His Jaguar Tattoo

Crusty Little Clam

The nightmares seemed to come back in full force. Drew tossed and turned all throughout Zuri's first conscious night in the farmhouse. Each unnatural twist of his body was followed by a whimper or ghostly moan. Zuri spent most of the night cradling him to her body, whispering sweet assurances into his ears.

When his phone alarm went off at dawn, Drew rose from his slumber as though nothing had happened. Zuri jumped at his abrupt movement, figuring he was turning in his sleep again. Their eyes met, and the color seemed to drain from his cheeks. Zuri wiped her face with a sigh.

"Last night was bad," he assumed. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." She stifled a yawn and sunk deeper into the sheets.

Leaning across the bed, he touched her hair and kissed her temple. "Catch some sleep. I won't be back until tonight."

Zuri caught his hand before he could slip away. The act caught them both by surprise. Nonetheless, her fatigue kept her from clearly thinking about what she was doing.

"Do you have to?" she whispered groggily.

"Do I have to come back?" he scoffed. "Yes."

"No...I mean, do you have to go?"

Silence reigned for a moment. When Zuri cracked her eyes to see if he was still there, she found him gazing tenderly at her. She groaned and rolled over.

"I can't stay," he told her, "but I wish I could."

"Stop being sappy," she grumbled. "Go kill people or whatever."

He rolled his eyes and blew out a deep breath. "You are something else."

"Mhmm."

Sleep was already pulling her down, tuning out the rest of the world. Her body felt heavy, especially her eyelids. Drew may or may not have continued to speak, but she couldn't hear him.

^^^

Was that a dream? Zuri wondered.

She looked around the sun-soaked bedroom, blinking from the rays invading her space. Seeing as how Drew was gone, she assumed their farewell had, in fact, been reality and not a dream. The image of a snarling animal came to mind. A big cat with spots. A jaguar.

A jaguar? I'm definitely losing my mind.

Easing out of the bed, she stretched her back and arms until everything had popped into its rightful place. She stumbled into the bathroom and splashed her face with cold water. There wasn't a mirror in here, something she had briefly pondered about the day before but found that she didn't mind. She probably didn't want to see what she looked like after tossing and turning for hours on end.

Once her teeth were brushed, face washed, and hair combed, Zuri left the bedroom and padded down the steps to the kitchen. She checked the cabinets until she found a glass and then filled it with water from the fridge. The glass had only been half-downed when someone began speaking.

"Good morning to you, too."

Zuri jumped and spun around. Elle was lounging at the table with an irritated look on her face.

"Hi," Zuri replied. "Sorry. This hasn't been my finest morning."

"Mine either. Or Ajax's." The nurse rose from the table as her face grew more rigid by the minute. "I don't know what you two were doing in there last night, but these walls are paper thin. One of you needs to keep the noises to yourself."

"W-what?"

"Don't play innocent."

Lifting a hand to her mouth, Zuri didn't know whether to shrivel up and die or burst into laughter. "Drew has nightmares," she explained. "They were really bad last night."

"Seriously?"

"Yep."

"Oh."

Zuri rubbed her warm cheeks. "So...where's Ajax?"

"Outside. He mentioned something about checking the perimeter. I don't know. I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open."

"Go back to bed. I did."

"Yeah, well, Drew doesn't go as easy on us as he does you."

"He's not going to know or care if you go back to sleep. Nobody around here's dying."

"Actually," Elle said with a sigh, "I do need to apply that burn cream. Your burn is getting scabby."

Horror flit across Zuri's face. "Scabby?"

"Yeah, you look like a crusty little clam. Fix yourself breakfast, and I'll get the cream."

Even after Elle left, Zuri was preoccupied with her mental image. Scabby? That's disgusting. She strolled over to the open cabinets of food and plucked out a box of cereal, her favorite. Drew must have remembered, she thought with a little smile.

By the time she'd finished pouring the cereal and milk into a bowl, Elle returned to the kitchen. Zuri plopped into a chair at the table and waited for her companion to finish prepping the cream. The ointment was greasy and translucent, kind of like bacon grease but without the stench. Elle reached out to dab it on her cheek, but Zuri instinctively pulled away.

"The cream doesn't hurt," Elle told her. "Just sit still."

"Are you sure that's the right stuff? The tub isn't even labeled."

"Yes, I'm sure. It's going to keep your burn moisturized to expedite the healing and prevent infection." She swatted Zuri's hand away. "Let me do what I'm getting paid for."

Sighing, Zuri held still and let the nurse have her way. She winced from the pressure, but Elle was right; it didn't hurt. After the burn had been greased to Elle's liking, she strapped a square bandage over her entire cheek.

"How big is this burn?" Zuri asked.

"How—" Elle cut herself off with a nod. "Oh, that's right. You haven't seen it yet. Here," she said as she pulled out her cell phone.

Instead of looking at herself in the screen, Zuri started dialing her grandmother's number. She'd been thinking about doing it all yesterday.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Elle demanded before snatching her phone back.

"I just..." Her shoulders sagged in defeat. "I know my grandma must be worried sick. I usually call her every day."

"I don't know anything about your grandma, but Drew told me to make sure you don't make any outgoing calls. I'm not supposed to make any either. It's all about security measures."

"What about calling him?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. He didn't say."

"Well, can I call him and ask if he told my grandma what happened?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because," Elle answered with a mischievous grin, "I don't want to."

Knowing she was on the verge of doing something she'd regret, Zuri got up from the table and started for the front door. "I'm going for a walk."