The Waiting: A Supernatural Thriller (12 page)

“More like creepy.”

“Industrious sounds better.”

S
he laughed, and Shaun giggled too.

“Now everyone’s laughing at me,”
Selena said, shaking her head.

“It’s fine, I’m glad you called.”

She glanced his way, and their eyes met, holding for less than a second, but something connected and then released as he looked down into his wineglass.

“Me too.”

A silence stretched out, broken only by Shaun talking to his cars and the tinkling of the wind chimes.

“Professional question,” Evan said after a
while.

“Oh no, here
it comes,” Selena said, smiling.

“Nothing
too weird, I’m actually curious about cabin fever.”

“Why, are you
already feeling isolated out here?”

“No, nothing like that, it’s just
—”

He hovered over the subject, not knowing whether to
get into it or not. The night was going so well.

“The former caretaker here, Bob, he di
sappeared a couple months ago.”

Selena
frowned. “Yeah, I think I heard something about that.”

Evan nodded. “People seem to think he walked off in the middle of winter
. Is that common with someone in isolation?”

Selena
pursed her lips. “It can be. The claustrophobia and isolated feeling people get after being alone or confined to a small area for a period of time usually results in them doing something that’s out of character.”

“Like what?”

“Like someone who is normally an early riser sleeps longer and longer into the day. Peaceful people become irritable, violent sometimes. Reason can be lost if the person doesn’t do anything to remedy the situation.”

“So wandering off into the woods
in the middle of winter could be a possibility?”

“Sure. And mind you, some people are more resistant to isolation than others, they can handle being alone and not be any worse for wear.” She studied hi
s expression. “Why do you ask?”

Evan drained the last of his wine, feeling the pleasant buzz weaken with the conversation. “Yo
u’re going to think I’m crazy.”

“If I had a quarter.”

He chuckled. “I bet. No, it’s—” He glanced at Shaun, who intently watched the lake. “It’s disturbing being here when I don’t know what happened to the last guy, you know? I have these feelings that ... that he isn’t really gone.”

“You mean
, like he’s hiding somewhere on the island?”

Evan frowned. “Maybe? I don’t know
. It’s unsettling, that’s all.”

“I can see how it could be, you have a ton of responsibility,” she said
, motioning to Shaun. “The weight of that sometimes does funny things to our minds. Makes us worry when there isn’t anything to fear. Not to say you’re unstable. A new location coupled with the last caretaker’s disappearance might have sent your protectiveness into overdrive.”

Evan sat back in his chair
, surprised by how much Selena’s words made sense. “I never thought about it that way. You’re probably right.”

“A girl never gets tired of hearing that.”

He smiled. “Would you like another glass of wine?”

~

An hour later, he walked Selena to the door. The evening fell around the island in a cool hush that brought stillness to everything. Even the waves along the shoreline seemed calmer.

Selena
paused on the stoop. “I had a really nice time tonight with you guys, thank you for dinner.”

“No problem, it’s
great to have company, keeps the cabin fever away.”

She laughed an
d pulled out a business card from her pocket. “My home number’s on the back. I transfer it to my cell when I’m out in case I get an emergency call from the office for a patient.”

He
reached out to take the card from her, a simple act, but one that held so much more weight for him. He hesitated before accepting it. A small flash of uncertainty crossed Selena’s face.

“Thank you,” he said
, as lightly as he could. “And you already have mine.”

S
he blushed again and nodded. “Have a nice night,” she said, holding out her hand.

He took it, feeling the softness of her skin again
, and instead of shaking it, he just held it for a moment before letting go. “You too.”

She turned and moved toward the dock
, and he watched her go, wanting to say more, and at the same time, glad the night was over. When she was out of sight, he carried Shaun to the bathroom and helped him brush his teeth.

“So what did you think of
Selena, buddy? Was she okay?”

He
nodded once and exposed his foamy teeth.

“Does that mean we should have her over for dinner again?”

“Na,” he said, smiling.

“No?” Evan laughed and tickled his son’s sides. “What do you mean, no? I thought you liked her
.”

Shaun giggled and tried to bat Evan’s hands away.

“Okay, okay, let’s finish brushing.”

Evan glanced at the clock after
they finished in the bathroom. “It’s still a little early to go to bed, do you want to find another documentary on the TV?”

Shaun struggled to get down from his arms
, in an effort to get to the couch faster.

“
All right, let’s do it.”

He
placed Shaun on the couch and walked to the entertainment center to grab the remote, looking out the windows at the evening—

—
and saw the outline of a body floating in the water.

His eyes widened
, and the remote slipped from his hand, snapping against the floor and spewing its batteries out like a rotten meal.

“Oh God,” Evan said
.

A moment of indecision
gripped him, and then he ran toward the door.

“Shaun
, stay right there.”

His fingers fumbled at the doorknob for an agonizing second
, and then he flew down the steps, onto the grass, the dew of the evening wetting his socks. As he ran, he hoped he was seeing things again, perhaps a trick of the failing light on the water. Maybe a piece of driftwood or something like it. But no, the shape was there, clearer this time, floating past the end of the dock. It looked like a man, facedown ... definitely facedown.

“Hey! Are you okay?”

The figure in the water didn’t stir. It bobbed, turning counterclockwise, its feet spinning slowly toward the town.

“Shit
,” Evan said.

He
tore his T-shirt over his head. His feet hit the dock, the planking banging beneath his soles as he ran. Three more strides and he jumped, hung in the air, and dove into the water.

The lake hit him like something alive, its cold unlike anything he’d experienced before. Frozen needles pierced every inch of his skin
, and he barely resisted the urge to gasp at the shock. He stroked toward the surface and broke through, heaving a lungful of air in. He tried to shake the water from his eyes, then swam forward, hoping for and dreading the moment his fingers found the body. The moisture filtered from his vision, and he stopped, treading water and spun in a circle.

Nothing was
there.

The beating of his heart throbbed in his ears as he searched the calm
, flat plane of water all around him. He dove, keeping his eyes open against the blinding cold this time, and swam down, panning the surrounding few feet for the man’s body he knew must be there. Straggling weeds grew up from the lake’s bottom, but otherwise the water was too dark to see through.

He rose,
sucked a breath in, and plunged down again. Over and over he dove, a sickening feeling growing in his stomach the whole time.

There was nothing there in the first place
.

At last he gave up and
swam toward the dock, glancing over his shoulder every other stroke, half expecting the body to be there again. Whenever a weed touched his foot, his heart gave a nasty jump. When his hand found the decking, the relief was almost overwhelming. Pulling himself onto the dock, he stood there shivering, cold water running out of his pants legs in streams, the dripping of the moisture returning to the lake and the chattering of his teeth the only sounds.

Evan hurried back to the house, picking up his dropped
T-shirt on the way. When he stepped into the entry and saw Shaun still propped on the couch where he’d left him, his first instinct was to call 911. Picking up his cell phone, he started dialing the numbers, but then turned to face the lake again. Darkness cloaked the water now, hiding everything but the barest of movement of small waves licking the shore.

He’d imagined
the body, or it had been a trick of the light. A floating body couldn’t just disappear in a matter of seconds.

He shivered again, not sure if his soaking pants were to blame.

“Da?”

Shaun’s eyes were
wide and unblinking in the low light.

“I’m okay,” Evan said
, and shook again. “I’m okay.”

He crossed the room and turned on the TV with a
trembling hand, finding a cartoon on the next station he turned to.

“You watch for a minute
, and Dad’s going to take a quick shower.”

He left the bathroom door wide open and
, after firing up the shower, stripped out of his sopping clothes. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror, he saw that his lips were light blue.

The shocking change in temperature brought a rasping breath from him as he stepped into the hot water. Evan let it flow over him, envelope his body in its warmth. Gradually he stopped shaki
ng and the tension in his muscles eased. As the physical strain washed away, his mind began to whir with questions, none he wanted try to answer. Mostly because the solution to almost all of them ended with another question—one concerning his own sanity.

He
leaned forward, resting his head against the shower surround. “What the hell’s happening to me?”

Shaun’s scream rang through the house
, and Evan jerked, nearly slipping on the shower floor. He ripped the curtain away and slapped the shower handle off, then jumped from the tub. Shaun’s scream came again, louder this time, and Evan ran, launching himself through the doorway and into the living room.

Shaun lay on his side on the couch, his arms flailing at the air, his legs kicking against a stack of pillows. Evan skidded to a stop and knelt, setting
him back up into a sitting position.

“What’s wrong, honey? Wh
at’s the matter? Are you hurt?”

Shaun responded with another wail and craned his neck around toward the kitchen. Tears ran in steady streams down his reddened face
, and he coughed, choking on his own panic. Evan scanned his small body and saw no bleeding or bruises, although he didn’t know how he would’ve gotten hurt sitting on the couch.

“What’s
the matter?” Evan asked again.

“D-d-d-da
,” Shaun stuttered, between hitching cries.

“I’m right here, honey, I’m right here.”

Shaun shook his head. “Da!”

Evan wiped away some of the tears
and frowned, glancing at the kitchen as Shaun pointed again.

“Da!”

“Okay, okay, I don’t know what you’re saying, honey.”

Shaun glanced around the room through
tear-muddled eyes and pointed toward the entertainment center.

“You want the TV off? Was th
ere something scary on the TV?”

He stood, suddenly aware of his nudity, and grabbed a small blanket from a nearby chair. After wrapping it around his waist, he went toward the TV, sure now that something on the pro
gram must have disturbed Shaun.

“Dere
,” Shaun yelled through another sob, pointing again at the TV.

“Okay, I’ll shut it off,” Evan said, fli
cking the power switch.

“Dere!”

This time he looked at where Shaun pointed, following his outstretched arm to the iPad lying beside the TV.

“You want the iPad?”

“Na.” Shaun screwed up his face in concentration. “Yesh!”

“Okay,” Evan said, car
rying the device to the couch.

Shaun
grabbed it from his hand, flipped it on, and found the flash-card application. The app loaded, and he continued to whimper as he scrolled down the rows and rows of pictures with names beneath them. While he searched, Evan glanced over the couch at the kitchen. There weren’t any lights on, and shadows hung beneath the long table and shaded the two doors at its far end.