The Wild

-5- Wolves and Gunshots

"Yeah, I broke into their house to check out if something was wrong. I think she just left town for a bit. Maybe she went to visit that family in Easton." Easton was the larger town that seemed to grow a little bit every year. Mr. Harris lived over that way, and so did the large farmers markets that were huge attractions in the summer and fall. Even if a lot of people went to those farmers markets, there still weren't many new visitors here in Stillwater.

"You broke into their house? Wow. Sounds like I missed out on quite the adventure." Yeah, ya did.

"Trust me, you wouldn't've wanted to be there. Speaking of bad experiences, how was that biker gang that came in this morning?" I inquired, reminded of that kid Brian who took it upon himself to indulge in conversation with me. It was easy then to remember his dark, hollow irises that oddly resembled bits of coal dipped in clear glue. Whatever color light shined on them, they resembled. Otherwise they were black.

"Oh, those guys? Kinda wish one of 'em would've asked me to ride off into the sunset on one of their motorcycles. They wouldn't give me the time of day. Didn't stick around long," she explained. Oh yeah, because they were too busy tracking ME down.

I debated telling her, and to work myself up to it, I took down two wine glasses from one of the cabinets and dipped into her assortment of cheep, yet fancy, alcoholic beverages. After taking a sip from my glass and feeling the liquid burn down my throat, I cleared my voice and spoke up, "Can I tell you something?"

"Sure."

"Promise not to freak out?" She gave me a strange look, so I pushed her glass of wine over and she obediently took a sip. "I met one of those biker guys outside of the Karsten's shop." Her eyes widened, but not enough to say she was overly surprised. It was almost as if they'd taken over the town within a day.

"And?" she inquired, almost impatiently, as she sipped from her glass of wine again and began washing her hands.

"Him and his buddies followed me back to my cabin. This guy I met, Tyler, nearly made me fall to my death off my roof before I came here." I probably should've waited until she finished swallowing her wine. She lurched forward, nearly choking before the red wine spewed from her mouth and dribbled into the sink. As she wiped her mouth clean, she coughed and looked at me with eyes larger than life.

"Oh my God, why? What the hell?" she exclaimed abruptly. "Did you kill one of their pals and they're coming after you or what?!"

I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head. "No, it wasn't anything like that. I don't know what any of it was, so don't ask me for those details." As the information I just gave her began to sink in, we leaned against the back of the living room couch and listened to the television playing behind us and the sound of rain pattering against the window in front of us.

Eventually I sat up on the back of the couch and lifted my feet up onto the counter while she served dinner. A firm expression was set on her face as she worked, until finally we were set to feast on the couch. Taking my glass of wine with me, I walked around to the other side of the couch and sat down, Amaya beside me.

"You weren't joking about any of that?" she said quietly, stabbing her fork into a bundle of lettuce. I shook my head. "Whoa. Explain everything from the beginning."

And so I told her the entire story, including the part where I did, in fact, break into the Karsten house. It was unfortunate that I did, in fact, work tomorrow morning. The last thing I wanted to do was go to town and have another run in with those biker guys. But then again, it was terrifying being alone in my house, or even out here in the wilderness where they could track me down again. Perhaps being around a lot of people would help the stress.