by Jes Young
There was Rivers laying on the stone bench at the center of the hedge maze, reading a book, her wheat gold hair like a cloud, like a halo in the sunlight. She was wearing dirty white Keds and a red shift dress and a ridiculous pair of gigantic sunglasses with white plastic frames that she believed belonged to her mother. Matt said her name and she held up her finger, her message as clear as if she’d spoken: Wait.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked when she looked up at him.
I could fell his younger self trying to push the feelings he had for her away even while the man standing across the room from me struggled to pull those same feelings closer.
Rivers looked at the book in her hand. “I call it reading,” she said. “You should try it sometime.”
“It’s getting dark. You should come inside.”
“There’s a monster in this hedge maze that wants to kill me. He’s been watching me all day.” She laughed nervously. “But now I’m safe because you’re here.”
“Of course you are,” he said, uncertainly. “I’ll keep you safe.”
“Will you hold my hand?” she asked. “I’ll feel better if you do.”
I saw the shiver run up his spine as he remembered what it felt like to hold her hand in his. He leaned his head against the cold glass. He told himself to knock it off, to let her go.
“Hi,” I said softly.
It took a second before he turned to look at me. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said, wiping away a tear with the back of my hand. “I think there’s something in my eye.”
“Want me to look?”
“That’s okay,” I said, rubbing my eyes. “It’s better now.”
He shrugged. “Alexander had to go home for the Council meeting. He’ll be back later tonight, after the scout comes in. He told me he’s been working with you on hand to hand combat. Do you want to spar a little?”
Considering what he’d been thinking about when I walked in, I was surprised by how nice he was being. I decided to take it as a sign that he’d eventually stop hating me.
“Actually, I’m kind of sick of fighting with you.”
He smiled like he knew what I meant. “How about I take a shower and nap on the couch while you sit upstairs and try to stay out of trouble?”
*********
The front gate bell scared me when it rang. Usually the gates were open; a visitor could just drive up to the house and ring the doorbell like anywhere else. But after that day at the bank George started keeping them locked. He knew as well as I did that if They were going to come here to kill me a locked gate wouldn’t keep them from it but for some reason it made us both feel better to keep them that way.
The bell rang a second time before I got to the call box.
“Hello?” I could hear the uncertainty in my voice.
“It’s Nina. Why are the gates locked? I’ve got Trudy and Allison out here and we’ve got pizza and wine and we want to come in. Open the gates.”
I heard Allison say, “May we come in?”
I want you to know that I briefly considered the possibility that one of them was one of They before I opened the gates. I dismissed the possibility that Trudy or Nina might be involved. I’d known them both my whole life. They were my friends. I couldn’t imagine either of them trying to drag me into a hole in the ground.
Allison, the creepy, weird stranger, was a different story all together. She might as well have been wearing a sign that said, “Hi. I’m here to kill you.”
So why did I let them in? Two reasons: first, it seemed to me that hiding wasn’t going to be a long-term solution. Eventually, I would have to confront the situation and put an end to it. I figured knowing Allison a little might help me in the end. And second, I didn’t think she’d attack me in a room full of humans. And if she did, I figured Nina, Trudy, and I could take her. Matt would wake up once we started screaming. Also, I was lonely and bored and I wanted pizza. That makes three reasons, I guess.
It was so good to see them, to see anyone, from the normal world. Nina and Trudy kissed me on the cheek as they came into the house and Allison made a weird little bow, which I ignored.
I brought them into the dining room and we sat at around the table eating pizza and making small talk for a while.
“This is a lovely room,” Trudy said.
“I guess it is,” I said. “We don’t really use it much.”
Trudy had already complimented the drapes, the furniture, and the rug. It was obvious that she had something on her mind; she and Nina both did. Allison, it seemed, was just along for the ride. She looked more relaxed than I’d ever seen her, sipping at a glass of wine and taking impossibly small bites of a slice of pizza. I guess I’d had a fair amount of wine myself because in the dim light of the crystal chandelier, I could see a prettier Allison just desperate to get out.
“I’m so glad you girls came,” I said. “It’s so boring being stuck in here. Robbin is…out of town with everyone else and it’s just me and,” I struggled to remember who I’d told Trudy was taking care of me, “George all day long.”
“But he’s so funny,” Trudy said. She had always had a little crush on him.
“He is…but you know, after a while...” I shrugged.
“She doesn’t like to feel that she’s being watched and he watches her too much. And she doesn’t like being restricted but she is,” Allison said.
We all looked at her. She took a sip of wine and smiled down into the glass. She was absolutely right. That was exactly how I felt. Maybe she could read minds too.
“So anyway,” Nina said, looking over at me with raised eyebrows. “What’s this leave of absence all about? Is this like part two of your nervous breakdown or what? We’re worried about you.”
That was as good an explanation as any I could offer. And it was more believable than the truth because it didn’t involve Elves. “I guess after everything that’s happened recently, I just need some time at home.”
“Of course,” Trudy said. “Take as much time as you need.”
Nina said, “It’s getting kind of weird though.”
Allison stood up and walked over to the window. She moved the heavy drapes aside and looked out. “Do any of you know what phase is the moon in tonight?”
Suddenly, she had my full attention. This had to be the start of the big “here’s how and why I’m going to kill you” speech that villains always give in the movies. I couldn’t believe she was going to start this, attack me, in my own home – and in front of the humans too.
For shame.
Trudy went to the window too and they stood there together, looking up at the sky. “Do you follow lunar astrology, Allison?”
“It’s interesting. People all seem to know their sun signs but very few people know their lunar sign even though it’s just as important. Maybe more important. People ignore the moon at their own peril.” Allison’s voice was dreamy, soft, and far away. You had to listen, really listen, to hear her.
“Your moon sign represents the unconscious side of your personality, the part you keep hidden—maybe even from yourself. It informs the quality of your soul, your mind, your body. It’s all the things you secretly love and all the things you secretly hate. It’s the child-like side; the side that feels without thinking. Some astrologists think that the traits of your moon sign are more telling, more your true self than your solar traits. Maybe that’s why no one wants to know their lunar sign.
“The moon’s placement at the time of your birth is important too. It influences so much about you, love affairs, health, how many children you’ll have, how successful you’ll be, even how you’ll die. Not when, but how. Will it be quick or lingering? An accident or sickness or old age? Like that.
“It’s so far away from us, the moon is, but it holds so much power over our lives. So much sway. Sometimes I look up at it and wonder.” Her voice trailed off and we all sat there, waiting to hear what she would say next.
I heard her think, Poor Tabitha, but that was it; the connection between us went out. She turned from the window and looked at me. There was no malice on her face, no hatred. She looked peaceful if a little sad; like she would kill me but only because she had to. For just a moment, a flash really or quicker than that, I wished she would just go ahead and try. It would put an end to the suspense.
“Does anyone want more wine?” Nina asked, breaking the spell of Allison’s lullaby voice.
“Oh God, I do.” I help up my glass, wishing I had a straw I could drop directly in the bottle.
“Do you know when is Matthew coming home?” Nina asked as she poured me another glass.
“I’m not sure. Not for a while though.” I looked over my shoulder, hoping he wouldn’t suddenly come downstairs and make a liar out of me.
There’s a lot of lying involved in maintaining a secret identity. Superman made it look so easy; with only a pair of black plastic glasses and a reputation for bad timing, he managed to fool newshound Lois Lane for years. But it was hard for me. I found myself on the verge of revealing something all the time. “They didn’t really give me a return date.”
“They picked a strange time to take a road trip,” Nina said. “What with you in the throes of a nervous breakdown.”
Trudy was about to scold her when the door to the dining room opened and Alex stepped in.
“I thought I heard voices,” he said, smiling at each of us. He was dressed in a pair of dark blue jeans and purposefully rumpled white shirt with the sleeves rolled up halfway. He looked good, sexy in a sort of effortless way. “Tab, why didn’t you tell me you had guests? I’d have come down sooner,” he said, giving me a quick look that promised trouble when we were alone again.
“I didn’t know you were back,” I replied honestly.
“Well, I am.” He looked at me, waiting for something, while I tried to guess the outcome of the Council meeting by the way he was acting. He cleared his throat.
“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he said when I failed to supply the necessary introductions. “I’m Alexander Hilldale.”
“This is Nina and Trudy; we grew up together.” He shook hands with each of them and then turned the full force of his smile on poor, unsuspecting Allison. “This is Allison. She started at the bank a few weeks ago.”
“It’s my pleasure,” Alex said, shaking her hand.
Flabbergasted is not a word I use regularly, but it really is the best way to describe Allison’s reaction to him. She said something that sounded like “Platthhhh” before she retreated to the furthest corner of the room. While he chatted with Trudy and Nina, Allison stood by the windows, practically hidden behind the drapes, just staring at him. She hardly blinked the whole time. She couldn’t seem to pull her wary eyes away. And Alex knew she was looking at him. I caught him glancing over at her a time or two when he thought no one would notice.
“I’ve intruded long enough,” he announced when Trudy finished showing him every picture of her kids she had on her cell phone. “I’ll go back upstairs and leave you ladies to your get together.”
“You can stay,” Trudy said.
“Have a glass of wine with us,” Nina offered as she leaned forward over the table, giving him a little peek at the deep V of her soft pink sweater.
“Or some pizza,” Trudy tried again. She was married with two children but she’d obviously forgotten all about them for the moment.
“That’s very nice of you but I should go.” He looked at Allison who stood tucked into the curtains like a shy three-year-old, confusion plain as day on his face. “I’ll wait up for you, love.” He looked at me and then at Allison and then back at me, his eyebrows raised. “Good night ladies.”
The door swung closed and after a moment of silence Nina said, “Robbin who?”
We all laughed.
“It’s not fair,” Trudy lamented, looking at herself in the mirror over the sideboard. “The only sleepover company I ever get at my house is my mother-in-law.” She sighed. “And you get that. He’s so…”
Trudy said charming. Nina said hot.
“You’re both right but trust me, the charm wears off when you live with him.”
“But he stays hot, right?” Nina asked seriously, eliciting a round of giggles.
Allison came back to her seat at the table. Her cheeks were still pink, flushed. She tucked her long hair behind her ear as she sat down. “He is very handsome, isn’t he?”
“Do you have a boyfriend, Allison?” Trudy asked. “Tab’s got a couple of single cousins she could set you up with. They’re almost as good looking as Alexander.”
“Except Matt is taken,” Nina reminded us.
I nodded without enthusiasm, ignoring the twist in my stomach at the thought of Allison dating Francis or George.
“I don’t date very much,” she said.
Sensing that she’d been loosened up by the wine, Nina and Trudy pumped Allison for information. Once they got her going, she told story after story about her life on the road with her parents who traveled as part of their work. Some of her stories were really funny. For a while I forgot she was planning to kill me and laughed along with the others. The flush of color stayed in her cheeks and it softened her.
“So how did you meet Rivers?” Trudy asked.
She looked at me before answering, almost as if she was asking my permission. I shrugged my shoulders, not sure what else to do. If she suddenly wanted to talk, I wouldn’t stop her.
“I was living in Ohio at the time, working on my own. Rivers came into the diner where I waited tables. She ordered a cup of coffee but I could tell she was hungry by the way she watched the plates so I bought her a grilled cheese. We started talking and she broke down and started crying. She told me she had left home without much money or a plan. She wanted to get as far away as she could, so she bought the bus ticket that brought her to Ottoville but she didn’t have anywhere to go after that. I asked her if she wanted to stay with me until she got on her feet. We lived together for about six months before we both left Ottoville, but not together. We stayed in touch though. She sent me postcards from all over the country and I’d stop in Ottoville to collect them from the diner when I passed that way. It was a good way to keep track of her. When she was ready to come home she got in touch with me and asked me to bring her here. So I did.”
Allison reached for her worn out backpack. She fished around inside and pulled out a bundle of post cards, tied together with a teal satin ribbon. “I brought these for you, Tabitha. I thought you might like to see them and I don’t think Rivers would mind. Not anymore.”
She held them out, waiting for me to take them but I couldn’t make myself reach out. I wanted them, wanted them very badly, but my hand wouldn’t move. Maybe it was because I had to take them from Allison, I don’t know. The bundle of cards looked like trouble to me. She set them on the table.
“Thank you. That means a lot to me.”
“I knew it would,” she said. “That’s why I brought them.”
Although I could tell that Nina and Trudy were both curious about the postcards sitting in front of us and what they might reveal about the time when Rivers ran away, I didn’t untie the bundle and share them. I wanted to be alone when I read them. I wasn’t expecting to find any big secrets; I mean who writes their secrets on a postcard? But I didn’t know if seeing her big, looping handwriting again or reading ‘wish you were here’ directed at someone other than me would make me cry.
“We should go,” Trudy said after a few minutes of half-hearted office gossip. “It’s late and Tab needs some rest. Come on ladies.” She gathered up the dishes and glasses. “Allison, could you grab that box?”
Nina and I waited in the hall while Trudy and Allison went into the kitchen to tidy up.
“So that was weird, huh?”
Nina slipped her arms into her cream wool coat and tied a pink scarf around her neck. “Which part? Allison’s moon monologue or all the ‘my parents were traveling
hobos’ stuff? ”
“She’s right in the kitchen,” I said, laughing as quietly as I could.
As if on cue, Allison came out. “Thank you for having me over, Tabitha. It was very nice of you to include me. I’m sorry if I talked too much. Sometimes I get carried away. I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of experience with girl’s nights.”
“Don’t be silly,” Nina said. “You didn’t talk too much.”
She winked at me while Allison shrugged into her shapeless gray coat.
