Lizzy and I sit with Caleb on the front porch. The only light out here is the moon and the stars since we have the porch light off. Caleb and I sit on the railing while Lizzy stands on the other side of Caleb.
"I wish we could stay here instead of going to Shawn's," Caleb breaks the silence.
"Really?" I look over at him.
"Yeah, I don't know him like I know you. And he's mean," he nods.
"Before you leave, we go for another ride on my motorcycle, sound good?" I ask.
"Yeah," he smiles. "Last time was so fun."
I nod, "agreed." We talk for a few more minutes before Caleb leans on my shoulder as our conversation stops. After a few minutes pass, I look down and Caleb is silently sleeping with his head on my shoulder. So I carefully get off the ledge and pick Caleb up. "I can put him in my room if you want," I offer quietly to Lizzy.
"Aren't you going to sleep there?" she whispers.
"I'll unfold the couch in the basement."
"You sure?" I nod and she says, "okay." I carry Caleb inside and Lizzy gets the door. He has already taken his tie and a few layers off so he's in the simple shirt as we take his shoes off him and lay him down on my bed. After making sure Caleb is still sleeping peacefully in my room, we leave the door cracked as we head back to the porch. We sit in silence until Olivia comes out in a big hoodie and some shorts. She sits with us and we're back to silence.
"Is Bree still up?" I break the silence to ask.
"No, she fell asleep a while ago," Olivia answers. "Why?"
"I need to tell you something…" I go through the whole shebang again as Olivia reacts to the news.
"Holy shit," she huffs out a breath. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"At first I didn't think anything of it, then I just didn't want you worrying about it," I shrug.
"Okay, then what do we do?"
"We could try looking him up?" Lizzy suggests. "See if he's left any records or something?"
"Yeah, that's a good start. But what if I get attacked again? I know I haven't been in a while but if I do, I don't know how to fight very well in dragon form. You guys saw what happened last time."
"All right, just breathe. It's getting late. We should get some sleep and think more about this tomorrow. When we aren't tired," Olivia says.
"Right," Lizzy and I nod. "Do you want to stay with Caleb in my room?"
"I think I'd like to consider the options," she stands as Olivia says a quick goodnight and goes inside.
"You could sleep on the living room couch, in my room with Caleb, or in the basement with me," I list her options. She decides to stay with Caleb but helps me get the couch in the basement to the bed form. "You can change if you want. I can get some of Olivia's clothes," I offer as I put a single pillow and blanket on the folded-out couch.
"I can't thank you enough."
"Don't mention it," I shrug and we go upstairs. "I'll see if Olivia will let you borrow something." Lizzy nods and I knock softly on Olivia's bedroom door.
"Yeah?" she questions as she cracks the door quietly. It's nearly pitch black inside and her hair is messy.
"Can Lizzy borrow some clothes? She only has the dress," she holds up one finger before disappearing into the dark room. After a minute she opens the door again and holds out a small bundle of clothes.
"These should work," she whispers.
"Thanks," we both nod and she shuts the door again. "Here, the bathroom is just there," I hand Lizzy the clothes and point her to the bathroom. She nods and goes in. I go to the kitchen to get something to eat before sitting on the couch in the living room. I turn the TV on and turn the volume down enough that it won't disturb anyone but I can still hear it a little.
After a few minutes, I've finished eating and Lizzy comes out in one of Olivia's t-shirts that she got from her senior year in our school and some black, plaid pajama pants.
"Can I join you?" she questions. I nod and lightly pat the spot on the couch next to me. She sits down and a few minutes go by before she asks, "are you going to change out of those clothes?"
"At some point," I nod. Lizzy nods and we watch whatever is playing. After the episode ends Lizzy and I go to bed. She goes to my room and I go downstairs. I lay for a while, unable to sleep.
I can hear stuff outside. How can I hear stuff outside? I've always been able to hear what goes on around the house but I shouldn't be able to hear the animals moving outside. I've slept down here before and I could never hear anything beyond the rest of the house. Even then, I can't hear every little thing in the house.
Trying to ignore the annoying sounds from crickets and animals that constantly sound in my ears as I lay there. I only get an hour of sleep before giving up and going upstairs. It's only six in the morning so I decide to sit on the couch with my laptop. I start looking online to see if I can find anything on Shawn. After some time Dad comes out and asks what I'm doing. "Just a project for school," I answer as I keep searching.
"Anything I can help with?" he starts making a pot of coffee.
"No, I got it."
"Let me know if that changes."
"'Kay," I nod and after his coffee is done Dad turns the TV on and starts watching as he sits by my feet. We sit for a while before Pops goes to work. Dad leaves a while after that, keeping the TV on. Now it's nine-thirty and I can hear two sets of footsteps coming down the hall.
"You're up early," Olivia says as she and Bree sit on the couch. I move my legs to make room.
"Yeah, I kept hearing stuff outside. Decided to do some research," I shrug.
"On what?" Bree asks.
"Shawn Categore."
Olivia asks, "able to find anything?"
"No," I sigh.
"Maybe you're spelling it wrong," she shrugs.
"I'm spelling it, C-A-T-E-H-G-O-R."
"Try it without the H and add an E at the end," Bree suggests. I nod and change my spelling. After the page loads, I look at images first to see if any match. There are a few of him smiling with what looks to be family and one that looks like he's with a younger Sarah. Did he know her? Is that why he has her name tattooed on him?
As I'm thinking about the reasons he could've had to be with her in the picture I come across a mug shot. His expression is full of pure hatred and his face is covered in cuts and bruises as if he's been in a fight.
"Holy shit," I barely say as I click on a site that looks reliable. He's from Lionswood, a few towns away from Kartsmon. "Holy fucking shit."
"What?" Olivia and Bree ask at once.
"He's from Lionswood. And he has a major record," I move so they can see the screen too. "Arrested for aggravated assault three times, domestic abuse once, and accused of homicide twice. But they never convicted him due to lack of evidence."
"Jesus Christ," Olivia says.
"Fucking hell," Bree says in more of a breath.
"Should we tell Lizzy?" Olivia asks.
"I think so," I nod. "Then she can be careful. Being prepared is better than not knowing and having something happen."
"Yeah," we all nod, and I set my laptop on the coffee table, leaving the page there. After a few seconds, Lizzy comes into the room and looks at us confused. I think we're all making some sort of face.
"Why do you guys look like you've seen a ghost?"
"You might want to come look at this," she hesitates to come over. As she sits on the couch, next to me, I move the laptop screen so she can read the profile and see the picture.
"We thought you should know," Olivia says as Lizzy covers her mouth with her hand.
"He's with Mom right now," Lizzy whispers so quietly I might be the only one to have actually heard it.
"I don't think he's going to do anything," I try. "You can call her if you're worried, though."
"I don't have my phone."
"Do you know her number?" she nods. "You can use my phone." I hand her my phone and she says a quick thanks before going outside to call. I focus on the TV so I don't accidentally listen in on her.
"Can someone fill me in on what's going on?" Bree asks. Olivia and I explain the situation and by the time we finish Lizzy is sitting next to me again. She seems on edge but okay.
"It's not like I have someone to teach me how to fight like that. The only thing I have to work with is knowing how to use my limbs," I add.
"I may be able to help with that," Bree hesitates to say, causing the three of us to give her confused looks. "I should've told you guys sooner but I didn't know how," she sighs. "I'm a dragon too."
"So I'm not the only one?" I can't help but smile.
"No, there's a bunch out there. You just have to know where to look. Or at least live somewhere that's more common for us," Bree nods. "My family taught me how to fight before I moved away. I'm a little rusty, but I can help as much as possible."
"You should start tomorrow," Olivia says. "We need to make sure we know everything we can find about this guy, first."
"Know everything about who?" Caleb yawns as he comes out.
"Just some dude for a school project," Lizzy tells him.
"Oh, where's the bathroom?" he asks with a nod.
"The door on the right, next to the bedrooms," I point to it and he tiredly walks away. The four of us agree to keep looking for more information on Shawn after Lizzy and Caleb go home. After a while, we all start playing video games until Caleb asks for me to take him for a ride on the bike again.
He has to use my helmet since we didn't bring the blue one but I make sure to stay out of the woods this time. I don't want to risk him getting hurt because Shawn or that damned wolf decides to come out again. "Have fun?" I ask as we get off by the porch where Lizzy sits with Olivia and Bree.
"Yeah," Caleb smiles and nods as I take the helmet from him.
"We gotta get home," Lizzy says as she comes off the porch. "Mom needs us to help out."
"Okay, I-"
"I'll drive you," Olivia cuts me off. "And you can keep those clothes."
"Oh, okay. Thanks," Lizzy seems shocked as we all go inside to get Lizzy and Caleb's clothes. Caleb only has to grab his tie, vest, and jacket while Lizzy grabs her dress and Olivia starts driving.
"Ready to do more research?" Bree asks as we sit on the couch.
"As ready as I'll ever be," I sigh and she gets her laptop. We sit on opposite sides of the couch with our feet in the middle as we search. After a few minutes, I sit with my legs crossed. As I scroll through, I find an old Myspace page. Hasn't had any posts in twenty years. The last thing posted is a grainy picture of him in a tux with a girl in a fancy prom dress. They're both wearing big smiles and look happy. I think that's Sarah. Just then Sarah, the dog, jumps on my lap and lays there. I pet her before I keep looking. The picture has the caption.
"I love Sarah so much! BEST GIRLFRIEND EVER!!!"
They dated? Damn.
I keep looking and find more pictures of them together and a few with people I don't recognize. Why would I? Anyway. There are a few pictures with a dog but nothing suspicious. I decide to see if Sarah has an account. Once I find one that looks like her, I start looking through her posts. She was active for some years after Shawn stopped posting. One of her last pictures is of her smiling with a baby in her arms. Is that Dad and Pops? I quickly read the caption.
"I'm so grateful to have Mason and James in my life. I hope they care for their new daughter and make sure she's loved."
"Holy fuck," I whisper as Olivia walks through the front door. I can't help the tears slowly blurring my vision. The post before that is of Sarah smiling with a baby in her arms while she sits in a hospital bed with Shawn looking angry next to her.
"What?" Bree moves her feet off the couch.
"I- that's Dad and Pops, with Sarah and a baby," I set the laptop on the coffee table as Olivia sits down.
"Holy shit," they both say as they look.
I wipe my eyes before saying, "look at this one. No caption but Shawn looks pissed."
"Yeah, what does this mean?" Olivia questions.
"I don't know. I'm just hoping we find more info and fast," I shrug. We all keep looking and write everything we find onto paper so it's all in one place. When none of us can find anything else about Shawn we put our laptops down and look at the paper full of information. "What do we know?" I ask as Olivia reads.
"We know that he's had legal issues, dated Sarah, stopped using any sort of social media, he's never had a job and he has a shit load of tattoos."
"And somehow, we've never heard about him from anyone," I add.
"Why don't we ask your dads? They might know who he is," Bree suggests.
"Think they'd freak?" I look at Olivia.
"Definitely," she nods. "But Bree's right. They were closer with Sarah and might know something about him."
"Okay, we should ask about it at dinner." We all agree and put the paper and laptops away before watching TV until Dad comes home. He watches TV with us for a while before we all start making dinner.
"Something smells amazing," Pops says as he comes inside. Taking his shoes off, he finds us in the kitchen as we set the table.
"We're having tacos for dinner," Olivia says.
"I love tacos," Pops mock gasps as we all start getting our food and sitting down. As I'm finishing my first taco Olivia kicks my shin. I look at her like she's gone mad and she gives me a glare while nodding to our dads. I nod and hold up my index finger for her to wait as I finish chewing.
"Do you guys know someone named Shawn Categore?" I ask after swallowing my food and clearing my throat. Pops nearly chokes on his taco as Dad's eyes go as wide as golf balls before asking, "how do you know that name?"
"He was at that party last night. And…" Olivia, Bree, and I explain everything, finishing sentences and carrying on throughout.
"You guys have to stay away from him at all costs. If you can, get Lizzy and her family to stay here. If you can't do that make sure to check in often," Pops has never sounded more serious.
"What do you guys know?" Olivia questions.
"Shawn is a fucking psycho," Pops states. "He never treated Sarah like he should have, and he's killed people before. Do whatever you can to stay away from him and get your friend away from him."
"Should I call Lizzy?" I ask.
"Hurry," they both nod and I quickly get up and go outside as I pull out my phone. It's dark out but I can see better than usual. I've never had this good of night vision before. I pace on the porch as adrenaline starts flowing through me. The phone rings and I whisper, "please pick up. Pick up."
"Travis?" Lizzy's voice sounds through the phone. I pull it away from my ear slightly. Still sensitive for some fucking reason.
"Lizzy, are you with Shawn?" I ask quickly.
"No, Mom said he's at work. Why?" she sounds confused.
"We asked about Shawn and both Dad and Pops went totally serious. They said to stay away from him and see if I can get you guys away. Is there a way you guys can come here or I can get you?"
"Fucking Christ. Okay, I'll get Mom to drive the RV over after grabbing clothes." I can hear Lizzy sigh.
"Okay, call me when you're on the way."
"Okay," we both hang up and I go back inside.
"Are they coming?" Olivia asks as I get inside.
"Lizzy's going to get her mom to drive the RV out," I nod.
"What about Shawn?" Dad asks.
"Lizzy's mom said he's at work but from what we found online he doesn't have a job."
"He's at work. Just not legal work," Pops sighs and puts his face in his hands as we all sit at the table with half-eaten food in front of us.
"Why didn't we ever know about this guy before?" Olivia breaks the silence.
"We were hoping you would never have to hear the name. Let alone meet the man. If he even is a man," Dad answers.
"How did Sarah meet him?" I ask.
"We all went to school together," Pops starts. "We were friends for a while. Then he and Sarah started going out and they argued all the time. She would cover for him and by the time they split up Sarah was pregnant. Shawn wanted to keep the baby. Train them to be a criminal, like him. Sarah gave the kid up for adoption and Shawn disappeared for years. When he showed up again it was only long enough to tell us how much he despised us and how Sarah got what she deserved."
"She didn't deserve what happened to her," Dad whispers.
"What happened?" I ask.
"Shawn killed her. Bragged about it and left before anything could be done about it," Pops scoffs. "Now he's back. And he isn't going away until he gets whatever it is he wants."
"Fuck," Olivia sighs.
"Son of a bitch," I add.
My phone goes off and I wince before putting it on speaker. I need to turn my ringer down. "Travis, she won't listen. Mom, please!" Lizzy almost shouts as I set the phone next to my plate.
"Lizzy?" I question as more talking comes from the other end.
"Mom, we have to go. Travis, come get us, please."
"I'll be there as soon as I can," I snatch my phone and hang up as I stuff it in my pocket and throw on shoes, not bothering to tie the laces.
"I'm coming too," Bree and Pops both get up and we get into the truck. I quickly speed out of the driveway and down the road towards town. It takes ten minutes off the usual time as I speed into town, only slowing down to avoid crashing as I turn down every street. I never got the address.
The town is small enough that it doesn't take too long to find the house with three people outside of it. Lizzy and her mom are arguing as Caleb sits in the grass with a bag and his hands over his ears.
As I stop the truck, I don't bother taking the keys as we all jump out. "Caleb, can you take your stuff and wait in the truck?" I squat next to him. He nods before wiping his face and going to the truck with his bag.
"Ms. James, I can assure you that Shawn is dangerous," Pops says as we stand by Lizzy.
"Why are you all so against him?" Ms. James stands on the single step in front of the door. "He hasn't done anything wrong."
"He's done so many wrong things," Bree counters.
"Name one."
"He killed my best friend," Pops' voice is stern.
"My mother," I add.
"How do I know you're not lying?" Ms. James raises her voice more. We're all almost yelling by now.
"Because he hurt me!" Lizzy shouts, causing silence to follow.
"What?" Ms. James seems genuinely confused.
"We argued after Caleb and I got back, and he grabbed my arm way too tight. He wouldn't let go," Lizzy sighs as she pulls her sleeve away from the spot on her bicep where a purple bruise stands out. "Can you please trust me?"
"Okay," Ms. James sighs. "I'll get some clothes." She goes inside and comes out a minute later with a bag. Lizzy rides with her mom in their RV as they follow us in the truck. I sit in the bed of the truck to make sure I can hear better. Then if Shawn and his fancy car come up, I can hear it before he gets too close. When we get to the house Olivia and Dad have cleaned the remnants of dinner and now they sit on the couch. They jump up when the door opens and we go in.
Bree takes Caleb downstairs to play video games while the rest of us sit in the living room. "So, Shawn's a criminal," Ms. James sighs.
"There's a lot you don't know," Dad says. "And there's still something we should tell you, Travis."
"What?" I give them a confused look.
"You know that Sarah had a kid with Shawn. But you don't know that she only had one kid," Dad says.
"We should've told you sooner but, we didn't know how," Pops adds as my eyes grow wider than ever.
"That psycho is my father?" I whisper before putting my face in my hands.
"Unfortunately," Dad states.
"I need some air." I feel them watching me as I get up and walk onto the porch. It's dark and quiet as I lean my arms on the railing and take a deep breath. I close my eyes and just stand there for a few minutes.
I'm related to that fucking psycho. That's why he's here, fucking with me. He wants something with me. I don't know what but I hope he takes the hint and fucks off. What am I gonna do? I can't march up to him and tell him I know everything, expecting him to just give up and leave us alone.
The door opens and closes before I open my eyes to see Lizzy standing next to me. "You okay?" she asks.
"I will be. Are you?"
"I think so," she nods and leans against the railing too. "I should warn you. If you even have to fight him. Be careful. He's strong."
"Thanks," I nod. "I hope it won't come down to that but, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy to give up."
"Yeah," she whispers. We stand in silence for a few minutes.
"What do we do now?" I ask. I don't know if I'm asking her or myself. Maybe both?
"I have no idea." It goes silent again until we go back inside. Dad, Pops, Ms. James, and Olivia look our way.
"You all right?" Olivia asks me.
"I'll be fine," I nod.
"You guys should go play with Caleb and Bree. Have fun then get some sleep before school tomorrow," Pops says. We nod and go downstairs.
Olivia quietly catches Bree up on the situation before we all play some games. Caleb seems happy and we manage to laugh after what's happened today. After some gaming, Caleb and Lizzy take my room while I sleep downstairs.