Page 12 of Brody
When Indigoand Onyx stood from their places lying on the porch, I didn’t think anything of it. The two dogs regularly patrolled the edge of our land, and it wasn’t unusual for something to catch their attention around dusk, when all nocturnal creatures started coming out.
However, when Pip also ran off after them a moment later, I knew something was wrong. Once the little Chihuahua found a comfortable spot on someone’s lap, even an earthquake wouldn’t move him.
Sharing a look with Magnus, I signaled for him to stay put and followed after the dogs. It didn’t take me long to find what had caught their attention.
“No. Stupid thing. Let go.”
I hadn’t known Ellis for long, but I still easily recognized his voice from a distance. I’d left him to get cleaned up in the guestroom, but following the sound of his voice, I found him afair distance from the house, almost at the edge of our property. A few more steps and he would have disappeared into the tree line.
Onyx and Indigo each held onto one leg of his pants with their teeth, keeping him from going anywhere. His hands darted around, unwilling to hit either of the dogs, but unable to free the fabric from between their jaws.
Pip sat between Ellis and the darkness of the forest as a last line of defense, calmly watching the scene unfold. His little ears perked up when he spotted me, but otherwise he didn’t move a muscle.
“Going somewhere?” I asked as I approached.
Ellis jumped at the sound of my voice and he nearly tripped over the dogs that still held his legs in place. I grabbed his arm to keep him from falling and felt him flinch away from my hand.
“I was just…” he tried to say, but didn’t even manage to finish the sentence.
There was an emotion in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Fear and uncertainty I expected.
Who wouldn’t feel such things in his situation?
Now, however, he reminded me of a prey animal. Like some hunted creature that was trying to flee for its life.
I tightened my grip around his arm. “What’s wrong?”
He didn’t try to remove my hand, but he kept staring at it as if I would suddenly strike out and hit him. Biting my tongue, I swallowed down my annoyance.
“Look, if you want to leave then I won’t stop you, but wandering off into the woods without any supplies is dangerous. You aren’t even heading in the direction of town. There’s nothing but wilderness that way. Just tell me what’s going on and I’ll take you somewhere safe if you really want to go.”
For a moment, it looked like he might argue. I could practically see the words coming together in his mind. Yet, before he could utter a sound, it seemed as if something inside him suddenly deflated. Like a building whose last remaining support beam finally snapped under the weight, he practically collapsed to the ground in a slump. This man was nearly my same height, but still managed to look distressingly small as he pulled his knees up to his chest in a defensive posture.
Taking a seat next to him, I occupied myself by petting Onyx and Indigo, and letting Pip crawl into my lap, while I waited for Ellis to find the right words.
It took longer than I expected. Dusk passed and night fully settled around us before he finally spoke up.
“I remembered something.”
“That’s good,” I started to say, but the look on his face brought me up short. “Right?”
Ellis shook his head, tangling his hands in his thick hair. “No. I don’t know. It’s not really clear, but I think… I think I remember burying someone.”
This time it was my turn to sit in silence for a few moments. That certainly wasn’t the revelation I was expecting, though I supposed in the grand scheme of things it could have been worse.
Burying someone was better than killing someone.
Although…
“They weren’t alive, were they?”
The shocked and disgusted look on Ellis’s face told me all I needed to know.
“What? No. I wouldn’t… at least, I don’t think I would. I remember the smell of blood mixing with soil, and the weight of a body in my arms, but I’m certain the body was dead. It wasn’t moving. It must have been dead.”
He was starting to ramble, getting lost in the details of his single memory.
I moved closer to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, urging him to calm down. I’d seen firsthand how memories could change when reviewed too many times. If he kept obsessing like this, he’d probably convince himself that the body he buried had been alive.
