by Sky Winters
“Hmm,” said Cassie. “Good point. Maybe we can order some groceries and make something good. How about lasagna?”
That suggestion went over well with the girls.
The three of them started their evening together by getting out the art supplies and spreading them out over the dining room table. Just as they were about to begin, the three fathers entered the living room, all of them dressed in sleek, fashionable suits.
“We’re off,” said Josh. “You all have fun.”
“And don’t forget what I said about calling us if you need anything.”
“Of course,” said Cassie, finding it charming how the biggest, toughest-looking of the fathers was also the most protective.
Caleb said nothing, only winking as the three headed out.
“Okay,” said Cassie once the supplies were laid out. “How about we start by drawing whatever’s on your mind, whatever’s in your imagination. That’s always the best warm-up for me.”
“I want to draw a dress,” said Amy, grabbing a crimson colored pencil. “Something I’d wear to a fancy party.”
“Hey,” said Cassie. “If that’s what’s on your mind, then go for it. What about you, Sam?”
“Umm,” she started, looking away in deep thought. “I want to draw the bird I saw today. It was so pretty.”
“Awesome, let’s see it,” said Cassie. “Make it as pretty as you can.”
“What about you?” asked Amy. “What are you going to draw?”
“I don’t know,” said Cassie. “I like to not have anything in mind when I sit down. It’s fun for me to just let me hand start moving and make whatever it wants. Sometimes you come up with neat stuff that way, like your brain wants to draw something you didn’t even know you had in mind.”
“Sounds weird,” said Amy.
Cassie laughed.
“Maybe it kind of is.”
The three girls set to drawing, and Cassie did what she’d described. She sat down, a blank piece of paper in front of her. Almost without thinking, her hand moved to the black colored pencil, took it, and brought it to the paper.
From there, her hand seemed to take on a life of its own. With the black pencil, she sketched some quick outlines on the paper. Then she set down the black and took the brown and began filling in the black lines.
Once these were done, the green pencil was next. The tip touched the paper gently, her hand moving almost furiously. Cassie was shocked – it really did seem as though she’d been compelled to draw something from deep inside her mind.
Her fevered drawing was a contrast to how leisurely and slowly the girls were sketching.
Bit by bit, the drawing in front of Cassie began to take shape. She’d first drawn a woodland scene, not to different than the surroundings of the house, the scenes she’d taken in with Caleb earlier in the day.
Next, she began to sketch large, dark forms. Her hand continued to move, tracing out the shapes and swapping in other colors.
“What’re you drawing, Cassie?” asked Sam, taking a glance over at Cassie’s work.
“Not really sure,” she said. “Kind of going on autopilot here.”
“That’s weird,” said Sam, repeating her earlier sentiment.
“Weird but fun,” said Cassie.
Her drawing continued, her pencils filling in more and more details. Eventually, she realized what the figures she was drawing were.
Bears. Five of them in total.
More and more details were added, the scene becoming more lifelike by the second. When she was done, she set down her pencils and pushed the drawing aside, as if wanting to be done with it.
The girls looked up from their own drawings, seeing what Cassie had made.
Once they realized, the girls said nothing, instead looking at one another as if unsure what to say.
“You drew bears,” said Amy. “They’re…neat.”
Sam’s eyes lit up.
“Yeah,” she said. “And there’s five of them – three big and two small. Hey! They kind of look like…”
Amy’s hand dropped its pencil and shot over to Sam’s mouth, covering it up.
Cassie crinkled her brow at this.
“Hey,” she said. “Don’t do that to your sister.”
“Sorry,” said Amy, taking her hand away from Sam’s mouth. “Sam can have kind of a big mouth sometimes. Right, Sam?”
Sam opened her mouth to speak, looking for a second like she wanted to finish what she’d started before. But then she downcast her eyes and nodded.
“Yeah, I guess I can sometimes.”
It was all too strange to Cassie.
Before she could give the matter much more though, a booming knock at the front door sounded through the living room.
“Are we expecting anyone?” asked Cassie.
“I don’t think so,” said Sam.
Hesitantly, Cassie rose to answer the door.
CHAPTER 12
CASSIE
The knock sounded out again as Cassie approached the front door. She reached for the large, curved handle, hesitating before placing her hand on it. Something inside of her told her that whoever it was, she shouldn’t answer.
She quickly shook her head, dismissing the thoughts as silly. Cassie opened the door.
Standing on the large sweep of the front porch was a slim man with dark, very dark hair slicked back behind his ears. He was broad-shouldered, with a slim face that was both attractive and sinister at the same time. His skin was pale, and he was dressed in a coal-black suit, one hand in his pocket.
“Hello,” he said, his chocolate brown eyes lighting up when he saw Cassie. “And good evening.”
“Good evening,” said Cassie, not sure what to make of this man. “Can I help you?”
He smiled the broad, overly-warm smile of a man getting ready to sell something.
“My name is Cutter Barnes,” he said, extending a slim-fingered hand toward Cassie. “A pleasure to meet you.”
Cassie took his hand out of politeness, the man’s skin cool and smooth. Once she let go of the man’s hand, she glanced back over her shoulder at the girls, who were watching the man with guileless eyes.
“Go ahead and start drawing again, girls,” said Cassie. “I’ll be over there to check on your work.”
She turned her attention back to the man.
“I’m Cassie,” she said. “Can I help you?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’m a business associate of Josh Hart and his partners. I was just stopping by to see if I could have a quick meeting with him. Is he around?”
The man glanced around the house, as if expecting to see Josh, Nick, or Caleb hiding somewhere.
“No,” I said. “It’s just me and the girls.”
His eyes turned toward the girls.
“Ah,” he said, his smile still on his face. “And you are?”
“Just the girl’s new nanny,” she said.
As soon as she spoke the words, she got a distinct feeling that whoever this man was, she shouldn’t be giving him any more information than necessary.
“Very good,” he said. “Well, if Josh and the rest aren’t here, then I won’t take up any more of your time. Thank you, Cassie.”
Without waiting for Cassie to say another word, the man turned on his polish, black shoes and stepped off the porch. Cassie watched as he stepped into the cab of a sleek, black car and shut the door, the car taking off as soon as he was inside.
“Who was that guy?” asked Sam, who was now standing at Cassie’s leg.
“Some guy who said he knew your father. Er, fathers.”
“He was weird,” said Sam.
Then, strangely, she sniffed the air.
“And he has a weird scent.”
Cassie cocked her head at this comment.
“What?” asked Cassie. “You smelled him? And you could smell him from across the room?”
“Yeah,” said Sam. “Everyone has a smell. And his was bad. Not ‘stinky’ bad, but bad like I d
on’t want to see him.”
“Sam!” called out Amy. “Haven’t dads told you about not smelling people? Or at least not talking about it?”
“Sorry, sorry,” said Sam, looking down at the ground.
Things were getting stranger by the second. Cassie decided she need to do something normal to balance out the last thirty minutes. She checked her phone, seeing it was a little after five.
“Hey, if you guys want dinner in a couple of hours, we should order the groceries and get started now. What do you say?”
“Yeah!” said Sam.
Cassie led the girls over to the dining room table, taking a look at their drawings as she sat down.
“Oh,” she said holding up Sam’s picture of a very colorful bird. “That’s pretty.”
The technique also struck Cassie as surprisingly good for girl her age.
“You should draw a bird every day,” said Cassie. “And before you know it, you’ll be drawing birds that look just like what you see outside.”
Sam smiled, pleased at the encouragement.
Amy’s picture, on the other hand was something else. On the sheet of paper was an elegantly designed, flowing red dress. Impressive details could be seen here and there, and if Cassie didn’t know better, she would’ve guessed the design had been done by a professional at least twice Amy’s age.
“Damn,” she said, the word slipping out of her mouth.
Sam laughed.
“Cassie said a bad word.”
“Is…is it good?” asked Amy, showing some uncharacteristic hesitation.
“It’s really good. Really, really good,” said Cassie. “So good I think you’d be making a mistake if you didn’t do it more.”
Amy smiled and downcast her eyes.
“I can’t wait to show your dads what you two made,” said Cassie. “And now I want to see if you two are as good of cooks as you are little artists. So, how about I order the groceries and you two clean up the drawing stuff?”
The girls agreed, and the three of them set off to their tasks.
Cassie pulled up a recipe for lasagna and breadsticks, along with another for tiramisu. Once she had the list of ingredients ready, she called up the grocery store on the fridge. After giving the man on the other end the other, she told him the name “Hart.”
She could almost feel the man’s eyes go wide at the name.
“Hart?” he asked. “We’ll have everything there in a half hour.”
After hanging up, Cassie couldn’t help but be a little impressed at how seriously the name was taken. It seemed to her like the dads had lots of pull around here.
She shook her head as the considered the word “dads.” Cassie knew she was no closer to understanding the strange relationship of the three men, or which of them was the actual father of the girls.
Cassie put the idea out of her head as she prepared the kitchen for dinner. The girls got the supplies cleaned up, and by the time all of them were ready, the doorbell rang. Cassie greeted the deliveryman, making sure to mark down a good tip as he handed over the food.
“Okay!” said Cassie, ready to put all of the strangeness behind her and lose herself in cooking. “Let’s get started.
The girls were both more than ready. Cassie started off showing them how to make lasagna, putting the ingredients together and preparing the pan to go into the oven. Once the lasagna was in, they started on the tiramisu, fixing it up to go into the fridge to settle while they made the rest. Finally, Cassie walked them through how to make the perfect breadsticks.
The girls followed along eagerly, and Cassie was happy to have eager students. It gave her a sense of satisfaction she’d never known before to teach these girls. She realized she’d only been there for a short time and was already happier than she’d ever been living with Chris. All of that already seemed like a lifetime ago.
Once the lasagna and breadsticks were ready, the girls and Cassie sat down to eat. They dug in, each of them putting away second helpings of food.
“When’s the desert going to be ready?” asked Sam, already eager for the next course.
“We’ve still got an hour or so for the tiramisu to cool,” said Cassie. “How about you guys put on a movie while we wait?”
“Okay,” said Sam. “You want to help us pick something out?”
“Nah,” said Cassie. “I trust your guys’ taste. I’m going to have a glass of wine outside before it gets too chilly out.”
The girls went off to pick out their movie and Cassie stepped into the kitchen to make herself a nice drink. She found a bottle of already opened red and poured herself a small glass, the lovely scent rising up to greet her. Cassie took another quick look at the tiramisu, the delicious taste already on her lips.
The girls plopped in front of the couch, flicking on the enormous TV and not wasting any time bickering about what movie to watch. Cassie smiled as she took her glass of wine in hand, bringing a quick sip to her lips as she watched the girls for a moment.
The wine hit her tongue, the rich taste lingering for long after she swallowed it. She stepped out on the back porch, a feeling of contentment falling over her as she watched the trees loll gently in the mid-evening breeze.
Cassie stared out into the woods for a time, noting how still and quiet they were.
But the quiet didn’t last for long. Cassie watched as the trees off in the distance shook, as if something had disturbed them. At first, she wrote it off, assuming it was just some critter running around. She took another sip of her wine, trying to let the drink and gentle breeze calm her.
Moments later, the trees shook again, this time in a different place. Then a different spot shook, and then another. Cassie’s heart began to beat faster as she realized there was something, or many somethings, out in the woods.
She stepped up to the railing of the balcony, her eyes wide as she scanned the woods. More movement happened, and she set down her wine as she watched the trees shake.
Then, the sources of the movement stepped out of the woods.
Bears.
There were five of them in total, just like the ones she’d seen before. Once they all emerged from the woods, Cassie was able to get a good look at them. At first, she thought they might be the same bears, but now that they were visible in the moonlight, she could tell they were different.
The other bears were black, for one. And two of them looked to be cubs. These bears, on the other hand, were brown, and all of them were hulking and huge, their faces fearsome and intimidating. They all locked their gazes onto Cassie, her heart, by then, beating so hard she could hear her blood thumping in her head.
The bears stared at her, as if trying to size her up. Cassie was frozen in place, her hands shaking as the bears snorted and stared.
Finally, she got the presence of mind to grab her wine and hurry back inside, shutting and locking the door behind her. Cassie hurried over to the couch, her eyes still wide with shock.
She knew something serious had happened, but what it was, she had no idea.
But she couldn’t shake the fear that gripped her.
CHAPTER 13
NICK
“You should’ve told us.”
“But…I’m telling you right now.”
“Not good enough. You should’ve sent us a text the moment you saw something.”
Cassie glanced down. Nick could tell she wasn’t feeling very good about the grilling that Josh was giving her. He took a slow bite of the tiramisu that Cassie had made last night, his eyes closing as he savored the taste.
Damn, she was a good cook, thought Nick.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just assumed that bears were normal out here. And they stayed off the property.”
Josh stood behind the large, oak desk in his office, the tall windows behind him looking out onto the woods behind the house. Nick could tell he wasn’t happy. Cassie was seated in one of the high-backed chairs in front of his desk, her eyes downcast.
It was the next day, and C
assie had just given Josh the details of what happened last night. At first, he was, long with Nick and Caleb, more than pleased to hear how the night had gone. Nick and the rest had all loved hearing about how Cassie drew with the girls before making a meal and settling in with a movie.
They were all ecstatic when they saw the pictures the girls drew, all of the dads pleased to see that Cassie was bringing out their artistic sides. It was all exactly what they’d hoped for when they hired her.
But after Cassie had told the three about the good parts of the evening, Josh could sense there was more. Cassie looked like she didn’t to talk about it, but she seemed to know better than to hide anything from them, which Nick knew was a smart move.
“Some strange man showed up and you didn’t think this is something we’d want to know about?” asked Josh, his eyes narrowed.
“He said he was a business partner of yours,” said Cassie, her voice small. “And when I told him you all weren’t here, he just left, said he’d talk to you later.”
“I don’t think she knew any better, Josh,” said Caleb. “I mean, you know we don’t exactly have the most normal living situation all the freaking way out here. People stopping by houses is something that happens to normal people, you know?”
Josh raised his hand to Caleb, his eyes still fixed on Cassie. Caleb threw up his hands in annoyance, knowing that once Josh was on a tear like this there was no talking him down.
Nick knew this, which is why he didn’t say anything. Best to let Josh say what he needed to say.
“I know you said you wanted me to tell you if anything happened,” said Cassie. “But I thought that meant if one of the girls hurt herself or something like that. I didn’t know I needed to tell you when a person stopped by, or if the animals in the woods came out.”
Nick knew it was a delicate situation, and that Cassie did have a point – sure, the man showing up was strange, and the bears coming out of the woods were a grim portent, but if she didn’t know the true nature of the family, there was no reason for her to think any of it was the emergency that it was.
Because Nick knew it was an emergency.
“Are…are you going to fire me?” asked Cassie, sounding like she might break out into tears at any moment.