For the Best

“Thanks for driving me Benj.” I smiled at Benji as he dropped me off. I was careful with my right arm, because my shoulder was bothering me today.

“No problem, kid. I have to go get a few groceries, then Larry wanted me to go help him tie some flies, but you know my number. If you need anything, just call, alright?” He asked as I opened the door and I nodded.

“Got it. Bye.” I said, and he waved as I shut the door. I walked into the hospital as he drove away. I walked straight over to the big doors and made a left; going into another set of double doors and walking a few more feet until I shoved open the familiar heavy door and smiled as I noticed Matt at the end of the hallway, standing guard for all of the rooms. I walked down to him and he smiled at me.

“I hope I didn’t get you in too much trouble yesterday.” He said, looking down.

“Not much, my mom just needs a week or so to calm down. But she’s probably already told my dad, so I should be able to go home in about a month. If I decide to.” I said, and his head snapped up at me, automatically showing concern.

“You should be able to go home? Where are you staying?” He asked, his eyebrows furrowing together.

“With my uncle way out of town deep in the woods. He doesn’t like my parents, but he adores me, so he has no problem harboring me away from the loving safety freaks for a while.” I said and he nodded.

“Your parents are really nice people, I feel bad that I’ve made you run away from them.”

“You didn’t exactly make me run away, I had wanted to get over to Benji’s to get away from them and they’re protectiveness for a little bit, you just gave me an awesome reason to.” I smiled, and he nodded.

“Well, I guess you’re here to see Shannon, huh?” He asked and I nodded. He walked over to her door, and I followed him. Just as he was about to open the door though, I stopped him.

“Wait,” I said, and he looked at me.

“What?”

“Can you stay here at the door? Just…today makes two years, and you remember what happened last year.” Last year on October 24th, when I came to visit Shannon, she nearly knocked me into a coma, but even though she didn’t succeed in putting me into a coma or killing me, her slamming my head into the bedpost did knock me unconscious, and induce some temporary memory loss that was so bad I didn’t even know who I was.

“Oh yea…last year was bad.” He said, and looked into the little window at the top of the door.

“What’s she doing?” I asked, since I couldn’t see up that far.

“She’s curled up on her bed.” He looked at me. “Let me go see if she’s okay, I’ll be right back.” He said, and walked in, closing the door behind himself.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
^*Matt’s POV*^
“Uh, Shannon, Saylee’s here.” I said quietly as I entered the room.

“Don’t talk to me.”” She muttered. I didn’t step any closer to her.

“Do you want to see her or not?” I asked and she shook her head.

“No, don’t let her in. She might get hurt again.” She whispered and I nodded, understanding and knocked on the door for Saylee to let me out. She opened the door and then closed it back as I walked out.

“So?” She asked and I sighed.

“She’s afraid you’ll get hurt. Just, give her some space today and she’ll come back around tomorrow.” I said, and she pulled her phone from her pocket.

“I guess I need to get Benji to pick me up.” She said, and dialed a number and put it to her ear, then after a second she pulled it away. “He’s not answering. He’s probably knee deep in flies.” She looked up at me. “Take a break and drive me home?” She asked and I smiled.

“Sure.”

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
^*Saylee’s POV*^
Matt got a friend to cover his shift for a few hours and then we got in his SUV, and I entered my uncle’s address in his GPS and we began the journey to my uncle’s house.

“You don’t seem too upset about Shannon not wanting to see you.” Matt noted and I shrugged.

“It’s been exactly two years, October 24th is always going to be a hard day for me and her, so it’s to be expected.” I said and he nodded. “It seems on days like this my shoulder always seems to ache a little more than usual.” I said, bringing my hand up to my shoulder, slipping my hand over the raised two inch scar. I pulled my hand away, ignoring the slight pain. I felt the tears pulling at my tear ducts, wanting to terrorize me, and Matt saw this, and quickly changed the subject.

“So, how long do you think you’ll be staying at your uncle’s house?” I looked over at him, taking a deep breath.

“I don’t know. I’m thinking about not going back. I love my parents, but they worry about me so much, and keep such a close eye on me since I’m their only child that it’s becoming really annoying.” I said and he nodded. “Plus, I have one of the cool uncles, so I have no problem living with him for a few years.” I mustered up a smile.

“So you got a cool uncle?” He asked with a smirk.

“Well…if you consider someone that lives and breathes the outdoors cool, then….” I thought about what I had just said. “Scratch that, I don’t have a cool uncle. I have a weird uncle.” I said, and we both started laughing. We both carried on conversations about family and friends until finally, our long drive came to an end in the middle of nowhere.

“You sure this is where he lives? Looks like a shack.” Matt said, eyeing my uncle’s rather small log cabin like house. The woods were surrounding us on all sides, and the shrubbery was grown up around the small home, so yes, it looked like an abandoned shack.

“Yep, this is my haven.” I said and got out. I looked at him for a second before shutting my door. “You said you wouldn’t be back for two hours and you’ve only been gone for thirty minutes. You can come in if you want, you’ve got some time to spare.” I said and he nodded.

“Maybe I should go in just to make sure Jason Voorhees isn’t in there.” He said and I rolled my eyes as I shut the door. He got out, and I walked up the steps and onto the porch, Matt right behind me, seeming almost scared of the building. He twitched violently when a weed growing through the cracks of the creaky wood in the porch brushed against his pant leg. “Holy shit this place is creepy.” He said, earning a laugh from me as I opened the screen door, then the big door.

“If you think a little weed is creepy,” I started, as I walked in, and Matt followed me. “Try sleeping with a deer staring you in the eyes.” I said, and he stepped in. Really, my uncle’s house was nice, and it only looked small on the outside, the inside was huge. I didn’t really notice it last night, but now that I really look around, he had gotten rid of a few of his things, and done some cleaning. It looked more decent than the last time I was here. Like, for example, the leopard G-string wasn’t hanging on the lamp anymore. That was a definite improvement. It looked like he had scraped the two inches of dust off of the TV as well.

“Woah.” Matt muttered, looking around. I heard someone moving around in the kitchen, then a chainsaw powered on. “Shit, I knew it, Jason’s here, let’s go.” Matt grabbed my hand, but I shook it off.

“That’s probably just Benj.” I said and he looked at me, shaking his head.

“Look, I really like you, okay, and I don’t want you to get chopped into little pieces by a camp-” I cut him off.

“Matt, I’ll be fine.” I said, and started to walk off towards the kitchen.

“Don’t leave me here!” Matt whispered frantically, catching up to me. I walked around the corner of the kitchen to see my uncle standing at his refrigerator, safety goggles over his eyes, and a bandanna over his mouth as he cut the refrigerator door off.

“Benji! What are you-” My voice was being drowned out by the chainsaw. “BENJI!” I screamed, and he turned sharply, coming about a foot away from sawing me in two. I screamed and jumped back, falling into Matt as he wrapped his arms around me protectively, pulling us back against the counter. Benji killed the chainsaw, its roar slowly dying down. He placed it on the floor and leaned on the half sawed off door of the fridge, placing a hand over his heart.

“Oh my god, Saylee, I told you not to sneak up on me when I’m wielding a large power tool. I could’ve-” He stopped as he turned and looked at me. Matt still had his arms wrapped around me, tightly. “Uh, you are?” Benji asked dumbfounded.

“Matt, you can let go of me now, he’s safe.” I said, but Matt shook his head.

“Trust me, I’m not trying to protect you anymore. He can’t hurt me if I have you in my arms.” Matt said and I wiggled out of his grasp with a little difficulty.

“So, you’re the guy who got my sweet little niece here to run away from her parents…” Benji trailed off, eyeing Matt.

“Y-yea.” Matt stuttered. Benji took a step towards him, and leaned in close to his face. He tugged his lip ring and I was very tempted to tell him to stop. I already knew where this was going.

“Lip piercing.” Benj stated, then moved on. He lifted up one of his arms, inspecting it and tracing his finger along a few tattoos and Matt looked at me like, ‘What the hell is wrong with him?!’ I just shrugged, trying not to laugh. “Is the rest of your body like this?” My uncle asked.

“Kind of.”

“Take your shirt off.”

“Benj, what the fuck…” I just trailed off, knowing it would be no use. Matt looked at me before taking his shirt off, and I just shook my head, and leaned my head on the bar, embarrassed that my uncle was this much of a freak over tattoos.

“Turn around.” I looked over at Matt as he held his arms out and turned around in a circle. “Okay, put your shirt back on.” Matt put his shirt back on, standing there awkwardly. “Any other tattoos any lower that I should know about?” I wanted to die. I wanted a fucking bear to jump through the window and just rip my head off.

“Um, no, why do you ask?” Matt questioned back.

“If you’re the guy that’s going to sweep my little girl off of her feet then I think I do have the authority to at least check you out and make sure you’re alright. Trust me, I’m not doing anything compared to the interrogation session hat her parents would put you through. I’m talking they’d put you through drug tests, run a background check, keep you under lock and chain. I’m just going to ask you if you’ve done any drugs and do you smoke.” Benji crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back a bit as I stood up straight from the bar.

“Don’t do drugs, never have, never will, but…” Matt was hesitant. “I-I do smoke.” He said, and I could see it in his eyes that he was hoping that wouldn’t be enough to keep Benji between us. But I knew it wouldn’t because Benji smoked. Or at least I hoped it didn’t.

“What kind?”

“Marbrolo.” Matt said, his voice quiet.

“That’s my man.” Benji suddenly smiled and patted him on the shoulder. He turned and picked up his chainsaw again.

“Wait, does that mean he’s clear?” I asked him before he could rev the machinery up again, and he nodded.

“Yep, you two have fun, but be careful on the bed, it’s old and it might break with the first thrust-”

“BENJI!” I exclaimed, and he just chuckled.

“I’m just kidding.” He laughed, but then stopped. “But seriously, you guys break that bed and I will be pissed.” He said, and it scared me because he was actually serious. I just fought a smile and walked out of the room. I sat down on the couch and Matt sat down beside me.

“So, you were right, your uncle is cool but also one of the strangest people I’ve ever met.” Matt said, and I looked over at him apologetically.

“I am so sorry about the whole, tattoos and piercings and drugs and the shirt thing…” I trailed off. “He’s an old fashioned guy, you know?”

“I think so.” He said, then got curious. “Why was he sawing the refrigerator door off?”

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to find out.”