks me in the eye. He calls his eyes “hazel”, but in reality, they change with the light. In the light of the setting sun, they look almost red for a second, before going back to their usual muddy green.
I try to look at Faith, but she has her head cast towards the floor. I change the subject. So I look East, and see the full moon rising, like a shiny gold coin flicked high into the sky.
“Have you seen the moon?”
Faith looks up and smiles. “Can you see the man on the moon?”
I gaze up at the full moon face. I can’t see a man, but the craters look rather like a rabbit.

Lucifer scoffs, and then starts singing.
“Faithie, did you hear about this one? Tell me, are we locked in a punch? Faithie, are you goofing on Phosgene, hey baby, are we losing touch?”
I can’t help it. I start singing too.
“If you-BE-LEE-EEVED, they put a MAN on the MOON, MAN on the MOO-OON!!! If you Be-LEE-EEVED, there’s nothing up his sleeve, then NUH-THEENG is COOOOL!!!”
My Dad shoots me a devilish look. I give him one back. Dimly, in the corner of my vision, I see Faith walk out and disappear into the darkness.

I try to run after her, but she has gone.

“You get it, right Phos?” Lucifer whispers in my ear.
“Please tell me you get it, otherwise I’ll have to teach you another lesson. Your mother is the weakest link in all this and we are all only as strong as the weakest link. And that means you need to find a way to get her back…If you or any of us want to survive this!”