Cauchemar by Alexandra Grigorescu Read Free Book Online

them humbly toward the silver of his set, consumed by the joy of rhythm.
    Hannah felt herself moving forward through the crowd, taken by some new confidence. She wanted to be closer to Callum. She felt like someone new, someone unburdened by her mother’s reputation.
    â€œHe’s good, isn’t he?” James handed her a glass.
    Callum was backlit, but even so, when he opened his eyes, Hannah felt that they were resting on her. She was sure she’d never been studied quite so intently before. He had her pinioned.
    The songs melted into each other, and Hannah drank quickly, grateful for the pleasant haziness that was taking over. James took each empty glass from her and replaced it with a fresh one. Soon, her head was spinning, and what she’d seen that afternoon was blurred.
    She let herself entertain possibilities in the safety of a sweaty crowd. It was natural, she thought, to feel fragile after a death. Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling that the creature in the grass had somehow been more
present
than it ever had before. More real.
    But there were ways to explain it. An albino gator, maybe. She’d read somewhere that they existed, and it didn’t seem such a stretch that years of crossbreeding had carried the mutation into the Louisianan swamp.
    â€œGod’s garden is wide and varied,” Mae used to say during Hannah’s teenaged years, usually in response to the reports of violence and prostitution that trickled in from town. While she fished deep-fried oysters from her browned, bubbling pot of oil, Mae would tell Hannah about young doe-eyed boys whose hearts burst in the throes of ecstasy tablets. “And that’s why I want you here, where you’re safe.”
    Hannah was just beginning to bite at the bit, to yearn for the nightlife that frightened Mae. “So I’m not allowed in God’s garden?”
    Something had flitted across Mae’s face and she’d turned away. “Making your own decisions might seem wonderful now, but when you’re in the thick of it, you might feel differently. There’ll be time enough for you to go wherever you want after I’m gone.”
    Callum’s last note faded smoothly into silence, overtaken quickly by claps and cries for an encore, but he raised a slick hand toward the audience and hopped offstage. “Band needs a beer, folks,” the drummer whispered into the microphone. “Y’all stick around, though.”
    Hannah shrank back as Callum headed straight for her.
    â€œYou came. I asked James to bring you,” he added, nodding at James. Callum accepted a beer and a chaste kiss from a lipsticked waitress. She ran her thumb across his cheek to wipe off the red mark.
    â€œThat was great, man,” a heavily bearded man said, elbowing his way between them.
    A delicate-featured woman with thick black curls clasped her arms around Callum’s neck. “Totally great,” she echoed.
    â€œHannah, these two are Tom and Leah. They’re my whole fan club.” A passing group of twenty-somethings raised their glasses toward him and Callum lowered his eyes.
    â€œHe’s too humble, don’t you think?” Tom said, bowing to Hannah with a flourish. “Nice to meet you.”
    Callum shared a private glance with Leah, so intimate that Hannah looked away. He undid Leah’s hands and brushed his lips across her knuckles as she smiled.
    â€œNobody likes a show-off,” Callum said, as the crowd lost interest in him and began to talk amongst themselves.
    Tom rolled his eyes and tapped his beer bottle against Callum’s. “Oh, fuck off.” He thrust his chin toward James. “Fill me in on the goings-on, man. Let Callum and Hannah get a bit better acquainted.” He winked at Hannah.
    Hannah rolled her shoulders back. Leah still stood near Callum, mouthing the edge of her glass.
    â€œHow long have you lived by the water?” Callum asked Hannah. He