Endlessly by C.V. Hunt Read Free Book Online Page B

with her. I lost
sight of her car. I followed the twists and turns, then came upon a
straight stretch. That’s when I spotted the mobile home. It stood
close to the edge of the road and had a small detached garage. Her
car sat in the driveway. There she was, nearing the front door of
the mobile home. She looked toward me, confused, and clutching her
shopping bag. What she saw was a dark figure on a lightless
motorcycle riding past her on a December night.
    Even in the dark I could see her aura.
My heart felt like it was going to pound out of my chest. I slowed
the bike and continued down the road for about a mile. Finally I
turned around, drove back about half the distance to her place,
then killed the engine. From there I coasted quietly until I was
only a few hundred feet from her trailer. I stopped and pushed the
bike into the woods. I pushed my sunglasses up on top of my head,
shoving my hair back too.
    The leafless trees stretched their
branches high, their leaves disintegrating beneath my feet. I
followed a steep slope down through the woods to a cleared, level
area. In the midst of the clearing lay the remains of a bonfire and
a few lonely beer cans. Just beyond the clearing was a
river.
    To my right the land went back up
toward the trailer. A steep slope with steps led up to the garage.
The lights in the trailer were on, and a lone light bulb shone
above the back door. It was low wattage, and most of the light came
from the moon filtering through the tree branches.
    Suddenly the back door opened. I heard
her voice. It was higher pitched than it had been in the store, and
she spoke quite softly. It was the tone one might use with a child.
Somewhere nearby a dog growled. I turned to run toward the river,
then realized: it was the dog she was talking to. The dog had heard
me, and now it ran toward me.
    Ash yelled out: “Pogo stop!”
    I ran up a tree trunk so fast that her
human eyes couldn’t catch it, but the dog did. There he was at the
base of the tree, barking. He was going to bust me.
    “Pogo get back here!” She started for
the stairs. “Would you leave those stupid raccoons
alone!”
    I looked down at the dog that had
doomed me—a fifteen-pound Boston Terrier strutting as if he were
many times his size. The dog only did what came naturally: he
defended his owner. I looked out at another tree maybe ten feet
from me, and leapt to it. The dog followed, barking.
    Ash was trotting toward the dog. “Come
on. Don’t make me carry you back into the house. Do your business
and get moving, mister. It’s cold.”
    She came so close that I could smell
her. I wondered if it was her scent that drew me. I held my breath
as she reached down to grab the dog. At that point I started to
move, though I had no idea why. My heart beat so hard I thought she
might hear it. I started silently down the tree. It was impulse. My
body wanted to be near her. Her aura lit the night air around her.
It looked like a solid, individual entity. I wanted to touch it.
Mindlessly I stretched my arm toward her. A deep ache filled my
chest. I exhaled silently, stifling a moan. I couldn’t fight her
magnetism. It was physically pulling me. As she scolded the dog I
crouched on a branch about five feet above her. I grasped a branch
to steady me, and stretched my other arm toward her. Was her aura
solid? That’s what I wanted to know.
    The dog let out a yelp. Ash glanced up
in my direction. Terror crossed her face, then she let out a
blood-curdling scream. She turned to run, tripped over a tree root,
and fell into leaves and mud. I jumped from the tree and reached
out to help her.
    The dog jumped on me. I thought he
would bite, but instead he hopped up on his hind legs and pawed at
me—all bark, no bite.
    “Ash, please,” I cried. “I’m sorry. I
didn’t mean to scare you or spy on you. I’m not really a creep…”
The dog lost interest in me and my ramble. He ran about in the
leaves.
    She looked up at me.
”Verloren!?”
    I felt the