Dark Woods by Steve Voake Read Free Book Online

him.
    ‘What is wrong with you, Cal?’
    ‘I just think if we help him, it’s our best way of getting out of here.’
    ‘Yeah, well, that’s where you and me differ,’ said Eden, walking towards the door. ‘You stay if you want. Me? I’m out of here.’
    She pulled open the door and then hesitated. As she stepped back into the room again, Cal saw why.
    Jefferson was standing in the doorway, his face white with fury.
    And in his hand, he held a shotgun.

Sixteen
    ‘You think it’s nice to talk about people behind their backs? Do you? Huh?’ Jefferson jerked the barrel of the shotgun forward as he spoke. ‘Is that what you think?’
    Eden raised her hands in front of her chest, as if the act of doing so might somehow stop a cartridge full of buckshot.
    ‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said, and Cal saw that her hands were trembling. ‘I only just woke up. I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on.’
    ‘Oh yeah?’ Jefferson kept the shotgun level as his gaze shifted from Eden to Cal and back again. ‘Well, it seems like I heard you calling me a freak.’
    Cal saw the flash of anger in Jefferson’s eyes, saw the way his index finger curled around the trigger and decided it was time to get involved.
    ‘She’s frightened, that’s all,’ he said. ‘She doesn’t know you the way I do.’
    Cal glanced at Eden and saw fear in her eyes. But he also saw the way Jefferson stared at him, like a man waking from a troublesome dream.
    ‘You know me?’ he asked, and his voice wavered. ‘You know me?’
    ‘I’m starting to,’ said Cal. ‘Just a little.’
    Jefferson lowered the shotgun as if all the fight had gone out of him.
    ‘Come out here,’ he said to Eden. ‘I want to prove to you that I’m not a freak.’
    ‘How about you put the gun down first?’ said Eden. ‘You’re making me nervous.’
    ‘Yeah well you make me nervous,’ said Jefferson, recovering some of his anger. ‘All that talk about putting me in jail.’
    ‘She didn’t mean anything by it,’ said Cal. ‘She was just upset. Weren’t you, Eden?’
    He stared at her, willing her to play the game.
    ‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘That’s what it was. Now will you put the gun down?’
    ‘All right,’ said Jefferson, slowly backing out of the room. ‘But don’t mess with me, OK? I don’t want you trying any funny stuff.’
    Cal wondered what kind of funny stuff he had in mind, but as they followed him into the living area he seemed to relax a little.
    ‘OK, maybe I got a bit upset there,’ he said, putting the gun on the table amongst the piles of papers. ‘But you have to understand that I’m not out to hurt you. Look. While you were sleeping I even made you something to eat.’ He went across to the breakfast bar as if nothing had happened and came back with a plate of sandwiches. Cal noticed the bread was thick and roughly cut and wondered if Jefferson had baked it himself. He imagined him standing alone in the kitchen, waiting for the dough to rise and listening to the wind in the trees.
    ‘What’s in them?’ asked Eden.
    ‘Nothing to worry about, if that’s what you mean,’ said Jefferson.
    ‘I wasn’t meaning that,’ said Eden.
    ‘They’re cheese and tomato,’ said Jefferson. ‘Cheese and tomato with a touch of mayo thrown in.’
    It was late afternoon and as the sun threw long shadows across the pine floorboards Cal realised how hungry he was. He thought about how he never let Sarah make breakfast for him and now here he was sitting in a log cabin taking sandwiches from a crazy man. But then Jefferson wasn’t promising to look after him; he wasn’t promising anything except maybe a chance to go back where he started from, and Cal was used to that.
    ‘Not bad,’ said Eden innocently, taking a bite from a sandwich. ‘Where d’you get the cheese?’
    ‘From a convenience store,’ said Jefferson and Cal could tell from his face that he knew what was behind Eden’s question. ‘But I’d say two