Page 26 of The Boy With The Sharp Teeth
Laughing,Sana nodded. "Yes, once I get the engineer hired, you and a few otherpeople will be the first batch to have your homes hooked to the new undergroundlines."
Mrs.Carson and her husband were one of ten people that actually lived withinDruthers Forest. The arduous and constant task of having to keep the trees cutback from the powerlines that liked to snag at the hanging lines made outagescommon during the blistering, windy winters. Underground cables, like the onesimplemented in Europe, were not only the obvious solution, it was leaps andbounds cheaper and more reliable than outfitting each house with panels and abattery that would maintain enough power for long outages. Now all Sana neededwas a lead field engineer to help her and Adam's crew with the installation.
Sanahad to suppress the urge to groan at the thought of the daunting pile ofapplications waiting for her back home. Waving bye one last time, Sana steppedout the glass door and onto the sidewalk. Pulling her emerald-green coat aroundher tighter, she crossed the street to her parked car. Raining and dreary, allof Tarki seemed to be blanketed with a deep, misty fog for the past few days.Thinking again of the stack of papers currently sitting on her dining roomtable, Sana looked longingly down the wet downtown sidewalks. She much rathersit at the coffee shop down the way and read a book on her phone than have togo back to her house and face the mounting task and her thoughts. Ever sincethe night Zach left her with that dark threat on her porch, she had beennothing but distracted with thoughts of him.
Memoriesfrom the past she had thought were long forgotten were starting to come back toher with startling clarity. He was doing it again. He was taking over her worldjust like he did after that first summer. For months after, she tormentedherself with thoughts of Zach. How could she not have gotten his contactinformation? She asked herself that question at least once a day after thatsummer until it nearly made her sick. Scouring the internet and every socialmedia platform known to man, Sana had cried in frustration when she found notone match for Zach Waatese. Naturally, her grief transformed, moving smoothlywithout warning to the next stage until she settled comfortably into a bitteranger. Maybe it was exactly as she initially feared. Maybe everything theyshared was all just an elaborate ruse. Did he find her first on social mediaand block her, making it impossible for her to search for him? Or was she justbeing paranoid? Deep in her heart, she wanted to think that he was coming bythat morning to share his contact details with her before she left, but everytime the hopeful thought sprang forward, the resentful pragmatic part of herbrain immediately squashed the hopeful feeling while reminding herself that shecould and would not play a bigger fool for Zach than she had already.
Onlythe constant and daily routine of school had helped dull the edges of her angerthat year. After a few months, Sana had found herself pulling out the SD cardshe had used that summer and sitting down at her computer. With tremblinghands, she had slowly gone through the hundreds of images, all the whilerepeating a silent hopeful prayer in the back of her mind. The chances wereslim, she knew that. For some reason, Zach had an aversion to her camera lens,something she picked up on immediately the first day that met. The subtlesidesteps when she panned the camera in his direction, the tensing of hisshoulders, and the loss of his playful smirk, it wasn't hard to tell that heabsolutely had no desire to be photographed. With her feelings for the boystill bordering on suspicion at the time, Sana was more than willing to respecthis unspoken wish and carefully direct her lens away from him. But as she satin tense silence at her desk, she never regretted a decision more. Just one,that was all she needed. She just needed to see him one more time. She neededmore than her memories of his face hovering over her in the darkness as hestrummed her body to a completion she could never replicate on her own. Shewanted—no needed—something she could hold and stare at, something to tell herit all wasn't some cruel fantasy.
Afterminutes of scrolling, she stopped, her breath catching as she viewed the photosof the day at the beach. There were about twenty shots of her brother playingin the surf. Water caught in motion as it sprayed up around his legs as hechased the back of another boy she could only assume was Elijah. In the lastshot of that series, there was one zoomed-out photo that caught the fullhorizon of the beach that day. Umbrellas in the foreground took up most of theshot, but beyond that, just a little out of focus standing at the edge of thewater watching the kids play were the small group of older Waatese boysstanding and talking amongst themselves. Zooming in on the photo, Sana nearlycried in relief. Standing with his arms crossed, Zach had turned from the groupand looked directly down the lens of her camera with a sharp, knowing look.Even out of focus, she could see his handsome features clearly and the glint ofhis golden gaze. Storing the photo on her phone, Sana had turned to the photo,often sometimes in wistful longing and others in burning anger. On some days,she convinced herself he was just toying with her for that summer, an easy markthat fell into his hands like a fool, and on others, she found herself staringat those sharp eyes wishing she could feel the weight of his gaze on her justonce more.
Annoyedat the painful reverie, Sana pulled in her focus and opened her car door,preparing to get in when she stopped herself. She almost forgot about hermigraine medicine. All morning the dull unmistakable pain at her templeheralded an oncoming night of pain. God, she would have regretted it if shedrove all the way back home without that medicine just because she had her headin the clouds over Zachariah Waatese again.
Puttingthe bakery bag in the passenger seat, she closed and locked the car beforeheading over to the pharmacy. Mazur's Apothecary was one of the firstbusinesses that came to Tarki in the late eighteen hundreds. As one of the fewremaining compounding pharmacies still operating in Oregon, the Mazur familysupplied all the residents in Druthers county with customized medications.Pulling open the glass door, Sana was welcomed by the warmth of the pharmacyand stark silence. Looking around curiously, she noted that there hadn't beenmuch of a change to the place since she last visited with her grandfather.Well, one thing was different, it was way too quiet. Normally light musicplayed from the speakers above, and a greeting always rang out from the backfrom one of the Mazur pharmacists. Today it was just quiet.
"Hello?"Sana called out, slowly making her way down one of the aisles towards the backpharmacist's counter that spanned from one end of the store to the other.
Itwasn't until she got to the back did she hear the quiet, dry "Goodmorning" from the man behind the counter. She knew immediately that thiswas not a Mazur relative. A family of tall Polish immigrants, the Mazur's onlyseemed to produce strong athletic sons and stunning brunette girls. At aglance, confidence and charisma were the top traits that defined each member ofthat family, and those were the exact two traits that Sana would never use todescribe the gaunt, pale man behind the counter.
Keepinghis eyes downcast, he moved slowly and a little reluctantly closer to thesection of the counter near her. "How may I help you?"
Sanacould barely pull her eyes from the man's hair. It was stark white. Not thekind of white people got from a salon either, no this man's hair was absent ofall pigment. For a moment, she would have thought he was albino due to theextreme colorless nature of his hair, but as her eyes quickly scanned hislistless blue eyes and skin, she quickly corrected her assumption. Very odd,she thought.
"Yes,"she smiled warmly, hoping to mask her open, intrigued perusal of the man."I called earlier about my medicine for Sana Bhatt."
Long,painful seconds ticked by as he just stood and stared at her. Did he not hearher? Maybe she should repeat it, she thought, unsure what to do. Steppingcloser to the counter, she could see the edge of his name badge peeking outfrom under the lapel of his white lab coat.
Finally,he spoke as if someone unclicked the pause button. "Yes, of course. Yourmedicine is ready."
Turningaround, the lapel of his coat moved further, and she could see that the silvername tag read, Wilson. Grabbing a white paper bag, he handed it to her.
"Doyou need me to explain the medication?" He asked in a low monotone voice,all the while never meeting her gaze.
DearLord, no. But she refrained from saying that, instead giving him another politesmile. "No, thank you. I have been taking this for a few years now."
Nodding,he turned to the register and typed in a few commands. "That will be tendollars."
Lookingthrough her purse for her credit card, Sana could feel the man's stare as shelooked. Finding the card quickly, she swiped the card on the reader and stuffedher medication in her purse. She just wanted to leave and get away from thecreepy guy.
"Thankyou," he said, handing her the receipt.
Musteringup the most polite smile she could, she thanked the man and quickly left. Neverso happy to feel the chilling cold outside, Sana sighed in relief. Beyond readyto get home, Sana stepped down from the curve, her booted foot hitting thepuddle and sliding on the unseen wet gravel beneath. Sana let out a sharp cryas she felt herself pitch sideways towards the soaked hard concrete.
"Woahthere."
Thefeeling of firm hands grasping her under her arms stopped her fall. Correctingherself at once with the help of the balancing hands, Sana turned with surpriseto see a kind, familiar face staring down at her. So much taller than the lasttime she saw him, Elijah Waatese returned her look of shock before transforminginto a large handsome smile.
"Sana!"He said before capturing her in a crushing hug. "I heard you were back intown for good. I was wondering when I would get to see you again."
Sanacould still hardly believe her eyes. The little boy that would play with herbrother was gone. Standing in front of her was an absolute dream and everyparent's nightmare. With the classic Waatese dark features and warm honey eyes,he stood well over six-feet and was still sporting the same impish smile thatmade her want to ruffle his hair.
"MyGod, Elijah, for a second, I barely recognized you," she exclaimed."Thank you so much! I would have been so embarrassed if I would havefallen and gotten all wet."
Smiling,Elijah shook his head. "You do not have to thank me. You're like family.How are you doing? How's Kamal?"
Makinga face at the thought of her brother, she laughed. "He is driving mymother insane. All he thinks about is his basketball and the horde of girlsthat follow him around school every day."
Laughingwith a knowing smile the way all men did when they heard the mischief other menwere up to, Elijah shook his head before walking with her across the streettowards her vehicle. The once dull pain at her temple that haunted her allmorning was starting to increase sharply, but Sana ignored it.
