CHAPTER 1: THE STRANGER
The new stranger in town sat at the old bar in town. It was empty besides a few women who sat watching the weather channel on the small television they spoke amongst themselves mostly about the storm coming in and what it would mean for the ships out in the ocean. No one paid much attention to the stranger, he had an aura about him that told everyone to just let him be.
The bartender Jill walked over to him when she noticed his beer was almost empty. "You want another?"
The stranger lifted his head, he had been studying the beer bottle since he got it, as if he was afraid to make eye contact with anyone with a forced smile he answered: "Yes please."
Jill grabbed another beer and popped the top off for him setting it in front of him. "You're an American?"
Mark answered in a soft voice, "I have spent some time in the US."
Jill smiled at him, wasn't too often they got Americans up in the small fishing town. There wasn't much to offer up there except cold weather, and fishing boats along the bay. It was a small town less than a 2,000 occupants and most were either fishermen, or the basic service workers. There were few people in the town that weren't born there. Some strangers came in occasionally for the work in the fishing industry, but it was a rare and they were usually gone by the next season.
Not many people were able to handle the main source of employment in the town. Crab fishing, it was as the Discovery Channel called it, the Deadliest Catch of the world. The newcomers to the town were only in it for the money, and the glory to say they had done it. But after five days of not sleeping out in the extreme winter weather with an unforgiving sea crashing over the side of the small fishing boats few came back or stayed in the town. It was a tough job, and the town boosted only their people could handle it.
The bartender left the man again seeing that he was not in the mood for a conversation. She had been at her job for over twenty years, it was a family pub it had been around as long as the town had been around. She returned to the women at the end of the bar, most of them had boyfriends, husbands, and fiancé's out in the fishing boats. Watching the weather channel warned them of the dangers their husbands, boyfriends, and fiancé's were facing. They always thought for the best but it weighed well on the memories every season there was a death count. This wasn't the Alaskan Crab season, but any time a boat left the harbor it's chances of returning were not always the best. The sea did not like trespassers and let it known by its deadly force. Anything could cause the ship not to come back, from a small power outage, to a high wave that tipped the boat over. Men fell over board, and death was eminent after only a minute in the freezing cold water.
"Where is he from?" One of the women asked, her husband was the captain of the Lady Fortune, the other women had men on the ship also.
"He didn't say." Jill said leaning against the counter trying not to stare at the newcomer.
"What's he here for?" Another girl asked, Cindy her boyfriend was a deck hand on the ship.
"He didn't say." Jill was not a nosy person, unusual for the small town atmosphere. "If you all are so interested why don't you ask him yourself."
After she said it she knew she had sealed the mans fate. They would get answers out of him or he would runaway from the town as quickly as possible.
"What's his name?" Anna the Captain's wife asked.
"He didn't say."
"Well did you ask him anything?" Anna asked.
"He spent some time in the US."
"Great work." Cindy said laughing. Jill's husband was the captain of another ship, Harmony. It was named after the owners first born, his pride and joy his little girl. She was one of the few women who attempted to join the boys during the Alaskan Crab season. She was always highly spoken of by the men. Everyone in town besides her father knew she was of the "alternate lifestyle", the towns nice label for homosexual.
Anna called down from the other end of the bar, "Can we buy you a shot?"
Mark looked up from the bottle he was studying again, he not heard the conversation between them because he was in his own little spot in his mind. Trying to forget the past that seemed to haunt him everywhere he went. Home could never be found, just places where he could lay his head for awhile, until it was time to move on. He had no attachments left or so he seemed to be. He was always ready to pick up shop and move on whenever it felt like time to leave.
"Sure thank you." He didn't want to be rude, and the alcohol might help him sleep that night escaping the demons that haunted his dreams. The past was never to far behind.
The girls moved down to join him, someone new in town meant gossip to obtain for the greater good of the town.
Jill rolled her eyes as she moved down to pour them shots. She looked into the man's eyes for the first time. Blue, truly blue with sadness, he seemed to hold a pain inside that was just waiting to escape, but instead of letting it out through his body it filtered slowly through his eyes into the world. A slow process that made sure he would always hold the pain.
"Where you from?" Cindy asked smiling at the man, he was cute, more cute guys in town never hurt.
"A little bit of everywhere." He answered downing the shot.
"Where is a little bit of everywhere?" Cindy continued to ask.
"Some time in Mexico, the US, now I'm here in Canada for a bit." He answered without really answering the question. " A little bit of everywhere."
"Interesting so what do you do that keeps you going around so much?" Anna asked, sensing there was more to the story than he offered.
"Nothing. I've just been traveling working job to job." Mark answered he was sitting there again studying his beer bottle. He didn't want to be rude but the questions were something he wasn't use to. Most towns he strolled into they didn't care much for anyone other than those they already knew and he was usually left alone. He hadn't had a true friend since forever it felt like. Each relationship was short lived and purely for carnal pleasures. He never let on that there was more, and most of the women understood.
"Are you here to try to fish?" One of the deck hands wives asked.
"I don't know." He answered. The only thing that brought him to this town was the thought of seeing the sun rise over a large body of water again. Feeling the sea air clean his soul again, he hoped, but knew nothing could ever clean his soul.
Anna laughed it was ridiculous this man. He didn't know why he was there. Rude too he never looked up from his bottle to make eye contact with anyone but Jill, but he was American, and that explained it all. He was probably arrogant too.
Jill cut in to save the man from more questions from the mob of fishermen's wives who were bored, "Have you found a place to stay yet for the night?"
"No I haven't. Any recommendations?" He asked looking up from the bottle again.
"Well there is only one place in town to stay." Jill said smiling, "Breanne here can help you. Her family runs the hotel."
"I can help you with a room whenever you want." Breanne said she had been silent through the entire conversation just studying the man.
"Thank you." he said finishing off his bottle of beer. He thanked all the women for the shot and said goodbye walking out of the bar.
Breanne walked him through the town pointing out the business.
"What is the main fishing up here?" Mark asked as they walked down the street in the cold night air. Their breaths creating a fog as they came out of their nostrils.
Breanne almost laughed at the man, he really didn't know why he was here, "Alaskan Crab." She answered.
"Oh." Mark answered feeling stupid because the way she answered seem to make him feel like he should have known more.
"Well here we are. It's not much but it's been around since the town started out. We haven't had a real customer in a long time. Mostly get men who piss their wives off." She said still smiling at him.
He studied the large white house that clearly had been worn by the long winters and even shorter summers over the years. There was a large wooden porch on the front of the house and a sturdy wooden door. It looked like someone home more than it did like a hotel.
She opened the door and walked into the front of the house. The sound of a TV could be heard, someone had been watching Jeopardy by the sounds of it.
"Breanne is that you?" A mans voice called from another room, sounded like the room with the loud television.
"Yes Dad we have a visitor." She answered screaming back.
"Who screwed up with their woman now, is it Earl?"
"No." She laughed Earl had been a regular customer, he ran the local supermarket and had a knack for making his wives angry, he had been married three time already, bets were still being taken on how long this marriage was going to last. She said smiling as she knew her father would be out to assess the stranger quickly. "Just follow me over here to the reception area."
Mark followed her and she handed him a card to fill out. She tried not to watch him as he did, but not knowing anything about the stranger was nagging at her.
Her father came in a few minutes later. He had come to the town a lifetime ago. In his forties than. No one knew much about him either, Breanne thought. He wasn't her biological father, but the closest thing she had ever had to a father. He married her mother a year of being in the town. Her grandpa had been fishermen and when he died he left the hotel to her mother. Her mother passed away the year before. He looked at the man from the doorway. Studying him up and down assessing him.
"Sir this is my father Jack." The woman said when she noticed the man staring back at her father studying him also. It looked like two fighters sizing each other up. Her father never talked about what he had done before he moved up to the small Canadian town. He was American she knew that much, he still would watch baseball occasionally, and always fought to get the Super Bowl on the television.
"Nice to meet you sir." Mark said to the older man hiding the anguish he felt inside.
"I didn't catch your name son." Jack said studying the man. Just seeing the man who seemed like a coiled snake ready to attack at any second, but yet so comfortable with his surroundings, a threat waiting to happen, brought back memories of the good old days.
"Mark." It felt weird to say his name no one had cared much about it. Most job he did paid cash, and there usually were no questions asked, his name was hardly needed. Mopping floors in bars at night, bouncing occasionally for the bar, bartending, farm hand, ranch hand, and the list of odd jobs went on. Some where hard to leave behind, but most were just pains to deal with. He never was a social being and the fact that he was always the new guy never helped him.
"What is your business in town Mark?" Jack asked moving into the room to help his daughter with whatever paperwork, but mostly just to get a closer look at the man who seemed familiar and yet he couldn't place him. Part of Jack didn't feel comfortable with Mark staying there, but the gentlemen seemed just that gentlemanly.
"I'm not sure sir."
Hmm that was suspicious. Everything about this man sent bells off in Jack's mind, old habits died hard, he thought to himself. "Don't call me sir. I'm not that old yet son."
"Sorry Jack." It felt weird and wrong to say the man's name.
"Breanne why don't you give Mark a tour of the place and show him to his room. Mark have you eaten yet?"
"No sir, Jack." He corrected himself quickly.
"Well I'll go heat you up some leftovers while she shows you around. I'm not too good on the steps anymore. Come back down in about ten minutes and we can set you up with some food."
"Thank you." A fake smile on his face.
"It's part of the service here Mark."
It really was like an old fashion hotel, it just wasn't looks.
Breanne led Mark up the stairs, "There are six bedrooms up here. Three bathrooms. I gave you one with a private bathroom. Breakfast is usually around six in the morning. Feel free to wonder around. Lunch is twelve and supper is around six. Please excuse the noise from the tv my father is hard of hearing. Please keep all noise to a minimum after ten p.m. and if you need anything I'm at the end of the hall." She had put him at the other end of the hall, that didn't escape his notice. "Oh and please excuse my father he is worse than the women of this town about needing to know everything about everyone."
"Thank you." He said smiling again, even to the outside world it was noticeable to be a forced smiled with no real meaning other than just trying to be kind. He took his key let himself into his room. A bed, dresser, closet, and a door he assumed that led into a bathroom. He'd have to pick up toiletries in the morning. For now it was nice to be in the room. It felt like a real room, and not just another hotel room. Almost a home feel to it. Except he no longer had a home.
He was a polite man, Breanne thought to herself as she walked down the hallway to her room. There was something sad about him, it wasn't just his eyes. He seemed to have a lot resting on his shoulders, they seemed to buckle under a invisible weight. Yet there was a factor to him that scared her a bit, maybe it was just the mystery behind him. Whatever it was she was sure she was locking her bedroom door for the first time ever.
Mark sat on his bed and put his head in his hands. It was always hard to settle into a new place there were always those with questions he couldn't or didn't want to answer. The only reason he moved on was because staying in one place too long could be dangerous. He grabbed the phone off the night stand, this was dangerous too, but he had to make sure they were fine. He dialed the number and waited for the phone to be answered.
It was a mans voice he didn't know. "Hello?"
He hung up he never spoke, he hadn't called the number in a few months maybe they had moved on finally. After a few minutes of sitting on the bed he realized he left his car at the bar with his bag of things he had collected over the years. Nothing much other than clothes. Nor had he paid the woman, he made a note to do that tomorrow. Getting up he stretched and prepared himself for an interrogation, Jack even if he seemed old and not dangerous clearly had some experience.
Mark walked down the steps taking note which ones creaked old habits die hard he smiled to himself. He hadn't had any problems since he left it all behind, but one could never be too careful.
"Mark back here." Jack called from a unknown room.
Mark just followed the noise until he found himself into a large kitchen that had a small four person kitchen table in a corner.
"Usually we sit guest in the dining room, but I've been slowly working on improvements in there." Jack said from behind a big wooden counter that resembled a butchers block. "Have a seat Mark."
"Thank you." Mark sat down uncomfortable.
It didn't go unnoticed from Jack. The man had probably read him well. He seemed to have a lot in common with Jack himself. He noticed Mark studying him the same way he had studied him.
"Where are you from Mark? You sound like a fellow American." Jack said setting a bowl of his famous chili in front of Mark. Most people couldn't take it, they all said he made it too hot, he never warned them but he had the glass of milk ready. He didn't think Mark would have a problem with it. He had done this to all of Breanne's boyfriends over the years. Until she finally found one who had heard about the famous chili and had come prepared for it. When James asked Jack if he could marry Breanne it had been an easy choice for him to say yes too. Jack felt even more honored when Breanne had asked him to give her away. He had never had the chance to do it for hi own daughter who he hadn't seen since he left the United States.
"I spent some years there sir."
"You sure aren't very forthcoming in details Mark."
"I'm sorry sir."
"What did I tell you Mark?"
"Sorry Jack."
"I just want to know one thing, you aren't some psycho killer? Because I have a shotgun in my room and I will use it Mark."
Mark smiled genuinely at that, "No sir I am not. And I have no ill intentions towards your daughter or yourself. I'm just here to rest my head for a bit."
"Good enough. Just remember I have a shotgun and I never miss Mark."
"I got that Jack."
"Good. Enjoy the food." Jack said studying Mark before he left, the man was dangerous, but Jack didn't expect any trouble from him, but that didn't mean whatever Mark was running from wouldn't follow him.
Mark took a spoonful and ate it. It was hot, but he didn't let on that it burned his mouth. "Thank you."
Just as he had suspected, "When you are finished please put it in the sink."
He was tired, suddenly he felt tired for the first time in awhile he thought he might actually sleep the entire night through. He quickly finished the chili, found the milk on the counter and laughed to himself as he drank it. He ran back to his car and got his bag out of the backseat and rushed back to the hotel.
When he got to the top of the step he noticed Breanne's door open. She jumped when she saw him, not use to having visitors.
"Sorry. I had to go get my bag." He said softly continuing on down the hallway.
She watched him walk, his head was bowed walking down the long hallway. He seemed sad all of the time, except for when her father was in the room, than he seemed to be on his guard. Who was Mark, no last name given?