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But he hears me. He hears me!
He turns and, smiling, returns to me.
I woke to the sound of someone knocking on my door. I sat more upright, disoriented and wondering what decade I’m in, where I am. Vito stared at me with concerned brown eyes. I must have been yelling in my sleep.
“How did someone get in?” I wondered to the dog, to no one in particular.
I stood and stretched. The knocking sounded again. I hurried to quiet it, thinking that even though I had no idea of the time, that it was late. I didn’t want to disturb my neighbors.
I opened the door, unprepared for the psychological punch in the gut I was about to endure.
Jeb leaned against the door frame, eyeing me.
Chapter 11
1986—Jeb
I
Jeb hated to leave Sammy and Trudy alone to pack things up, but god almighty, did he have to pee! He was embarrassed over even the slightest indication that he had normal bodily functions, so for the last hour or so, he had held it, hoping the insistent urge would go away, to return when he was safely in the privacy of a bathroom with the door locked.
No such luck.
The need to relieve himself only increased and became stronger the more he tried to ignore it.
When he told Sammy, he got what he expected—a little ridicule and the attitude of,dude, what the hell’s with you? Just go.
And now he wandered into the pitch darkness of the woods in front of him, hand outstretched to avoid running into a branch or worse, a tree bark, or even worse than that, a bear or a coyote. There’d been more than one sighting of both over the years.
Were there footsteps behind him? Sammy, trying to get a peek? He’d laugh if it weren’t for the darkness and the slight aura of fear surrounding him. He told himself he was being paranoid. The sounds were simply leaves in the trees, animals, and insects, all doing what they usually did.
As he finished up, shaking off for good measure, he noticed how his eyes had adjusted a bit. The moon tonight was bright, lending a silvery opalescence to the path he’d traveled. He’d come farther than he’d realized. As he glanced over his shoulder, he couldn’t even see Sammy or, in fact, the opening to the woods.
His gut lurched. He hoped he wasn’t lost.Just turn around, put one foot in front of the other and go back the way you came. Simple. Easy. Don’t panic.
His last bit of self-advice was born off on the wind, though, when he turned a little more and noticed someone standing not three feet away, watching.
Jeb gasped and froze.
The only sound for a few moments was the wind whispering through the leaves and the rhythmic chirp of crickets. A firefly danced in the night air, winking gold.
Jeb tried to swallow, but his mouth was dry.
The man leaning against a tree was older, maybe mid-thirties, early forties. It was hard to tell, what with the dark and his own limited perception around judging anyone’s age, anyone who wasn’t a kid, anyway. What made him look so creepy wasn’t anything weird, though. He wore a Steelers black T-shirt and a pair of light-colored cargo shorts. Black high-top Converses. A black baseball cap. If Jeb had encountered him on the street in downtown St. Clair or, say, the grocery store, he wouldn’t have even noticed the guy.
Before Jeb had a chance to ask him who he was, the man spoke.
“Sorry, Jeb. I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m a friend of your dad’s. Chris Sgro?” He smiled and Jeb relaxed, but only a little. This was still too weird. What was this guy doing hanging out in the woods, watching a kid take a piss? He wanted to simply turn and run, but that would be even weirder, right?
“So?” He’d never heard of a Chris Sgro and it wasn’t like his dad had a ton of friends. Jeb turned back toward the path. He was pretty sure this was the way to Sammy and his mom. He took a step in what he hoped was the right direction.
“I came up here actually to findyou.”
“Really?” Now, that was odd. Jeb assumed anyone else coming up here would have passed them as they sat on their blanket in the grass. “How’d you get here? Didn’t notice you go by, man.”
Chris laughed. “Yeah, there’s more than one way up here.” He pointed in the opposite direction, away from where Jeb guessed Sammy and his mom were still waiting, probably getting a little worried. How long had it been?
“Okay.” Jeb shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He noticed how silent the night had gone, as if the fireworks had left a vacuum in their wake in which no sound could be heard. “Listen, I need to get back to my friends.” He didn’t add, “I don’t know what you want and I don’t want to know.”
