CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: "Into the Storm"
Manna shrugged her shoulders, shaking her head. "I'm not casting dispersions on anyone, all I'm saying is that it's odd that Gotz and Harris both aren't married and Harris spends more time at Gotz's house than anyone else's. I mean, just what if, right?"
Anna chuckled, "Manna, you're horrible. What do you think, Sasha?"
Sasha, who had been looking aside, looked up, "What?"
"What's wrong with you?" Mann asked, "You're unusually quiet these days?"
"I'm not feeling well." Sasha lied, sipping her hot chocolate. "I don't feel well at all. Sorry."
"Sasha," Anna said. "You can tell us if something's bothering you. We understand."
Sasha looked to Anna, trying no to glare. Anna knew something, suspected something, but was trying to fish it out of her. Still, Sasha wasn't going to be lulled into confessing...what? That her daughter was the town whore? "No, Anna. I don't think you do."
Anna scoffed, "Hmph! I have a daughter too, Sasha."
So that was it, Sasha mused. It was out in the open already. "Well, you'll excuse me if I don't have a perfectly lady-like daughter like you, Anna."
Manna muttered something and the two of them whipped their heads towards her. "What was that, Manna?" Anna asked.
Manna's eyes widened. "What? I-I-I didn't..." She closed her eyes and sighed deeply. "Fine. Anna, you're daughter probably isn't as lady-like as you think. She goes to Jack's house at night, you know?"
"They're reading friends." Anna insisted. Her face grew bright red as Sasha waved her hand in the air, laughing.
"Of course they are, Anna. How utterly ironic, you question me about my daughter and your daughter is taking late night visits to Jack."
"Sometimes he sneaks over there." Manna said, off-handedly. "I see a dark figure passing by the house late at night, when I can't sleep. I can't see him, but I know it's that Jack."
"You don't know much, then." Anna snapped, "There's no way on earth Mary would do such a thing. Frankly, Manna, I think you're just trying to squelch my daughter."
"I think Jack is the one doing the squelching." Mann said, nodding her head back and forth, the universal symbol for 'I'm-holier-than-thou'. Anna sneered, "At the very least, my daughter hasn't run off without a care for her parents."
Manna's eyes widened. "How dare you! You leave Aja out of this!"
"You should have left Mary out of this, then." Anna said.
"Not so nice when others criticize your daughter, is it, Anna?" Sasha said, lifting her nose to her friend.
Anna ground her teeth together. "I think, perhaps, the one to blame is Jack. If he's seeing Mary, what is he also doing with Karen? Oh, don't think word hasn't gotten around about what they were doing together over a month ago."
"For your information, I broke them up before they could!" Sasha cried.
Anna smiled, "Really? I didn't know that."
Sasha's eyes twitched as she realized that she had been fooled into tell Anna what she didn't know. She had hooked Sasha and Sasha had fallen for it easily. She looked at Anna, "If I were you, Anna, I would make sure Mary never sees Jack again. When I had told Karen to go home, and she was gone, I told Jack he was never to see her again."
"And what did he say?" Manna asked.
"He spoke to me with the most foul language I've ever heard." Sasha said, "And he stood up as if he were going to hit me, so I left. I've never seen anyone speak so foul to another person before." But that wasn't entirely true. Duke hadn't taken it well when she had told him she was leaving him for Jeff; no, he hadn't taken it well at all.
Anna nodded, "I'll do with my daughter as I see fit, Sasha. You keep your advice to yourself." She turned to Manna, "And you keep your fat nose out of it as well. At least my daughter is still here!" Anna stomped off, leaving the two other women in the middle of Rose Square.
Manna stared at her, silent for once. Sasha looked faintly to Manna and could see terribly large tears welling in her eyes, rolling down her cold cheeks silently. "Manna..."
"I'm a horrible mother!" Manna cried, "What did I ever do to have my daughter leave like this?"
"Manna..."
"Leave me alone, Sasha!" Mann said, "You'll know how I feel soon enough, when Karen leaves just like she said she would." Manna ran off for her house, her sobs echoing across the cold village as she did.
Sasha looked to her two friends. She hadn't told them anything, she hadn't told anyone. She had cursed at Karen, screamed at her, but all within their house. No one could have known, unless they were standing outside their door. But they had heard that Karen was involved with Jack somehow and she knew what she had to do.
Sasha calmly walked towards the Church, her anger at a fever pitch that threatened to break at any moment. She knew this had to be done, it was the only way. She walked into the door and towards the confessional, where she sat in and Pastor Carter slid the door aside. "Can I help you?"
Sasha faced the small screen separating them. "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned..." She reared her fist back with a snarl on her lips, "And so have you!"
Sasha's feminine fist broke through the screen and grabbed Pastor Carter's collar angrily. Before he had a chance to cry out, she pulled him back towards the wall and slammed his head into it again and again before finally letting go.
Sasha walked out of the booth and opened the other door, watching the Pastor tumble out. "I told you in the strictest confidence about Karen and what do you do? Run your mouth to Anna about it!"
"I did no such thing!" Pastor Carter cried, holding his head, trying to scramble to his feet. "Anna came to me, asking what she could do about Mary and Jack. I told her that I thought...I thought Jack and Karen were together. That's what Karen..." He paused, biting his lip.
Sasha lifted an eyebrow. "That's what Karen says in the confessional, is that it?"
Ben sighed and approached the middle-aged woman. "Sasha, what goes between me and those who confess is in the strictest confidence. I can't any more tell you about Karen than I could about Elli."
"What does Elli have need of confessional for?"
"It was only an example." Ben said, "But you must understand, that I love this village, and all the people in it, and I won't see to its destruction by aiding in games of gossip, it'll only destroy us."
Sasha narrowed her eyes dangerously. "You mean it'll only destroy us if we don't know. What you aren't saying is that this village has secrets that could destroy it and I'd bet my life that most of those secrets and problems have to do with Jack."
Ben swallowed, "Jack is new in town, Miss Sasha. He has to have a chance to change, we have no idea what he went through before he came here. All he wants to do is live his life out."
Sasha laughed, "Ha! All he wants to do is my daughter, and I simply won't accept this. My daughter is not some two-bit, classless whore for his bidding."
"With all due respect, miss Sasha, Karen is twenty-one. She's an adult and she's old enough to make her own decisions."
"With all due respect, Pastor, you need to leave the parenting to the parents. I don't tell you how to preach your sermons on Sunday, do I?"
Ben shook his head, "No, but it would be nice if you stopped checking your watch every ten minutes. Your Sunday casserole isn't as important as your time with God."
Sasha turned on Pastor Carter. "I suggest you never speak another word of Karen to anyone else, Pastor, or you'll be able to spend all your time with God...in the Clinic hospital beds."
Ben watched her leave with a look of disdain and sadness. "What has this village come to? We're at each other's throats."
XxXxXxX
Days had passed and Jack had heard neither hide nor hair from Mary; He was beginning to wonder. Karen he could understand, but Mary was a mystery. He hadn't had a craving for BLTs since that day at the Hot Springs. He didn't like thinking about that any more, no matter how badly his body had loved it. Karen's mom would likely never want to see him again, especially after...well, Jack was ashamed to admit that he must have cursed Sasha out after she had yelled at him. The things he said...he'd never spoken to anyone that way before.
He decided to make his way towards the Library, see what she thought of his books. He slowly made his way to the Library and opened the door, seeing Mary inside with her head in her arms, crying.
"Mary?" He asked.
The young woman jumped up. "Jack? Jack, you have to leave now! I can't see you anymore."
Jack looked confused. "What? Why? What happened?"
Her slender shoulders bucked as she tried to speak. "My...mother found out...Jack, she thinks such horrible things. I tried...tried to tell her, but she doesn't listen." She took her glasses off and buried them in her hands. Jack moved around the desk and held her in his arms, trying to comfort her. Had things really gotten this bad? Was this because he and Mary had seen each other at night?
"It's okay, Mary. It's okay. She'll get over it."
"Jack, she hates me. She thinks I'm some kind of hussy. She won't let me leave the house unless it's to open the Library, I can't talk to anyone until she thinks I've grow up."
"Mary, you're twenty years old. You are grown up."
"Not to her." Mary said, "Not anymore. Oh, Jack, what have I done?"
"You haven't done anything." Jack said, "Ignore them. You're parents don't have any control over you. Come over to my house. You can stay there until things blow over."
"Jack, this isn't going to blow over!" Mary suddenly shrieked, slamming her hands onto her desk. Jack paused. He had never seen her this upset this emotional. He was trying to think of something to say when her mother arrived from the house next door.
"Mary, I heard you yell, are you...Ah-HA! Caught you trying to sneak up here, Mr. Jack." Anna said, her hands going to her hips. "I'm sure Mary's already told you, so I'll save you an explanation and tell you to leave right now, before I go fetch Harris to arrest you."
"This is a public Library." Jack said, "I can come here if I want."
"This is a privately owned Library and you'll come here if and only if the owners say you're allowed and since Basil and myself happen to be the owners, that means you'll have to read your books somewhere else. Now LEAVE!"
Jack looked at Anna with an angry glare, his eye twitching angrily. He felt like running over there and...what? Hit her? She was just a middle-aged woman with a young daughter. But if there was one thing he was not going to do, it was bow down to an old cow who didn't like him. He hadn't survived this long by taking orders from people. It was high time they learned just who they were trying to mess with.
He looked to Mary. "Do you want me to go?"
She looked up at him, putting her glasses back on, "Please, Jack. Just go."
"I'll see you later." He said.
"You most certainly will not!" Anna cried.
In an act of defiance, purely to spite Anna, Jack leaned down and gently kissed Mary on the lips. It was quick, without much feeling, and just as he thought, it made Anna's entire face look like a ripe beet as he walked past. He paused long enough to look down at her, staring her down. Anna stared back, but Jack looked at her long enough that she knew precisely what he was trying to say:
He was only leaving because Mary had asked him. Anna could stand and tell him to leave until she was blue in the face, but he would stand there like the rock of ages. No woman was going to tell him when he could stay somewhere. What was she going to do: call Harris? That wimp of a constable might be able to handle a rowdy drunk, but not him. Not him.
He contemplated going over to Karen's and demanding to see her, but he didn't see a good end to that particular incident. At least in the Library, he'd been in a public place, no matter what Anna said.
He dropped in by the Redwood Inn, hoping to at least score some decent food while he was at it. When he went in, he found Gray, Cliff, and Ann huddled around a table, talking excitedly. When they saw him, they stopped. Cliff waved him over. "Good morning, Jack. Wonderful weather we're having, isn't it?"
Jack grunted and sat next to them. He looked to Ann, "Hey, think you can rustle up some grub?"
"Yeah, we're hungry." Cliff said.
"You boys can go cook for yourselves. Don't tell me you're afraid of the stove." Ann said. She crossed her arms, acting as if she wasn't going to go...until Doug hollered from the back room. "Ann, cook those boys something to eat."
"Yes, master of the universe!" Ann cried back. She hopped up to her feet. "You guys are getting some beef stew, sound good?"
Gray lifted his head, "Actually—"
"Great!" She slapped him on the back, making him lurch forward. "Beef stew coming right up."
As soon as she was out of eartshot, Gray shook his head. "Don't know how ya do it, Cliff."
Cliff just looked smugly and tapped his chest, "Open this up. You find Ann running through my veins. I bleed orange, the same color as her hair. You think this kind of love is easy to come by?"
Jack rolled his eyes, "Oh gag me, sparky."
Gray grinned a little. "Sounds like someone's a little jealous. What's wrong, Jack? Things not going so well with Mary?"
"Just shut up." Jack said, not wanting to discuss Mary with anyone—least of all the southern hump sitting across from him. He hadn't realized just how rudely he'd said that until he looked over to see Cliff and Gray staring at him, wordlessly. "What?"
"God, you're rude!" Cliff said, "Do you know that, Jack? Do you realize how rude and crude you sound? Do you have any idea what some people think of you?"
Jack aimed a finger at Cliff. "Watch it, spanky. Don't forget who you're talking to."
Cliff buttoned his lip. He certainly did know who he was talking to: the guy he worked for. Without Jack's money, Cliff wouldn't be able to afford to live here anymore. He'd have to move. Go back home. Without Ann. He couldn't live with that.
Gray on the other hand, didn't work for him. In fact, Gray jumped at the opportunity. "Well, since he won't, I will. Jack, you were a pretty cool fella when you first came here in Spring, but since the end of Summer, you've been a real drag, you know that? You walk around like you own this place? What's wrong with you?"
Jack just leaned forward, a stone cold mask on his face. "I'm the guy who could kick your worthless hide from her to hey-day, Gray. So my suggestion is this: watch your mouth, or you'll be suckin' the rest of your meals through a straw. What's your problem, anyway?"
Gray frowned, his head leaning back like a cat being pushed into a corner. "Don't think I can't handle myself, Jack."
Jack shot to his feet, a fiery look blazing through his eyes. "Fine. Let's dance, you little shit."
"Outside?" Gray said, standing up.
Jack hand shot out and grabbed Gray's collar. Using his strength, a strength unequaled in Flowerbud, he pulled Pray across the table, his back on it, his head leaning over the edge. Jack raised his fist and smiled with glee. "Right here's fine by me."
Jack's fist soared down towards Gray's face, ready to take his head clean off his shoulders, when suddenly a force took his arm, twisted it back, and a sweeping leg took his feet out from under him. Ann pushed on his arm until he fell backwards, landing on his back. "Knock it off, Jack!" She cried.
Anyone else would have had the wind knocked out of them. But Jack had been landing on his back for years. What they called in the business as "knowing how to fall" Jack landed flat on his back, the impact spread out over his body instead of localized in one place. He immediately lifted his legs and kick-flipped onto his feet.
Gray scrambled to his own feet and backed away. He'd been in his share of tumbles, but Jack was impossibly strong and unbelievably fast, a combinations of two things that weren't good for Gray. He breathed heavily, wanting to run, but not wanting to run. He chose to stay. "You wanna know what my problem with you, Jack? Mary! That's right! I heard about your little visits with Mary, your so-called "book reading"."
Jack rolled his head around, cracking his neck. "You got a problem with that, Gray? Or are you just made because I got Mary's attention before you did? I heard you and Mary were quite close before I came along."
Gray was quiet for a bare second, then he sputtered, "That has nothing to do with this. I care about her enough to know she shouldn't have to fall in with a no good jerk like you. You're just like those clowns in my old tech school class. Everything revolves around them. Nobody willing to do for others. That's your biggest problem, Jack: everything you do centers around you."
Jack nodded, "Maybe that's because everything does revolve around me and you just don't know it, hillbilly. You ever think about that?"
"No, I think Gray's right, Jack." Cliff said, "You do things for yourself. Even when you hired me, it was only so you could get a hired hand."
Jack turned to Cliff and yelled, "That's right! And if you what to KEEP that job, you'll shut up, slick!"
Cliff stepped forward, "My name is CLIFF!"
"Your name doesn't mean shit to me!" Jack said. He took a step forward, but Ann's hand shot out and pushed him back. He stared at her, as if she had the nerve to tell him what to do.
"Go home, Jack." She said.
"I'll go home when I'm ready." Jack said.
Ann sighed, lowering her eyes. "Jack, don't make me hurt you."
"I don't think you'll do that, will you?" Jack asked, looking her in her eyes. The instant her eyes met his, she knew what he meant. He still knew he had slept with her, but no one else did and as long as he held that information, she couldn't hurt him. Because even if she beat him till he was a bloody mess, all he had to do was say one sentence: "I slept with Ann." And everyone would know. They would know she had come full circle and turned into her mother.
Ann's face became mask of worry. Even when Cliff stepped behind her, comforting her with his assuring hands on her shoulders, she still felt naked before Jack. She might have been the only one in the village who could have out-fought Jack—by tooth, nail, and claw—but he had proven to be the stronger, because he was the only one who could make Ann back down from him. She couldn't lay a finger on him.
Before the stand-off could explode, likely with Cliff, Ann, and Gray wrestling with Jack, the door to the Inn burst in and Barley came in, barely being held back by Duke and with May tagging next to him. "Board up the Inn, Doug! It's-a comin', it is."
Doug came in and everyone momentarily forgot their quarrel. They approached Barley. "What's coming?" Jack asked.
Barley looked to Jack, "Well, it's about time I found you, Jack. I went by your confounded farm and you were gone."
"This may come as some surprise," Jack said, "But I do more than stand around the farm and look pretty."
Duke grunted, "I found the old coot trying to go down the road as fast as he could. He's lucky he hasn't slipped on the ice patches yet."
"Got no time fer that nonsense, Duke. We gotta get the town boarded up, we're in fer some big trouble." Barley spat.
"Grandpa, don't yell." May said.
Jack furrowed his brow. "You're not making any sense, Barley."
"A blizzard." Barley said, lifting his withered old elbow. "I can feel it in my joints. They get to achin' in the cold, but when a blizzard's on the way, they hurt something fierce. You'd better get home and lock up the critters and such, cause it's a big one. This one just may bury us for a week."
Jack looked at him strangely. "Is he for real?"
"He may be an old coot, Jack, but he's no fool." Duke said.
Doug nodded, "He's right. Barely's bones have never led us wrong before. He predicted both of last year's blizzards. Barley, is it going to be as bad as those?"
"Worse!" Barley said. "Worse than both at once. We're in fer a storm, I'm tellin' ya. Mark my words!"
Duke turned to May. "May, get him back home. Barley, we'll take care of warning the villagers and then start boarding up the rest of the village. Jack, Gray, Cliff, come with me. Doug, you warn the Mayor and Harris."
Everyone walked off with Duke, until they got out of the Inn and when Duke and the others cut left, Jack cut right. Duke paused, "Jack, we need your help! Where are you going?"
"Every man for himself." Jack called back, and without another word, he left them to their own fates. Let God worry about the rest of the village, he had his own problems to worry about.
XxXxXxX
Jack immediately went home and turned on the satellite tv. Sure enough, there was a huge cold front blowing through the area and it'd be a hum-dinger, if the weatherman's reports were going to be true. What a load of horsedump, Jack thought. It was going to blow right through Christmas. He'd be stuck inside during the holidays.
He pulled some boards out of the barn and started piling them outside. He locked Bilbo in his stable and Belle in her barn, then boarded up their doors, making sure they had enough for at least a week, just in case. He did the same for the chicken coop, piling up nearly all of his stored food on the feeders so they wouldn't starve. He hoped they'd be fine.
Once that was done, Jack boarded up his house, windows and all, and made sure he stocked up his firewood for long enough. He had plenty of food. He'd be alright. Already he could feel the cold, cold winds blowing in front the north, the distant rolling clouds that signified that trouble was on the way. Jack would have suspected something even if Barley hadn't said anything.
He heard a shout and turned. "Jack!"
He almost collapsed when he saw Mary running, huddled in her light coat and hood. She stopped before him, looking up, but unable to say anything. "I can't stay long. Mother is with Sasha and Manna, trying to get our food for the snowstorm and father is with the other men helping board up the town. Why aren't you with them?"
"Screw them." Jack said, "I've got my own farm to worry about."
Mary sighed, breathing in deeply and exhaling, "Jack...I'm sorry."
"For what?" Jack asked. "For why?"
"Because I can't see you anymore." She said, her voice wavering slightly, "Because my being with you upset my parents so much, I can't bear to see my family in so much strife. Jack, I can't be with you."
Jack couldn't have looked more shocked than if someone had shot him through the neck with a compound bow. "What? Mary, come on...you can't be serious."
"Jack, my parents mean everything to me."
"Don't I mean something to you?" He asked.
"Of course you do, Jack. Of course, you mean so much to me...but this thing with my family—my mother especially...I can't bear to see my family broken." She began to cry, "I won't stand for a broken home, Jack, I just won't. Please don't be angry at me, I never wanted it to be this way."
"But Mary—"
"That's just us, there's also—"
"Mary, I love you."
Jack's words stopped her. Mary looked up at him again. "Wh...what?"
Jack leaned down, cupping her face in his hands, as he had done so many times before. "Mary, don't tell me you don't feel the same. Our reading nights, the way you kiss me, the way we talk...oh God, Mary, when I talk to you I finally feel like I'm talking to someone on my level. Everything clicks in my head when we talk. Please...stay with me." He held her hands.
Mary lowered her eyes from his, "There's more to it than you know, Jack. I...I love you too, but...I don't know what kind of love that is. Is it true love? Just the love of friends—good, strong, wonderful friends, but friends nonetheless? Or is it something we both don't know? I don't know, I've never felt this way about anyone before, but...I don't know if it's worth me losing the love I have with my parents. I don't want them to hate me for this, Jack."
"Mary, you can't let your parents dictate your life! You're your own woman! You can make your own decisions, can't you?"
"I don't know." She said, unable to staunch her tears any more. She leaned up and kissed him gently, her tears running around their lips as she did. Suddenly, she spun around and ran off, crying out, "I just don't know!"
Jack watched her go, his mouth worked into a scowl. She was gone, perhaps forever. Would he never see her delicate face again? Fell her tender, soft touch? Would he ever be able taste her kiss again? Laugh and joke with her as they read books? Would they never do that again?
Jack hung his head down and walked into the house, locking the door and sitting in his recliner before the fireplace. He had come here to relax, to enjoy his time and his own books. Every time he looked at a book, he wished Mary were there and suddenly, Jack couldn't find the strength to even read any more.
It was all just too much.
XxXxXxX
The snowstorm came just like Barley had said, but that was no surprise to Karen. He was always right when it came to his bones. He always had a knack for knowing about those things. It was something a young person like Karen wouldn't be able to pull off. She contemplated what it would be like to be in the Bahamas during the winter.
Sitting alone in her room, the only thing she had to keep her company was the ceaseless howling of the snowstorm. It was like the sound of her empty heart, she mused. Because there was no one inside it with her. She felt her cheeks flare up every time she thought about it. She hadn't seen Jack for over a month and now his very face was engraved into her.
Gone, she could have been GONE if it wasn't for him. She'd stayed so she could, what, have a boyfriend? Like she couldn't find one outside the village? No, not one like Jack. Not one as handsome, daring, and charming as Jack.
Should she have been glad she got interrupted, or angry? One more second and she would have fulfilled the most complete form of love with Jack, given him all that she could give. He already had everything else, but what was it? Was it love? Or, perhaps, was it just her body aching for him?
She went back to her usual boredom buster: throwing a dart at a map, then looking up that counter in her assortment of atlas books. Right now, she was looking through Bombay, India. She so badly wanted to see other places, other lands, other cultures.
The door to her room opened and Sasha walked in carrying a plate of supper. "Sweetheart, are you hungry?"
Karen turned away, "No."
Sasha sighed, her brow furrowing. This girl was going to give her wrinkles too early. She set the plate down next to Karen, who gazed through her books with disinterest, hoping her mother would just go away.
"Sweetie, you haven't talked to me for weeks." She said, "Please, I just want you to talk to me."
"About what?" Karen said, suddenly angry without even knowing why. "About how I can't be an adult?"
"Adults do not try and shag like dogs in the Hot Springs." Her mother said.
Karen turned the most vicious glare at her mother that she could and said, "Oh, I'm sorry. Were you and Duke the only ones allowed to do that?"
Sasha's eyes widened, her fists clutched at her dress as if she were resisting the urge to simply smack her daughter silly. She couldn't say a word, or she knew she would simply cry. She cried anyway, unable to control her emotions.
"What does it take to show you I care, Karen? If it takes tears, then here they are. Does it take me dying for you to know that? Love isn't some word you throw around like candy. Because like candy, when you toss it around so easily, soon it wastes away into nothing. Karen, you don't know what love is. I know, but when you talk about Jack, I don't see love in your eyes."
"You're wrong." Karen spat.
Sasha shook her head. "I think you're just trying to prove me wrong, Karen. You just don't want me to be right. Honey, I'm not going to say I told you so or rub something in your face. You don't have to make such a fuss over this. Jack is only a boy, there are plenty of boys, but I am telling you Jack is not the right one for you."
Karen stared bitterly into nothing, her own tears spilling down now. It seemed like she had been crying too much, hurting all the time. Why couldn't she just be her own woman? "Just leave me alone." Karen said harshly.
Sasha wiped her eyes and stood up, "Don't let your food grow cold." She walked out of Karen's room.
Sleep came fitfully for her that night. She couldn't dream of anything but Karen walking out into the snowstorm, trying to reach Jack's. Or worse, Jack taking her daughter out of the village and out of her life forever. She saw herself dying without seeing Karen again, never holding her baby girl again.
Then Karen was a baby, an adorable baby in her arms. Her husband by her side, admiring their precious child. Their life of love, tending to the store while toddler Karen waddled around and gurgled; young seven year old Karen scraping her knee and her mother made it all better.
But those things were gone now. Her daughter, if she liked it or not, was her own woman. But Sasha wanted to spare her the pain, the hurt of not seeing what she could so clearly see herself. Why couldn't Karen listen to her? Was it because she knew, deep down, that Karen had to hurt herself in order to understand? She could slap her hands away from the stove for only so long, but the burned hand taught more than the warning slap.
She woke up only once, having thought she had heard the sound of a door closing, but it was likely a limb hitting the roof. She went back to sleep.
When she woke up the next morning, on Christmas Day, she found the board in front of the door had been taken down with a hammer. Her heart seized in her chest and she ran to Karen's room.
Her daughter was gone.
XxXxXxX
There was no two ways around it: Jack was miserable. He hated this snowstorm. It was oppressive. He felt like he was choking. All those stories about cabin fever were starting to come true. He had never been this miserable. His only companion was Frodo, who he petted and cared for as best he could, but the dog seemed disinterested in him lately, as if he didn't know Jack very well.
The storm howled outside, raging against the house at three in the morning. How bad was it going to be? Would the snow cover up his entire house? Would his animals be okay? It was only day one, but Jack wasn't going to take any chances by peeking. The wind could rip the door off the hinges if he wasn't careful.
He thought about the girls, too. He thought about Mary, so smart and beautiful in his eyes, yet she seemed to almost look through him.
Loving Popuri. She cared for him without cause, simply adoring his very presence. It was a raw, unfettered kind of emotion that she evoked in him.
But Karen...oh, sweet Karen, he could taste her very essence just thinking about her, every inch of her form, could hear her screaming his name...
Screaming his name? Usually a girl wasn't screaming his name unless they were at the end of a date. He snapped himself out of his day-dreaming and heard a frantic pounding on his front door and a female voice screaming at the top of her lungs, "JACK! JACK! JACK!"
"What the...who could be so stupid...Holy crap!" Jack jumped out of his chair and found his claw hammer, working to removed the two-by-fours that had boarded up his door, all the while someone was pounding on it. Jack finally pulled the last of it away and made sure he opened the door with his full weight against it. A slender form immediately rushed in with a blast of cold air and a few buckets of snow. She helped him push the door back, holding it while Jack hammered the boards back into place.
Finally, he tossed his hammer down and looked at the heavily coated figure standing before him. She pulled the hood away and Karen shook her light brown hair out, then fished herself out of her coat.
"Karen!" Jack said, "What're you doing out in the storm?"
Without a word, Karen simply leapt into Jack's arms and wrapped her legs around Jack's waist and her arms around his neck. "Oh Jack! I missed you!" She took his face to hers and proceeded to kiss Jack, very violently, as if he were a drug and this was her fix. Jack simply fell backwards onto the bed, feeling that familiar feeling he'd had when Mira had burst in on him. She had kissed him in much the same way.
After a few hard to breath moments, Jack finally managed to get her off of him and he sat on the bed while she paced back and forth in his living room.
"I just had enough of my mother and her smothering way of life. I have to live, Jack!" She said. "I have to live and breathe, I can't hole myself up and not make anything of my life. I can't stand it here anymore."
Jack raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you staying?"
Karen stopped in front of him, her arms crossed. She looked up him, hoping she was telling him the answer he wanted to hear. "You, Jack. I stayed here for you."
"Story of my life." Jack muttered, then said, "Karen, going out into that storm was incredibly stupid. You could have been killed."
"It was the only way." Karen said, "To make sure my mother wouldn't come after me. I'm tired of being chained down, like a prisoner. You don't chain me down, Jack. You make me feel so...free."
"I have that affect on people." Jack said, "But I'm glad you stood up to your mother. You can't trust people, people are disappointing. If you put your faith in people, they'll disappoint you every time. You gotta make your own way in this world, Karen. That's what I did."
Karen sat next to him. "What did you do, Jack?"
Jack was quiet for a moment. "I was a professional wrestler. I traveled the world. I made a lot of money. I came here to Flowerbud not just because of my grandfather, but to make sure I'd be spending my golden years watching the grass grow and fishing and not busting my hump in a sweaty bingo hall, bleeding for dollars to a bunch of bloodthirsty fans who only want to see you hurt yourself into a crippled state."
Jack didn't know if that was something he should have told Karen, but he felt he had to tell it to someone, like it was something he couldn't hold in a second longer. Cliff knew, but Cliff was Cliff. Karen was something else. The way her eyes somewhat glazed over, taking in that bit of information, she didn't know just what to think.
"Have you...traveled?" She asked.
Jack nodded, "I've been all over this world, Karen. From one corner to the other."
Karen sat down on the bed. "Tell me about it, Jack. Tell me about the world outside this village."
So Jack told her. Everyplace he'd gone, every culture he'd seen, every city he could remember. Karen soaked it up like a sponge, hanging on his every word; her eyes shining as she saw in her mind's eye the place Jack had been to. He glossed over his profession, but that didn't matter to Karen. She only wanted to hear about the exotic locations.
Day came, but it didn't matter to either of them. There was no day or night in this place, only the perpetual howling of the winds outside. Karen yawned and said, "I want to sleep, Jack."
"Well, go ahead and take my bed. I'll crash on the couch." Jack said.
Karen looked at his bed. "Jack, I'm... I don't want to sleep in your bed. My bed is more like a couch, so I'd be more comfortable on the couch."
Jack shrugged, his tongue and Karen's tongue biting on the same idea: why not share the bed? But neither said it and Karen simply approached him and lovingly locked lips with him, before she said, "Night." And plopped onto the couch. Jack kept a few candles lit, in case she needed to see.
Jack felt his blood boiling inside of him. A week or so with only him and Karen. The temptation was so great, and now there was no one to interrupt them. He turned the lights out and hopped under his bed, falling asleep, dreaming Karen, so very close to him.
A few hours passed, and suddenly he was jolted out of his sleep by a pair of arms snaking their way under his, from behind. He turned to see Karen, sliding into bed, her sly face illuminated by the candle on his nightstand. He wrapped his arms around her, his senses suddenly alive as he felt nothing on her but the bareness of her skin, the soft flesh sliding next to his, her hands rubbing his bare chest.
Before he could even say a word, they were kissing. Their kissing led to the close groping that was all too familiar to them now. But it was just a formality. Karen didn't want another round of flesh grabbing, she wanted to see where this was all going, to finish what they had started at the Hot Springs. Jack was out of his pajamas in a heartbeat, every part of him eager to love Karen the way she wanted.
That night, Jack and Karen fulfilled their desires in the flickering candle light and, for the first time in a long time, Jack was happy. At the end of it all, he held Karen to his chest, stroking her hair with his hand. She nuzzled his neck and whispered, "I love you, Jack."
"I love you too, Karen."
And then, as soon as she fell asleep, Jack cried silently, as if a part of him had somehow died, as if he suddenly understood everything.
"Oh my God." He whispered, "What have I done?"
A sharp pang in his head hit him. He clenched his teeth, his body tightening in pain, trembling until it made Karen wake. When she stirred, he went still. She looked up at him. "What's wrong, Jack?"
"Nothing." He said, wearing a grin, "But, ah, you can call me Ace, kay?"
She smiled. "Okay...Ace."
At the back of his mind, Jack could only cringe in the darkness of his own mind and cry silently.
