They Know Me

HANGING DANGEROUSLY

I watched and waited. When nightfall finally came, I left for Cemetery Raven, hoping for a better outcome than my two previous, flopped, investigations.

The entrance of Cemetery Raven slowly came into view as I approached, and then passed, the last two houses of my street before the exit. Zil wasn't there yet. Hoping I wouldn't have a long wait, I crossed the road to stand at the wrought-iron gate.

The sky continued to gradually grow murky until the flaming colors of daylight faded and it darkened into night. I looked around again, but still saw no sign of Zil. Thinking he might back out of our plans to meet, I decided to only stay a couple more minutes and then leave if he didn't come. I looked into the cemetery; as far back as I could see, all the way to the woods. Except for the expected occupants, it was empty.

I looked to my left at Cortland Bridge. Its silhouette, black against the pitch dark sky, was picturesque. But it held a deadly truth – and, like a fool, I still wanted to return.

"Easily visible during the day, the weathered, ages-old structure would soon be lost from sight as the last vestiges of a deepening horizon abdicate its hold to a nighttime sky."

I spun around. Zil was inside the cemetery! Smiling lazily, he said, "Hello, chere."

"Where did you come from? A minute ago, no one was there." Then, recovering from the shock of suddenly seeing him there, I realized he'd called me by a different name – Chere.

What I didn't know was where I'd heard it, or why it sounded familiar. I scowled. "Wrong. Try again."

The corner of his lip turned up slightly. "I know your name, Ashe. To the French, 'chere' is what we call someone special, or use as a term of kindness."

"Like friendship?"

"Yes, like that."

"I thought it was 'Cherie.'"

"That is an exaggerated term. I never say, 'Cherie.'"

Ready to get past the awkward moment, I said, "Okay. Hi – Chere."

Zil's head bowed slightly as his laughter rumbled low in his chest. He exited through the graveyard gate. "No. I am afraid it is what a man calls a woman, not the other way around."

My embarrassment had taken on a life of its own, one I felt I might not escape, unscathed. "Oh ... Have you said that before?"

His smile stilled and his emerald green eyes glistened in the moonlight as he looked at me with a curious, secretive, gaze. "On occasion."

I could feel imaginary walls start to close in on me. Wanting an escape from my humiliation, I said, "Where were you just now? I looked, but no one was in there."

"I was here. Perhaps you did not see me." He looked back at the bridge. "Does what I said not describe Cortland Bridge?"

It did ... perfectly. Except for the secrets it held. Once darkness descended, its phantoms would emerge and wait within the shadows until some naïve intruder went inside – and then the punishment would begin. But Zil had offered to go with me, and so I'd be that naïve person to suggest we go, in an unspoken dare for him to keep his word.

Without first discussing with him any particular destination to go, I turned in the direction of the dead end. Zil walked beside me. We stopped at the three-way split and I glanced at Cortland Bridge. In that instant, though it was irrational, I decided I'd return later to face the bridge, and the hateful entity that had attacked me inside of it, alone – because when I'd gone earlier with Rhys, the bridge had been quiet. I didn't want a repeat of that with Zil.