Ihmissusi Kesä

When the weekend of the 'festivities', as Val liked to call them, arrived I was surprised to find myself excited for our outing. Even Nii looked a little more giddy than usual. Which was hard to imagine until I saw it for myself. She was even dressed differently.

"Don't you look...dazzling." Val said when he walked in and saw her. The same could be said for him, I thought. He was wearing a pair of what appeared to be beach bum shorts and a white muscle shirt. The word hippy came to mind as I put my cereal bowl in the sink.

"Alright, alright. Let's get the jokes out of the way now so we don't have to go over it later with the others. I know, I look like a housewife or something." Nii said shrugging. "But you know what the funny thing is? I don't care."

Val shook his head and looked at me, the girl still in her pajama's. He grinned. "I think I've found someone new to make fun of. Is that what you're wearing for the day, miss Avery?"

I frowned and ran my hands over the fabric. These particular pajama's had belonged to Derek and I slept in them frequently. "Maybe, why? Would that embarrass you?" I asked with a smile.

"Not at all, Nii and the others embarrass me far more than I imagine you could."

I still couldn't get over the way Valentine talked. Sometimes he used words that were modern but he said them in ways that totally contradicted the whole point of the word 'modern'.

"Personally I'd rather stay in my pj's all day anyway. If I could get away with that I would." Nii said from her corner in the kitchen and came back to the table where we were seated. "I used to even wear mine to school."

"Well, that was a long time ago. I'm sure the rules are different now."

"If we're talking about things being old, I'm pretty sure you have me beaten. Valentine." Nii said his name in such a way that I couldn't help myself.

"Why? How old are you?" I asked looking at him.

For a moment Val looked like he was thinking. He didn't say anything and he gripped his coffee stirring spoon a tad bit tightly. "I'm thirty three." He managed and then continued on as if nothing had happened. I tossed Nii a look.

"He's bitter when it comes to his age. He likes to think he's still in his twenties." She said.

Our conversation died out and I dismissed myself to get ready for the first event of the day; the Town barbecue followed by the scavenger hunt. I thought it was a little bit juvenile but Nii insisted that we do all the stupid things because I was only here until the end of summer. She wouldn't do them again once I was gone.

"So when are the others supposed to arrive?" I heard Val ask once I headed up the stairs.

"I dunno, Haaken said he'll show up around noon because he's gotta take care of something first and Connor is of course missing in action. I think I might get a chip installed in his ear so I don't lose him. And Haaken too while I'm at it. Maybe even you."

"Oh really? I'd like to see you put one in and what's with all the dog jokes? You don't see me making doctor jokes at you."

I paused for a second and waited for her reaction but she simply laughed it off. Doctor jokes? She was a hair stylist not a surgeon. I cast it aside and continued to my room where I got dressed and applied the proper amount of make up. I found that if I put too much mascara or eyeliner on it would literally melt off my face in the heat. I didn't want that. Lord no.

Downstairs the door came open and Connor's voice excitedly exploded in the kitchen. I couldn't make out what he was saying at first, he was talking so fast, but when I opened the door and poked my head out things got much clearer.

"They found another one!" He was saying.

"They what?" Nii asked.

"Well, okay, it's more like they DIDN'T find another one. Considering they were kidnapped but that's besides the point, wouldn't you say? They did however find pieces of said person and now-"

"Another kidnapping?" Valentine asked gravely. "I'm beginning to think the law enforcement here isn't any match for what's going on. Are they even trying?"

"Think about it, dude. If they don't know what's doing it they can't stop it! We don't even know what's going on."

I slowly crept out of the bathroom and to the stairs where I made my way down the first three. I wanted to know what they were saying when I wasn't listening. I wanted an explanation for Nii's random herbs and charms that she hung around her house when she thought I wasn't looking. Even when I was looking, and directly at her, she'd laugh and say she was superstitious and pretend it didn't matter.

"As interesting as this is, we really should keep our voices down." Nii butted in on cue.

"Why? How can you not want to talk about this? This is starting to be a thing, an actual thing. Not just a random kid running off for attention, do you want to know what parts they found left of the guy?"

"Connor!" Valentine yelled. His voice jumped me and I froze. I didn't want him yelling at me like that. "Nii said to put the breaks on it, and that's what you're going to do."

"Why? What's different now than any time before?"

I took a deep breath and continued down the last few stairs. "Me. I'm the reason she doesn't want you saying anything." I said when I walked in to the kitchen.

Nii looked at me with a strange expression and Valentine simply lowered his eyes to the table.

"Oh. Right, that makes sense then." Connor said rubbing his neck.

Nii sighed heavily and set her coffee mug down on the table. "Avery, it's not that I want to treat you like a kid or anything. You're obviously not the average seventeen year old. It's that I don't like talking about this stuff in front of you because I don't want you to get spooked and run off. It's been nice having you around, you know? Another girl to talk to. If you leave I only have these fools, and you can see how that would be a bummer."

Connor snorted and rolled his eyes. "I find death and gore interesting. The fact that it's happening right here where I live is awesome and I apologize in advance if I get carried away."

"You find death and gore interesting because it hasn't happened to you." Val said and stood up from the table. "Maybe you should take in to account that Nii's concerns of losing Avery aren't the ONLY reasons she doesn't want you talking about death all the time."

Connor's face fell and he looked over at me with an apologetic look in his blue eyes. "I-"

"It's okay!" I said quickly. "I don't think people understand how much I just want to not talk about that. You can bring up whatever you want, if it reminds me of Derek then...it reminds me of him. You don't have to watch yourself for my sake. That's why my parents sent me here. To get over it. It's not like it just happened either. I need to get my life back."

Without warning Valentine crossed the room and gave me a strange but comforting hug. His arms held me in place and the smell of his cologne filled my sinuses. I gently put my arms around him and hugged back.

"What the hell did I stumble in to?" a voice asked from the doorway. A deep voice that I recognized immediately.

"You stumbled upon Val adopting Avery." Nii said with a slight amused look on her face. "You're early."

Haaken nodded and walked in followed by Juho who seemed rather on edge for a dog. He walked briskly and planted himself by the table.

"How did Juho end up with you?" Valentine asked letting go of me.

"How does any of us end up with him? He showed up at my house last night."

"So Connor lost him?" Nii questioned.

"I didn't lose him! It's not like I can control him, he's got a mind of his damn own."

"True." They all muttered together.

"Who does he actually belong to?" I asked innocently. The reaction I got wasn't something I expected.

Each of them burst out laughing in their own way. Nii and Val loudly, Connor with a smirk and Haaken with a 'I can't believe you're that stupid' look.

"In all fairness, she's new to us. How could we expect her to know?" Val asked still smiling. "Juho doesn't belong to anyone. He's his own... dog." At the word dog he cracked up again.

"He comes and goes, does whatever he wants. Sometimes I think he's the one kidnapping people." Connor said.

"I wouldn't be surprised." Haaken offered then busied himself with the paper that was folded not so neatly on the table.

It didn't take long after that for everyone to be ready to get on with the day. Haaken refused to take part in any scavenger hunt but Nii told him if he didn't do it he wouldn't be allowed back at her house until summer was over and I was gone. I didn't except him to really find that a threat but to my surprise when we all gathered around the start line he was there standing next to me wearing that same sullen expression.

I wanted to believe that the more cheesy my life was starting to get by being here with Nii and her friends, the better I would feel and forget Derek. Even as Valentine and I dashed in the to woods on our team that formed out of no where I wanted to put all my heart and soul in to believing. It was what I really wanted. What I needed.

I had no idea things were about to change. I wasn't in tune with the universe, I couldn't feel it in my bones. For me the only thing that was important was focusing on moving forward so I could eventually move on.