Page 11 of Starve
That makes me feel a little bad, and I finally give him my full attention. Or at least, as much of it as I’m willing to spare. Behind him, I can’t stop glancing at the black-haired man with eyes as dark as vintage emeralds. Between the two of them, I’ve never seen anyone with such dark eyes.
“I’m Tyler,” he adds, a little belatedly. “This is my friend, Cairo.”
“You guys don’t really seem like friends,” I point out, crossing my arms over my chest. I glance out the window again, but quickly give up on the idea of seeing where whatever was in the trees went. “And you really didn’t see anything?”
“No.” It’s Cairo’s turn to actually contribute, and he glances toward the window with dismissive disdain. “But we were a little busy. And you’re right, we’re not friends.” He gives Tyler a brief, very unfriendly frown.
“This is the part where you tell us who you are.” Tyler isn’t exactly subtle, and he grins mischievously when I give him my attention again. “Unless you want me to give you a nickname. A really embarrassing?—”
“You’re acting like such an ass.” Cairo’s words and sigh cut him off, and he rolls his eyes up at the stairs above us. “We didn’t see anything,” he says in a firm voice, finally looking back at me. It occurs to me he looks tired.Bothof them are sporting dark circles under their eyes and there’s a pale undertone to their skin that makes me think they haven’t seen the backs of their eyelids in weeks.
“You really didn’t?” I can’t help pushing the question, glancing toward the window again. “I followed something herefrom the women’s hall. Something was running through the trees, but I couldn’t really tell what. It definitely wasn’t an elk. It moved more like?—”
“So you want me to give you a nickname? Because I can come up with one on the spot,” Tyler assures me, breaking in like I haven’t been talking. It’s irritating as hell, and I glance his way to give him a withering look. I don’t love being interrupted, especially when I’m trying to explain something or ask a question. So far, Tyler isn’t on the top five list of people I’ve met here. He’s somewhere below the orderly and Hattie.
But I don’t want a weird nickname to start circulating, and I suppose there’s not exactly a reason for me to keep my name a secret. What am I hiding, except that I, like everyone else here, have a few issues? “Fern,” I admit finally with a sigh. “Just Fern.” Though I feel stupid, since it’s not like Fern could be short for something reasonable.
Fernatility?
Fernalicious?
God, I really am hungry, and clearly my stomach is pulling calories from my higher brain function for me to be thinking up stupid names likeFernalicious. Raking my injured hand through my hair, I still can’t help yet another pointless look through the window.
But this time, I swear I see something in the trees. It isn’t running. It just shifts a little, trying to conceal itself behind a large tree. “Look—” I dart to the window, pressing my face against the heavy, thick glass there. “See? That’s what I’m talking about.”
From what I can see of our reflections, I notice Tyler starts moving first. He steps toward me, mouth open, but suddenly he’s intercepted by Cairo, who presses close enough behind me that I can feel his warmth radiating against my skin through the powder blue cotton. “I don’t see anything,” he breathes quietly,his hand coming up to press against the window. He’s tall, so he blocks me from anything else in the space, and I can’t help feeling my heart race a little in reaction to his nearness.
I don’t know him.
This definitely isn’t safe.
Biting my lip, I go back to searching the trees, ready to argue that it’sright there. But instead, all I see is a smaller tree waving in the woods amid the bigger trunks and branches. Suddenly I feel stupid. There’s obviously nothing here, and the more I think about it, the more I tell myself that whatever I saw moving around before probablywasa deer, or a wolf, or an elk. Even though I was so sure before it wasn’t.
It’s not like I’ve seen any of those animals up close, after all.
“You don’t look so good.” Cairo’s voice is quiet, and a little unsure. As he gazes at me from so close, the dark circles under his eyes are so prominent that I have to wonder what his definition of not looking so good is.
“Says the guy with veritable bruising under both eyes.” I sigh, rolling my eyes up at him in my exhaustion. Though I swear I see a flicker of a smile across his full lips, he pulls away. “I’m uh. I’m hungry,” I admit.
“I know the feeling,” Tyler mutters, which only makes Cairo shoot him a look of irritation. He stops backing up and remains between Tyler and me, like he’s calling dibs or just generally being weird.
I’m willing to bet it’s the second.
“The…uh…hospital wouldn’t let me eat before coming here. So the last thing I had was muffin crumbs this morning.” This is a safer topic, it seems to me, than whatever they were fighting about. And definitely safer than my hallucinations and delusions of things in the woods. Clearly I’m reading too far into the stories about this place being haunted.
Or I really,reallyjust need a sandwich.
“Yeah, that sort of happens when you end up in the ER for…” Cairo trails off, his eyes darting to my hand. From the corner of my eye, I see Tyler step a little closer, but then Cairo continues. “I can take you to get something to eat. At least enough to hold you over until dinner. If you want?”
Normally, I’d refuse. My stranger danger sense has been going off nonstop ever since the ambulance stopped here at Bluebone Ridge and I’d rather hold everyone at arm’s length until I figure my shit out…which probably won’t happen until I’m safely back home and buried under my blankets.
Three days, probably,I tell myself, and cross my fingers the doctor will agree with that assessment. Maybe with our meeting being in person instead of over a fucking iPad, I’ll get the chance to actually plead my case and explain what’s wrong with me, instead of retaining the label of suicidal and being stuck on the haunted mountain.
“Isn’t dinner in like four hours?” I ask, my stomach silently threatening to eat my other organs even as I question Cairo’s offer. “I didn’t take it as having a free schedule while I was here.”
“Depends on…” Tyler trails off, though he’d clearly been waiting to leap on answering the question. His voice changes, sounding a little strange, and both Cairo and I turn to look at him. Though my look of concern isn’t mirrored in the black-haired man’s face. Without another word, Tyler just leaves. He walks out the same way I came in, without a backward look at either of us oranythingto explain where he’s going or why.
Not that I warrant an explanation, I guess. But he seems to know Cairo well enough, judging by their familiarity and shouting match from minutes before.
