When Darkness Falls

Truth and lies

I walk back to Elizabeth, avoiding gazes and whispers no doubt meant for me. She is looking away from me and her arms are crossed, the ghost of a frown on her face. Sigh, I really screwed things up.

I reach her and an awkward silence surrounds us both, despite the noises and whispers going on around us. “Elizabeth…”

“Nothing was on your mind?” Her once warm eyes are cold as steel, and in them I can see the hurt my lie caused her. “Look Mark, I get that you can lie every once in a while, I’m not…” She pauses, “I’m not your wife. You don’t have to tell me everything that is on your mind every second of every day. But I hoped that after 7 years we had earned and gathered enough trust for us both to be able to tell each other things, no matter how crazy or big.”

I can’t say anything to argue with her. Why would I want to, and what could I say? She’s right, I should have trusted her, I should have just been honest with her. “You’re right Elizabeth, I’m sorry. I should have trusted you enough to tell you, but I was still trying to figure everything out, still trying to think of a way to say it, I just couldn’t think of a way to tell you. So I lied.”

She looks at me hard in the eyes, and I can tell she is figuring out what to say next. “You said it pretty clear cut up there, telling it in front of everybody.”

“Elizabeth, that was out of frustration. Jonas just got to me, pissed me off…”

“Always does.”

“…and I just blurted out the whole story. Look how well that turned out though, you heard how Anthony didn’t believe me; hell, no one does. On top of that, I’m being forced to go with them, into the same forest that William was murdered in front of my eyes! Oh, and as if to make matters worse, it’s at night!”

“So?” She asks, “Anthony is right, the kids would be able to see the lights better.”

“Really Elizabeth?”

“Really Mark.”

I pull myself back and turn around, running my hands through my hair and letting out an anxious laugh.

“What’s so funny? You kept this from everyone! From me!”

“It happened last night! What was I supposed to do? Call you at 3 in the morning and tell you what happened, just to have you not believe me like everyone else here?”

“You don’t know that.” She says, avoiding my eyes.

“Then please, tell me I’m wrong.”

There was another awkward silence, and soon she let out a sigh. “Mark, do you realize how crazy it sounds?”

“People think it’s crazy I talk to Zeus, but you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, well Zeus is adorable Mark, you can’t help it.” She replies, a faint smile at the edges of her lips.

“Elizabeth, do you know why I think it’s a bad idea for us to go out at night?”

“Why?”

“Look around you, what do you see?”

She takes a look around her, and after a quick 360 turn she looks back at me and says, “Fog, so?”

“When’s the last time you saw it this thick? I was walking here earlier and I couldn’t make out any defining features of houses on either side of the street. Judging from how long ago that way, I’d say it only got worse.”

“Mark…”

“That forest is dark, you, me, the whole town knows it! Flashlights would help, sure, without this fog. If I could barely see houses 20 feet from me, how can I, or anyone for that matter, expect to see in that damned forest?”