“Of course—”
“Not today though,” she finished, pulling out of my arms. Ava walked away to the car. I didn’t know what to think about where we stood. Still, I felt better than before. We were leaving together.She needed me.
I looked off into the woods and I smiled, walking to the edge.
“We’re leaving fucker, you don’t get her.”
Sharp static entered my head, letting me know the Mothman monster was close enough to hear me. I grit my teeth in annoyance. Instead of imparting me words, he filled my head with a rolling, deep laugh that sounded like a demonic beast hacking.
16
Caspian’s bandmates invaded our camp in the evening and built a bonfire that crawled up towards the treetops. The size of the flames made me nervous and the heat was harsh on my forearms. I kept expecting the campground manager to come by with a warning, or even the ranger to slap us with a fine and stern look of judgment.
Instead, no one bothered us. The family that had been camping here had left sometime this morning, in a hurry after they saw a body bag carted away. That left us the only ones here.
The flames licked the sky as the guys drowned themselves in drinks. It was as if we were entirely alone in our corridor of the forest.
That wasn’t entirely true though, was it?
One more night, then I could be gone. All the pictures were taken and most of the gear was packed.
“They said he tripped and his head hit an exposed root. Bad luck,” the keyboardist, Grady, said, pushing his thick-rimmed glasses back up his nose.
“Bullshit,” Brandon spat out before cracking open another beer and chugging it. He chucked it towards the trash bag and it landed in the dirt ten feet away. He was sitting in a camping chair with a laptop on his knees.
Matthias plopped down in the chair next to mine and smiled. I wanted to remain angry at them, but tragedy had a way of muting that. Plus, I think we all felt a little unsafe and were swarming together for safety. I certainly didn’t want them to leave.
The bass player was hooking up speakers around our camp and Matthias had his guitar laying across his lap. Clearly, they were getting ready to play.
“Well, what doyouthink happened?” Grady asked Brandon.
“The ranger told us that people disappear every year. There’s someone out there killing people,” Brandon said. I bristled, wrapping my arms around myself, and tried to rub away goosebumps that had no business being there with the scalding fire so close.
“Fuck off. No one killed Mark. What freaks me out is how close it happened to us. He died with us standing right there,” Grady commented. I started to get up from my chair, not wanting to hear them talk about it.
“You know he won’t go back to the band unless you come with him,” Matthias said. I settled back in my chair and looked at him with furrowed brows.
“What?” I asked in confusion.
“Caspian quit for you.” His blue eyes slid to me. Matthias didn’t look angry or teasing. Though he did look uncomfortable with scratched raw bug bites all over his arms. Plus, his skin was pink all over, having spent too much time in the sun yesterday.
Matthias came across as the friendly peacekeeper type. Yesterday he’d seemed genuinely friendly at the river. I could easily imagine being his friend but the rocky start we had thus far worked against that.
“I didn’t ask him to quit,” I responded.
“I didn’t think so. It’s the truth though. Caspian is obsessed with you.” He sighed and ran his hand over his forehead, brushing up sweat that had been threatening to roll in his eyes. As soon as he was done wiping it away, more swelled up.
“So, what? You want me to convince him to go back or something? I don’t control him.”
“You could come too. Go on tour with us,” he sounded hopeful as he said it. The conversation was making me confused. Too many possibilities were running around in my head like rats in a maze. Did Caspian really quit because of me? Was he obsessed with me? Would I be willing to quit the job that I was so excited about? And why should I?
“Thanks,” I mumbled to Matthias, genuine but not enthusiastic. He nodded and I noticed Brandon eyeing us, his eyes sweeping over Matthias before swooping back to his computer.
I pushed up from my chair and walked to Caspian. He was sitting on the picnic table, his converse shoes on the bench. His eyes glowed with the reflection of the fire as I walked up.
I was starting to feel bad for how I’d reacted yesterday. I couldn’t get out of my mind how lost he looked when I pushed him away. No matter what was going on, what secret he might be hiding, he was still Caspian.
He saved me last night. I didn't know how. I just knew that one moment Mothman was looming over me in hunger and the next I was in Caspian's arms, safe in the tent.
