SHAUNTI [2015 featured story]

Chapter Sixteen: The Strangers

If it had been any other noise, Knox would have remained sleeping, but having recalled he had drifted asleep in the snow, it was startling to hear the sound of a crackling fire.  Barely picking up his head, Knox’s eyes peeled open.  In front of him were a soft orange glow and a clothes rack.  Blinking, Knox pulled his elbows underneath him and sat up.  In repositioning, the sound of coiled springs squeaked beneath him and he was suddenly aware of heavy quilts cushioning around him.

“What is this?”  Knox mumbled, looking down at the patterned blankets thrown over him.  He quickly identified himself in a four-walled cabin with a lamp stationed between the bed and the wall.  Wherever he was, the host had access to electricity.  Perplexed, Knox heaved the covers off of him and started to get out of the bed before he noticed he wasn’t wearing anything.  Shocked, he pulled his limbs back under the covers and stared around helplessly.  Knox spotted his clothes drying on the clothes rack along with what appeared to be Jace’s clothes. 

As he sat huddled under the blankets, Knox didn’t notice the burly, bearded man in a thick green flannel coat and heavy snow boots enter the room.   A clear, baritone voice spoke to him.  “You’re awake.”

Knox jumped and shot his eyes in the direction of the man’s voice.  He pulled the covers higher under his chin and stared at him, speechless.  Knox wanted to ask him who he was, where he was, and where Jace was, but all that slipped from his mouth were short, timid breaths. 

“We found you and your friend lying by the lake.  You boys are fortunate to be even alive.”  The large man walked over to the clothes rack and squeezed the end of a sleeve to check the drying progress.  He had sad gray eyes and a wrinkled face that was caused more by the weather than age.  Turning to Knox, he rocked on his heels and sighed.  “What’s your name?”

“Knox.  My dad’s cabin isn’t far from the lake’s edge—,”

Rudely, the man cut him off.  “We’re far from the lake now, buddy.”

Straightening up, Knox felt the hairs on his neck stiffening.  A chill made his shoulders twitch.  “What do you mean?  Where are we?”  Knox’s head dropped in fatigue and he felt his stomach twist in hunger.  Bringing his knees up to his chest and pressing his arm around his abdomen, Knox tried to make himself more comfortable, but hunger was never something that could be comforted by mere pressure or mind games.  Before Knox picked up his head, his eyes caught sight of a bedside calendar.  “It’s Friday, isn’t it?”

“Friday night.  You boys were asleep for a few hours.  If we hadn’t gotten you warm and up here, you two would have been dead.”

“Jace is my friend.  How is he?”

The man clicked with his tongue and knelt in front of the fire.  Picking up another stick from a pile of kindling and chopped logs, he poked at the fire, sending embers popping in the air.  “He’s all right.  His left hand looks a little blue, but I think its fine—we warmed it up.”

“’We’?”  Knox emphasized.  His eyebrows rose in their famous pose of wonderment.  “Wait, what’s your name?”

“Jody is my name.  Grant is the fellow looking after your friend.  What are you doing out here…Knox?  Knox is your name, right?”

“Yeah.”  Knox didn’t like how Jody spoke his name—it was as if it was a bitter aftertaste on his tongue.

“That’s a strange name.  Don’t you have a middle name or something?”

“Lewis is my first name.  Knox is my dad’s surname.  And my friend and I were hiking and got caught in that blizzard.  What are you doing out here?  Do you live near the city?”