by Taryn Eason
“Relax,” I said hoarsely. “You couldn’t have known either.”
Lye’s eyes were almost as bloodshot as mine were. “I did though. I knew.” I looked up to ask him to explain, but nothing came out. “But I’m here for you now. I promise. I’m never going to let anything like that happen again.”
He continued apologizing until we couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer.
Chapter 7
I yawned and lifted my head to fix the crick in my neck from sleeping in such a weird position. I looked at Lye, who was still asleep with his head resting against the window. I had forgotten that he was still shirtless. I could see all of his chest tattoos clearly in the daylight. He had “Keep your head high” written in calligraphy across his collarbone. He had a big tattoo of a symbol that stretched from his chest down to his stomach. I had no idea what it was. On his left arm he had what looked like a military tribute, with a helmet resting on a gun and boots below it. It had “Grayson” written under it.
There was dried blood from Lye’s hands on my shirt. The memories of last night haunted me, but it was daylight, and I wasn't alone, so I didn't have to dwell on it yet. But I knew we had to leave quickly. After the way Lye left Caleb, the police were sure to be looking for him soon.
I gently shook him awake. He moaned and moved his hands to wipe his eyes. It was odd to see him so off guard. I leaned up and returned to a sitting position in my own seat. “Good morning.” I said.
He squinted his eyes and his arm twitched slightly. “Good morning.” He replied in a groggy voice. He pulled me closer into his chest, “Did you sleep well?” He smiled, still half-asleep.
I blushed. “Not so much. I have this terrible crick in my neck.” I put my hand on my neck awkwardly and let out a light laugh.
His eyes opened all the way. He seemed to finally gain full consciousness and let go of me. “Sorry, for a moment there I thought you were someone else.” He sat up, his hands clenching and unclenching. “We should get back, okay?”
I nodded. “Okay.” We both opened the doors got into the front seats. He started the car and we left.
I felt incredibly awkward about how he had confused me with someone, and even more awkward at how eagerly I responded without even questioning it. But if there’s anything I had learned in my eighteen years of life, it was that awkwardness doesn’t actually exist unless you let it. So I asked, “Who did you think I was?”
He glanced down. “No one.” He noticed the look I was giving him and rolled his eyes. “Just someone from my past.”
“Okay, if you say so.” I joked.
“Hey, Maybelle, what are you doing today?”
“Nothing. Why?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to hang out. I meant what I said when I wanted to be your friend.”
“Uh, that depends.” I replied.
“It depends on what?”
“Can I wash this blood off my shirt at your house first?”
Lye smiled. “Yeah, I think I can help you with that.”
I was trying to stay calm and pretend the events of last night never happened, but I had a nagging thought that kept forcing itself into my mind. “Hey Lye, are you going to get arrested for that?”
Lye looked ahead and focused on driving. “Nah. He knows he deserved it.”
After a bit, we arrived at his house and he left to take a shower to wash off all the blood. He advised me to pick a shirt out of his closet to wear while mine was being washed. I stepped into his room, curious to see what kind of a person he actually was.
There were a few skateboards taken apart in one corner, surrounded by parts and tools for them. His bedspread was a simple black and gray setup. I approached his closet and found a ton of t-shirts. There were band names on all of them, but none I recognized. I chose one and tried it on. It was big on me, but I didn’t mind. I walked to the other bathroom and looked in the mirror. My hair had some dried blood on it, and my eyeliner had pooled under my eyes, either from crying or sleeping. I leaned over the bathtub and washed my hair. When I was finished, I wrapped a towel around it and washed my face. I walked out into the living room and sat down.
I had begun to watch tv when Lye came out with only a towel wrapped around his waist. I exaggerated holding my hands over my eyes and shouting “Woah, watch out! There’s a lady in the room!”
He laughed. “Relax, I have boxers on under this. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t seen you in worse.”
I glared at him as I heard the doorbell ring. Lye looked through the eyehole before answering it.
“What’s up, Lye?” A man in his late twenties with blue eyes and dark hair asked. He then looked inside at me. He was probably suspicious of the fact that Lye and I were both wearing towels, so he asked, “Wait, am I interrupting something?”
Lye was unamused. “Yeah. Come back another time, alright?”
The man lowered his eyes and nodded his head fast. “Y-yeah. Alright, bro.”
Lye shut the door and turned around with an angry expression on his face. “I thought you said you didn’t have any friends around here.” I said.
Lye began walking to his bedroom to get dressed. “I don’t. They’re all just bad habits.”
I waited on him for what seemed like forever. After a while, I gave up and left for the bathroom to take the towel off of my hair. After nearly thirty minutes of having to watch Friends, he finally came back into the room and sat down beside me, giving me the same serious expression I had seen on him the last time that I was here. “How did you keep from catching on fire last night?”
I looked down. I definitely didn’t want to talk about the events of last night. I was hoping to repress them in a dark corner of my mind and never look back. “What do you mean?”
“Come on, Maybelle. I’ve figured out every time you get sad or angry, you light up. Why didn’t you last night?” He clenched his fists. “You should have burned that bastard beyond recognition. He deserves nothing less.”
I stood up. Images of Colt’s charred face blurred my mind into a mixture of anger and fear. “I just couldn’t, okay? I couldn’t stand to hurt another person.”
“It’s different when it’s someone who wants to hurt you! What if I never came to save you? Would you have just let it happen?”
I closed my eyes to prevent more tears from forming. Life was getting too stressful. “I don’t know, Lye. I didn’t want anyone to hurt me, but I sure as hell didn’t want to be the monster I’m supposed to be. I couldn’t live with myself if I killed someone.”
Lye stepped in front of me and grabbed my shoulders forcefully. My tears were falling now, the recollection of last night in full swing. “Look at me, Maybelle.”
I couldn’t. He lightly shook me. “Maybelle, look at me.” He said in a sterner voice.
I looked up into his dark eyes, feeling so vulnerable and scared at the strength of his expression. “If someone tries to hurt you, burn them. Your powers are not a handicap; They’re a weapon. Anyone else, they don’t mean shit. You are worth so much more than you think. Don’t you dare slip up like that again to spare the life of some undeserving boy.”
I smiled as tears began rolling down my cheeks. No one had ever said anything that nice to me. Even my parents weren’t proud of me. That means this random guy that beat me against a wall the first time he met me thinks higher of me than my own family. And I didn’t deserve it at all. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
He seemed confused as to why that made me cry. “You’re so naïve, but you try to act like you’ve got everything figured out. You remind me so much of myself.” He put his arm around me. “I just feel the need to protect you from how evil this world is, like a little sister or something.”
Not going to lie, the “little sister” card stung. But I guess he doesn’t like to date girls as young as I am, which is understandable. I wasn’t sure if I’d ever even want to date him at all. The first night we met kind of ruined that entire idea for me. I definitely
wouldn’t want to be with a guy who first introduced himself to me by attacking me. But at the same time, I was offended that he wrote me off with the “little sister” excuse, as irrational as I knew that was.
I dried my eyes, which is a lot easier when you’re crying from happiness. “By the way, I’ve spent the past week learning to control my powers so I don’t explode every time I’m upset. It’s a skill I’m very proud of.”
“I bet. I’m glad you’ve learned to control it, for your own sake. You know, and everyone else’s.”
I wanted to change the subject to something I was both extremely curious about and, at the same time, terrified to mention. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”
He picked up on my anxious expression. “What is it?”
“I’m sorry to bring this up again. I’ve been trying to forget about it, but I really want to know.” I was putting off asking the question. I was afraid to trigger the memories again, and, as stupid as it sounds, I was terrified to use “the word”.
“Just say it.” He said slowly, looking at me like I was insane. He barely knew me and even he knew how out-of-character it was for me to ask permission to say something.
I bit the bullet. “How did you know that Caleb was going to try to rape me?” My stomach churned at the word and the thought of how much worse the night could have ended.
“Hey, don’t apologize. You definitely have a right to know.” He sat down on the couch beside me. “I’m a tattoo artist now, but a few years ago I had a different job. I was a drug dealer.” He seemed like he was attempting to gauge my reaction to that. When he seemed content enough that he didn’t scare me too bad, he continued. “I sold normal things, like weed and ex, but every once in a while I would have other things, you know?”
I nodded.
“Caleb bought from me regularly. He was one of the only people to ever ask me for roofies.”
I stopped him. “You sold date rape drugs?!”
“Hell no! I was a drug dealer, but I had limits.” He chuckled. “I love how you’re this sheltered, rich, suburban girl and that’s the only thing you have to say about my being a drug dealer.”
“I’m not sheltered! I’ve seen drug dealers before.” I lied. I could easily see Lye as one, though. Being so muscular, and tattooed, coupled with his serious tone would terrify anyone.
“Oh yeah? TV doesn’t count.”
I folded my arms and glared.
He started laughing. “By the way, your whole ‘I’m eighteen’ act last night was priceless. I don’t think anyone bought it.”
I squinted my eyebrows. “I really am eighteen though.”
“No you’re not.” He joked.
I pulled out my driver’s license and handed it to him. “See?”
“Wow. You look like you’re fifteen,” He said, looking from my picture to me. “Are you sure this isn’t a fake?”
“Shut up!” I laughed and swiped it back. “Did you just invite me here to make fun of me or what?”
“No, not at all.”
“Then why did you invite me over if you thought I was underage? That’s kind of creepy, you know.”
“It was halfway because of the Reeki, and halfway because I wanted to make sure you were okay. I just didn’t want you to have to go home alone after all of that.”
“How do you know I would have been alone? How do you know I wouldn’t have been with friends, or my sister?”
Lye looked at me. “What’s your sister like?”
I shut down. “Why do you care?”
“I know she was supposed to get the Reeki. I just wanted to know why Winona chose her.”
“Cause she’s perfect.”
Lye adjusted his position. “I’m sensing a bit of hostility.”
“Hostility? Why wouldn’t I love my older sister, who’s perfect in every perfect way? She has a full scholarship to Harvard Medical School and she’s so sweet and she’s just adored by her entire family.”
“Except you.”
“Except me.” I repeated.
“Why don’t you like her?”
“Because it’s hard to see a streetlight when the sun’s shining.” He seemed confused. I didn’t want to explain. “Look, I don’t like talking about her. I get enough of that from everyone else, I don’t need it from you too, okay?”
“Okay.” He stood and walked over to a shelf beside his TV. “Want to watch a movie?”
I raised an eyebrow at the sudden topic change. “Sure?”
He looked over from the shelf. “What’s your favorite movie?”
I searched through the arsenal of movies within my mind, but nothing stood out. “I can’t pick just one. What’s yours?”
“Fight Club, definitely.”
I thought for a second. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen that.”
He seemed amazed. “We have to watch it.”
“What’s it about?”
“You’ll see.”
The movie was basically about this guy who has a terribly boring life. He ends up meeting Brad Pitt, who plays a sort of domestic terrorist. It was easy to see why Lye loved this movie. Brad Pitt’s character basically did everything that was against the law just to prove a point. It definitely challenged the idea of social norms.
Seeing Lye’s favorite movie made him begin to make sense to me. He was such a confusing person. He was a drug dealer with standards. He now has a terrible reputation and several shady contacts, but he’s the only person (besides Delilah) who’s shown me any kindness in forever. But it’s almost as if he likes to challenge people’s ideas of him. He seemed to wear his bad reputation with pride at the party. We definitely got off to a rocky start, but, so far, he has been the only one who has kept me sane since I got my powers. But at the same time, Colt and his friends have promised that they would be looking for me. In knowing Lye for a week, I already have gangsters wanting to kill me, so I’m not entirely sure of my safety around him. But the most difficult part of being an adult is that we alone have to decide who to trust, and we alone face the consequences.
I was almost convinced that no one in the world was wholly good or bad. It’s possible to do terrible things and still be a good person. What makes life so hard was how we’re taught by television and in our childhood lives that good and bad are like black and white, when the reality was that so many other colors existed. Some decisions were blue, some were purple, and nobody can truly understand what anything else was. There was no way we even could understand where we fit in on the color wheel either.
“So, does Delilah treat you badly or something?” Lye asked, breaking me from my post-movie trance. He was behind me in the kitchen preparing food.
“No.” I replied.
“I’m trying to figure out why you don’t like her. Is it because she was supposed to get the Reeki instead of you?”
“No, but that doesn’t help. Please stop asking me questions about her.” I was getting annoyed.
“Why? What did she do that was so bad?”
“Nothing, Lye. Just drop it.”
“Okay.” He agreed. “You know, I had an older brother.”
I was sensing a lesson in his parent-like tone. “Really?” I asked, unamused.
“Yeah.” He said and turned back to the stove to cook.
I decided not to pry just yet. I knew Lye well enough to know that if he wanted to elaborate, he would have. Plus, I needed to get home soon, after all.
He finished preparing the spaghetti and we ate. I was surprised at how good he was at cooking. Afterwards, he agreed to drive me home.
As we entered the car, he could tell that I was recalling last night again. I put off opening the door, staring into the back seat and remembering how terrified I felt as I sat there. “Are you alright?”
I broke from my trance, opened the door and sat down. “Sorry. Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You sure? You don’t have to go home if you don’t want to.”
“Why does it seem like you don’
t want me to go home?”
Lye looked down. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not my place at all, but Winona always hated your father.”
I definitely wasn’t my father’s biggest fan, but I was naturally defensive of my family. “You’re right; It’s not your place. But why would she hate him?” It was one of those moments where my anger and curiosity meshed. I just didn’t think Winona hated anyone.
“She said he was abusive, and if that’s the case, you can stay here as long as you want.”
I glared at him. “That’s a lie. You can take me home now.”
He nodded and began driving. He realized he had crossed a line. During the trip back, the only thing that broke the silence was my giving him directions to my house. Until about halfway there when Lye asked “So, since you’re actually eighteen, are you planning on getting any tattoos?”
I had thought about it, but now it seemed a bit risky. “Do you think it’s safe with my powers?”
“Hmm. Good point. It sounds like something that would be pretty fun to test out one day, though.”
“Yeah.” I replied, proceeding cautiously. I was still upset with him, but I decided to make a contribution to the conversation. “What’s that symbol you have tattooed on your chest?”
With one hand on the wheel, he lifted up his shirt and pointed to it. “This one?”
I nodded.
“It’s Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer. I had to pay tribute to my favorite holder of the Reeki.”
I stared at him. “But Thor’s part of Norse mythology, how could he have had the Reeki?”
Lye gave me the same look I was giving him. “You don’t know anything about our tribe’s history, do you?”
I stared blankly as I shook my head. I would have paid more attention to my grandmother’s stories if I had known they were real.
“The Vikings were the first white men to come to the New World. The Lakinobe’s made friends with them and they exchanged cultures. The Vikings taught us about the Reeki and its holders, who they looked to as gods. Then winter came and our tribe was doing horrible. It was a harsh winter and we would soon have nothing to eat. Our tribe was about to die when a Viking holder of the Reeki chose to sacrifice himself give his powers to a Lakinobe. The Lakinobe’s power became the ability to make food out of anything. He ended the famine and saved our tribe. After the winter, the Vikings left the Reeki with us and went their own way. And that’s the story of the Reeki. You really haven’t even looked at Winona’s notebook yet, have you?”