by Abbie McAnn
He was still camouflaged; just a blurry outline and a floating pair of eyes. He was closer now than he had been in the house. Kate was forced to crane her neck up to look into them.
Wow, he’s so tall.
How had she not noticed how tall he was before? He had to be at least seven feet, maybe more.
Sam didn’t move, he just stood there as she gaped at him.
Hey asshole, stop staring.
Kate mentally berated herself as she broke eye contact with him to stare down at the woodpile. She hoped that her face wasn’t as red as it felt.
She cleared her throat and hopped on the ATV. It was still on, exactly how she had left it.
The woodshed was just on the other side of the porch, so it was a fast drive there. She turned off the quad and waited for Sam. It was another minute or so before he met her.
She sat on the ATV as she waited, thinking about how terrifying that ride back to the house had been.
She saw Sam’s eyes as he got closer. It seemed to be taking him a much longer time than it would for her to walk that far.
“Sam, how did you beat me back to the house?” Kate asked. “You were there long enough to get the keys before I got back.”
“I’m much faster in the water. I’m faster than John’s boat, I always beat him when we raced. But I’m pretty slow on land. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you wait.”
“Oh,” was all Kate could say. She looked at Sam’s eyes and then followed his blurry outline down to where she thought his lower extremities were. John had called them ‘appendages.’
She didn’t know what else to say, so instead, she grabbed some wood. She probably should have opened the shed door first, because now her arms were full of logs. She used her elbow to awkwardly nudge open the door, all while Sam watched her.
Sam stared at her while she moved another armful of wood and she tried not to feel uncomfortable.
She cleared her throat when Sam still didn’t help her after the third load.
“Sorry,” Sam mumbled.
She could tell that he was finally helping when a large stack of wood floated past her.
It didn’t take long to empty the trailer. Inside the large woodshed, the little stack that she had hauled overlooked pathetic. Granted, the woodshed was oversized, like everything else in this place. And it had been empty, so anything she put in it wasn't exactly going to fill up the room. Still, this wood wasn’t going to last her more than a week or two.
“It’s going to take me a lot of trips to move the wood over here,” Kate said.
Sam grunted in response. She assumed that it was a confirmation.
She stared back up at his floating eyes, feeling awkward again now that the work was done.
Why was he still camouflaged? I already saw him, well sort of anyway.
Her thoughts surprised her. They made her realize that she wasn’t afraid of the sea monster in front of her. So far, he just seemed like an awkward, ultra-sheltered guy. Kate found that enduring. It was very different than most guys she knew, especially Eric.
She was ready for a chance to get a better look at Sam.
“My name is Kate, by the way,” she said.
She stuck out her hand and then immediately felt silly. Before she could lower it though, she felt a warm hand clasping hers.
Though she couldn’t see it, she could feel the strength in his hand as it gripped hers. She felt the calluses on his palm from years of hard labor. And she didn’t feel slime or scales or anything else that should belong to a scary sea monster.
It was a very tentative handshake; his grip was loose, and he only shook her hand once before he was pulling away. But despite what she thought she had seen in that moment of red, Sam felt very human.
“Kate,” Sam echoed, sounding slightly in awe. She looked up at where his face should be, but she couldn’t find his eyes. Were they closed or was she looking in the wrong spot?
She was reminded of what he had said when he was talking about her sister.
Had Jessica really been the only woman he had seen up close? Does that mean that I’m the first woman that he’s touched?
Kate cleared her throat again. It suddenly felt a little too hot in the woodshed.
“Um, my sister’s name is Jessica, by the way. You mentioned her earlier. She is Michael’s wife, not his woman. You called her that before: ‘Michael’s woman.’ That’s a pretty archaic way of talking. Did John teach you that? Men don’t, you know, own women. Just to be clear. Jessica is Michael’s wife, not his woman.”
Kate knew that she was rambling now, but she couldn’t stop. And Sam made no effort to cut her off, he just let her keep talking.
“And she’s not like, you know, his wife. She’s her own very independent woman. They just happen to be married to each other. Really, if anything, Michael is her husband. They’re partners. So yeah...she’s not his woman.”
Kate finally trailed off, feeling very awkward again. Sam still hadn’t said anything, and it really felt like she was standing in this shed just talking to herself. Her embarrassment made her want to avoid eye contact, but she had to find his eyes again, just to make sure that he was still there.
It was impossible to tell what his expression was since she could only see his eyes. She could have sworn they held an extra glisten in them like he was smiling or silently laughing.
“I didn’t mean to offend you, Kate,” Sam said quietly. His voice was low and she liked the way he said her name with his strange accent. “I may not have been born here, but I’ve been on Earth for a long time now and I’ve had plenty of time to learn your culture. John keeps me hidden here, but I spend a lot of my time watching TV, reading, and going on the internet. Your people are fascinating to learn about. But yes, I know that people do not own one another in this place. I didn’t know if the woman was Michael’s wife or not, but I saw them acting affectionately towards each other. I just called her his woman because I could tell that they were mates. I didn’t realize that ‘Michael’s woman’ was not something that people said. I won’t say it again.”
“Uh,” Kate said, trying to process everything that Sam had said. Did he just say that he wasn’t born on Earth?
Sam wasn’t some Loch Ness monster or some gene-splicing experiment; he was an alien. She was standing in a woodshed with a real-life alien.
“You’re not from Earth?” Kate asked in shock. Did that mean that there were more like him? How did he get here? Were there more aliens like him on Earth?
Sam didn’t respond. His eyes gave away nothing and she wished that she could see his expression. Kate wanted to say more, to ask Sam any of the million questions in her head, but she didn’t want to alienate him.
Gosh. She was worried about alienating the alien.
But she was. She barely knew this mysterious camouflaged man, and all she wanted to do was learn more about him. He was fascinating. She wasn’t going to risk offending him.
Instead, Kate decided that it would be best to change the subject.
“I guess I’ll get another load of wood tomorrow. I’ve got to go put the ATV away and then it’s time to feed the animals again. Wanna help?”
That was how they spent the rest of the afternoon. Kate went about the rest of her chores with Sam shadowing her. He stayed camouflaged, so it was hard to know where he was at times, but she could always feel his distinct presence. It was also obvious that he was there when objects would start floating in midair. It happened whenever he picked something up.
They talked about a lot of things while they worked, though Kate made sure not to bring up anything that Sam might find too touchy. Sam asked Kate questions about her life before moving to Washington and what it was like to live in a place as dry as Nevada. Sam showed her different techniques for taking care of the animals, and a faster way to muck the stalls. He asked Kate questions about Jessica and their relationship.
Kate enjoyed the company while she worked. She hadn’t been here long enough to get too
lonely, but she could see how it could happen if she spent any extended length of time here. Sam was easy to talk to, though he seemed a little rusty at making conversation. Or maybe he had just never had the chance to learn how, given his circumstance.
Everything seemed fine until she started to ask him questions about John. He answered her first few, about what John was like or how he had done this chore or that, but he became more subdued with each one.
She knew that it must be a touchy subject for him, so she let it drop.
Once they had finished up with all the chores, Kate headed back towards the house to make some dinner and watch TV.
After a few steps towards the house, she realized that it was too quiet behind her. Sam made a very distinct sound when he moved, and she didn’t hear it now.
“Sam?” Kate asked.
“I’m over here,” Sam replied. His voice was coming from the same spot he had been standing in before.
“Are you coming inside?”
“I-,” Sam paused. “Do you want me to? I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”
Kate hadn’t even thought about that. Did she really want some strange man staying in the house with her?
Sam didn’t seem strange anymore though. She had spent the whole afternoon with him and had enjoyed their time together. It surprised her how quickly she trusted him.
Besides, she had seen his room. It was obvious how much time he spent in it and how well-loved his possessions were. It must have taken him forever to take all those photos and hang them up. This was his home and had been for a long time. She couldn’t deny him of it.
“This is your home, Sam. Not mine. Of course, you are welcome in it. Where have you been staying the last few days, anyway? I don’t think I heard you in the house. There weren’t any strange, spooky noises keeping me up at night.”
Sam chuckled and said, “I was staying in the lake.”
It was a simple reply, but it horrified Kate.
“You were living in the lake for four days! I can’t believe you had to do that because of me. Is it okay for you to stay it in for so long? The water has to be freezing!”
“Of course, it’s okay for me to do that,” Sam said, sounding surprised. “My childhood was spent in the water before I came here. John taught me to always stay in the lake when strangers come. I’d still be there if you hadn’t spotted me. And the cold doesn’t bother me at all.”
Oh right, John had written something about that. She remembered reading it in the binder.
“Are you sure you want me in the home? You can wait until you know me better. I understand why you wouldn’t want a stranger in the house, one that isn’t human like you,” Sam said.
Kate was about to invite him in again, but her common sense made her pause. Sam was giving her an out, and she took a moment to seriously consider it.
Would she be safe with him in the house? He was huge, she was sure of that. He could easily overpower her if he wanted to. And she barely knew anything about him. She had only had a small glance at what he really looked like.
She walked back over to where she thought Sam was, her eyes searching for his. Her eyes found his blue orbs floating in the air, illuminated by the light of the golden hour.
Neither of them spoke as she searched his eyes, trying to find any signs of malice or intention to do her harm. All she saw in them was a deep sincerity.
She knew in her heart that this man would not harm her.
“I meant what I said, Sam. This is your home and I want you to stay in it, okay?”
“Okay, Kate,” Sam replied, solemnly. His eyes looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn’t.
Chapter 7
“So what do you want to watch?” Kate asked as she scrolled through Netflix.
She had the whole couch to herself and had bundled up in one of the heavy throw blankets from the linen closet. Sam had started a fire for them, and it was already going strong. She was a little jealous that he was so much better at it than she was.
Kate glanced over at Sam as she waited for a response. He had chosen to sit on the extremely oversized couch. She had wondered before why John had had it since it looked more like a bed than a sofa. The cushions extended out at least three times as far as a regular couch. She doubted that Sam would fit on any of the other furniture in the room, so it made sense that he would need something that large.
“I like almost everything,” Sam replied. His voice sounded a little stiff like he wasn’t as comfortable as he had been outside.
Sam cleared his throat as Kate continued to scroll through shows.
It was another minute before Sam spoke again.
“I’ve been rewatching Breaking Bad,” he said.
“Oh, I love Breaking Bad! Aaron Paul is one of my favorite actors. We should totally watch it!” Kate exclaimed as she searched for the show.
“John and I watched it together the first time, but he always got tired of explaining things to me. I ended up just having to Google a lot of stuff while I watched it,” Sam replied, sounding more relaxed the more he spoke.
“What do you mean by explaining things? Didn’t you start from the beginning?” Kate asked.
“Of course. But there are still a lot of things that I don’t understand, even if I’ve read about them in books and seen them on TV. Like I don’t get why people would want to do drugs. I liked Jesse too, but I don’t understand why he keeps doing meth or smoking cigarettes when they are so bad for him. I’ve read all kinds of studies on addiction and several books on psychopharmacology, but none of them tell me why any person would start using drugs in the first place. Why would Jesse ever start using meth when he knows the dangers associated with it?
“And there are other things that I don’t understand either, like why Jesse would ever let Jane start doing drugs again. Shouldn’t you protect the ones you love? And how could Walter White ever put his family in danger? If I were ever able to have that, a wife and kids, I would give everything to keep them safe. I would never let anyone hurt them. And yet, Walter continually puts his family in danger throughout the whole show.”
Sam’s words made Kate think about her relationship with Eric. When had he ever done anything in her best interest? All he had done was use her and steal from her to pay for his gambling. If she had gotten pregnant while they were together, she was sure that he would have left the moment she shared the news. Does Sam really think that he would be so different from all the other crappy men out there?
“That’s human nature, Sam. People are selfish and they constantly do things for their own interest even if it hurts the people they love. Just because you have a family, doesn’t mean that you’ll look after them or take good care of them. It just means that you have more people to disappoint,” Kate said sharply, feeling the sting of all the things that Eric had done to screw her over.
She realized right after they came out that her words were probably too harsh. She didn’t want Sam to think she was bad too. If she was going to stay with him, then he had to trust her.
“I guess not all people are like that though,” Kate amended. “Most people have some good and some bad in them. But it’s been a while since I’ve had only the good in my life. That’s why I like it out here, away from everyone else.”
They were both silent. Kate wondered what Sam thought about her words. Did he think that she was all bad now, too? She should have kept her mouth shut.
Kate hadn’t turned on the show yet, but she had hovered over “Breaking Bad” for long enough that Netflix started to play the trailer.
“Why do you keep watching it anyway, if you don’t like the characters?” Kate asked.
Sam was silent for another moment before responding, “Because they are fascinating. I want to know them, to understand them. I want to understand people.”
Kate turned to stare again at the deceptively empty sofa, “Are you trying to understand me, Sam?”
“Of course,” he replied simply.
&n
bsp; ∞∞∞
Kate was pretty sure that she was alone in the house. It was still early; the sun had just risen over the lake.
She hadn’t meant to get up so early, but the sun kept waking her up every morning. Since the window wall didn’t have any curtains, there was nothing to stop the sun from lighting up her room. It was impossible for her to sleep once the sun was up.
She knew that she was the only one downstairs. She had carefully inspected every room to see if he was down here. His camouflage made him hard to spot, but she could still sense his presence when he was in the same room as her. She didn’t have that sense now.
She had tentatively walked over to his room after inspecting the first floor. The oversized door was cracked open, making it easier for her to snoop. When she peeked in the room, she saw that Sam’s comforter was completely flat on the bed. He wasn’t there.
Like a complete busy-body, she pushed open the door until there was a wide enough crack for her to tip-toe in. She scanned the room, finding no sign of him. Everything looked about the same as it had the last time she had been in it.
She was about to leave when her eyes landed on the bedside table. There was a stack of books on it, which she knew for a fact had not been there before.
She felt like a total snoop, but her curiosity got the better of her. She looked around the room once more to double-check that Sam wasn’t there before she went over to inspect them.
She picked up the first book from the stack and stared down at Romeo and Juliet. The book was well worn, with bent pages and a creased spine. There was a bookmark in the middle and she opened it to where he had marked.
It had been a long time since she had read the play; probably not since high school. But it only took her a few lines to realize what scene he was on. It was the part where Romeo and Juliet spend the night together and make love.
Kate blushed and closed the book. She knew that Sam wouldn’t appreciate her going through his things. It was time for her to go.
