***
Melissa’s body ached all over from spending the night tied to an overturned rocking chair. Her shoulder joints complained most pronouncedly as her arms were bound behind her, straining the fragile tissue of her rotator cuffs. Her head ached as well, and her sinuses burned from hours of crying interspersed with light dozing.
Her tears were born of despair rather than fear. She had grown rather confident that the monster did not intend to kill her or harm her. She simply did not know what he wanted. But she knew no one would be looking for her; her father was on an Indian reservation in Connecticut playing in a poker tournament and wouldn’t return for at least two more days, Alexandra and Daniella would have assumed she wanted time alone and would have given up calling her hours earlier and beyond that, there was no one else in her life to care about her whereabouts.
Just as a fresh wave of tears began, the creature returned from its hiding place in the kitchen. It looked at her sympathetically. It appeared to possess some form of compassion, of kindness.
“What’s your name?” she asked in a soft voice.
It did not answer but gestured by shaking its head from side to side implying that it did not have a name.
“You don’t have a name?”
It nodded somberly.
“That’s very sad, to not have a name I mean. We will have to give you a name.”
It seemed to brighten at the idea of being named, bobbing its head enthusiastically like a child who’d just been asked if he’d like ice cream and cookies for dinner. Melissa did not share its enthusiasm but wanted to gain its trust in an effort to get it to release her. Its response indicated that she was making progress. It began to gesture again.
Curling all of the webbed fingers except for one on each hand, it began gesturing animatedly. It used its forefinger on both hands and it began pointing and smiling broadly. It then alternated between pointing at her and hugging itself, a gesture she assumed indicated some kind of affection it possessed for her, or hoped she possessed for it. She could not be sure of the exact significance of the gesturing so she decided to ask.
“Friends? Is that what you’re trying to say? You want to be friends?” She asked.
It nodded with conviction.
“With me?”
It nodded excitedly and grinned.
“We can be friends.”
It clapped its hands in front of its chest and beamed.
“The only problem is, friends don’t tie each other to chairs and hold each other prisoner.”
Its face drooped immediately and it lowered its gaze to the floor, allowing its chin to rest on its chest as if ashamed.
“If you really want to be my friend, you need to let me go. You know that, right?” Melissa said in a soothing voice.
It slowly shook its head up and down and stepped cautiously toward her. Melissa’s heart began to race. She would be freed in a matter of minutes.
A loud banging at the front door interrupted her brief hopefulness.
The monster, seemingly startled by the sound, dashed behind the couch and cowered.
“Melissa!” a familiar voice called out from outside. “Melissa!”
“I’m in here!” Melissa yelled back to Alexandra.
Suddenly, the front door opened and a dark shape burst across the threshold followed by two others. The monster darted from its concealment behind the couch and scrambled across the living-room floor into the kitchen.
“Oh my God! Are you okay?” Alexandra asked then leaned down and fumbled with the rope at her wrists. “Who the hell did this to you?”
Before Melissa could answer her friend’s question, she saw another familiar face. The exquisite planes of his face were highlighted by the waning sunlight in the dim living room and his sapphire eyes stared at her with concern, with love. Her breath caught in her chest and her eyes filled with tears as she realized Gabriel stood in her late neighbor’s living room.
“Gabriel! You’re here!” she said breathlessly. “I can’t believe it!”
Gabriel put his forefinger to his lips to quiet her then knelt down and whispered, “Is whoever did this to you still here?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Where?” he asked. His voice was a low rumble, threatening; his eyes suddenly steely, dangerous.
“In the kitchen, but it did not hurt me.”
A loud racket from the kitchen distracted their reunion. Pots and pans could be heard thudding and thumping against the vinyl flooring as well as boxes and what Melissa guessed to be canned goods falling to the floor and rolling about. Gabriel was crouched over her protectively and froze. His stillness was extraordinary but disconcerting as Melissa could not discern if he breathed. He remained motionless for several seconds before he rose to his feet, poised and ready to confront the creature he had yet to see that took cover in the kitchen. More sounds arose from beyond the living room. Gabriel began creeping toward to entryway, moving toward the noise.
Unexpectedly, the commotion in the kitchen ceased and a large shape emerged and dashed past them out the sliding glass doors. Melissa noticed how it moved with impossible swiftness despite its massive size from the deck and across the backyard and into the surrounding woods. Gabriel shook off his initial surprise and immediately moved to chase the creature.
“No, Gabriel! Don’t!” she pleaded.
Gabriel stopped and turned to look at her quizzically.
“It didn’t hurt me. It could have. Believe me, it could have killed me; it had plenty of opportunities. But it didn’t even want to hurt me.”
Gabriel, still looking perplexed, shifted his focus from the creature that blasted past him to the ropes around her wrists and ankles and began to untie her.
“What the fuck was that?” Alexandra asked stunned and unmoving.
“That was what grabbed me from my room and took me here.”
“I’ve never seen anything so big move so fast,” Yoshi commented.
Gabriel seemed to ignore both Alexandra and Yoshi. Instead, he concentrated on her.
“Let’s get you out of here,” Gabriel breathed.
“I didn’t think you’d ever come back,” Melissa said. She knew her comment was random, inappropriate even, but the words poured from her as if by their own volition, reflexively, involuntarily.
Gabriel met her gaze. He knit his brow and his beautiful features contorted into a pained expression. “Of course I was coming back. I could never leave you for good.”
Melissa felt a tear stream down her cheek. She felt shamed by her exasperation at his necessary absence and for doubting the promise he’d made her. His pained expression relaxed and he wrapped his arms around her and the rocking chair she was tethered to.
“I’ve missed you so much!” he said embracing her tightly.
“Wow that hurts!” The words escaped her lips reflexively as his firm grip aggravated her tender arms. She regretted them as soon as they were spoken. Being wrapped in Gabriel’s arms surpassed the brief pain that shot from her shoulders to her wrists; his affection was well worth the pain.
“Oh sorry,” Gabriel replied sheepishly and relaxed his arms. “I didn’t realize, I mean, I wasn’t thinking,” he fumbled. “Let me get you out of there.”
“Thanks,” Melissa said but was saddened to be released from his embrace.
Gabriel moved behind her and began unraveling the ropes around her wrists.
“By the way, Melissa, this is Yoshi,” Gabriel said and pointed to a small man of Asian descent. Melissa guessed him to be around the same age as she and Alexandra.
“Nice to meet you,” Yoshi said with a slight accent she could not place. “I’ve heard a lot about you.” His almond-shaped eyes danced with delight and the dark-brown of his irises seemed to twinkle at his last statement. Gabriel shot him a look of warning. Melissa had no idea what inside joke or secret they shared but knew it was amicable.
“Wow, these knot
s are impressive,” he said returning to the task at hand. “Melissa, did you know who he was? I didn’t get a look at him as he flew past me.”
“What is a better question. That thing that was in the kitchen that tied me up. You wouldn’t believe your eyes if you saw it.” She immediately rethought her statement and recalled that he had been with her when she had glimpsed the creature in the tank, the same creature that kidnapped her and cowered in the next room just seconds earlier. “Wait a second! You’ve seen it before, the night you made me dinner and we went to the lab afterward, remember? It looked like a giant fetus. That was him, and he hasn’t really changed much except for now he’s huge and has arms and legs, big arms and legs.”
She looked over her shoulder at Gabriel. His hands stopped moving as recognition flashed in his eyes. He narrowed them at her, his long, raven lashes slightly veiling the azure of his irises. He clenched his jaw tightly, she could see the muscles of surrounding it flexing as he set it resolutely.
“Terzini,” he growled. “Terzini sent it to kill you.”
Melissa could feel his mounting anger, the palpability of his need for vengeance.
“No Gabriel. This thing didn’t want to kill me,” she said softly. “Like I said before, it had plenty of chances to kill me, trust me. It had me here all night. If it was going to kill me, it would have. So if Terzini sent the creature to do that, it would have.”
“Then why is it loose? Why would he take it out of the development tank? What would be the reason if not to benefit him and his purposes?”
“I have no idea.”
Gabriel’s hands began to move again untying the knots.
“Wow, these knots are tight.”
“I know,” she said barely able to wiggle her hands. “But who cares about the knots. When did you get here?”
Gabriel paused a moment then quietly said, “Yesterday.”
“Really? Why didn’t you come right over?” she asked then silently chastised herself for being so forward. She felt her cheeks warm and was certain that scarlet streaks colored her cheeks. “I mean, I would have liked it if you came.”
“I did come, but you were,” Gabriel paused again before adding, “busy.”
“Busy? You mean in school?”
“No. Busy with someone.”
“Oh Gabriel cut the shit already!” Alexandra chimed in as she walked to the far corner of the room with her arms positioned angrily on her hips. “He came to the house and saw you with Eric Sala and thinks something was going on between you two.”
“Thanks Alex,” he said curtly then turned to Melissa. His expression softened visibly.
“Melissa, I don’t know how to tell you this,” he began then took a deep breath and continued, “but your boyfriend Eric is dead.”
“He’s dead?” she asked incredulously. “Wait, my boyfriend? Are you crazy?”
Gabriel did not respond. He was completely still. His silence allowed for the gravity of what he’d told her to settle upon her. She felt dizzy and nauseated. The culmination of everything that had happened that day still swirled in her mind. Eric’s death added to the confusion, to the horror. In her heart, she knew what had happened. Gabriel did not need to tell her, yet she asked anyway.
“Eric is dead? How do you know? When did it happen?” Melissa asked.
Gabriel explained everything that had happened earlier, how he’d gone back to his old house and found Eric’s body and then encountered Kevin, Chris and John. She listened intently and did not blink as he recounted each detail. She could not find words capable of articulating the shock and panic she was feeling just the release of her arms from their binding as Gabriel unraveled the last loop. Her arms felt stiff and achy. She wrapped them around her body and massaged her shoulders, hugging herself in an attempt to physically hold herself together.
“I knew they’d get to him. And so did he,” she murmured.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Alexandra asked.
“Eric came to my house last night, told me he was afraid of Kevin, Chris and John, that they’d changed since they came back. He knew he was in danger; he even broke down and cried, he was so terrified. He trusted me enough to tell me and now he’s dead.” Emotion made her voice falter.
“Melisa, I’m so sorry for your loss,” Gabriel said.
“So you weren’t with him,” Alexandra said looking at Gabriel. “Eric wasn’t your boyfriend or anything.”
“No, never!” Melissa said quickly. “After everything he put me through, I didn’t even want to let him in my house. The only reason I did was because my dad was home and in the room across the hall from us. I still feel sad that he’s dead even though I didn’t like him.”
“And then there was Gabriel spying from the roof of your garage,” Alexandra added sarcastically.
“And me, too,” Yoshi chimed in.
“What? Was there a party on my garage roof and I didn’t get an invite?” Melissa attempted sarcastic humor. Her effort fell flat as everyone looked to her curiously.
“So you and Eric weren’t a couple?” Alexandra persisted.
“No, I feel bad that he’s dead, that he came to me and I couldn’t help, but, no, we were not a couple.” Melissa answered.
“See, Gabriel. What did I tell you?”
Gabriel moved to Melissa’s feet and began untangling the rope around her ankles.
“Wait a second. Gabriel, you came to my house, saw me with Eric and left because you thought he was my boyfriend?”
“You were hugging,” he said quietly. “What was I supposed to think?”
“I hug my grandmother, doesn’t mean were dating,” Alexandra snapped.
Yoshi laughed aloud, a deep, throaty laugh inconsistent with his diminutive stature.
Alexandra was about to sit down in a dramatic display of annoyance when she looked over her shoulder and saw Melissa’s deceased neighbor.
“What the fuck!” she exclaimed her voice a shrill scream that left Melissa’s ears ringing. “Is she dead?”
Alexandra bent forward and moved closer to where Miss Harriet lay face down in a pool of her own blood. “Oh my God,” she gasped.
Gabriel sprung to his feet and moved to where Alexandra stood.
“That thing was clearly not harmless,” he said looking from Miss Harriet to Melissa. “You’re lucky to be alive.”
“We have to call the cops,” Alexandra said. “Eric, Miss Harriet, there’s murder all around us. We need to call the cops.”
Gabriel ran a hand through his thick russet hair. “We can’t Alexandra. How would we explain all of this,” he said spreading his arms out at his sides. “Monsters killing an old lady, teenage boys who were previously presumed dead returning only to kill one of their former friends; it’s all too crazy. The cops would never believe us. They would think we were involved.”
Melissa knew why calling the police was not an option, could not allow her face to reveal her privileged information.
“Whatever we do, I’m not staying here with a dead body. Let’s get the hell out of here,” Alexandra said tearfully.
“I’m with Alex, I don’t want to be here another second,” Melissa agreed.
“Fine let’s go,” he said and began turning off the lamps in the living room, then the lights in the kitchen.
As they moved to the front door, headlights illuminated the kitchen window briefly, sweeping across the front of Miss Harriet’s house. Melissa parted the closed curtains that concealed the window and saw a vehicle in her driveway. She strained to see the make and model to identify who could be arriving at her house just as the motion-detecting lights above the garage came on and exposed a patrol car.
Yoshi’s hand was on the doorknob about to turn it.
“Stop,” Melissa ordered him. “Don’t open the door. There’s a cop car in my driveway.”
Yoshi backed away from the door as if it were on fire.
&n
bsp; “Sorry,” she added. “I didn’t mean to be so rude but there’s a cop in town who has been harassing me about Gabriel and his involvement in the whole Kevin thing.”
“You never told me about that,” Gabriel said.
“I haven’t spoken to you in so long,” she replied. “And when we did get to talk, I had other things I wanted to say to you.”
“Why is he here now?” Gabriel asked.
“He probably thought up more questions to ask to try and break my story. He thinks I’m lying about what I said I saw in the woods, about thinking Kevin and the others were dead.”
“Huh,” Gabriel said pensively then stood beside Melissa to peer out the window.
Gabriel’s arm was touching her sore shoulder, the heat of his body warmed it, soothed it. He bent down and leaned forward, his face was positioned so that they were nearly cheek to cheek, as he watched the police cruiser, waiting for the officer to emerge. She could hear the soft whirr of his breathing, its lulling rhythm. She turned her eyes from the cop car and looked to Gabriel. He was focused, concentrating on the parked car. She allowed herself only a fleeting glance, a glimpse of his full lips before returning her attention to the suspicious activity in her driveway. In spite of all that she’d endured in the last twenty-four hours, in the past five months, her stomach still quivered in such close proximity of him.
“There’s a light on in the car,” Gabriel whispered. “Someone’s getting out.”
“That cop, he’s huge. That’s definitely not Officer Miller,” she observed.
They watched as the hulking officer placed a Stetson atop his head and strode to her front door. Melissa waited for him to return to his car after he rang the bell and found that no one was home. But he did not return immediately.
“What’s going on? How many times is he going to ring the doorbell?” Alexandra asked.
“I’m not sure what’s going on,” Gabriel replied.
“Do you think he let himself in?” Melissa asked.
“He would have to have a reason. Police officers can’t just barge into your house when you’re not home,” Gabriel answered.
Alexandra began to pace about the kitchen. Yoshi maintained his post at the front door. And Melissa and Gabriel watched and waited for the police officer to return to his cruiser for what seemed like an eternity.
After nearly twenty minutes passed, the police officer returned. As he walked toward his car, he paused briefly under the motion-activated floodlights affixed to the garage. With his head nearly touching the fixture, Melissa and Gabriel were afforded a clear view of the man’s face.
Melissa heard herself inhale sharply and whisper, “It can’t be.”
Gabriel wrapped his arm around her waist as she felt her knees give way beneath her.
“I’m all right,” she lied then rubbed her eyes as if the motion would purge the vision she’d just seen from existence. She pulled back the curtain again and saw that the image remained.
Eugene was standing in her driveway clad in a gray state patrol unit Stetson, gray shirt and slacks and about to get into his police cruiser.