by Kallie Frost
He wiped his hands on a dishtowel and came forward, holding one out. “Elliott Branson,” he said.
“Rion Silvanus. Nice to meet you.”
His hand was warm in mine and his grip was firm. I was almost sorry when he let go and quickly reminded myself that he was human, and it was absolutely ridiculous to have a crush on him at all, never mind almost immediately.
He scratched the base of his neck, making me aware that I was currently rubbing my own neck, just above my collar bone. It must've been sore from the long car ride.
“Are you hungry?” he asked. “I always make too much.”
As a matter of fact, I was hungry. “If you don't mind,” I said. “I'd love some.”
“Well, we are roommates. We’ll get off to a good start.”
We shared a smile, and I decided that maybe rooming with a human wouldn't be so bad after all.
Chapter Two
Elliott
The first week with my new roommate seemed like paradise. I couldn't say I ever had a nightmare roommate, although I had some that I certainly didn't keep in touch with anymore. And I had good ones too. Great ones, in fact. But, something about Rion immediately put him above and beyond all of the others.
It was almost as if every day we discovered something else we had in common. I'd walk into our shared living room and he’d be watching my favorite show on TV. He came in one morning and caught me reading a book from his favorite series. Everything I offered to cook was something he enjoyed eating. And conversations with him just seemed so easy. We never ran out of things to talk about, and if we weren’t talking I felt a strange sense of peace just sitting and enjoying his company.
Sometimes, I felt more content just sitting on opposite sides of the couch, watching TV, than I had with my last boyfriend. Up until we broke up I was absolutely, madly in love with him, yet the sense of peace I felt around my new roommate was almost more powerful than anything with anyone before.
That was why I didn't feel at all uncomfortable inviting him to take a look at the meteor shower. We hadn’t talked about it at all, but I just had the strangest feeling that if I knocked on his bedroom door and woke him up in the middle of the night he wouldn't care at all.
But when I knocked on his door there was no answer. Earlier in the day he told me he was going to be out late and not to wait up, but I was sure he would've been back by now. In spite of how well we got along I knew that opening the door to his room would probably be a bit of a breach of roommate trust, but I also had a strange sense that something was wrong. I also felt absolutely certain he wasn’t here.
I decided to go for it and pushed open the door. “Rion?” I poked my head inside, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness. The light of the full moon coming in through his window was more than bright enough to see that he wasn't there. He hadn't come home yet. I felt a nervous knot twisting my stomach and another wave of unease passed over me, but I reminded myself he said he’d be late. And even though one in the morning seemed unusually late to me, I also had only known him for a week. For all I knew evenings like this were common.
I closed the door again and headed outside to watch the meteor shower by myself. I saw a couple of good ones, but the bright full moon did not create the best conditions for sky watching. Yawning, I went back into the apartment and settled onto the couch, determined to wait up until Rion was home.
When I awoke, sunlight was streaming in through the windows. It was morning. In fact, it was after ten. I turned off the TV, and tried to work out an annoying knot that felt like it was behind my collarbone. It had been bothering me for a while, but sleeping on the couch made it worse. One of my exes always complained of a tight neck when he was stressed out and the discomfort reminded me of his complaints, but I didn’t think I had much to stress over in my life.
I was almost disappointed by the fact that Rion had come home without doing something like covering me with the blanket that was still draped over the back of the couch, or turning off the TV. Or even waking me up to let me know he was home and telling me to go to my bed. Laughing at myself, I walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. It's not like he was my boyfriend or anything. He was just a roommate. Just some guy the internet paired me up with, that I had only known for a week. It would have been weird, I told myself, for him to cover me up or anything borderline romantic like that.
Somewhere between my glass of water and halfway through my bowl of cereal, I realized that the apartment looked exactly the same. The shoes that I had become accustomed to Rion kicking off were still missing from by the door. The door to his room was still shut and looking at it gave me a strange, ominous feeling. He wasn't home. I just knew it. I rubbed again at my neck. It almost seemed like the more I worried about Rion, the more painful it got. Maybe it was stress.
Even though we exchanged numbers we hadn't had a reason to contact each other yet. I figured this was as good a time as any. I pulled out my phone and scrolled to his name. It started ringing. And ringing. And ringing. The base of my neck almost seemed to throb in time with each unanswered ring.
“Hello. You've reached Rion Silvanus. Leave a –”
I hung up and slumped back onto my couch. No answer. I tried to tell myself that I was being ridiculous. He was fine. For all I knew he spent the night with a guy. Or more likely a girl. In spite of the feelings I was fighting, I had no idea whether or not he was even gay.
It was nearly eleven and I was going insane, torn between wondering where he was and trying to convince myself that I was just being paranoid, when Rion returned.
I jumped up off of the couch at the sound of the key in the door and spun to greet him. My words died in my throat. Something had been wrong, he was hurt. There were scratches on his face, fresh and raw. He limped into the apartment and closed the door behind him. I could tell from the slow way he moved and the crease in his eyebrows that he was in pain.
“Rion?” I took a step toward him, unsure of what to say. “Are you okay?” I asked, even though it was obvious he wasn't.
“Yeah,” he said. It was only one word, but I could hear the weariness in his hoarse voice. His eyes met mine. They seemed dim somehow, dull. He looked utterly exhausted.
“What happened?” I took another step and raised my arms slightly, almost as if I expected him to collapse.
He raised an arm to rub his neck and I saw more cuts. Some were more scratches, but others were puncture wounds. Almost like bite marks.
He opened his mouth and closed it again, with a frown, as if he was trying to figure out what to say to me. His eyes caught mine again and seemed to follow my gaze to his arm. He jerked it down and held it partially behind himself, hiding it.
“I was…” He swallowed hard and forced out a pathetic laugh. “I got attacked by a stray dog,” he said.
“Oh my God,” I gasped. “Have you seen a doctor?”
“Of course. I spent the night in the hospital.”
“Did you get any sleep?” I asked.
“No, I figure I'll do that now.” Moving slowly, Rion pulled off his shoes and limped across the room. He went into the kitchen and I watched as he fixed himself a bowl of cereal. He ate voraciously, before unsteadily rising to his feet. “Right,” he said wearily. “I'm gonna take a nap.”
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
“No.” He shot me a weak, but grateful smile. “Thanks.”
If anything, I was even more on edge while he napped. I kept feeling like there should have been something I could have done, even though I knew there wasn't. I hadn't even known where he was, let alone know how I could possibly have protected him from a stray dog.
I was wondering whether or not to make dinner when he finally emerged from his room. “How are you feeling? Can I get dinner for you?”
“That would be great,” Rion said. He sat down on the couch, looking significantly better than he did this morning.
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Better. The
sleep really helped. Sorry if I worried you.”
“No,” I said, trying to be casual. “No worries. I mean, I was worried of course… Um…”
Rion shot me his usual, amazing smile. “I'm okay, no need to worry. What did you do yesterday?”
“Well,” I admitted, “I kind of stayed up to wait for you, even though you said not to…” He winced and I regretted saying something. “And I watched the meteor shower. Did you get to see it at all, before you were attacked?”
“No. I didn't know there was one.”
“It wasn't great,” I said. “The full moon made the sky too bright for the meteors to really show up. Hey, I hope you weren't attacked by a werewolf,” I joked. For just an instant, I swear he looked alarmed. “I'm kidding!”
Rion laughed, but something about his expression still looked uneasy. “I know,” he said. “There’s no such thing as werewolves,” he added with a chuckle.
I laughed too, but couldn’t help noticing that he still had a strange look on his face.
He went to bed shortly after dinner, looking pretty tired. I went to bed early too, but had trouble falling asleep. I kept wondering what had happened. Where had the dog been? How much had it actually hurt him? Then, my neck felt so stiff I couldn’t get comfortable for what felt like hours.
~~~***~~~
One Month Later
I got home from work early and found Rion getting ready to hurry out the door. He was trying to pull on a jacket with one hand, while holding a half-eaten sandwich in the other.
“You’re home early.” His look of surprise turned almost into a glare as he stared at me.
“Yeah. They didn’t need all of us. Where are you off to in such a hurry?” I asked.
“Got a… thing,” he said, struggling to put on his jacket.
“A thing?”
“Yeah, sorry, I'm running late. Gotta get there before sun… Anyway, don't wait up. It'll be a late night.” He successfully pulled the jacket on and started out the door. He turned back, looking a bit frazzled. “In fact, I probably won't be back at all. I'll see you in the morning.”
“Okay,” I said uncertainly. “Have a good time?”
“Sure,” he said. With that, he turned and rushed down the hall.
I closed the front door slowly, listening to him clatter down the stairs of the building.
After over a month of living together, I thought we had settled into our routines. This was quite unlike him. He was usually calm, collected, and never seemed to be in a hurry for anything. It made him quite refreshing and relaxing to be around. He also never went anywhere so late at night. He often got home from class after me, but never went back out again. In fact, I didn't think he had ever left overnight like this.
No… That wasn't right. He had gone out late last month, the night he was attacked by the wild dog. I kicked off my shoes and took off my own coat, thinking about that awful night, or rather the following morning.
The next day it had been as if the attack never happened. He got up at his usual time for breakfast and the injuries from the dog were old faded scars. I couldn't believe how quickly he recovered. He told me he was a fast healer, but the day after that the scars were completely gone. I had never seen anything like it. It was almost as if it had all been a dream.
The month since had been blissful. I wasn't sure why we hit it off so well as roommates, but it seemed like it was only getting better. I was thinking about it, when I walked by the window and caught sight of the moon just rising in the darkening sky. I stopped in my tracks and stared at it. It looked full… Just out of curiosity, I pulled out my phone and checked my calendar to see whether or not it was actually full tonight. It was.
What an odd coincidence, that Rion would spend the night away from the apartment again on the full moon.
I busied myself getting dinner ready, and didn't really take the time to think about it again. Even though he told me not to bother waiting up, I watched TV and put off going to bed until it was quite late at night. I had a strange unsettling feeling in my stomach at his absence. By the time I finally went to bed my neck was killing me.
I actually went to the doctor for the strange soreness that had developed in the base of my neck, but he was unable to find any cause of it. We discussed stress and ways to reduce it, and I ended up buying a fancy new pillow, but nothing seemed to help.
Wondering just exactly what Rion was up to, I got into bed. I tossed and turned for a while, trying to ease the stiffness in my neck and the anxiety caused by Rion's absence. I tried to convince myself that one, at least, was all in my head.
I was still worried about him when I woke up the next morning and confirmed that he had indeed spent the night away from the apartment. I halfheartedly went about my morning routine, wondering if he would be back early or if I would spend most of the day without him. Shortly before lunchtime, Rion returned. Much to my horror, he was injured again!
“Rion! What happened?”
“Just um… I was…” he stammered. He started to slip off his jacket, but then pulled it on and zipped it up. For a moment I thought that he was going to go back out, but instead he came further into the apartment. “It was a long night, I think I'll take a nap.”
“Do you want lunch?” I asked. “I haven't started yet, but whatever I find I can make extra for you.”
“No, don't worry about it. I'm not sure how long I'll be sleeping.”
He made his way across the apartment toward his room. He seemed a little unsteady on his feet, and I was sure he was trying to hide the fact he was limping. Just like last month, he was moving slowly as if he was in pain. I wanted to say more, maybe press the issue of his apparent injuries, but I still wasn't sure what to say, and he got into his room before I could make up my mind.
I leaned back against the counter, staring at his closed bedroom door in concern. How on earth had he been hurt again? The scratches on his face and neck looked exactly like they had last month.
It was almost dinner time and he still hadn't come out of his room. I knocked, intending to offer to get him something for dinner, but he didn't answer. I opened the door, hoping he'd forgive the intrusion. He was sprawled on his bed in just boxers.
I completely forgot whatever I was about to say as I took in the sight of him. I wasn't sure that sexy was a strong enough word. He was more muscular than I would have imagined, and every inch of him looked perfect. I wanted to go in and run my hands over his skin, certain that it must've felt as silk smooth as it looked.
And then I saw the scars.
Just like his face and neck, he was covered in scratches and bite marks. At least it looked like scratches and bite marks. If I had known any better, I would think it was the injuries from the wild dog. But, that happened a month ago and I knew for a fact that the injuries on his arms and face had healed. All of these wounds were new. Fresh. It was as if he'd been attacked again.
And almost more puzzling than the origin of the injuries, was the fact that it happened again after he already knew that he'd be spending the night away. Where was he going that this was happening to him? And why was he lying about it?
I eased the door shut, knowing that there was no way he would have wanted me to see the injuries. That was probably why he hadn't taken his jacket off in front of me either. I turned around and leaned my back against his door for support. I couldn't decide if I was more upset about the fact he was hurt again or the mysterious circumstances that seemed to be surrounding it.
As I stood there I had a perfect view out of the window across the apartment. The full moon was visible in the sky again. Well, the just recently full moon. I frowned. The sight made me remember my werewolf joke from last month and his reaction. Suddenly, it didn't seem quite as far-fetched.
I slowly made my way back to the kitchen, tumbling it all over in my head. There was no such thing as werewolves, of course, and yet my roommate had injuries that looked like they were from an animal, twice in a row on the full moon. And he
was hiding them from me, if not lying about them.
By the time he emerged for dinner, looking quite a bit better than he had beforehand, I had done my best to dismiss the crazy idea in my head. Whatever the cause of Rion's injuries was, it obviously wasn't a werewolf. And I doubted that it had been a dog the second time around. Although I couldn't quite kick the idea that he had lied to me the first month and it wasn’t a dog at all…
“Feeling better?” I asked.
“Much, sorry for being a bit abrupt earlier. I really wasn't feeling well.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“I fell,” he said simply.
“Fell?”
“Yeah, into some pretty nasty bushes.” He smiled at me. “I'm okay though.”
I tried to smile back, but my head was spinning. Falling into some prickly bushes would explain his hands and face, but that was only because he didn't know I had seen the rest of him. No leaf had pierced through his jeans and scratched as deeply into his legs as some of those wounds appeared to be. Leaves wouldn’t make the puncture marks that I had seen in his arms.
He was lying to me!
But why?
~~~*~~~
One Month Later
I climbed out of the carpool car in front of my apartment building and waved goodbye. Just as I turned to head inside I caught sight of a familiar figure heading down the sidewalk, away from the building. Rion was going somewhere. I started to jog after him, opening my mouth to call his name, when I happened to see the moon in the sky. It was full again.
There was no way this was a coincidence. Every time there was a full moon, he went somewhere. I had a feeling that if I went into the apartment there would probably be a note letting me know he wasn't coming back tonight. So, then where was he going? And was he going to be hurt while he was there?
It was a little crazy, but I decided to follow him. I knew he was probably going to end up somewhere fairly anticlimactic. Nonetheless, I wasn't sure if I could pass up this chance.
