Page 12 of Bottoms
It took mere minutes for Fynn to cut down the tree. Making it look as easy as breathing to do it the way many would call the “hard way.” My mind treacherously filed it away as information I found attractive in a man.
Fynn carried the tree over one shoulder while he propped the axe onto his other, heading back towards the house like he was bringing in the groceries. I bet I wouldn't even need a cart if I took him shopping with me.
I hurried ahead to open the door for him, closing it as soon as he cleared the threshold to prevent any more cold air from getting inside. The inside of the house was a tolerable temperature. I wasn’t sure how Fynn had electricity or water working here.
Fynn dragged the base of the tree as soon as we were inside the house, scraping it along the dirty wooden floorboards and making me cringe. This looked like it had been a nice home at one time. It looked like its bones were solid. All it would need is a lot of cleaning and updating.
“How about here?” Fynn asked, holding the tree up in the living room corner near the fireplace.
“Sure,” I shrugged, thinking it was as good a spot as any other. The real problem would be getting it to stand up straight without something to hold it.
“Cool,” Fynn said passively, as he started to delicately lean the tree into the corner of the room before heading off towards the basement.
I could hear rustling and banging noises through the open door. Looking over at the dusty couch, I wished there was a way for me to clean it just to have a comfortable spot to sit down. Then again, who knew what creepy crawling animals had come to claim it as their residence?
The heavy footfalls of Fynn’s boots on the stairs let me know he was returning, and a few minutes later, he entered the room. This time his arms were coated in literal shopping bags. They were full to the brim with lights and decorations for the tree, while he gripped onto a base for the live tree with two fingers. Those were strong fingers.
He set the bags in front of me like a cat displaying its kill before hurrying off to set up the second tree I had been gifted this year. One tree was stolen while the other was chopped down with an axe that may one day chop through my bones. And somehow, this was still the best Christmas I had had in a long time. I had spent most of them alone since it was the one holiday Hannah always went home for.
Hannah.
“Why did you pull a gun on Hannah?” I asked, wondering what her role was in all of this.
“To bring you to Tanner. The same way I brought Nik to you,” he answered easily, not bothering to look up from his task. At the same time, he revealed that meeting them was a premeditated act.
“How did you bring Nik to me?” I asked, slowly starting to pull decorations from the bags and organizing them into piles. Maybe he would keep talking if I kept playing house with him.
“I removed Professor Campbell from the equation. I made sure the only other option on the table was the person I wanted in your life. It was the whole reason I got you to come to Columbia in the first place,” he said, looking at me as he smiled. The kind of smile that made me think he was looking for a thank you.
“Hannah told me she wanted to check out Columbia,” I said, looking at him with exaggerated confusion. I was playing along with him.
“Hannah got the idea for Columbia after my many hints, pamphlets, and letters I left around her.” Fynn looked like he expected a damn medal for manipulating my entire life. He took away fate's job and made me question every decision I thought I ever made. I needed to know how long Fynn had been watching me from the shadows. Orchestrating my life out of some sick form of amusement.
“Did you happen to see the night Hannah and I got into a fight and ended up in handcuffs?” I laughed lightly, as if I was just fondly remembering and not fishing for a timeline.
“How could I forget how you laughed like a finally free woman? Once, of course, you were bound,” Fynn said with a wink. “I have a few interesting experiments I would like to try, and if I am right, you will benefit greatly from them.” Fynn got to his feet, his hands no longer holding the tree in place. It stood tall, having a second chance at life after death.
Now it was just time for the transformation. I decided on the pile of blue ornaments and decorations. They would look perfect with white lights. Pushing the other decorations to the side, I left my choice on the floor for Fynn to approve, but he didn’t question the decision. Grabbing the box of white lights, he immediately got to work evenly distributing them from the top to the bottom of the tree.
“You start with the bulbs, so I don’t fuck up your design. I’ll go grab us another finger of bourbon,” Fynn said, taking a step back to admire his work. And honestly, there wasn’t anything for me to complain about on his light-stringing job.
He left me alone with the bulbs and my thoughts as I tried to determine if I thought Fynn was lying. The more time I spent with him, the less it felt like he was. At least I seemed to find a way to get answers.
4
White Christmas
Nik
Snowwasstartingtofall in large flakes outside my office window. Instead of working on more reports, I sat at my desk at the station, looking out at the snow. Most people wish for a white Christmas, but I must not have been good enough for Santa to surprise me with the one thing I really wanted to find under the tree in Bottoms this morning.
Tanner, Colten, and I spent all of Christmas Eve looking through every inch of Nessa’s bedroom and her belongings. At first, it felt like a severe invasion of privacy. But once Tanner found several notes hidden in Nessa’s bedside drawer, all consideration was thrown to the wind. Seeing the picture of Nessa and me at the range included in the letters sent a chill through my spine, as I felt what it was like to have someone invade my private moments.
“Whythefuckdidn’tshe tell us?” I couldn’t help the anger in my tone or the muscle tension. Throwing the picture of Nessa and me onto the top of her bed for the others to see. They could get as good of a look as they wanted since a stranger already had. Right now, it felt like a thousand shards of glass pushing into my chest when I looked at the picture of her.
“He may have threatened her,” Colten mused, looking back over the notes.
I hadn’t seen anything threatening there, but one thing was obvious. They had clearly been in contact.
