Page 2 (TW: animal death)
“No seriously, I think there are some old gummies in here somewhere I forgot about a while ago. You wanna look for them?”
Nico laughed, “ew, no, that has to be the most disgusting thing you’ve ever suggested.”
“Your loss, man,” Sarah shrugged.
Despite what seemed to be her best attempts to hide it, Nico noticed her glancing past him to his house. He knew exactly what she was on edge about. He didn’t like the idea of her getting caught by his mother any more than he liked the idea of himself being caught by his mother. Quickly, he made his way to the other side of the truck and slid in as silently as he could manage in the old thing to spare them both the terrible fate. Sarah didn’t hesitate to pull away from the driveway.
Neither of them spoke until the house was out of sight, and even then Sarah’s voice came out like a hushed secret. “So, what are we doing today?”
“I haven’t really thought that far yet,” Nico rubbed his eyes, pulling at the deep baggy skin around them. “That black dog rumor was a total bust, and I’m pretty sure Mrs. Porter’s fairies are just moths that like her garden lights.”
“Aw, you think so? I was so sure the Porter case was going to be our big break.” Sarah chuckled to herself, then scrunched her nose in thought. “Do we not have anything else on our list? Surely those aren’t our only cases.”
“It’s not like anyone around here is hiring. They definitely aren’t hiring me, the only reason we got those last two was because people actually like you and didn’t know I was a part of it.”
“Uh, I’d say like is a pretty strong word, but… yeah, if anything ever did happen here I’d be shocked if someone told us about it.” They turned away as the road into town approached, taking a route through the woods bordering it instead. It was the same drive Sarah took him on every time she picked him up after a bad night, but even still a wave of relief washed over Nico as the truck picked up speed and the main road faded behind the trees.
It wasn’t that it was a bad town, not really. It was small but charming, and people were generally friendly with their neighbors. Nico was not, though, someone people were generally friendly with. They all held him at arm’s length, avoiding conversation, and it always felt as if everyone was staring at him- though he had no evidence to prove that as fact. It made his arms itch.
Sarah, as penance for associating with Nico, was treated just as coldly. So they avoided town for the sake of everyone, but mostly just for their own peace.
“We could go to the lake?” Sarah suggested, casting a smile his way.
“Nothing, just figured maybe it’d be nice to relax for the morning. Nobody will be there this early anyway.”
Nico considered it. He didn’t particularly enjoy doing nothing, but with how much he struggled to keep his eyes open he didn’t think he had the ability to do much else.
“Yeah, you know, I think that’s-“
A shape darted from the dense foliage at the edge of the road. Both it and the truck were moving too fast to stop. Sarah swore, and she had just enough time to swing her arm out protectively over Nico’s chest as they collided.
The sound was horrible, the tawny-furred mass flew past the windshield, and the truck was sent into a dizzying spin. Nico could feel his organs jumble up like a dropped puzzle, Sarah’s fingers dug so tightly into his hoodie that he could feel her nails nearly biting into his skin.
She managed to keep the truck on the road, and when the world stopped spinning they were left in a deafening silence. Lying on the pavement was a deer, a young buck, twitching in such a way that had Nico feeling sick for a whole new reason.
Within moments the animal went still. Sarah’s hand slowly unlatched from Nico’s hoodie, leaving it bunched and wrinkled over his heart.
“You okay?” Her voice came out in a breath.
Nico nodded, then added in the same tone, “I’m okay.”
“I’m… I’m gonna see how bad the truck’s off.”
“Okay.” It’s all he could manage to say. He couldn’t take his eyes off the deer.
As Sarah hopped out of the truck to fret over the damage, Nico slipped out and away towards the corpse in the road. He walked until he stood just in front of it, staring at its broken body. He could feel bile rising in his throat.
As he stared, there was something… wrong. It was a deer, he thought it was, it looked like one.
But there was something to the bend in its legs, did the collision do that? Or had it been like that in the seconds before, as it left the tree line? Nico looked at its face, staring into its eye.
His nightmares rushed back to him the moment he made eye contact with the buck. Its eye was the red of the harvest moon, reflective and pupil-less. He blinked, he had to be seeing things, he was exhausted, it wasn’t real.
