Anyone?

by Scott, Angela

  I climbed into the bed and tugged the blanket and glorious silk sheets around me, but as tired as I was, somehow sleep wouldn’t come. I should be used to sleeping in strange places—the bunker, the gas station, Rite-Aid—but what I really wanted, what I longed for, was my own bed back in my room in my destroyed house. Nothing else would ever match that feeling, or even come close.

  I thought Cole had turned the music back on, but as I listened more carefully I heard that the loud music from before had been replaced by a lone guitar and one single voice, singing Hallelujah. I’d recognized the song, having heard it many different times on reality singing shows or even in major movie cartoons, but this version drew me to a sitting position.

  The beauty of the words baffled and intrigued me all at once. So powerful. So rich. Goosebumps rose on my skin.

  I slipped from my bed, carried by the music gracing my ears, and sat in the open doorway with my eyes on Cole.

  His head was bent low, his eyes closed, his body curved over the acoustic guitar, becoming one with the instrument. His lean fingers plucked the strings in perfect rhythm, not once missing a note, and his voice—surprising and unexpected from such a juvenile man—held my full attention.

  The beauty of his words, the rise and fall of his tenor, caused emotions to bubble in my chest and tears to wet my eyes. His talent, both in playing as well as singing, was beyond exceptional.

  He’d made the song his own by changing a few things here and there, his voice falling where it normally would rise, or rising where it may have fallen in the original, but the effect was mesmerizing, making it better than any version I’d ever heard before.

  He seemed to experience every one of the words he sang, drawing from some pain and loss in his past as his face reflected his feelings—something that couldn’t be faked. He felt every bit of it, whatever it was, and in essence, I felt it too. The words were a part of him.

  I didn’t think I would have believed him capable of such beauty had I not witnessed it for myself, but sitting and watching him do something so natural—a gift—made me honored to be a part of it, even if my part was only to listen.

  He hummed and continued to play the guitar with his eyes closed, and I leaned against the doorframe, not wanting this amazing experience to end. The music was more than beautiful; it was magical.

  “Sing with me, Tess.” His dark eyes locked onto mine as he thrummed the guitar. I hadn’t noticed him watching me. When had he realized I was there, listening and watching him?

  “No, I can’t.” I wasn’t a singer, not even close.

  “You know the words. Sing.” He didn’t turn his gaze away. “There’s no one else here. Just you and me. So sing.”

  I did know the words, but how did he guess?

  “Don’t make me pluck this guitar until my fingers bleed, waiting on you.” He stood, still holding the guitar and walked slowly toward me. “We’ll start over at the first verse. You can do it. Open your mouth and sing.”

  He nodded at me, indicating it was time, and he began to sing, his voice deep and almost hypnotizing. Whatever insecurities I had felt before, whatever held me back, evaporated and my mouth opened. Something about the way he looked at me made it impossible to resist.

  He had a way of making my amateur singing beautiful as he matched my pace and harmonized his words to my own. Perfect. Heavenly. By the time the song was over, and the guitar stilled, tears fell freely down my face.

  I had never experienced anything like that before. Ever.

  He smiled, placed one foot on the bottom step, and nodded. “You did good. Just like that little pig in the movie where he wanted to be a sheep dog, you know the one I’m talking about?”

  I narrowed my gaze. “You mean Babe?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one.” He rubbed my wet head. “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do.”

  I didn’t think anything could have ruined the amazing moment we’d shared, but somehow, Cole had managed to do it.

  I lay on my side, my pillow tucked under my head, my kitten snuggled against me. A lone light above the sink remained on, and the glow from hanging Christmas lights peeked through the blinds, lighting the RV and making it difficult to completely fall asleep, no matter how much I wanted to. Sleep was cruel like that. It teased me, caused my eyelids to droop, and then flitter away just as I was about to succumb.

  Cole opened the door, quietly. He stepped inside, a foot or so from where I lay wide awake in my bed, with only a towel draped low around his waist. My eyes widened. O-kay.

  I should have closed my eyes right then, not looked, but I couldn’t. Not that I was a pervert or anything, but dang. Tiny droplets of water clung to his chest and dripped from his dark hair. The water glistened on his toned skin in the dimmed light. Jeez.

  He didn’t notice me awake and watching, but turned his back to me as he headed toward his bedroom on the other side of the RV. I sat up, curious, as the strange but strikingly beautiful tattoo draping from one shoulder blade to the other drew my attention. Angel wings.

  I had to stifle a chuckle. Okay, that was a bit too much, especially for Cole, even if the artistry of it was amazing. A dragon tattoo or even a portrait of himself, maybe, but I would have never expected angel wings. Not Cole. I’d seen wing tattoos before—mostly biker gangs in the area, or goofy teen girls getting one on their wrist or behind their ear—but those crude drawings in no way compared to the delicate and fine details of the tattoo on Cole’s back. I’d never seen anything like it.

  “Angel wings, really?” I smiled.

  He whipped around, still clutching the towel. “Ahh... Tess! You scared me! I almost dropped my towel!”

  Okay. That I did not want to see. Thank goodness for quick reflexes or I’d be scarred forever. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that. I just find your tattoo... interesting.” This time I did chuckle. I couldn’t help it.

  “Hey, don’t judge me. I was going through some things at the time, and it seemed like a pretty good idea.” He disappeared from view. “Let’s just say some decisions should be slept on first.”

  “So you wouldn’t pick wings if you had to do it all over again?” I scratched my sleepy kitty’s belly.

  He stepped back into view, pajama bottoms on and a t-shirt in his hand. He looked at me for a long moment. “Depends on the day.”

  “Can I see it a little closer?” I slipped from my bed, making sure not to wake Callie.

  He seemed to contemplate my question for a while, but when he finally nodded, I closed the distance between us until I stood in front of him. With my finger, I drew a circle in the air. “Turn around.”

  He released an exaggerated breath, but did as I asked.

  When the simple light in the RV highlighted his muscular back I took in my own breath, holding it. Wow. He was quite a specimen all right. I shook my head, forcing those thoughts away. He was old, for heaven’s sake!

  I turned my attention to the beauty of the tattoo and marveled at the fine lines and shadows that etched his skin. Toby had several tattoos, but since he was lacking in the money department, his tattoos looked shoddy in comparison. I think one of his buddies from high school even did one for him that ended up getting infected. What an idiot.

  Cole’s was far more professional and the eye for detail was incredible. Yes, they were angel wings on the back of a more than annoying kind of man, but still, I had to admire the artwork.

  Maybe I shouldn’t have touched it, but my fingers had a mind of their own. They traced the lines of one shoulder and then the other. Whoever had done this had a pretty incredible hand—steady and focused. On any other canvas, it would probably be considered a masterpiece in its own right.

  He shivered and pulled away. “Okay, that’s enough.” He drew his shirt up and over his head. “Shouldn’t you be sleeping or something?”

  “I can’t.”

  “It’s late.”

  I nodded. “I know, and I’m exhausted.”

  “Do you want me to tell you a b
edtime story, or something?”

  At first, I thought he was kidding, but he stared at me with all seriousness and it took me a minute to respond. “I’m seventeen not seven. I don’t need a story.”

  He shrugged. “You’re a kid. I thought I’d offer.”

  “Well, I appreciate it, but I’m good.”

  I turned to go back to my bed and try the sleeping thing again, when thunder clapped overhead, rattling the metal frame of the hanger and shaking the RV. I grabbed on to the tiny kitchen counter to steady myself.

  In my panic, I threw open the door, ran past the massive dining table and movie theater, and circled the hot tub only to come to a standstill in front of the RV again. Where was I going? If this place blew apart, whether I was in the RV or standing next to the popcorn machine wouldn’t make a difference.

  Nowhere was safe.

  My breathing became labored, my heart raced, and when the thunder boomed again, I crouched on the ground and threw my hands over my head. Not again. Not again. Meteors? Tornado? I couldn’t do this anymore.

  “Hey.” Cole knelt beside me and placed his hand on my shoulder. “It’s only a thunder storm, Tess. That’s all. We’re okay.”

  My head snapped up. “How do you know? How do you know a tornado isn’t barreling down on us right now or we’re not going to be blown to pieces by falling rock from outer space?” I shook all over, waiting for the entire structure of the hanger to be ripped apart piece by piece.

  “Outer space?” He shrugged. “I guess I don’t.”

  Another boom exploded, and I found myself in Cole’s arms with my face pressed against his chest. “We’re gonna die!”

  “Now you’re being dramatic.” He hugged me. “Listen.”

  I didn’t move my head from his chest.

  One more boom, but this time it sounded farther off in the distance. I still didn’t release my grip on him.

  “We’ll probably be hearing rain right... about... now.”

  Sure enough, the pinging sound of raindrops hitting the metal building filled the hanger. It would be beautiful if I didn’t imagine a large destructive cloud hovering nearby ready to suck us up into its vortex only to spit us out several miles away.

  “Tess, I promise it’s only a thunderstorm. That’s all.” He rubbed my back in small circular motions. “It’s late. We should really go back inside and get some sleep. Tomorrow will be busy.”

  “Sleep? Yeah, I don’t think so.” My nerves were on edge. My tired brain worked overtime to scare the crap out of me by imagining all sorts of scenarios in which I would end up dead. Maybe it was only rain and thunder, but with everything going on this day alone, I couldn’t rely on Cole’s words to calm me. My stupid brain wouldn’t let me.

  He scooped me up in his arms, surprising me, and carried me toward the trailer. “You can worry just as much lying in your bed as you can crouching out here in a ball. What will happen will happen.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” I held on by wrapping my arms around his neck.

  “It didn’t? Hmmm... weird. Okay, well, what if I say I’m tired and you’re going to sit in your bed really quiet-like so I can get some sleep?” He climbed the rickety steps into the RV without a problem, as though my weight didn’t make a difference at all.

  “Yeah, that’s worse.”

  “Well, I tried. I can’t help it if you’re impossible.”He placed me on my couch bed and tucked the blankets around me. “Stay there. You can sleep if you like or you can sit there and worry about everything, but you need to be quiet. Not a peep.” He motioned to his lips and pretended to lock them. “Get it? Not a word.”

  The rain continued to fall on the hanger roof, but being inside the RV muffled the sound some. Still, I couldn’t help if death and destruction plagued my mind. I’d watched a whole city get wiped away. I’d seen dead people, well, parts of dead people. We’d almost died ourselves. How in the world was I expected to fall asleep with all that running rampant in my brain?

  Cole grabbed my bewildered cat from off the floor and placed her next to me. I loved Callie, but I needed something more than a crazy kitten to calm me down. I held her anyway and hoped.

  He made the key locking motion by his mouth once more and then headed to his bed.

  I followed his every movement and watched as he flopped himself down on the huge king- sized bed, sprawling out over the top, not even bothering to get inside the covers.

  Within a few minutes, his snoring filled our living space. If only it were that easy for me.

  I picked up Callie in one arm, gathered my blanket in the other, and tiptoed toward him. As quietly as I could, without disturbing him, I crawled onto his bed and made myself comfortable, leaving a good space between us.

  Callie found a nice spot on the pillows, near Cole’s head, and plumped them with her tiny claws until she found them suitable enough to lie down and fall asleep.

  Thunder continued in the distance, moving on as he’d said it would, but the rain didn’t let up, even growing more intense as time ticked by. He slept through it all, seemingly unbothered by it. How does he do that?

  I knew my body couldn’t go on like this. I would, at some point, fall asleep, but the very idea of closing my eyes and becoming vulnerable to everything scared me. How could I save myself if I was asleep?

  Insane thinking, like running around the inside of a hanger had been, but where I once had wanted to close my eyes and sleep, now I fought against it. Someone should stand guard, right? Another insane thought. If a meteor fell on us or a tornado ripped through this area, I couldn’t change it. What will happen will happen, just as Cole had said.

  But that didn’t mean I had to like it.

  He slept with his mouth open, snoring so loudly that had I wanted to sleep, I wasn’t so sure I could. There was a lot about Cole which irked me, but right now in that moment, I was grateful for his presence, which meant I wasn’t completely alone.

  I grabbed part of my comforter and draped it across him, sharing.

  I didn’t know if sleep would find me, but I did know I felt a lot safer lying next to him.

  He bolted upright, startling me from my restless sleep. He didn’t move, but his wide eyes stared straight ahead. Focused. Intent.

  “Cole?” I sat up too, whipped my head around, listening for anything to indicate us having to make another run for it. My hands clutched the blanket, twisting it into a gnarled mess in my indecision. “You’re scaring me.”

  His shoulders stiffened, but he didn’t say a word. The veins in his neck throbbed and rose to the surface. He didn’t blink. He didn’t move. His stillness terrified me.

  When Callie rose to all four feet, arched her back, and hissed in the same direction, the hairs on the back of my neck sprung to life. “What is it? Do you hear something?”

  He didn’t say a word.

  Except for the rhythmic sound of the rain pelting the metal roof and the soft hum of the generators, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I strained to see what he stared at, but the RV was empty except for the two of us and my bizarre cat. I might not have heard or seen anything, but it didn’t mean I was going to go look either.

  Fear kept me from crawling from the bed to investigate, like some people would. I knew better. People died investigating weird noises. I’d watched enough horror shows to know how it all played out. I also wore a t-shirt and underwear, which meant instant death. Horror movies were clear about that too.

  I slid closer to him, our shoulders touching. “What’s going on?” I leaned forward, trying to catch his eye, but he only looked through me. “Cole?” I whispered. What do I do? What do I do?

  Not a word from my statuesque companion. Then I realized he wasn’t even registering my presence.

  How I wished I had my gun. Or a bat. Anything to make me a little braver. I had only my blanket, my near nakedness, and a paralyzed man at my side.

  Gathering enough courage to kneel on the bed, I pushed the curtains aside only a frac
tion. The limited light in the hanger revealed nothing. The large doors remained closed and locked. Everything sat in its proper place. I looked out each of the RV side windows, crawling over Cole to do so, but found nothing strange there either. What is going on?

  Braver people would go check things out, but since bravery wasn’t my strong suit and I sucked at most things heroic, I hovered near Cole and waited. If I was going to die, I could easily do it sitting right there.

  I kept my ears open and craned my neck from side to side as I listened for our impending death, then slipped my hand over his.

  His eyes remained locked in his weird trance, but when I touched him, he gave one slow deliberate nod—eerie—before falling back against the mattress as if all the air had been sucked from him.

  Callie stopped hissing almost instantly, jumped from the bed, and proceeded to use the litter box. Life as usual.

  You have to be kidding me? What the hell?

  I shoved him, but he only moaned in response.

  “Cole.” I shoved him again, this time a little more insistently. No way he was going back to sleep after scaring the crap out of me with his wacky dreams, or whatever had happened.

  But if it was a dream, then how was I supposed to explain Callie and her hissing? I shook my head. This is creepy and insane.

  “Cole.”

  He grunted.

  “Cole! Seriously.” I slapped his shoulder.

  His eyes fluttered open, and he barely acknowledged me before rolling on to his side. “Hmmm....”

  “What was that all about, huh?”

  He kept his eyes closed, drew part of my blanket around himself, and settled into the pillows. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He dragged out his words as sleep seemed to lure him away from me.

  “The whole staring off into space thing and freaking me out. That thing.”

  “Tess, it’s late.” He used his foot to edge me from the bed but I caught myself before plummeting to the floor. The jerk. “Go away,” he said. “I’m tired.”