Crystal

Chapter 7: Another discovery

I told Rob about what happened today. I even included the thing I thought I saw. Well, I did see it. But it sounds a little less crazy if I say 'I thought I saw it.'

"Maybe the stories you heard just got to you. Maybe it was just something you saw in your mind. Some kind of Jedi mind trick." He said. We were sitting on his couch smoking cigarettes and drinking beers. I've had 6 cigarettes and 2 beers so far.

"That's exactly what I had thought... But the girls saw it and described it to the cops. Then he...he believed them. He told me I saved their lives by running away with them. How do you explain that? I mean I know you said the town believed in a demon here, but even the damn cops?”

Rob seemed to think about that for a moment. He put out the cigarette in the ashtray and looked at me. I don't think he knew what to say.

"Honestly, do you believe any of the stories about it?" I felt stupid saying that.

He chuckled. "I'm the type of guy that thinks seeing is believing. I've never seen anything. But then again, I don't think I'd want to. If it's real, he lives in the forest. That's where all the bodies are always found. That's where sightings usually are."

"I wonder why those girls’ mom left them alone. I mean what could have happened?" I had hoped she was okay.

“This might something innocent, like the mother got drunk and wandered off or something.” Rob said.

“I have a question that might make you uncomfortable, so if you don’t want to answer you don’t have to.” I said. Rob tilted his head to the side.

“Go on.” He said.

“When Anthony brought up Craig, was this the same guy who Leza had gotten close with?” I just asked straight out without pausing. I did feel bad for bringing it up but something about it was sticking out to me.

“Oh. Well, yeah. That was the same Craig.” He said. He was slowly lowering his head to look at the ground.

“I’m sorry I brought it up.”

“It’s okay.”

“Can I ask what happened?” I asked.

He took a deep breath before he decided to speak. “Well, after Leza died, he went over to her house and sat at the porch steps a lot. She wasn’t buried here so he didn’t have a funeral to go to, so just sitting at her steps everyday somehow made him feel content even though he was hurting. He really liked her and it wasn’t until she died that I realized how much he liked her.”

“How did he…” I felt awful that I was still pushing it but I couldn’t help the curiosity.

“It was about a week after she died. He just disappeared. A few days after that, his body was another discovering in the park. Same way they all die.”

“Jesus. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” I felt like a jerk now.

"We need to change the topic. Why do you jog so much?" He said.

"What do you mean?"

"Every day you jog for like an hour."

"Ew, are you spying on me?" I threw his couch pillow at him.

"No, I'm just observant of my neighborhood. And I observed the fact that a gorgeous..." he was slowly moving towards me on the couch. "...Beautiful, woman likes to jog very frequently. He was about a foot away from me now.

"It eases my mind. And my metabolism sucks. I gotta jog or I blow up like a balloon."

"That's hot."  He said. I laughed at him. He grabbed my leg and pulled me closer making me lose my balance on the couch, my back falling down putting me in a laying down position. He leaned over me and lowered his face closer to mine. He was really gorgeous and I couldn't resist. I leaned my neck up and kissed him. We kissed long and hard. He put his hands under my back and lifted me up so I was now sitting on him, still kissing him.