AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lift her up, carrying her just like I did yesterday.
Only one day.
I start to calculate other planetary days again but stop myself.
That kind of thing can get real old real quick if people aren’t interested in the planets.
It isn’t ten steps before I remember too, the effect Gillian has on me up close.
Carrying her in the woods is the same in my mind as carrying her off to our bed, and it isn’t long before she’s aware of it too.
“You sure you brought me out here to look for Orion?” she asks, making us both laugh. “It’s a little too cold for anything else,” she adds.
“Well, he’s right up there,” I comment, feeling her body shift and twist in my arms as she looks around, calling for him.
“I mean that Orion,” I explain, jutting skyward with my chin, noting how clear and bright the night sky is.
“I don’t follow,” she says, then gasping. “Oh no! He wasn’t—”
“No,” I quickly explain. “He’s not in doggy heaven, but that’s his constellation. I think some of you call it the big dipper.
“And what do you call it?” she asks, making that face I know has all her questions behind it.
I sigh quietly.
“Look. Gillian,” I say, realizing I hadn’t planned a moment or even what to say, but I have to tell her something.
“In a couple of days, I’ll be finished up. At the college, and everywhere else. The only stargazing I’ll be doing is through a telescope. I promise,” I add for effect, still unable to tell her that before that happens, I do have to go away for a while.
A day or two should do it. But I recall my promise to never leave her alone again.
And with some random stalker from my past wandering about…
“I don’t have to know everything,” Gillian says, explaining how she understands there’s a lot her dad can’t tell her about his work.
“But it isn’t just my work,” I hear myself explaining, feeling a high-pitched ringing in my ears. A painful sound.
I tense up so I can keep a hold of her.
“Xander? I really don’t need to know. All I need to know is we love each other. Xander?”
Her voice sounds far away, almost like she’s underwater. But once I understand she’s okay not knowing certain things and I don’t press the point, the ringing stops.
“I do love you,” I tell her, and our lips join as we walk, the ringing sound replaced with the soft crunch of my feet and the early evening woodland sounds.
“Almost like the night we met,” Gillian jokes. I try to laugh, but for some reason I feel uneasy, almost sick in my stomach.
Too much home cooking?
Maybe, but I’m also painfully aware of us having been followed and need to put an end to that before I can leave Gillian alone for a minute, let alone a few days.
“Xander?” she asks again, picking up on my mood.
“Just too much of Mama Palazzo’s cooking,” I tell her, trying to convince myself of that.
“Glad we both had the garlic bread too, we can share our garlic breath” she adds, and I do laugh finally.
Laughing with Gillian is easy, and it’s often over simple little things that aren’t even funny. But it’s the joy of being with her, the way she says or does things that makes it special.
Like love, laughing isn’t always about poking fun or just being happy. It’s a unique expression.
Very… human.
There’s a loud crack up ahead, like someone heavy standing on a twig.
Gillian takes a short breath, whispering that she thinks we’re not alone.
“If all’s well, we’re not,” I explain cryptically, whispering back to her to just act natural and keep talking, maybe call out for the dog some more.
“Around here was where you saw him wasn’t it?” I ask her calmly, but I can feel Gillian starting to shiver, sensing something’s wrong. And not with us.
“It’s perfectly safe,” I assure her quietly. “Just hang on to me, and we’ll be home soon.”
I wander in a wide circle, taking my time, even whistling and calling out for Orion a few times myself.
I can sense her there, in the darkness, but can’t do much until—
Suddenly there’s a blood-curdling scream, a woman’s voice, filled with hate.
Looking up I can see her in the darkness. Big hair, fake chest, even high heels in the woods.
I think they call them Barbie dolls, and this one right now would be Psycho Barbie for sure.
She never got her Ken. Ken told her she really wasn’t his type, so she hunted him down, even after years.
I turn my back, knowing the shots are coming, counting them off. Making sure I get each one and shielding Gillian with my body.
Shit, I never thought she’d bring a gun. She really is crazy.
I’m waiting for the grand finale, which was actually supposed to have happened before any shooting, but meh.
