Page 12 of Love Hazard

I picked up the razor and clutched it in my hand

I’d like to say the war ended there.

But what followed was a constant battle of wills.

The next Friday, Hazel woke up to find Jane Eyrewith instructions on how to read books. I was very detailed.

She followed that up with three types of organic soapbecause she said I looked like I’d never used it a dayin my life.

I followed that up with crickets in her house. Okay, not aproud moment, but I was at a loss for something to continue this weird banterbecause at least it distracted me from my mom’s failing health and my dad’sreturn, where he’d most likely see her and collapse in front of me. Meaning Ihad to take care of everyone physically and emotionally. I wasn’t really sure I had a lot left to do that.

I was already struggling, so I focused on the girl nextdoor, her hate for me, and her cute way of showing it.

After the crickets, though, things went deathly silent. Aworry for sure. My mom even asked what was next, and all I could give her was,“The apocalypse. Brace yourself.”

A week later, I came to the conclusionthat she was either bored or gave up. It annoyed me that the last thing I sawwhen I closed my eyes was her light shutting off as if I were off, too.

Gone.

Forgotten.

Chapter Six

“Note to self: Women have memories of steel. Damn Bigfoot.”—August Wellington

Hazel

I would end him.

And wait until it was dark.

Was I losing it? Probably. Was this fun? Absolutely. Everytime he opened a gift or saw a prank, I laughed and wondered why he didn’t juststraight up come over and say something. Instead, he just responded.

It became our summer game, and while I loathed how I wastreated and made fun of in high school, I kind of loved the attention now.

Maybe it would last a month or two. Perhaps it would end.But for the next few weeks, he was my hazard to hold, and I’d take it to mygrave.

The clincher after he sent me the book, and I sent himspecial soap, was a pink princess blanket. You’d think it wasn’t a big deal,but it had Disney princesses all over it. I didn’t even care if he didn’t know,but my great-grandma always told me to pick one,whatever princess I wanted to be. I was allowed to be her and changed my mindoften, so looking at that blanket with literally every princess on it made mefeel like he was crawling inside my psyche and trying to mess with me. Maybethat was why I went off the deep end. Who knew?

It had been a few days, and I knew he was antsy—not that Iwas stalking him or anything. But I saw the curtains pulled, and glanced fromthe tree when he went to the side yard and stared at our house like he wasguarding his property against me.

So, to throw him off, I took a few days off to retaliate.This time, I knew I’d get him good.

He’d always had a fear of Bigfoot. I wasn’t sure why otherthan that it was rumored to be in the Pacific Northwest. So, I splurged andwent on Amazon to buy a Bigfoot costume. All I needed was to sneak into thehouse or climb up to his window. But when I put the costume on, it was too big,so it was hard to see through the eyes. Not to mention that it smelled likerubber inside the mask, and if any hunter saw me, they’d probably shoot me onsight for both meat and glory. But whatever, I could run fast.

Once my parents were asleep, I shoved the mask on and staredinto the mirror. Oddly enough, I looked like a cross between a gorilla and aman with a bit of dinosaur dropped in.

My zip-in costume was covered in plastic fur, I had gloveswith claws, and my mask was huge over my head. I nearly tripped over thethreshold when I tried to quietly close the door. Ohhhh,that's why I felt like a dinosaur. I had T-Rex arms that flapped inthe wind as I ran across the yard and crouched in front of his house.

Dad had their code since we’re friendly neighbors like that,so typing it in was nothing. 2021? Okay, who had such an easy passcode?

I typed it in and…success.

It flashed green.

Perfection.

I slowly crept across the floor. His dad wasn’t home untilnext week, at least according to my sources, and his mom was asleep. AndAugust? Oh, he’d be upstairs in his room, sleeping soundly until I scared the crap out of him.

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