Chapter 1: Darkness

Her car stalled again. Evelyn restarted the engine with whispers of, "Oh come on, please come on." It purred lazily to life. With hope like a fragile balloon in her chest Evelyn thanked everything she could think of but her relief did not last long. Once again the engine began to stutter and it was very nervously that Evelyn pressed down on the accelerator pedal.

"Come on baby, keep going for me." But the car ignored her. The engine faltered and then died completely. She tried to get it going again several times but the car was adamant it was going to stay right where it was. Evelyn hit the steering wheel in frustration, all she had wanted to do was keep going, every time she stopped she was afraid she would remember... She jerked her mind back to the present situation. She looked around but all she could see was dusty road extending in both directions. Now she was stuck in the middle of Mexico with no phone and no experience of fixing cars. She took a deep breath and forced herself to stay calm; she would think of something.

It was sunset, or nearly sunset, so soon it would be dark. Evelyn pulled the key out of the ignition; she did not want to spend a night alone in the desert. She would go for help, there had to be a town close by. Close by turned out to be two miles away. Evelyn's heavy bag dug into her shoulder as she walked and it wasn't long before the dust thrown up by her boots got in her throat and made her long for water which she had stupidly left in her car. She could see houses in the distance; surely someone would help her there. She moved her hand across her face and hooked a stray strand of her medium length brown hair over her ear, it had fallen out of its ponytail but she couldn't be bothered to stop and redo it now.

The shadows were at their longest when she reached the nearest house. It stood a little apart from the others but Evelyn was too tired and thirsty to even notice. As she got closer she saw a man sitting on the porch half hidden by shadows. A stream of smoke rose from his mouth and Evelyn saw the movement of the hand that must hold the cigarette. He appeared to be dressed all in black; he even wore a pair of dark sunglasses which obscured some of the otherwise pale face. He had shoulder length dark hair and Evelyn imagined he had dark eyes but the glasses prevented her from knowing for sure. She walked closer but the man did not appear to notice her so she was forced to speak.

"Hello?" she said as she got to the porch steps. The man suddenly froze, the cigarette halfway to his mouth. Evelyn stopped dead too confused by the man's response, she had made no secret of her presence, surely he had known she was coming, surely he had seen her. The man did not move or speak, he appeared to be waiting for her to make the next move.

"Um...I was wondering if you could help me?" Evelyn said hesitantly. The man turned his head towards her and without meaning to Evelyn took a step backwards. This man frightened her. Maybe, Evelyn thought rationally, he just didn't speak English so couldn't understand her. This would present quite a serious problem as Evelyn remembered very little of her high school Spanish and had only picked up a few phrases since being in Mexico none of which seemed helpful in this situation.

"Er...senor? I need help...I..." The man's voice cut her off.

"Nino," he said sharply. Evelyn heard running footsteps and a young boy of about eight or nine appeared almost at once.

"Is everything alright senor?" he asked in the voice of a true Mexican, not like the voice of the man at all.

"Who is the woman standing outside my house?" the man asked without looking away from Evelyn. His accent was American. Despite his fierce tone Evelyn was pleased to hear him speaking English. The young boy looked over at her. He smiled widely, his little white teeth showing up vividly against his dark sun baked skin.

"I do not know her senor," he said, "Do you want me go talk to her?" The man gave a small motion with his black gloved hand which presumably meant yes because the boy walked forwards.

"Hi," said Evelyn uncomfortably aware that the man was still staring straight at her, "I need some help, my car's broken down and I would really appreciate..."

"There is a spare room here senorita," said the boy before Evelyn had even finished speaking.

"Don't invite someone into my house without my permission," said the man rising to his feet sounding far from pleased. He was tall and dressed all in black he looked quite chilling.

"But senor Sands," the boy began imploringly.

"It's alright," Evelyn said quickly, "I don't want to cause any trouble." She hoisted her bag onto her shoulder again resisting the urge to groan and began to walk away.

The man sat down and resumed smoking as if nothing had happened. Evelyn heard the little boy speak again.

"Oh senor," he said sounding disappointed, "She only needs a place to stay for one night."

"I don't want anyone staying the night," the man replied, "She's lucky I didn't smoke her."

"But she's all alone senor, and it's getting dark," said the boy persuasively.

"It's always dark," said the man bitterly.

"I know senor," said the boy sadly, "I'm sorry, I'll get back to..."

"Oh alright," said the man reluctantly, "Call her back."

"Pardon senor?"

"Invite her back," snapped the man.

Evelyn heard running footsteps behind her. She turned and saw the little boy grinning up at her; he looked very pleased with himself.

"Senor Sands would like you to stay the night," he said a little breathlessly. Evelyn looked over to the porch, where the man, Sands, appeared to be watching them. Evelyn smiled at him but he did not smile back.

"Do you want me to carry your bag senorita?" the boy asked.

"No, it's ok," replied Evelyn, "I can manage." She did not want the young lad hurting himself by trying to shoulder the heavy load. When they reached the house the boy asked if she wanted a drink. She replied yes at once. With that the little boy scampered off leaving Evelyn standing awkwardly while Sands continued to smoke.

"Sit down," he commanded. Evelyn did so, the chair creaking slightly under her weight. Her bag lay beside her.

"It's very kind of you to let me stay," she said gratefully.

"You should thank Nino, I don't want you here." Evelyn felt frightened again, if she had had anywhere else to go she would not have remained in this man's company for a moment longer. She wished Sands would take off his sunglasses, it was almost dark anyway.

"Let me introduce myself," Evelyn said hoping to break the ice, "I'm Evelyn Willuns."

She extended her hand but retracted it when Sands did not move.

"Sands," he said and much to Evelyn's confusion he now extended his own hand. Evelyn shook it feeling the soft leather against her palm.

"Your water senorita," announced Nino holding out a large glass with three ice cubes floating on top.

"Thank you," said Evelyn and she proceeded to drink deeply feeling the cold liquid sooth her parched throat. Nino nudged her bag underneath her chair with his foot. As Evelyn drank she looked at Sands over the top of her glass. He was really very pale, especially for someone who lives under the hot Mexican sun. He looked ill and Evelyn immediately felt guilty for intruding.

"Where's my lighter?" Sands asked abruptly. It was right in front of him on the table. Nino picked it up and placed it in Sands' hand.

"Here you are senor," he said quietly.

"Thanks," said Sands almost begrudgingly. He lit another cigarette and let the smoke stream out of his nose. There was silence for a little while. Sands seemed determined to be unwelcoming.

"Shall I show senorita where she'll sleep?" Nino asked. Sands gave a short nod and continued to smoke.

"Follow me," Nino said to Evelyn and this time he didn't ask before grabbing her bag and entering the house. It was dark inside so Nino flicked on the lights. Several of the light bulbs in the living room weren't working so the light was gloomy at best.

"I find it hard to change them," explained Nino, "So I only do it when I have to."

"Can't Sands do it?" asked Evelyn not knowing why Nino should have to change light bulbs when there was an adult in the house. Nino looked at her, eyes bright in the half light.

"He's blind senorita," he said quietly.

"Oh," Evelyn breathed feeling very stupid. Suddenly everything made sense. She cringed when she thought about how insensitive she had been.

"Was he born blind?" Evelyn asked although she thought she already knew the answer.

"Oh no senorita," said Nino, "Six months ago he is seeing perfectly." Evelyn wasn't sure whether Nino stopped because he didn't want to tell her more or because he didn't know the right words in English. Evelyn was jogged back to focussing on the present when Nino opened a door which was directly off the living room.

"This is the spare room senorita," he said as he lay down her bag and held the door open for her. It was a small room, unused even for storage. The bed was made but looked like it had never been used. A fine layer of dust lay over all the surfaces and there was a well established cobweb in one corner. As Evelyn's eyes returned to Nino she saw he was looking extremely guilty.

"I'm sorry senorita," he said twisting his hands in front of him, "I haven't been cleaning this room often, senor needs me for many things."

"It's alright," said Evelyn and seeing the worried look on Nino's face she added, "I won't tell senor." Nino shot her a thankful smile. Evelyn walked over to the large window, it looked out of the front of the house beyond the porch but Evelyn could not see much now as it was almost totally dark. She opened the window and felt the cool night breeze breath life into the room at once.

"It's perfect," she said. Nino looked about to speak but he turned away sharply as the sounds of Sands cursing loudly from the porch reached their ears.

Nino hurried back to him with Evelyn close behind. She somehow already knew it was her fault. Sands was standing completely still, Evelyn's chair on its side in front of him. She had left it out and clearly Sands had walked straight into it. Nino righted the chair and tucked it neatly under the table out of the way. All the time he spoke in soft Spanish. He took Sands' hand and led him forwards. Evelyn could see how much Sands depended on the boy.

"I'm sorry," Evelyn said as they walked past. Sands was still cursing under his breath. He stopped, turned in Evelyn's direction and said angrily, "Don't move anything else." Each word rang in Evelyn's ears as Nino and Sands disappeared into the house. She stood for a minute in the gathering darkness, the porch still smelt of Sands' cigarettes. She was afraid to go into the house, afraid of feeling ever more like an intruder and most of all she was afraid of doing anything else to make Sands angry. How had she not guessed Sands was blind? He had just seemed to know exactly what was in front of him; he had looked at her...or had at least appeared to. Why had she been so careless?

When she entered the house again it was dark and not knowing where the light switch was Evelyn found her way to her room by moonlight. She hoped she could make it up with Sands the next day. She undressed wondering what life would be like without her sight. She lay on the bed and closed her eyes glad that when she opened them she could see the world around her.

It was a hot night so Evelyn left the bedroom door open so air could flow right through the room and over her as she slept. She was fast asleep in no time and didn't hear the scream from Sands' room.

Sands felt the pain again and woke to his own screaming. He sat up, breathing fast. Dreams linger longer when you cannot distract your brain with other images. Sands got up and staggered to the bathroom. He was promptly sick into the toilet. He sat on the bathroom floor for a long time waiting for his head to stop aching. He was still shaking despite the warmth of the night. He got slowly to his feet. Would there ever be a time when he did not relive that terrible day? He was on his way back to his bedroom when he heard a sleepy moan and remembered there was that woman asleep in his house. She was the first person to sleep in the spare room, the first guest in Sands' house full stop.

The CIA had paid him off to keep him quiet. They didn't want anyone knowing when something happened to an agent. They hadn't come to help him, they had cut him off completely leaving Sands with a lot of money but more pain than he had ever had in his life. Without Nino he wouldn't have made it this far, that was for certain. It was Nino who made sure he went to the hospital, Nino who picked up his medication, Nino who had found the house and Nino who had done everything a blind man can't do by himself. Sands rewarded the kid with money and lots of it but he knew Nino only took what he needed. The kid was gold.

Evelyn turned in her sleep and then something made her sit bolt upright. Standing in the doorway, leaning against the door frame was Sands, again dressed all in black.

"Oh!" said Evelyn recovering from the horrible feeling that waking suddenly gives you, "I didn't see you there."

"I didn't see you either," said Sands blankly and he walked off. Evelyn sank back onto her pillow feeling suddenly drained; this was not how she had wanted to start the morning.

Sands and Nino were seated outside at the table on the porch when Evelyn found them. Sands looked up as she approached, he must have heard footsteps. Nino, who hadn't heard her coming but had noticed Sands, turned, his grin deeply welcoming.

"Good morning senorita," he said, "Good sleep?"

"Yes, very good," replied Evelyn, "Thank you." She didn't advance any closer as there were only two chairs both of which were occupied. Sands stood up.

"You can sit here," he said a little flatly as if doing this was painful to him, "I'll get another chair."

"Oh, it's ok. I'll get it," said Evelyn eager to ingratiate herself to Sands. Instead of looking grateful or pleased Sands scowled.

"I am perfectly capable," he said in a dangerously low voice before walking straight past her and reappearing moments later with a chair.

"Thank you," said Evelyn meekly and they both sat down. Nino poured her a glass of orange juice and offered her some toast, Evelyn accepted. Sands was still looking displeased while Nino innocently occupied himself with his breakfast. Evelyn decided to have a stab at conversation.

"So," she said, "Have you lived in Mexico all your life?" Nino looked up.

"I think she was talking to you senor," he said.

"Oh," said Sands. He turned to Evelyn.

"No," he said simply before turning away. Evelyn felt thoroughly intimidated but bravely carried on.

"Been here long then?" she asked.

"A while," replied Sands in a bored sort of voice. Evelyn took a deep breath, to stop herself getting upset more than anything.

"This is a lovely house," she said trying to find a subject that would provoke Sands into producing more than hatefully short answers.

"Is it?" Sands asked sarcastically, "Thanks for telling me, I have never seen it before." He pushed his chair back and went into the house. Evelyn looked after him in dismay wondering if there was anything she could say that wouldn't offend him.

"Senorita?" Evelyn looked round and saw Nino watching her own his bowl.

"Yes?" she said fixing a friendly smile on her face.

"You must excuse senor," Nino said, "He has trust for no one anymore, not after his eyes..."

"It's ok," said Evelyn feeling a lot of warmth towards the little boy, "I understand."

"Understand?! How could you possibly understand?!" roared Sands from inside the house, "You have no fucking idea!" There came the definite sound of something glass breaking.

"Nino get in here right now and tell that stupid senorita to fuck off before I..." His next words were drowned by the sound of something else breaking which was probably just as well. Nino shot an apologetic look at Evelyn before hurrying inside obediently.

Evelyn left as soon as she had grabbed her bag. She did not look back at the house so no one saw the two tears that ran down her face as she hurried away.