I can’t believe I fucking found her.
I trail behind her in awe and excitement, careful to stay hidden between the ramshackle stores that are somehow still standing.
Inside of them, there are … things.
They look so much like people, but the stiffness of their bodies betrays them. I don’t know why they’re here or what they are exactly, though I reason to guess that maybe Dollywoodland is a place for the hopeful wishes of someone that can’t quite have what they want, and perhaps these are their companions. Lils would love these damn things, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted one or two of her own.
Maybe I’ll take one back to her, I think as I glance out from around the side of an old pharmacy.
Bevie is walking through the streets, hands in her pockets, whistling to herself.
It’s a manic sound.
Frenzied and content.
Angry and hopeful.
A beautiful, melancholy melody that I’m trying so hard to commit to memory. I don’t know if it means something to her, and if it does, I want to be able to sing it back to her on nights when she’s in my bed, falling asleep in my arms. I know she’ll desperately miss her father in those moments, and I’ll do my best to make her realize everything is okay.
She’ll be safe with me, and I’ll even bring Lils to visit her from time to time. Maybe the three of us can form a little family of some kind, and when Bevie and I have our own child, the one Mom spent so much time prophesying about, Lils will be the best big sister in the world.
Everything will be as perfect as it can be in this fucked up aftermath of hate and vengeance, and maybe when my heart is whole again, I’ll be able to do what Mom made me promise.
My eyes widen briefly when she’s a mere few feet away, and I take a quick step back into the alley. Pressing the back of my head against the crumbling bricks, I close my eyes and rest one of my feet against the wall, hoping that I don’t use just enough force to tumble the entire building down over me.
I can hear her melody reaching its peak as she pauses to take a deep breath, then lets out a heavy sigh.
It almost sounds like she’s — “Who are you?” — Right next to me.
I clear my throat as my head rolls slightly enough for me to look at her.
“Just passing through. I didn’t want to frighten you.”
“But, who are you?” she asks again as she looks me up and down.
I push off the wall and rub the bridge of my nose with a finger before I shove my hands into my pockets and return her unnerving stare.
“A friend.”
She crosses her arms over her chest, tilts her chin defiantly, and I watch as her perfect lips begin to curve slowly.
“If you’re my friend, then what’s my name?” she challenges.
“Bevie,” I reply without hesitation, and she blanches at my immediate response. “See?” I continue as I grin, “I’m a friend.”
“I don’t remember ever meeting you,” she says uncertainly as she narrows her eyes at me.
I shrug.
I can’t tell her how I know her name without scaring her off, and the last thing I want to do is try to get her father to agree to give me her hand if she’s frightened of me.
“All right, friend,” she begins testily. “What’s your name? And why do you have that thing over your eye?”
I look away for a moment, wondering if she’ll run away when she sees me the way only Mom has, but I have to take the chance. If I’m right about Bevie, she’ll be able to see past that like Mom did.
“Colby,” I state quietly. “And this” — I reach up with the tip of my forefinger, pushing my eyepatch up just enough for her to see — “is to keep little girls from getting scared.”
She takes a step forward, drops her hands to her sides, and peers closely at my mutation. I don’t know what I expected her reaction to be, but it wasn’t this.
Maybe it’s because I presented myself as a dare instead of just showing her. Something tells me that Bevie isn’t the kind of girl to turn a dare down and has to show how brave she is all the time.
Which I’m fine with.
She’ll need to be daring when she goes on hunts with me. I like to skirt the perimeter of Los Angeles, to taunt the things that want so desperately to break the treaty that was formed one-hundred-fifty years ago. The same treaty, which states they must stay in their territory in return for us staying in ours.
I move my finger away and then reach up with both hands to readjust the patch, doing my damnedest not to grimace at the sliver of pain from the toxic air gently wafting by and kissing my deformity. That’s another reason I wear the patch; I haven’t figured out how to get the air and my eye to play nice yet.
“Satisfied?” I ask her as I shove my hands back into my pockets.
“I had a dolly that looked like you,” she murmurs, more to herself than me.
“Oh?”
“Yeah, it was missing an eye, but it was my favorite.”
My cheeks burn crimson and I’m thankful that we’re standing out in the night instead of under the sun, because then she’d be able to see how easily she made me blush at the praise that wasn’t even meant for me.
I nod as I glance around the side of the building.
So far, so good.
We’re still alone with her father nowhere in sight, and I think that creating a rapport with her before I speak to him will help my case when I plead it.
“So, are you hunting?” she asks, gripping her forearm with her hand and cocking a hip out.
Another nod.
I am hunting, but not for food.
I’m hunting for Bevie’s affection, and now that I have her attention at the very least, I’m at a loss as to what to do with it.
“I’ll be going,” I say to her with a quick bob of my head, feeling like a fucking fool. Time alone with her is something I should capitalize on, but I don’t have it in myself right now. Besides, I promised Lils I’d be back at midnight, and I can tell by where the moon is in the sky that I’m already late.
As I walk out of the alley and start heading down the empty, forlorn street, I hear Bevie call out to me. “Bye, Colby! Maybe next time I can hunt with you!”
I don’t stop walking, instead choosing to close my eye for a moment as I continue on my way back home.
Maybe.