Page 67 of This Blood That Binds Us
“Shhhh. Kim is trying to sleep,” Luke said in a hushed voice.
“Nooooo, she isn’t. Come on, I just want a little music.”
“No.” Aaron groaned.
“Fine, I’ll just sing, then.”
“No!” they all said simultaneously.
My eyes fluttered open at the passing street lights. I loved being in the car at night. Something about it was so calming, seeing lights in a blurry haze. But they didn’t give the same comfort this time around. A deep, unsettling feeling had crept its way into my body, and I had a feeling it wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
“Presley, if you’re quiet, I’ll get you a present tomorrow,” I said, without moving my head from the window.
“Really?! Okay. I’ll be good, I’ll just hum.” His voice trickled with excitement between slight slurs of speech. “Hmmmm. Hm hm hm hm hmmmm.”
“Oh, she’s good at this.” Zach chuckled.
The car’s roaring blended with Presley’s loud humming. I took a deep breath, compressing all that had happened. My eyes opened just enough to watch the lights pass by in the window again. Sparks of light in the infinite dark sky.
The carnival lights’ buzzing only strengthened the nervous energy pulsing from head to toe. I walked in step behind my brothers as we strolled the boardwalk. The ocean air was comforting, along with the nostalgic breeze of fried Twinkies and turkey legs. I wished we were there for the carnival.
It was late, and the full moon hung overhead, lighting our path between abandoned stands at the edge of the carnival. We were following a group of four guys, who were noticeably drunk and belligerent. We’d spent the better part of two hours scouting the perfect group, pretending to be normal people. Zach smoked a cigarette and shared a casual conversation with Luke, while Presley tried his best to beat every carnival game we walked past. He carried around an empty fountain drink container, which he would loudly sip on occasionally. I, on the other hand, had not uttered a word since we got there.
The events of the dance loomed over us like an omen. The twins were particularly stressed about the brawl’s unneeded attention. Their strict rules were even more rigid. I was constantly trying to find time away from them and meet with Kimberly, who seemed just as fearful as Zach and Luke. I couldn’t get myself to feel much of anything. A strange sense of numbness chilled me when I remembered the dance.
The Ferris wheel stood in the distance, and my mind wandered back to Kimberly and her fear of heights. I imagined how different the night would be if I had come with her. Her red hair blowing with the cool night breeze as we swung from high up. She might have grabbed my arm and told me how scared she was by the swaying, and I could have said something cunning, like, “Do you think there is any universe in which I’d let something happen to you?” Yeah. Something cool like that. The dance was a steady blur, but had one shining moment I couldn’t stop replaying. Her hand on my wrist. The way she looked up at me. The heat from her body as she begged me not to go.
You just want to kill her.You don’t really care about her.
The voice had been nagging me all day. Every time I tried to think of Kimberly, the Thing would turn it around.
We need her.
I tried to focus on her face and the way she laughed. How much I enjoyed her company.
Her blood.Think only of her blood.
The Thing wouldn’t go. I looked across the lot at a group of people chatting. I focused on their pumping blood. Their hearts were beating in unison, but the voice didn’t respond, almost as if it wasn’t interested in them at all, just Kimberly.
I tried to put the thought out of my mind and focus on the task at hand. The drunken group continued to walk on by themselves, and as fate would have it, the large crowds in the carnival stayed away from the outer edges. It was good for us, bad for them.
“How are you doing, Aaron?” Luke nudged me.
He hadn’t been the same since the dance. Kimberly told me about his panic attack. I’d already asked him. He wasn’t sure what triggered it. Only that he thought he saw someone, but he wouldn’t say who.
I knew I should have been worried about it and figure out the thing Kimberly insisted we were missing from the formal. But I couldn’t focus on anything else other than what was in the present. The night I’d be dreading all month had finally come. It was time to hunt.
“Peachy. I’m having a great time,” I said.
“It will be better this time. We’re right here with you.” Luke placed a firm slap on my back.
“Yeah, we’ll knock this out in just enough time to ride the Tilt-O-Whirl!”
Presley’s enthusiasm was annoying, but I couldn’t help but be a little envious. I wanted to puke, and he was already thinking about what he was going to do after.
“All right, there they go. Let’s do this.” Zach watched them disappear down an alleyway made up of large steel storage containers. He flicked his cigarette on the ground.
“You’re really going to litter, huh?” Presley said.
