by Mia Taylor
They already have more than enough. I don’t need to hear how Leon’s cheating was somehow my fault for being an absentee wife or something.
“You’ve barely spent any time here since you got here, Vivian. Would it kill you to spend some time with your brother? He was looking forward to you being home.”
Vivian snorted.
“You make it sound like Justin is missing out on quality time with me.”
Celia’s eyes became slits of anger.
“You have a giant chip on your shoulder which I will never understand, Vivian. You grew up wanting for nothing, surrounded by a family who did nothing but support and love you.”
Vivian laughed mirthlessly. Her mother’s idea of “support and love” was clearly much different from hers.
“You could learn something from your brother if you would stop being such a brat,” Celia continued, either oblivious to or uncaring of her daughter’s mounting ire. “He’s younger than you and has—”
“I know, I know!” Vivian snarled. “He’s perfect and I’m the fuck-up. You keep reminding me.”
Celia’s face exploded in fury.
“What did I tell you about your mouth?” she hissed. “It’s like you’ve become a street person in the time you’ve been gone. That laborer—”
“Oh my God, Mother! Will you please just let me go for a drive before this becomes something ugly?”
Celia closed her mouth and shrugged.
“I can’t talk sense into you. You wanted to pursue a riffraff lifestyle being a journalist. You married that laborer to spite your father and me. If you want to set your future on fire, fine, but while you’re under our roof, you will respect our rules.”
Vivian grinned coldly.
“Do your rules state that I have to remain here as a prisoner or can I take one of your five cars and go for a drive?”
Celia whirled away.
“Do whatever you want, Vivian. Your father seems to think you’ve changed but I can see he’s wrong. If I were you, I’d be looking for a job, not taking in the scenery. Our invitation to stay here won’t last forever.”
Celia disappeared with the last word as always and Vivian remained in place for a moment. She was shaking and furious with herself for permitting her mother to get under her skin again.
Invitation to stay? I practically grovelled on my hands and knees to come back here, glutton for punishment that I am! They make it sound like they rolled out this magnanimous red carpet that I urinated on upon entry.
“You gonna punch something?”
Justin appeared in the foyer and Vivian scowled at him.
“I’m just leaving.”
Justin’s eyebrows shot up and he stared at his sister questioningly.
“For good? You just got here!”
“Wouldn’t you love that,” she shot back. She didn’t wait for a response and snatched the keys to the Saab off the round table.
“Viv…”
She paused but didn’t turn.
“What?”
He was quiet for a long minute.
“I’m sorry about you and Leon.”
Unexpectedly, a flush of warmth washed through her and she slowly pivoted back to look at him.
“You never even met him,” she replied although that wasn’t what she meant to say. But it was true. Her brother and her husband had never once laid eyes upon each other.
“I wish I had.”
“No, you don’t,” Vivian sighed. “He was kind of a prick.”
“Well, I wish I at least knew where he lived now to go kick his ass.”
Surprise filled her.
“Why? You don’t know what happened. If you fall into Mom and Dad’s line of thought, it was probably my doing. And they might be right.”
Suddenly, Vivian wondered if she wasn’t just self-destructing.
Maybe they were right all along. I’m just sabotaging myself.
“I know you lost your job and instead of supporting you, he filed for a divorce,” Justin answered, obviously reiterating the story which their parents had given him. “That sounds like a real winner right there.”
“That’s not exactly what happened,” she mumbled but as she thought about it, she realized that was precisely when things had begun to go downhill.
If I hadn’t been laid off, I would never have found out about Leon’s mistress, I suppose. Mistresses. How many had there been in five years?
She’d never really learned the exact amount. The three she knew about were enough to gut her soul.
“Maybe one day, after you’re done driving around, you can tell me about it,” Justin suggested brightly. “I’m glad you’re here, Viv, even under the circumstances. I really hope things start looking up for you.”
Guilt and consternation touched Vivian’s heart as she stared at her brother.
Was I wrong about him? I always thought he was looking down on me.
“Why are you looking at me funny?”
“I’m just reflecting.”
“That’s what a good journalist is supposed to do,” he chuckled.
“What are you doing right now?” she asked impulsively and Justin looked at her curiously.
“I have a meeting with a client. Why?”
She shook her head.
“I thought maybe you’d want to come for a drive with me.”
Regret colored his face and he looked around uncomfortably.
“I—well, I need to meet this guy. He’s been tied up in litigation for months and—”
“No, it’s fine,” Vivian assured him quickly. “Next time.” She paused and added, “Maybe I’ll see you at dinner?”
His teal eyes brightened and he nodded.
“You think you’ll make it back?”
“Of course,” she laughed. “Where do you think I’m going? Canada?”
~ ~ ~
Night had fallen heavily and drops of rain were pelting against the windshield of the Saab like small jabs of anger.
Her GPS had cut out, the internet apparently shifty on that part of I-80.
“Come on,” she groaned aloud. “Work with me here.”
Where the hell am I?
She had pulled over to a small rest station but to her chagrin, all the lights were off and she found herself staring at a vacant building, her cell phone out of range.
She’d been driving for hours, distracted by her own thoughts and forgetting that she’d promised Justin to see him at dinner.
The last thing she consciously remembered before losing herself in the events of the past years had been merging off I-64 and heading southwest on I-80 toward the mountains.
It hadn’t been her intention but somewhere, deep in her psyche, she must have been returning to a place of peace.
In her childhood, Vivian had often taken trips into the remote mountainsides with her friends’ families. The rich kids had been awed by the wilderness as they roughed the terrain into the sprawling mansions which they called “cottages.” Of course, they had been served by maids and butlers, their outings closely supervised so that they didn’t get lost or damaged in the jagged mountains.
But nothing in that moment looked at all familiar and Vivian knew she was hopelessly lost. Thankfully, there was enough gas in her tank to hopefully bring her to civilization.
Sighing, she backed the Saab out of her spot and headed back onto the highway, peering out through the darkness.
No sooner had she pulled onto the highway again did she slam on her brakes as a figure ambled across the road, directly in her path.
“Holy shit,” she breathed and she sat in the middle of the highway, watching the unidentified beast move across. It paused at the ditch and turned its huge head to look at her, the iridescent glow of its irises sending shivers through her body. Abruptly, it turned and ran into the trees and Vivian saw nothing.
“What the hell was that?”
She was speaking to no one but herself, of course, but her mind couldn’t reconcile what she sa
w in the black as anything she might have known before.
It was a bear, bonehead. That’s all it was.
It was the most plausible yet bizarre explanation. Certainly, the creature was bigger than any she’d seen in the past but in New York, there weren’t a lot of grizzlies hanging around. Still, the creature seemed unusually big, certainly larger than any bear she had seen in a zoo.
You’re letting your imagination run away with you, she chided and suddenly, the loud blare of a horn shattered her reverie as a semi barreled past her.
Oh my God—I’m sitting in the middle of the interstate, stock still. Am I suicidal?
She pressed on the gas and zipped away from the scene of her near-hit but her aqua eyes were almost fully trained on the rearview mirror as she sought out movement.
But whatever it was had ventured back into the woods, leaving her to stare after it like a crazy person.
In ten miles, she saw a sign for an all-night rest stop and with relief, she exhaled, also realizing that her cell had come back into service.
“Can you get me a coffee, please?” she asked when she entered the sleepy diner. “And can you tell me where I am?”
There were half a dozen tired-looking souls sitting in the small establishment, none of whom paid her any mind when she entered. Vivian was grateful for that—she couldn’t begin to imagine what she looked like after six hours of driving around aimlessly.
The waitress grinned at her, setting a chipped porcelain mug before her.
“Are ya lost, honey?”
“I guess I am. And I almost ran over a bear,” Vivian muttered. “Not a good combination.”
It seemed to her that suddenly the entire diner jerked their heads up in unison to stare at her.
“A bear, you say?” a middle-aged man in a filthy ballcap called. He was missing one front tooth yet his eyes gleamed with intelligence, as if his redneck appearance was a cover for some brilliant mind beneath.
“I think it was a bear,” Vivian laughed, feeling foolish for having mentioned it. “I didn’t get a good look.”
“Kodiak…” someone else mumbled and suddenly there was a heavy tension in the air.
“I’m not sure what kind of bear it was,” Vivian replied, swiveling on her stool to peer at the patrons who had her undivided attention. “Maybe it was a large deer.”
She felt even more ridiculous when she said the words. There was no way that was a deer but the need to downplay what she had seen seemed important.
“No,” the waitress chuckled softly. “His name is Kodiak. He’s not a bear.”
“His name?” Vivian echoed, wondering if the locals were pulling her leg.
They see this city-looking girl walk in here and they’re messing with me.
“He’s half-man, half-bear. He lives in the mountains, we think,” a teenaged girl piped up.
“Shut up, Tanya,” a man who was likely her father barked. “We ain’t know nothing like that.”
Vivian’s brows raised and she looked about the diner curiously, realizing that they weren’t kidding.
This is some kind of urban legend. How utterly backward. I’ve walked onto the set of “Twin Peaks”.
She smiled at the girl.
“Tell me about him,” she encouraged. She had nothing else to do, after all. Hearing a good ghost story might liven her spirits.
“There ain’t nothin’ ta tell,” someone else snapped. “He ain’t been seen in some time. Thought he done died.”
“How can you be sure he’s not really a bear?” Vivian insisted. Her journalistic gut was telling her there was something there, something intriguing.
Every urban legend stems from a true story. If there’s some kind of primal beast living out in the mountains…
“He ain’t a bear!” they all seemed to chorus in unison and just as quickly as they turned to her, their eyes shifted away like she had crossed a line by questioning their beliefs.
Vivian turned curiously to the waitress but even she had made herself conspicuously busy, wiping an already clean spot on the counter.
Kodiak, the bear-man, huh? I’ve gotta look into this.
“Excuse me,” she called out to the waitress. “I never did find out where I was.”
“You’re in Blacksburg, honey. Where do you need to be?”
The query hung in Vivian’s mind and a slow smile formed on her lips.
There was a reason she had found herself sidetracked and hours away from home. Fate had intervened and brought her to this remote mountain town for a purpose.
I’ll stay here for a while and look into this bear-man. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be anything, at least I’ll be out of my parents’ house for a bit. But if it does end up having some merit, my career might have a chance to take off again. Or should I say take off for once.
Excitement spiked through Vivian and she warned herself not to get ahead of herself but it was like a snowball falling down a dusted hill.
How long had it been since someone had broken a new urban legend? Not since the Chupacabra, really. Conspiracy theorists loved stuff like that and someone would pay good money for a properly documented article with interviews and evidence.
I have six believers sitting right here in this shop. How many more will I find if I keep digging?
It could be the answer to her problems; if she made enough, she could hightail it out of her parents’ place and get back to New York where she’d once had a life.
And I’d be a real journalist, not just a disposable copy-editor at a huge newspaper where I can and will be canned without a moment’s notice. This could open doors for me, no matter how ridiculous it sounds.
“Honey? Where y’all need to be?” the server asked again, cocking her head.
“I need to be right here,” Vivian replied, smiling. “Can you point me in the direction of the nearest motel?”
Chapter Four
Pleasant Intrusions
Vaughan woke slightly flustered. As his eyes adjusted to the night around him, he realized that he was seeing through his night vision, a fact which troubled him greatly. The last thing he had remembered was lighting the wood stove and drifting off to sleep. If he had his night vision engaged, it could only mean he had shifted during the night.
He threw his legs over the side of his bed and Murphy barked twice in protest when Vaughan rose.
It was all the confirmation he needed that he had shifted, even without bothering to look in the mirror.
What the hell?
Suddenly, he saw a flash of light in his mind’s eye, a car screeching to a halt as he ambled across I-80. His eyes landed on the face of an exquisitely beautiful, albeit shocked, woman.
Vaughan shook his head, unable to comprehend what had happened. He hadn’t sleep-shifted since his teens, the episodes all but fading once he had removed himself from civilization.
He transformed back into his mortal form, his heart racing.
What inspired that? How many times have I done it without realizing?
Chase barked, joining his brother’s side from on top of the bed and the canines studied him curiously. It was only then that Vaughan understood that something else had woken him.
The barking of the dogs. Something had alarmed them.
“What is it?” Vaughan asked and instantly, they both flew out of the bedroom toward the front door.
A low growl emanated from Murphy’s mouth and when Vaughan eyed him quizzically, the dog let out a sharp bark. Vaughan peered through the panes of glass, the grey of dawn beginning to light the backwoods slowly. There was enough light to make out the outline of his property line and truck but no matter how hard Vaughan looked, he did not see nor sense anything amiss.
“There’s nothing there,” he told the canines. “Was it a fox?”
Chase joined Murphy’s growl and Vaughan sighed, realizing that they would not relax until he investigated more thoroughly.
“If you two meatheads are making me get out of bed for a damned
coyote, I’m not feeding you for a week,” he vowed, even though he didn’t mean it.
He had a symbiotic connection to the dogs, one which ran deeper than he could explain. Perhaps it was because they all shared something in common, a feral core or something equally disturbing.
Whatever it was out there, Vaughan knew there was a reason they had woken him and he needed to at least give them the benefit of the doubt. They had never roused him from sleep unnecessarily, if only to warn him about a wolf straying too close to the property. They were good dogs, watch dogs.
“Are you coming?” he asked when they hesitated on the porch. They stared at him with identical confused looks before dashing off toward the trees and disappearing.
He didn’t even know where to start. He still did not get the sense that there was anything wrong, despite the fact he had woken up in full bear form.
Unless…
He froze in his tracks, gooseflesh prickling his skin when the memory of the girl in the car swept back over him.
Oh shit. What did I do?
His worst nightmare was that he would kill someone in the throes of a shift. Had that finally happened?
In the past, he’d left mangled carcasses of dead animals in his wake, sometimes bringing them to his own doorstep. The mess in the morning invariably made him gag but the canines always seemed pleased with his finds.
I’m off hunting for my dogs. What kind of bizarr-o world is this?
In the distance, he heard one of the dogs snarl and snap.
“Murphy!” Vaughan yelled. “Get back here.”
A piercing yelp filled the air and another low bark. Vaughan’s feet moved again and he crunched through the woods, twigs snapping beneath his feet. The air was much cooler in the forest and somewhere in the back of Vaughan’s mind, he smelled ozone in the air.
“Chase!”
Another whine met his ears and Vaughan followed the sound of the dogs through the thick until he heard something else which made the hairs on his neck rise.
“Down, boy, stay back…” the woman muttered. “I’m not going to hurt you.”