“So, you are telling me he went from that shaking fit to being fine again?” Ashley turned on her high beams, wanting to see the gravel road better. “But he looked so sick!”
“He said he gets those shaking fits every now and then.”
“It was scary,” Ashley proclaimed. “Like something out of a movie.”
“I know, but apparently it’s a condition.”
“He’s a real nutter!” My friend laughed aloud, thoroughly amused by the news I relayed to her. “And here I am stressing about you and him. So, he’s fine?”
“He looked healthy when I left him,” I assured her. “Too healthy.”
“What do you mean?”
“He was talking about having a sudden surge of energy,” I explained as I scratched at the top of my head. “Watch that pothole!”
Ashley managed to evade it, though she was less than pleased by the state of the road. “I swear they want me to get a flat tire,” she grunted.
“Anyways, he had all this energy. He was different, you know.”
“No.”
“It’s an expression,” I clarified, “like he suddenly became confident and took charge of the situation.”
“He finally kissed you.”
“He threw rationale into the wind and just went in.”
“Yeah, but it makes you wonder why he was holding back for so long.”
“I guess he got his heart broken,” I suggested, as Ashley pulled up to our cabin. “What else could it be?”
“He has a secret wife locked away somewhere.”
“No.”
She cracked open the door and slipped out the car, striding towards our front door confidently. A blackened sky hung over us now, the bright lights of the stars was a sure sign that night had finally fallen upon us. “You think we should visit the boys before we turn in?”
“I’m sure they want some alone time,” I assured her. “You know how Taylor is.”
“Super affectionate,” she laughed as she thrust the key into the lock. We entered the small cabin, prying off our shoes to slowly make our way into the small living space. It was tiny, a meagre couch that could barely fit the two of us together. I opted for sitting on the edge of my bed, allowing my friend to have the whole couch to herself. I sniffled into the air, taken back by the coldness of the cabin. There was no television present and no Wi-Fi, so my mind suddenly became stumped on what to do next.
“He is weird though,” I suddenly rapped out. “Damian.”
“Yeah.”
“Like he is hiding something.”
“You think?”
“Does he strike you as the kind of guy that goes hunting?”
“Not really.”
“That’s what I thought too.” I hopped off the bed and went over to my small bag of belongings. “He’s got this huge gun case in his back seat and a hunting knife.”
“Maybe he does hunt,” my friend offered.
“I know he fishes, since he asked me to do it tomorrow.”
“How romantic,” Ashley teased, which made me roll my eyes at her. “A fishing date.”
“He’s country folk,” I taunted back, which made Ashley burst out in laughter. “Okay, I admit that would be a pretty bad date.”
“Well you would be stuck on the boat with him for hours so …”
“Oh, don’t get any ideas!”
“When’s the last time you got fucked Sara?”
“Mind your fucking business,” I argued back, ignoring her laughter as I strode over to the bathroom with my pajamas in hand. “And I’m not answering your question.”
***
The bath was just as soothing as I imagined it to be, tiny rose petals flaked off the bath bomb to go fluttering over the glossy water. I leaned my head against the tiled wall and breathed in deeply, feeling like I could finally unwind after a long day. It was difficult though, I kept picturing the way Damian was violently shaking, it left me feeling uneasy about the whole situation.
A knock on the door was a blessed relief. I turned my head to the right only to see the corner of the wall obstructing my view. “Yes?”
“I have the wine ready for you,” Ashley called out from the other side of the doorway. “And he gave us this nice tasting baguette.”
“Oh?” I mouthed out with surprise.
“It is really fresh! He must have bought it recently. Do you think he baked it?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s really good,” Ashley said with a stuffed mouth. I nearly chuckled at her, knowing she was probably eating it on the other side of the door. “Enjoy your bath!” she called out, and then she left me to my own musings.
That was nice of him, I thought. He obviously likes me.
My wet hand rested over the top of my mouth, sliding across my bottom lip. God, I haven’t been kissed like that in a while.
There was another knock on the door, which made me laugh in good humour. “Yes?”
“He brought us ham.”
“Okay?”
“Like the good kind,” Ashley exclaimed with happiness. “And cheese!”
“Okay,” I chuckled, for I found her so amusing.
“You told me Damian only brought us snacks.” I rolled my eyes and decided it was best to get out of the tub, seeing I would not have a moment to relax anytime soon. “This isn’t snacks, Sara!”
“That is what he told me,” I fought back as I began to towel myself off.
“Snacks are chips and candy.” I couldn’t help but laugh at my friend’s statement. “You think Damian is rich? I mean, he is old enough.”
“I don’t know.”
“What if this is all a disguise, you know, and he is sitting on a wad of cash.”
“I don’t know.”
“It would make sense.”
I attempted to look in the mirror, but it was too foggy from the heat. My bathrobe was thrown on instead, and with some reluctance I propped open the door. “Yes, I am here,” I sighed out, since Ashley had no intention of leaving me alone tonight.
“That was fast.” I strode past her to get to my rucksack bag, zipping up a small flap to unearth some body cream.
“Have you seen all the stuff he gave us?”
“Yeah,” I drawled out listlessly.
“Damian likes you, Sara.”
“I can tell,” Ashley lightly laughed to cover up her nerves.
“I mean, really likes you,” she said with extra emphasis. “Who cares if he is a little weird, I say this one is a keeper.” She picked up the bottle of wine and strode towards me, ignoring the fact that I was applying the cream to my legs. “Look!”
“Wine.”
“Yes, wine.” She shook her head at me. “You see this! It cost money, and I mean a lot of money.”
“Alright,” I giggled with my hand over the front of my mouth.
“And he gives it to you willingly, and he isn’t even here to share it.” Ashley placed the bottle down on the bed stand and took a hold of my hand. “Listen to me! You can go on a trail walk any day.”
“Ashley,” I groaned in a dangerously deep tone of voice.
“Let me stay with the boys!” she shouted out. “I want you to have some fun.”
“But you’re my friends.”
“Look!” She pointed at the things Damian had gifted me. “What kind of guy does this on day one?”
She has a point.
“It is not even twenty-four hours yet,” Ashley said with glee. “Think about it!”
I turned my head away from her to cover my quick eye roll. “Okay,” was muttered from the corner of my mouth. I knew Ashley had to have her own way. She was the type of person with a Type A personality, a desire to control every feature of people’s lives, and quite frankly I did not have the strength to fight her on this one today.
“You like him,” Ashley gently reminded me with a gentle squeeze over my hand. “And you said the making out bit was hot, right?”
“Yeah.”
She tilted her head at me and it was enough to get me to submit to her whims.
“I swear it’s like pulling teeth with you.” She grabbed a hold of the wine bottle and settled it somewhere safer. “Join me at the table,” she suggested, and then pointed at an empty paper plate where she laid out food for me. “It’s a feast, Sara! As if you didn’t have enough with that big slab of salmon.”
“You saw that, did you?”
“It was bigger than his,” she pointed out with disbelief. Ashley appeared happy once I sat down beside her, offering me a tall glass of wine in celebration. “Who knew what bright blue eyes and gorgeous red hair would do to a man?”
“You are one to talk.”
“Why thank you,” she teased, and tossed out her long, brown hair with newly dyed golden highlights to prove a point. “But clearly I have no effect on Damian.”
“He isn’t even your type!” I yelled back. “You can’t have them all.”
“Nope,” she mouthed over the rim of her glass. “Tell me what you think of the wine.”
“Alright.”
Ashley kept a careful eye on me as I sipped on the dark substance. I let it slide over my tongue to feel the weight of it at the back of my mouth. “A bit tart,” I unexpectedly pointed out. “Has a sweet fruity taste to it as well.”
“Pomegranate?” my friend guessed. “It isn’t bad though.”
“It’s seductive,” I teased with an arched eyebrow. “I think Damian is trying to tell me something.” We both laughed at that, and then set aside our glasses to try the food as well.
We were well into our meals when Ashley gave me some unexpected news. “You know how I suggested you don’t look this place up online?”
“Yes.”
“I did it for a reason.”
“Go on,” I urged her with a stuffed mouth.
She nibbled on the end of her bread, deliberating something in her mind before she swallowed it down with a cautious air about her. “This place is known for having gruesome deaths.”
“This is a joke.”
“No.”
“You’re joking.”
“No.”
I laid my food aside and carefully looked at her. “What kind of gruesome deaths?”
“There is this running joke that its bigfoot, but it’s not.”
“Go on.”
“People are basically mauled to death.”
“And you took me here because …”
“It won’t happen to us,” she said with energy. “As long as we don’t go outside.”
“I don’t understand you! Why would you bring me here?”
“Because it’s Halloween, Sara!” She used her hand to lightly push me away from her. “What is better than that?”
“So, my life is in danger?”
“We are safe here.”
“Yeah, but …” I heard a howl coming from outside our cabin, a distant one that was eerie as well as thrilling to behold. “Wolves.”
“Wolf,” she corrected me. “That was one howl.”
“Damian said there were wolves.”
“Oh,” she mouthed with a guilty look.
The two of us became rather nervous, neither of us holding eye contact for very long. “You took me to a place where people get mauled to death,” I reminded her. “I’ll never forgive you for this.”
She offered me a sheepish grin, all too happy to see me in an irritated mood.
“So, you want to go outside and check it out?”
“I’ll let you go out, and then lock the door behind you,” I warned.
“It could be fun.”
“You’re an idiot,” I realized. “Taking me all the way out here and—”
“You said you wanted to go camping!” she quickly interrupted.
“Yeah, and not get attacked by some wild animals.” Another howl sounded through the forest, but luckily it was far enough to not have me worried. “I like being in nature, it’s all I’ve ever known growing up. You know how sad I am to be so far from home, so you know how much this means to me.” Ashley sighed, realizing how truly angry I was at her. “Is this why you were so determined to stay here when Damian told us to leave? There was more to this story than you led on! Is your brother in the loop too?”
“A little.”
I shook my head at her and then raised up my glass of wine. “I can’t believe you.”
“It doesn’t happen that often,” she complained. “Only in the woods, and we aren’t in the woods, are we?”
“No.”
“We are safely tucked away in our cabin, so there is nothing to worry about.” Another howl sounded after her statement, a different kind that we weren’t used too. “I think there are two of them.”
“Eat your food,” I ordered. “Leave no trace of the food and then bed. You remember those claw marks on Damian’s door? I’m not letting that happen to us.”
“We can stay at his place if you’d like,” she teased, and I never felt more of an urge to slap her as I did now. “Okay, I will stop talking. Geez, you should see the look in your eyes.”
“You know I don’t like scary things.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“You know this,” I emphasized with a shrill to my voice.
“You and your fairy tales,” she deeply sighed out, and then excused herself to go to the washroom.
I like my fairy tales, I thought, although she does have a point.