The Weight of the World (11 page)

There
was a moment of quiet before Ryan spoke up again. “So what was your
favorite movie as a kid?”

“
101
Dalmatians
,”
Diana said. “Yours?”

“
Cinderella
.
I liked the mice. Favorite TV show?”

“
Now
or then?”

“
Any
time.”

“
Wilfred
.”

“
Mine's
Battlestar
Galactica
.”

“
Favorite
book as a kid?” Diana asked.

“
Goodnight
Moon
.”

She
smiled. “Good answer.”

The
waitress came with their checks. Ryan paid while Diana opened her
fortune cookie. She ate the entire cookie before even glancing at the
tiny slip of paper. It read, “A dubious friend may be an enemy in
disguise.” Ryan's simply said, “You have a long life ahead of
you.”

As
night fell, they took a walk around the lake out behind the Hill
family's one story home. There weren't many places within the city
limits to commune with nature. Some nights Diana had to settle for
the mowed lawn and scattered palms around the banks of the lake.

“
Next
time we go out, I'll have to take you out to Snapper Creek Trail,”
Diana suggested.

“
S'that
out by Kendall?”

Diana
nodded.

“
So
I get a next time?” he asked with a smile.

She
nodded again, looking down at her feet. Diana didn't have much
experience with dating or boys, but she liked Ryan. He made a good
companion and the girl couldn't help but notice how his almond-shaped
eyes and deep voice combined to make him extra attractive.

Ryan
took the suggestion of a second date as a good sign and decided to
try his luck. Diana wasn't very short, but he still towered over her.
He bent down and pressed his lips against hers. She closed her eyes
and breathed in, allowing herself to relax in the moment. It was
Diana's first kiss.

In
this life or the one before it.

Ryan
kept the kiss simple and polite. When he stood up straight, he was
smiling. Diana really wanted him to kiss her again. She was debating
whether or not she should tug him down by his collar when his
expression faltered.

“
Uh,
are there bears in this area?”

“
In
a suburb?” Diana asked. She looked behind her. It didn't make much
difference if there were supposed to be bears in a densely populated
area. They were here. Fifty yards behind Diana, two bears, one very
large and one just a cub, stood on their hind legs, watching the
couple. “Walk very slowly backwards,” she told Ryan. They weren't
very far from her house.

“
Alright,
my son,” Diana understood from the larger bear, “The tall one is
slower on his feet, but don't underestimate him.”

“
Yes,
mama. Can I eat him?”

“
Of
course,” the mother bear said, sounding all too pleased. “Divide
and conquer, my little one. Happy hunting.”

“
Run!”
Diana shouted. She didn't worry too much about Ryan keeping up. He
was no Lewis Mercer, but he was on the varsity track team for a
reason. They sprinted up the grass, the bears running after them.
Diana vaulted over her mother's herb garden and ran up the short
steps to the back porch.

She
could distinctly hear the padding of bear feet, four large, four
larger, and Ryan's gym shoes as he clamored up the steps behind her.
She grabbed the handle of the screen door. Diana was relieved to find
the back door unlocked. She threw it open, jumped inside, and slammed
it behind Ryan.

She
flipped the lock, even though bears couldn't normally work doorknobs.
Diana heard the beasts on the porch. She heard their breath as they
sniffed the trail the two teenagers left. Their claws scratched at
the wooden doorframe. She heard the doorknob jiggle.

Diana
was overwhelmed by the smell of Ryan's sweat mixed with his cologne,
and she could hear his heart beat like a nearby drum. Diana turned to
look at him, confused. The scent of his cologne, the Chinese food she
had dropped on her jeans, the potpourri in a basket on the coffee
table... the smells were getting stronger. So were the sounds. The
ice-maker kicked on and the resulting noise was thunderous. The
lights in the room seemed to get brighter. The smells were so strong
now that Diana thought she might throw up.

Astin
entered the room. He stood at the end of the hall, his eyes darting
from Diana to Ryan. “What's going on in here?” His voice sounded
sharp and deafeningly loud to Diana.

“
Are
you okay?” Ryan asked. He put his hand on her shoulder and Diana
went down. The overload of sensation became too much for her. Diana
blacked out.

“
Pure
women are only those who have not been asked.”

-Ovid

viii.

After
her union with the god, Poseidon,

Alope
soon delivered a healthy son.

She
hid him from her father because he was

illegitimate.

The
newborn was left to die of exposure

but
was found by shepherds who argued over

the
fine cloths that the abandoned infant wore.

They
were royal dress.

To
settle their dispute, they brought him before

King
Cercyon, who was Alope's father.

The
King recognized the child's royal garments

as
his own textiles.

Enraged
he ordered Alope put to death.

He
sent the child to be abandoned again.

Once
more, Poseidon's son was found by sheperds

and
called Hippothoon.

“
A
horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and
outpace.
”

-Ovid

VIII.

Nick
Morrisey let his phone ring as he drove. It played “I Hate You”
by Field Mob. He had heard it playing three times already since he'd
left home. Nick didn't have a particular problem with talking while
driving. He had a problem talking to who that custom ringtone
belonged to: Zach Jacobs.

“
What?”
he snapped as he finally answered the phone.

“
Finally.
Have you had your phone on?”

“
What's
it to you?” Nick didn't think it was any of Zach's business. He was
growing impatient with taking orders from their fearless leader. He
was no better than the rest of them.

“
Never
mind,” Zach said. “Diana's in the hospital.”

“
Again?”

“
Well,
this time we think her powers went haywire.”

“
She
accidentally tell a pack of cats to attack?”

“
Be
serious. This is a new power. She blacked out. She told Astin when
she came-to that her senses had gone crazy. They had to admit her to
the hospital.”

“
So
her senses just went nuts? Weird.”

“
Well,
she was being chased by bears.”

Nick
tried not to laugh at the absurdity of it. He didn't want to be
scolded by Zach again. “Bears?”

“
Bears.
Bears that-- as she tells it-- were a little too intelligent to be
normal bears. She swears they were trying the doorknob.”

“
Dude,
there aren't bears in Olympia Heights,” Nick said.

“
Hence
why I think she might be right.”

“
Well
it's a good thing bears don't have thumbs, then.”

Nick
was on a mission that day. He had opened the Olympia Heights Senior
High year book from the previous year and flipped to the page for
Abstinence Club. He had been working on a strategy that he was ready
to execute. The order he had decided on worked in two factors:
stability and attractiveness. Nick was going to ease himself in with
the cute girls, but start with someone who had a shaky foundation for
Valerie's doctrine of chastity anyway.

Amanda
McAffrey was a child of divorce. Her father was on his second
marriage and her mother, who had custody of Amanda during the school
year, lived in Olympia Heights with her boyfriend and Amanda's step
sister. Nick had done some investigating on the social networks to
find that Amanda was spending the summer with her Dad on his ranch
outside of Miami. She wasn't that far away-- 40 minutes at most-- and
Nick had a plan to “bump into her.”

Nick
drove out to the ranch, letting himself get psyched up by playing
Kanye West's “Power” on loop. He was dressed for the scorching
summer weather in white cargo shorts and a blue, short-sleeved polo.
The look was completed with a white visor with the FSU letter logo on
the front of the brim. His thick, curly, black hair stuck over the
top in all directions.

Nick
pulled past the wooden sign that read “McAffrey Ranch”, down the
gravel driveway, and parked in the wide dirt lot in front of the
cliché red barn.

Amanda
was out at the front fence, feeding an apple to a beautiful brown
quarter horse. She was a sophomore this fall, with curly chestnut
hair and big brown eyes. Her natural tan skin tone had erupted into a
storm of freckles from the summer sun. She wore a fitted plaid shirt,
not one of those frilly cuts that defied the point of plaid, but one
that looked like it was tailored from her father's old shirt. She
turned to see who was stepping out of the car and her eyes narrowed
in confused recognition at the sight of Nick.

Everyone
from school knew who he was. He had saved Valerie's life last
October. He vaguely remembered thinking she was cute at some point
last year.

“Can
I help you?” she asked.

“Hey...”
Nick said, pretending to be surprised. “I know you.”

“School,”
Amanda responded. “You're Nick Morrisey.”

“And
you're...” he glanced back at the sign. “McAffrey?”

“Amanda.”

“I
didn't expect to run into someone from school,” he lied. “Are
you-- wait how do you live here and--”

“My
Dad lives here. My mom lives in Olympia Heights.”

“Oh,
well, okay then.”

“Can
I help you with something?”

Nick
let his shoulders relax and nodded slowly. “Yes, yes you can. See,
I'm on an errand for my Mom. My little sister loves horses and so
we're looking for a place to take a pack of giggly eight-year-olds
for a birthday party so they can ride.” Nick didn't actually have
any siblings, but the fictional half-sister helped convince girls
that he was secretly sweet and compassionate. He had used this sister
before. Claire, as he had dubbed her, had a backstory and supposedly
lived with his mother in Fort Lauderdale.

“It's
been a while since we've done a birthday party, but we do trail rides
and lessons. We don't cater and you bring your own cake.”