Adelena | 18+

Adelena | 7

~Eli's POV~

Everyone in town knew that there was a cult nearby. We joked about it and it would be the subject of many everyday conversations, but no one really knew too much about it. When I was very young, it just appeared out of nowhere. Someone came into the local grocery store while my mother and I were shopping talking about how a cult bought the old Miller farms right outside of town. And there they have remained ever since. It was amazing that after all these years, I had never talked to one of them. Everyone in town thought they were freaks and they made it obvious that they thought we were the devil. So we all kept to our own lives and interacted as little as possible. 

Even if she was a crazy freak, I hadn't been able to get that girl out of my mind. Her caramel skin was constantly in my thoughts. I knew it was soft, but I wanted to feel how soft it was for myself. Her long curly hair was always a mess. I wanted to help her brush it and tame those wild curls. Her plump pink lips toyed with my imagination. I wanted to kiss her, just once. 

Adelena had occupied my mind since I met her a week ago. I was mesmerized by her. She wasn't cold like the other cult freaks, she was warm and kind. I knew I had no business talking to her or asking to see her again. She looked like she was barely sixteen and I felt like a creep being thirty-four years old. However, I couldn't shake my infatuation with her. Her naivete peaked my curiosity. I knew that people in cults were oblivious to the outside world, but to witness it up close was a fascinating experience.  

It took me another hour to walk back to my car after leaving Adelena. I got in my car and drove to the shop, knowing that the guys would give me shit for being late. I parked my truck outside the shop and walked in.

"Well, look who decided to show up to work."

I laughed along with the rest of the guys in the shop. "Shut the fuck up, Dane. You know how many times you were late last week?"

"Hey, I had appointments that couldn't be changed."

Elliot from underneath a car. "Yeah, if you call one night stands that won't leave appointments."

I laughed at karma rearing its head in Dane's direction. Dane had been a dick ever since I met him in sixth grade. His parents decided that they didn't want to raise a child in a bustling city, so they moved to my sleepy town. I remember when I saw the moving trucks park in the house next door to mine. I asked my mother the whole day if I could go over and meet the new neighbors. Once the moving trucks drove away, my mother relented. I went over with a pie my mother baked earlier in the day and walked over to the house next door. As soon as I raised my fist to knock, the door was opened to reveal a blonde boy with freckles. That boy, Dane, hasn't left me alone since.

I met Elliot later while in college. We grew up in the same town and met each other only after we had both moved three hundred miles away. It was odd. Especially since the town we lived in wasn't a large town, but that was probably why we were chosen to room together. The university probably figured that since we were the only two from our small town attending that school that we knew each other. Luckily enough for us, we found that our hometown wasn't the only thing we had in common and decided to room together for all four years of school.

When Elliot and I came back home after graduating, Dane and Elliot met. Neither one of us knew what we wanted to do with our lives, and with limited jobs available in our small town and no ambition to move to a different town, we all ended up working in the same auto repair shop.

"Get back to work."

Our boss, a greasy, overweight, bald man, yelled at us from the office. I don't think I've ever seen him outside of the office. Whenever he needs to talk to us, he has us meet him in the office. As small as our town is, I've never seen him at the grocery store, at the post office, or just around town. Nevertheless, he is our boss and I had to respect to a certain degree because the man did sign my paycheck. 

We all went back to fixing the cars that were in the shop. I put my stuff down and was getting my tools out, but stopped when I felt a tap on my shoulder. Elliot had escaped from under the car he was working on and was standing directly behind me. 

"Where were you this morning, man? You're never late."

I laughed. "You won't believe it if I told you."

This peaked his curiosity. "Try me."

"You know that cult right outside of town?" He nodded. "And you know how they come into town every Monday to shop and stuff?" He nodded. "Well, some teenage jackass stole one of their bikes and so I walking the girl back to their compou-- back home."

His eyebrows looked like they were stapled to his hairline. "You've got to be careful with that, man. Cults are nothing to fuck around with. They're dangerous."

I knew cults were dangerous, but I didn't think this one was deadly or anything. "Where did you learn that, Elliot? Dateline? I know how to handle myself. I'll be fine."

He walked away from me, but I could tell he still wasn't convinced. I've never heard of any suspicious behavior from the cult. They're just weird. As long as I've lived here, I hadn't heard of them ever being violent. They kept to their property and the townpeople stuck to theirs. As long as we all stayed out of each other's way, everything should remain just as it had been. Peaceful. Without any further delays, I got to work on one of the cars. Even the complex mechanism of the car couldn't keep my mind of the tan girl with the dark curls.