Page 19 of Trapped: Until The Darkest Of Night

Subconsciously, my hand reaches for the chloroform bottle. You want her to go to the visitor center? Alone? I need to see. As quietly as possible, I straighten up and look over the trunk to my left, just in time to catch Ethan pressing a couple of bills into Lou’s fingers.

“Can I also buy some bear spray?” Lou asks in a lower voice, fear flickering across her face for a brief moment before stubbornly jutting out her chin. I know that facial expression. That hard expression is an attempt to hide fear. I’ve seen it hundreds of times in my previous opponents’ gazes. And suddenly I realize that all this is just another fight.

I can’t hear what Ethan says, but Lou doesn’t seem to like it. Her gaze darts to Avery before locking on to Ethan again.

“But I’m scared of bears,” she now says defiantly, and again, I can see that anxious expression on her face.

“Only the lanterns. Nothing else, got it?” Ethan snaps at her.

“Maybe I’ll catch the next bus home. Or somewhere else!” Lou snaps. She sounds close to crying.

“Yes, yes, of course, just make sure you catch the right bus!”

He really is sending her off alone! Blood pounds in my ears like a storm and I hear Lou’s words like I’m wrapped in a layer of cotton. Something with Dad and mean and useless. I hate you!

She storms off, hands clenched, and my dazed feeling lifts. My mind races as I stoop behind some bushes before following her through the woods parallel to the gravel road.

So you’re afraid of bears, Lou. And not just a little…

For four years I had fought and I had won. Nobody was ever able to hide their feelings from me. The monster taught me to carefully observe and pay attention to subtleties. On Thorson Ave, it was for my survival. A man’s frown could herald an approaching tantrum and result in beatings. Depending on its strength, sometimes even with the belt. Turned-down corners of the mouth rarely meant mockery, but rather triumph. Punishments in the basement in the dark followed. Sometimes, I anticipated and countered these facial expressions but not always. In Compton and South Central, my skill brought me countless wins. Often it was merely a twitch in the cheek or a frantic in-place prance. It has always told me which attack my adversary feared most. Heel kicks in the thigh, knee jabs in the ribs, punches in the stomach—his weakness that I used to bring him down.

The blood returns to my clammy fingers like I’m about to pound my fists in someone’s face. But there’s only Lou. With her hands under her armpits, she keeps looking around as if she is scared.

At some point, she stops and looks in my direction. I stand stock-still behind a hawthorn and look back. She couldn’t have seen me since the sun is too low for that. Hardly a speck of light can be seen between the individual sequoias, the thorn bushes, and boulders, even in this area. Besides, I’m too far away.

Still, to me, it seems like we’re looking at each other. She and I. Prey and hunter. Trophy and winner.

Soon, you’ll be mine, sweet Lou. Only mine. Then I can look at you whenever I want. Be close to you whenever I want.

My chest fills with searing heat as if it had been hollow before. It burns so deep, reaching so deep inside me that it frightens me. The moment seems to last forever, but then she shakes her head as though at herself. Her blonde ponytail swings back and forth and she keeps walking.

With every step I take, it becomes clearer that I won’t get a better chance to abduct her than today. She even threatened Ethan to run away! If she disappears now, it’ll look like she ran away at first.

From the forest, I watch Lou suddenly leave the gravel road and turn into the family camping area. The sequoias over there are less dense and I slow down. I’d best let her go to the visitor center first. I could offer her my help in buying the lamps. My guess is that Lou doesn’t know a thing about them, just like she doesn’t know a thing about math and logic.

What are the chances I’ll take you with me today, Lou? You don’t know, of course!

The thought suddenly pops into my head, but I feel like an ass.

When a branch snaps behind me, I turn around in alarm. A slender figure rushes past me less than fifty yards away.

Damn, I almost forgot about the trail I had discovered this morning!

The figure rushes forward at a steady pace and only when it’s a little ahead of me do I identify it as one of Lou’s brothers. It’s the youngest with the tousled hair. Jayden. He bumps into Lou between two campers, there is a brief scuffle, and then I watch them talk to each other.

Please don’t tell me he wants to play protector now? I stare at him hostilely. Go away and let her go in alone!

Instinctively, my hand wanders to the chloroform bottle in my pocket. I’d love to sedate both of them and then carry Lou to my RV, but of course that won’t do.

Jayden continues talking to her, but a sweet smell suddenly distracts me from the scene. Fucking shit!—I opened the bottle of chloroform! The pungent smell of marzipan and chemicals immediately sickens me.

I nervously screw the brown bottle’s lid closed and wipe my fingers on a few leaves. When I look up, Jayden is leaving with saggy shoulders and Lou quickly crosses the road and disappears into the visitor center.

I breathe a sigh of relief and wait until Jayden is out of sight before I grab the eye drops from the other pocket. One drop in each eye to dilate the pupil, block out stimuli, and not freak out when I face Lou.

Suddenly, I realize how close I am to my goal. A strange calm settles over me. A familiar feeling from another time. I almost forgot. I feel like I’m in the last minute before a fight.

I never lose.

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