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“Protect you? From what?”
“Everybody?”
His brows pull together with confusion and his hand goes to my thigh. “I promise, nobody will hurt you while I’m with you.”
Resting my forehead against the cool glass, I take a deep breath and mutter, “Okay. I’ll go.”
“Did somebody hurt you before? Is that why you don’t go anywhere?”
I consider telling him to fuck off. I consider berating him for prying. But something inside of me screams to let it out, to trust somebody with just a tiny part of me. It begs me to. It begs me to feel human again.
“Not just me, but my sister too.”
He tenses, his body becomes cement. “Somebody hurt Lilith?”
I nod once, trying not to let the grief I feel overwhelm me and trigger my own anxiety. Lilith isn’t the only one with issues.
“What happened?” he asks urgently. “Who hurt you?”
“It doesn’t matter… they can’t hurt us anymore.”
His urgency becomes concern and confusion. “Willow… what did you do?”
I don’t reply and that in itself is reply enough if one is smart enough to read into the silence. Nokosi is definitely smart enough to do that. He’s also smart enough to let it end there. He doesn’t push or pry and I respect that.
No more questions are asked, and we drive through the trees to the woodsy part of the reservation, away from town by far. It’s quiet in the truck for the longest time. Nothing but potent pain swirling between us, making the atmosphere thick and heavy.
“Still like me?” I ask, unable to control myself. For some reason the thought of him not liking me makes me feel things I don’t want to feel. I don’t care what he thinks. I don’t care what anybody thinks. Or at least… I didn’t.
“Somebody hurt me once too,” he confesses quietly. “So whatever you did, or whatever you wanted to do, I get it.”
Somebody hurt him too.
We share a look in the darkness when we pull to a stop, lighting up a dark house with strong headlights.
“Wait here.” Pushing open the door, he jumps out of the truck landing steadily on both feet. The door to the one-story home opens as he crosses the distance with powerful strides. I spy an older lady with a hunched back and white hair pulled back into a tight bun. It’s difficult to make out her features.
Nokosi speaks to her for a moment as another woman appears behind the older one. I’m guessing it’s his grandmother and aunt, but I can’t say for sure.
He comes running back after a long moment of me scanning the dark area with tired eyes. There are more homes in the distance, all different shapes and sizes to this one. I wonder if they were built by them.
“Come on,” Nokosi urges after opening my door. He takes my hand and helps me down, then keeps hold of me as we make the journey to his grandmother’s home. I approach cautiously. I don’t feel secure anymore. I feel on edge and guarded. Like I’m being watched and judged silently by devils in the trees, ready to take my soul to the underworld and torture me for an eternity.
It’s a silly thought but it’s a true one and I almost can’t breathe.
“What is she going to do?” I ask quietly.
“You’ll see,” he replies.
“Hi,” I greet meekly as we make our final few steps, crossing what felt like a long distance in no time at all.
“Sorry it’s late, Elisi,” Nokosi says, kissing her cheek.
The old lady’s eyes don’t leave me, she looks as cautious as I feel. Her pale eyes, so light it makes them fade into the white, scan me up and down. The woman beside her urges her on, a cigar-like object in her hand and a matchbox in the other.
“Elisi,” she utters and finally the old woman holds out her hand to me.
It’s trembling visibly, shaking like beads in a bowl during an earthquake. She hesitates and so do I.
“I don’t think…” I whisper to Nok, pulling back but the old lady moves quickly and snatches my hand before I can go anywhere.
Her other hand closes over the top and her eyes hold mine.
I wish I’d run because the noise she makes has my heart racing and my palms sweating. She screams into the night startling us all and then she glares at me.
“DEMON!” she bellows, her voice croaky but strong.
“Elisi,” Nokosi tries but she throws my hand back at me and grabs her grandson, clinging to him desperately.
“Evil!” she hisses as Nok battles to free his shirt from her grasp. She yells at him in her native tongue, throwing around words I don’t understand all the while keeping him in a tight grip. They argue back and forth loudly as I back away to the truck, feeling shaken and mad that I ever let Nok bring me here.
