“I think I’d be stupid and broken if I didn’t.”
I smile down at my fish, unable to contain my glee. “Me too.”
He lunges for another fish and this time gets it through its tail. I almost feel bad for it when he has to bash it against a rock to finish the job. But he finally has a fish.
“Well done,” I praise and drop mine into the bucket. He throws his over and I move the bucket in its path to catch that one too. We walk along opposite sides of the stream, headed for the shack and the rocks that create a slippery path across. “So… I was thinking about staying.”
His eyes are guarded, as though daring not to hope. “You think it’s possible?”
“Well, I just thought… and it’s just a crazy fucking thought… but…” I chew on my lip. “I want to stay with you. What if we do the adult thing? There are small cabins, trailers, and even houses for sale on the res. Maybe we can look into getting one together?” Before he can shoot me down, I add, “I know we hardly fucking know each other, but I’m all about the adventure and—”
“What about your sister?”
Right. My sister. “I don’t know yet. I’d have to speak to her.” I almost let myself be hopeful and human for a moment then. I almost forgot about all the things I’ve done and who I am.
How long until the police catch up to us? How long until I’m thrown into a maximum-security prison? Could Nok ever love me if he knew what I’d helped my sister do?
But what if they never figure it out and my sister dies of her illness and I’m left alone for the rest of my life? Do I deserve it? Sure, I had nothing to do with it when she was doing what she felt she must to innocents for kicks, but I was an accomplice after that.
What do people get in prison for being an accomplice to that these days?
“I don’t want to freak you out, so act natural,” Nok says suddenly, his fake smile in place but his tone deep and dark. “Remember you said that there was a man watching us before?”
I nod once, also smiling.
“He’s standing twenty feet away, watching us. Don’t look. Not until I can get across and protect you.”
Of course I look. I couldn’t stop myself if I tried and sure enough there he is, the exact same guy as before, standing in the shadows, watching us from under a hood. My heart starts to race. A cold chill tickles my spine, putting me on the alert.
I can hardly breathe.
I drop the bucket and hold the spear like a weapon.
“For fuck’s sake, you just couldn’t wait, could you?” Nok hisses and I hear him start to run.
“Who the hell are you? You creepy bastard!” I yell, taking a step towards the faceless shadow man. “Come out before I come to you with my sharp pointy thing.”
The man smiles, an evil grin that flashes a sharp white tooth and makes his eyes look as if they’re glowing red.
My breath catches in my throat and fear unlike any I’ve felt before courses through me. But I’ve made fear my bitch in the past and this time is no different.
I stand my ground, staring him out, keeping my eyes on him so he doesn’t evade me.
“I swear I’m going to jab you through your fucking eye, you pervert,” I bellow and it echoes all around.
He raises his hand and wags his long, pasty-looking fingers. I glance at Nok when I hear his foot slip off a rock and splash in the water. He rights himself, but when I turn back, the man is gone.
FUCK!
Where has he gone?
Nok finally joins me, his own spear raised.
“Where’d he go?” he asks, panting.
I shrug and venture deeper into the trees, cautious of my surroundings. I’m not scared anymore, not really, I’m just pissed off. Unless he has a gun, he’s got no chance against us both with long sharp spears.
How the hell did he vanish so quickly?
“I bet he just comes to watch us fuck,” Nok suggests on a whisper. “I don’t want to turn my back to the trees now. I feel like we’re being watched.”
“How often does he watch us to know when we’re coming out here is what I want to know?” I sigh and lower my spear a fraction. We kick the ground around where the man was standing. “No footprints. Who the hell is this prick?” I cup a hand to my face. “You fucking scaredy-cat pussy. Run while you still can, asshole.”
We look around, listening to the wind in the leaves, the running stream, the cries of animals in the distance. I don’t pick up a footstep or a cough, or anything for that matter. Nothing remotely human.
“We should probably stop coming out here for a while.” Nok takes hold of my bicep and guides me back to our things. I constantly look over my shoulder and so does he. “Does he still remind you of your dad?”
I shake my head. “Not even a little bit.”
“Good.” He kicks a rock across the ground. “Now we can’t have tree sex.”
“That’s okay. I’ll give you a blowy in the bathroom after dinner.”
Hooking his arm around my shoulder he admits, “And this is why I would be stupid not to love you.”
“I feel very privileged for a white chick.”
“As you should.”
We head to his house, mindful of our surroundings and lock the door to his house behind us. Nok’s dad greets us and kisses both of my cheeks. He tells me how good it is to see me, and I return the sentiment. But then he and Nok discuss the man that Nok admits he thought was a figment of his imagination and to say the mood darkens would be an understatement.
“A flash of a tooth you said?” he asks me, frowning with thought.
I nod. “Like the light hit the point just right. He was far away but not so far that I couldn’t see it.”
Nok snorts so I punch him in the arm.
“Don’t ridicule your friends, son,” Dasan chastises. “They’ll stop confiding in you.”
“Oh heaven forbid she never tells me about pointy-toothed, disappearing men again,” he responds with a heavy amount of sarcasm.
I punch him again and his dad chuckles.
Then I ask, “You were going to tell us something?”
He smiles deviously. “It might keep you up at night.”
“I doubt it.” I sit at the small round table after washing my hands and watch Dasan season another fish and double-coat mine.
I’m guessing I didn’t do as good a job as I thought.
“Well, we have a scary story about these woods.”
“Daaaad,” Nokosi whines, crossing his eyes at me. He looks so young and boyish in this moment. “It wasn’t like that. This was a real guy. I saw him myself.”
“What scary story?” I ask with excitement and unwavering focus.
“Well, it goes something like…” He clears his throat and turns to give us his full attention. “In the depth of the brush and the thick of the trees, a demon of hellfire will come if one needs. He lives in the shadows, he hides from the sun, looking and longing and waiting for one. One who is desperate, one who’s not sane, one to die so they can live again, but it comes at a price, your life will be lost, your soul will be owned by the devil his cost. But then you’ll have riches and all his gifts, a life of grandeur, but with shackled wrists. You will belong to the demon, you will belong to the fire, you will belong to the devil, now a slave to your sire.”