They see the house rising from the forest ahead of them and set apart from the surrounding neighborhood by a spacious lawn and, while none of them had any expectations going into the trip, the house surpasses anything they might have anticipated.
“Our boy is living in style out here in buttfuck nowhere,” Miles remarks with a grin but sincere admiration in his tone.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Mariah laughs.
The rental car out front, in the larger-than-expected driveway, has to be Abraham’s, since he’d told them he would be flying into the Spokane airport with his son, Ben. They’d been beaten here by the family man and Miles is just childish and competitive enough to consider this a challenge he somehow failed. If the rental is Abraham’s, that would make the immaculate Lexus NX Gale’s, and the vehicle certainly doesn’t look out of place in front of the house where it’s parked.
They begin unloading the luggage from the back after stretching out the kinks and stiffness hard-won by long hours on the road. The door opens and Gale is striding down the steps to the driveway by the time the luggage is all out and sitting on the ground.
“It took you about long enough,” he says, winking knowingly at Miles. “I was starting to worry you got caught in traffic here in our bustling metropolis.”
“Bumper to bumper out there,” Kateb shouts from the rear of the SUV without any hint of sarcasm or jest in his voice. “It’s real dog-eat-dog out there, but the forbearance of our trusty valet served us well.”
Glancing at Miles, who looks ready to drop his luggage for a chance to slap him, Kateb doubles down. “Oh, you must pardon my lack of etiquette, do you perchance have lodging available for our manservant? He’s a savage, but a noble one, and he’s grown accustomed to the trifles of our civilized lifestyle.”
While everyone laughs hysterically, Miles does indeed drop his bags before lunging at his friend and tackling him to the grass beside the driveway. “I’ll show you savage, you smarmy cocksucker.”
“Pot and kettle, mother fucker, pot, and kettle,” Kateb manages to shout back. Struggling to catch his breath between laughing and the exertion of rolling around on the ground with Miles is more than a little challenging.
Kateb relenting, the two men finally stand up, brushing themselves off and grabbing their bags, stifling laughter with mock composure.
Everyone else, still laughing, follows them into the house, Gale closing the door behind him after glancing around the neighborhood nearby, checking to see if anyone happened to be outside.
They’re led to the rooms Gale has taken the liberty of assigning to them and fixing up, Mariah with Hewitt and Miles with Kateb, where they drop off their things without unpacking before receiving a tour of the magnificent house.
They find Abraham and Ben on the cantilevered rear deck, suspended over the lawn by at least seven feet with no stairs leading down. The French doors leading into the den are wide enough that the whole space seems to be one uninterrupted living space while they are open.
“This place is fantastic,” Mariah says and there are nods and sounds of affirmation all around.
“It should be,” Abraham says, wrapping her up in his huge arms. “I designed this magnificent bastard of a home for our magnificent bastard of a friend. I knew it would be interesting, based on Gale’s specifications, but I never really imagined how beautiful it would be with the surroundings though.”
“I did nothing more than describe what I was looking for and provided some details that were important to me, plus I gave him an overview of the landscaping I had in mind,” Gale replies. “This genius delivered something awe-inspiring and he deserves all the credit.”
“I thought you’d never been here before?” Hewitt asks.
“I hadn’t,” Abraham explains. “I designed it and sent the blueprints to the contractor Gale was using locally. I wish I’d built this one myself. Too much on my plate though.”
“Great job, my man,” Miles says, whistling with appreciation. “Remind me to keep you in mind when I want a palace of my own.”
The group remains outside for a while, enjoying the brisk but nowhere near cold afternoon, playing catch up with one another and filling in the gaps of the previous five years where they haven’t had time or availability before. More than an hour passes like this before Gale suggests they head downtown for an early dinner at an establishment there.
“Deal,” Miles says, hungrier than he thought he was until the topic of food was brought up. “But, I warn you, if any of these people call me ‘nigger’ all bets are off.”
Hewitt laughs and replies, “I’ll take odds that Kateb gets called towel head first.”
Kateb raises his hand, “I’ve got $50 on ‘terrorist.’”
Gale interrupts, “Odds are likely that sexual preference will be a bigger hangup than skin tone for both of you.” He leaves the silence hanging after his statement, his friends staring at him with varying degrees of discomfort, until he cracks a grin. “Everything’s fine and the people here have been great. Let’s get going.”
“You’re driving, Gale,” Miles says. “Been on the road for too long.”
Gale ushers Miles and Kateb to his Lexus while Hewitt and Mariah climb in with Abraham and his son, the vacation just beginning and they already feel the warmth in one another’s company that they haven’t felt in a long while. So focused on each other, no one notices the looks from some of the people they pass along the way.
8
The diner Gale leads them to is a nice place.
It’s nice in the way anything belonging to the previous generation seems nice. The style and theme of the place make it feel like they stepped into a time warp on the way through the door. It was like something from Happy Days or Archie.
Anachronistic is the word that comes to Hewitt’s mind as he takes in the surroundings. The interior of the restaurant could have fit right in equally well, at any point between the 1950s and the 1980s, more so than the town itself had when he got his first impression. In here, there weren’t newer model vehicles to spoil the illusion. Were it not for the fact that the business had existed there the whole time, Hewitt would have considered it to be the most authentic retro establishment he’d seen.
“This place is terrific,” he remarks.
Gale nods and smiles. “Wait until you try the food.”
The group, led by Gale, makes their way across the tile floor to a couple of tables near the far edge of the dining space. A waitress is already there, joining the two tables together and rearranging the chairs to suit the seven people in the party.
They peruse the menus in silence, content just to be together again under better circumstances than the last time they’d congregated. The only sign of boredom comes from Abraham’s son, as he kicks the legs of the chair beneath him while waiting for everyone else to make up their minds.
Orders are gradually placed and drinks are set in front of them
The catching up continues where it left off before.
Hewitt and Mariah share details of their regular hunting trips over the intervening years, including the mishaps and blunders that provide everyone with a great deal of entertainment. Miles is more forthcoming than he’s ever been concerning the places he’d been deployed as a contractor than he ever was during his career with the military. He displays a refreshing sense of openness now that he doesn’t have to worry about the phone or email correspondences being monitored. Kateb similarly displays openness that is refreshing, in some cases supplementing Mile’s own stories where they dovetailed in the past. Abraham shares stories of his family and some of the more bizarre aspects of his building contracts. Gale talks about his work with the CDC and WHO, which includes some truly terrifying accidents in lab environments that are humorous only because worst-case scenarios hadn’t played out.
As well as they kept in touch under normal conditions, it is still so vastly different to be face-to-face with no tragedy looming over the gathering. It had been so long
since they had all come together before the funeral and during the five years since then. The atmosphere is celebratory, like a holiday known only to them and observed in exclusivity.
The food is the sort of greasy spoon diner fare one can find anywhere in the country, but it is just as delicious as Gale suggested it would be. The years since youth wash away with a tide of happiness and sentimentality.
It’s a couple of hours later before they decide, as a group, to retire to Gale’s house for the night and further relaxation.
Abraham ushers Ben off to sleep with minimal disagreement from the exhausted boy and returns to the den where the friends are all relaxing with drinks.
That night, filled with good food and warm feelings, the conversation is less animated than while they were at the diner but no less pleasant and engrossing. Back in the comfort of Gale’s home, they are lulled into simply feeling relaxed and refreshed, anticipating the rest of their stay being the getaway none of them consciously knew they needed until they’d arrived.
The overlapping conversations last well into the late-night hours; unfettered as they are, without any strained joviality or uncomfortable silences like they would be with any other company.
“We’ll be getting up and about for an early start tomorrow morning,” Gale finally announces as the clock indicates the approach of Midnight. “There’s a little spot I have in mind for some fishing, but it’s a bit of a hike from here.”
“I think I speak for everyone present when I say we’re up for it,” Mariah confirms.
All around the room, there are nods, assorted grunts, and gestures of affirmation. The day Gale has planned for them, though they don’t know the details, sounds like precisely the sort of thing they had been expecting after seeing the gorgeous location Gale had invited them to.
Outside, a light rain begins, the cool air of the night bringing out the moisture taken in by the clouds from the warmth of the day. With the doors to the patio still open, a cool breeze carries with it the smell of rain and pine into the room.
“I can certainly understand why you invited us here,” Hewitt says, breathing deep the fresh air and savoring the scent of the place.
“It is my own little bit of paradise,” Gale replies wistfully. “What better place to get back to our own better natures than somewhere so thoroughly embedded in nature itself?”
“No argument from me,” Mariah chimes in.
Kateb speaks up from where he’s slouched in his seat, putting words to something they’ve all found themselves thinking of at various points throughout the day since they’d arrived. “The place appears to be doing wonders for you, my friend. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen you looking so happy or healthy.”
Gale reflects on his friend’s comment for a moment, smiling at the compliment. “It’s amazing how life-changing it can be when you find your purpose in life and know you’re where you belong, doing what you should be doing.”
He pauses for a bit, chewing on his words to test the flavor before sharing them, “I’m hoping this week can do the same for all of you as well. Some of you,” He nods to Mariah and Abraham pointedly, “Some of you have, without question, found your calling in this world and you’ve carved out your place in it.”
“Some of us, you say?” Miles asks with a feigned offense.
“Well,” Gale begins, chuckling softly, “I don’t imagine being a mercenary was exactly your first choice.”
“Contractor,” Miles corrects, middle finger punctuation the statement with a grin on his face that displays his amusement. Miles can’t begin to tabulate the number of times that same conflation of terms has been applied to him over the years. Kateb makes a habit of doing so just to get under his skin at times, but Miles had never been particularly thin-skinned.
There are chuckles through the room before Gale can continue, the whole group has started laughing and soon sleep-deprivation and road-weary exhaustion have kicked in and they are doing little more than laughing at each other’s laughter. It takes a couple of minutes before composure’s been regained and by then the conversation, or at least where it was going, has been lost.
The light-hearted conversation continues for another quarter of an hour until they, as a group, decide it’s time for bed.
They expect a long day ahead of them and sleep is already on everyone’s minds after the travel and the time they’ve spent catching up.
Abraham unrolls a sleeping bag for himself, letting Ben have the bed in the room they’re sharing.
Kateb closes the door behind them as he and Miles make their way to the bed, undressing one another as they cross the room and only breaking contact between their lips when they can’t get their shirts off otherwise. They have both always enjoyed making a mess of new rooms when they stay in them and the bed Gale’s furnished their bedroom with looks to be more comfortable than anything they’ve experienced outside of high-end hotel suites.
Hewitt and Mariah stifle their amusement, though barely, as they hear the door close to Miles and Kateb’s room, grateful that they are a couple of rooms down the hall from those two. As they undress and climb into their bed for the night, there’s a mutual, unspoken understanding that they’re both too exhausted for the sort of activity currently being enjoyed by their friends. Mariah nuzzles up to Hewitt, her head resting against his chest and his left arm positioned to allow his hand to caress her shoulder lightly with his fingertips. In only a few minutes, she is breathing deeply and snoring just slightly.
Hewitt lays awake, in the almost absolute darkness of the room, enjoying the simple pleasure of feeling her there and hearing the tiny noises she makes in her slumber. This is a routine for them, and a familiar one, since Hewitt’s always been plagued with insomnia.
Finally, though, in the early hours of the morning, he does drift away, comforted by the knowledge that he has a lovely week to look forward to and feeling optimistic about how refreshed and revitalized he’ll be feeling by the time it’s over.
Gale sits awake in his room for a while, consumed by thoughts of work, running through plans in his mind and trying to account for potential shifts in variables he can’t control. For him, this isn’t so much a sign of stress as his version of counting sheep.
9
A scream breaks the silence of the otherwise peaceful night.The desperate, shrill voice echoes off of the walls of nearby homes before dissipating and being lost to the darkness. A door slams savagely, the force of the closure shaking the windows of the house in their frames. This sound doesn't carry quite as far through the neighborhood, though it could be heard a couple of houses away if anyone were listening.
A violent banging begins.
The repeated detonations of fists against wood and plaster are only barely audible beyond the walls of the house itself. If some curious neighbor were to walk by, meandering down the sidewalk in the middle of the night, perhaps they might hear something and wonder what's going on.
No one walks by.
No one nearby is curious.
As the crackle and clatter of wood splintering begin to accompany the booming of the blows, a new scream erupts from within the house.
Neighbors are listening as the shriek becomes a gurgle, gradually fading to silence, but none of them care. The violence in their midst is drowned out by a different, yet similar sort of violence in their own hearts and minds.
Something darker than the Rocky Mountain night outside has been taking hold of these people. The abrupt escalation within one home is little more than the herald of worse to come.
10
Hewitt is the first to wake in the morning; before any alarms have gone off he is standing on the rear deck as the sky begins to glow to the East.
Soon, the sky is aflame though the sun hasn’t breached the horizon, the bar set so high by the mountains in all directions. As the others begin moving and preparing for the day ahead, the sunrise plays off of the storm clouds rolling off to the East and over the mountain peaks producing the most br
illiant display of oranges and reds, hints of pink here and there. In Hewitt’s mind, there are beginning to be some astoundingly positive marks in the plus column as far as this secluded community is concerned.
Gale hadn’t been kidding when he recommended that everyone needed to pack for the vacation with an understanding that there would be some strenuous hiking involved. Looking around as they’d first approached the destination, they had all started to grasp just what their friend had in mind.
Cutting their way through the dense pine forest on what could only be laughably referred to as a trail, it isn’t just Hewitt who worries he had vastly underestimated what Gale meant when he said it would get strenuous.
Miles and Kateb make it look easy enough, but the thin air and high elevation take a toll on even the fittest of the group.
Surprisingly to all of them, Gale leads the way with seemingly boundless energy and easy enthusiasm. He’d never been the most active or physically capable member of their group, but it was clear, even before the day’s adventure, that a lot had changed with their friend. It wasn’t until they were out in the woods that the extent of those transformations had become apparent.
The trail they follow is, at best, something worn into the vegetation by wildlife rather than human traffic and Gale is surefooted and quick in his negotiation of the terrain. He’d taken up exercise and he carries himself with more confidence than any of his friends are accustomed to seeing.
Mariah is happy to see it though, more than the rest, the years had been good to Gale and he certainly seems happier and more at peace in her eyes than he had when they’d last gotten together.
Sounding barely winded by the exertions, Gale shouts back over his shoulder, “Not much further to go!”
Innocence Ends Page 3
