Captivated (An Affliction Novel) (22 page)

A knot welled up in my throat. I was so cold. It wasn’t the weather, it wasn’t night darkening around me. It was Dean. I stared up at him. He was clenching his teeth, but he wasn’t looking at me. I grabbed the tape and quickly secured the gauze in place trying not to make any skin contact with him. A low growl came from behind me. Zeke was staring out into the forest with his chest sticking out in front of him.

“You should go home now.” Dean said darkly.

“I was leaving anyway.” I whimpered out, trying to pull myself together.

I hurried to my feet and grabbed Zeke’s leash. I walked away without saying another word to Dean. Then, he called out my name. Not my regular Mindy name, it was the one he always called me…Lina. I stopped and swiveled around. I was only a few feet away from him. The moonlight shining on his face let me see him almost clearly. His eyes were screaming in pain. He was clenching his jaw and just when he was about to speak, he closed his mouth again and turned away.

“Thank you.” And that was all he said before climbing on his bike.

n hour left before it was time for Markus to pick me up. I had just returned from the waterfall with Zeke. I was staring at the hangers in my closet. Most of them had no clothes on them. All my clean clothes were still in the laundry basket balled up and wrinkled. I stared up at the shelf. Dean’s shirt was in a perfect fold with a shelf to itself. I didn’t dare touch it, even though I was tempted to throw it on and walk around with it. Sadly, the smell of him wore off.

The door swung open.

“Knock knock.” Called out a fast paced Tanya. She carried a hot pink handbag. I knew that handbag. She was wearing her hair straight with pink streaks in it. Her makeup matched her hair and outfit. She was ready for tonight. The hot pink makeup bag was for me.

“What’s that for? You’re already wearing the whole bag on your face.” I said dryly.

“Ha ha. You’ve lost your mind, but not your sense of humor.” Tanya threw the bag on the floor and set her purse beside it. “Just look at you.” Tanya pointed out. She gestured both her arms towards me.

“What?” I asked. Shocked that she would blurt something out like that.

“You look horrible and Markus is going to be here in less than an hour. Were you seriously thinking about going out with me like that?” Tanya walked up to me and stood inches away from me looking me up and down. “You’ve completely stopped taking care of yourself. You wear your hair all frizzy.” She picked up my hand. “You don’t do your nails anymore. And don’t get me started on your lack of appreciation for cosmetics. How do you expect to get a rebound boyfriend looking like Raggedy Anne?” She said. “And by the way, you’re getting fat Anne!” she harshly added.

“No you didn’t!” I snapped back.

“Yes I did! Now sit down with me so I can get started. We don’t have much time.” she commanded.    

I sat down as she ordered. She wasn’t that gentle on my face, I wasn’t looking forward to her doing my hair. With her aggravation, she’d probably tear most of it out with her brush. She had me change into several different combination outfits until she found one that made her smile with excitement. After she was finished, she pulled me to the stand up mirror to examine myself. What I saw was amazing. My hair was long and wavy with some curls here and there. It looked so shiny and soft, probably because of all the hair products she had put in it. I had on a black leather skirt with black tights. She had me wear my black boots that reached up to my knees. I had on a red tight fitted shirt with tiny sleeves and a covered neckline.

     “Wow.” My jaw dropped. I hadn’t seen the girl in the mirror for what seemed like forever.            

“I know. I’m
goood!
” Tanya looked at my hand. “Crap! I forgot your nails. What time is it?” She looked at my alarm clock. “Okay. I have a few minutes before he gets here. Where’s my red nail- ah, here it is.” She pulled her favorite red nail polish out of the bag. She grabbed my hand and quickly painted my nails before Markus rang the door bell. It was exactly eight.

Markus didn’t drive the shoe; he pulled up in a lifted four door truck. The black Ford was made for a dangerous night. It blended in with the darkness. An invincible menace against the night.

“Wow.” Tanya and I said through our dropped jaws.

“Like a rock.” Markus sighed. “Imagine how my beat up shoe looks parked next to this thing on the driveway. It emasculates my car.”

“I can’t believe your dad let you take it out tonight.” I said.

“My car only fits two people. I didn’t want to have one of you ball up in the small backseat tonight, so he let me borrow it if I trim the bushes tomorrow.” Markus said.

“Shotgun!” Tanya headed for the passenger door before Markus had a chance to open it for her. I followed behind to the opened back seat. Markus smiled at me genuinely like things were back to normal. But they weren’t, everything was still wacked out for me. I stepped on the lift and pulled myself to the seat. The inside smelled like an ocean. It was clean and fresh. It looked like the inside had just been cleaned out, except for a brown paper bag sitting on the seat next to me. Knowing Markus’ dad, the car was like this all the time. He called it his girl and kept up with it. Those bushes must have been in real need of a trimming for him to let Markus borrow it on a Friday night.

We were leaving the neighborhood when Markus’ phone played ‘Anti-saint’ by Chevelle. He answered it, but I only heard mumbling with a nodding of the head.

“Mindy, is there a brown bag back there?” Markus asked.

“Yeah.” I looked over at it like it was some weirdo riding in the back with me. The top was folded down to hide what was inside. I didn’t know what was in it and I didn’t want to know. How it was neatly set on its own seat creeped me out.

Markus hung up the phone and made a u-turn back into the neighborhood. “I have to drop that bag off real quick. My grandpa needs it.”

I turned to it to make sure it was still on its side of the back seat. Just knowing it was for that old man added to the disturbing feeling.

We pulled up to his house. “I’ll get down with you. I want to say hi to your dad.” I tapped Tanya on the shoulder. “Are you coming?”

Tanya frantically shook her head. “Heck no!”

I shrugged my shoulders and climbed out of the truck. “Oh! I forgot to grab the bag.” I said while climbing back up to grab it.

“No! I’ll get it.” Markus said while running to the other side to beat me to it. He held it away from himself as we walked to the front door.

Branches clawed at my arm while we were heading to the house. The trail of bushes beside me definitely needed to be trimmed. They hardly left any walking space between them and the cars on the driveway. We passed by at least five bushes before reaching the entrance. I turned around and scanned his front yard to get a total count. There was a stone trail that lead from the sidewalk to the front patio. Bushes were aligned on either side of it. Branches were popping out of them like a stressed out cat. I felt sorry about the dreadful morning that awaited Markus.

When we approached the door, I sighed and regretted not staying in the truck with Tanya. Markus opened the door and I followed closely behind. The inside was well lit. It looked like every room in the house had the lights on. For being a house that three guys occupied, it was pretty clean. Just like his dads truck, everything was in its place. Markus’ mother died while giving birth to him. He was left in the hands of his grandpa while his dad was at work…poor kid.

“Dad! Mindy’s here.” Markus called out and set the bag carefully on the countertop of the kitchen.

A nasty crawling feeling inched up my back. It felt like a spider making its way to my neck. I rubbed what I could reach on my back, but the feeling wouldn’t leave me. Markus’ dad came out from one of the bedrooms with a blue tooth clipped to his ear. He towered over me, he had to be almost seven feet tall. His eyes were round and noticeable. He was balding, but it didn’t matter because the man grew better looking with age.

A broad smile beamed on his face. “What’s up Mindy!” His dad, Kevin, raised his hand up waiting for a high five from me. I returned the gesture and smiled with him.

“I brought the bag.” Markus said.

The crawling feeling spread out to the back of my arms. Kevin’s smile turned mischievous, like a kid with a funny secret.

“Good.” Came a hoarse voice from behind me.

I jumped and twirled around.
That
explained the crawling feelings. It was the grandpa. His glossy eyes peeked through his droopy eyelids. He was sitting in a motorized wheelchair with his sausage fingers on the control stick.

“Boy.” he gruffed out. “Give me the bag.” His eyes stayed on me. Examining me.

“Here you go.” Markus kept the bag at a distance and walked it over to his grandpa. As soon as the old man took his gaze from me and grabbed the bag, Markus wiped his hands on his pants.

The old man set the bag down on his lap and looked me over again before averting his attention to Markus. “You finally bring home a girl and it’s a skinny one.” He continued. “I’ve told you boy, they have to have some meat on them. Not like this one percent you brought.”

“She’s not my girlfriend grandpa. And she’s not that skinny.” Markus paused and the look of regret washed over his face. He must have thought he insulted me. I half smiled to let him know he didn’t, and his face softened. Hey, I knew I wasn’t a twig or anything. So, no offense taken.

“We should get going.” I insisted.

“Okay. I’ll see you guys later.” Markus said to his dad and crazy grandpa.

“Don’t break curfew.” Kevin warned with a smile. “I sleep with one eye open. Like a warrior.”

“What if the open eye gets tired?” Markus tested.

“They take shifts.” said Kevin.

“Where are you off to anyway boy? You going to follow your new friend again?” Asked the old man.

I turned to Markus and stared him straight in the face. The old man had to be talking about Dean. I knew Markus was hiding something from me. He looked back at me in surprise.

“What are you talking about grandpa? Did you take your medication today?” Markus asked while grabbing my arm and leading me out the front door.

As Markus hurriedly shut the door behind us, I heard his grandpa call out, “Use a condom!” Then, we were finally out of there.

Markus exhaled and worriedly peaked over at me. I stayed silent, still trying to recover from being in that house. There was no point in asking Markus what his grandpa meant. He would either deny it or tell me the answer I already knew. Markus had been going after Dean this whole time. There was no doubt that he had a theory about Dean, but it couldn’t be that bad if he wasn’t freaked out like when he witnessed the first body disappear. He acted different then, but now, he had been happier. It was hard to explain, but I just knew that he had been more content lately. He even started working out and eating healthier. Something he never cared for before.

I opened my mouth to speak and saw that the worry on his face increased dramatically. He didn’t want me to ask. For some reason, he wanted it kept from me. “I gotta ask you.” I said.

“Yeah?” His voice was shaky. He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from me.