A voice… Was it? Kevin said he heard a voice after exiting his friend's house and then… Somehow found himself running through the forest.
"Were you really going to gaslight him into believing they were just… People disguised as monsters?" Nathanael's soft voice draws me out of my depths.
It took Kevin an hour to fall asleep from exhaustion. He curled his body up into a ball on the couch. His slumber does not seem all that peaceful, but his features sure have relaxed since Nathanael first brought him in.
From where I am sitting, on the floor, back against one of the walls, I can clearly see the time on Nathanael's wristwatch, indicating twenty-two o'clock.
He has this dubious look on him, filled with reproach as he waits for my answer, all the while trying his best to seem… Polite? That would be my best guess.
"They're people alright… Just as much as you and I are," I retort casually.
"You know what I meant," he says affirmatively.
"Well, I believe that sometimes the end justifies the means,"
I am not always proud of the things I do and the methods I use to solve my problems. That is something I can be honest about. But I can't say I always regret them either. The saying desperate means for desperate needs also applies here.
"Really? What end did you foresee there?" not that he is being harsh, but I note that his features further softened upon asking that question. Almost like he can see through my eyes.
"The end where he goes back to his parents, unharmed," I speak in a hushed tone, throwing a glance at Kevin who'd just turned on his other side.
"Don't worry, he's fast asleep. He's not listening," Nathanael reassures me. He pauses for a second before asking, "Still can't trust me?"
I take a moment to study my options. A part of me still wants to make sure I stay on his good side. I still have no clue on whether he's working hand in hand with whoever is the owner of this… Enchanting voice that draws people in for the taking, but… Most of me feels it's unfair to him. The past few hours spent in his company have swayed me, but I still don't want to let my emotions take the lead, "Do you want me to lie?"
"No. I don't," he says. He looks away from me, down to his lap where he twiddles his thumbs around, looking like Christmas has been canceled, "For what it's worth, when I told him he was safe, I really meant it," he adds.
"I just don't think I am ready to see your… Draconian rules in action just yet," I blurt out in a bit of a haste. So much for not letting my emotions get the better of me, "I don't want to find out what you do to people who know too much about… Your existence. Not this way at least, not tonight," my voice drops in decibels around the end of my sentence.
Both of us fell silent after that. We remain that way until Nathanael decides to break the quietness, "You're afraid the same goes for you too," he says.
I feel like he's been reading my mind the entire time. I'd already noticed that he can always tell when I am not alright or that something is not quite alright but… It never felt as real as it does now. I feel exposed, as deep as a puddle, without a place to hide a thing from him in, "Doesn't it? I mean, ever since you told me about the way your community functions… I've been wondering about a lot of things, but mainly about why you just left after what you did in front of me,"
"What was I supposed to do? Kidnap you?" the dubious look he had earlier resurges on his face. Except… He seems a lot more amused than anything else.
"Technically, I was kidnapped but… Why are you asking me? You've lived by your rules your entire life, so, you tell me," gradually, and the deeper we got into the conversation, the more the fact that Kevin is sound asleep on the couch near us is eclipsed from my mind. My voice climbs in volume slightly.
In response he doubles down on the amused look and chuckles at my words, "We don't make people disappear just because they've seen us or know about our secret,"
"Hey, I am glad you think this is funny but… From where I am standing, I have legitimate reasons to think that's what you meant when you brought up your justice system and laws earlier, and you didn't really help it, you sounded so... Suspicious,"
"Sorry, it's just…," he breathes in and puts a more serious look on, "No, we don't make people disappear because of that," he still smiles, nonetheless.
"When do you do that then?"
His smile slowly melts away. His eyes flicker towards Kevin for a split second before falling back on me, "Only when there's nothing that can be done to save them,"
Upon hearing his statement, I immediately register its meaning. They don't make people like me disappear; they only do so when they're dead. In which case, I understand why but… It still feels wrong in some way. Perhaps it is my humanity speaking. Knowing that there are people out there, who will never know what happened to their parents, children, siblings, friends…
Something else tickles my curiosity, and for once, I just lay it out for him, "If your people put that much effort in coexisting with humans instead of dominating us, because let's be honest here, despite us both being from intelligent species, the distance that separates us in terms of power, speed and basically everything… Is quite huge. So, that must mean that we severely outnumber you,"
"You don't mess with dominant intelligent species," he admits.
"You don't shit where you eat," I slowly nod to myself while staring into the void. But upon lifting my gaze up towards him, I note his surprised look, and the words flee my mouth before I can think about them, "Or so goes the saying," I fling my eyes around, allowing them to land on anything in the cabin that isn't Nathanael, as I wait for the warmth around my face to subside. Was it because I used the word "Shit"? What twenty five year old reacts like that? One with an exceptionally strict upbringing…Or so I assume, "Anyways…The intelligence part can be debatable. The only reason I found out about you is because a bunch of shifters had the stupid idea to attack me,"
"Let's just say you have your stupid people, and we have ours," he says simply.
I guess, in the end, they are what I said they were earlier, just people, "What I don't understand is, you have this justice system and laws in place, but who enforces them? Who makes sure they are followed? Who works on preventing the attacks from happening? If this election you speak of takes place every fifty years, then your people must know that this, right here," I point towards Kevin as I speak, "Happens more often than it usually does. So, why don't you take precautions about it?"
He doesn't take very long to answer my inquiries. In fact, he immediately responds, "As a matter of fact, we do. But it's not that simple. I mean, you too have a justice system, you have law enforcers, like the police. You have a military, and yet that doesn't stop crime from happening completely and criminals are humans, same as you, they grow smarter and craftier. No matter the measure you adopt, they always find a way around it,"
He made his point clear. In other terms, it doesn't matter that they are shifters with incredible powers. At the end of the day, the same afflictions that plague our society, plague theirs. Stupidity, greed, corruption…
I understand it all. And yet, there's something that still torments me, "I know. It's just, it's one town, one forest; twenty five and he was about to be the twenty sixth victim in five months, and I am not even counting the four additional deaths during the Morgan search party,"
"You say this happened fifty years ago too?" he asks.
"You should know that," I practically scold him. I tone my voice down a notch before continuing, "Not exactly, though. Between October 1970 and April of that same year, there had been an average of two disappearances a month. In total there were 12 victims,"
By the end of my sentence, I realize the way he's gawking at me. Like a third eye has opened on my forehead or something. I always forget that people tend to react this way when I speak like this. I feel my blood rush up towards my cheeks again, "What?"
"Nothing," he chuckles.
"Whatever," I attempt to subvert his attention, "You said that you only make bodies disappear, but what about people like me and Kevin?"
"Well, the protocol that applies in this situation stipulates that I shouldn't do anything except call upon my shadow," he says as a matter of fact.
A protocol? A shadow? What in the name of… Whatever the hell is up there am I about to hear now? If he elaborates further, that is. I stare behind him at his actual shadow, genuinely expecting it to detach from him and start talking to me. I do know it sounds insane and ridiculous. It feels insane and ridiculous, but at this point, I am inclined to believe that nothing is really impossible, "Your… Shadow?" I hesitate.
"Exactly, my shadow," he reaffirms before adding, "Avery," he smiles.
"Avery?" I repeat in utter confusion.
"Avery,"
I leaped out of my sitting place like a hare and stood back on my feet when I realized that there was a fourth person with us in the cabin. The one that just spoke to me. My eyes dart towards the source of their voice, only to land on the figure of a child, seemingly not older than eleven, standing by the couch where Kevin is sleeping. My stomach still sunken between my guts I yelp in disbelief, "What the fuck?"