By Aiona
| Author Notes |
This is an early chapter in the novel Kelleys Island. Haven't quite figured out where to put it yet.
Thank you to alaskapat for letting FanStory authors use this lovely picture of a cabin with their writing. |
By Aiona
"Why don't you move back home?"
"I want to, Dad, but I worked my butt off for this degree, and I need to use it. Besides, you've got Sandy there to help you, right?" It broke Cici's heart to say "no" to her dad, but she was getting so close to completing her CDA credential. How could she quit now? He had to understand.
"Okay, but remember that if you want to, you're always welcome to move back here."
"Thanks, Dad. I love you. I gotta go, because the ferry's docking."
"Alright, Sugar. I love you, too."
Before she put her cellphone away, Cici took a photo of the island that was going to be her new home.
Six months ago just before the COVID lockdown in March, Cici's landlord had raised the rent on her studio apartment -- the only place she could afford as she was studying for her early childhood education degree at Ohio State University. She was worried about finding an affordable place to live after graduation, and she had prayed to God for a solution. However, no immediate reply came.
Then when the AA group she'd been attending for the past year discontinued in-person meetings at the local YMCA, she felt lost until she discovered an online group that met via Zoom.
At her first online AA meeting, she explained her plight. Like a miracle, a woman in the group offered to let Cici live in a vacation cabin on Kelleys Island. Since the woman was a widow with health problems, she hadn't been to the cabin in years.
"My husband always used to do the fixing up out there. Now with the lockdown, I haven't found any tenants to rent it out to. So your staying there is perfect."
Cici would live there rent-free, and in exchange, she could make sure the place was kept up. Easy? Right? Cici wasn't sure what she'd do for a living, until the woman also mentioned they were hiring preschool teachers on the island.
"It's for a nature-based early learning program that runs from September to June. You should apply."
Cici checked out the website the woman had pointed her towards, and sent in an online application through their website. Two days later, she received an email saying she had been chosen. They were pleased that she was about to finish her associate's degree in June, and also pleased that she already had a place to live on the island.
"You're a perfect candidate."
Those words were warm and fuzzy to her ears. She'd never fit in anywhere before. Maybe this was her place?
"Hey, Lady! Move your bike. You're blocking everyone's way."
Cici looked behind her to see a thin red-headed man leaning out of the driver's side window of his sky blue truck and motioning at the ferry's off-ramp. Even though his dark shades veiled his expression, the man's voice brimmed with annoyance bordering on anger. Around her, Cici saw others looking at her as well and felt their stares burning into her back as she wheeled her bike off the ferry.
When she reached the sidewalk outside the terminal, she saw the sky blue truck pass by her as it disembarked. Inside the truck cab, the red-headed man muttered loud enough for her to hear, "I thought rich tourist season was over."
But I'm not a tourist, she thought. I'm living and working here. Man! If this is how people treat newcomers on Kelleys Island, then it's good I'm only here for ten months.
After checking her cellphone for instructions, Cici set off for the cabin's location - a place so isolated, the woman had not given her an address, but a bunch of directions in relation to landmarks. "Turn right at the end of the ferry dock, pass the library, and then turn left..." and so on. What the woman hadn't described was that the paved road went from two lanes to one-and-a-half lanes, and then finally to a gravel road by the time she turned her bike down the dry dirt path to the cabin. When the dust from her arrival had settled, she gazed upon her new home in shock.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a romance novel.
Thank you to Brendaartwork18 for letting FanStory authors use this lovely painting with their writing. |
By Aiona
Cici leaned her bike against a rickety gate that had been left open, and tried to figure out what to do. The dusty dirt path that led from the main road to the gate continued all the way up to the porch of her new home, a cabin on Kelleys Island that she had been told she could inhabit for the ten months she was working at the island preschool. But everything about this place screamed neglect. Seeing the damage to the outside, she had no doubt the inside was worse. It was uninhabitable. Why had she agreed to live here sight unseen?
Heavy winter storms had caused a large branch to fall on the roof which had caved in on that side. As a result, part of the eastern wall was exposed to the elements. "And to animals," she thought to herself as she spied a squirrel availing himself of a branch that provided an elevated walkway leading straight into what she guessed, from her view of the glass-paned cabinets, was the kitchen.
What was she going to do now? She couldn't stay in a caved-in cabin.
The last ferry for the mainland was leaving in about thirty minutes. But it had taken her thirty-five minutes to reach the cabin from the ferry terminal. There was no way she could ride her bike back to the ferry in time to catch it. She was stuck here, for at least the night.
Since the 1980s, "bed and breakfasts" had sprouted up like mushrooms all over Kelleys Island. However, Cici was not going to pony up over two-hundred bucks to sleep in a Bed & Breakfast. And even if she could afford one night at a B & B, her salary from the preschool was not going to be enough to live in one for ten months.
To make matters worse, the sun was about to set and once it slipped under the horizon, she knew darkness would follow fast. She hadn't given any thought to camping tonight, so she hadn't brought any flashlights or anything to light a fire with. An owl hooted somewhere in the forest signalling that nighttime was approaching, and although she didn't fear spending the night in the woods in the dark, she felt uneasy with the lack of control she had over her current situation.
"Maybe at least part of the cabin is liveable." She figured she'd at least take a peek inside and see if the electricity worked. If it did, then at least she'd have some light.
She almost felt silly unlocking the door to get inside, when there was a gaping hole in the east wall that she could easily fit through. However, it was nice to discover that at least the key she was given did fit the lock, and the dead bolt slid open easily.
Relief filled her when she learned the cabin did indeed have electrical power. Light flooded the main room when she flipped on the switch by the front door.
Inside of the cabin was just as she imagined. It was cozy and sort of quaint with only two rooms. The front door opened into the main room which contained the kitchen, a sitting area, and a gas fireplace in the center of the house. Leaves littered the floor of the kitchen, and some debris had migrated into the sitting area, but it wasn't as chaotic as she had thought it would be. The tree branch had not landed on or destroyed any of the furniture, and since the kitchen floor was linoleum, there had been no damage to it from the rain or snow that fell into the house. She would have to let the woman who owned the cabin know about the branch falling into the house. But what good would that do, she wondered, when the woman had not been able to hire someone to take care of the grounds during the lockdown? It would probably be even harder to find someone to fix the roof and torn wall.
Cici's initial joy at finding a place to live was turning into a nightmare. She almost dreaded seeing what the rest of the cabin held, but she braced herself for disappointment anyway, and opened the door beside the fireplace.
Adjacent to the main room and located behind the fireplace was a bedroom with a small curtained alcove that served as a bathroom. Since the door between the two rooms had been shut, leaves and animals had not entered the bedroom. So the blue quilted bedspread and the small dressing table were clean and neat.
Cici threw her backpack onto the bed, and then went out to the main room to see what she could do to make it liveable, at least for tonight.
"First, I've got to call the woman who owns the place and let her know what happened."
But to her dismay, she found her phone had no service. None at all. Not even a single bar.
"Fantastic." Now she couldn't even call out to hunt for a different place to stay.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to alaskapat for letting FanStory authors use this photo "Mining Cabin" for their writing. |
By Aiona
Cici was dismayed to learn that she had no cell service at the remote cabin. How was it possible for her to have cell phone reception on the ferry when it was at the terminal dock, but not have any service less than two miles away?
Oh well. She wasn't going to bike back to town in the dark. Tomorrow, as soon as there was some daylight, she would return to the ferry terminal and be able to call the woman who owned the cabin. Then she could let her know about the roof damage and that staying here was not going to work out for her. For now, all she wanted was a good long drink of water.
Water.
Cici eyed the kitchen faucet. She had not even thought to ask the woman if the water had been turned on at the cabin. What if she had no water?
With great trepidation, she approached the kitchen sink. She had not brought anything to drink except what was in her water bottle, which she had long ago consumed while waiting for the ferry to arrive at Marblehead. Why hadn't she thought to refill it in the restroom on the ferry?
"Maybe because I didn't anticipate I'd be biking to a cabin routinely visited by squirrels?" She scoffed.
Taking a deep breath, she reached for the faucet handle. God, please let there be water.
She slowly moved the single lever upwards, and felt something deep underneath the counter shudder, and then the faucet spurted, or maybe more like messily burped, brown water which sprayed her with its nastiness, and then... nothing.
Cici felt like crying. She should have known the water was turned off. Winters in Ohio could get below freezing. And since this was a summer cabin, that meant it was unused in the wintertime. So of course, to avoid busted pipes during a cold snap, water had been turned off as a prevention measure.
If she could find the water main when it was daylight, she could turn it back on.
"Why am I thinking about that? I'm not staying here another night! I don't need to worry about water. I have to find someplace else to live! Meanwhile, maybe there's something to drink in the pantry? Or fridge?"
She checked the fridge and was not surprised to see it was bare except for an open box of baking soda.
The cabinets that she'd seen from outside held plates and glasses, mugs and saucers, but no food. The drawers held silverware and cutlery, and some cooking tools like tongs and can openers, but nothing to drink.
Cici wandered over to the sitting area and collapsed on the small loveseat against the west wall. It was then that she spied the shelf next to the front door. It had something to drink on it. But she could tell immediately, that the bottles sitting on the shelf did not hold water.
She leaned back against the settee and sighed. She remembered a saying from the Ancient Mariner that she was forced to read in high school. "Water, water, everywhere! But not a drop to drink. Lord, I definitely cannot stay on this island."
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Neilnap773 for letting FanStory authors use this painting "Spanish Fiesta" for their writing. |
By Aiona
From the hole in the roof over the kitchen, it was dark enough outside that Cici could see stars in the night sky now. She hoped those squirrels hadn't made a nest in the branch that lay partially in the kitchen. But, all was quiet inside the cabin. If squirrels were hidden in the leaves, they were fast asleep.
"At least the bedroom is dry and clean," she thought. "Maybe I should just head to bed too." Then that familiar feeling came over her, and the desire for a drink was overwhelming. If only... If only the water had been turned on. She wouldn't have wandered over here to the loveseat and seen that shelf....
Cici felt her resolve waning. Why? Why was God testing her this way? She had been so good. She hadn't had a drink in over a year! And since her break-up with Elias, she hadn't dated anyone else. By not going out, she had avoided bars and parties, and that kept her clean.
But now, just when she'd finished her education degree and found her first real teaching job on the island, why did this have to happen during the lockdown? How was she going to attend the online AA meetings, if she didn't have cell service on the island? Her job at the preschool would start in two days. Could she even find a place to live in that space of time?
"I need a drink."
Her eyes stung with the threat of tears as she got up to inspect the shelf where bottles stood taunting her. She knelt before it and gazed on its contents.
Intuition had been right. It was used as a kind of mini-bar containing small bottles of Bailey's, a bottle of Southern Comfort, and several bottles of red and white wine. Her hand trembled as she reached for a bottle of wine, and although she grasped her wrist with her other hand, nothing could control the shakes. Nothing except...
By picking up the bottle of wine, she revealed another one behind it. Tonic water.
Hardly something she'd choose to quench her thirst, especially when all the other bottles were screaming at her to take them instead. But it would do! A tiny flame of hope ignited inside of her, and then something else. Burning rage. It blanketed her mind and overflowed, spilling out of her at last. Big wet drops of it landed on the hardwood floor in front of the shelf.
"How dare you? How dare you tempt me!" Cici grabbed as many of the other bottles as she could and ran to the kitchen sink with them. "God!" she yelled as she started unscrewing the tops of the bottles and emptying them all out into the sink. When she finished with those, she ran back to the shelf for more.
"And it's not even good wine! They're screw tops!" she screamed. If anyone lived nearby, she hoped they didn't hear her laughing like a maniac and call the cops. It wasn't even her cabin, and she'd just destroyed over a hundred dollars worth of alcohol.
"What was this doing here anyway? Mrs. Kincaid wasn't supposed to be drinking either!" That thought made her feel less guilty, as she poured the last of the Bailey's mini-bottles down the drain.
When the shelf was empty except for the lonely bottle of tonic water, Cici snatched it off the shelf and stared at it. The fire of her anger had burned away her thirst, and she no longer felt like drinking. She just wanted to sleep.
"I'll be damned if I let the Devil tempt me now. You can go to hell," she muttered, and then went to the bedroom. She collapsed on the bed, still in her clothes. Her last thought before she fell asleep was, "I forgot to charge my phone."
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Lucien van Oosten for letting FanStory authors use this artwork "This Drains to the Ocean" for their writing. |
By Aiona
"Why does my bed smell like mothballs? Oh, this isn't my bed. Soft though. Nice quilt pattern. Like a blueberry pie... But I don't remember going to Elias's mom's house. Wait a minute. No. This can't be her house, because I broke up with Elias last year. Didn't I?"
Cici sat up, and remembered that she was at the cabin. The one she was all excited about living in while she worked at the island preschool. Only four-hundred-and-eighty hours of work experience and she'd be able to apply for her CDA credential. Her dad didn't have to worry about her any longer. She was going to send him pictures of Kelleys Island, the school where she worked, and the cabin. Oh no. Not the cabin.
"I can't let him know I stayed in a place like this."
She wiped the crust from her eyelashes and was reminded of how she'd cried last night after discovering there was no running water. Terrific. She could wash her face with the tonic water she'd kept after dumping the rest of the contents of the mini-bar down the kitchen sink. She'd be really photogenic after a several days of not showering.
"I'd better take pictures to show the woman who owns the place. Then I won't even need to explain why I can't stay here."
She searched inside her backpack for her cellphone, but then remembered she'd left it on the kitchen counter after she discovered she had no cellular reception at this location. But to get her phone, she had to leave the comfort of the bedroom. Was she sure she wanted to do that?
In here, she could pretend there wasn't a gaping hole in the cabin wall and a tree branch, possibly containing a squirrels' nest, in the kitchen.
Cici had decided last night that as soon as it was daylight, she'd bike back to the ferry terminal where she might have cell reception again. Then she'd call the preschool administrator and let them know her housing situation had fallen through. So she would not be able to take the job after all. Maybe they knew of another preschool that was hiring on the mainland instead.
The single window on the eastern wall of the bedroom allowed the morning sun to make shadows on the walls of the bedroom. The sunrise illuminated the dust motes that swirled in the air like tiny fairies. She watched the square of sunlight creep along the wall and remembered the cabin that her sister Sandy had rented for them at Cedar Point one summer. Cici had always been afraid of coasters, but Sandy had persuaded her to go with her that year instead of hanging out at the swim park. That was over a decade ago. Cici was older now, and Sandy was miles away in Norfolk taking care of Dad. There was no one to cajole her out of bed anymore.
So despite her misgivings about what else could go wrong, and kinda like steeling herself for the long lines and death-defying drops of the coasters at Cedar Point, Cici braced herself for the day as she stepped out of the bedroom and into the main room of the cabin.
The hole in the roof? Still there. Tree branch? Check. Bottles of... Nope, she got rid of all that last night. The tonic water still sat on the shelf where she'd left it before heading to bed last night. Would she really wash her face this morning with tonic water? No. She was not that desperate for a bath.
She picked her phone up from where it lay on the kitchen counter. The screen was off, and... it would not power on. Since she never turned it off last night, it had probably continued to roam ever since she'd left the ferry and thereby drained its battery. At least the cabin had electricity to charge it with, but it would take hours before she could take pictures of the damage to the cabin or call anyone.
"Well, I can explore the island until then." Before coming to Kelleys Island, Cici had researched the cabin's location by using Google maps. From satellite views, she knew that it was situated close to the shore. "Since I paid for the ferry trip to get here, I might as well see the sights because I'm never coming back," she reasoned.
After plugging her phone charger into the outlet above the kitchen counter, and seeing the lights dim for a second or two when she did so, she shouldered her backpack, and set off on the path that led around to the back of the cabin.
The dirt path continued on into the trees and to a staircase that wound down to the rocky beach.
"Should I have locked the door?" she wondered. "If no one has broken into it by now, I doubt anyone will today either."
But Cici forgot about the cabin and everything else when she spied something on the beach that made her start crying again.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Dick Lee Shia for letting FanStory authors use this picture with their writing. |
By Aiona
No one needed to tell Cici that life wasn't fair. No matter how much she fought to come back from all the things that happened, did God care about her prayers or the things she'd done to help her Dad after her mother's death?
Like the scholarship she'd worked so hard for? That evaporated when the lockdown started. She was required to be enrolled in college, in order to receive the monthly payments that helped her afford a studio apartment. But when the university went on lockdown, she scrambled to pay for it out-of-pocket -- an expense she had not included in her very carefully-planned budget. She should have been relieved when the college finally re-opened, allowing her to continue classes online. However, it didn't solve her inability to get hands-on work-experience hours. She couldn't apply for her teaching credential without it.
So getting hired at the Kelleys Island preschool had been the answer to her prayers. But as always, this miracle-solution was snatched away from her at the last moment.
In this hopeless state, she plodded down the stairs to the beach next to the janked-up cabin that she'd agreed to stay in. If not for the sudden breeze that hit her, as she set foot on the rocky landing at the base of the staircase, she might not have looked up to see it.
She wiped her eyes of its wavering filter of tears to see if it was only a mirage. But no, they were really there. A fleet of spinnakers of all colors floated on the horizon. Splashes of rainbow colors contrasted with the deep darkness of Lake Erie and the eggshell blue of an early morning sky.
"Really now?" Cici laughed. "Are you seriously telling me it will be alright?"
All of her life, Cici had felt her mother's influence. Not physically but as a whisper in her mind when times were tough. She didn't have many memories of her, but the one that stood out and returned unbidden when she was lowest was the memory of a beach. She'd tried to describe it to Dad once, but he had no recollection of a place they'd been to together where she might have seen it. But, Cici knew she had not imagined it.
Her mother stood with her on a rocky beach much like this one on Kelleys Island. One hand was warm around Cici's, and her mother's other hand pointed at the horizon where there were sails just like these. Cici had never been sailing, but her mother had told her what kind of sails they were. "Spinnakers. I know you can remember them, Cicily. When you see them, you know that something good is about to happen." Cici never forgot that, because she had so much hope that day. She hoped so hard, and then...
It wasn't long after that day, her mother died. Like a cruel inside joke that she would never understand.
She hated the sight of any boat with a sail. Ferries didn't earn her scorn, because they were boats with engines. The speed boats on which her friends had taken her waterskiing at the Hoover Reservoir were no problem. But sailboats billowing with their flag-like colors filled her with dread in a way that nothing else did.
She slumped in surrender on the rocky ground and was rewarded with a sharp rock piercing her knee. "I can't even gracefully collapse with grief. Can't I do anything right?"
She could only deal with one thing at a time. One thing at a time.
Surely her phone was charged enough by now. Then she could head back to the ferry. Maybe even catch the Express which was more expensive but worth it, since it would take her away from this place the fastest. Yes. That's what she'd do.
Cici stood up and brushed off her jeans. No blood. Just dark spots where her shins and knees had met the cold damp sand, reminding her again how unprepared she was for the conditions on the island.
"Oh well, it's not like I have a vehicle that I'm going to get dirty."
She hurried back up the stairs to the cabin to pack her phone and charger in her backpack. If she biked fast enough, she could get the last morning Express. Making these decisions helped steady her mind. The sailboats were easily forgotten when she was able to control her destination again, but as she came to the place where the cabin's dirt path met the gravel road, Cici felt a jolt of shock when she saw nothing at the gate.
Her bike. Was it gone?
And she was positive she did not leave the cabin door ajar.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to supergold for letting FanStory authors use this picture with their writing. |
By Aiona
Not only was the cabin's front door wide open, but rustling noises could be heard within.
"Why didn't I lock it?" Cici chastised herself. "What if there's a bear inside? Are there bears on Kelleys Island? No, bears don't have opposable thumbs. I didn't lock it, but I did shut the door. So, someone turned the door knob to open it."
By pondering how the door came open, she convinced herself she didn't want to step inside to find out more. Maybe she didn't shut it all the way. Maybe the wind blew it open. Maybe it was just a squirrel making noises inside.
"Hello?"
Oh shit. There's a man inside the--
Someone stepped into the light that shone across the front porch steps, and shielded his eyes against the sun which had risen enough to bathe the cabin in its warmth.
It was the red-headed man from the ferry. The guy with the sky-blue truck. The one who thought she was just a rich tourist. She could tell he hadn't seen her yet, because she was still in the shadow of the trees that lined the walkway to the porch.
"What were you doing in there?" Cici ventured.
The man squinted and then spied her under the trees. "I could ask you the same thing."
"It's my cabin," Cici growled. No, it's not, she thought. But I have more claim to the place than he does.
"Well, uh... your roof is caved in."
Duh. "Thanks for informing me."
"I was worried. There used to be a couple who lived here, and..."
"Yeah. I know."
The red-headed man pulled his sunglasses from his front shirt pocket and put them on. Then he stepped off the porch and into the shade of the trees. If she didn't know better, his confident stride back to his sky-blue truck, which she could now see parked on the opposite side of the gravel road, would have made her think he owned the place. He didn't look like a bike thief, but... as he swept past her on the gravel path, his stench was enough to make her think he had been swimming in a Cleveland sewer drain. Maybe he was a houseless person? Did Kelleys Island have houseless people? Maybe he did steal her bike after all. She figured she'd ask anyway. One never knows.
"Wait a minute! Did you take my bike?"
"Say that again?" The man stopped and turned to look at her.
"My bike. It was by the gate. And now it's gone."
"Was wondering who left that there. No one's lived here for years. And..." he pulled his shades down just enough to peer at Cici as if she were a pillbug he'd found under a rock, "...September's kind of late in the year to be having tourists on the island renting the place."
"I'm not renting."
The man raised a brow. Then he pushed his shades back up to shield his eyes from view, as if to hide his surprise. "Well, it's none of my business, but hey, if you need a hand with the roof, just let me know. I'm Dillan."
"We've met," Cici grumbled.
"We have?"
"On the ferry. You told me that the trucks get off first."
"Oh! That was you?" Dillan laughed.
"And for your information, I'm not a tourist. I'm living... here." Why did she say that? She wasn't living here. She'd already decided that she was going back to the mainland.
"Really? You can't be serious, lady." Dillan's teeth glinted in the sunlight. His wide grin made Cici feel like a lame sheep that a wolf had caught and was just going to toy with for a while before eating.
"Yes, really! And my name's Cicily. I'm the new teacher at the Little Eagles Preschool."
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Revised 09/15/22 Thank you to dlanodraw for letting FanStory authors use this painting "Green Forest" with their writing. |
By Aiona
The population of the Kelleys Island, as Cici knew from research online prior to coming here, was little more than seven-hundred during the off-season months -- October to March. So she shouldn't have been surprised to see the same annoying red-headed guy who barked orders at her to get her bike off the ferry yesterday. Now she was certain that her first encounter with this island resident was nothing but a bad omen of further discoveries she'd make about her new island home.
Should she try to be more friendly to him? After all, he did offer to help fix the caved-in roof.
But the broken-down cabin wasn't hers. And she only told him she was staying here because she couldn't tolerate his holier-than-thou attitude towards tourists. She wouldn't stay any longer than it took to charge her phone, but if she could avoid being the recipient of his mockery again, what did it matter if she lied? Besides, she'd never see him again anyway.
And just as she predicted, as soon as Cici told him she was the new preschool teacher, Dillan's voice softened and lost the irritating edge that galled her when he first spoke to her on the ferry. "A teacher, huh?" She could feel the respect in his voice.
"Yeah. That's why I'm staying here. I need the work experience to get my teaching credential."
"Those are some lucky kids this fall. Wish they had a preschool on Kelleys Island when I lived here."
Cici surprised herself how crestfallen she was to hear those words -- "when I lived here." So he wasn't living on the island?
As if he sensed her curiosity, he added, "I live in Port Clinton. I'm here working on someone's boat."
"Oh." Cici wished Dillan weren't wearing his shades. She wanted to check the color of his eyes against her memory. From the brief glance she got when he stood on her porch steps, they were a striking color of green. "Speaking of Port Clinton, I've got to get back to the mainland. I needed to call the school about my arrival, but my phone didn't have any reception here."
"You must have Verizon."
"Yes, why?"
"You need T-mobile here if you want to be able to call out from the island."
"Good to know. Thanks." Even more reason to not stay here, Cici thought.
"Do you want a ride to town?"
Cici was both surprised and pleased at his offer. Should she take a ride from this hot-looking stranger?
"Uh, yeah. I guess so. Since my bike's gone, it would be great to get a lift. Just wait a moment. I gotta get my phone. It's charging inside."
"Sure. I'll be waiting in the truck."
Cici hurried back to the cabin, and did an "idiot check" -- what Dad always called it when they did last looks to make sure they didn't forget something when they were staying at a motel or someone else's house. But, she'd packed light. Cici hurried back to the cabin, and did an "idiot check" -- what Dad always called it when they did last looks to make sure they didn't forget something when they were staying at a motel or someone else's house. But, she'd packed light. Just her backpack from the bedroom with all the clothes she owned (which wasn't much), and her phone and charger from the kitchen.
This time, Cici locked the door. When she turned around to head to the truck, she saw Dillan pulling a tarp over something in his truck bed. He smiled at her and waved.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Sean T. Phelan for letting FanStory authors use his image "Dad's Old Truck, 1979" for their writing. One of my sailing friends always sings this whenever we are heeling a lot under sail...... he substitutes "sailboat" for "cowboy" though. |
By Aiona
As Cici approached Dillan's truck, he opened the passenger side door for her. "Sorry it's such a mess," he apologized. "I forgot I had all my tools on the seat. So I stuck them in the back."
"Thanks," Cici muttered. Or was he just blocking her view of her stolen bike in his truck bed? Then she saw the floor of the cab was littered with... maybe Cheeto dust, and a bunch of granola bar wrappers. Some clothes hung on a rack over the cab's rear window. Maybe he was telling the truth after all. It kind of looked like he was living out of his truck.
Dillan shut the passenger side door for her, and then went around the front of the truck to get into the driver's seat.
"You gotta lot of stuff in here." She glanced at Dillan's face, but if he showed any embarrassment, she couldn't see it behind his shades. Plus, he wasn't paying attention. He'd already started the truck, and they were bumping and rolling down the gravel road back to town. "You know you never did answer my question."
"What question?"
"Did you take my bike?"
"What are you talking about? I told you I didn't."
"No, you said you'd seen it earlier and wondered whose it was."
Dillan turned to look at her, but his shades veiled any expression. "Look, I didn't take it, okay? I'll bet the trash truck picked it up."
"What?"
"It was pretty beat up. And you left it where the trash bins usually are."
"Seriously? You think the garbage man picked it up?"
"Woman. Maribel collects garbage on the island. And I believe her job title is 'waste management professional.'"
Cici felt doubly rebuked. How could she think Dillan took it? "Where does Maribel take the trash?"
"Well, she drives onto the ferry and takes the waste back to Catawba."
"So, do you think she's already taken my bike to the mainland?"
"No, she goes to Put-in-Bay first. Picks up the trash there and then she heads over to--"
"In other words, my bike is long gone, huh?"
"It was probably a simple mistake. Tourists leave crap all over the island. Maribel ends up being the one who picks up after them."
"You don't like tourists much, do you?"
Dillan didn't answer her.
Did she offend him? "What do you have against them, anyway? Aren't they the lifeblood of places like this? They help the economy and--"
"They think they know everything, and they don't. They know just enough to be dangerous. That's why."
"Dangerous? To whom?"
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Sgoolsby for letting FanStory authors use this picture of a "Dodgy Old Dodge" with their writing. |
By Aiona
Cici pondered what Dillan meant by saying tourists were dangerous. "You're a boat mechanic. Am I right? I'd think you'd get off on things like clueless people who don't know how to fix their own boats."
As if he didn't hear her, Dillan continued driving.
Awkward silences were Cici's bane. They always made her garrulous. She just couldn't help it. "I guess I can agree with you though. Tourists can be dangerous, like how they can disrupt an island's whole ecosystem? I mean, look at the Great Barrier Reef, for goodness sake, with all the sunscreen clogging up the coral reefs, so that they can't even breathe. And that gigantic plastic whirlpool--"
"Hey, you know what? I don't really want to talk about it," Dillan snapped at her. "I just finished up a job, and I haven't eaten yet. The only thing on my mind right now is grabbing some pizza at the Town Pump and heading back home to my boat."
Cici nodded. "Got it." Surprised by his sudden change in tone, she kept her thoughts to herself for the rest of the ride to town. Thoughts that were increasingly related to food, because after Dillan mentioned pizza, her stomach began to make some pretty loud noises that were making her squirm with embarrassment. Could Dillan hear them?
"You need to eat too, don't you?"
Darn it. He heard them. "I haven't eaten since I got to the island. I'm thirsty as heck too. All there was to drink at the cabin was tonic water."
"Really? Kelleys Island is famous for its vineyards. Back when they were still were renting out your cabin, they always kept some samples from the local wineries for their summertime tenants. She didn't leave any of it when you bought the place?"
Cici guessed Dillan hadn't noticed all the empty bottles she'd upended into the kitchen sink. "There's no way I could afford to buy a cabin, right now. Mrs. Kincaid's just letting me stay there for a while. And yes, she left the bottles." To Cici's relief, he didn't ask more about them.
"Here we are," Dillan parked in front of a restaurant near the ferry terminal. Cici recognized it as one of the buildings she'd biked past on her way to the cabin.
"Thanks for the ride." As Cici hopped out of Dillan's truck, she wondered if she should pay him? But before she could make a decision, Dillan had already reached the entrance of the Town Pump, had fllung open the door of the restaurant, and was about to duck inside.
But before he did, he stopped to give her some advice. "I'll bet you can make phone calls now, from here. But, if you're staying on the island, remember T-mobile has better coverage. I'll see you around." Dillan gave her a smile which Cici returned before he disappeared inside. Just before the door swung closed with a long hydraulic hiss, she heard all the friendly greetings thrown his way, from the patrons inside.
Cici dug her cellphone out of her backpack to check her signal and found Dillan was right. Finally! She could make a phone call and get out of this place. She sat down on a bench outside the Town Pump and proceeded to call Mrs. Kincaid first.
She waited for an answer, but the call went to voicemail. Just then, the front door of the pub opened again, and the scent of pizza exited with it. A devastatingly delicious, hot steaming slice of it hovered at her shoulder.
"I got this for you." It was Dillan.
Meanwhile Cici was listening to Mrs. Kincaid's voicemail message: "Please leave a message, and I'll get back to you when I can."
"Uh, yeah." Cici took the pizza with one hand, while still trying to talk on her phone with the other. "Yes, Mrs. Kincaid, I just called to... to tell you I can't..." Cici looked up at Dillan with a smile. Why did he have to come back? Now he would overhear that she was not going to stay on the island. That she'd lied. She go back to mere "tourist status" with Dillan. "...I can't stay in your cabin after all. The roof got damaged somehow. If I can't find a place to stay, I don't think I'll be able to take this job at the preschool."
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Amethyst22960 for letting FanStory authors use this picture "Sunny Seat" for their writing. Last revised 08/11/21. |
By Aiona
As soon as Cici finished leaving her voicemail to Mrs. Kincaid, she began devouring the slice of pizza Dillan brought her as she was sitting on the bench outside the Town Pump. "Mmmph.... thanks," she managed to mumble between swallows. It could have won awards as the best pizza she'd ever tasted!
"Careful, there. You know, there's a thing called chewing?" Dillan stared at Cici as if he'd just seen her perform a magic trick he didn't know the secret to.
Cici nodded and swallowed the last bite of her crust. As delicious as it was, the pizza had sucked every bit of moisture from her lips and tongue. Its thick and spongy crust was exactly how she liked crusts to be, but not how she liked her mouth to feel. She could barely talk. "I have to make another phone call...to the school."
"Now, hold on, before you do anything else. Three things. First of all, your boss at the school can wait, but I got a whole pizza at my table inside that doesn't know what the word 'wait' means. I don't know about you, but I am not a fan of cold pizza. Second, although I love the view here in front of the restaurant, you can still see Cedar Point from inside if you know where to sit, and I do."
Cici nodded at Dillan. Her mouth was too parched to reply.
He held the Town Pump's front door open for her, and then followed her as she stepped into an almost-tangible, warm, scent-cloud of mouth-watering food. As her eyes adjusted to the relative darkness of the restaurant, she realized it was more than a restaurant. It was also a bar.
It was tense few moments, before she realized Dillan's table was nowhere near the bar, which she did her best not to look at. Instead, just as he had promised outside on the sidewalk, he led her to a table by the windows, just as he'd promised, where she spied an enormous pizza, sans one piece. And also two tall glasses of ice water. Water!
Without another word, Cici plunked herself down in one of the wooden chairs, pulled herself up to the table, owned herself a glass, and started chugging it. The icy water was refreshing after the heat outside, but more than that, it relieved the thirst she'd ignored since last night when all she'd found in the cabin was bottles of alcohol.
While she downed her glass of water, Dillan sat down opposite of her, and watched her with interest as she ate slice after slice of pizza. Before she knew it, she'd finished four pieces along with every drop of the ice water and found herself chewing on the ice cubes. "So what was the third thing?"
"What third thing? This was all I ordered." He put the last slice on her plate and pushed it at her. "I was going to take some home for dinner, but it looks like you need another piece more than I do."
"You said you had three things to tell me. First was the pizza. Next was you wanted to come inside the restaurant." Cici picked up her piece of pizza and inhaled its marvelous cheesy goodness before she prepared to bite it.
"Oh, that? Well, I was just going to ask how you knew Mrs. Kincaid, and what made you decide to stay in her dilapidated cabin? But first, lemme order that third thing." Then he waved at a woman at the bar. "Em! Could I have a pitcher of beer, please?"
Cici stopped mid-bite and her blood ran cold.
Dillan noticed her reaction, and his brow furrowed. "Something wrong? Did you bite your tongue?" His green eyes sparkled as he laughed at her. "You were eating so fast, I figured that might happen. Slow down."
"No, it's not that." Cici felt that last bite of pizza sticking in her throat. "You asked how I met Mrs. Kincaid. We haven't really met, unless you count over Zoom. She's a member of my AA group."
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Last revised 02/16/22 12:22 PM Thank you to Sgoolsby for letting Fanstory authors use this image "Glass Half Full" with their writing. |
By Aiona
CHARACTERS:
Cici - 23-year-old college graduate trying to get her teaching credential
Dillan - 28-year-old boat mechanic
Em - Short for "Emalee" - she works at the bar
Mrs. Kincaid - Cici's landlady (and Dillan's mom)
Yeah, that was fantastic. Cici wished she hadn't just now told a complete stranger about meeting her new landlady at an online AA meeting. Not only did she violate the anonymity of her fellow AA member, why didn't she just hang a big sign around her neck saying "I'm a lush!" and stop trying to hide it? Okay, former lush. Both she and Mrs. Kincaid were clean for over a year.
She braced herself for Dillan's reaction. At first, he had none. He simply leaned back in his chair and looked contemplative. Then, suddenly he pushed his chair back from the table, stood up, and left Cici sitting alone. She watched him take a seat at the bar across the room, where he began chatting with the woman he called "Em."
Cici felt her face flush with embarrassment, and her heart raced as all get-out. She was beginning to like Dillan and now she felt ashamed of her admission that she was an alcoholic. What must he think of her now? Oh well, it's not like she was expecting anything to happen between them. Right?
That last slice of pizza in her hands no longer looked appetizing. She put it down on her plate and wondered if she should just leave. Maybe Dad was right. She should just go back home. Catch the ferry back to the mainland, and take a Greyhound to Norfolk. At least Dad understood her situation, and she wouldn't have to explain her alcoholism every time to new people.
She leaned down to get her backpack where it lay next to her chair, and when she sat back up, a giant mug of amber liquid stared at her from the table. Condensation glistened on its sides like tiny clear marbles, some in rivulets rolling down the straight sides.
Dillan smiled at her from across the table with a frosty mug of his own which he raised in a toast. "I'm just glad she started going to meetings again. Here's to online AA meetings over Zoom, right?" Then, he took a long drink, in front of her.
Shocked silent, Cici wondered what kind of wretched woman mothered the special jerk sitting in front of her.
Dillan saw her glare and laughed so hard, she thought he was choking. When he caught his breath, he shook his head with disbelief. "You really think I brought you beer? Ginger ale. Non-alcoholic. From the local brewery. You've gotta try it."
The scent of ginger wafted up from the chilled mug and made Cici smile. Oh God. That was the second time she'd misjudged him. But who was keeping score? "No, I was just surprised. How did you know Mrs. Kincaid was..."
"An alcoholic? Yeah. It was always a problem. Well, she made it my problem."
"What do you mean? Were you neighbors or something?" Cici felt she was missing something.
Dillan scoffed with anger. "She's asked me to fix that cabin before. Would you believe it's in better shape than it used to be? Where'd you stay last night?"
Cici laughed because otherwise she'd cry. "I stayed in the cabin, of course."
"With the..."
"Roof open to the stars? Mrs. Kincaid told me the cabin had nice views, but I didn't expect that one. Luckily, someone kept the bedroom door closed. So it was fine inside there.... except for no running water. Do you think she'll be mad when she finds out I dumped all her wine down the sink?"
"Are you kidding? The winery gives them to her for free. To them, it's just marketing."
Cici took a deep breath. It felt good to talk to someone about what happened last night. And Dillan's silence during her cringe-y speech made her unafraid again. "Thanks for coming by. Last night, when I found out the cabin was messed up, I was pretty scared. Fear makes me mad. And so I was angry enough to think of quitting the job at the school, before I even started." Afraid to look at Dillan while she spoke, Cici instead stared out the window to the ferry dock just across the street.
From the edge of her vision, Cici saw Dillan take another long drink from his mug. Once again, his empty silence made her want to fill it with something.
Oversharing like always, she still wanted to voice what she was feeling or cowardice would overwhelm her. "And I came to the realization it's my fear that drove me to drinking. In other words, I gotta stop being afraid. So that's why I applied for this job, and that's how Mrs. Kincaid offered me a place to stay."
"Are you really quitting?" Something about his voice made Cici glance at him, and she saw he was staring out of the window too.
"It's not a bad place. Cuter than I thought it'd be. Well, that is without the freaking hole in the roof." She realized she was staring at him, when he turned to look at her. And that was the moment she realized she was wrong. His eyes were teal, not green. Cici broke the faux pas with a good long sip of her ginger ale, and was thankful the mug was so wide.
"I wasn't kidding when I said I could help you fix the roof." Dillan pointed to the last slice of pizza, still untouched after her long soliloquy. "And if you're not gonna eat that, is it alright if I eat it?"
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Brendaartwork18 for letting FanStory authors use her artwork "Built on Sand" with their writing. |
By Aiona
"Oh, God! Yes, take it." Cici pushed her plate, with the last slice of pizza on it, towards Dillan. "If I'd known you were planning to bring home leftovers for dinner, I wouldn't have eaten four slices. I've got some cash on me. So I can chip in for another one you can take home."
"Don't worry about it. I owe him one, anyway." The bartender Em appeared next to their table. The midday sunshine reflected off everything just outside the windows of the Town Pump, and now with that light, it was easy to see that Dillan and Em both had red-hair and the same not-quite-green-not-quite-blue eyes.
In her hands, Em had brought a chocolate cupcake that was plated with a tiny candle atop it. "It's your birthday!" Em sang as she placed the cupcake before Cici. "I couldn't light the candle, but I figured Dillan probably has a lighter on him. Don't you?"
Cici felt an uneasy twinge of jealousy as Em touched Dillan's shoulder in a way that said they were more than just acquaintances. She went back to looking at the cupcake instead. "You know, it looks really moist and yummy. But today isn't my b--"
"You can't say no." Em shook her head at Cici, and covered her pink lips with a finger. "Go ahead and make a wish," she commanded with a hint of mischief in her voice, while Dillan fished a lighter from his shirt pocket and proceeded to light the pink candle that graced Cici's un-birthday cupcake.
Cici stared at the candle and struggled to think of a wish. She had so many of them, less than an hour ago. "I wish that..."
"Not out loud," both Dillan and Em chided her at the same time.
Can I wish that things would go right for a change? Is that kind of wish too vague? It wasn't even her birthday, so did a wish even count? But she blew out the single candle, and a feeling of calm overcame her. And probably not just because she was about to eat her favorite flavor of cake!
"Any word from Maribel?" Dillon asked Em.
Em nodded. "Yeah, good news. It's at the shop."
"Wait...What's at the shop?" Cici paused before digging into her cupcake.
"I figured that's where it'd be." Dillon shrugged. "Okay, I'll take her there afterwards."
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Linda Bickston for letting FanStory authors use this lovely drawing "Emma" with their writing. |
By Aiona
As soon as Em left to take care of a customer at the bar, Dillan reached over to an unused table behind him, and grabbed a fork from one of the table settings. Then he used it to cut a hunk off Cici's cupcake and then shoveled it into his mouth.
He smirked as he chewed. "Just wanted a bite. She wouldn't give me one today, because our birthday was last month."
"You're twins?"
"There's only about six-hundred residents on Kelleys Island. Either you know someone really well, or else you're related."
Cici looked over at the bar, and noticed Em smiling at her. "Why's she staring at us?"
Dillan leaned conspiratorily closer and whispered, "Not us. Staring at you. She was a little surprised when I told her you aren't a client of mine."
Cici couldn't help feeling glad to know that. "So what's waiting for you at 'the shop'?" Cici asked between gulps of what was left of her un-birthday cake.
"Your bike," Dillan said so bluntly, Cici was almost offended.
"But... I thought you said Maribel brings the trash to the mainland." Cici was confused.
"She does. Sometimes she drops stuff off at the thrift shop in Catawba."
"Trash?" She remained confused.
"You wouldn't believe what people throw away, especially on Kelleys Island. Stay here a while, and you learn that even the poor people are rich here."
"God, I can't tell if you're trying to be my friend or my enemy. Why didn't you tell me I might find my bike there?"
Dillan pulled out his wallet, dug through it, and finally fished out a twenty which he put under the salt shaker. "I didn't want to get your hopes up. But if you want to get it before the shop closes, we'd better head out." Dillan stood up from the table and waved at Em before motioning Cici to join him outside.
Just as she'd been hit with good smells as she'd entered the Town Pump, a forceful wave of humidity smacked her in the face as she stepped out of the building.
"Woo-ee!" Dillan exclaimed, as he put his shades back on. "Good thing it's almost autumn."
The two of them climbed back into Dillan's truck and immediately headed for the ferry, which was just about to leave. Once they were on, Cici asked if she should chip in for the ferry ride.
"Naw, I just got paid, remember? Besides I was heading back to the mainland anyway."
Dillan left Cici at the thrift store somewhere between Marblehead and Port Clinton. On the ferry, Dillan had informed her that it was a charity store, and so Cici was happy to "pay" fifteen dollars for own bike.
But when Dillan explained the misunderstanding, the shop manager shook her head and sent Cici off with not only her bike, but a sack of canned goods, a couple of bottles of water, and some advice. "You're gonna need a deep freezer, if you're staying there for the winter. Sometimes the ferries stop running because Lake Erie freezes over."
Ugh. Cici hadn't even thought of such a thing.
"She doesn't need to worry. The cabin already has one," Dillan remarked.
"It does?" Cici didn't remember seeing it.
"It's in the cellar. It's why my mom left the electricity on. There's some bass and probably some venison in the freezer from last year's tenants."
"Wait a minute. Did you just say Mrs. Kincaid is...your mom?"
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Dick Lee Shia for letting FanStory authors use this image of his favorite ship with their writing. |
By Aiona
Dillan shrugged. "Hey, like I said...Everyone on the island..."
"...either knows you really well or else is related to you. You weren't kidding, huh?" Learning that Dillan was her landlady's son made sense. So he wasn't just some creeper that stopped by her cabin at random. "Is that why you're helping me? Because the cabin belongs to your mom?"
"I don't do favors for her anymore." Dillan's anger was unexpected as a thunderclap in a clear blue sky and just as startling to Cici.
"Only for strangers then?" she postulated.
Dillan laughed, and Cici was relieved he wasn't mad at her. "I didn't know about the damage until this morning. Since the lockdown, I've been getting lots of jobs on all the islands, and not just Kelleys. Anyway, we're not going to be strangers long, if you're living there." He waved as he drove off, heading for his "boat" in Port Clinton.
"Am I?" Cici thought to herself. "I was ready to throw in the towel and move back to Norfolk. Now everyone's acting like I'm staying. Including me."
Despite her misgivings this morning, Dillan had given her some hope. He would be back next weekend to help her fix the roof. Until then, she was already on the mainland. So she decided to stock up on groceries which were cheaper here than on the island, where everything had to be shipped in on the ferries. "Why didn't I think to do that yesterday?"
In her excitement about moving onto the island, she hadn't thought about the dearth of stores there. And now that she didn't have running water.... "Oh yeah, I was gonna do something about that."
Yesterday, she thought she could search for the water main valve when it was daylight, and then had decided against it because she was leaving anyway. Cici renewed her plan to look for it when she reached home.
Home. There she was. Using that word again. So much to do! And... what was this talk about a cellar with a freezer?
She added a flashlight to her grocery basket, which already contained just enough bread and cans of sardines to last a few days. Then acting on impulse, she bought some vegetable seeds too. She knew it was probably too late in the season to plant anything, but she hoped something would grow. Then maybe she wouldn't have to take a ferry trip just to buy produce all the time. She wished she could purchase more, but she already wasn't looking forward to the dreaded bike ride home with all of this stuff.
"I guess I've decided then." What had turned out to be a trip to make a phone call to leave the island had instead solidified what Cici'd be doing for the next ten months. She biked back to the ferry terminal just in time to catch the next ferry out and was grateful the fare was only four dollars extra for her bike versus over four times as much for a car.
"Weren't you here yesterday?" the lady at the ticket counter asked.
"Yeah, I'm living on the island," Cici replied. Her words filled her with confidence. If she kept answering these kinds of questions this way, she was definitely going to talk herself into staying! "But if I'm gonna keep coming back here to buy groceries, is there some kind of season pass or something for residents?" The lady assured her there wasn't.
The ferry ride back home... Dare she call it "home" still?... was lonelier than the trip to Marblehead. She didn't realize how much she'd missed human contact until Dillan showed up. The isolation she felt wasn't only because of her break-up with Elias and subsequent avoidance of their previous haunts, like the bars and other date-type scenes. The lockdown had also put an abrupt end to all her in-person socializing.
Going back to her empty cabin was a lot like going through withdrawal. Painful. But necessary.
Just like deciding if she was going to stay or not....
She understood she would be waffling for a while, but she hoped it would settle into something more routine in the way her quitting drinking had. She'd been in Denial. Then she'd been Angry. But Acceptance took time.
When she arrived at the cabin, this time she parked her bike on the porch. She didn't plan on having to retrieve her bike a second time. She had things to do!
After storing the groceries in the pantry, she put batteries in her new flashlight which she pocketed and then headed outside to look for the water main valve, but instead found something else. The cellar entrance.
She found it on the east side of the cabin, where the path turned left and went around the back of the house instead of towards the beach. There was a lock on the door, but Cici opened it easily with the other key Mrs. Kincaid had mailed to her along with the front door key.
She wished Dillan were still here. She wasn't sure what she'd find inside -- if there really was a freezer or whatever else... whatever else.... Should she wait for Dillan's return next weekend, and then maybe he could accompany her?
All the horror movies she'd ever seen were running through her head, all of which had taught her that one must never go down into an unfamiliar cellar alone. Despite those memorable lessons, she let out a gutteral roar so loud that it frightened the birds out of the nearby trees, and then yanked open the two doors!
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel. The next chapter is HERE.
Thank you to World Travel Photos for letting FanStory authors use this image "Lightbulb Disconnect" with their writing. |
By Aiona
Although Cici yanked with all her strength on the cellar doors, they didn't budge. Dang... She knew that no longer working out at the gym due to the lockdown had allowed her to let herself go, but... what did the Kincaids do? Gorilla-Glue those doors shut?
After psyching herself up so much to open them, she wasn't sure she could gather enough courage to try again today. Just as well. She could just wait for Dillan's help.
Cici sat on a concrete ledge which was next to the path. It was just opposite from the cellar entrance, and a convenient place to rest and just to breathe for a moment. That's when she heard a tiny thud. Uh-oh. Her phone had fallen out of her shorts' back pocket for the one-millionth time.
"I really need to get some better pants. Why don't women's pants have deeper pockets?" she muttered as she turned around to search through the overgrowth for her phone. She brushed aside some plants that left a sticky, oily residue on her hands; its scent reminded her of oregano. Finally, underneath the long fronds of that herbaceous plant, she saw her phone lying atop some kind of grate. Thank goodness it hadn't fallen inside!
But what was this doing here? What if underneath it was the water main access?
Cici's disappointment at not getting the scary cellar doors open dissipated as she investigated her find. The concrete ledge she'd chosen to sit on was actually the retaining wall for a small enclosure, about the size of a cat carrier. The four walls were topped by the slotted metal grate that her cellphone could have dropped through if it hadn't landed cross-wise across the slots.
More relieved than when she'd found her missing bike at the thrift shop, Cici retrieved her phone. But as she tried to put it back in her pocket, she fumbled, and it fell from her hand. She grabbed for it, but instead of catching it, it bounced hacky-sack style off her hand and landed on the grate again, where it skittered, spinning until it stopped with its edge poised over a slot in the grate. Aghast, Cici watched as her phone teetered for a second and then slid right down into the grate.
"I could not have done that better, if I'd actually tried."
Cici leaned over the grate and peered inside. It was too dark to see. She would have to remove the grate, which she hoped was easier than opening the cellar doors.
After she cleared away more of the plant-life, she could see the entire structure, which was barely bigger than a milk crate. The concrete enclosure was only about a foot-and-a-half high, which is what had made it such an attractive but fateful bench.
With the vegetation removed, she could also see that one of the edges of the grate had a notch by which it could be lifted up. She pried with her fingers, and to her relief, she found it came up easily. Keeping it open though was another matter. Cici let it drop again, with a resounding clunking noise. Then looked for something to brace it with. Next to the back wall of the cabin was a small log. She hastened to carry it over and then used it to prop the grate open. Inside the enclosure was her phone, which had landed on some soft dirt which had cushioned its fall. It was dusty, but thankfully not damaged. After she pocketed her phone again, she resumed trying to find a way to turn on the water inside the cabin.
Under the grate was a spigot and some kind of machinery attached to some pipes.
It wasn't like any kind of water main valve she'd ever seen, but at least it had something to do with water! She tested the spigot, but nothing came out.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Sgoolsby for letting FanStory authors use this picture "Rusty Drainage Cover" with their writing. |
By Aiona
If Cici couldn't get the water turned on, how was she going to live at the cabin? She'd bought a few bottles of water, but that wouldn't last more than a day. She thought finding the water main valve would be easy. After all, she'd done it before at the trailer park where Dad lived. However, she stared at the jumble of pipes and some kind of apparatus attached to it, and nothing she saw even looked like any water main valve she'd ever seen.
"Hey, Cici!" A voice called from behind her, and it just about made her jump out of her skin. It was Em from the Town Pump, who plopped down on the concrete ledge next to her and peered under the grate. "What 'cha up to?"
"Oh, Em! Gee! You scared the crap out of me."
"Good, you found it. Dillan asked me to make sure you got the water running." Em reached in and turned the spigot.
"I already tried it. Nothing's coming out," Cici sighed. She appreciated Em coming over to help her, and was even more surprised that Dillan was the one who told her about Cici's living situation. What else had he told her?
Em wiped her hand on her sleeve, and stood up from the ledge. "Did you turn on the breaker?"
"What breaker?" Cici wondered what the electrical system had to do with the water system.
Em pointed to the top of the mysterious box-like apparatus. "My stepdad always wrote stuff on everything to remind himself what to do. See?"
Closer examination of the machinery revealed a faded note scrawled in black marker on the top of the case: "Turn on breaker."
Cici laughed out loud. "It's a well! Man, I didn't even think of that. So I need to check the breaker for the pump. That's what you meant, right? 'Cause, no, I haven't checked that yet."
"Let's go have a look inside."
Em followed Cici around to the front porch, where Cici paused before opening the door. She turned and apologized to Em. "It's a mess inside. I didn't expect guests." And was relieved when Em only laughed.
The cabin was so small, it didn't take long to find the breaker box located next to the fridge in the kitchen.
"It's a good thing that tree branch didn't fall on this side of the kitchen, else I'd probably be out electricity too," Cici commented as she flipped the breaker labeled "Pump."
"Well, it'll take a while for the water pressure to build up enough to test the faucets," Em informed her. "So while we wait, I was going to suggest we have a drink to celebrate, but... I see you already did." Em pointed at all the empty wine bottles Cici had left in the sink.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to iPhone7 for letting FanStory authors use this image "Bottoms Up" with their writing. |
By Aiona
Cici felt the blood rush to her face and could hear her heart doing some kind of improvisational jazz-dance when Em pointed out all the empty wine bottles in the sink. "I guess your brother told you about my drinking problem, didn't he?"
"Uhh... No." Em's perplexed look made Cici want to go crawl into a well or something.
"Or maybe he didn't. But whatever he said, I didn't drink all those bottles of wine." Cici hoped Em believed her. "I was so thirsty last night. Without running water... All I could find to drink was the tonic water."
Em looked around the cabin until her gaze landed on the shelf where the bottle of tonic water sat. Still unopened. Then back to the empty wine bottles in the sink.
"But I was so tired, I just went to bed." Cici could almost see the wheels turning in Em's head. "But not before I dumped all the wine out in the sink. Tell your mom, I'm sorry."
Em grabbed Cici's shoulders and forced her to look into her blue-y greenish eyes, "I believe you. Alright? And it's okay. I won't tell my mom about the wine." Em released Cici's from her grasp and started searching the kitchen cabinets. "Anyway, I haven't been able to get a hold of her for weeks. She's constantly changing her phone number because she runs out of minutes."
"Maybe that's why she hasn't responded to the voicemail message I left this morning. Or at least she hadn't the last time I checked just before I got off the ferry. I don't have cell service here either."
"You must have Verizon," Em commented as she switched to looking in the cabinets beneath the countertop.
"Oh yeah! Your brother mentioned that. That's another thing I forgot to do today -- switch to T-Mobile."
"Here they are!" Em pulled two wine glasses out of the cabinets. Then walked over to the "mini bar" and twisted open the seal on the tonic water bottle with sharp snap. "One for you, one for me!" Em sang cheerily as she poured tonic water into each wine glass.
Cici took the proffered glass, and together they toasted finding the water pump breaker, Cici's new job, and
"...Dillan's new girlfriend."
"Wait. What?" Cici was shocked.
"Don't be so humble. You're the first girl I've seen him with since Madison died."
"Who died? And I just met Dillan this morning. I'm definitely not 'with' him." Cici wondered at the disdain in her own voice and hoped Em wouldn't be offended by her vehement denial.
Em's expression changed from cheerful to disappointed in the blink of an eye. "He said you weren't a client, so I thought.... Oh well."
"And who died again?"
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Thank you to Neilnap773 for letting FanStory authors use "Spanish Fiesta" with their writing. |
By Aiona
"Oh, that's right. There's no reason you could have known about Madison. Dillan never talks about what happened." Em looked as if she might talk about it though.
Cici wondered if she dared to pry. What would Em think of her? After all, Cici had just met Dillan this morning. And now here she was, asking his sister more about his dead girlfriend? Rude! But curiosity ate at her. Oh, the heck with it! "How did she die?"
"Well, let's just say I can see why Dillan wanted to help you out." Em shuffled side-to-side like a nervous cat."Look, I'd like to tell you more, but... I really need to pee. The water pressure's probably built up enough, although we might have to prime it. Is it okay if I use your bathroom and test it out?"
"No harm in trying, is there? Go to it! After all, it's your mom's house," Cici admitted.
As Em disappeared into the back room, Cici had a disturbing thought. She didn't use the restroom in town, as she'd planned. That meant she hadn't gone in almost twenty-four hours. Wow! After that tonic water, now she needed to pee too!
She wondered if Em would be long, when she heard her shout. "Don't be alarmed if it's brown."
"I didn't need to know that!" Cici called back to her.
"No, silly! I meant the water. It's very dark." Em laughed. "God, your sense of humor! It reminds me of my dad. We can turn on the the taps to clear the lines, but it'll take a while to clear up."
After Cici had her turn in the bathroom, she and Em let the faucets run until water came out fine and clear. All the while, Em told Cici where to get the best codfish sandwiches on the island (the Town Pump where she worked, of course!), and the best beach for swimming when it wasn't fall and 45 degrees outside, and even about the fossils she encouraged Cici to see at the Glacial Grooves.
But Em still didn't explain about the mysterious Madison who had captured Dillan's heart, and then who had broken it with her death. Maybe if Cici persuaded Em to stay a bit longer, she might reveal the secret of Madison's death.
"Do you want to stay for dinner?" Cici offered. "It's only sardines and whole wheat bread, but..."
Em sighed, "I can't. I gotta head to my second job at the marina."
Ouch! Cici was certain Em wasn't lying about heading to work again. Lord knows, Cici constantly felt she needed a second job too, to make ends meet. So why did Em's decline of Cici's dinner invitation feel like rejection?
Em paused in the doorway and studied her face so intently, Cici wondered if she had something on it. Or perhaps, Cici's disappointment was painfully obvious, because Em issued an imperative. "Don't look so glum though, Cici. Can you offer me a raincheck on Tuesday? That's my only day off."
"You're working tomorrow too?"
"Sunday mornings are our busiest day."
"Tuesday then?"
"That works the best. You can enjoy my sparkling wit and glamourous company then, okay? I can also see if you need any more help. Mom's not the best at keeping this place running, obvs. So I'm sure you'll find plenty more broken stuff around here."
"I'd appreciate that so much." More than I could ever say out loud, Cici thought to herself.
Cici watched as Em carried her bike down Cici's porch steps, and had a moment of envy because Em knew not to leave her bike by the road where it could be picked up on Maribel's trash truck route. Then Cici noted with even more jealousy, Em's bike was in so much better shape compared to Cici's, no one would have mistaken it for "trash" anyway.
"I gotta get ready for classes anyway," Cici thought as she waved goodbye to Em. As Em biked away, Cici felt a sudden emptiness. She was alone again, inside this messed up cabin. Thank goodness she'd thrown away all the wine last night, because she might not have had the strength to do it now, when she was feeling eve more alone than last night.
"But Tuesday. I can hang on until Tuesday. And maybe these feelings will pass."
What feelings? Doubt. Indecision. Feeling as if people were putting too much stock in her abilities. How could she take the stress, alone on this island?
She wondered briefly if Em lived on the island too, or commuted from the mainland, as some did. And Madison. She had died here, but did she live here too?
Without Em's explanation, Cici spent the entire evening pondering why Dillan's girlfriend had died. She hoped it didn't have anything to do with the cabin. That would be too creepy.
"I hope Dillan's not some psycho axe murderer." Cici chuckled to herself. "That would be absurd."
In spite of her uneasiness about a possible death related to her new abode, Cici slept well, and she even got up early to try to plant some seeds in what looked like an overgrown garden behind the well-pump housing. "Maybe it'll keep my mind off the woman who'd captured Dillan's heart."
She found a shovel leaning next to the porch and used it to clear away a patch of grass. It was slow going, and she was sweating and swearing by the time she'd turned over an area big enough to plant a few lettuce seeds.
She marked off a small row and was about to dig up another one, when her shovel hit something hard. So many rocks were in the soil here. She pried under the object with her shovel, in an attempt to lever it out of there. It had just given way with a satisfying "Pop!" and that was when Cici's senses were assaulted by a powerful stench.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Last revised 02/16/2022 12:36 PM Thank you to meg119 for letting FanStory authors use this painting of a broom and a shovel. last revised 02/05/2022 |
By Aiona
What Cici thought was the satisfying sound of a rock being pried loose from the garden bed was instead a heavy lid, the top of which had been covered by about four inches of soil. And judging from the stench, Cici learned where the septic tank was. It wasn't a poop smell, thank goodness. It was a very weird odor though, and so she quickly put the lid back.
"Well, why did they decide to dig a garden here?" Cici threw down her shovel and stormed back into the house to get cool again. She had thought that area had been a garden, because of the lush green growth in that square-like plot. However, now she was beginning to think it was only like that because it was near the septic tank drain field.
"Oh well. At least I can get a drink of water now for all my wasted effort." Cici was elated to remember that Em had helped her get the water running again.
Em had cautioned her to boil it before drinking though. "We had a groundwater contamination a few years ago. Lot of tourists discharge into the lake. Made a ton of folks really sick," she explained.
So Cici had used the rusty tea kettle she found in the cabinets to boil up a couple of gallons of water, which she let cool so she could store it in the fridge later. She cleaned the dead spiders out of a Mason jar, and that became her water glass.
"I've got water to drink. I'm going to be okay," she thought as she sipped the cool clear liquid, and gazed at the blue sky above her through the tree branches filtering the sunlight from her kitchen roof. "And where else can I enjoy the outdoors and still be indoors? All I need now is a nice lawn chair, and this place'll be great." A leaf fell from her hair and into her drinking water.
"Or maybe I should just take a bath."
The small clawfoot bathtub in the alcove was barely big enough to fit her. She hadn't used it yet, either, other than to test the water pump yesterday. However, now was the right time for a real test.
She set her drinking jar of water on the nightstand. Then she crouched over the tub's edge to put the stopper in the drain, only to hear a RIPPING noise as she bent over.
"What? No no no..." Cici felt around the back of her favorite jeans, and yes, the seat of it now had a big airy hole. "Terrific." She only had two pairs of pants, and the only other pair was what she was planned to wear for her first day at work tomorrow! What would her new boss or even her young students think, if she came to work with her underwear showing?
Cici squelched her annoyance at this unexpected incident, because she knew it would all be okay. Yesterday, she spied a small sewing kit in one of the kitchen drawers. So she would spend some time mending her pants today. Mrs. Kincaid had even provided some bathrobes for guests at the cabin. So Cici planned to wear one while she mended her ripped jeans. That way she could keep her good slacks clean, in preparation for her first day as a bonafide preschool teacher.
She searched the kitchen cabinets for a dishtowel to use as a washcloth, when she was startled by a gunshot. Somewhere outside the cabin.
"That the style these days?"
Cici whirled around, and was surprised to see a woman dressed all in plaid, with a long-barreled gun in her hands.
"Seems like the holes in young people's jeans keep gettin' bigger and bigger." The woman pointed at Cici's pants. "Pretty soon, you'll be paying fifty dollars for the mere suggestion of denim leggin's."
"Who in the heck are you?!" Cici shrieked.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Last revised 02/23/2022 13:09 PM Thanks to Lilibug6 for letting FanStory authors use this lovely picture of "View of Devil's Bathtub." last revised 02/04/2022 |
By Aiona
"And why doesn't anyone ever knock on this island?" Cici shouted in a voice a lot braver than she felt, as she edged sideways from behind the counter to keep the massive hole in the back of her jeans out of sight of the strange man wielding a big gun, who'd just sauntered right into her cabin unannounced, and began criticizing her clothes! "Who are you? The wardrobe police?"
"Who are YOU?" the old man grumbled. "Because unless she's had one hell of an expensive face-lift, you're not Sherry."
"Sherry?" Cici noted with relief that the man was coming further into the house, so the doorway would be clear for her to make a getaway! She kept edging sideways, keeping her distance between the man and herself.
"Sherry Kincaid. She used to own this place." The old man was casting glances around, but mostly he was staring at the open hole in the roof. "I hope you didn't pay a lot for it. But it's about time someone spent some money on fixing it. What an eye sore it's been, ever since Curtis died."
A shiver ran through Cici. "Madison died here too. And now there's a dead Curtis? What is this place? American Horror Story? Who is Curtis, and why do people keep dying here? Is there something I need to know about Kelleys Island that no one is telling me? Did I just sign up to join a cult or something?" While she talked, the old man circled around the kitchen island, allowing her to edge further towards the front door. It was so close now. Almost there. Keep moving, freaky man.
The stranger's face molded into what Cici guessed was a smile, which seemed difficult for him. "You want to know who I am? I'm your next door neighbor, Tom Bailey." The old man shifted his gun to the crook of his left arm, and extended his other hand in greeting. When Cici didn't respond in kind, he retracted it. "Curtis's grandad built this place. Then Curtis got it when his granddad died. He'd be rolling over in his grave though to know that his grandson married that no-good---" The strange man had started walking backwards and was again blocking the doorway!
"Stop right there! Or else..." Cici cast about her looking for a weapon, and grabbed the cast iron pan on the counter by the stove. She brandished her pan at the old man and he stepped back from the kitchen island. Was she crazy? Did she really think threatening him would make him move? It might make him shoot her instead? Well, she had to take the chance! "I've got excellent aim!" No, she didn't.
Tom just stared at her slack-jawed which Cici interpreted as fear. "Good! Stay where you are, Mr. Bailey, if that's even your real name! Now move away from the door!"
"You want me to stop moving, and now you want me to move. Make up your mind, little Missy."
Cici shook her head. He was right. She'd just told him to do two opposite things! "Nevermind that! And my name's not Missy, it's--" She stopped herself. Why was she giving her name to a psychotic stranger? "Never mind that either! Back away from the door! Now!" Cici jerked her frying pan for emphasis.
The old man broke out in laughter that sounded like plaster breaking apart. "Okay, Missy." And he side stepped into the small kitchen, and stood next to the fallen branch, while Cici dashed outside.
She grabbed her bike from the porch, and heard footsteps following her. In panic, she flung the heavy iron pan into the darkened doorway, where she heard it land HARD, as she jumped onto her bike and pedaled like crazy for town.
She was relieved to hear the old man wasn't following her, but also felt a twinge of guilt. "Did I hit him? What if I killed him?" She debated if there had been anything else she could have done. Her phone had no service at the cabin. She couldn't even call 911, if there'd even been time to do so. No, she did the right thing. And now, she could call the police from town. Call?
Cici realized she had left her phone, her wallet, and all her other belongings there! No matter, she could tell the police in person. Where was the police station on this island anyway? She didn't even have her phone to look up the address! No, it would be okay. She could stop by the Town Pump, and ask for help.
Halfway to the south side of the island, she felt fat raindrops pelting her. Terrific! Why was it raining? Hadn't she just been admiring the clear blue sky through her kitchen ceiling just a few moments before that crazy old man broke into her cabin?
Drenched by the time she reached the Town Pump, she left her bike outside on the sidewalk. Through the windows, she was relieved to see Em was tending the bar already. She ran inside, and almost leaped over the bar counter to hug Dillan's twin sister in her relief to see a friendly helpful face. "Em! There's a man in my cabin! And he's got a gun!"
She heard a gasp from a woman sitting at a table near by. Em also looked shocked. But instead of looking at her face with concern, they were staring and pointing at her backside.
It was at that moment, she realized her underwear was exposed to all of the Town Pump's patrons.
| Author Notes |
This is part of a novel.
Last revised 02/15/2022 11:45 AM based on SWR's 02/12/2022's notes. Thanks to sgoolsby for letting FanStory authors use this gorgeous painting "Beauty in Abstract" with their writing. |
By Aiona
"Hold on." Em's warm hands urged her towards a chair at a table near the bar. "Wait here." Em went back behind the bar.
Cici flushed with shame as she listened to the murmurs from the Town Pump patrons. That's right! Em had mentioned Sundays was the Town Pump's busiest day. The tables were all occupied by Sunday church-goers, coming in for their after-church brunch. Everyone was dressed in their Sunday best. And here Cici was wearing her sweatshirt and and badly ripped jeans. Could this day get any worse? At least her backside was covered when she was sitting down.
Em returned with an apron in her hands. "It's only good for half of you, but it's just your rear half we need to worry about, right?"
Cici nodded.
"Now stand up and turn around," Em directed her.
Cici corkscrewed out of the chair so that her backside stayed well-hidden from everybody, except Em. Then Em threw the apron over her backside.
"There! Feel better?"
There was a round of applause and cheers from the Town Pump customers. Mortified, Cici sat back down in her chair.
Em sat across the table from her. "Now, slowly. Tell me what's wrong, okay?" If Em was surprised by Cici's sopping wet appearance, she didn't show it.
"Thh-the mm-man had a g-g-gun!" Now that she was somewhere safe, seated at a table amongst other normal-looking people, Cici couldn't stop the onset of sudden chills and teeth-chattering that were keeping her from explaining why she'd pedaled with fury to the Town Pump to find help.
"Which man? Where?" Em glanced around the Town Pump, but no one was there but regulars who stared in silence.
"A-a-at the c-c-cabin! I left ev-v-erything there, and b-b-biked here as f-fast as I c-could. I even left my phone there. So I couldn't call the police, and--"
"Don't worry about that right now. Here, let's get you dry." Em instructed Cici to stay put, again, and then disappeared into the back of the restaurant. As she left, an older woman appeared next to Cici's table stared at her with an expression that could have frozen Lake Erie. "Em, who's this? Ma'am, you can't be served here without a mask on. If you want, we can give you one." The woman held out a blue disposable mask. Cici reached out with a shivering arm, and could barely grasp it before Em returned and pushed past the woman without answering. Fluffy towels were piled on top of Cici's head, and Em rubbed her down as if she were drying off a horse that had just done a leg of the Pony Express. "Don't let Janice scare you. We need to get you dry and warm first, or you'll catch hypothermia!"
Janice growled, "I wasn't trying to scare her. I only--"
Just then, the bells of the front door of the Town Pump jangled, and Cici heard footsteps. "Give her something warm to drink, Em." "A hot cider on me!" Cici looked up to see.... The Man! She shrieked and pointed at the doorway where he stood.
"IT'S HIM!"
Everyone in the Town Pump turned to look where Cici pointed. Then Em leaned down to whisper in Cici's ear, "Um, That's.... Mr. Bailey. He supervises the school that Dillan told me you're going to work for."
Cici stared at Em unfathomably. What? Mixed feelings of shock at having an unconventionally strenuous morning bike ride and relief that somehow this crazy man didn't appear to scare anyone else in the restaurant made her start sobbing. She didn't care that she had probably embarrassed herself in front of everyone on Kelleys Island, or that she was not able to talk due to her teeth chattering, or that everything on the island had not gone according to what she expected. She gave up. Lord, I don't know what I'm doing. I just need help.
She heard a soft plop on the table, and lifted her bowed head to see her purse. The old man had brought it with him. "I figured you might want this." Cici looked up to see the grizzledd face with the same smile that had surprised her when he interrupted her attempt at a shower this morning. "I don't require uniforms for the teachers, but I figured I'd let you know.... your attire at the school... that just ain't gonna fly, hun." He motioned at his backside, as if to pantomime Cici's embarrassing reveal just over thirty minutes ago.
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
This is a chapter of the novel Kelleys Island.
Last revised 02/16/2022 12:53 PM |
By Aiona
Cici was mortified to realize that the crazy old man who'd broken into her cabin... was her new boss!
"You can't be serious." Cici whispered to Em. "That looney is my new boss?"
Em's eyes went wide. And so did the old man's. Oops. Did she said that too loudly?
Deflect! Deflect! "Why did you break into my cabin?"
The old man cleared his throat appeared about to answer. But suddenly, Cici found herself being dragged to the back of the pub's kitchen by Dillan's sister. As she pulled Cici along by her arm, Em yelled over her shoulder, "I'll bring her right back, Mr. Bailey! I just need to talk to her for a minute!"
Just before Em nudged Cici into what looked like a staff breakroom, she saw Janice chastising him. "Tom, I don't know how many times I gotta tell you. You gotta wear a mask inside the--" From the way he backed away from her, Cici realized that even Mr. Bailey found Janice intimidating. At least, she and Mr. Bailey her new boss had that one thing in common! But now Cici was wondering, did she want to work for this crazy-eyed old man?
Em shut the door to the breakroom, and took off her gloves and her mask. Concerned eyebrows framed her emerald green eyes. "First, lets get you out of those ripped jeans. You shocked everyone speechless with those chili peppers." While Em dug through her locker to find spare clothes, Cici remembered the gigantic hole in her pants. She'd completely forgotten about it in the frantic bike ride to the Town Pump.
Also, when Em handed her a clean pair of jeans, Cici realized she'd been wearing her pink undies with the chili peppers on them for almost three days straight now!
"Gosh, I haven't taken a shower in days, Em. I can't wear your clothes."
"It's okay. They're actually not mine. They're...Madison's."
There was that name again. Dillan's ex-girlfriend. No, "deceased girlfriend." Cici didn't want to seem ungrateful, but she had never worn a dead woman's clothes before. Did she want to start now? Oh well. "Thanks, Em. I'll be sure and wash them before I return them to you."
"No need. They're yours. Now hurry up and get those on, and then we'll see about keeping you from getting fired before you've even started your job."
Fired? She was so busy thinking about whether or not she wanted to work with Crazy-Man that she hadn't even considered that maybe he wouldn't want to work with her either. "Why do you say that?" she asked as she pulled on Madison's jeans, which were a perfect fit and surprisingly comfy.
"Well, you kind of insulted him just now, in front of the whole pub. I didn't take you for that kind of person, Cici."
Cici sighed. "He scared the beegeezus out of me. He still kind of does, actually. He just walked right into my cabin, just as I was just about to take a shower. Carrying a gun, even! What was I supposed to think?"
"Good point. Mr. Bailey always has been kind of eccentric. My mom hated him."
"I think it was mutual."
"You could tell, huh?"
"I don't think he liked your stepdad either. Said something about how run-down the place has been because of him. Funny, cuz your mom told me that her husband was the one who kept the place up."
"She was talking about my dad. My real dad, not my stepdad. My stepdad... well, let's just say... Dillan didn't like him either. Blames him for Madison's accident."
Cici wanted to know more, but Em's revelations were interrupted by someone knocking on the breakroom door.
Em smiled at Cici, "You ready? Let's go do some damage control."
| Author Notes | part of a love story |
By Aiona
This is Chapter 24 of the novel Kelleys Island (or Five Miles to Dry Land).
CHARACTERS:
Cici - 23-year-old college graduate trying to get her teaching credential
Dillan - 28-year-old boat mechanic
Em - Short for "Emalee" - Dillan's twin sister who works at the Town Pump
Mr. Bailey - Cici's new boss
Janice - Em's boss, owner of the Town Pump
After Cici and Em had put their face-masks on, Em was ready to fling open the breakroom door so they could head back to try to convince Mr. Bailey that Cici was still fit for her new job.
But a knock started them both. Cici was filled with dread to learn who was on the other side of the door. She expected Janice to be the one who knocked on it from the outside. Or maybe even Mr. Bailey whom she had just made a scene in front of. But as the light from the breakroom revealed the person standing in the hallway, her heart skipped several beats as she recognized the shock of red hair that matched the color of Em's. His ever-present shades veiling his eyes as usual, Dillan held out a paper bag.
"Here's your stuff, Em, but..." His voice trailed off, and Cici knew he'd recognized her as well. "Why are you here?" he asked.
"Why are you wearing shades inside the building?" Cici replied.
"I asked you a question first."
Em grabbed the bag Dillan was holding and dragged Cici past her brother. "Save the flirting for later, you two. We don't have time for that. Right now I've gotta help Cici make everyone forget they saw her chili peppers."
"Your chili peppers?" Dillan's face look bemused as if he'd seen a bear riding unicycle while passing out balloons.
"Long story," Cici replied as she followed Em back to the bar. And not a story she planned to tell Dillan, either.
"There you are," Mr. Bailey called out, as they entered the restaurant proper again.
"More presentable for a preschool teacher, I hope. Right?" Em urged Cici towards her new boss.
"Right!" Cici hoped she sounded positive and professional. "I don't normally wear clothes with my underwear showing through, I swear." Cici saw movement from the corner of her eye. It was Dillan whispering to Em, and Em nodding. She wasn't telling him about her chili pepper-print panties, was she? "But you just caught me when I had been trying to clean the tub, and I had bent over and..." Cici felt ridiculous and awkward all at once. "Yeah, next thing I know, my jeans ripped."
A familiar voice interjected, "Oh, I know. I did the same thing a few weeks ago. Ripped my best slacks wide open. I think we've all put on some COVID weight. Even you, Tom!" Janice was smiling as she addressed Mr. Bailey, or at least Cici deduced from the sound of her voice. Janice's mouth was hidden by her face-mask, of course.
But Pesky-Janice was on her side? Wow! This revelation gave Cici the confidence to keep talking. "Then I just hadn't expected someone would walk right into my kitchen while I was… you know, indecent!"
"Believe me I wouldn't have, if I'd known you were staying there. Carol had told me you'd found a spot on the island, but I didn't know it was going to be her old place. It needs a lot of work. I gotta admit, I think she's crazy for still letting people rent it. And you gotta be crazy to rent it from her. I admit I'm a little crazy too. I've stopped by a time or two, thinking I'd help out with the yard, but now it's got so many repairs needed that it's kinda gotten out of hand. That tree damage was what I was checking out today, since I knew it was going to rain. I got a tarp in my truck that I was gonna use to cover that hole just for a while. Do you think a girl like you can handle all that, and your job too?"
Cici gulped her nervousness down. Was she going to lose her job before she'd even started? She knew she hadn't made the best first impression on Mr. Bailey. Yes, he seemed a bit crazy, but Em wasn't afraid of him. And he had explained why he'd walked in on her -- he was checking out the roof damage. "I had an agreement with Mrs. Kincaid. I would help keep up the place, so she wouldn't charge me rent, but yeah I didn't know how badly it had run down and--"
"I told her I'd be helping her."
Cici turned to see Dillan had come to her side and had finally taken off his shades to lock his green-eyed gaze with Mr. Bailey's. Mr. Bailey's eyes narrowed in response, and Cici could tell he was unconvinced. "I thought you and your momma had a falling out. Am I right?"
Dillan's demeanor changed at that comment. His shoulders hunched and he seemed to draw back inside himself, like a slug who'd had salt poured on it by a gardener. His unanswering silence made Cici want to reach out to him, put her hand on his shoulder, and stop whatever seemed to pain him in Mr. Bailey's words. But instead of physically touching him, she stood straight and piped up. "Oh, yeah. He did say he was going to help me. In fact, Em already showed me how to turn the water pump on. And I know a little bit about fixing up houses. My dad always let me help around the farm back in Virginia."
Cici noted her words seem to draw Dillan back to the present. When she mentioned her father's farm, Dillan's eyebrows went up. Then he continued, "With Cici's help, we'll get the rafters repaired this weekend. So it'll be ready for the winter. After all, we won't have snow for another month or more. Right?" Dillan put an arm around Cici's shoulders and gave her a nudge with his hip. It was just a friendly gesture, but Cici felt her face flush, and this time, she was the one at a loss for words.
They continued chatting and Mr. Bailey explained where she should meet him for the first day of work at the preschool the next morning. And all seemed fine and set for her first job! Dillan drove her back to the cabin, and he and Mr. Bailey worked to put the tarp over the hole in the roof -- a temporary measure, of course. They also cut up and dragged the pine tree branches out of the kitchen, chatting amiably about the weather and recent boat work that Dillan had been doing. Cici swept the pine needles from the floor and listened to their chatter, still feeling like an outsider to all the goings-on of Kelleys Island.
But as soon as Mr. Bailey left, and Cici was alone with Dillan in the kitchen, underneath Mr. Bailey's blue vinyl tarp, Dillan turned to Cici and even with his shades on (still!), she could feel his icy stare, like a freeze-ray, chilling her through like she'd been run over with a centuries old green glacier. And in a voice that was even colder than the time he'd told her to move out of the way, when she disembarked from the ferry to Kelleys Island, he asked her the same question she'd asked herself earlier today.
"How in the hell you come to be wearing Madison's clothes?"
| Author Notes | This is Chapter 24 of the novel Kelleys Island. |
By Aiona
CHARACTERS:
Cici - 23-year-old college graduate trying to get her teaching credential
Dillan - 28-year-old boat mechanic
Em - Short for "Emalee" - Dillan's twin sister who works at the Town Pump
Mrs. Kincaid - Cici's landlady (and Dillan's mom)
Madison - Dillan's dead girlfriend
Cici was shocked at Dillan's sudden change in mood. He was laughing and joking a little while ago, when Mr. Bailey was there, helping to cover the gaping hole in the cabin's roof with the blue tarp he'd brought. Cici was just starting to feel relaxed around her new boss, when now she was confronted with a very angry red-headed man.
"Dillan, didn't you hear my explanation to Mr. Bailey? My jeans ripped. So I had to change into something else."
"But why Madison's clothes?"
"I didn't have any choice. Besides, how did you know they're hers?"
Dillan pointed at Cici's left leg with a menacing glare. She glanced down and was shocked to see the backside of her left pants leg was embroidered with Madison's name in pink threads interwoven with silvery ones.
"I was wondering why my calf was so itchy all day." Cici sighed in exasperation. "Believe me, it wasn't my idea. It was your sister who handed them to me in the breakroom at the Town Pump. Maybe the person you should be asking is her, not me."
"Emalee gave them to you?"
"Yeah."
Dillan's stance relaxed a little after Cici's explanation. But underneath his shades, she could tell he was still unhappy about something. She felt there must be something about Madison's death that everyone knew except her, and that if she could find out what that secret was, Dillan's strange behavior would make more sense. But Cici was still too scared to ask. She needed Dillan's help, and the last thing she wanted to do was piss him off.
"And truth be told, I didn't fancy wearing her pants either." Cici realized, now that she was back home, she could get another pair of pants from her suitcase. She made a beeline for her bedroom, and shut the door behind her. From her suitcase, she found a pair of sweatpants that she'd planned to use as pajama pants. But it would have to do. She started stripping off Madison's jeans, but just as she did, her bedroom door creaked open, and Dillan strode right in!
"I'm sorry, Cici. I didn't mean to be so--"
Cici screamed and dropped down behind her bed, and out of sight. "What the heck? Get out!"
She heard Dillan's footsteps as he shuffled out of the room, and then the quiet click as her bedroom door shut once again.
"All I ask for," Cici muttered loud enough, she hoped, for Dillan to hear, "is a little bit of privacy on this island. Can't anyone respect that?" as she pulled on her sweatpants.
"There isn't any such thing as privacy on Kelleys Island," Dillan yelled back from the living room. "And they really are chili peppers, aren't they?"
Cici stepped out of the bedroom and practically threw Madison's jeans at Dillan. "There. You can give them back to Em, or keep them, or whatever. I am happy wearing my own pants, thank you very much."
"I really meant it, when I said I want to help you fix this place up. Not for my mom, mind you. I want....to help you stay, and you can't stay if you don't have a place to live. Plus, it can help take my mind off of a lot of things, you know?" Dillan had migrated over to the shelf by the door, and was staring at the lonely bottle of tonic water, still sitting on it. "This is just wrong."
"Oh yeah. All the bottles of alcohol that are missing? I threw them out. Tell your mom I'm sorry, okay?"
At her apology, Dillan scoffed so hard that for a moment, Cici thought she was going to have to give him the Heimlich maneuver. When he recovered, his voice sounded tired and annoyed again. "You seem to be under the mistaken impression that my mom and I are on speaking terms. Besides, I remember you told me you threw everything out that the first day we met. But that's not what's messed up."
Cici wondered if she'd made another one faux pas. "Did I do something wrong?"
| Author Notes | This is Chapter 25 of the novel Kelleys Island. |
By Aiona
Cici could imagine a whole host of reasons why Dillan would be upset at her, besides her wearing his dead girlfriend's pants. And she'd already changed out of them anyway. "If it's about Madison's pants, I can return them to Em tomorrow."
Dillan didn't respond. Instead, he was looking into the cabinets in her unkempt kitchen area. She hadn't even had time to clean them. She was almost embarrassed about what gross stuff he'd find inside, but then remembered, why should she be embarrassed? The kitchen was already in disarray when she moved in two days ago. Was that what Dillan meant when he said things were "messed up"?
"Okay, so you meant the cabinets? I know they're a mess. I just didn't have time to clean inside of them yet," Cici apologized.
Dillan stood up from where he'd been crouching, and held up something small and gray between his fingers.
Cici screamed when she realized it was a mouse. A very dead one. "Holy crap!" she exclaimed, once she was able to catch her breath.
Dillan walked to the doorway and flung the dry thing out of the door. "I guess my mom's stopped using Terminix, huh?" He smiled at her, and Cici felt herself relax. Maybe he wasn't mad at her, after all. "No, what's messed up is that my mom has made her problems into your problem, the way she always did to everyone around her."
Cici had no words. From what little she knew of her new landlady, she didn't seem like the monster Dillan was making her out to be. Should she come to Mrs. Kincaid's defense? "You talking about the cabin? Well, I told you already. She said the lockdown left her with no one she could hire to fix things."
"It was in bad shape even before the lockdown, so that's no excuse." Dillan turned to head back into the cabin, and Cici followed, but almost ran into him, when he turned around again in the doorway. "I guess it's partly my fault too. I didn't want to keep doing this for her. I've been helping her for years, and it's just..." As Dillan fell silent, Cici felt as if dark cloud had fallen between them, and then Dillan pushed past her and out of the cabin as if something were hotly pursuing him.
Cici followed, but by the time she'd reached the porch steps, Dillan was halfway to his truck. What had darkened his mood so? Were things that bad between him and his mother? Cici ran to him and put her hand on his shoulder to stop him. "I'm sure she's grateful for all you've done."
Dillan whirled around to face her. "I know it's something you probably don't want to hear, but I've dealt with my mom all my life. I've known she's an alcoholic, and so was my stepdad. She's never thought about anything but herself. And my stepdad the same. If it weren't for my mom, my dad would still be alive. And so would Madison. You alcoholics are all the same. You're all selfish."
Cici was taken aback. She let her hand fall from Dillan's shoulder, and wanted to say something. But words failed her. Instead, she turned and walked back to the cabin. Home. She wanted to go home. But where was home? "I need drink," she muttered to herself. "If I'm going to be villainized for no other reason than that I'm an alcoholic, well, heck! Why not live up to the name?"
"I'm sorry, Cici." This time, Cici felt Dillan's hand on her shoulder. She smacked his hand off and kept walking, refusing to look at him. But she heard his footsteps as he followed her up the porch steps. "I didn't mean you are selfish."
Cici reached the cabin door, and tears stung her eyes, blinding her as she fumbled with the knob. "No, you're right! I was selfish!"
Dillan grabbed her shoulders this time and turned her to face him. It was more than Cici could bear.
"I was! I was selfish! I left home when I knew Dad needed me. I wanted that degree even though I knew it would take me far from him and Sandy. I knew I didn't want to go back. I wanted this so much! I wanted this to work! And now look at it! It's all gone to hell! I deserve to stay in this broken down cabin!"
"You're wrong. You don't deserve this, Cici." Dillan's calm voice broke through her panic and fear. "We can fix this place up. I promise."
"We?" Cici asked, through her hiccups.
Miraculously, Dillan had taken off his shades. He nodded, and Cici felt herself melt as she met his emerald-eyed gaze. "Yes, but first you gotta stop blubbering like the preschool kids you're about to teach."
| Author Notes | last revised 01/24/2022 1:16 PM Pacific Time |
By Aiona
Cici was stunned. She'd gone from hating Dillan to loving him in the space of minutes. Why did Dillan make her so dizzy? She needed to sit down, but the loveseat seemed so far, even though it was only three steps from the cabin's front door.
"What you said...."
"I'm sorry. I was out of bounds." Dillan's apology did nothing to assuage the burning feeling in her heart.
"It's something that I've struggled with. Feeling guilty."
"About what?"
Boy, oh boy. Wasn't Cici being talkative today? Should she tell him? She knew she would because she couldn't stop herself if she tried. "That my dad and my sister are all the way in Norfolk, and I want to be there to help them, but I really did want this job. I'm torn, you know, between wanting to be with him, but wanting to be on my own."
"So why don't you go back?"
Cici shrugged. "I needed to do this. It's like, baby birds, you know? When I was little, my dad saved a baby bird he found in the grass beneath one of our pine trees. We kept trying to put it back in its nest, but it kept falling out. So I made a little nest out of a box, and we fed it rice and bugs until its flight feathers came in. But when I tried to release it, I found out it couldn't fly and I knew my neighbor's cat Cheeto would eat him. So I called it to come back to me, so I could bring it inside. And it almost didn't. I spent a long time chasing it and calling to it, and finally it came back to my hands. I brought it inside, and thought I'd keep trying every day to teach it to fly, but every time I tried, Cheeto was outside waiting. And over the next few days, that little bird stopped wanting to eat. It got really lethargic, and finally it didn't want to move. And then..."
Cici stopped, embarrassed. She'd never told anyone this story before. But Dillan was quiet, not criticizing. He'd walked over to the loveseat and sat down while she was relating her story. When she stopped, he looked up at her, but said nothing.
"...it died." Cici felt the tears building at the edge of her eyes. "I should have just let it go. Maybe it would have gotten eaten by Cheeto. But it would have been a quicker death than the one that I gave him. And maybe he would have found it in him to fly, after all. I'll never know." Cici looked at Dillan again, but his face was unreadable behind his shades. "Sorry. I'm oversharing again."
Dillan shook his head, "No. It makes sense." Then he patted the empty spot next to him on the loveseat. "Come over here and sit."
"What?" Cici was taken aback. Was he hitting on her? Did she want him to hit on her?
"I want to show you something." Dillan patted the loveseat again. "It's nothing bad. Well, nothing bad for you anyway."
Confused, Cici took a seat next to Dillan, so close that she could smell his sweat mixed with the scent of diesel fuel lingering on his shirt. His closeness made her dizzy again, and her heart was racing. What did he want to show her?
"See this?" Dillan pulled up his left shirt sleeve to reveal a ten-inch long white line of scar tissue on his forearm.
"What happened to you?"
"Bobcat."
"There are bobcats here?"
"Yes, but this was a kit I found. Mother was nowhere to be found. So I thought I'd take it home."
"Isn't that illegal?"
"And taking home a baby bird isn't?"
Cici smiled. "I didn't know it was, at the time. Well, go on. Did it bite you?"
"Not at first. But it grew. And I thought I could keep it forever, and show it off to all my friends, you know? But when it got big, it would play with me. Didn't have anyone else to play with. Em ran screaming every time she saw it."
"What did your mother say?"
"She was always too drunk to care. And my pop was always away at work, so he couldn't stop me. Anyway, one day it got tired of being with me and clawed me and then ran away."
"So you're saying my baby bird should have clawed me, and gotten away?" She was confused, and not only because his thigh, bulging from unknown tools in his pockets, was warm against her own.
"No, but what I'm saying is everything's got to be free. So I understand why you don't wanna go back to your dad. I admire you. You struck out on your own. It's what I should have done. If I hadn't come back to help my mom, maybe Madison would still be alive too."
Cici winced at the mention of Madison again. Why? Maybe because she could see the memory of his ex-girlfriend still hurt him. She wished she could make that pain go away. Dare she put her arms around him? Instead all she did was say, "I'm sorry."
"Don't be. We live and learn, right?"
"Right." Cici replied with what she hoped was enthusiasm. She didn't want her time with Dillan to end on a downer. "And right now, I need to learn how to fix this damn roof."
| Author Notes | last revised 01/24/2022 14:55 PM |
By Aiona
Having Dillan at the cabin to help her, made Cici actually look forward to fixing all the broken crap. Yes, it was hard work, but... what's a little hard work, when you have eye candy at your side?
Prior to his company, every time she looked at that tree limb in the kitchen, she wanted to give up. However, calling it quits when things got rough was a habit she had been trying hard to break for the last two years. In the past, when things overwhelmed her, she always reached for the easiest solution. Alcohol. It never fixed things, but it stopped the tumultuous feelings of guilt and anxiety that overwhelmed her daily.
But in the AA meetings where she'd met Dillan's mom, she'd learned to "sublimate" -- to find and do something else to break her vicious cycle of confusion and despair.
The tool she used was weight-lifting. Before the lockdown, she'd spend her evenings at the YMCA. She'd put her earbuds in, and spend hours running, or biking. Sometimes even swimming. But most important of all, she lifted weights.
However, since the lockdown, all the gyms had closed. At first, she was too busy to care. She was still working on her degree at Ohio State. But after graduation, all those old feelings of guilt and wanting to fix everything all at once were sneaking back into her life. And without cell service on the island, she hadn't been able to attend any AA meetings. How long had it been since she met with her sponsor?
"Have I really been living on Kelleys Island for three days?" she asked out loud.
"We picked up your bike at the thrift shop on Friday, right? So no, it's only been two and a half. Come over here, I need your help with something."
Cici followed Dillan to his truck. "I want to help, but I've never really done handyman stuff before. Or even construction. And that's what it sounds like you're about to do. Am I right?"
Dillan pulled some toolbags from the back of his truck and handed them to Cici.
"Carry these for me, will you?" Then he looked at her through his shades. She didn't even notice when he'd put them back on. Why was he just standing there? Finally he spoke. "Are you sure you want to wear...that?"
Cici looked down at her clothes. She'd pulled on an over-sized Ohio State sweatshirt with a hoodie, and her favorite sweat pants. "What's wrong with my clothes? I never claimed to be a supermodel, you know."
"Take 'em off."
Did he really say that? Oh my God! He was hitting on her! How was she supposed to respond to a line like that? Cici took a deep breath and then... "I like you, Dillan, but don't you think it's too soon?"
Dillan's eyebrows rose."The cords. If you're gonna be using a chainsaw..." He gestured at the drawstrings on her hoodie and her sweatpants, and then made winding motions with his fingers. "Not a good thing to be wearing."
Cici wondered if she could fit inside the hollow stump out back by the well-pump. "Ah, okay. I'll go put on something else." She turned around and headed back to the cabin before she could find another way to put her foot in her mouth. Holy heaven in a handbag!
She set the toolbags on the porch steps and then tried not to run into the bedroom. She looked into the mirror. Her hair was all messy and coming out of her ponytail. Her favorite sweatpants had grease stains on them. And her O.S.U. sweatshirt was frayed and dingy brown at the cuffs. How could she think Dillan was hot for her at all?
| Author Notes |
01/26/2022 15:05 PM
01/28/2022 08:13 AM fixed "earbuds IN" and "ponytail" |
By Aiona
A knock from outside her bedroom door interrupted Cici's self-pitying mirror-reflection moment. "You okay in there?" Yep, it was Dillan.
"I'm coming!" Cici yelled. "I mean, I'll be out in a minute." She fixed her messy ponitail into something a little neater - a bun. There. Now she was ready to face him again. Hopefully he'd forgotten her little Freudian slip.
Maybe she wasn't as pretty as Dillan's ex-girlfriend, but what did it matter? She wasn't trying to compete with a dead woman for Dillan's affections. Now or ever! Besides, Dillan was only here to help her fix the caved-in roof so that the next time it rained, she wouldn't be treading water in the kitchen while cooking dinner.
And he'd just mentioned using a chainsaw. She remembered her father using one to fell trees in the backyard. He wore special clothes and eye protection for the job. When Cici moved to Kelleys Island, she thought she was here to teach. It never crossed her mind that she might be wielding a chainsaw. She didn't have any protective gear for this kind of thing.
In fact, Cici didn't have many clothes at all. Aside from the jeans she'd ripped this morning. The one intact outfit she had left was what she planned to wear to work tomorrow at the preschool. She didn't want to rip those clothes too! If Dillan was worried about the drawstrings on her clothes catching on moving equipment, then there was only thing she could do. But she needed the knife in the kitchen.
She flung open her bedroom door. "I'm going to cut them off with a--" She stopped short as she realized, Dillan wasn't waiting for her in the living room. He'd probably gone back outside. It didn't matter if he waited in her cabin or outside. So why was she disappointed?
In a drawer, she found the knife she needed to cut off the drawstrings off both her hoodie and her sweatpants. "I never use the drawstrings anyway!" she reasoned as she tossed them into the trash. She was about to put the knife away when she heard Dillan's boots coming up the porch steps. She turned just in time to see him pulling something from one of his toolbags.
Cici felt a moment's unease. He was wearing his shades again, and she couldn't read his eyes. So why was he smiling and holding an axe in one hand, and a chainsaw in the other? Was he a serial killer after all? Was she going to end up like Madison? Just another girl that the islanders talked about in hushed tones?
"No!" Cici screamed before she could stop herself.
Dillan's smile faded. "I haven't even asked the question yet. Even if I had, that's not the answer I needed. You're still interested in helping me, right?"
"Weren't we were going to fix the roof?"
"Yes, of course," Dillan laughed. "But we need to get the tree branches out of the way first. Are you more comfortable using the axe or the chainsaw?"
"I... I don't know." Cici tried not to get flustered again at her second faux pas of the afternoon. "I've never used either."
Dillan nodded. "So that's why you looked at them that way. There's no reason to be afraid of them, you know. They're just tools. Pick one, and I'll show you how to use it."
"Are you sure?"
Dillan shrugged. "You don't lose your fear of something if you don't face it."
"In that case, I pick..." Cici was most scared of the chainsaw. Did she want to be less afraid of it? Yes. Yes, she did. "...the chainsaw."
"Nice." Dillan's smile of approval warmed Cici to her bones. "But can you put that knife away first? The way you're holding it, almost made me think you were mad at me or something."
"Why would I be mad at you?"
"Well, when you went into the bedroom, I thought..."
"Thought what?
"You were in there so long that I wondered if you wanted me to follow you."
(to be continued)
| Author Notes |
For some interesting info about tree-felling and death, here's a neat video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKzvkRnCF58
last revised 02/09/2022 7:26 PM |
By Aiona
Cici wasn't sure she heard Dillan correctly. "You thought I was waiting for you in my bedroom?"
"It was stupid, I know." Dillan seemed more embarrased than Cici was. Did he have any idea how hard Cici was trying not to think about what she wanted Dillan to do?
"No, I was only just..." Cici tightened her grip on.... "This knife. I was looking for a knife. You know, to cut those darn drawstrings off. See?" She was about to saw through the strings on her hoodie, when Dillan rushed at her with his axe!
Cici screamed and covered her face! THUD!
When impending death did not arrive, she opened her eyes to see Dillan had set the axe on the countertop (That must have been the "thud.") and opened his Leatherman to the scissors. "Wouldn't scissors be better? Can I?"
Cici nodded, without looking Dillan in the eyes. He must think I'm insane.
"Kind of jumpy, aren't you? Is it from living in my mom's cabin?" Dillan reached out to take her hoodie drawstrings in his left hand, while he cut them with his Leatherman scissors. His fingers were dry and calloused, but clean. They smelled faintly of gasoline.
"Yeah." Cici answered. Let him think she was jumpy from living with a tree branch in her kitchen, and wild animals roaming in and out of her cabin at will and not because she'd just learned that two people had died on Kelleys Island, possibly in this very cabin.
"Well then, we better get this roof fixed. Pronto, right?" Dillan knelt in front of Cici so that his eyes were level with her waistband, and reached for the drawstrings on her sweatpants. Cici held still as possible while his Leatherman came closer and closer to her crotch. Just before the blades closed down on her strings, he stopped.
Cici felt her heart skip. "Why'd you stop?"
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Dillan looked up at her, and Cici felt like she was going to faint.
"Yeah..." she said. "Yeah... I do." That was the last thing she remembered before the world went black.
| Author Notes |
This is a chapter of Kelleys Island.
I wish Cici had more clothes. Last revised 02/16/2022 2:04 PM |
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