Chapter 8
Asterion
Quietly, so as not to wake her, I pull aside the heavy flap to the hut, warm air rushing past my face.
I am relieved to see that she is just now sitting up, rubbing sleep from her eyes as a small kitten might.
The light from the windows is shining, even more glorious now that the threat of Mark has been taken care of.
I stand at the doorway, watching her. Her eyes find me, a smile on her lips, and then a small frown of a question.
“Where were you?”
“It is a long story.”
“Well, it's not like I have anywhere to be today.” She pats the fur by her side.
I come sit by her and tell her everything. When I get to the part of Mark wetting himself, she claps a hand over her mouth to stifle her laugh. She stays like this a moment before gaining her composure.
“Did you have to scare him so badly? That wasn't kind.”
“Any man who can torture you without a single thought deserves the piss scared from him.”
“Keep going.”
When I get to the part of the sheriff, her eyes are wide and shining. “Do you know what this means?” She breathes.
“I know he will be too scared to come back. Possibly they will put him in the jail.”
She is nodding, but her reaction is telling me I might be missing something.
“He is acting insane right now. No one will believe him. And he is just going to keep doubling down, I know him. The fact that he tried to take a police officer’s weapon is really bad. To say the least. He is going to jail for a long time. Maybe even a psych ward, who knows.”
I am confused. “A psych ward? I have not heard of this. Is this like jail?”
“It’s where people who scream about human-eating monsters go when they try to take a police officer’s gun.” She says bluntly. “They will think he has gone crazy.”
I nod. “So…this is good?”
I see tears in her eyes now, happy ones. “Yes, this is good.” She leans over to kiss me. “I thought you left to go, you know…”
“Hunt him down and kill him? I did not think you would like that. I had to get creative.”
We stare at each other in silence for a half second before we burst out laughing, and for a long time, we can’t stop.
???
THE AIR HAS BEEN warmer these past few months, and I have basically moved into the cabin full-time. Sometimes we go to the hut so we can fish and have fun in the sweat dome.
A few weeks later, Clara gets a phone call from Kate, letting us know that she saw Mark's name in the paper. Apparently, he had thrown a fit during his court hearing, and they’d had no choice but to commit him. I hear them celebrating on the phone.
After Clara hangs up, she comes over to the couch to sit on my lap. “Kate wanted to tell me something else.”
I trace the curves of her face with the back of my hand. That exhausted, gaunt look is almost gone now. She is radiant in the afternoon light.
“Oh?”
“She wants me to have the cabin. She says she is never going to use it, and it’s not worth selling. She’ll ‘sell’ it to me for a dollar, and the deed is going to be mailed.” She beams at me.
“That is great news.”
“Will you stay with me? I mean, be with me?” She blurts. Her brows knit in uncertainty. I feel her breath pause as she waits for my answer.
“I will stay with you forever, my sweet Clara.”
Her smile sends me to the heavens, and I can only hope to continue making her happy.
~The End ~