Page 40 of Creatures Like Us
“The day he and the others followed me into the woods.”
“What?” I ask, frowning. “Why would they do that?”
“I went into the woods a lot on lunch breaks. I needed to be alone. I needed peace. But one day, they followed me there.”
My mouth goes dry. “What happened?”
“They ganged up on me. Beat me down. They?…?held me there, on the ground, while two of them dug a shallow grave in the mud. They’d brought shovels.”
I don’t like the sound of this. Not at all. “Ethan?…?my brother?…?what did he do?”
“He and a friend of his held me down.”
No?…?No, I can’t believe it. I can’t see my big brother doing a horrible thing like that. At that time, when he was—what, eleven or twelve?—we were still friends, and years were yet to pass before he started hating me.
“They threw me in,” Noah continues, swallowing hard. “I was screaming, but they wouldn’t let me back up, and if I fought too hard, they kicked me. And then?…”
“What?” I ask, heart pounding. Fuck, I hate this story. I don’t want it to be true. It can’t be true.
“The others started shoveling the dirt back over me. I thought they’d stop, but they didn’t. They just kept going, until I was buried in the soil. It was so heavy.”
“Oh, Noah?…” My throat tightens. “I’m so sorry.” I want to touch him, console him somehow, but something tells me it will only make things worse.
His voice goes dull—duller than I’ve ever heard it. “I should have died that day. Part of me did.”
“Don’t say that. You don’t mean it.”
He glances at me, and his eyes are black as coal. “You don’t think so?”
Unwilling to push the subject further, I ask, “How did you escape?”
“My friend. She helped me.”
“Your friend?”
“A wolf. She lost her parents when she was too young. I used to go into the woods and feed her.”
A wolf, so close to town? It’s not impossible, but hardly a common occurrence.
“She jumped them,” Noah continues. “Bit them. Almost ripped one of their arms off. When they fled, I managed to dig myself back up.”
So that explains it?…?The incident Ethan refused to tell me about. One day after school, I remember he showed up with a shell-shocked look in his eyes. I asked him what had happened, and he replied with a sneer, “That Dead Eye freak happened.”
They deserved what they got, Noah told me, but I never could have imagined it was this bad. Children can be so cruel, but Ethan?…?Was Ethan really there? I just can’t picture my big brother participating in something so evil. I’ll have to hear it from his own mouth, if he ever returns to Springvale.
“What happened to the wolf?” I ask.
“She ran away, and I never saw her again. I look for her when I go hunting sometimes. Some nights, I think I hear her howling, but it’s probably all in my head.”
“Do you think she’s still alive?”
His mouth twitches in a half smile. “I hope so. She was a survivor, that one.”
“And she saved you.”
I think of him out there, his eyes scanning the forest, listening to the sounds of the trees.
I think of how lonely he must have been as a child, and even lonelier after his aunt’s passing.
