Forest of Rope

Chapter 30

The days that followed his mother's unpreventable suicide were difficult to separate in Riley's mind. Since he couldn't sleep each new day had blurred indistinguishably into the last, like an illusionist dealing out a deck of identical cards. The cheap imitation of life at the Avenue had become a living purgatory. Everything was clearly in a state of irreparable ruin and yet people continued to mill about disingenuously with their petty lives as if nothing at all had happened. The neighbours still tended to their gardens and their gossip. The scandal at Sycamore Street was still a hot topic but no one dared mention what had happened at the Avenue - any more than they'd dare mention the holocaust or the cannibals of New Guinea.

A smiling golden sun shone hypocritically over their tragedy.

Riley's father had found them of course, coming home after an alcohol-fuelled night of bitterness and rage. He hadn't expected this. At first, for a sickening, heart-stopping moment he'd assumed that she'd taken Riley with her into darkness. To all appearances Riley must have seemed dead on that floor after spending a night in his own personal Hell. The eyes had stared unblinking, his skin was cold and pale, a fitting corpse. But he couldn't deny the blood coursing through his veins, couldn't deny his own indissoluble vitality.

So father and son were left alone to scavenge the wreckage she'd left behind.

A note left for Riley, not his father. Indecipherable. It talked of meeting again in Heaven, but what heaven could make him forget how the blood had simmered around her cold lifeless flesh? He tore it up.

The funeral was quick and painless. Any pain Riley was capable of feeling had already been spent, he occupied an emotional drought. There was no rain. A week passed in this way. Riley's dad had plans to move them away. A new start, he'd said. On his last day in that nameless, cursed town Riley had taken a long walk around the cemetery. It had been his father's idea, a chance to say goodbye, since he'd been so quiet at the funeral. In the end he couldn't get within twenty feet of the headstone without feeling like he was about to explode. So he spent the rest of the day watching her grave from a safe distance, concealed under the shade of an elm. He watched for hours, lost in his thoughts.

'I'm sorry about your mommy.'

Riley jumped at the voice. Someone was sitting beside him, a girl. He did a double-take. It couldn't be... It was her. The raven-haired little girl from across the street.

'What?' he spluttered, unnerved by her sudden appearance. How long had she been sitting there beneath his notice?

'Your mom,' the Moore child said plainly. 'It shouldn't have been her.'

An icy breeze rifled around her skirts, draping her hair across her sunken eyes. Looking into those eyes was like seeing the sun from the bottom of a deep sea trench. She seemed burdened with a weight as heavy as the earth itself. Before Riley could begin to comprehend what she was saying or why she was there sat with him she continued.

'You don't spy on us anymore, have we stopped being interesting?'

Riley made an attempt to speak but the paradox of her sitting there and talking to him held him back. It was true, he hadn't bothered to keep an eye on the nefarious dealings of the Moores since that day. But how did she know so much? In all of his fantastical speculations about vampires and nymphs, he'd never considered the possibility of her spying on him.

'Well, too late now anyway. I already know you're leaving today aren't you?'

Stupefied into silence, he managed a small nod.

'It's okay, thanks for trying. I'm sure you would've solved the mystery had your mommy not decided to kill herself.' Riley wanted to be offended by this yet somehow he couldn't help but see how she meant well by what she said. Slowly and a little clumsily, she got to her feet. Her fringe masked a faint bruise on her forehead.

'Maybe we could still be friends?' she offered brightly, fiddling with the fabric of her tights. Riley stuttered. At what point had they started being friends?

'I... I don't even know your name.'

The words came out hollow and all wrong. For a moment she dilly-dallied above him and he had an uncontrollable vision of her ashen mother, poised, about to strike him. Then suddenly a soft wetness ambushed him without warning. She'd kissed him.

'It's Alexis. But my friends call me Lex. You can be my next-best friend if you want.'

*

'No way... Did I actually kiss you?'

They'd walked for hours talking about it. It was starting to get late.

'You sure did. Scared the hell out of me.' Her answering laugh echoed through the trees. The trail had coalesced into a small clearing where they were now taking a brief respite. It was Riley's turn carrying the backpack and the weight didn't half make him sweat.

'Aww. I never thought I was your first kiss. It's cute.' They enjoyed a brief, solitary silence in the clearing. Above the canopy, the sun was trail-blazing behind the hills, dissipating the fog that had clouded the skies that morning. They hadn't come across a single person on their way through the forest. Not a soul.

'It's so quiet here,' Riley murmured, he took Alexis's hand, felt the warmth and weight of her, traced his fingers over her skin.

'It's beautiful,' she agreed.

'Do you still want to camp? Because I don't mind paying for another hotel.'

She dropped his hand. Riley sensed he'd suddenly said the wrong thing.

'No, it's fine,' she said stoically. 'Come on, let's go set up camp.' Alexis made a move through the clearing, Riley followed behind. At first he thought she wanted to set up in the long grass between the condensing paths but was surprised when she left the clearing altogether, making off into a dense thicket of trees. They were off the path now.

'You sure we'll find our way back?' Riley called after her, weighed down by the backpack which clunked and clanged awkwardly like a one-man marching band. The shadows cast here were much darker. Any further, Riley thought, and they might stray into some dark void or a bear's cave. Were there bears in this forest?

'Damn it Alexis wait up!'

He saw her slow to halt as he trudged down the hill.

'What's was wrong with that field by the path back there? There was plenty of space.'

He waited a long time for her to answer. It seemed like she was settling on some kind of decision.

'Well... I'd rather set up someplace more private,' she said in a curious voice. It wasn't often that she made herself seductive like that.

'Private?' he repeated with raised eyebrows.

'Yeah,' she said softly, almost a whisper. She slid off her jacket. It pooled against the roots and was claimed by the forest. With a devious look in her eye she continued to descend into the shadows, leading him on.

You've got to be kidding. Riley was mesmerised. He picked up her jacket on his way into the thicket. She'd never done anything like this before. Without a doubt he was suspicious, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't somewhat aroused by all this. Her shirt came off next. He stooped down to retrieve it, unable to keep his eyes away from the bareness of her shoulders. She was struggling with her bra so Riley easily caught up with her. He stood dumb-faced with her clothes in his arms, unsure how to react.

'Are you su-' Alexis covered his mouth impatiently with her finger.

The backpack fell to the ground with a crash.

They embraced.

Clothes everywhere.

They fell onto soft earth.

Completely distracted with one another, assumedly alone.

They assumed wrong.