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“I’m not afraid of anything, Huck.” My fingers typed quickly, making smudges against the glass of the phone. “I don’t know what you expect to happen between us. I’m razed ground. No fruit will grow here.”
It was a long while before Huck responded. I’d assumed he’d gotten the picture and moved on. I set my phone down next to me and had all but forgotten about him when the blue screen lit up with his response: “Even in the desert, fruit grows.”
It was only eight at night, but it felt like three in the morning. I was exhausted from the previous day. Exhausted from that day. Exhausted from all the days, really. Still, I felt cooped up. I felt like I was going insane, and I wasn’t the only one. Raskol was growing tired of the apartment, opting to chew the couch to allay his boredom. I watched him through sad eyes; it wasn’t his fault his owner was a basket case.
When I was in high school there was a spot called “The Beach”. It was named that because when you turned your head upside down at night, the city lights looked like the twinkling ocean waters crashing on the shore. It wasn’t too far away from where I lived now, only a ten-minute drive. That night, The Beach called to me.
I wanted to forget everything that had happened to me after high school. I wanted to go back to the time when I drove with my friends up to that point on the mountain. When we got out of our cars and turned our heads upside down like that was the only thing that would ever turn upside down for us.
Grabbing Raskolnikov, I walked out of the apartment to go to The Beach. I gave a quick glance to a black car parked opposite my street. I couldn’t see who was inside, but it didn’t fit in my neighborhood. It was much too nice. Post-rape Nami wanted to investigate. She wanted to go inside and grab her gun, march up to the car, and demand whoever was inside make themselves known. Tonight wasn’t about that, though. Tonight was about forgetting. Shaking the car out of my head, I jumped in my own and headed to The Beach.
I rolled down the window for Raskol even though it was December and freezing. He loved sticking his head out the window and I loved watching him. Raskol was the only good thing to come out of all the shit. He was entirely guileless and full of love.
It sounded crazy, but some days I was glad for the rape, because it had brought me Raskol. The days when it was just him and me on the couch were some of the best of my life. Because I’d grown up without pets, I’d never understood the connection people had to dogs before, but now I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He held a piece of my soul.
Raskol was never a part of the plan. I’d driven past the humane society and stopped on a whim. I’d gone inside, not sure what I was doing there. It was full of people gleefully picking out companions, and then there was me: a broken girl unsure of h
er next move. Raskol was all alone, unlike the other dogs. When I asked the volunteer why he was alone, she said it was because he was afraid. He didn’t do well with people or animals.
“I’m afraid he might never find a forever home,” she’d said. That was all I needed to hear. Raskol and I had been inseparable ever since.
Checking my rearview mirror, I turned down the street that led to The Beach. When I looked in the mirror, I saw what appeared to be the same car that had been parked on my street. I tried to get a better look but it switched lanes and drove quickly past me. I should have turned around and gone home, I know. After the past months, I’d learned that nothing was a coincidence. Still, the part of me that had decided to go to The Beach wouldn’t allow it. I needed one night to be normal. One night to shed the armor random black cars had made me build.
I rolled up the window as I reached the turnoff for The Beach. Nestled right off a small highway, The Beach was only known to those who lived in the immediate area. You could live in Salt Lake City your entire life and still not know of The Beach. Even though it led to a much bigger hiking trail, most used a different trailhead to hike that specific trail, giving The Beach that secret feeling.
Notwithstanding, The Beach was usually crowded with teens looking to party or make out. Luckily it was December so only a few kids wanted to make out beneath a snowy, frigid mountain, and those teens stayed in the warmth of their cars. I watched the view from my own car, looking out at the city that had tortured me for the past six months. I could see the capitol all lit up in the distance. I could see the university I’d dropped out of. I saw our tiny downtown and beyond that I saw twinkling lights; one of those lights was the mansion our perfect senator lived in.
Sighing, I grabbed Raskol and exited the car. We may have been able to pretend the lights were a twinkling ocean in high school, but now that I knew what each individual light represented, it was impossible. I was there, though. I was determined to make some kind of positive memory.
Before leaving the house I’d grabbed Raskol’s coat (yep, I was now the kind of person who bought small dog coats) and my hiking boots. I thought maybe if I climbed the small mountain, I could feel like I’d conquered the damn lights.
I let Raskol attempt the mountain. It was snowy and wet, but he loved the snow. His little paws slipped around, but he could climb it. I hadn’t gone on many hikes lately (not much time to do that when you’re trying to bring down a senator), but the ones I had gone on, I brought Raskol with me. I always got curious stares or smiles from the other hikers. Raskol was very small, especially in comparison to the other dogs. Some even commented on his ability to hike. If you knew Raskol, though, you knew a six-mile hike was nothing for him. He had seemingly endless energy.
We made it to the top of the mountain and the lights were smaller up there, making it easier to pretend I didn’t know what they were. Snow started to fall, just a light dusting of flakes that was eerily beautiful. Raskol bounced around, trying to eat the falling snow. I laughed, feeling carefree and joyful as I watched him.
I bent over and balled up some snow, ready to throw it for him to catch. As I stood up, angling my arm for the throw, my fingers grew limp. Dismay rippled through me and the ball fell from my grasp. I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing, but it was impossible to deny. Becca Riley was there and she held Raskol by the scruff.
I watched Becca, unable to move or speak. My thoughts flicked back to the black car. I knew I should have left. I knew I shouldn’t have risked it. I had been so determined to have a normal night, so determined to let my shit go for a few hours, that I hadn’t heard her approaching. I had thought I was safe. I was never safe, though, and now neither was Raskol.
Riley dangled Raskol over the edge of the mountain. The worst part was that Raskol had no idea what was going on. He watched me, that stupid silly grin I loved so much on his face. He thought Riley was playing with him. He thought he was safe.
And why wouldn’t he? He trusted me completely. Raskol trusted me not to put him in this kind of situation, and I’d utterly failed him.
“Riley, whatever you want I’ll do it!” I pleaded. “He’s just a dog.” What the fuck is wrong with you? I wanted to scream. Who hurts a dog?
Riley rolled her eyes at me, as if my emotions were tedious. “Here’s the deal, DeGrace. You stop fucking with us, and this dog is the only thing that gets hurt.” Riley looked at Raskol sideways. Raskol attempted to lick her. Inside, my soul died a little more.
“I’ll stop, dammit!” I screamed. Distantly I wondered if the sound I heard was my own echo, or that of my world collapsing. “Just let him go!”
Riley shrugged. “As you wish.”
Horrorstruck, I watched as Riley let Raskol go over the edge of the mountain. One second she was holding him, the next he disappeared over the side. I couldn’t begin to describe the emotion that tore through me in that instant. I knew I screamed, because the pain in my throat was so intense it broke through the disbelief.
I fell to the ground, the weight of the emotion too heavy. I barely felt the cold, wet snow seep through my clothes as I scrambled to the edge of the mountain, reaching for Raskol. I desperately clawed at the edge for him, hoping he was there. I called his name. I called it again, expecting him to show up, to come running after me like he usually did.
Where was his goofy face? Where was that ridiculous underbite? Through all the turmoil I heard one thing: laughing. Riley was fucking laughing. I stood from the cliff, rage coursing through me. I grabbed her by the shoulders and pushed her to the ledge.
“You think this is fucking funny?” Her smile slid from her face like a wet slug. Her heels slipped on the edge, sending rocks tumbling down. “Tell me what’s so fucking funny, Becca?”
