Page 23 of Trapped: Until The Darkest Of Night

I can actually pull this off.

What if you just invite her over for a beer?

I don’t know where that voice comes from, but I push it back. Girls like Lou are into the knight in shining armor, Prince Charming type and not screwed-up psychopaths like myself. It’s possible to talk her into that, but I would never, never have her forever.

I take the lanterns in one hand so I can dig the car keys out of my pocket. It’s high time to leave the parking lot before one of Lou’s brothers shows up. Once more, I look across the parking lot. Luckily, I only see one man heaving his luggage out of the trunk. Without turning around, he heads straight for the visitor center.

Regardless, I turn my back on him just to be on the safe side. “It’s not far,” I say, my voice rougher than intended.

Lou nods and I walk as a barrier between her and the visitor center, just in case. I glance again at the gravel path, but it lies deserted in the twilight.

Lou walks beside me and our silence is broken only by the clatter of lanterns and the jingle of keys. I hope she won’t back down when she sees the RV. I look at her from the corner of my eye and notice that my visual acuity is slowly returning to normal. I watch her glance at the swaying treetops and then turn her face into the wind. As if she couldn’t get enough of it all. Still, she shivers.

“You’re shivering,” I state. I hope she’s not afraid of her own courage.

“I’m not cold.”

Really? And yet you’re trembling! I smile. Maybe you’re trembling with excitement. Frantically, I search for a harmless topic of conversation but can’t think of anything. I’m so close to my goal. With difficulty, I force myself to calm down.

In the meantime, we have left the parking lot and the sky is darkening again. Huge shadows hang in the forest, gray and spooky as if a setting for a horror movie.

“We’re almost there,” I say, breaking the silence before Lou becomes too aware of the eerie surroundings. I vaguely point along the road to where the RV is two hundred yards away.

“So you’re here with your family?” Lou looks at me, confused.

The word family makes me think of the rocking teddy bear mobile on Thorson Ave. No, sweet Lou, not everyone has a big happy family. The angry thought suddenly pops up as if someone else thought it for me. Then I recall that she lost her parents and force myself to smile so as not to scare her. “Just me.”

She seems relieved. “I pictured you with a car and a tent,” she babbles on cheerfully.

She almost makes me laugh with her naive carelessness. That’s exactly what I loved about her in the pictures. The pink, sugar-sweet, light, intangible life that, like breath, flows out of her.

“Is there a difference between tent guys and RV guys?” I ask, trying to keep her in this innocent state.

She chews her bottom lip briefly, then shrugs. “I dunno,” she replies evasively. “Um. You just…looked like a tent guy, I dunno. I guess I thought maybe because you know so much about…bears and stuff.”

I smile again, that awful syrupy smile that now seems glued to my face. “The RV gives me more flexibility.”

“It’s huge. You could fit a family of five in there.”

“I need space. Sometimes I spend the whole summer on the road.” That’s not even a lie.

“So what do you do in winter?” she blurts out.

It seems she actually likes me. Good. That’s better than if she found me repulsive.

“Work,” I say mysteriously.

“Oh.” Her cheeks flush and a shy smile tugs at the corners of her mouth—and one echoes in the region of my heart.

When we reach the RV, I glance at the main road, which is completely empty. No car, no lone hiker. Only seconds separate me from my goal. A few steps. Suddenly my hands are damp and I walk stiffly to the passenger door. I pretend to unlock it.

“Ah, fuck,” I curse loudly for Lou to hear. “Stuck again.” I purposefully jerk on the door handle several times. Nothing happens, of course, since I didn’t really unlock the door. I turn to Lou, who has stopped along the side. I shrug apologetically and try to manage an embarrassed grin. “Sorry. You mind getting in the back and then climbing up front?”

“No problem.” A suspicious shadow flits across her relaxed features, just a fraction of a second, but I saw it.

Everything’s under control.

I quickly walk past her and unlock the side door. Shit, it’s totally dark in the RV. It probably scares her. For a moment, I consider drugging her in front of the RV, but that would be risky. Someone might hear her scream. I open the door as wide as I can and step aside so she can climb the steps. The mess I created makes it seem harmless, normal.

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