Cosmic Confluence

Chapter 7: the guilty kind of luck

I know you've probably thought maybe once or twice, that I didn't seem very selfish.

But I think what I told Jaymie will sell that idea to you.

"Jaymie," I started, softly touching her shoulder, "It's also very possible you had a night terror. Have you ever experienced one before?" I spoke reassuringly.

She stared at me for a moment. Her eyes watched me for any signs that I was joking. I remained in character.

"You're fucking kidding me, right? To think I trusted you the most out of everyone else. I'm sorry but, Mary? You will fucking believe any uncanny story anyone throws at you. You're the one who believes anything could happen and that demons and aliens are real. What's happened?"

"You're right, but I'm not that fucking crazy!"

"Mary— I seriously don't think it was a dream. I never even went to sleep last night."

"It adds up though. Bad things happening to Bolt could be your brain's way of haunting you about what happened to your last dog. And those men. Do you think it could be because you're, uh, kind of afraid of your dad?"

"I don't know," Jaymie answered agitatedly.

"People also scream a lot when they're having night terrors."

My words were staring to get to her, I could tell. The more I thought of fake connections to the whole experience being a dream, the more I somehow began to believe it myself. Making cover-up lies was something I was great at and there's actually been multiple instances where I began to believe my own lie. For a moment I really did think, yeah, I'm right. It makes total sense that was a night terror which means it's all okay.

But it simply wasn't true. At all.

"Well what am I supposed to do then? Do you think I might have another one tonight?" Her tone was a lot more calmer now.

However for me, the reality was all coming back again. Jaymie was in real fucking danger. I lied to her so I wouldn't have to go through it again. I lied to her so she wouldn't become a paranoid bitch like me. If I had told her the truth she may have had a better chance at escaping this— loop, this sickness, this curse.

I couldn't stop myself from breaking character.

"If you see him again, stand your ground like you did before. Never, and I mean never, pursue him. No matter how drawn you are. This is how you can get away."

I panicked, it was very apparent. My words offset her new calm, but she didn't express it much. Jaymie only looked at me confused. I knew she was secretly terrified.

"Um, what?" She didn't say it as seriously as one would expect. I think Jaymie could only assume the 'Mary who liked to spook people like a douchebag' was replacing 'serious Mary' because 'serious Mary' usually didn't stay for long.

"That's just the truth!" I said with an underline of a laugh. Her suspicions seemed to clear, I kind of wanted to be 'Mary who liked to spook people like a douchebag' now because it was easy. Being serious took a lot, but sometimes it was the only thing I could do and the only way I had to be.

"No, stop. Uh-uh, don't like it."

"You're gonna die, bitch."

"Mary!"

We laughed in unison. My perception began to be persuaded quickly along with my mood. This I was glad for. I hated feeling anything but fine, I really did. Plus, I was right! She was going to die! Maybe not from The Man With Long Teeth, but she was still going to pass away sometime. I however, was almost definitely going to die from The Man With Long Teeth and I really was certain there was no way to avoid that demise unless, before it happened I got into a car wreck or something. I wanted us to stop worrying about dangers and try to enjoy living for a while. Because who the hell wanted to spend their last days in dread? Nobody.

"C'mon, lets do something else now."

"Like what?" Jaymie asked in a monotone, brushing the hair from her face. It was good to see she didn't look so crazy anymore.

"Something nice." It was silent for a moment before I heard Jaymie get up and search for something in her closet. I never looked over to see what she was doing, I just continued to gaze out the window to see the neighbourhood in its hazy periwinkle hue, reminiscent of the light rain this morning. Then Jaymie sat back down on her bed next to me. She inhaled, exhaled, and began to play a soft but buzzy tune from her ukulele she named Gerald.

Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing if The Man With Long Teeth killed Jaymie, I began to contemplate as my fear drifted even further with the tune she played. Because what if somehow he killed us both around the same time? Despite that meaning we'd die young and tragically, I thought it was strangely enticing.

I didn't know what I wanted.

After about ten minutes I'd say, Jaymie and I went to her living room to watch tv. If I was missing school I figured I deserved more of a kick out of it to compensate for the interrogation I'd receive from my father later.

"What do you wanna watch?" Jaymie asked me, lounging on the couch and taking up like, half of the entire space. I was in the middle of "a stare" as I liked to call it, so she lightly kicked me to snap me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry, what?"

"What do you wanna watch, bimbo?"

"I don't really care actually, just something to have in the background."

"Oh my God. You told me to put on the tv. Are you incapable of making up your mind?" She sat up a little more to express how heated I had made her.

"Yes."

Jaymie huffed with a smile then began to flip through channels. I observed in case there was something that interested me. In all honesty, I didn't really like watching tv or movies. Books were more my thing, as you probably remember me saying.

Anyways, there was a channel that did in fact catch my attention, and both of ours at that. It was the local news station, and the anchorman announced the headline in what seemed to be the perfect sync of Jaymie turning to the channel. I couldn't decide if it was lucky to for that to have happened.

The anchorman said,

"Last night in Haney Ridge, local boy, Mack Gardener was found in the forest by the Fallholt River with what paramedics described as 'his whole face eaten'. Today his family and friends mourn his loss and we warn citizens in the area to watch out for bears and cougars."

"Jesus," said Jaymie as her mouth curled into a grimace.

I was freaking out.

I was really fucking freaking out because Mack Gardner was such a familiar name.

My eyes were afraid and my consciousness began to hastily search for an answer to if I knew a Mack Gardner. I remained completely wordless on the outside but my mind tore through memory screaming for confirmation. There wasn't a single thing I could seem to find within myself that gave an explanation as to why his damn name was so familiar.

That is until on the tv, there was a picture of him that appeared on screen while they went into detail on the case of his death.

Then everything came to me at once, and I was terrified.

Mack Gardner was Elijah's best friend.

I now refused to believe that it was an animal that ate Mack Gardner's face.