Here There Be Monsters (OLD VERSION)

Chapter 2: Nowhere and Back

Summer 1996

Five Years Later

The smoke curled around the edge of Riley's lip, fluttering past his eyes and escaping through the truck's open window. Inhaling, the end of the cigarette smoldered and a few ashes drifted onto Eli's crossed arms, which he quickly brushed away. The cigarette's dim light reflected off his uncle's eyes which kept glancing at the rearview mirror, as if expecting something in the woods to either side of the road, perhaps the shifting shades of black upon black to suddenly manifest into a physical form. But they had been on the road for hours, and besides the vast fields of canola which had eventually transitioned into the towering spruce and pine trees of the northern territories, there had been almost no signs of civilization. The pale yellow headlights sliced through the dark in front of them, highlighting every crack and pothole in the country road, making him think perhaps the road had been there longer than the forest. Besides the glances at the mirror, Eli sometimes also caught the glances that Riley shot his way, a wince momentarily wrinkling his features before he returned to his usual placid leer. Pulling the hoodie strings tighter, Eli tried to keep his mind off the intent behind those glances, thinking instead that his uncle was simply worried about him, however hard it was to believe. The glances made him a spectacle, something to be viewed, pondered, but mostly stared at. It wasn't every day someone got to see burn scars as bad as his. With effort, he stopped that line of thought and returned his focus to the road ahead.

It was tempting to ask if the window could be rolled up, as the last rays of sunlight had long since disappeared behind the cover of the trees and the bitter nightly cold common during the Canadian transition from summer to fall filled the truck with a piercing chill. His thin hoodie, even pulled over his head as it was, didn't do much to break the wind. But even the faint smell of smoke from Riley's cigarette served as a reminder of the recent events that led to his disfigurement, and that was enough to dissolve the notion before he could open his mouth to speak. The less smoke in the truck, the better. His father had always told him to think before speaking, ironic that he was only starting to heed his father's advice after he had tried to kill Eli.

It didn't sit right with him the nagging feeling that he was essentially sitting in the passenger seat of a complete stranger's truck, traveling hundreds of miles across the continent to a town he'd never been to before and it seemed like no one saw a problem with that. He didn't know he even had an uncle until a social worker had come to his room in the hospital and told him. The disheveled appearance and hardened gaze of the wolf, with intentions, hopes, dreams and all locked away made it difficult to guess the true character behind the persona which was Riley Barlowe. But all assumptions about his uncle were turned on their head the moment Riley proffered the pack of cigarettes to him.

"Want one?" He asked, eyes fixed on the road as Eli stared at the cigarettes.

"You know I'm sixteen right?" He said though that wasn't much of an excuse as memories of drunken nights with friends and smoke-filled lungs flooded his mind. But he would feel a bit better if that wasn't one of the first things that Riley learned about him. Riley gave a knowing smirk before answering.

"When I was your age whenever I had a lot on my mind nothing could quite relieve it like a smoke, and I would bet the twenty in my pocket you have more on your mind then you know what to do with." He tossed the pack to Eli, who deftly caught it, "The smell of your breath also gave it away this ain't your first dart." He held the lighter up to Eli who begrudgingly pulled out a cigarette and held it up to the flame, puffing on it before taking a long slow pull.

Of course, Riley had been right, which Eli would come to learn would be the case a lot. As he exhaled the fog around his mind seemed to go with it, a veil being lifted and drifting out the window with the smoke. Unfortunately, the wind from outside naturally put the cigarette out moments later, like a backhanded slap from mother nature trying to keep cancer out of his lungs. He didn't bother asking for it to be relit. It was hard to admit to himself, but for those few moments when the flame held by his uncle had danced in front of his face, his breath had caught. Even such a small flame was still too big of a reminder for him, and just thinking about it resurfaced too many memories, the fog threatening to close around his mind again. The stench of gasoline, the look of pure and absolute hatred as his father dropped the match, followed by blinding agony. With effort, he managed to repress these memories but he was done with cigarettes for the time being. Something about Riley's careful composure and thoughtfulness was comforting enough that it stopped him from completely shutting down. Maybe living with him wouldn't be so bad.

This thought lasted until Eli found himself standing on the front porch of his uncle's house, staring at the front door as it opened and revealed the interior inside. The exterior had already hinted at what was to come, peeling white paint and rotted wood, the small one-story house surrounded by nothing but dense forest, and the bumpy dirt road which broke off from the paved one. But he had held onto the false hope of a well-kept interior until the smell assaulted him. The living room was nothing short of a disaster, with trash lining the floor and empty beer bottles spread across every flat surface. Each cushion on the couch in the center of the room was heavily dented, the imitation black leather cracked and peeling. Wherever the carpet was visible it was deeply stained, many drunken stupors ago it may have been white. The smell had to be a mix between mold, cigarette smoke, rotten food, and a hint of vanilla air freshener, which was all things considered a pathetic attempt to mask the odor. A shudder ran through his whole body as his uncle ushered him inside, the smell only seeming to intensify when the door was closed behind him and his uncle moved ahead of him to collapse on the couch.

"Now I know it's a bit of a mess but I didn't really have much time to clean up before that social worker dumped you on me." He pulled out another cigarette and leaned his head back, eyes closed as he dragged. Not wanting to disturb him Eli started carefully moving through the room towards the rest of the house. The kitchen, the bathroom, and the one bedroom in the house were all in the same state as the living room. If he wanted to even attempt to clean the house a hazmat suit would probably be the only way to get through it. He was no stranger to hard work though. Putting the cigarette out on the arm of the couch Riley suddenly stood up.

"Don't know about you but I'm spent, you can sleep on the couch for tonight, you should be able to pull it out into a hideabed." Riley walked past Eli and towards the bedroom door, but then seeming to remember something he turned, "I'll wake you up around seven tomorrow to drop ya off at school, I got stuff to do during the day so can't have you just lounging around here all day." He finished then turned, closing the door before he could respond.

The prospect of school left a pit in his stomach, which he promptly decided would be a problem to deal with in the morning. But even as the hideabed was pulled out and the disgusting smell of the bed made his eyes water the moment he laid his head on the pillow, the pit never left.