Chapter 2: Whittle Worries Away

It had been a few weeks since the last time Robert and I hung out. The brace was off and I was allowed most of my regular mobility back (per doctor's orders). Well, I've nearly completely recovered from the last adventure. I might as well message Robert and see if he wants to hang out again. I had been updating him on Siingle as to how my knee was doing, but he stopped reading the messages. I haven't even seen him come out of his house, really.

I decide to message him one more time: "Hey, my knee's all healed now. I'm ready for another wild night if you are ;)" After that, I walked away from the computer since I knew he wouldn't be responding any time soon. I spent the rest of the day with Andrew. We made dinner together and a cheesecake for dessert. We chilled out for a while and watched TV until we were both ready for bed.

It's a little after midnight when I'm finally in my PJ's and curling up in bed. I check Siingle one more time to see if Robert sent a reply. Nothing. I hope he's okay and not trying to avoid me. Not that I'd care, really. I mean, the last time we hung out, I was a bummer and ruined his night. Yeah, he probably doesn't want to hang out with me again after that. I put my phone on my nightstand and flip over.

I am halfway between sleep and wake when my phone starts buzzing like crazy. I grab it and notice the Siingle app, still open, has a few messages for me. From Robert!

"hey

"Carrie

"hey

"hey Carrie

"Hey I'm outside

"come outside

"don't make me honk

"I will honk

"get out here"

I fumble toward my window, phone still in hand and notice Robert is leaning up against his pickup truck in my driveway. He's looking at his phone and looks ready to lay his hand on the horn. Fuck, he looks so hot right now, I thought. I put on a coat and head outside.

"Hey," greeted Robert.

"Hi," I replied.

"Wanna hang?"

"Okay."

"Cool. You plan on going out like that?"

I look down and I realize I am not wearing any bottoms. I had gone to bed wearing some baby-doll lingerie and a lace thong, both red with black trim. I realized he could see this because I hadn't zipped up my jacket. I blushed red at that realization.

"I mean, I don't mind," Robert added. My blush got impossibly stronger.

"I-I'll get some pants. Um. I'll be right back." I don't think I had ever gotten changed so quickly in my life. I threw on a t-shirt, bra, and jeans. After a quick look in the mirror, I decided a quick scrub with a washcloth would wipe the sleep from my eyes. I throw my jacket back on and grab my keys. I lock the house and find Robert is already waiting in the truck. I hop in the passenger seat and I notice a blush on his face.

It may have been a trick of the light, because it is mostly gone when he asks, "Ready?"

"Ready," I confirmed after buckling up. He drives us out of the cul-de-sac.

"You like Tom Waits?" he asked after we had gone down the road a little way. I mean, I know one song. Before I can reply though, he turns up the radio. Robert lights a cigarette and cracks open the windows. It's a peaceful drive.

I thought about asking him where we were going, but then I remembered how fun it had been the last time we hung out. I never knew where we were going and it was great. Dislocated knee, not great; everything else? Yes.

Wherever we're going, it's outside of town as Robert takes us to the highway. I get comfy in my seat and look out the window. The night air smells nice.

I look over at Robert and note in my mind that he looks tired. There's something else in his expression that I can't tell what it is. I want to ask, but I barely know him. It might be too personal. Besides, he's not a small talk guy. Still… he looks burdened by something.

He noticed me staring and said, "Stop looking so nervous."

"I'm not nervous," I replied.

"Just hang on, we're almost there."

After a little while longer, Robert stopped the truck. He got out and I followed him. He goes to the back of the truck and puts the gate down. He hops up and spreads a blanket out. He sits on the gate and pats the spot next to him. I hop up beside him.

We're on a hill overlooking the city. There's a forest off to the side, but I'm more taken aback by the view in front of us. From here, the city looks so beautiful. It's a crisp evening, but beyond that, it's a perfect night.

"This is where I come to masturbate," said Robert, out of nowhere.

"Okay…?" I asked, unsure if he was serious or not.

"I'm kidding," he said. "What's wrong with you?" He changes the tone of the conversation. "This is my little spot where I come to think."

"It's nice," I approved.

"You can see the whole city from up here; really gives you some perspective." He then pulled a knife from his jacket and I couldn't suppress my alarm.

"Oh," I said shakily. I honestly didn't know what he was going to do next. What he did was take a small piece of wood from his pocket. He uses the knife to start carving the wood. I breathe a sigh of relief.

"Did you think I was gonna stab you just now?" he asked.

"What? No," I denied. Maybe.

"Hate to break it to you, but I did, in fact, bring you out here to harvest your organs."

Okay. "Yeah, well, you think you may have caught me in your trap, but I knew. For years, I have been destroying my body with junk food, in preparation for this day. Come at me, friend, and reap what you will." I laid down on the truck bed and put my hand over my head dramatically, like you do.

He snorted. "Ha! Nothing gets past you, huh?" I sat back up and saw him reach into his pocket again. He pulled out another knife which he hands to me. "I'm gonna warn you, the last guy I had a knife fight with lost three fingers because he didn't know the eight basic rules of knife fighting. You're familiar, correct?"

"I honestly can't tell when you're kidding anymore."

"I'm so many levels of irony deep that I've forgotten what humor is." We both laugh at that. "Have you ever whittled before?" Now THAT was left field.

"I've never been to the old west, no." That was the wrong thing to say.

"Carrie, I'll have you know that whittling is a time-honored tradition enjoyed by both young and old alike. That you're dismissing it before you've even tried it speaks volumes about your character." Is he… is he actually offended? He went on, "However, because I've gotten to know you for some time and have come to think of us as friends, I'm willing to attribute it to ignorance instead of malice. What I'm trying to say is… go get that stick." He motioned to a good-looking stick on the ground. I went over, picked it up, and brought it back.

Robert instructed, "The most important thing to remember while whittling is to cut with the grain, not against it. If you cut against the grain, the wood's gonna splinter."

"Isn't the most important thing safety?" I asked.

"No," he punctuated that apart from the rest of what he said. "Getting hurt comes with the territory. Look at my damn hands." I looked at his hands and decided I liked them. They were calloused and covered with little scars, but I liked them. "You can't make a stick omelet without breaking a few hand eggs."

We carve for a minute or two before my hand slips and the knife slices into my thumb. Well, now that's a cut. "Um," I said. Robert doesn't notice me at first, too preoccupied with his own carving. I am straight bleeding all over my hand. "Uh… Robert, I'm bleeding to death."

Robert looked over and took out a bandana from his jacket. He wrapped it around my thumb. "Hold tight," he said as he hopped off the tailgate. I heard him rummaging in his truck. He came back to me with a well-stocked first aid kit.

He removed the bandana and carefully wiped all the blood off my hand. He put antiseptic in the cut and I flinched. "You always keep that with you or was it just for me?"

He snorted as he wrapped my finger in gauze. "Which would you rather hear?"

"I'd hoped I hadn't created such a clumsy impression, so I'd rather you tell me you always had the kit with you."

"Sure. Gotta have some way to bandage myself." He finished wrapping my finger and asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Thank you."

He handed me the tube of antiseptic and said, "Keep that wound clean."

Wow. I had no idea he could be so nice and gentle. Now I'm turned on again. "I guess I'm a real whittler now," I said, trying to tame my emotions.

"That you are. Be careful, though. They're attracted to the smell of blood."

"Wait, what? What's attracted to the smell of blood?"

"Cryptids. Tons of 'em out here, you know."

"Cryptids? Like Mothman and stuff?"

"Mothman is bullshit, but yeah. This town's a hotbed for cryptozoological occurrences."

"You're joking." I honestly don't know when he's being serious.

"Oh, how I wish I were. I'm a skeptic myself… or at least I thought I was. There are things in these woods that we can't possibly comprehend."

I thought about my time living in this city. I had seen a few stray and sometimes wild animals, but I didn't think it was too bad. I didn't know the whole town though. Who knew what was lurking around the next corner, waiting to be uncovered? It was scary, a little bit, but also sort of exciting.

"You ever hear of the Dover Ghost?" asked Robert, disrupting my thoughts.

"I don't think so…" I replied.

"Well, let me tell you a story. I was out in the woods here on a weekend camping trip with Betsy. You don't know Betsy, but she's a big pup. Pitbull. Real intimidating. I feel safe around her. First night goes without incident. I get some solitude, Betsy gets to pee wherever she wants. All good stuff.

"Second day, I get the idea into my head that I can hike deeper into the woods. Probably against my better judgement, but hey, we're just having a fun camping trip, right? So, me and Betsy start marching in the morning. It gets late and we set up camp, but it's different this night. Real quiet. I can't hear the birds, the crickets, squirrels, nothin'. Dead silent.

"Then it happens. I hear the most unholy growl I've ever heard in my life, right outside my tent. Me and Betsy, we go to investigate. We look around the clearing, nobody's there. But there's this feeling, not sure if I can quite describe it. I know someone—something—is watching us. Betsy, though, she's scared. Never seen her like that. And when she's scared, I know that I should be too. And then I see it. In the distance. A man, but… if something that didn't know what a man was supposed to look like made it. It just looked… wrong. Big. Arms too long for its body. Black eyes. It just stood there and stared at me. Then, it disappears. I hear one yelp from Betsy and I turn around to check on her, but she's gone. Into thin air. I didn't sleep at all in my tent that night. And I don't think I've slept right since."

I had been quiet while he was telling his story. By the time he finished, I felt chills and the hairs on my arms were standing on end. Even if this was just a story and didn't really happen, it was still spooky as all get out. I finally said, "Okay, you're full of shit."

"You think I'm lying?" He pulled out his wallet and showed me a picture of a cute pitbull. "Tell that to Betsy." I swallowed nervously. He went on, "They say that if you listen closely on quiet nights… nights just like tonight… you can hear the howl of the Dover Ghost."

I jump and feel my skin turn cold when we suddenly hear a howl echo through the woods. It didn't sound like a regular howl. It sounded like it belonged to a much bigger animal. I grabbed Robert's hand out of instinct.

"Okay, Robert, real funny," I said, not able to stop the shaking in my voice. I searched his expression for any sign that he may have been joking with me again. The look on his face and his returned grip on my hand tells me otherwise though. "Robert… you're messing with me, right?"

"I was messing with you, up until literally just now. I totally made that camping story up," he replied.

I looked to the tree line and squinted my eyes. They widened again when I saw a human-like shape dragging something. "Robert, please get us out of here. I think I see something in the woods and I'm kinda freakin' here."

Robert puts an arm around me and guides me into the truck. He quickly shuts the tailgate and hops into his side. He locks the doors, turns off the headlights, and slowly makes his way back onto the road. He doesn't turn the headlights on until we get there. Suddenly the distance between me and Robert seems too far. I need to hold something or be held. As it is, I was shaking, too scared to look back.

"Robert. What was that?" I asked tentatively.

"The Dover Ghost, I guess," Robert replied. He tried to play it off, but I could tell he was almost as spooked as I was. The one time something had to be real and I couldn't be more freaked out.

"Or maybe someone was illegally dumping garbage on a wildlife preserve?" I proposed. I desperately wanted it to be something tangible, not some ghost that couldn't be caught, beat, or arrested.

"Yeah, that's the story we'll tell ourselves."

As the truck rumbles down the road, the fear slowly subsides. I take a few deep breaths of the night air through the window. It's barely open a crack, but it's enough to calm me.

"Thanks for coming out. This was fun," said Robert. "I'm sorry I haven't been in touch. I've just… been in a way lately. I had to get out of the house… had to be around somebody."

"Are you… are you in some kind of trouble?" I asked gently.

Robert's quiet for a moment as he lights another cigarette. "No, I've just been doing a lot of thinking," he replied. He took a long drag and exhaled slowly. "As I get older, I feel more and more that I'm just… drowning in this sea of regret. I was so busy chasing after these things that I thought would make me happy that I didn't think about anyone else. All I cared about was myself. I didn't even think…"

He didn't continue his thought. As he stared down the road, I thought on what he said. He had said a lot to me, more than I remember him revealing, but… I still didn't have the whole picture. Then, I thought back on what he had said about his age. I had forgotten that he was ten years older than I was. He was old enough to have a kid my age naturally instead of adopting them.

Before I could go deeper into my thoughts, Robert spoke again. "Maybe I'm just built like this. Or maybe I do it to myself. Maybe it's my own choice that I'm as unhappy as I am."

What he said really resonated with me. These were thoughts that had come into my head. When Daniel died, I fell into a deep depression. It had been gradually getting lesser, but it still felt strong. I knew what that felt like, but with Robert, it felt different, like he was in deeper than I was. It was kinda scary.

I empathized with him. "It must've taken a lot for you to want to tell somebody this. You hide yourself from others whether through silence or dark humor. You don't have to. If no one else will be there for you, let me be there for you." I put a hand on his shoulder and gave a comforting squeeze.

"Do you… ever… wish you were a better parent?"

It seemed a little off topic, but that must have been close to what was bothering him. I gave my best answer. "All the time. There's no preparing you for having a child. There's things I regret or wish I had done better, but I think that's part of good parenting. A good parent always wants to do better for their kid, but we can't do everything. At the end of the day, all we can do is our best."

"It's funny. I look at you and your relationship with your son and it seems perfect."

"It isn't."

"At least you're there for him."

I stare down the road, watching everything go by. "I just hope I'm a better parent to my kid than my parents were to me."

"What did they do?"

"They didn't support my relationships, whether that was past boyfriends or friends in general. Nothing I ever did felt good enough. I don't think I ever heard either of them tell me they were proud of me. I don't know. It just felt very… loveless."

"Do you hate them?"

"No. I'm not a hatin' kinda gal. I felt bad for them though. They missed out on a lot of happy moments in my life with Andrew… and Daniel. They missed out on a lot of good times." It still didn't feel easy to say Daniel's name, but… maybe enough time had passed. It was getting better. "It broke my heart when I had to leave them to die in that house fire."

"What?" Robert looked to me as if he hadn't heard right.

I turned and smiled at him. "No, they got a nice cabin in Tennessee. We visit on the holidays."

We both laugh and Robert squeezes my shoulder. He's smiling genuinely and I smile back. I was glad to break the tension. Maybe dark humor was a good thing… sometimes. The rest of the ride was peaceful. We listened to the radio and the whir of the night life as we came back into the city.

Robert drops me off at home. As I'm about to get out, I realize I still have Robert's pocket knife in my jacket. I pull it out and offer it back to him. He shakes his head and says, "You hold onto that. Never know when you might need it."

I hop out of the truck. I give a small smile and say, "Good night, Robert. Have a safe drive home." I shut the passenger door and waved.

I saw Robert smirk before he pulled away. He then pulls into his driveway, which is one over from mine. I shake my head and smile. When Robert gets out, he waves. I wave back and we both head into our own houses.

I opened the door carefully, not wanting to wake Andrew. I jumped when I suddenly heard a voice. "Whoa, where'd you come from?" I whipped around and noticed Andrew sitting on the couch. He was on his laptop and had his headphones propped on his shoulders. "I thought you were home."

"Oh, uh… Robert woke me up to go cryptid hunting," I replied.

"You know the Mothman is bullshit, right?"

"Andrew, lang-" I sighed. "Whatever, it's been a long night. Why don't we both go to bed?"

"Sure, Mom." Andrew shut his laptop and we both headed to our rooms. My mind went back to the conversation I had with Robert.

"Hey, Andrew?" I asked.

"Yeah, Mom?" Andrew asked, leaning in his bedroom doorway.

"I love you."

Andrew smiles. "I love you too, Mom. Night." He goes into his room without another word. I smile. It was getting better. I know it was. I just hoped it would get better for Robert soon too.

That's all for now. Please keep reading and reviewing, thanks :)