Page 54 of Diluted Truths
Nate had smuggled me a copy of the best scary stories. Within it were quite a few by Edgar Allen Poe, one by Henry James, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and my favorite. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving.
“How did you know?” I asked him.
“Theo briefly mentioned it was one of your favorite stories and you have the book in your office. It looked well loved. I’ll admit I was initially nervous to bring you to a cemetery. Not the usual date spot.”
“Date?”
Will waved my question off. “You know what I mean.”
The thing was, I don’t think I did.
Yeah, there was an unspoken tension between us, but that was all I knew. Being near Will was terrifying, but it felt right, felt purposeful. Being near him made it easier to breathe. It was a foreign concept to me. With most people, I had a facade on. I needed to be my perfect self. If I wasn’t, they were always nervous I would fall back into my addiction. With Will, that facade would always crumble. The smiles I had around him were more genuine, the laughs were louder, but the sadness and fear were also more intense.
The most terrifying part of it all was that I wasn’t sure what he felt. Yeah, I could tell he was attracted to me, that much was obvious. What I didn’t know was if he felt the same unignorable pull towards me that I had towards him. I wasn’t even sure if I wanted him to feel that way. It would be so much easier if I could ignore it,push it away.
However, after hearing Theo’s plea to follow my own path instead of trying to please Fai made me wonder if maybe… just maybe I could make it work with Will. Maybe these feelings I had for him could be pursued. Maybe we could be one of those couples we passed who spend their Monday nights together, walking down the street hand in hand. Maybe it could be real.
Who was I kidding?
Will was so out of my league it was laughable. I was a journalist without a proper education, only a sister and niece to call my family, sometimes a brother, I was an addict, and had a tiny apartment to call my home. Will came from one of the most powerful and wealthy families in the United States. He held multiple PhDs, was world renowned for his writings and research. He deserved someone so much farther in life. Someone who could offer him just as much as he offered.
“Why the legend of Sleepy Hollow?” Will asked, interrupting my thoughts.
I shrugged. “Honestly, I’m not sure. I think as a kid the idea of a headless horseman was cool. Plus I knew my parents would hate it, which only heightened the appeal.”
“Can I ask you something… personal?”
I nodded.
“Why did Nate get you and Theo out of your parents house? It seems like more than you let on.”
I turned to face him, not sure how to answer the question. He was right, there was more to it than just getting us out of an abusive household, I just wasn’t sure myself.
“They never told me. I know there was a bigger reason, but I think I was too young at the time and since we were out it didn’t matter anymore.”
“They?”
“Theo and Nate. Although, I’m not sure Theo knows the entire reason either.”
“Does your oldest brother?”
“Malachi. And maybe. He has always been more disconnected from us so I’m not sure.”
Will nodded in response as he contemplated my answer and chose his next words carefully. “What happened when Nate came? What do you remember?”
“Well, I had just turned fourteen, meaning Nate had just turned eighteen. It was like four in the morning. Theo woke me up. She told me to pack a bag, and we were leaving with Nate,” I started. We began to walk slowly through the cemetery as I continued, “We shared a room and so she started packing a bag too. Nate was downstairs. Maybe talking to our parents? He did have our social security cards and stuff so maybe he was grabbing that. Theo was crying. She tried to hide it, probably to keep from scaring me. I could tell my mom had just hit her. We spent maybe two minutes grabbing our stuff. We then ran down the stairs to the living room. Nate was basically in a stare down with my mom. It was… well, it was jarring. I hadn’t seen Nate in two years and suddenly he shows up in the middle of the night to take us. It was weird. Once he saw Theo and I come down, he told us to get in the car and we listened. It was this beaten down truck that somehow ran for years. He didn’t say anything for a bit. He drove us out of town, on I-80 for a while, and maybe two hours in said he was happy to see us and apologized for coming so late.” To this day, I wasn’t sure if he meant for late at night, or because it took him two years. “We ended up in San Francisco and just started a new life. The three of us never really talked about that night.”
“Holy shit, Jackie. I’m really sorry,” Will responded after a moment of silence.
“Why? It wasn’t that bad, just weird.”
“Your brother essentially kidnapped you and your sister in the middle of the night, out of nowhere. I’m sorry you had to live through that. I have a feeling he had a good reason. Who knows about this?”
“Umm… well, myself, Theo and now you.”
“Not even Fai or Oliver?”
I shook my head. I had never told them. They knew my childhood was fucked up, but neither knew of Nate. I had a thought that Sarah suspected, but ultimately the stories of Nate were so precious to me I didn’t really tell anyone about them. It was easier with Will.
