“I’m not a fucking psycho!” Steph screamed back.
Jess noted that Steph didn’t deny the “controlling” part.
Some small animal rustled some leaves as it made its exit from the scene. Jess was incredibly jealous and wished she could disappear into the foliage as well. Chris put his hand on the small of her back. Jess locked eyes with him as the couple fought loudly, throwing obscenities at each other as if in competition to one-up each other.
With a little push, he began to walk them away. Jess dared to peek backwards to see Steph throwing her middle finger into Mark’s face. Mark shoved her back, harder than he should have and she stumbled. Steph caught her balance and raced back at him. It was like watching primitive animals fighting for dominance.
Before Jess could see how the altercation was escalating, they were around a bend. Chris leaned down and whispered in her ear to run. As the sounds of shouting rose, they speedily walked, then jogged, then outright sprinted into the trees. Despite the same anxious actions, it had none of the sense of fun as earlier. At first they stayed on the path following it along the edge of a swamp seeking the denoted tourist stops with small plastic plaques explaining what they were supposed to be looking at.
On a whim, Jess grabbed Chris’s shirt and tugged him through a break in the foliage. It looked like a grassy underused path and they bounded through easily. It could just as easily have been a deer path and it would have made no difference. She figured they could follow it for a bit until they thought it was safe to return the way they’d come.
They giggled conspiratorially as they hid among some low bushes. Around them was nothing but the sounds of the forest. Birds called to each other and a few insects buzzed, but in the lazy summer sun streaming through the branches, the animals weren’t particularly active in the heat.
“I’m still so glad we’re not like that,” Chris said catching his breath. A repeat statement from the night previous and still just as true as it had been before. Jess was just as thrilled they weren’t vulgar, violent apes attempting to fit into society poorly.
“I sincerely hope they leave first thing in the morning without a word to us,” she wishfully stated. “Maybe we should sleep in extra late tomorrow to avoid them.”
Chris laughed. “Shit, could you imagine them coming and knocking on our tent to tell us they’re leaving, then having a stupid screaming match until checkout time?”
“I shudder to think about it,” Jess replied. “Don’t even suggest things like that. It’ll give me nightmares.”
“Too bad they don’t leave tonight.”
Jess dreamt of a world in which Steph and Mark fought enough that they wanted to leave before dinner and simply packed up and vanished. It would be like Christmas in July.
They traversed the forest paths until the sun began to dip low in the sky. The golden light through the trees glowed against their faces with a radiant summer warmth. Backtracking toward the north, they came back out of the woods onto the lakeshore. They were greeted by the sound of waves crashing against the rocky embankment that separated the land and the water.
Here, the water had no beach to buffer against. A few spots along the different picnic areas had no sandy beaches, which were manmade constructions to encourage tourists that wanted a dip in the cool water. When the site had been cleared down to flat land, the park’s buildings were erected and sand was brought in to line about a mile and a half of shoreline. The rest of the shore earned large boulders making a break wall to prevent erosion.
The lake had become a bit rougher since their morning swim. During summer the water was often calm and welcoming. The weather for the area was generally mild for the season. Every so often a storm would roll in and the lake would become a turbulent broiling mess. The water would churn and the shallow waves would turn to white caps. The boulders along the shore would instead act as a breaking point sending huge splashes of water into the air and all over people on the lakeside walkways. Jess loved the freshwater spray sprinkling down on her after so long in the sweltering woods.
They returned to camp with sweat and lake spray in their hair and pores, tired from their long walk, hungry and ready to eat the lunch they had skipped. They couldn’t hear anything from the nearby campsite. Jess dared a voyeuristic peek between some bushes and was pleased to report they were alone. Next door, the tent and truck were vacant.
As Chris started the campfire, Jess prepped the burgers. The sound of sizzling meat was enticing and they gorged on macaroni salad while they waited. The site next door was blissfully quiet.
“They’ll be gone in the morning,” Jess reminded Chris with a huge grin when she caught him looking in that direction, not realizing he was staring toward their blue car.
“Thank God. I couldn’t take much more of them,” he said snapping out of his trance. As soon as Jess snuck off to shower and brush her teeth for the night, Chris slipped into the car and popped another pill before he started to feel really sick. It had been too long since his morning dose.
After dark, they could hear the DVD player starting a new movie from Steph and Mark’s site. It was as loud as the night before, but at least it wasn’t the shouted vulgarities they had come to expect being thrown around.
By morning, Jess was well rested, her head against her husband’s chest, their bare skin pressed against each other. Chris was still snoozing as Jess threw on her clothes and left the tent to use the bathroom.
Rubbing her eyes, she was about to step up off the grass onto the road when a figured moved into her path. She looked up straight into the eyes of her roadblock.
Mark was staring down at her, looking tired and a little angry. He’d had dark circles under his eyes before, but now they were like deep bruises of navy and purple.
“Where the hell is my girlfriend?”
“What? I don’t know,” Jess said taken aback at his wild-eyed appearance.
“Well, she didn’t come back last night, so she must be with you guys. She just fucking adored the two of you, so where is she? The tent?”
“No, she’s not in the goddamn tent. Have you lost your mind?”
Jess went to step around him, but he moved in front of her again. She glared up at him attempting to appear at least a bit menacing, but it was difficult when her head only came up to his chest. She hadn’t realized until now what a big guy he was until she stood facing him. He was bulky, but most of it was muscle.
“I don’t know where Steph is.”
Mark took a couple of steps toward her. She retreated the same amount only to find her back against a maple tree on the edge of the road. She went to turn and move around it when his hand shot out and blocked her path. His forearm was inches from her face.
“Don’t you fucking walk away from me,” he growled in her face. He had leaned in so close she could see the red veins in his eyes. His spit flew onto her cheek as he spoke. She winced and kept her face turned away.
Jess hoped Chris was awake and coming out of the tent right now. When there wasn’t any movement, she raised her voice. “You can’t talk to me like you talk to your girlfriend!” The moment the words left her mouth, she was genuinely afraid he’d hit her, maybe worse. It was absolutely no wonder that Steph had run off somewhere. She’d seen their fights move past verbal abuse and Steph was a small woman, especially compared to his size.
Mark stared menacingly down at her. She tried her best not to cower or shrink before him, but he leaned in even further toward her, his face millimeters from hers. Jess heard the tent rustle and knew Chris was getting up. Pushing off the tree with his arm, Mark stepped back and walked away toward his own site.
Jess took a huge breath and was glad they weren’t going to have to deal with the psycho couple after a couple more hours. Steph would come back, they’d pack their crap, and leave. Chris emerged from the tent wearing just shorts and looking ready to tear someone’s face off. When he saw Jess still pressed against the tree, her face scrunched with fear, he raced to her and wra
pped his arms around her.
“You okay? I heard you. Apparently just in time.”
Jess nodded into his shoulder, but still felt the tears rising in her eyes. She’d been really afraid and she’d never dealt with a situation like that in her life before. Chris’s bursts of anger involved him shutting down and stomping off to sulk. She’d never been one to get into fights at school or instigate intense arguments. She wondered if Chris would have been quick and strong enough to help her. Mark had looked downright animalistic.
Clutching at her husband’s clothes she sighed and squeezed him. A familiar icy rush was coursing through her veins. Panic attacks were something that had plagued her since she was a teen. It was part of why she tried to avoid being confrontational. Certain stresses could trigger panic attacks and high-strung arguments were one of them. She fought mentally against her own body as it screamed out from the inside that she was in danger and probably dying.
Chris rubbed her hair and held her close knowing from her silence and stiffness that she was close to a breakdown. The attacks never lasted a long time, but the effects after could be exhausting and could even trigger another one shortly after recovering. It was a vicious cycle that he had helped her fight so many times before. It was also a vicious cycle that he had sometimes caused and that hurt to know.
Her heartbeat started to return to normal and after blinking several times to clear the built-up tears that hadn’t been cried, she pieced herself back together and let go. Chris rubber her back, then gave her a quick kiss. It was a gesture he hoped conveyed a sort of congratulatory attitude toward her getting back to a baseline of normal before the worst of her personal storm could hit.
“We need to replenish our ice today,” Chris said quietly. Changing the topic was another thing she’d told him could help. A distraction from the looming devastation. Comforting her could only work so much, but forcibly distracting her frequently made a huge difference. “Everything in our cooler is melting faster than I thought it would. Let’s head into town and we’ll grab a bite to eat.”
Jess agreed weakly, still struggling to normalize, but grateful that she wasn’t alone. The numbness and cold inside her was receding and she tried to shake off the dark thoughts that were rolling around in her mind.
Jess knew that Chris wanted to waste enough time that when they came back they’d be scot-free of their atrocious neighbors. She wanted a little mini vacation away from the park although she was stunned that thought had crossed her mind.
Within an hour, they were driving away, down the open roads through the rolling green and tan fields. The country roads were full of pot holes that rattled the car as it went along. Some roads were practically down to dirt with a few chunks of asphalt still embedded here and there. Chris slalomed around them, Jess laughing and bracing herself each time she thought he’d hit one. As he tossed them back and forth, she shrieked with laughter, her hair flying in cascades around her face.
The sun stretched her rays across the sky, bathing the clouds in a wash of heavenly light. The cornfields and cabbage patches were picture perfect. The corn was about chest height in most fields and the most perfect shade of green imaginable. They had crossed over the parkway, avoiding it all together, heading straight south into the nearby town.
Pulling over at a roadside stand, they stocked up on firewood from a stand selling corn, tomatoes, and cords of logs wrapped together with twine. They dropped the money into the little metal box zip-tied to a PVC pipe with one end embedded into the ground. It cost almost a quarter of what the supermarket was charging when it came down to price per log and the amount of wood was nearly double what most store bundles offered.
The comfortable quiet continued as they drove into the next township almost 15 minutes further south. The college kids were out of the area during the off season. This meant that most of the activities in the area were for all ages instead of attempting to attract the hungry, drunk, and hungover part-time residents.
It was like Main Street USA, as they crossed the bridge to properly enter the downtown area. The buildings were two- or three-story brick structures with quaint little cloth overhangs above the first floor. The upper floors were all rented apartments, likely empty during July. The lower floors were all small local entrepreneurial businesses. Many of them were swanky, progressive art galleries and studios. Pottery was out on the sidewalk on tables. Canvases were lined up along street corners.
Jess felt deeply relaxed as they moved through the stop-and-go traffic caused by the pedestrians randomly meandering into the street. It would have been presumably faster to get out and walk.
After passing all the beautiful little stores with the busy customers hustling around with armfuls of artisan foods and handcrafted jewelry, they reached the Wal-Mart, parked in one of the only open spaces in the far back, and headed inside.
Over an hour later, they emerged with ice and the ingredients to make s’mores. The parking lot was as full as ever.
“If you hadn’t stopped to look at those t-shirts, we could have been out of there probably twenty minutes sooner.” Jess ripped open the top of the ice bag viciously and poured out its contents onto the food in the cooler.
“Then why did you say ‘Oh, sure, honey, go right ahead’ when I asked if you minded?”
“I didn’t think you’d take all day to do it!” Jess dumped the ice that wouldn’t fit out onto the ground.
“Now what are you doing?”
“I’m getting rid of what doesn’t fit. What do you think I’m doing?”
Chris moved around the car to have a look at the discarded ice. “I could have fit that. You shouldn’t have gotten rid of it.”
“It’s practically crushed. I doubt there’s any room left in the cooler anyway.”
They stood glaring at each other for a minute then Chris silently walked around the driver’s side door and got in. He needed to stop and think. He needed to slow down. He had to escape the situation, but he couldn’t leave her standing in the sun in a parking lot, so he knew that if he went back to pretending to fume she’d probably let him.
Jess threw herself into the passenger’s side. Jess brooded. So much for a relaxed little day trip to get away from the insanity they’d been experiencing. Her anger was more like a dragon in waiting, not a monster tearing apart its cage. She knew this wouldn’t set off a panic attacked. She’d just be pissed.
Chris pulled into a parking lot just off the main drag of downtown. Across the street was a diner that looked like it was a throwback to an older time. At the door, they greeted the waitress warmly, then proceeded to avoid eye contact with each other. After their drink order was taken, Chris put a hand out on the table.
“We shouldn’t be fighting like this,” he said trying to fix the damage. “We don’t want to be like Mark and Steph and here we are, acting like this over a trip to the store. I’m sorry, babe.” He genuinely didn’t want to fight with her. Despite their past arguments, she was a savior in his life and he truly loved her.
Jess turned to face him, prying her eyes away from crowded street. He seemed to be really sincere, but sometimes he would just give in if it meant she’d stop sulking and complaining. He’d told her as much before and it had, of course, launched her into a tirade. This felt genuine though and she thought his eyes said it best, whether he realized it or not. She’d never tell him though. When they did fight, she needed to know what his tells were so he couldn’t poker face his way into sucking up and trying to slip his way out of trouble. “I’m sorry, too.”
With a laugh, he added, “Our blood sugar was just low, right?”
Jess laughed along with him and put her hand on top of his. She wondered how long he’d wanted to say that. He’d probably been thinking of it since they’d gotten in the car at Wal-Mart, but he had probably mulled it over a thousand times to make it sounded as hilarious as he thought. “Not like we’re even in a rush to get back,” she said with a devilish smirk. Right as they were sitting down to order, the
site next door back at camp should be clearing out and the odd couple would almost definitely be driving through the checkout lane at the registration office.
As they ate the complimentary bread, two older women were seated at the table across the aisle from them.
“Oh my gosh, it’s on the news again,” said one of them pointing up at the single television screen mounted near the ceiling.
Jess looked up and saw a picture of a dark-haired young woman in what appeared to be a crummy driver’s license photo. The text at the bottom declared that she was missing for the second day in a row. Her car had been found with clear signs of a struggle about five miles from the entrance of the state park.
“Chris, check this out!” she said poking him in the hand as he reached for more bread.
He turned to look at the screen as they showed aerial footage of the road she had been found on and how close it was to the campground and the lake. The shot panned back down from showing Lake Ontario and focused on the dirt road below. A car was pulled far off to the side with black skidmarks showing the path the tires had taken and the driver’s side door was wide open. Jess wasn’t sure that constituted something that looked like a struggle, but from the air there wasn’t a lot of visible evidence of anything except an empty car on the side of the road.
The news continued to cover the story in depth, repeating and replaying everything from hard fact to speculation. For such a rural area, this was a big deal. People in the region basically never went missing and definitely never in such a supposedly violent way, though that was still only assumed. It was so unusual and no one had dug up any other instance of such a thing happening for as long as anyone could remember.
The police had begun a sweep of the area with search parties and dogs, but so far nothing had come to light. They had combed through the majority of the woods, but there was still no evidence that’s where the girl had ended up.
Officers were even searching the campgrounds going site to site and inspecting tents and campers. The cameraman focused in on policemen searching cars as they came and left the park.
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