Page 45 of Illuminated

“What happened?” I croaked. I didn’t want to know, but at the same time, I did.

Auris was still busy with the fire, clearly calmed by the menial nature of what he was doing. He looked at me over his shoulder. “How much detail do you want right now?”

I considered this. “All of it.”

He nodded, watched the fire grow, fed it two more logs before he sat down next to me and draped a second blanket that lay folded at one end of the couch over my legs.

“I can stop when it gets too much,” he said. I nodded. “You left for the café. I had this odd feeling. You were not there for it, but the priests told me they had someone following another lead, meaning you. I didn’t tell you because clearly you were working through all the rest of the situation, and I didn’t want you worried over nothing. I thought it likely anyone following you would go to your home, not stay in the area.

“In any case, I decided to walk over to the café, just to see if you were still busy. You weren’t there. I know most of the business owners in town, and it didn’t take much for them to tell me you had come in and worked on your laptop before you had walked out with some man. Daisy, the girl that served you, thought something looked off about him. She had seen him drive you away and told me where he’d been headed.

“Well, the motel was an easy guess. I broke down the door, and just about in time. Do you remember any of that?”

“Bits and pieces,” I said. “Noises. I was on the floor.”

Auris nodded. “I don’t think he had planned on drowning you, but something made him lose it.”

“He enjoyed it. Pushing me under. He was mad about the church. He told me my footprints were in the church.”

“I see. Yes. Vengeance, I suppose. At any rate, I pulled you out.”

“The guy?”

“He did not survive the encounter.”

I nodded. That piece of information made me feel nothing at all.

“It was daylight.”

“That’s right. I’m weaker during the day, but not that weak. He didn’t react fast enough.”

He paused, gauging my reaction. “I took you to the local hospital. The people there know me as well, so no one called the police, and once night fell, I entranced them just in case. That’s it.”

“What about the body?”

He looked at me, his eyes a glistening silver. “Are you sure you want to know?”

I nodded.

“I had some paramedics from the hospital pick it up, take it to the morgue. By now, he’s been cremated and his ashes have been scattered.”

“That’s very efficient.”

“Yes.” He pulled me into his arms.

“I thought I was going to die,” I said, and he rocked me.

“You didn’t.”

“I was having coffee, and the next moment I was being drowned in a bathtub. He ate my bear claw. He ate my fucking bear claw.”

Auris kissed my forehead. “I’ll get you another bear claw. It’s okay to be scared now, but don’t be scared forever,” Auris said. With only the fire’s sound of eating air, I fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

The prophylactic antibiotics helped, and I never got pneumonia. It still took me a week before I felt well enough to take walks on the beach. Auris walked right next to me and let me take as many photos of him as I wanted to, eyes dark and silver.

My neck healed. It took a while, and the bruises were colorful throughout it. Auris had a bear claw delivered for breakfast every morning without fail.

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