Another new chapter! I have a lot of the rest written, it just needs to be edited. I may post another chapter this week, we'll see. Let me know your thoughts on the new developments!
{Dae POV}
Sunday morning, I woke up late, deciding to take a trek into the woods with my neglected camera. I hadn't had the energy or peace of mind to take it out to document my surroundings, but with the progress I'd made with Paul, I feel rejuvenated. I fished through a couple boxes before triumphantly producing my beloved Nikon. I slung the strap around my neck and switched the lens out for one more appropriate for photographing landscapes. Satisfied with my preparations, I shoved my feet into my well-worn olive sneakers and set out to explore the woods.
I hadn't gone too far out when I heard a noise behind me. I turned to see the tail of a large animal retreat into some bushes behind a log. I looked around cautiously, not knowing if there were more, but when I was satisfied it was just the one, I flicked the on switch on my camera, holding it to my eye to go a little closer. Unfortunately, I stepped on a branch, not paying attention to my feet, and the animal poked it's head up, its wolf-like ears and one eye visible. I frowned.
This can't be a wolf, it's too big. It's not a dog, and upon closer inspection, it has human-like mannerisms, like not darting off, or spying on me rather than outright challenging me. I held my camera to my eye again, ready to snap a picture, but it's head disappeared again. I ventured a little closer, standing on my toes to see over the obstruction, but when I was actually near enough to get a clear shot, the animal darted away so fast, I barely could track with it's movements. It took me a second to react, but my fingers automatically held down the shutter button, taking maybe thirty shots of the fleeing creature.
I was curious of the strange animal's behavior, especially as I looked at each of the blurry pictures. I couldn't tell much, but from what I could see, it was a giant wolf, or something similar. I dropped down on a log, the adrenaline rush over, leaving me tired. I stayed there for a few minutes, just staring at the clearest picture. Deciding I wouldn't learn anything new from the tiny screen, I rose, planning on going over to talk to Onyx about it. Onyx knows a lot about the area, so maybe she can tell me what kind of animal it was.
Halfway through the woods towards Onyx's house, I caught sight of Paul, shirtless and barefoot. He was just standing there, watching me. I raised my eyebrow in his general direction, wondering what kind of mood he would be in now, going off our friendly night yesterday. I've noticed that with every two steps forward with him, we take another step back. As he approached me, he almost looked angry. Then again, that might just be his face at this point. I let my lips move up in a cautious smile.
"Hey."
"You're not dead." He said gruffly.
"No. Should I be?" Is this about the animal I saw out here? What does he know about the creature? I decide against bringing my encounter up, figuring he won't tell me anything and or will get madder.
"Congratulations. I'll... I'll be leaving now." He ignored my question.
"Um, why would I be dead now? Last I heard, there wasn't a natural disaster or any serial killers in the area." My curiosity got the better of me, and I don't plan on letting him get away so easily.
"I-well-look, Dae. Just trust me, I'm a ranger. I can't tell you anything, but just... Don't go into the woods alone or you'll meet a serial killer. I'm serious. Please don't."
"And why do you care if I die?" I taunt him, remembering his admission of non-hatred from last night.
"I just do, okay? So please. Stay out of the woods." He tells me, annoyed now. I quirk my eyebrow up.
"Is this your way of telling me you'd miss me if I died?"
He laughed sardonically.
"As if."
"Which brings me back to why do you care if I die?" I push. He rubbed his temples, clearly at a loss of what to do now.
"The woods aren't safe, part of my job working for Billy and the counsel is keeping people out of the woods. You're people. Let's just say I lose my job if you die. Stay out of the woods." And without further explanation, he turned and walked away. I pursed my lips watching him leave. He left me more curious, and solidified my plans to go and interrogate Onyx. He does look great walking away, though.
I continued on through the woods, disregarding Paul's warning, to her house. After walking for about a minute, I glanced back over my shoulder, seeing Paul about thirty feet away, frowning at the path I'd taken. I looked at him coldly and flipped him off before continuing on in my quest.
By the time I got to Onyx's, I was very thirsty and I rapped on her door a little more forcefully than necessary.
"Onyx?" She opened the door, wearing a pair of shorts and a blanket, looking rather dejected.
"Dae?" She let me in.
"Hey, what's the matter?" I hugged her instinctively, trying to not be weird about her naked upper half. She sighed.
"Just a little boy trouble, where did you come from?" She pulled away, plucking a leaf from my hair.
"I uh - went for a hike this morning for some pictures. You sure you don't want to talk about it?" I feel like as her friend, however briefly, I should be her shoulder to cry on, right? She shook her head.
"It's just something I need to work out with him, I'll be fine. Did you get any nice shots?" She tossed the blanket onto her couch, leading me into the kitchen to make us some tea.
"Yeah, well no, not really. Actually, that's what I came over to talk to you about in the first place." I took my camera from my neck, pulling the memory card out of the bottom and holding it up. "Computer?"
She left and came back with her laptop in her hands, starting it up while I poured the boiling water over the reddish tea leaves. I leaned over her shoulder to watch her click through my pictures.
"You have a good eye." She noted, and I blushed a little, remembering how I said the same thing to Paul last night.
"Thanks."
"How did your thing with Paul go yesterday?" She asked absently, still looking at the various shots I'd taken.
"It went well. Really well, actually. He admitted that he had fun."
"Well that's a good sign, particularly for Paul."
"Yeah, I thought so. But then I saw him again this morning on my way over here, and he just kinda looked angry and told me to stay out of the woods. He was kind of a bitch about it."
"I agree that you should at least stick near the edge of the woods, but that is weird. What's this?" She leaned forward, examining my blurry shots of the wolf.
I explained how I saw it. She frowned, pursing her lips and growing very quiet.
"Stay out of the woods."
"What is it?" I lean closer to the screen, trying to get a better look at it on her computer.
"Wolf. Well, kinda." She mumbled, deleting the picture and closing out of the window.
"Hey!" I couldn't imagine why she would just delete a picture like that unless she was hiding something. "What are you talking about? What am I missing, why do you and Paul know what this is, but you won't tell me? And why did you just delete my fucking picture?"
"It's his job to tell you, and I'm guessing that's a big part of him being so hot and cold to you." She only answered part of my questions, leaving me with even more. I scowled at the computer in general as she removed my memory card.
"Well, he's not doing his job then." I grumble.
"You need to talk to him about that." She tells me definitively. I roll my eyes.
"Why won't you tell me? You're the only friend I've got around here, don't ditch me now!" I'm getting very frustrated and the lack of answers going on here. First Paul, which honestly I wasn't surprised at, but now Onyx too?
"I'm serious, Dae. If it was up to me, I'd tell you in a heartbeat. It's not up to me, though. I can't tell you anything until after you've at least tried to talk to Paul about it. If he doesn't tell you, then ask me." Well, that's better than nothing, I guess. I look at her, still slightly scowling.
"I'm annoyed at you right now, but I'm still thirsty from hiking through these dangerous woods… so..." She chuckled a little as I rose to fish the tea leaves out of our forgotten mugs, handing her one. She smiled at me over the rim.
"Thanks for understanding. I promise to tell you if Paul refuses. You have a right to know, but he has a right to have a chance to explain. It will probably change a lot of things." She sips her tea. "I know it did for me."
I look at her expectantly, waiting for her to elaborate, which she doesn't.
"With Collin?" I ask when she doesn't speak. She nods.
"I'll explain later – I'm still trying to figure it out myself. Once Paul tells you, it'll make more sense."
"...Okay. By the way, Uncle Jay says Billy's doing a bonfire tonight, on the beach, do you want to go with me? I'd like to see who I recognize on the res." I tell her. Everyone here knows Uncle Jay, and Onyx is no exception.
"Do you know who's going?" She looked at me suspiciously.
"Me, Aliyah, her boyfriend Brady, Seth, Zoe, maybe Zoe's brother, although I haven't seen him around at all... for awhile actually…" I frown as I realize the object of young me's crush has been completely missing from every event I've been to.
"What are you talking about? Zoe doesn't have a brother." Onyx squints at me, confused.
"Yeah, she does, I was friends with them when I lived here 10 years ago. I had a big crush on him. He must've moved off the res or something." I explain.
"If she does, nobody ever mentions him. I've been here for four years and I've never heard anything about him."
"Maybe he was disowned or something, I hear that's what sometimes happens when someone moves off a reservation and away from family. Anyway, just a bunch of people from school I guess." I shrug.
"I'd rather not, Collin might be there and I don't know what he'll do."
"Oh come on, it's not like you to let someone else get in the way of enjoying yourself. I'll help you ignore him. Please come with me?"
"You're right. Okay, sure, I'm in. I'd like to meet Paul officially, too, if you're cool with that."
"Okay, but I'm not going to introduce you..." I laughed.
"Good thing I'm not shy then."
xXx
{Onyx POV}
Dae and I had a great time, just the two of us on the beach. She splashed me and I responded by dunking her underwater. Although she had height on me, I had more muscle and force behind me and she came up, laughing and sputtering. We both stopped, however, when we caught sight of Paul in the group around the growing fire.
"You wanna talk to him or let him make a move?" I asked, up to my chin in the waves.
"I think... I think I'll wait to see what mood he's in. Underwater! He's looking!" We both sucked in a breath and disappeared under the waves, swimming around a little before surfacing again.
"I think he's laughing." Dae squinted at the shore, looking irritated. She could stand, but we were too deep for me to see while my feet were on the ground.
"That was a smooth move, hide while he's watching and he won't notice us!" I snort, her seduction tactics were amazingly bad.
"What else am I going to do? Wave flirtily?" She protests.
"Oh honey... we got a lot of work to do if we're gonna rope him in."
"Thanks... 'preciate it. What next?" She turned to look at me, but my eyes were pointed towards the shore, where I saw the exact person I'm trying to avoid.
"Um. Sorry, you're on your own. I gotta go." I turned to start swimming towards the water in front of my house. If I swim along the coast, I won't have to get out and talk to him, right? He won't follow me into the water, probably?
"What? Why?" She looked around for what had caught my eye.
"He's here. Collin. Look over there, he's watching me. See?" I turned around while Dae looked over the top of my head. "I've just been avoiding him." I explain.
"Why? Is he being a creep?" She asked, and the sound of protectiveness in her voice would be funny if I wasn't genuinely sort of scared. I laughed once without humor.
"Something like that... I'll be okay, I just have to go now before he catches me."
"No, Onyx, you gotta stay and be my wing-woman! Please..." She gave me a puppy dog face.
Let's face it, I can't resist a good puppy dog face.
"Fine... but you can't leave me alone with him, got it?" I know she definitely will, but I make her promise anyway. She nodded. "Alright, we came here to have a good time, so let's join the chicken fight over there!"
We swam over and I climbed on her shoulders. With her height and my strength we made a pretty good team against the four or five couples we were fighting. We had several rematches and Dae and I ended up in second place, losing to a giant named Jared with his girlfriend Kim on top.
"Everyone, the food's ready!" Emily called from on shore, and Dae and I were nearly trampled by the stampede of large muscle-men all carrying their girlfriends to dry land. I could vaguely hear Emily slapping hands while yelling at the boys to be patient and let the girls eat first. Dae and I trudged wearily to the table, the last of the girls to get food before the wild boys devoured the table itself.
We escaped to a log around the fire, wrapped in dirty towels and eating our food quietly.
"Em's amazing."
"Mhm."
That's really all we needed to say, we didn't need words to assure the other that we were supporting her, and would make sure nothing awkward or terrible happened. Not long after we finished, Billy Black came to the circle in his wheelchair. Despite how the wheelchair took away from his fierce appearance, he still struck command into the group. This is probably the first time that Dae has heard the legends, and this is an important time to pay attention.
I make eye contact with Collin from where he sits on the very edge of the group, and I feel pain stab my gut. He looks so sad, so broken.
He's a killer, I have to remind myself. He and Paul, probably, who knows who else. I look away from him.
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