Chapter 13: Tempest

It couldn't have been more than a week since Jess had been let out of the hospital. It didn't feel that long but he found himself spending more time with Kaytee and staying at the Monroe house until dinnertime or even later, if he was lucky. Unfortunately, the flooding river was accompanied by awful storms that blew out the power on an unpredictable basis

Over the course of a few days, they started to realize there were strange things occurring in and around Lark Creek. For one, the power never quite seemed to be able to hold for no longer than ten minutes at a time before blacking out. Even though the generator in Kaytee's house was no doubt much newer than the one sitting in the basement of his, it was clear that the constant power fritz was getting on Tex's nerves as well as everybody else's. It meant almost constantly living in a state of apprehension while waiting for the next blackout.

For Jess and Kaytee, guessing when the power would go out had almost become a game.

Since they were forbidden to going into the forest after Jess' recent shave with death, it was the best they could do for entertainment given the circumstances. The TV downstairs featured static too often for them to be able to watch any program, obviously riling Tex to the point where he was tempted to put an end to the pathetic entertainment source. Of course, neither teen wanted to be in the room when that happened.

While Jess had assured Kaytee it wouldn't be long before they would be allowed to go down into the forest again, Kaytee didn't seem convinced and at the same time, neither was he.

"I can't stop thinking about the bridge," Jess admitted while they sat in her room with books in their laps. The threat of a heavy rainstorm accompanied by frequent blackouts hadn't stopped their teachers – especially Mrs. Hayes – from giving out more homework than they knew what to do with.

"Me neither," Kaytee agreed. "But what can we do? It probably got too old and—"

"No, that's not true!" Jess protested.

"No?"

He watched her eyebrow arch high on her forehead and for a moment, he felt like he was looking at Leslie and not Kaytee – his blonde friend had had a tendency to raise her eyebrow whenever she was incredibly displeased – and he could feel a tug on his heartstrings. He looked away for a moment to compose himself and when he was sure he had full control over himself, he looked back to Kaytee and said:

"No, I built the bridge myself! It's only a few years old!"

Kaytee scowled, far from convinced.

"It doesn't matter, Jess! It's gone!"

"But how did it break? Why did it break?"

To say he was frustrated would have been the understatement of the century and Kaytee didn't seem to be too far off from where he was. Unfortunately, neither of them had the answers to Jess' questions.

"Look, I wish I knew but I obviously don't know!"

"Then why am I even bothering?"

"Yeah, why are you?" Kaytee's tone was accusing but Jess could only roll his eyes.

For a while after that, they sulked in the silence that had fallen over the room, ignoring each other as much as humanly possible whilst remaining within a certain vicinity of each other. The only sound that could be heard was the rain pounding relentlessly against the windowpane and Tex swearing under his breath downstairs. Compared to the hospital where annoying nurses and pesky doctors would run in and out at all times of the day, this was more of a peaceful quiet despite the raging storm outside.

Jess remained seated in Kaytee's beat-up rolly chair while said girl sat on the floor near the foot of her bed with her enormous history book sitting in her lap and a flashlight in her hand, light pointed down at the yellowing pages before her.

Jess held up his better hand and flexed all of his fingers, starting with his thumb and ending with his pinky. His right arm, on the other hand, had received a serious beating during the tumble into the river, which had left him with one arm to work with while his dominant hand was strapped in a Velcro cast meant to keep the dislocated bones in his wrist from moving.

It had taken away some of his mobility but much to his relief, he was still able to draw and pick things up, despite the doctor's orders to do as little with the arm until it was healed.

The letters Tex had given him in the hospital were scattered across the floor, surrounding Kaytee almost like a formation of invading soldiers ready to attack, and most of the envelopes had been opened except for a good dozen. The ones he had opened were mostly illegible due to the heavy amount of water damage that had wiped out a good amount of the ink on the pages, leaving him with only scraps of details here and there that didn't make any sense.

The only reason why he hadn't given up and thrown the letters in the trash was because he had almost immediately recognized the handwriting as Leslie's. With no mementos left to remember her by, he had become very attached to the letters with every passing day.

The very thought of his deceased friend made tears prick at his eyelids and in an attempt to ward off any buried feelings of grief, he looked up at Kaytee and whispered:

"Kaytee, do you know anything about the Dark Master?"

Kaytee looked up at him and at first he wasn't sure he had heard her but almost as soon as he spoke, he swore he saw her lips turn downward into a scowl and rather than voice her confusion, she simply raised an eyebrow at Jess, beckoning him to explain what the Dark Master was. She shut her book with exaggerated purpose, slamming it harder than needed. Jess swore he saw a thick cloud of dust float up from the book.

"He started out as a figment of mine and—"Jess stopped himself short of saying Leslie's name, fearing he wouldn't be able to keep his composure, and almost immediately noticed Kaytee raise an eyebrow. The redhead listened on without so much as a peep, much to his relief. "—just my imagination. At first, it was a way, I guess, to deal with my dad. He wasn't as relaxed with me back then as he is now."

"And let me guess," Kaytee interjected. "This so-called manifestation of your father has become something else?"

Damn, she hit the nail right on the head.

He didn't think she would have caught on so quickly but she was already three steps ahead of the game, he realized. Explaining the Dark Master's origin hadn't been so difficult but explaining why he had returned… Jess found he was worrying for a completely different reason. To make matters worse, Kaytee seemed to have confirmed his fears.

If the Dark Master is back… does that mean Leslie is too?

He couldn't ignore the strange dreams that felt all too much like horrible nightmares that had plagued his sleep since school had started nor the visions of his blonde-haired friend traipsing in the corner of his vision almost teasingly during the daytime but it left more than just a bad taste in his mouth.

Leslie, what are you trying to tell me?

"It's been awhile since I went across the river," Jess said. "And I can't help but wonder if things are stirring up again."

"Jess, what are you talking about?" The look Kaytee shot him convinced him she thought he was crazy. "What things? What's stirring up?"

"Look, I know it sounds weird but I can't explain it without you thinking I've gone crazy."

"You did hit your head pretty hard on the way down, Aarons."

"We need to go to the river," he went on as if Kaytee hadn't made that comment, "the sooner the better."

"Jess, the river's flooding and you nearly drowned," his red-haired friend pointed out through clenched teeth.

"I don't think you should be going anywhere near there for a while."

"Wouldn't you do that for a friend?"

The look Kaytee shot him told him she was, in the very least, offended by the implications laced in his words and with a huff, she got up and stormed out of the room, leaving him alone.

Jess flashed her a confident grin and watched with amusement as the redhead's face paled three shades lighter, making her appear almost ghostly. Her reddish locks only made the lack of blood in her cheeks more apparent and amused him even more. The smile he shot her way was enough to send her scrambling to her feet with an infuriated huff as she stomped over to the door and snatched his raincoat off the doorknob before flinging it at him with all the force she could muster. Somehow, Jess managed to catch it from where he was sitting, letting out a strained gasp as a result of the impact, and watched as Kaytee proceeded to put on her own with exaggerated movements.

I guess we're going to the river.

"Calling me untrustworthy," she muttered while she rummaged to her closet for her own raincoat, slamming each one of the clothes on the hangers off to the side with as much force as she could muster. Every time she moved a shirt or a dress or jacket off to the side, Jess heard a plastic-like clack that made his teeth hurt. Not that Kaytee seemed to care, obviously too fumed

up to even notice his discomfort.

"I'm trustworthy!" she snapped to nobody in particular. Her jabs were directed at him, though, but Jess bit down on his tongue and allowed her to take her anger out on the innocent coat hangers in her closet.

Not wanting to let her ranting go on for too long, Jess eventually forced himself out of the rolly chair and strode over to Kaytee and put his hand on her shoulder, halting her tirade momentarily.

As they prepared themselves for the awful weather pounding away against the windows directly outside, Kaytee ignored his gaze, refusing to lock eyes with him at all. The threatening sideways glances she shot him as they searched through her closet for rain boots and anything else to ward off the downpour outside It was only when she stormed out into the pouring rain that she finally allowed herself to look his way again but her eyes held unimaginable threats that Jess hoped were never carried out.

"I'm not saving you this time," she informed him as they tramped through puddles in the dirt road that were deep as pot holes.

Even though they were still close enough to be able to turn around and see Kaytee's house in the nearby horizon, going back wasn't an option.

"I don't need saving," he informed her with the same condescending tone she had used on him.

"Tell that to your arm," Kaytee scoffed. She poked his cast almost teasingly and as he drew his arm out of her reach, she cracked a smile.

"You're real interesting, Aarons," she added on. "Not many people I know would go back to the scene of their accident so soon."

"That's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me," he said.

For a split second, the corners of Kaytee's lips turned upward into a smile. Continuing her musing, Kaytee added,

"I wouldn't say unique but I wouldn't say crazy either."

Jess looked at her and saw her lips curl into a smile unlike any other he had seen before and found himself smiling along with her. For the first time ever, he saw Kaytee truly at ease and her carefree aura seemed to be rubbing off on him just from standing next to her.

"You're not too bad yourself," he said, grinning.

"Sorry we didn't start off on good terms," Kaytee apologized, averting her eyes.

"If you're talking about Hoager, don't worry about it. He's a common enemy now."

"That makes two of us."

The grin Kaytee flashed him was enough to warm him against the cold rain that pelted them like an endless array of flying daggers. Still, her comment made him think of his friend and he had to correct her.

"Three."

"Three?"

The look she shot him was one of confusion. Any second now and she was going to be correcting him for his math.

"My friend Leslie," he explained.

"You've talked about her a lot," Kaytee said as she leaped over a particularly large puddle in her path. Looking away from her for a moment, Jess noticed they were already at the field.

It's all downhill from here, he noted, feeling slightly queasy at the flooded valley before them.

He wasn't sure if it was the fresh memory of him falling into the river or the dark storm clouds circling around the forest that made him nauseous and extremely nervous but as much as he didn't want to find out, something compelled him forward.

"She was my first friend," he admitted as they trudged through mud that sucked at their ankles like leeches in desperate need of a meal and threatened to bring them to their knees. "She was my best friend and we were so different but she understood me when nobody else did. She didn't care that my parents barely had any money or that I had to wear my older sister's hand-me-down shoes."

"She drowned, right?"

"Yeah, and I wasn't there to save her. I went to the museum and didn't invite her, so she went alone to… to the river."

When he said this, he couldn't help clench his teeth and grind the back ones as hard as he could, not caring if he broke them.

"You couldn't have been in two places at once."

As much as he couldn't help but see that she was in fact very right, Jess still scowled. It also didn't stop him from responding with:

"But if I had, maybe she'd still be here."

"Jess," Kaytee said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "don't beat yourself up. The past is the past, even if it really sucks sometimes."

Now that they had stopped running, Jess looked to his red-headed friend and though he couldn't help but hear the snarkiness in his voice, said,

"How would you know?"

"Because…" but Kaytee trailed off.

Before he had time to prod her for information, she sucked in a breath and continued by saying, "my dad feels that way about my mom. She died a few years before we moved here."

Stunned by the sudden release of new, incredibly intimate information, Jess flinched back slightly and averted his eyes as soon as he could, avoiding Kaytee's gaze like his life depended on it.

"I guess I misjudged you, Kaytee," Jess managed to mutter out after silence had settled over them in the place of them talking.

Kaytee rolled her eyes and pushed past Jess as she started for the forest again, boots sloshing through the mud as she walked towards the tempest with purpose that Jess hadn't seen before. Rather than have to chase after her, Jess quickly hurried after her and soon, they found themselves scaling the forest floor, trying their hardest not to slip as the mud underfoot continued to suck at their feet as if trying to pull them in until they finally reached the river where the remains of the bridge rested.

However, it was the looming darkness on the other side that made Jess' stomach do flips and much as he wanted to believe everything would turn out alright once they reached the other side and investigated the area through and through, something told him that wouldn't be the case.

"Something's settled here," Kaytee whispered as she tiptoed near the bridge, taking care to not slip and fall.

If she did, the only way she'd make it out of the roaring waters located only a few mere meters below them would be in a body bag and Jess made sure to hold onto her by her hood should she slip. At least, that way he'd have some hope of pulling her away from danger even with his bad arm. Jess spared a quick glance over Kaytee's shoulder and swallowed at the sight of the trees on the other side of the river trembling as if they were trying to uproot themselves and run as far away from the river as possible, having never seen something like that before. He rubbed at his wet eyes and looked again, only to see the trees shaking worse and worse by the passing minute.

"I don't know what we're going to find over there," Jess muttered, "but don't let your guard down."

At least I updated (finally).