“How can he stand the cold?” Melissa asked, as they trudged through the snow.
“I don’t know. I guess that’s just what animals do. He’s pretty hairy.”
“You should buy him a space heater or something.”
Toby chuckled, although he wasn’t in a particularly humorous mood. He was nervous as hell. If you really stopped to think about it, which he had at length, this had the potential to be the single worst idea of his entire life.
On the other hand, it had the potential to be the best idea.
He’d be careful. He’d keep everything under control.
And he had a pistol in his jacket pocket. He had absolutely no intention of using it, and almost had left it at home…but, no, Owen was still a dangerous creature. He hadn’t killed Larry and Nick, Toby had, but Owen had eaten them. What if he went berserk over the opportunity to taste more human flesh? Toby needed to have the gun with him. If things looked like they were going to get out of hand, he’d point it at Owen, Owen would cower away, and he’d get Melissa out of there.
He saw a real future with Melissa, and he needed to share this part of his life with her. It would all work out okay. Sure, there’d be some rocky points in today’s encounter-gasping, looks of disbelief, maybe some accusations that Toby’s mental state wasn’t everything it could be-but it would be a huge relief to finally have everything out in the open.
Except the murders, of course. Those were staying well hidden.
“Remember that thing I did last Friday?” Melissa asked.
“Which one?”
“The show. With the toy.”
“Oh, yeah. Of course. I’ll never forget it.”
“Keep it in mind, because if this does turn out to be a prank, you’ll never see anything like that again.”
“I completely understand.”
They were at the final uphill portion, starting to get close to the cave, and Toby was beginning to feel physically ill. Maybe they should come back some other day, after he’d given Owen more time to prepare for the meeting. Maybe he should call off the whole thing. Or, instead of being a complete chickenshit…maybe he should see it through. Change his life for the better in a big way.
“You should wait here,” he said. “I’ll go up ahead and make sure everything’s cool.”
“No way. You’re not leaving me in the woods by myself.”
“I’m not abandoning you. Just checking things out.”
“Toby, we’re out here under the pretense that there’s a giant monster living in this forest. Do you really think that I’m going to let you out of my sight?”
“Okay, that’s fair. We’ll stick together.”
Before too much longer, the cave entrance came into view. Toby no longer threw rocks into it-these days he just walked up and called out Owen’s name, but this time he thought he should be quite a bit more cautious and stay a safe distance away. “Owen!” he shouted. “I’m here with Melissa.”
Melissa grabbed his hand. “All right, all of a sudden I’m really scared.”
“Don’t be. I’ll protect you. But you won’t need to be protected.”
They waited.
“Owen!” Toby repeated. “Come out and meet her!”
“Are you sure he’s in there?”
“No. He goes out sometimes. He also sleeps a lot, though. But do you see the tracks in the snow?”
“Yes. That’s why I’m scared.”
“You call him.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Nothing’s going to hurt you, I promise. Just call him.”
Melissa hesitated, and then cupped her gloved hands around her mouth. “Ooooooowen! Ooooooowen!”
Owen emerged from the cave.
Melissa screamed.
“No, no, don’t scream!” said Toby. “It’s fine!”
“Oh my God!”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, I promise. He’s not coming at you.”
“We need to go, Toby, we need to go.”
Toby held up his hand. “Stay back!” he told Owen. “Just stay where you are!”
Owen looked hurt and confused. He signed: Friend?
“Yes. Friend. But you’re kind of scary for her. It’ll be fine. Everybody just stay calm. Melissa, don’t run.”
“I wasn’t going to run.” She stood there, staring at Owen. “That’s not a mask. Holy shit, that’s not a mask.”
“You’re right, it’s not. But you see that he’s not doing anything, right? He’s not trying to hurt you. He’s just staying there.” He reached into his jacket pocket. “I’m going to give you the gun, but do not point it at him unless you have to, okay? I’ll go over to him, and you’ll see that it’s completely safe, but you’ll have the gun. How does that sound?”
“I don’t want to be here,” Melissa said.
He took the gun out of his pocket, making sure the barrel remained pointed at the ground. “Here, take it.”
She shook her head.
“Okay.” He put the gun back into his pocket. “Just stay where you are. I’m going over to him, and when you feel comfortable, you can join us. If you don’t feel comfortable, we’ll go home and try again some other time.”
“Let’s try again some other time.”
He smiled and gave her a quick kiss, then slowly walked toward Owen. “How’ve you been, buddy? This is my friend that I’ve told you all about. She’s beautiful, isn’t she? She’s really wanted to meet you, and I think you two are going to get along great.”
“Toby, be careful!”
“I am, don’t worry.” He returned his attention to Owen. “See, Owen, you probably thought I was making her up, didn’t you? You thought Melissa was a fictional character. I had to drag her all the way out here through the snow to prove to you that she existed.”
He stood right in front of Owen. Owen gave him a big hug.
“Yeah, I missed you, too.”
“He’s hugging you,” said Melissa.
“Yep, he does it all the time. He’s pretty affectionate for such a horrific monster.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
“Positive. Owen, show Melissa how you feel about people who I care about. Care. Show her care.”
Owen balled his fists together and put them over his heart.
“That’s right. And who’s your best friend?”
“Toby.”
Melissa gasped. “He talks!”
“Kind of. Not really. That’s pretty much his whole vocabulary. But we’re working on other stuff. I tried to teach him to say Melissa, but it hasn’t worked yet. Owen, can you say Melissa? Melissa?”
Owen gave him a thumbs-down sign.
“Try it. Melissa.”
No.
“That’s okay. It’s not your fault, is it?” He looked back at Melissa. “I think he likes you.”
“How can you even tell?”
“Oh, I can read him pretty well. You like Melissa, right? Do you like Melissa?”
Yes.
“See?”
“That’s incredible,” Melissa said. “You taught him that?”
“Yeah. It’s been slow, but it helped that I didn’t have any other friends. He doesn’t learn new signs that well
