Vaughn sighed finally cracking open the Coors Lights I had tossed him what felt like hours ago. "-and that's all I have to say about that."
I slouched in a dazed exhaustion into the hay bale behind me. Straw pocked through the back of my shirt and tickled my back. "That's all," I repeated hollowly.
We had had such a good atmosphere going on, I left to get some drinks from the house and in that time he must have remembered he never actually scolded me for the traps in the woods.
Jeez, I hadn't been in this much trouble since I got all of the tvs on campus to only show videos of turtles trying to mate with shoes.
"I'll disassemble them all tomorrow morning," I mumbled despondently.
He looked tired. "Just… why?"
I laughed nervously.
"Why do you do these things? I don't get it."
I wasn't shocked or even caught off guard but I still had to pause to formulate an answer.
He glanced up at the window impatiently watching the darkening sky. "Jeez, it's taking Julia long enough." Not to change the topic, he looked back at me. "Seriously, what was with the traps?"
I glanced away, resting my chin on my palm. "Well, I had my reasons."
The corner of his lip curled slightly in annoyance. "Well, as someone caught up in your aftermath, I want to hear them and they'd damn well be good!"
We both froze as the dog growled in alarm. I reached into the food bowel and tossed him a fish which he quickly began eating. "Shh, you'll wake the baby hunny."
He gave that no response and continued to look at me expectantly.
I took a swing of my drink.
"Have you… noticed anything weird about the forest?" I finally asked. Honestly it was a good thing to ask him, if it weren't for the fact that he was only here two days a week, he'd probably be in there more often than me.
"No," he said bluntly.
Interesting. I was almost starting to doubt myself. Maybe there really wasn't anything out there? No, there had to be. I am a gut-instincts kind of person: someone who gets an idea and follows through, it's how I got to where I am, I can't afford to doubt myself. "Strange. Have you noticed anyone weird getting off the boats?"
"Other than the men screaming at you on the ferry the other day?" he asked.
Wow that really was only yesterday. There haven't been any boats since so the timeline isn't right to be someone stalking me from the company. So it's something that was already there…
"They threatened you," he suddenly remembered.
"That they did." I agreed.
"You're scared," he stated with some awe.
"Am not!" I said instantly. It wouldn't do to lose my cool so I quickly calmed. "Not of them, not of anyone," I claimed, although at that statement, the silhouette of a women came to the forefront of my mind. A low-cut top, perfectly straightened hair, but a face I couldn't quite bring myself to pan up to beyond her chin. Did I even remember what her face looked like? When was the last time I looked her in the eye?
The dog it the barn let out a soft whimper and I pictured that stupid chihuahua that was always at her hip.
I shook my head. "Anyone," I repeated to myself aggressively. I looked directly at Vaughn's amethyst eyes defiantly. "There is something in that forest, I feel it every time I walk in!"
"Isn't that just you being jumpy because you're scared?" He asked.
When people think they've figured out something about you, it's very difficult getting them to change their minds and it's not my style to go through the effort. I turned the can in my hands around once. "Well, think what you want." I said.
He reached out and slowly began stroking the dog. "You washed up into a ghost town and began living in a huge abandoned farm all by yourself. You're allowed to be a little spooked. Your house is practically a nightmare shack."
I felt a little moved to be honest. Most people get used to my personality and say that that can't imagine me feeling such normal emotions.
"Those men, who are they?" He asked.
Dang it.
I leaned forward with a sardonic smile. "My, for someone who claims not to care, you're suddenly very concerned about my affairs."
"I have family here. I'm not sure what kind of trouble you're in but you better not get them caught up in your mess," he defended.
"Oh my, Vaughn, I didn't know you cared!" A voice said from outside. Vaughn cringed and I relaxed a little. Julia came in through the swinging doors.
"This must be the pooch!" She exclaimed. "Aw isn't he beautiful!"
The dog eyed her cautiously.
Vaughn sighed in relief, "good we can start."
"Start?" Asked Julia.
"I'm leaving soon, so I'm going to give you both all of the care instructions and hope that enough sticks between the two of you." He sighed. "This is not ideal…"
I couldn't help but agree at the statement. He was leaving a feral dog in some very unexperienced hands but what else could he do?
"So first of all bandages…" He started.
-….Vaughn…..-
It was well past midnight by the time Julia and I left the stable. The dog seemed to be doing surprisingly well.
"Wow," she said. "That was a LOT."
"I only told you the important stuff," I said.
She looked at me in disbelief, "That was the abbreviated course?"
I sighed, "I can't believe I'm trusting you two with this."
She shrugged, "I guess you have no choice. Don't worry though, to be honest, I'm sure Chelsea remembers everything. She's really smart you know?"
I didn't even bother giving her a reaction of disbelief.
"Really!" She urged. "She really plays it down but she is! Have you ever wondered how she has so much time to play with you?"
"Every day I am here."
"She has all sorts of crazy ideas to make her farm work easier, I'm helping her with her newest invention tomorrow!" She told me. "I'm really excited to see what it is!"
I grunted, "As long as you both don't get carried away and forget the dog."
She rolled her eyes. "We won't forget the dog." She gave me a sly sideways smile that had a very Chelsea-esque vibe. "Of course, you know that already right? I can't believe you called on me, you must really trust me!"
I scoffed.
She rolled her eyes. "You know Vaughn. You're an adult now, don't you think you can stop pretending to be mad every time you're flustered? It's sooo teenaged boy."
Where was this confidence coming from? "Chelsea's rubbing off on you huh?"
She laughed, "Chelsea's no better!" She looked at my confusion with some surprise. "You hadn't noticed?" She asked.
"Noticed what?" I inquired.
"Well she's just like you. You both emotionally disconnect from a conversation the second you get unconformable. It's just that while you get angry, she puts on airs." She said. "Or any time she feels flustered around you she diffuses things by flirting."
"That's all she does." I objected.
"Then you must really like you." Julia winked.
I hadn't even noticed at the time but she never answered about the men on the boat, she had immediately diverted the topic by trying to tease me.
I looked at my cousin thoughtfully. That was the first in-depth analysis I'd ever heard her make, to be honest, I was shocked- not that I'd let it show on my face. I briefly remembered a conversation I had with Chelsea when she chewed me out for calling Julia an idiot.
"Whatever," I said and put my hands in my pockets. Then I froze.
"What's wrong?" Asked Julia.
"Wallet's gone," I explained briefly in bafflement.
"Well did you leave it in the stable?" She asked.
I sighed in annoyance. We had finally gotten off that farm, did we seriously have to go back?
"Well," said Julia, "guess we're going back."
The lights we still on in the stables when we arrived. Upon getting closer we could hear Chelsea muttering to herself. "Okay.. man, they tore you up." She commented. "I hope you at least got a few good bites in yourself."
As we got closer we could see through the window that she was inspecting the dog, seeming to have taken a lot of my instructions to heart. I was somewhat relived she could at least show a little diligence. Julia and I both paused as the dog finally did something unexpected- weakly, it lifted its head and licked her hand.
She faltered. "Hey," she said with an uncharacteristic level of seriousness. "I'm not someone any of you should get too attached to."
"Hey Chelsea," Julia said quietly as we approached the door so the farmer and dog wouldn't be startled. She gently pushed the double doors open. "Vaughn forget his wallet." She explained.
We did a quick skim of the barn.
"It's not here." Said Julia with a touch of concern. "Where else could it be?"
"Oh…" Chelsea and I said in realization.
"You guys know?" Julia asked.
"Chelsea…" I said darkly.
She put up her hands in exasperation. "How many times do I have to say sorry?"
I pulled out my keys and detached the small flashlight. "Let's get a move on, I have a boat coming before dawn."
"Fiiiine," she said.
Julia looked between us in confusion. "Huh, you're both going? Wait where is it?"
"Definitely in the forest," I said.
"Without a doubt." Chelsea agreed.
"But… why?" Asked Julia in confusion.
I cringed, really not wanting my cousin to know I got caught by the foot and dangled upside-down in a primitive rope-trap.
"It's where we found the dog," Chelsea said simply.
"O-ok…" said Julia. "Be careful out there. I don't think I need to tell you there's wild animals all things considered…"
I waved my hand dismissively. "Got it, got it. Let's just get this done, I feel like I'm about to drop."
Chelsea nodded without the usual vigor, she was clearly in the same state.
The three of us made our way back to the town where we parted ways with Julia.
"Sure is dark…" Chelsea commented.
"Nothing like the city." I agreed.
"Is that where you go when you're not on the island?" She asked.
I nodded. "Main office is in the city. There's a couple other towns I go to… listen I'm too tired to talk. I'm only bringing you along 'cause you have half of the woods booby trapped."
She chuckled despite her tired disposition. "Booby."
Navigation was difficult with just the small light once we got deeper in the woods. I felt her wrap her arms around mine.
"What are you doing?" I asked flatly.
"You said it yourself." She said with a hint of mischief in her voice. "I'm a girl living all on her own and am ever so scared of the spooky woods."
"Whatever." I said, not bothering to shove her away. Maybe I was too tired to care. Maybe I was just too used to her antics.
"Oops. Don't step there," she said. We maneuvered around, and she paused to disengage the trap before returning to cling to me. "Oh and watched for that wire," she said a moment before a silver chord shone in my light.
"Just how many traps did you put out?!" I snapped.
"Enough," she said. "There's one of those rising nets up ahead as well- should be right…. There….."
We both paused. The net had already been trigged, it seemed to sway a little even though there was no wind. I shone the light on it. "There's nothing there," I commented.
Chelsea let go of me and I glanced a little at her dark silhouette. "Nothing?" She said with the strangest tone in her voice.
"It must have went off on its own," I said.
You don't see anything there?" She asked.
I turned the flashlight to illuminate her a little. She had the most incorrigible expression. Partly tired, partly annoyed. "Goddess damn it, Hannah was actually right about something."
"Hannah?" I asked.
"Read chapter 5," she muttered miserably. "Anyway, this is about the area of the snare you were caught in."
I looked around and realized she was right. The rope was still dangling a little ways away. I began to move only to notice she wasn't following, still facing away at the empty trap.
It didn't matter. I moved over and thoroughly searched the ground. The task was difficult with only the little LED but it was only a matter of time until the light shone over the worn leather. "Got it," I said.
Chelsea turned to me. "Oh good. Hey listen, you can go on ahead."
I blinked. "What?"
"Don't worry about it, just follow the same path here. I disengaged all the ones we came across." She explained.
"Chelsea, I not leaving you alone in the forest."
"It's fine."
"It's not."
"I know my way."
"It's dark."
She grinned and pulled out a flashlight.
I glared in disbelief. "Why were we using mine if you had a real one?"
"I wanted to cuddle," she shrugged.
"I hate you."
"Then leave me here." She winked.
"Absolutely not." I refused.
"Fine," she conceded. "Just give me a second." She walked up to the net trap and cut it loose. Before staring at it for a moment and nodding.
"Okay, let's go." She returned to my side, yawning widely. "My bed is calling."
"I hear you there," I agreed.
"Oh, you wanna come too?" She asked innocently. "It's small but we can share."
"Hell no."
"Shouldn't say things like hell- it's sacrilegious," she commented.
"Thought you didn't believe it things like the green-haired lady in the pond." I commented.
She laughed bitterly, "I certainly didn't."
Durotos- Thanks so much! Eheh.. I'm just going to pretend I thought about the oversized strawberries in regards to game mechanics: heheh yeah brilliant aren't I? XD Lol, those dialogue grammar rules get me every time. I'm definitely not the best proof-reader so much appreciated XD
Ur2Cool- Yeah, I don't know if it so much a moral guideline as the brilliant "you-can't-get-caught-in-a-lie-if -you-don't-tell-one-dynamic. For sure, characters like Vaughn have their most redeeming points being their dilligence in their work but the games don't show you much. Like, I think there was a heart event where you help him with his work but you don't see it, the screen just goes black and there's a before and after working.
Smurf2005- I was about to say 'of course you can too!' but reflecting back on your past stories I mostly just remember you breaking the readers' collective heart XD Well, I'm not so good at doing that so I guess we both have our skills :P mmmmmmm not sure what exactly the dog is, but that whole "random domesticated dog wandering the forest" in the game didn't make to much sense. It's either a feral dog or more likely a coy-dog, since there's at least a generation of dogs between when a dog might have been abandoned in evacuation and when the new islander's moved in.
Psycho Kay- Honestly I think there's just a point where you get used to her, it would be tiring getting worked up about each and every thing she puts him through. He definitely was NOT pleased though. I'd hope Chelsea is at least a little traumatized by sinking ships given her history so maybe she'll be nice to us XD
Guest- AT LAST. Yep only took over a year for us to get here XD
CAPJHMPAgirl- aha, we PM'd but It would feel rude not acknowledging you here too XD Peeps this girl is a real biotechnologist so I'm kinda honored she's reading :P
