SATANVILLE - THE BEGINNING

Part 2

I stare at the body for what feels like hours. He's totally motionless, splayed across the tarmac. Through the cacophany in my head I realise the screaming is real. It's Aunt Justine. 'Oh my God! I killed him! I didn't see him! He came out of nowhere! I...'

I force my frozen arms and legs to move. 'Call an ambulance!' I yell before cautiously bending down next to the body. Justine races back to the car to find her cell. With trembling fingers I reach down to check his pulse. The rain is washing the dirt off his body and I can't help but, well, see him. He's face down, luckily, but his neck, like the rest of him, is taut and muscular. I'm about to search for his jugular when a hand clamps around my wrist. His hand. He's alive. I scream in shock and yank back my arm.

He twists his body over and I maintain eye contact. Not so hard when his eyes are the most serene periwinkle blue I've ever seen. He stares at me for a second before a frown creases his brow. He speaks with a refined British accent. 'I always imagined you'd be taller.'

'What?'

He passes out, face splattering into a puddle.

I stagger backwards, falling onto my rear. 'He's alive!' I call to Justine. 'He's alive!'

'What?' Justine rushes back around the front of the vehicle, cellphone pressed to her ear.

'He moved...he spoke.'

'Oh thank God!' She says to the 911 operator. 'He's alive...but please...come quickly.'

I always imagined you'd be taller? What was that supposed to mean? I guess he's probably concussed and speaking jibberish. I clamber to my feet. 'I'll get a blanket from the car.'

We wait with him until the ambulance arrives. By the time the paramedics hoist the gurney into the back of the van, the mystery guy is starting to stir. It's incredible, there's a mighty dent in Justine's bonnet, but he doesn't look too badly shaken up. 'We should go with him to the hospital,' Justine says. 'You know, what with him until his folks arrive.'

I agree and we follow the ambulance all the way to Statenville General, about a fifteen minute drive away. The hospital is a cuboid two-storey building which seems grey and depressed in the storm, and, for a small town, it's pretty busy in the ER. I wait on a stiff, plastic chair as Justine gives a statement to the cops and calls Ava to tell her why we're so late. After a while, a doctor emerges carrying a flipboard. She smiles at me and lets her glasses fall around her chest on a dainty chain. 'Hi there Taryn. Thanks for waiting. You and your aunt can go now.'

I stand. 'Is he OK?'

'He'll be fine. We'll keep an eye on him, but nothing's broken and he doesn't seem concussed.'

Really? That's weird. 'Can...can I see him?' I guess I just want to see with my own eyes that we didn't harm him.

'I don't see why not. Be quick. He's in the last bay.'

I thank her and head to the end of the cubicles. Each space is partitioned off with green-blue material screens. I get to the last one and poke my head through the space, very much hoping they've given him something to wear. They have - a gown the same colour as the dividers. He looks up at me and smiles. Now clean, he's devastatingly handsome. Sand colour hair falls in a wave over his left eye, long in the neck, while his cherub lips are bookended with perfect dimples. He must be a model. He just...has to be. 'Hey Taryn.'

I'm not so bowled over by his man-beauty to notice that's weird. 'How do you know my name?'

'The...the doctor told me you were waiting here for me.'

'Oh. OK.' I'm wary and self-conscious and I don't know why. I don't know what to do with my hands - they feel as big as baseball mitts.

'I'm Ezekiel by the way. But everyone calls me Zeke. Zeke Bianco.'

I'm too confused to conjure chit-chat. 'What...why were you in the forest? And why were you nude? Did you escape from somewhere?' Like the Male Perfection Genetics Lab?

He shrugs and gives me a half smile. 'What can I say? I'm a terrible sleepwalker. I always have been.'

'It's the middle of the afternoon.'

He regards me, a smirk in those incredible eyes. 'Don't tell me you don't enjoy a quick kip in the afternoon on the sofa.' I do. In fact, an afternoon sleep with reruns of Gilmore Girls in the background is one of my favourite things to do. Did he know that about me? Or a good guess? 'This is utterly mortifying. I don't know what to say other than sorry. I really am. I must have given you and your aunt quite a scare.'

I can see he's sincere. 'Well...you could look into the concept of pyjamas.'

He smiles again and my heart swells. 'I absolutely will. I'm new in town. Haven't even unpacked yet.'

'That's weird...me too.'

'What a coincidence.'

'You...you said you thought I'd be taller. What did you mean by that?'

He shakes his head. 'I'm sorry? I said what?'

'It doesn't matter.' I'm right, he must have been totally out of it. 'Look, is someone coming to pick you up?'

'I don't think so. My aunt is elderly. I can make my way home.'

'Are you sure you don't need a ride?'

'I'm sure. But thank you, that's very kind of you to offer.'

There's nothing else to say. 'I better go find my aunt. Sure you'll be OK?'

'Your concern is very sweet. I'm fine. I'll no doubt see you soon.'

'You will?'

'School?'

Duh. there's only one high school in Statenville. Zeke almost looks too old to be in high school, though, He must be a senior. 'Oh right. Sure. I'll see you then. And get some pyjamas!' On that dorky note, I leave the cubicle and slap my forehead with the palm of my hand. I'm not normally so awful around guys - some of my closest friends in Jersey were boys - but there's something different about Zeke. Maybe it's the British thing.

I head for the ER reception to find Justine. I become aware of raised voices and of chairs scraping along the the floor. What's going on? I round the corner and see a pair of paramedics trying to restrain a filthy old man in a soiled trenchcoat. 'Get off of me!' he yells, spittle spraying from his lips. 'You can't keep me here! I ain't sick!'

I stand well back as a nurse rushes past me to help. 'Come on Willie!' she says. 'You been skipping your meds again?'

'I don't need no pills!' It's like he's rabid, frenzied. The old guy swings his arm free and sends the nurse careering into me. I scream and we go down together - I land heavily on my ass, the nurse on top of me. The ranting stops. As the nurse climbs off, the old man looks down at me and goes limp in the paramedic's arms. 'It's you!'

I say nothing as the nurse helps me up. 'You OK, hon?' she asks.

'I'm fine.' The old man lurches towards me. I jump back but realise he's kneeling at my feet. 'What are you doing?'

'This is Willie,' says the nurse. 'He just needs to take his meds.'

He looks up at me and smiles, his teeth on a spectrum from yellow to brown. 'We always knew you'd come. We always knew our queen would come.'

'Just ignore him...Willie leave this girl alone!'

He reaches into his pocket and leaves something at my feet. I look and scream again, louder than before. There's a live, writhing adder by my toes. I stagger back, kicking the snake away, but Willie continues to stare. 'A gift...an offering for the queen of Hell.'