Uncomfortably Dark. Chapter 1. Part 1

Eleven months later

They were on the balcony of a house on a hill overlooking a cliff overlooking the sea.  It was pretty much the roof of the house and the lounge chair’s gentle creaks were muffled by the steady wind.

   The blue far below was lined with the pristine white crests of waves breaking on the reefs.  It really was idyllic.  The mountains on the other side of the bay could easily be dunes of emeralds, and the clouds were not unlike floating cotton candy.

   “Let’s have a child,” Monique turned and whispered into his ear while she reclined against him.  “I want to have a child, Tyler.”

   He looked at her dimples, the perfectly formed teeth of her smile, but had to laugh despite her beauty, and oh was she beautiful.  “A child, it’s a nice gesture… you’re kidding, right?”  He looked in her eyes, they were twinkling.  “We’ve known each other for what… all of three weeks now?”

   “So?  Weren’t you telling me just last night how it seemed like you’ve known me forever?”

   He looked at her.  She was still smiling, and he really couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.  What else could he say?

   “Relax, I don’t mean now.  But you make me want to have a child.  This place makes me want to have children, lots of them to play around on the lawn around a house on a hill like this overlooking a sea like that, and I’ll cook them dinner and shout out into the evening breeze, ‘Come to eat munchkins!’”  She tossed back her head and laughed heartily.

   “Nice, Monique,” he just couldn’t help smiling whenever she was happy, plus her island lilt always sounded more musical when she was.  “What do you mean ‘this place’?   You’re Jamaican; you’re supposed to be accustomed to sights like these.”

   “Let’s just say this little spot is one of the extra special delights and you being here makes it like… hey I just thought of a name we could call our property if we settled up here – ‘Daydream Heights’, wonder if that name’s taken?”

   “You’re killing me, now we’re gonna settle up here.”

   “Sure, you’re friend owns the whole side of this hill.  We’ll just clear those trees over there and build ourselves a mansion.”  She did another of her full-bellied laugh.

   “I’ve only known you for, I repeat, three weeks, but I was of the distinct impression that the vainer things of life meant nothing to you.”

   All of a sudden she grew serious.   “And you were right.  I am joking.”

   “Of course,” he replied, but the moment of hilarity had passed, and he felt a bit guilty for breaking it by allowing in the shadow of a doubt about her.

   Her face was just inches from his and she was looking intently into his eyes, sobriety at full reign between them.  She shook her head, “I don’t blame you.  There’ll always be the thought that I’m a gold-digger.  No,” she rested an index finger on his lips when he drew in his breath sharply and searched for words.  “It’s okay, it’s quite natural.”

   He wanted to deny, but it was true, a whiff of the thought had blown into his mind.

   She smiled a sad smile.  “I suppose all my words could find a horrible misinterpretation in that light.”

   He tried to hold her closer, unsure what to do, but she drew away from his embrace and sat up, looking down at him, not unkindly.  “Let us be just friends until you can get to know me more.”

   His eyes watered.  “I’m sorry, I spoiled a good evening and I’d really prefer you being a lot closer than you could be if you were just a friend.”

   She watched him, and seemed to ponder this, but then sighed, a decision made.  “I’m afraid I have no choice, or at least only one that’s acceptable for now.”

   “What do you propose we do with the rest of the evening?”  He was really feeling lousy.

   “You never quite explained what Brad is working on in his private lab… if it’s not too sensitive.”

   Actually it was, but to think of her as a possible gold-digger and or a spy in one evening was to embrace paranoia fully.  He wasn’t sure he wanted to go down that slippery slope.  Still… could it be that she was intentionally positioned across his path in town that day?  It really had only been three weeks ago, he knew nothing about her, really.

   Except… well, greater than he had been fooled before in this house of mirrors called corporate espionage, but the connection he had felt with her… could that have been faked?

   He paused in his thinking just long enough to notice that she was growing increasingly sorrowful watching him.

   “Was three weeks really so short a time that you learned absolutely nothing about me?  I’m sorry, Tyler, I must leave this very minute.”

   “Let’s go let Brad explain it to you himself.”

   “Are you sure?”

   “Not really; I’m probably being a fool.  But I’m going to bet on my instincts, and on what they tell me about you.  If this ends badly, then I’ll just never trust myself again.”

   She smiled then was somber again.  “This seems to be more serious than I’d realized.  And yet you’re willing to gamble on the impression I’ve had on you.”  Another smile, “Well that is a bit mollifying.”

   “Mollifying… where did you learn to talk?”

   “Quit while you’re ahead,” she said, the evening air warming up with the flash of her teeth.

   “Okay, but I warn you, you’re about to jump into a very deep pool.”

   “As long as you’re treading water beside me, I’ll be fine.”

  

   Haley sat at the cafeteria table staring at the half-eaten hamburger she had no appetite for finishing.  Cathy, her best friend, sat beside her.  It was the last day of high school, high summer, and every other kid at every other desk was beside themselves with joy.

   “Are you watching the molds growing?” Cathy asked.  “Because it might not be a bad idea for me to use my phone’s camera to help you document the aging hamburger.”

   Haley looked at her and Cathy noticed the slight shimmer of tears in her eyes.

   “Haley, what’s wrong?”

   “I have to go back to my grandmother’s house tomorrow.”

   Cathy furrowed her brows and looked down at nothing in particular.  Whenever she did that her straight golden hair shifted like a curtain and Haley could not see her face from the side.

   She turned back to Haley and the brows were still furrowed.  “You’ve not told me anything bad about being at your grandma’s house.”

   Haley drew in a deep breath and let it out like she was being screened for most dramatic sigh.  “I don’t want to talk about it.”

   Cathy frowned even more but before she could say anything Roane Black was standing at the table.  At eleven years old he was one year older than both of them.  He was in another first year class, had rich parents but was inexplicably awkward, and for some reason was drawn to Haley.

   “Hi Haley,” Roane said, with a voice that didn’t quite seem to escape his throat.  Then he actually looked her in the eyes and noticed she was on the verge of crying.  “Oh, I’m sorry, is this a…”

   “Beat it Black,” Cathy ordered, “Not now.”

   “Cathy!  Sorry Roane, maybe after school we can talk if you’d like, just not now, okay?”

   “Sure Haley…” He looked crossly at Cathy and started to back away but was stopped by an arm thrown rudely around his shoulders by Miguel Stewart.

   Miguel was in Haley and Cathy’s class.  He was also extremely sure of himself and popular, this despite having a poor father.  His mother had died when he was young.  His father suffered from chronic depression and was practically living on welfare.  But he didn’t let his circumstances define him and everybody loved him for that.

   “Prince Roane, are you leaving so soon?”

   Haley’s eyes flashed intense displeasure at Miguel for a second and he backed down, dropping the mocking tone and patting Roane on his back, “Sorry you couldn’t stay Ro.”

   “What’s wrong?” Miguel asked as Roane walked away with his head held down.

   “How many times must I ask you to be nice?” Haley asked, her eyes dry enough now.

   “I was nice.  Cathy, wasn’t I nice?  What are you planning to do with the remains of that hamburger?”

   “Do you want it?” she asked, slightly irritated.

   “No thanks.  It looks dead.  I mean they normally look alive, you know?  But that looks like rigor mortis has started to set in.”

   Haley dropped the half-finished thing into the paper bag, got up, walked over to a nearby bin and plopped it in.  “Thanks for helping me to that decision,” she said coming back.  “It has now been formally buried…anything else?”  And with that she started to cry again.

   “What’s wrong with you?” Miguel demanded, quite confused.

   “She has to spend her holiday with her grandmother.”

   “And that’s bad because?”

   They both looked at Haley, and turning away she looked out to the road outside the school compound.  Wiping her eyes with the back of her hands she looked again.  “Who’s that man out by the road?  He looks strange.”

   “What man?” Cathy asked.

   “The man in the black clothes standing close to the gate,” she replied.

   Both Cathy and Miguel looked the full length of the road then looked at each other.

   “He’s still there?” Miguel questioned.

   “Of course he’s…” She looked at both of them and looked back.  He’s still there.  But you can’t see him.  Oh my.  “Sorry, must be the tears.”

   The bell rung, breaking the moment; she looked away and tried to remain calm.

   “Come on,” Miguel urged them.  “We’re first years; we can’t be late for the principal’s sendoff talk.”

   “Haley, you don’t look so well.  Are you really feeling okay?” Cathy asked, becoming very concerned at the sudden paleness of her friend.

   “I’m okay.  Miguel is right.  We should be at the auditorium on time.”

The speech was long.  Everyone was bored from the start.  Even the teachers looked dazed where they sat on the platform.

   Parents were arriving and taking seats and slowly the emphasis of the speech was targeted at them and some of the things he’d like to see implemented in the coming school year.  There were areas he’d like to see improved regarding their input in the school lives of their children.  Hence more afterschool activities would necessitate parental presence.  There was a general murmur but no one pointed out impracticalities if there were any.

   So Haley was so drowsy she couldn’t quite tell if she was sleeping when the person in the black gown stepped onto the platform through a side door.  And that’s how she thought of the gowned figure, ‘the person’.  She couldn’t tell if ‘the person’ was a man or a woman because ‘the person’ didn’t have a face or any hair.  It was when ‘the person’ stepped off the stage and was floating to her above the students that she screamed.

   She was cowering in her seat.  Slowly she looked up but ‘the person’ was gone.  The principal was looking at her.  Everyone was.  She got up and ran down the aisle.  “Haley?”  It was her mom’s voice from somewhere in the crowd, but she was too embarrassed to do anything but run right now.

   She made it into the passageway behind the auditorium and somehow through the tears found the girls’ bathroom.  Did she dream it?  Heading to a faucet, she turned it on and splashed her face with the cold water.  When she looked in the mirror ‘the person’ was right behind her, or was it before?

   “We’re waiting.”  The voice was a thin echo, a non-decibel vibrating in her head, around her.  It was a sound that was not a sound, and it felt like her own thoughts, only it was a stranger’s thought, in and around her.  Darkness wafted from the specter.

   “Haley!”  Her mom was outside and ‘the person’ vanished.

   “Mom, I’m in here!”  All of a sudden she was more than just crying.  Her young form was shaking with horribly wracking sobs that turned into a lamenting wail for what her life had become.