by Nicole Thorn
“How is this my life?”
He didn’t answer me. Instead, he rolled off and sat up. Blue scratched at the bed and Isaiah pulled him up. Because I wasn’t a monster, I got under the covers. Having a puppy lick you while you’re naked sounded like the most messed up thing in the world.
Isaiah looked at me mournfully. “I was really looking forward to spending the day having you unable to say anything but my name and the phrase ‘oh God, oh God.’”
I pressed my lips together, angry that I had plans now. “How long can the thing possibly last? We’ll still have time for a little of that.”
He started petting the puppy while he looked around my room. “I have to go home and change soon. I’ll wear my uniform tonight. I’d rather not go without my gun.”
Mmm. I really shouldn’t like that. “Ya know,” I started. “You can keep some clothes here if you want. Considering how often I plan on jumping you in the future, it may be a good idea.”
He seemed pleased with that. “Okay,” he agreed.
Isaiah put the puppy back on the floor and he rolled over onto me. The blanket, which seemed like a good idea before, suddenly annoyed me, but he made up for it. I felt like a grinning idiot the whole time. Everything about him made me happy.
When I finally got out of bed, I threw on a black dress. I had to go to a vigil after all. I didn’t have heels to wear, but I had flats that would be respectful enough.
We went to Isaiah’s house after I changed. Blue ran around the backyard while my boyfriend went to put on his uniform. He looked lovely when he came back out, and I could touch him now. It would be a good day after all.
My hands froze on his chest. “We have to go soon.” I frowned. “Do we need a game plan?”
“For?”
I took in a breath. “Bird and the others know that you’re assigned to babysit me.” He visibly didn’t like that. “And it’s only a matter of time before everyone else knows about what’s up with me. Everyone is going to be looking at me, which means everyone is going to be looking at you. I know we’re not breaking the law, but I’m willing to bet you’d get a hard time from your boss if he finds out that we’re together.”
Isaiah shrugged like he didn’t give a damn. “What do you suggest we do about it?”
“Other than not going at it in public, maybe it would be a good idea if you weren’t right beside me the whole night.” I groaned to myself at the thought. “I don’t like it, but it might be safer.”
He didn’t agree. “You want me to leave you alone in a crowd of people? By the woods? At night?”
“No. What I want is to crawl back in bed with you. But I need you to do this. For both of us.”
“Such a bad idea. Not just because it’ll be miserable. It’s also dangerous.”
I smiled. “How about we take the dog? He can keep me safe.”
Isaiah snorted. “He couldn’t keep a hammer safe. I’m not trusting that mutt to keep my girlfriend safe.”
I smoothed out his shirt, putting my hands on his shoulders. “Yes, my dear, but you have no choice in the matter. Sorry.”
A ringing cell phone interrupted our discussion. With his usual irritation with people in general, he answered the phone. “What do you want, Draper?”
I smiled and rolled my eyes. “Temper…” I whispered.
Isaiah had the phone on speaker, so I could hear his gruff-voiced boss. “Did you hear about that damn vigil tonight?” he slurred.
“I did.”
“Great. That kid going?”
Isaiah already looked pissed. “That kid has a name.”
Draper sighed. “Yeah, sorry. I get that you probably are getting tired of babysitting duty, but you don’t need to take it out on me. Sure hope you’re nicer to her than me.”
I waggled my eyebrows and mouthed the words, “Very nice.”
Isaiah waggled right back and pulled me to his chest. “I’m the same as I ever am,” he lied.
“I’m sure she just loves you.”
I nodded.
“Anywho,” Draper said. “If she’s going, you need to go. There’re too many kids there for me to let it go unguarded.”
“Who’s going?”
I already knew it didn’t matter what he said; Isaiah didn’t like anybody he worked with. Actually, he didn’t like anyone but me. How the hell did I ever earn that honor?
“Lee, Carter, Barbie. And I’m going, too. I’d like you to be there. What are your girl’s plans?”
Isaiah looked at me. “Weird way to put that.”
In response to that, I ran my hand down the front of his pants. Mostly I just wanted to calm him down enough to not yell at his boss.
“You go everywhere she goes. How else do I put it?”
“Have a few drinks with lunch?” Isaiah asked, on the edge of furious. I might’ve been the only one who knew him well enough to notice.
“Didn’t answer my question.”
Isaiah gripped his phone tightly. “What are you accusing me of, Charles? If you’re gonna say something, say it.”
There was a silent beat before the sheriff answered. “Just be careful, kid. I think she looks like trouble that you don’t want to get mixed up in.”
“How about you go have another drink and not worry about who you think I’m sleeping with?”
I literally heard the bottle pouring. “She’s young, Barker. She even eighteen yet?”
“Yes,” Isaiah growled.
“Thank God. Just get her to the vigil and make sure she doesn’t die. If I lose another kid in this town, the parents will have a fucking riot.”
Isaiah hung up and I had to take care of his mood immediately. My arms wound around him. “Sweetheart,” I said sternly. “Don’t be upset.”
“Well, if you say so…”
I smirked at him. “You can have an attitude all you want, mister, but it’s not gonna make your boss unsay that stuff. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“You’re right, but I don’t like that he seems to not only be assuming things about the both of us, and insinuating it was wrong somehow. I mean… it’s slightly inappropriate, but it’s three years between us.”
I crooked my finger at him. “Come down here.” He lowered to my level, and I put my arms around his neck. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Sure.”
“I did screw you, Isaiah. He was right. I appreciate you thinking I’m some kind of pure little angel, but I’m clearly not. I seduced a man a few years older than me, and I loved every second of it.”
He smiled, picking me up and setting me on the counter behind him. “Yes, you did, but I’d like to think you wouldn’t have done that if you believed it was really a problem.”
“And you’d be right about that. It still doesn’t make me pure. I’m in a constant state of wantonness when it comes to you. Nothing angelic about that.”
He relaxed on the outside, but I could tell he hadn’t calmed down. I couldn’t do much to fix it, but I could try and make up for it later.
****
Two hours of singing and swaying, and I didn’t think I could take much more of this. I got away with not holding a candle because I had Blue in my arms. I had to spend most of the night keeping people from touching him. Neither of us liked it, and I knew Isaiah wouldn’t.
I missed him, even with him only a couple of hundred feet away. I couldn’t even see him, but I knew he had to be miserable. He had been stationed with his coworkers near the snack area. It would be a miracle if he didn’t punch Draper for all the stuff he said. It would take hours of me on top of Isaiah to make him feel better.
The singing broke up, finally, and we started to wander around and chat about the lost souls like Bird had thrown a party instead of a vigil. I would have snuck over to Isaiah if I thought it wouldn’t stoke the fire for Draper.
I pet Blue’s head when he started getting fussy. “You’ve been such a good boy, baby. Wanna walk a little?”
I set him down an
d wrapped his leash around my hand. He started padding around the grass, stopping to sniff. I thought he wanted to go and find Papa.
“Hey.” Hillary sighed as she found me. She held her candle with one hand and an unlit cigarette with the other. She lit it and took a hit. “Want one?” She held it to me.
I grimaced and shook my head. “I’m good.”
“Whose dog is that?”
“I’m watching him for a friend.”
Hillary bent over, petting Blue on the head. He got the same look his daddy got when annoyed. He even looked to me to get him out of it.
“He bites,” I lied. “He was a problem puppy and my friend got him half off.”
Hillary recoiled and Blue waddled back over to me, lying on my feet as a thank you.
“Have you seen Bird?” Hillary said as she blew smoke out of her mouth.
I shook my head. “She was with Seth by the bathroom last time I saw her. That was an hour ago.”
With that, Hillary left me alone.
With my friends scattered, I figured now might be a good time to sneak off and find my boyfriend. We could head home and spend the rest of the night in bed. I wished summer vacation would arrive already. It would be impossible to get through school when I wanted nothing more than to be on top of Isaiah.
The crowd had gotten so dense that I couldn’t see more than the few people in front of me. We stood below the grass hill, about a hundred yards from the edge of the pitch-black woods.
The actual park resided up the hill, complete with all the fun stuff kids came to play on. In the morning, they would come to enjoy the toys, not having any idea what had been going on the night before. They wouldn’t be burdened with the darkness we all had to live with. The last time I’d spotted Isaiah, he’d been around the slides, looking for a place with less people.
“There you are.”
Damn. I took in a deep breath and turned to the voice. “Hey, Bird. Are you feeling okay?”
She walked through the crowd, running her fingers through her messy hair. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
I squinted at her. “A bunch of people are dead, including an ex of yours.”
She laughed. “Clark isn’t an ex.”
“Oh, he told me you guys… dated when you were fifteen.”
Another laugh. “He wishes we had dated. We just hung out a bunch.”
“He kind of insinuated you slept together.”
She smiled as she waved her hand as if dismissing. “Not really. We fooled around a little, but I got kinda bored after a while. It was a mutual breakup, if that was what worried you.”
“No… not really.”
Bird glared at someone who bumped her and she crossed her arms. “We’re having an after party later. You wanna bring Deputy McSexy with you? I wonder if we can get him to strip…”
“No.” To all of it. “He carries a gun, Bird. If you suggested it, he would shoot you.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “How do you spend so much time with him? I get that he’s hot, but he doesn’t seem like good company. Kinda stiff and uptight if you ask me.”
I swallowed my offense and didn’t hit her in the face. “He’s very good company. If he doesn’t hate you,” I added with a smile. “He seems to enjoy my company a whole lot.”
Bird didn’t react like I thought she would. Instead, she smirked. “I bet he does. How long would you make him wait if he hit on you? Or has he already? Was it even a week?”
“Do we have to get into this now? Pretty sure I saw Seth flirting with that Peggy chick again. They were by the slides. I think she was making eyes at him.”
Bird’s face pinched in possessiveness. “That bitch. I’ll be right back,” she said, wagging her finger and stomping off.
I looked down at Blue. “Mommy needs Daddy. Right now.”
The timing worked out just fine, because I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out, reading the text.
Isaiah: Lost you in the crowd. Meet me in the woods by the edge of the park. See you soon, baby.
I stared at the text for a few seconds. Isaiah didn’t usually use pet names. He had called me angel a couple of times and sweetheart, but not much else, and certainly not baby. I called him other things. Maybe he just wanted to test it out.
And why did he want to meet me in the woods? That didn’t sound like him at all.
I had never been the brightest person in the world, but I couldn’t wrap my head around Isaiah asking me to meet him in the woods. Going out there would result in a bloody end and I knew it.
I tried to call Isaiah despite the noise of the crowd. I wanted to know what he’d been drinking to make him think I would go along with this. The phone rang three times before it went to voicemail. The second time I called, I got an answer.
“Hey,” he said, and it almost sounded like a sigh. I couldn’t tell, and the wind made the line crackle so bad that even the one word sounded off.
“Hey, sweetheart. Did you have too much to drink or something?”
I could barely hear over the people around me, but the voice on the other end didn’t belong to Isaiah. “I knew it,” the sheriff slurred. “He couldn’t help himself, could he? I knew there was something wrong with him. Dammit, I should have paid closer attention..”
I covered my free ear with my hand, trying to hear better. I stammered out some words “No,” I lied. “He didn’t do anything. What are you doing with his phone? Where’s Isaiah?”
Blue looked up from the ground and I swear he looked worried.
“We’re in the woods,” he said. “Come and find us.”
The call ended, leaving me holding my phone. The crowd bustled all around me, seeming much louder than before. It roared in my ears, being drowned out only by the rush of blood in my body.
Isaiah had a gun and he knew how to use it. He might have trusted Draper enough to not suspect him of whatever the hell Draper had done. My brain came up with and rejected a dozen reasons why Draper did this. Isaiah told me that the man drank a lot, but did drunks do things like this? I doubted it. There had to be more to it. I didn’t want to jump to the crazy theory in my head.
Blue circled my legs and I picked him up. I hushed him, but he wouldn’t settle down. It didn’t get better when we started walking. We went up the hill to look for Isaiah.
I found a little cluster of deputies and they chatted by the big, purple slide. I thought I saw Deputy Lee and Carter. I didn’t see Barbie or Isaiah anywhere.
“Excuse me,” I said as I approached. I looked at the names on their badges and I’d been right. “Do you know where Isaiah Barker is?”
Lee answered, “He took off like ten minutes ago. Didn’t say where he was going, but his car is still here. You need something, kiddo?”
I shook my head, feeling colder. “Um… no.”
Carter pet Blue’s head. “Where the hell did the sheriff go off to?” he asked his partner.
Lee took a breath. “Don’t know. You catch the…” He mimed drinking from a flask. How did that guy get voted in if everyone knew he drank all the time?
I left the men when it looked like they couldn’t help me. It left me with only one option. I wished I had a gun of my own.
Nothing could make you feel as stupid as walking into the woods at night when you knew a killer had an obsession with you. Scarier still when you didn’t know why they had an obsession. Isaiah had gone missing, though, and Draper had threatened him. That kept me moving.
With all the people around me, if I screamed, someone would hear. That would have to be good enough for me.
Blue started howling when I stepped into the woods. He didn’t like the dark and the moon didn’t shed enough light for either of us. I kept looking back at the crowd, not wanting to lose sight of them. I knew I would sooner or later.
I headed where Draper told me to go, through the trees and to the end of the park itself. Soon, I’d moved too deep into the dark woods to see anyone. Most of the kids had to be heading home now any
way. They came to show respect, but that only stretched so far.. It felt more like a sad party than a night meant to show reverence for the dead.
I couldn’t tell how far into the woods I had gotten, but Blue’s howling grew more frantic. I tried petting him and talking to him, but it didn’t help. He felt cold and he kept shaking from fear. I did the same.
The smell hit me first. Blood. I knew it well, thanks to the little gifts left for me in the last few weeks. So with my forced upon knowledge, I had a feeling about what I would see if I looked around.
The first victim had been a girl. She looked a little older than me, dressed in pants and a sweater for the weather. Her throat had been sliced wide open, but she looked like she’d been done bleeding for a while. The eyes had already gone foggy.
I didn’t have a voice anymore and I just wanted to scream. The feeling grew when I saw the next body not even ten feet away. Then another. They led on farther than I could see, laid in a perfectly straight line. Each with a slit throat.
I never should have come here.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE:
Endgame
Isaiah
They tortured people with singing. I felt like the Grinch listening to the Whos down in Whoville. Only, my heart had done its growing already. When the singing ended, I felt so relieved. I wanted to go home already. I wanted to get into bed with my girlfriend and fall asleep with her curled to my chest.
I couldn’t see Lynnie in the dense crowd. I knew she had to be in there somewhere, but I it made me uncomfortable, not knowing exactly where. She thought the crowd made her safe, and I couldn’t convince her how wrong that thought had been. A crowd meant nothing to a madman. He would hurt her because I wronged him.
This whole night had probably been a bad idea, and not just because I my coworkers made me miserable. Draper took frequent sips from his flask while Barbie wouldn’t stop talking to me. Lee and Carter offered no help. Thankfully Barbie got a call from her boyfriend and went off to take it. Draper left to go throw up the contents of his stomach.
Since the singing ended, that meant Lynnie would come back to me soon. We’d been together for less than a full day and I had some time to make up for. Hurt feelings to smooth over. I knew she wouldn’t hold all those times I missed a hint or hurt her feelings against me. It didn’t matter. I still wanted to make up for it.
