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Maynia -- Day Twelve -- 2,538 words
THUNK!
The arrow went as it hit the bull’s eye. I reached behind me for my quiver to take another arrow then prepared myself to aim at the target again, but I tensed as I felt a presence behind me and immediately turned around, not really planning to aim—
“Woah! Easy there sweetheart!” –too late! I was already taken off guard and slightly loosened my hold, only having a second to divert my aim before it whizzed pass by Z’s right temple before it hit the tree behind him, narrowly missing him by a hair's breadth as he stumbled back onto the ground.
“Z! Jesus Christ! Are you alright?!” I asked as I immediately dropped my bow and ran up to him, then knelt beside him and cradled his face as I checked it for any unwanted injuries.
He raised his uninjured left arm then proceeded to hold my hand close to his face as he stared into my eyes with a grin on his face, “I appreciate this sort of greeting miss, but maybe we should exclude the pointy objects next time, ‘kay?”
I smiled at his way of always humoring me before helping him to stand back up, “I thought Luke mentioned you were supposed to be staying with him at Dr. Bliant’s for a while?” I asked, curious as to why he was here.
“Yeah.. you could say I convinced him to drop by ‘cuz he forgot to bring over some of my stuff last night, but I guess our trip turned out to be a great idea ‘cuz he’s at his clinic with a client.” Z replied as I watch him glance over my quiver of arrows behind my back, then some of my silver knives that I had just sharpened, before settling his gaze on the target a few meters to his right.
“Heh. Doesn’t that remind me of my war days..” Z muttered mostly to himself as an almost haunted look passed over his face, before it disappeared with a shake of his head as he turned back to look at me, affixing a smile on his face, “You preparing for a war here, luv? ‘Cuz I don’t think a couple of arrows and knives are goin’ to be much help.”
I wanted to humor him that I may have a couple of guns hidden in my basement, but didn’t push it as I saw the strain in his eyes, I really couldn’t help myself when I asked, “You served in the army, Z?”
He let out a small laugh as he wandered over to the steps by the back porch and sat down, “Not really much to know—decided to join the military right after high school, just to prove to my mom I was a better man than my dad—only to come back home several years later to find out she OD’d herself.”
Z didn’t see the shock register on my face at his almost nonchalant statement, I watched as he seemed to get lost in his thoughts, his left hand flitting over to his arm in a cast. I slowly approached and sat beside him on the steps then put a comforting hand on his shoulder as I gently said, “Z.. you don’t have to tell me all this if it bothers you..”
“I’m used to it by now—talking about these things, anyway— I temporarily lost my sense of hearing after an IED incident. That was five years ago but I’m really grateful for Luke and Jack—all those times I spent just screaming in the silence and they still got my back, even now..”
He looked at me then, a sad smile gracing his rugged features, as he continued, “In a small town like ours, your secrets are everybody’s business—I just ought to let you know mine, instead of having you hear it down the grapevine…”
I didn’t seem to have the right words to comfort him—do I thank him for just being honest with me? I thought as I glanced down at his cast and suddenly had an idea strike me. It was a small gesture, but I hoped it would cheer him up.
“Hey Z? Do you mind if I try to lighten you up with something?” I glanced up at him then and smiled. He seemed to be momentarily thrown off by my question, but immediately smiled at me as he waggled his eyebrows, “What do you have in mind?”
I rolled my eyes at him as I stood up and removed the quiver from behind my back before heading towards the worktable on the porch, rummaging inside the drawers until I came up with a green marker. Z could only look at me in confusion before a look of realization dawned on him just as I sat down beside him and leaned closer on his cast.
“Ahh.. just like the high-school days huh?” I heard him snicker just as I finished signing my name, glancing back at him as I waved the marker in front of him, “Do you know what’s special about this marker? It’s glow-in-the-dark!” I grinned at him silly as he looked at me in amusement.
“Uh-huh. And now that you’ve signed your name on me, I guess that only means I belong to you now.” I stopped and watched Z give me a teasing look, remembering how I had wanted to run my fingers through that buzz cut of his the first time I saw him. I was only stopped from doing exactly that when Ms. Chip came from the backdoor.
“I knew I heard Shiela quiet down from that ruckus she was making out here.”
“Man, that really hit the spot! It’s been a while since I’ve had that kind of homemade cooking!” Z remarked in satisfaction as he mostly ended up scarfing down Ms. Chip’s latest creation.
“I’m glad someone here now appreciates my cookin’.” Ms. Chip looked at me accusingly as she said that. It wasn’t my fault I mostly preferred her desserts.
Wanting to take her focus away from me, I turned back to Z and asked him just out of curiosity, “That first night I arrived in town, were you really just planning to dance out in the rain drunk?”
“Hm? Oh yeah, I was actually planning to go to the mines earlier that morning—it used to be our go-to as kids like one of those hideouts, you know?—but the guys didn’t want to go and instead stuffed me drunk with some beer just to get me to stop bothering them.”
Something about what Z said piqued my interest, “Why exactly did you want to go to the mines, anyway? I read they already closed that area down at least five decades ago, right?”
“Yeah.. you know kids and dark places, we were the type that loved ‘em! Plus it didn’t really seem that bad all those years ago, it gave us a little privacy away from our parents; for me and Jack anyway—” Z stopped there and seemed to think twice about continuing, before he seemed to reign in on the matter of the mines instead. “So.. I actually heard from Mike’s about some activity going on out there in the mines. I just thought that maybe they were making plans to reopen it, or renovate the land by having you here for Samheinrock’s future developments; You could say I just wanted to see our old hangout before the latter happened..”
I exchanged a glance at Ms. Chip as Z trailed off with what he was saying, just as the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it dearies, just stay there and make yourself feel at home Mr. Clancy.” Ms. Chip said as she promptly stood up and headed for the main door.
Z looked at me then as he leaned back in his chair, “That woman really is amazing.” I smiled back at him in response, saying, “Yeah.. I’m really grateful to have her in my life.”
“I knew I’d find you here! Did I really take that long?” I heard Luke’s voice before I turned around and saw him. Our eyes met for a few seconds before Luke awkwardly glanced away.
“Not long enough doc, here you gotta try Ms. Chip’s new masterpiece, bro!” Z said indicating the remaining dish, not really aware of the sudden awkwardness in the room.
“Thanks, but we really need to get going. I don’t want to leave gramps alone for too long..” I watched Luke rub the back of his head, still not meeting my gaze, just as Ms. Chip came out from the backdoor by the kitchen handing him a tiered basket filled with some succulent plants.
“If you’re not staying for the food Dr. Luke, then please accept these. I haven’t really personally thanked Dr. Alfred for treating Jaden, and I was hoping this’ll help in his speedy recovery. Succulents are excellent at cleansing the air and removing toxins!” Ms. Chip cheerily told Luke as he thanked her profusely for her concern, all the while not really looking at me as he urged Z to get going.
“What’s up with that guy?” Z muttered as he gave me a brief apologetic look while I walked him out the door, Luke having already gone ahead. Z then smiled brightly before he hurriedly leaned down and gave me a quick kiss to the cheek, thanking me for hearing him out, before he ran from my property as fast as his injury could take him.
Touching my cheek that now tingled with Z’s warmth, I leaned on my doorway and couldn’t stop myself from worriedly looking after the two.
“Dr. Luke, I know you're probably gonna write this off as some first time jitters of me moving out of town and all, but there was really something terrifying with that shadow-thing that I encountered..”
“You mind explaining more of that, Mr. Matthews?”
“It's just that, I know what I fear-- and I'm consciously aware of what happens to me whenever I'm in that state-- but this.. episode, almost gave me a twisted version of what I feared the most, like it was creeping into my soul, doc! Heh, If I'd had a weaker heart, I'd have probably just died from shock.”
I kept replaying that session with Mr. Matthews in my mind, relating it to that day we crashed. I knew what I saw, but I really couldn't wrap my head around the fact how that was even possible and why I tensed long enough for me to have lost control of the steering wheel in the first place??
I took a deep calming breath as I focused back on the road; I already dropped Z off at gramps and asked him the favor of placing the succulents around the house, while I drove the car back to Mike's. He's now probably wondering what was taking me long to get back, but I just had to find some answers.
I was already nearing the site of our crash when I noticed the familiar blue pickup that was parked on the side of the road. What was he doing here?
I parked my car behind his and got out just to see Jack taking photos of what remained of the crash site, now cleared up except for the dents left on the safety railings and the slightly faded tire tracks from Mrs. Twiddle's car just up the road.
“Don't you have people to do that for you, Sheriff?” I asked, crossing my arms as I leaned on his car, watching him.
“Just making use of my spare time before I start to get busy tomorrow night.” Jack straightened and focused on me as he gave off a smug look on his face. I clenched my jaw then, not really liking what he was insinuating.
“You better quit playing with her, Jack. I know you've expressed your dislike at your dad getting investors for this town, but then you start marking your territory like a goddamn dog the moment you set eyes on Shiela. It's starting to make me think you're actually cozying up to the idea of being the next Mayor of Samheinrock, and here I thought you said something about leaving town the next time you get the chance--”
Jack cut me short as he started slow clapping and nodding his head, “Alright doc, since you can read me so well, how 'bout you help me along with some things huh? Like start with giving me some honest answers about this crash? Something tells me you know more than you let on, 'cuz you wouldn't be back here to begin with.”
“Jesus, Jack! Are you thinking I've got something to do with Mrs. Twiddle too? You were the one who said she died of a heart attack before crashing right?”
“Yeah I know that, but there's got to be more here or else you wouldn't have crashed into those railings with that kind of force! Give me something to work on here Luke, what did you really see that day?”
Ahh fuck.. I ran a hand through my hair in frustration as I tried gathering my thoughts before starting with hesitation, “You know 'bout those nightmares I got as a kid, ever since my dad died during that medical mission he had out somewhere in Africa?”
“Yeah..?” Jack now furrowed his brows as he looked at me. He'll probably think I'd finally lost it, but I went on and said it anyway.
“A crocodile. I saw a huge fucking crocodile.”
I stood in the privacy of my room, not quite used to the house being quiet ever since the guys decided to temporarily leave. Maybe this'll do me good, I could focus on my investigation for the time being..
I glanced up at Samheinrock's town map as I finished marking the latest accident area. I noticed the number of accidents in town had lessened in the span of a year, especially after the Lancaster Tower had fully finished construction. But the growing severity of the cases now made up for the lack of numbers, and now we've got a casualty. Reports may have ruled Mrs. Twiddle's death as a natural case due to her age, but I wasn't easily convinced.
I noticed that these accidents only happened just till the edge of Samheinrock's mountainside, going out of town. Turning back to my work table as I pulled up a picture, I couldn't help but think maybe Shiela's appearance in town had something to do with all these. Maybe it was my personal feelings for her starting to get involved, but I was damn certain this wasn't entirely her fault, I'm just not seeing the whole picture..
My eye then caught the crow that signified our family crest, the sapphires that were placed as its eyes got me thinking. Didn't Shiela mention that it was my father who asked for the tower to be built? I sat down then as it hit me.
Father knew all the strings he could pull just to stay in power.
to be continued...
Image from Pixabay, by Phan Minh Cuong An: https://pixabay.com/users/minanfotos-9565064/ (edited with dreamscopeapp)