"I'm sorry," Brian said. "I didn't mean to startle you." He held out a hand while stepping forward.
"It's okay," Cheryl said while shaking his hand. "I was just about to step outside to see if I could help you find the office when my sister-in-law called." She lifted the hand with the cigarette, her body still somewhat shaken by his sudden presence. "Mind if we step out onto the stairway for a moment?"
"No, not at all."
She took a deep breath and then looked over at the cat and said, "Pumpkin, we'll be right back." With that, the two headed back to the door and out onto the steps.
7
"The town was already on the brink of collapse long before the economy crashed," Cheryl said. "Most blame the tree huggers because the Crystal Creek Logging Company had to go farther up into the mountains, which brought them closer to Clearwater, which also had a lumber mill, but really no one ever thought ahead to the days when lumber would no longer sustain Crystal Creek. It was only a matter of time really."
"Kind of like those old mining towns in West Virginia," Brian said, his mind conjuring up scenes from the movie October Sky.
"Yeah." She took a drag on her cigarette. "You would think everyone would see these collapses coming, but no one ever does. They always think things will stay the same and then blame everyone else when it all goes to hell."
Brian nodded.
"And now everyone has shifted their blame over to Obama for some reason, and they feel Trump will help if he wins." She sighed. "I guess they were thinking he should have given us a lumber-industry bailout or something, I don't know."
"What can you do?" Brian said with a shrug. It didn't matter where he went these days, everyone always wanted to talk politics.
"Nothing, I guess," Cheryl said and took another drag on her cigarette.
"So, find any more Bigfoot clippings?"
8
"Hey, it's me. I haven't heard from you and…um…wanted to make sure you made it there safe. Well…um…give me a call when you can. Love you."
Alice ended the call, fresh tears welling in her eyes.
He knows.
And now he isn't—
Her phone rang.
"Brian?" she asked without looking at the screen.
"Who's Brian?" Jared asked. "Are you cheating on me?"
Alice didn't reply to that, the laugh it would have brought about a month earlier nowhere to be found.
"Alice?" he asked.
"Yeah, sorry, thought it was going to be Brian," she said, as if he didn't already know that. "He hasn't called yet."
"Oh…well…I'm sure he's fine."
Once again, she didn't reply.
"Alice, are you okay?" he asked.
"I…" He knows. Though she wanted to shout it, she didn't, and instead said, "Yeah, just very blah today."
"Because he's gone," Jared said. "Again!"
"Yeah," she mumbled.
"Alice, it's not right that he leaves you alone all the time like this. His days off from work and his weekends should be spent with you, not on these wild goose chases for his stupid website."
It's not stupid, she wanted to say, but bit her tongue.
"I'm going to come over," he said.
"Here, no, we can't," she said.
"Alice, we can. It's fine. No one's going to care, and he's on the other side of the country."
"But…" She didn't continue.
"Alice, if he wanted to be with you, he would be there rather than chasing ghosts and aliens."
"Bigfoot," she said, voice barely audible.
"Jesus Christ, that's even worse. At least ghosts and aliens have some plausibility, but an ape-man living in the woods…" She could sense him shaking his head. "That's ridiculously far-fetched, even for him."
Alice didn't reply.
"Alice, I know what you're going through right now and how hard it is to be left alone like this."
Again, she didn't reply.
"So I'll be there soon, okay?"
"Okay."
"Great," he said. "See you in a bit."
The call ended.
Alice set the phone down, questions on why she had agreed plaguing her.
Tell him no.
At the door, she would tell him she had changed her mind and that she was sorry.
No, you won't.
Yes, I will.
Jared was right. If Brian really cared about her, he would be there with her right now rather than in Crystal Creek doing research for the stupid Bigfoot section of his stupid website.
It's not stupid, she muttered to herself.
No argument followed, her mind unable to go back and forth with itself on this issue simply because she knew that the site was going to be a good one. She also knew that despite her resolve, she would not bar the door when Jared arrived and that soon the two would be in bed together—not just for sex, but for companionship, the latter being what she really needed and craved.
Brian isn't providing it.
This was another topic she could not argue about within her own mind, again, because it was the truth. He wasn't there, and she didn't want to be alone.
You need to talk to him about this.
Will he even listen after last night?
No answer arrived.
9
"Sadly, no, just the two that I already sent you in the email," Cheryl said. "I thought maybe there would be more, because there's always been talk around town from people who have seen things, but apparently they never went so far as to actually report it."
"Or the newspaper didn't feel it was something fit to print," Brian suggested.
"That very well could be," Cheryl admitted. "The guy that used to run it was old school with a capital O and wouldn't print a thing unless it had been documented to death. Even so, I was fairly sure he would have had some stories from those who saw things, but it was just those two that I sent to you, and those were from around Halloween several years back when he had readers submit their spooky, somewhat unexplainable encounters for a segment that he had planned on doing yearly but never followed through on."
Brian tried to mask his disappointment.
"Sorry," she said.
"Don't worry about it. In my line of work, things like this happen from time to time."
She didn't reply to that.
He tried to think up something to say, but nothing arrived.
"Can I ask you something?" Cheryl said.
"Sure."
"In the book you wrote, all that ghost and UFO stuff…do you really believe all that?"
The question brought up memories of the publicity tour the publisher had sent him on following the book release, one that hadn't really helped generate sales. Nothing had. Here the publisher thought they were going to have a mega seller like Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Daniken, but instead they simply released a title that was one of many similar releases that were hitting the market thanks to the Ancient Aliens show on the History Channel. Had his book come out a year or two earlier, sales might have been spectacular, but by the time it was released, the market had been glutted.
"I believe in the possibility, and the need to keep an open mind," he said, which was the answer he had always given during interviews. "If we close our minds, if we say 'no, this can't exist' or 'no, this is the way it was and there are no other possibilities,' then we automatically shut down a path that could lead to discovery."
She nodded and said, "That's how I feel as well. And that's why I was so intrigued when you contacted me asking about local Bigfoot sightings." She hesitated. "Can I ask you another question?"
"Okay."
"Why the interest in Crystal Creek?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"I don't know, it just seems odd that you would pick this place to do research."
"I travel all over the country doing research on the unexplained."
"Yeah, I know. I read your bio after you called. My question is, why did you call in the first place? What le
d you to think, Hey, I'll check out Crystal Creek to see if they have had any Bigfoot sightings?"
Brian hesitated, the question one he hadn't anticipated and didn't have a good answer for. Actually, that wasn't true. He did have an answer, one that had gotten him on a plane and then into a rental car, but he didn't want to share that with this local newspaper reporter. Hell, he didn't want to share it with anyone in this town, but now he wondered if maybe that in itself would cause an issue.
"It's about the college girl, isn't it? The one who went missing back in June," Cheryl said.
Startled, Brian tried to claim he had no idea what she was talking about, but failed.
She laughed. "Don't worry, I'm not going to scoop you. I've already written about Margaret Jones, and I've spoken to the girl who claims to be her sister several times. Let me guess, she sent you screenshots from a video that Margaret Jones supposedly took on her cell phone, one that shows her being attacked by a Bigfoot creature."
Brian nodded.
"I'll admit, the screenshots are intriguing, but there is only one problem: how the hell did she get them? There's no cell service up where Margaret Jones was doing her research, and even if there was, how did she send the pictures and video if she was in the middle of being attacked by Bigfoot?"
Brian didn't reply.
"Also," Cheryl continued, "why wasn't the footage on the phone when it was found?"
"Wait, what?"
"She didn't tell you that the phone was found?"
"No."
"Well, it was and turned over to the police. And what do you know, no footage. In fact, there was nothing on it to indicate anything unusual happened to the girl—other than the fact that she vanished without a trace, of course."
"Is that why the police won't take Annie seriously?" Brian asked.
"There's that, but also the fact that she lied about Margaret being her sister."
"Lied?"
"Well, it isn't really a big deal, but the two were lovers. There are pictures of them together on the phone, and when I say together I mean…well…you know what I mean. Anyway, I think she hid that aspect of their relationship and tried to claim she was Margaret's sister because she feared the police wouldn't take things seriously when she went to them. But what do you know, the local police, as underfunded as they are, still have the ability to ferret out who the true relations are to people who are missing, and can track down information on their relationships as well. The fact that they were lovers wouldn't have been a big deal to the police; however, the fact that she lied about it was."
"And the lack of anything unusual on the phone itself."
Cheryl nodded.
Brian went quiet after that, unsure how to proceed with this information.
"I wish I had realized sooner what it was you were coming out here for," Cheryl said. "If I had, I would have warned you that she was wasting your time."
"It is what it is," Brian said. "I'm no stranger to having my time wasted in this field."
"Anyway, if I were you, I'd cut my losses and head back to Chicago because I doubt you're going to find anything here that's worthwhile."
Brian nodded again and said, "Probably good advice. I'll think on it."
Silence settled.
"Anything else I can try to help with?" she asked.
Brian considered everything she had said and started to say no, when suddenly a question did pop up. "You said Margaret's phone was turned in to the police."
"Yes…"
"Who turned it in?"
Cheryl hesitated for a moment and then said, "I did."
10
Though orgasms were produced and cries of pleasure echoed, Alice could tell that, like herself, Jared had not really enjoyed what they had just done. Neither would say anything, however, each of them content with the obvious falseness the other had projected during the act.
He doesn't have to feel guilt, though…
Or does he?
Before she could really think about it, the question left her lips.
"What do you mean?" he asked, his right arm holding her close, hand cupped around her breast, naked body folded up against hers in what felt more and more like an obligatory moment of cuddling rather than an act of comfortable closeness that two people would engage in as a way of relishing the moment they had just shared.
"My being married," she said. "Do you feel guilty about having sex with a married woman?"
"The only thing I feel guilty about is that I didn't make you mine all those years ago, my own stupid sexual desires leading me down a path that allowed you to fall into the grip of someone who doesn't appreciate you and takes your companionship for granted."
Alice thought about that, memories of Jared ending their relationship for that silicone-enhanced nymphomaniac filling her mind.
Anger followed.
"What?" he asked, his body probably feeling something within hers that startled him.
"Nothing."
"Seriously, what?"
"All this talk about how he leaves me for this and that, and how he doesn't appreciate me…all when you're the one who actually left me for a Barbie doll-wannabe who would part her legs for anything with a pulse."
He pulled back a bit, their bodies no longer touching, the post-ejaculation fluids that had dribbled from him onto her leg feeling disgustingly cold and slimy.
"Why should I trust what you say now?" she added.
"Because I made a mistake that taught me a valuable lesson, one that I regret and want to make amends for."
"Amends?" she asked. "How? By fucking me when my husband is away and constantly telling me how he's no good and doesn't appreciate me?"
He shifted again and then stood up, the release of pressure upon the bed alerting her to this without her having to turn toward him.
"You're leaving?" she demanded.
"Why should I stay and take abuse? Sure, I left you for a brainless bimbo who was pretty much a living, breathing sex doll…what can I say? I'm human and the fantasy oozing male side of me momentarily took control. It was a mistake that I’ve lived with for many years, one that I regret. However, if you think about it, at least I left you for something that can be understood. Your husband, he's leaving you for a fucking website."
She didn't reply.
"How pathetic is that? He would rather travel halfway across the country to look for Bigfoot than come home and be in bed with you."
She twisted toward him.
"And while he does that, you agree to have sex with a man who you then chastise for leaving you all those years ago, one who has apologized and admitted his mistake." He pulled up his pants and then added, "I'm starting to see why I drifted away to the brainless bimbo."
Alice glared at him while crossing her arms, comments about how he sucked in bed rising in her throat yet not being vocalized. Why she held them back, she didn't know, but she did.
"Silent treatment now," he said while putting on his shirt.
She confirmed that by not replying.
He nodded. "Your husband's stupid author page, it has a comment section, right?" He didn't wait for her to confirm this since he already knew the answer. "I should go on there and tell him about us, let him know what it is we do—did—while he's away."
"He already knows," she said, her thinking being this would stop him in his tracks.
"And he still goes on his trips!" Jared laughed and started toward the door, stopping so he could say, "You should think long and hard about that and realize what it means. When you do, I may decide to forgive you for this and come back, because, well, I honestly care about you and want you to be happy, but not at the expense of my own happiness and well-being, so…"
With that, she watched him leave, tears once again starting to fall—not for him, but for the fact that her marriage was probably over because of him.
Brian knows.
Does he?
Yes!
Maybe not.
The tears came on harder, her m
ind a complete wreck.
And then she shifted, the feeling of him down there snagging her senses and filling her with disgust.
A moment later she was in the shower, not even waiting for the water to warm up, the sense that she needed to scrub herself free of his fluids and presence too much for her to bear.
11
"You did?" Brian asked. "How did you end up with the phone?"
She shrugged. "Someone left it by my front door."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"Any idea who?"
"No, not a clue. I simply came home one day and there it was, in a box."
"And then you turned it into the police."
"Once I realized it belonged to the girl who had disappeared."
"So you looked at it?"
"I did and since I know you're going to ask, there were no videos on it of her being attacked by Bigfoot."
Brian had no idea what to make of this and simply said, "Why would someone leave it by your front door?"
"I have no idea. Maybe they thought it was important and since I run the newspaper, that I would know what to do with it."
"Which would imply that they knew it belonged to the girl who disappeared."
"It's possible, though it could simply be that someone who lives off the grid found it and simply brought it to me without knowing who it belonged to, but felt it was out of place enough to warrant them coming down the mountain a bit and turning it in."
"But then why not give it to the police?"
"Because many of them don't trust law enforcement or any other part of the government system. That's why they live off the grid."
"But they trust you?"
She shrugged. "Trust? Probably not. But they had to know there were searches for that missing college girl going on, and even though they would prefer to keep out of such things, finding a phone and knowing it might play a part in helping find someone who is missing, someone who has a family and wasn't from around here, would weigh heavy upon them and help sway them into doing the right thing."
"Do you think the police will let me see it?" he asked.
"What for?"
"I just like to be thorough."
"We could try."
Crystal Creek Page 2