Page 27 of My Wife

Who is that?

Then, a better question: whosecabinis that?

Mine and Tommy’s is on the end. Chase’s is next, but he spent last night with Madison. He’s probably been with her since we left Vee at the ravine, so it’s empty—and that’s not the one I just saw the shadowy figure step out of.

The next one is Vee’s. The one after that is also empty because it was meant for Aaron. But the fifth one…

That’s Summer and Tyler’s cabin.

Weird. If that’s Tyler… what is he doing? But Tyler is bulkier than the figure I saw leaving the cabin. So who else could it be?

And why did they stop at the end, turning directly to look at the last cabin in the row, almost like they were searching forme?

I don’t know, but I’m already super jumpy after waking up and seeing that Tommy is gone. Inching away from the window, I turn my back on it. Another peek to make sure the door is locked and I tiptoe all the way back to the second room.

But I don’t go to sleep. I can’t. I sit up in bed, the light on, until I heard the door unlocking.

My heart leaps up to my throat. Too late, I realized I should’ve grabbed a weapon from the kitchen. A knife, maybe, or one of the heavy pans provided so we can cook. I’m utterly defenseless?—

—and Tommy startles when he sees I’m sitting up against the headboard, watching the entry to the bedroom with wide, terrified eyes.

“Cyn.”

I shudder out a breath. “Tommy.”

It’s Tommy.

He’s wearing his jeans and the same blue hoodie he always has on when he’s not at work and it’s too chilly for just a regular t-shirt. From a distance, though, if he had the hood up… it could look black. He could’ve been the shadowy figure I saw

I swallow roughly. “Where were you?”

“Me? Oh. Couldn’t sleep. I went out for some fresh air and caught Chase outside, smoking a cigarette. He told us all he stopped, but with the stress of Vee… he needed a hit, I guess. Madison wouldn’t let him smoke inside so he was on the porch. Once he was done, we took a walk to check on Vee.” He shows me the phone in his hand. “Good thing I had this for the flashlight. We had to scare a couple of predators away.” His face closes off for a moment. “It was gnarly. I’m glad you didn’t have to see that. I tell ya, I’ll be happy when it’s Monday and we can get off the island. Won’t you?”

I nod, still trying to imagine if Tommy could’ve been the person I saw. But it couldn’t have been. He was with Chase…

“And Chase is in his cabin? No more accidents?”

Tommy’s expression turns concerned. “Cyn, love? You okay? You’re looking at me like you saw a ghost or something.”

I don’t know what I saw.

I shake my head. “Yeah. Sorry. I couldn’t sleep, either.”

I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep again until we’re off of Halo Island again.

Surprisingly,I do.

That’s exhaustion for you. My mind was wired, my body tired, and one of them had to give out. After an hour of lying next to Tommy, relieved at least that he was safe and able to rest, I finally did fall asleep.

When we don’t wake up the next morning to a scream, I’m so fucking relieved, you have no idea. Vee’s death is a tragedy, but it was an accident. Now we just have to make it until tomorrow morning before Mulligan returns and we can alert the authorities to it. But that’s all it was. An accident.

Right?

I get to think that for most of the day. Following yesterday’s routine, Tommy and I linger in our cabin. I make breakfast of pancakes and bacon while he’s slumbering peacefully. I’m careful not to look out the window again in case I see something that’s not there, all while pretending that everything is okay.

After we eat, I shower. Get dressed. I ignore Tommy’s obvious disappointment that I didn’t invite him into the shower with me or decide to spend the day in bed with him. Instead, I curl up on the couch in the front room, turn on the DVD player that came standard in each cabin. There’s no cable or internet, so no streaming, but our room has six hand-picked DVDs, all for the upcoming Halloween holiday.

I pass onNightmare on Elm Street,Friday the 13th, andHalloween, the classic itself. I almost put onScream, but the opening sequence with a terrorized blonde and her high school sweetheart in the varsity jacket fucks me up. It reminds me too much of me and, well, both Tommy and Clay. I was a nobody at Gullhaven High who ended up dating both the quarterback of the football team (plus the first baseman of the baseball team) before I traded him in for the star kicker with the football scholarship out of state. Varsity jackets are still Madison’s kryptonite, but I had to admit that I had a thing for them, too.

---