Cody: Final

I step out of my Muay Thai class completely exhausted. When I turn on my phone I have a message from Chris. I look back at the building and wonder if this is all worth it. I had to get stronger. I didn’t want what happened three years ago to ever happen again. It’s why I’ve been learning to fight. Still, even knowing everything I do know, what good would that do against a gun? I keep mine under the car seat now. Sure, it’s illegal and probably is a murder weapon, but it’s better in my hands. I even asked my dad to teach me how to shoot over the years. I had to be prepared for anything.

I just wasn’t prepared for Emily to come back. I wasn’t prepared for my own selfish desire to want her back. I wasn’t prepared for her to feel the same way. That night, I kept replaying it in my head. I was drunk and she wasn’t. Or at least not at the same level I was. She wanted it more than I did. I asked her what it was in the morning and I didn’t get an answer. Emily did something wrong, I don’t blame her. It’s now Sunday and she still isn’t talking to me. I wonder what must be going on in her head.

I stop by my house to say hi to my parents. I only find my father home. “Can you pick up your mother for me?” He asks me. “I’m fixing her car today so I don’t really have the time”

“Yeah, sure. Where is she?”

“The church. Service is over in ten minutes.”

“Mom goes to church?”

My father chuckles, “She started going a few months ago. It helps her be at peace so it’s whatever.”

I leave the house I grew up in as fast as I arrived. I never really been to the town’s church. I always passed by it and never paid much thought to it. Up close, it’s a lot bigger than I thought it should be. How does a small town have such a big church?

I wait outside my car for my mom to come out. There’s no church bell but people start to come out. Mom never comes out so I text her. Instead, someone else comes out. She notices me and starts walking over to me.

“You’re Cody, right?” She says. It’s Elizabeth’s mom. What’s she doing here? Last I heard, she left Darkwood after her daughter’s death.

“Yeah, and you are-”

“Elizabeth’s mom, yeah. I’m Eleine. It’s good to meet you,” She says extending her hand out to me.

I take it, “Yeah, same here. What are you doing here? I heard you moved out.”

Eleine shakes her head once, “I moved back last year. There’s just something wrong with trying to run away from your problems. I heard a lot about you from Elizabeth, Cody. Thanks for being there for her.”

My mood worsens. I didn’t want to think about Elizabeth today. “Yeah, I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”

Elizabeth’s mother gives me a warm smile. “I bet you blame yourself, didn’t you? Well, you shouldn’t. Elizabeth was just a victim of neglect.”

I don’t say anything. There wasn’t a day where I didn’t think about what went wrong. A lot of things went wrong. A lot of things were out of my control. I accepted all of this already. But shit, seeing her mom now. It brings back a lot of regrets. Eleine barely looks like her daughter. Elizabeth never did get along with her. Eleine went on a trip to Spain that summer. She wanted Elizabeth to come with her. Elizabeth didn’t want to go because she didn’t like her step-dad. If she did go, none of this would have happened. I never really thought about how much Eleine has been going through.

“Y’know. I thought a lot about things over the past four years,” she says. “I looked so hard to put the blame on anything I could. I had a lot of hatred in my heart but I think, in the end, there wasn’t anyone to blame. It’s just how things worked out. Don’t let it plague your mind.”

“No one to blame? That doesn’t make sense,” I almost scoff.

“I’m sure you don’t understand, but, there’s no point in being angry about things that can’t be changed. It’s good that I met you here today, Cody. Elizabeth was right to praise you. You have a good energy around you.”

“Oh, uh, thank you.”

“I just think you’re misguided. Elizabeth told me you try too hard not to care. Is that still true?”

“I’m not sure. Is it bad?”

“Maybe,” Eleine laughs. “It really depends if you think it is.”

“You’re really cryptic, you know?”

Eleine smiles. “I have to get going. It was good to meet you, Cody. And thanks again, for trying. I’m sure Elizabeth doesn’t hold any hatred of you.”

“Yeah, uh, It was good to meet you too.”

Eleine excuses herself and steps out of the picture. A minute after she does, my mom steps out of the church. She apologizes and explains she was held up talking with the minister. I drop my mom home and head over to the treehouse where Chris is waiting for me.

As I walk through the woods, the rain starts to become heavy again. I think about Eleine. I don’t know why she was being so cryptic. Her words made it seem like she was evaluating me but her tone was too nice. She’s a strange one.

I find Chris with his feet dangling outside of the entrance to the treehouse. It’s been a while since he even left his house. I gotta say, he looks good. For once he isn’t wearing his green parka. “I’m surprised you finished the treehouse,” he greets me.

“Why surprised? I said I’ll do it.”

Chris shrugs as I sit next to him. “I just didn’t think it meant anything to you anymore.”

It doesn’t. At least not anymore. It’s just a remnant of the past that should’ve stayed dead. I only finished it because it was halfway done and it would be a waste if I didn’t. Besides, someone else will one day find it and call it home. “It’ll mean something for someone else. What are you doing out here anyway? I thought you didn’t leave the house.”

“I’m learning to get better. I’m not thinking about things that much anymore. It’s good.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I sent in the answer of the Riemann Hypothesis to MIT. They’re flying me in next week. They want to ‘talk’” Chris laughs. I don’t know what he’s talking about. It’s good that he’s still doing things he likes. “I want to go there and study. There’s this thing I want to study.”

“And what’s that?”

“Back when Lyle wanted me to re-engineer Winter, I noticed that if it’s modified correctly, you’re able to see the electromagnetic waves of all living things. What if you’re able to extract that and use it as an energy source?”

“And you think that’s possible?”

Chris shrugs, “I have a feeling that somethings are actually supernatural and it’s possible to find more.”

I stand up and laugh. “Shit, well I’m glad you’re taking steps towards the future.” I look around the empty treehouse. Emily would have all the polaroids she could here. I wish she would just contact me and tell me what she’s thinking. “It’s not like doing anything. I’m supposed to go on tour soon and I’m over here fucking around with a treehouse. So what do you think?” I sit back down.

-

Chris gets my attention. Finally, Emily’s here. I watch Chris take his leave and then I focus my attention back to Emily as she climbs the treehouse. Her eyes are red and she hasn’t bothered to get ready for the day.

“Hey,” she says weakly.

“Hey,” I say back, taking a step back to give her space.

“The treehouse is impressive. It looks good, way bigger than I thought it would be.”

“Thanks.”

Emily doesn’t say anything and just looks away. “Sorry I didn’t talk to you yesterday. I had a wedding I had to go to.”

“It’s alright, I get it.”

“Soran left me.”

“I’m sorry.” I want to hold her and make her feel okay, but is that really the right thing to do now? “How are you holding up?”

“Not great,” she laughs nervously. “But I guess you got what you wanted. You win.”

“Win? Ems, I didn’t want to win.”

“Then what did you want? Why did you sing that song?”

“I don’t know. I missed you, I was hurting. What was I supposed to do? It’s my outlet.”

Emily walks past me and feels the wood on the wall. “Did you mean it? The song I mean. Do you still mean it?”

I look out the entrance. I don’t know. We ran into each other on Friday and it just brought all the unresolved feelings I had. I want her back, but is it even possible? We’re supposed to be that unlikely childhood love story that never happens. “Ems, what do you want me to say?”

Emily turns around, “If I tell you that then it wouldn’t count. It’ll be fake. Cody, just tell me.”

“No. You’re trying to put the blame on me. I didn’t come back. I didn’t drink with you. I didn’t follow you home and I didn’t kiss you. You did all that. That’s what you wanted.”

She knows I’m right. I can tell by the tears falling from her face. I hate it when she cries. I never want to make her cry. “So what?! I’m a piece of shit?! Is that it?!”

“No.”

Emily rushes forward and pushes me. I let her. “Fuck you, Cody! You just always have to be better than everyone. Always has to be right!”

“What is wrong with you? Hold yourself accountable.”

Emily pushes me again but I stand my ground this time. She then slaps me. “Fuck you!”

She then tries to slap me again but I catch her hand, “Stop it!”

“Let me go!”

“Will you calm down?!”

Emily tries to tug away but I refuse to let her go. “Then tell me what I’m supposed to do! I lost everything! What the fuck do I do?!” Her voice shakes and eventually her body limbs. I catch her before she can fall into the ground. “I’m so lost,” she cries. “It’s all my fault.”

I sit her down and sit next to her. “I don’t think there’s anything I can say.”

Emily lays herself down, “Just-just hold me. Please?”

I lay down with her and wrap my arms around her. It’s fucked up. This isn’t how I wanted things. But shit if this doesn’t feel nice. Emily smells the same as always. This is how things should have always been. I drove Emily away. I’ve lost her more times than I should’ve. If this could lead to Emily being in my life again, I’ll take it.

I hold her. I tell her it’s going to be okay. Emily starts to shiver but her cries start to simmer down. When I was just eight years old, I fell in love with the most beautiful vulture. She would pick my flesh bit by bit until I was left nothing but a skeleton. I fell in love with this vulture who would also replace that skin until there was nothing left but a scarred boy wearing a suit of a man.

Emily calms down, “Do you love me?”

There isn’t anything to say but, “Yes.”

Right now, everything is fine. This is how tonight is. Emily backs up tighter into my arms. I close my eyes.

-

I’m awoken by the harsh sting of sound by the thunder. After the ringing in my ear subsides, everything is being overpowered by the rain. They’re like boulders falling down.

The sun is setting and Emily’s not around. The sun is setting so I reach over where I keep a portable lamp for light. I don’t think there is a sun to set, but it is getting darker. I turn on the lamp and find Emily standing at the bottom of the treehouse covered by her umbrella. She’s staring at the drowning flowers below.

“How long have you been up?” I ask her once I climb down.

“Couple of minutes,” Emily says. “Can you drive me around? I don’t feel like doing anything else.

“Okay.”

We walk out of the forest without a word and Ems enters the passenger side of my car herself even though I try to open for her. I start the car and leave the scene. I’m forced to drive slower than usual even more so as it gets darker and darker. It just becomes so hard to see anything. I guess it’s fine, there isn’t anywhere to be. Emily doesn’t say anything and neither do I. I drive around the small town without a word being said. We drive around the town one more time, street my street.

On the third lap, Emily says, “You’re right.”

“About what?”

“I keep blaming the town’s curse on everything that ever happened to me here. It’s why I didn’t want to come back. But there is no curse, is there? I’m just stupid,” She scoffs, “I still had feelings for you and I just wasn’t thinking. I don’t have anyone to blame but myself.”

“Nah,” I shake my head. “I had to reignite those feelings, didn’t I? I just wanted you back so bad.”

Emily doesn’t say anything.

On a red light on Main Street, I say, “This all started because I was pushing you away, didn’t it? The car crash on the bridge, you moving to New York. It all started because I was too scared, too much in guilt.”

“I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.”

The light turns green and we drive around once more. This time everything is pitch black and the hard rain obscures any light coming from the streetlamps. “Do you want to go home?” I ask her.

“No,” she sighs. “Not yet.”

Some time passes and we start our fourth lap. “It’s wild that if we didn't make any of the mistakes we did, in theory, we would be married right now.”

Emily giggles, “Yeah, it was stupid promise anyways. We wouldn’t even be ready. I’m still at school and you got your music to bring up. We’re just setting up and to have that be forced on us? Crazy.”

I look at Emily who’s looking back at me. “Maybe everything happened so our future can be better off soon.”

She smiles, “Yeah, maybe.”

I drive to the edge of town and hit the dirt road. It’s the only place I haven’t driven us through yet. We leave the lights and familiarity. Everything becomes pitch black. There should be nothing here but a few houses. At the end of the road is the abandoned house we found four years ago.

“When you go back to New York, are you going to disappear again?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yeah,” I chuckle, “Thought so.”

“Cody, there’s so much stuff going on right now it’s just-”

“Is that?” I interrupt her when I notice there are two cars parked in the abandoned house’s parkway. I only notice it because there’s light coming from the house. Sara’s car is parked right behind Grace’s. “Why are they here?”

“Who?”

“Sara and Grace.”

I take my phone out of my pocket and notice I have some messages from Grace. They all just tell me to come to pick her but it doesn’t sound like her. Sara is here too so why haven’t they left yet? I pull over on the side of the road and start to observe the house. It’s quiet.

“What’s going on?” Emily asks.

“I don’t know.” Nothing else happens after five minutes so everything starts to feel really strange to me. “Stay in the car,” I tell Ems as I open the door and pull out my umbrella. After that, I reach for the gun I stole off Elizabeth’s brother all those years ago.

“Why do you have that?!”

“It’s mine. Look, something’s off, just stay in the car.”

“Cody!” Ems yells after I shut the door.

It’s hard to walk and every step closer to the house just gets heavier. I stop at Sara’s car and look inside. No one’s in here. I move on to Grace’s and it's the same. I peek through the window of the house and realize it was smart for me to bring the gun.

Grace is tied up against a wall with duct tape around her mouth. She’s struggling to get free. She doesn’t notice me. I don’t see Sara anywhere. I open the front door with my gun aimed, ready to shoot whoever is behind this. I find Sara and Freyja both tied up on some chairs where I couldn’t see from the window. All three of the girls notice me and only muffle through their covered mouths. They’re glad to see me, but also fearful?

Why is this happening?”

“Cody! I’m not just gonna let you run off like that!” I hear Emily behind me. “Don’t leave me alone!”

“Emily, leave right now! It’s not saf-”

Something hard and dense hits me on the side of my head. My world becomes black. Shit.