Reaper

I looked over at Jesse hurriedly.

“Why are you naked?” I demanded, suddenly full of a new kind of confidence that I didn’t know I had.

Jesse blinked at me stupidly for a second, and then looked down at himself. His eyebrows rose in surprise. “Well, that’s new.”

I sighed heavily and threw off my covers, thankful that even though I had woken up next to Jesse, I at least hadn’t been touching him, which was a sign that nothing sexual had happened last night. Once I stood up, I saw a pile of our clothes neatly stacked at the end of my bed. I walked over to it and picked up Jesse’s shirt – it was as I had thought, soaked through with rain and filthy.

I turned to him, dropping the clothes. “What happened after I passed out?”

He blinked at me again. “You passed out too?”

I just looked at him. Had he forgotten the entire night? Granted, it had made my mind a little foggy in the morning, but now I at least recall everything up until I had fainted. It wasn’t as though he had passed out when I did. He was the one who had been holding me up – I had fainted in his arms.

“What are you talking about?” I yanked a shirt out from my drawer and pulled it over my head, embarrassed at my lack of clothing. “You were the one holding me, remember?”

He cradled his head in his hands, like he was nursing a headache. “I think so… But I can’t remember anything after that.”

We stared at each other for a few minutes, neither of us willing to say anything. We both knew the severity of what had happened the night before in that subway tunnel. I felt nauseous as I thought about those creatures, those people what they attacked, that ghastly noise they made. I remembered with a chill the face of the female creature who had grabbed my arm. My wrist tingled where she had touched me – sensitive, like after a burn.

I thought of Sawyer. His name felt like a ghost in my memory, like I wasn’t quite sure it was there, but I couldn’t deny that it was. He hadn’t said it to me; he hadn’t told me what it was. But he had admitted that he had given me the note. And he left me another one. I thought about his hands, his arms, how he had shoved me this way and that one minute, and the next had carried me to safety. Why would he do that? Why would he save me from that woman? Why the note? And how did he know?

I jumped as my door opened.

“Look, Charlie, it’s like 11 in the morning, I think it’s time to – Oh.” Mandi stood at the doorway to my bedroom, in front of the clearly now open door, and froze in her tracks.

I looked at Jesse, then back at Mandi, then back to Jesse again. I knew what it looked like, and it wasn’t good.

She gave me a look that clearly meant that I was both in trouble and also a little admired. Jesse was quite attractive, so no doubt she approved, but she thought I had been hiding something from her.

If only she knew.

“Ch-Charlie,” she stuttered, glancing at Jesse as he began the process of getting out of bed and putting on his clothes. “Can I talk to you for a second?” She combed her dark hair behind her ear and looked away shyly as Jesse threw off the covers, realizing that he was, in fact, naked. She blushed darkly, and I felt my face heat up in embarrassment – Jesse was clearly not ashamed of his body.

I nodded and followed her outside, preparing for the inquisition.

Mandi exhaled loudly once the very unclothed Jesse was out of sight. “Who is that? Why is he in your bed? You slept with him, didn’t you? Oh my God, Charlie! Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone? Where’d you meet him? He’s so hot.” She looked around frantically, trying to come up with more questions to ask in the limited amount of breath she had.

I sighed, running my hands through my mass of tangled hair. I winced – it was disgusting. “His name is Jesse, he works at the bar when I’m off shift. He came home with me last night, we talked, and he crashed in my bed.” One white lie won’t hurt me – it wasn’t worth explaining what actually happened. “Nothing happened. I’m not seeing him.”

She eyed my face, clearly not believing me. “You’re lying, Charlie.”

My eyes widened, and I felt my heart race just a little. “W-What? No I’m not.”

“Yes, you are, your nose is doing the thing.”

“Thing? What thing?” My hands flew up to my nose in an attempt to cover it and conceal whatever she was talking about.

“Your nostrils flare when you lie,” she informed me, crossing her arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes. “Now, really, why is this guy naked in your bed?”

I just stared at her, trying to think up a better excuse than what I had come up with before. I was terrible at lying, but I was even worse at lying to Mandi – she had known me far too long to fall for anything I tried to pull, ever since I had accidentally broken one of my mother’s vases and had tried to weasel my way out of getting in trouble.

The problem was that I couldn’t tell her what actually happened. The reality of what occurred in the subway tunnel was almost too overwhelming to put into words. I couldn’t even talk to Jesse about it, and he had been there. I just didn’t know what to tell her that wouldn’t scare her half to death, make her call the police, and have them lock me up for being crazy. No, the reality was, I couldn’t tell her the truth because I had no idea what the truth actually was – I was still working it out for myself.

I sighed. “Alright, fine, I slept with him.”

It was that moment that Fitch stepped out of his room, the room next door to mine, bleary-eyed and shirtless. When he heard and processed what I said, his eyebrows shot up and he crossed his arms protectively over his chest. “Wait, what?” His voice was husky – he had obviously just woken up.

Mandi jumped in before I could answer. “Charlie had her first one night stand last night!” She was whispering, but she might as well have shouted it to the world.

Fitch looked uncomfortable as he finally looked at me, taking in the fact that I had on only a shirt and a pair of underwear. I felt my cheeks heat up and suddenly I wanted to crawl under a rock. Actually, that feeling was becoming more and more familiar to me.

“You... You slept with someone?” There was a tone in his voice that I was surprised to hear – disappointment. His blue eyes searched mine as he stared at me.

Suddenly I was hoping the ground would swallow me whole so I wouldn’t have to be looked at like that. “Yeah,” I lied, avoiding eye contact with both of them. “His, um, his name is Jesse, he’s my coworker.”

As if on que, the door opened behind me and I jumped, startled. Jesse stood there, fully clothed in his damp, muddy clothes from the previous day, ready to go. He saw Mandi and Fitch standing there, uncomfortable, and picked up on the atmosphere of the conversation. He shifted awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.

“I… I gotta go. I’ll see you later, Charlie,” he mumbled, scooting around Mandi. She let him through without stopping him, clearly not wanting to talk to him. At least, not yet.

I let him walk for a second, out of the room, before a thought occurred to me. I ran down the hallway after him, leaving Mandi and Fitch standing in front of my room. Once I caught up to him, I grabbed his arm lightly and turned him around. He was surprised, almost scared.

I stared up into his eyes. “Don’t tell anyone about what really happened last night,” I said quietly, not wanting my roommates to hear. “We don’t know what it was. This is safer. Right?”

Jesse nodded, understanding. “Right. Of course.” He gave me an odd look before suddenly leaning down and kissing me on the cheek. He pulled back, and I blushed so red I must’ve given a tomato a run for its money. “I’m just glad you’re alright. See you around, Red.”

And with that, he left.

I sighed and locked the door behind him.

“Breaking News!” I glanced at the TV that I hadn’t realized was on. It was the same anchor as the one I had seen in the coffee shop the day before, a day that seemed like it was ages ago. “There has been a massive attack on the subway. Seven people are reported dead, and three people are missing. No one is certain what caused the attack, but it is believed to be another crime linked to the serial killer Jack the Reaper. More details are emerging this morning…”

I felt my head spin a little. I sat down on the couch. Seven dead? They were dead? The thought brought back images of the previous night, of those creatures with the glowing eyes. Of Sawyer. I still couldn’t figure out why he had saved me when he clearly was one of them. Who was he?

Mandi walked into the room. “Charlie, you can’t seriously think you can just not tell me anything – “ She paused, watching the screen as the reporter talked. She was silent as he recounted what had happened, showing clips of the tunnel that I knew all too well in the dark. “Wow… What happened?”

I shifted uncomfortably. “I don’t know.”

That much was the truth. I had no idea what happened yesterday. But I had a strange feeling, somewhere in the back of my mind, that I was going to find out.

She looked over at me, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.”

“Your nose is doing the thing again.”

“What thing?”

“You’re impossible.”