Chuck sipped her tea slowly; her body was present at the Pie Hole, but her mind was miles away. For she was busy observing Olive's interactions with Trevor Trask, who had once again graced them with his unnerving presence. Something he had done for over a week now since his first appearance.
"And this," Olive leaned over the counter and turned the page of her scrapbook. She gestured to a faded photo that barely clung to the page. "Was taken the day I qualified for my first big race." She beamed proudly as Trevor and Chuck, who were seated next to each other in an uncomfortable proximity, looked on. "I won that race too." She sighed contentedly.
"That was Pie?" Chuck asked, pulling the scrapbook towards her to get a better look. A younger and blonder Olive sat atop a chestnut brown horse with cream speckles, smiling with pure joy at the camera.
"Yeah," Olive said quietly, a hint of sadness in her voice. "That was Pie. He was a good horse." She reached out a pulled the photo from the page, cradling it in her hand.
Chuck flipped slowly through the book; each turn of the page revealed snapshots, ribbons, and yellowed newspaper clippings, all memories of Olive's past life. The life she led before she came to the Pie Hole. "This is really great of you to share this with us." Chuck said "I feel like I am really getting to know more about you."
Olive smiled and looked over to Trevor. "Well thank Trevor for that. He was the one who brought it."
"Oh?" Chuck's brow raised and she eyed the man suspiciously. "He made this scrapbook?" The idea gave her the creeps.
"Oh no. It's mine, but he told me I lent it to him back when we were engaged," Olive said casually. "I completely forgot it even existed." She shrugged. "But thanks to Trevor here we all get to see it again." She smiled brightly and reached out to lightly squeeze his hand in appreciation.
This action set off warning bells in Chuck's head. In little over a week Olive had gone from disgust for the mysterious Trevor Trask, to acceptance, to something resembling a fondness for the man and their shared past together. With the story Olive had told them firmly in Chuck's mind—the story of her inexplicable attraction—this new behavior was worrisome.
Chuck eyed Trevor, who was doing his best to ignore her. "How nice." Turning her attention back to the book she noticed something strange in the photos. At first she thought it was a trick of the mind, but the more pages she turned and the more photos she saw, it was unmistakable. Sometimes he was fully visible, and sometimes it was either a familiar arm, leg, or swath of black hair, but it was always there—Trevor Trask lurking eerily in the background.
"I remember that day." Trevor said suddenly, reaching for the photo in Olive's hand. "The day you qualified for the big race. I was so proud." He leered at her.
Olive smiled back. "That was a great day."
Chuck snapped the book shut; she had enough of his creepy smile. "I'm sure you would remember." She said coolly. "You seemed to always be around." As Chuck expected, he said nothing and continued to ignore her. Instead he kept his vacant gaze firmly on Olive.
"You know, I would just love another piece of apple crunch." Trevor pushed his empty plate toward her.
"Oh, sure." Olive nodded. "One just came out of the oven a few minutes ago." She headed towards the kitchen. "I'll just go back and see if it's cooled."
Chuck felt the mutual dislike and distrust she and Trevor shared grow in Olive's absence. She knew Olive was giving this man a chance because of some supposed fatal illness, but it still didn't sit right with her. Seizing the opportunity, she decided to do a little digging.
"So how are your medical treatments going?" She took a long, slow sip of her tea. "They must be about over by now. Olive said you would be here for a few days and it's a little over a week now you've been here." She paused and waited for a reaction. Not surprisingly, he continued to stare forward and said nothing. "You must be really anxious to get home." She continued undeterred by his silence. "I know how I get when I am away from home for too long. I get very homesick."
"You like to talk a great deal." Trevor stated. He turned his head and his vacant eyes swept her up and down.
"Maybe it just seems like a lot because you don't seem to like to talk at all." Chuck forced a smile. "Or maybe you just don't like to talk to me." Trevor continued to stare at her unblinking and unresponsive. "You never did tell me what the name of your illness was again?"
"You would have never heard of it. It's very rare." He said and turned away from her.
"Try me." Chuck prodded. "I have read a lot of books. I am quite fascinated with rare diseases actually." Chuck had a sneaking suspicion that something wasn't on the up and up concerning his mysterious illness. If Chuck had to bet on it, she would bet that he wasn't even sick at all.
"You're an interesting person." He stated again, his eyes watching as Olive bustled about in the kitchen.
Chuck sighed; he clearly wasn't going to give any kind of satisfying answers and she wasn't willing to give up. Their back and forth exchange had ended in a stalemate.
"So, you're a Buddhist then." Chuck remarked. The first time she had asked him about it, Trevor's eyes had turned dark and threatening. It was the only time his unflappable demeanor seemed to be flapped. "I find that fascinating."
Immediately his brow furrowed and he shifted uncomfortably. "Yes. I am a Buddhist." He answered, offering no further information.
"And that's why you do those chants?" She asked, remembering the strange sounds he had made the first time they had met, and every day since. A mumbling that sounded of nothing but gibberish that he seemed to do at every opportunity. But oddly enough, he didn't seem to do them in Chuck's presence.
"Yes. This has been established." He said, his voice almost growling with annoyance.
This was the most emotion he had ever shown, and it was evident that Chuck's prodding was having an effect on him. Maybe, she thought, if he got riled up enough, he would reveal something about himself. Something she could use to find out why he was really here. "And why do you do those again?"
"I do them so I am spiritually clear and centered. And I do them even more now because of my fatal illness." He returned to his normal, composed self. "So when I leave this earth, I know I lived my one life to its purest." He spoke assuredly, as if this would satisfy Chuck's curiosity and put an end to the conversation.
"Don't Buddhists believe in reincarnation though?"
Trevor's brow furrowed once more. "My one life as Trevor Trask, that is." He said through a clenched jaw.
Before Chuck could prod even further Olive returned. "Here you go," Olive interrupted, breezing out through the kitchen with two plates of pie. "Sorry it took so long, I forgot I had a few more I needed to get into the oven for an order." She set a plate in front of Trevor, which he accepted graciously, and one in front of Chuck.
"No thanks." Chuck pushed it away. "I'm not hungry." Chuck's heart was heavy with worry as she watched Trevor smile at Olive and Olive smile at Trevor. The more Olive was around him the more the terrible feeling in her gut grew, and she couldn't stop replaying Olive's story of her mysterious infatuation.
The door bell tinkled and Chuck turned around. Ned and Emerson walked in the door and headed for their usual booth, deep in conversation. Wanting to join them she excused herself, but before she left she turned around.
Chuck wasn't successful this time, but she knew she would eventually solve the mystery that was Trevor Trask.
"Do you believe in karma then?" She asked him. "What goes around comes around?" She stared at his back for a few moments until the only response she received was his hand bringing his fork up to his mouth to take a bite of pie.