Chapter 4:

Infidelity and Orange

Light poured in from the windows, pure and soft, as the sun was still low in the sky. Nathan woke in a good mood, a slight smile on his face. He was thinking of Julia and the incessant talking. What might she possibly have to add today? She was up and out of bed. His heart skipped a beat. What if she was gone? Likely, she’d be groggy, hung over and miserable. She’d be bad company.

Nathan didn’t understand hangovers. He’d never had one, just as he’d never truly been drunk. He’d made himself sick and retched for several minutes after chugging a couple bottles of Southern Comfort—on a long night, under grey skies, in the Pacific Northwest—but drunk? Hungover? He remembered how his friends acted the next morning, dull and insufferable, a pain to be around. He wondered if Julia would be the same.

Nathan dressed. He kept glancing at Davies’ wallet, unsure what to do about it. He left it on the night stand, then pushed the door open, and caught the smell of something burning. His heart skipped a beat, though it was the pleasant smell of greasy meat, with a hint of sweetness. He loped down the stairs two at a time, skipping the last six as he flung himself over the banister, then ran across the grand hall. He spun through the doorway to the back kitchen, a popping sound growing as he approached. He expected to find the pantry on fire, cans of whatever vegetables and soups bursting from the flames. Instead, he found Julia standing in front of the range, spatula in one hand, an oven mitt on the other, dodging sausage grease as it spattered from the pan.

Sensing his entrance, Julia turned, fright in her eyes as she clutched the spatula across her heart. Seeing Nathan, a smile crossed her face, and she gave a light laugh. “You scared the hell out of me,” she exhaled.

A bead of grease launched from the pan and landed on her bare upper arm.

“Ohh!” she squealed and turned back at the pan. She slapped it with the spatula, then turned back to Nathan, and took a few steps from the range. “I couldn’t find a splatter screen.”

Nathan didn’t know what to make of the scene before him. Cooking was not something he ever did, so it surprised him to find Julia there, with the apron he never used wrapped about her lithe waist. A splatter screen? Her wondered. Where did you find sausage?! “What’s all this?” he asked aloud.

“Let’s see,” Julia started. “Pancake batter, half cooked hash browns, raw scrambled eggs, and orange juice—freshly squeezed, I might add,” she said as she pointed at various segments of mess. “I used all your oranges. I hope you don’t mind. I would have sliced some fruit, but I didn’t see anything but oranges around.”

Misreading the bewilderment on his face, Julia blushed.

“Don’t worry, I’ll clean it up.” She turned back to the sausages. “I was going to make muffins, but I couldn’t recall the recipe.”

Marvelous dipped a finger in the pancake batter and asked, “Where did you get all of this?”

“The store,” Julia shrugged, her expression confused. The question was too easy.

“You went to the store, then came back here to make me breakfast?”

“Of course I came back," Julia explained. “This house is amazing!”

“How long have you been up?”

“A couple hours before dawn?” she shrugged. “You ever have one of those mornings where you wake up in the middle of the night, oddly refreshed, despite a soaring hangover?”

“No,” Nathan replied.

“Well, it happened last night,” Julia shrugged. “You were out like that stone you had at the club—which I still want to know about—so I wandered about for a bit, until I realized I was snooping. I decided to make you breakfast, in part because I really needed to eat, but you don’t have anything in the fridge, so I took a trip to the store, and stopped off at the Star and Siren for coffee,” she said as she took a swig of an iced mocha. She offered it to him.

Nathan declined and cringed to see the cheap beverage he’d once endorsed.

“I borrowed your Bentley. I would have taken something a little less dramatic, but I can’t drive a stick, and it’s the only automatic you seem to own. Besides, its not like you have any Hondas.”

Nathan shrugged off the question of the car. “Why go through all the trouble?”

Julia gave him a look of duh, “Because I’m hungry.”

“I have cereal.”

Julia shook her head. “After a night like last, I need real food,” she answered. “You see those commercials, where they have the little bowl of cereal surrounded by juice, bananas, bacon, and what not?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, the rest of that is the balanced breakfast. Cereal is just sugary cardboard drenched in milk.”

Nathan shrugged, “We could have gone to a restaurant.”

“Liar!” she laughed, “You’re the famous recluse at the top of the hill! Everyone knows you’re a shut-in!”

“I mean, take out,” Nathan told her. “How’d you figure it out?” he asked, surprised that she recognized him with such a deep tan and no hair.

Julia laughed and turned her butt to him. Nathan noticed she was wearing a pair of his boxing shorts. They were huge on her. Astounded, he pinned Julia against the stove, lifted the apron and took a closer look at the shorts. Sure enough, MARVELOUS was printed in large block letters across the waist. “Where’d you find those?!”

“The very back of your underwear drawer,” she answered, pushing Nathan away. “I was actually looking for a pair of normal boxers—surprised to find that you’re the tightie-whities type—and then I found a pair of actual boxers!” She exclaimed.

“I haven’t seen these in forever,” Nathan told her as he rubbed the fine material between his fingers.

“I like ‘em.”

“They don't fit you for shit,” Nathan noted.

“Good thing for drawstrings,” she said. “I still like ‘em.”

“They look huge on you—but kind of good,” he continued to stare. “Keep ‘em.”

“Maybe I will,” Julia smiled back and returned to the sausages, brushing her hair back in a self-conscious gesture. “Thank you,” she replied.

Marvelous watched her spin the sausages with the blade of the spatula, mesmerized at her ease and grace. She flipped the hash-browns with a grunt, “The potatoes always take forever if you don’t par-cook them,” she said, as Nathan thought of his mother in the kitchen, her skills uneasy at best. She’d always managed a really good peanut butter and jelly sandwich, but that’s as far as it went.

Julia shoveled the sausage to an empty plate, then dumped some of the sausage grease into the hash-browns, and added an additional dose to a third pan which sizzled with heat. She doled three round dollops of pancake batter into the grease of the sausage pan, then dumped the eggs into the third pan. “I wanted to thank you,” she said above the sizzle and pop of the cooking food, without turning around.

Marvelous stepped next to her, “For what?”

She smiled, “You know for what. For not… Last night? Thank you for not pushing the issue.”

Nathan thought about it. There would have been only one issue last night, half drunk and naked in a stranger’s bed. “I was tempted,” he replied.

“That must be some blow to the ego,” Julia quipped.

“Why do you say that?”

“I knew you looked familiar but I couldn’t figure out why. Of course, wandering through your mansion this morning, I figured it out pretty quick. It’s your lack of hair and that god-awful tan that threw me off,” Julia ran a hand over Nathan’s scalp, the stubble of a few days pricking her fingers. “Your hair is beautiful, grow it back,” she recommended. “Is that why you shaved it off? So nobody would recognize you? Are you incognito?” she whispered.

He smiled and shook his head. “Would you believe I lost a bet?”

She shook her head and looked him up and down. “Whatever the reason, the tan is terrible,” she shook her head. “You’re getting far too much sun. Fair skin is very becoming. Look at Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett. I might not mind it on anyone else, but this tan seems gaudy on you.”

“Tell me what you truly think,” Nathan replied.

Julia shrugged then didn't say anything more as she couldn't think of anything else to say. What did she know about Herbert Nathaniel Marvelous? ‘Lightning’ as they called him in the sport? Not much that wasn’t public knowledge—though she remembered some wild rumors, off-the-wall stuff. She’d heard he once drove a motorcycle over a cliff and into the sea on a dare, and that he used to skydive without a parachute for kicks. She heard the army shot him with a tank—not that she believed these things. Nobody could do any of that. What she found intriguing was that these rumors were actually out there. Why spread such ridiculous things?

Now that she’d met him, she was intrigued by his humility, the lack of bravado, the actual reluctance with which he acknowledged himself. She would have expected quite the opposite. She would have expected a blowhard, a self-absorbed narcissistic cock.

“Who’s the girl?”

Nathan frowned, puzzled. There were too many girls.

“The one in the title picture, when you're holding the heavyweight belt?”

“That’s Michelle, and it's the junior middleweight belt.”

“Junior middleweight? What’s that?”

“It's for smaller people, my size, so I’m not fighting football players.”

“I bet you could beat some footballers.”

“Not at football,” Nathan shrugged.

“Yeah, I remember Michelle. Who’s the other girl?” Julia asked.

“The other girl?” Nathan repeated. Did Kelly put up pictures of her own? Had he not seen these? He turned to the hall, wondering if he should go investigate.

“She’s a looker,” Julia stated, and gave Marvelous a nudge and an eye that said, you dog, you. “So you have Michelle on the one side, and who’s on the other?”

“In the title pic?” Nathan took a step back and stretched his hands into the air, his head lolling off to the side, “Did I look like this, except with a shit-eaters grin and blood on my face?”

“Almost,” Julia laughed, “You had your hair.”

“That's my mom,” Nathan admitted.

“That can’t be your mom! She looks as young as you!”

“I’m pretty sure,” Nathan smiled. “She’s been claiming me all my life.”

Julia blushed. “I suppose you would only have her word for it.”

“Never got around to a maternity test,” Nathan noted.

Julia divvied up the eggs, sausage, orange juice, then gave Nathan the first stack of pancakes.

“Are we waiting for the hash browns?” he asked.

“And let the rest of this get even colder?” She shook her head. “I’ll give you some hash as soon as its ready.” She turned and gave the potatoes a frustrated stare. “You know I started these first. They always take so long if you don’t bake ‘em off,” she huffed. Fork and knife in hand, she took a bite of her eggs, dowsed in ketchup, and chomped off half a link, as she watched Nathan poke and prod at his meal.

“Who’d you lose to?” she asked.

“I never lost. I forfeited,” Nathan corrected as he took his first bite of pancakes. Holy crap, they were good!

Julia smiled. “You forfeited a bet? Were you looking for a reason to shave your head?”

Nathan felt foolish. Again, he was stuck in the wrong conversation.

“Who’d you bet?” she asked again.

“Myself,” he claimed.

“You forfeited a bet to yourself?” she asked, and proceeded to shake her fork at him. “For your own good, stay out of Vegas.”

“I try,” Nathan began. “I was mistaken. I forfeited my title. The bet I lost out right.”

“To yourself?”

“Yes.”

“What was the bet?”

“That I could find my way out of the desert,” he lied. He’d keep it close to the truth anyway.

“This just gets better and better,” Julia said as she pulled herself onto the counter. She sat staring at Marvelous, her legs crossed, stirring the hash browns, wisps of brown hair draped against the smooth freckled skin of her face. “Why were you in the desert in the first place?”

“I crashed,” he shrugged.

“You fly?”

“More like, I plummet.”

“Not exactly the same thing, is it?” Julia noted. “I have a friend that flies: small planes, Cessna’s and the like. He…” Julia blushed and turned back to the hash browns. She kept her gaze on the pan and threatened to harass the potatoes yet again.

“What is it?” Marvelous asked.

Julia looked up, blushing mercilessly, “I forgot about last night. I forgot the whole run-in with Kenneth.”

“Oh, that. Is he the one that flies?”

“He is. I haven’t thought about him all morning—which is something unusual. Last night was… Well, a lot has happened since then. Anyway, I’m sorry for his stupid crap. He’s been like that lately.” With that said, Julia decided the hash-browns were ready. She served them up, golden and crisp, and down-right delicious.

“What is it with you and him?” Marvelous asked between bites. “That is, if you don’t mind me asking.” He forked egg into his mouth. God, this was good. He hadn’t had a home-cooked meal in, well, he couldn’t remember.

Julia gave a reticent smile. “Officially, we’re engaged, but I haven’t spent much time with him since he proposed.”

Proposed? Engaged? Marvelous stopped with the eggs—but only for a second. They were too good to ignore.

Julia set her silverware aside. This was going to take a minute. “When we started, Kenneth was the most amazing man. He was self-assured, witty, calm, careful. Think of a good word and it describes him. I know that’s not the Ken you saw last night, but he really had everything in order.

“When we first met, we’d both just ended long-term relationships,” she continued. “It was just for fun between us. Neither of us was willing to suffer through another ‘serious’ relationship. Not yet. Besides, we had other friends we’d neglected, and all these people we could suddenly date.”

Julia paused and took several more bites. Marvelous watched, and waited for her to resume. He was comforted by the fact that he knew the ending, even though it must turn or the worst. Knowledge of her traumas and miseries made his seem normal, within the scope of the everyday. He felt a pang of guilt for taking pleasure in Julia’s pain, but more importantly, he felt communion, as if he understood her and could sympathize with her.

“After several weeks, things got complicated. We called each other a lot. We slept together. We started saying ‘I love you’. Not the, you’re so cool, ‘I love you’, but the, I need to know that you love me too, ‘I love you’. Certain words were creeping up in conversation. Words like ‘marriage’ and ‘children’. It was exciting and unnerving, yet somehow casual and free. It was definitely premature.

“One day I called really early. We were supposed to go hiking. This other girl, Susie, she answered the phone. He was seeing her too, or maybe just sleeping with her on the side. When I asked him about it, he didn’t even bother to apologize, or explain, or anything. He just said their date ran over. I wonder if he meant to get caught.”

Marvelous paused, a forkful of hash browns halfway to his mouth. This where it gets bad, he said himself, feeling guilty.

“I don’t suppose I should have taken it so hard. We’d talked of a future together, but only vaguely. Nothing was set in stone. But I didn’t take it so well,” she shrugged. “He knew it bothered me and he started acting strange himself. At first my paranoia told me he must still be seeing Susie, and Evangelyne, and whoever else. I figured he must not love me anymore, or at least not as much as I loved him, so I stopped calling and I stopped picking up his calls.

“In my righteous fury, I called Scott, this other boy I know. He’d been hoping for a little play for—I don’t know how long—I was always putting him off. Scott was awkward and excitable and always said weird things. He was a literature major, so...” she shrugged.

“Scott was good company. He treated me well, and he said sweet things. He always called when he said he would, so I kept up the pretense. Anyway, after Ken slept with Susie, I called Scott. We went out for drinks and I decided to be a ‘yes’ girl. I said ‘yes’ to whatever he asked. I’d let it be his dream date—so long as he had the courage to ask for what he wanted.

“We ended up back at his place watching B-movies on the Sci-Fi channel—one of the ones with really bad acting, oversimplified characters, foreseeable plot twists, and really cheesy special effects. We watched and watched, and just as the cripple, idiot savant with the heart-of-gold character was confronting the immaculate ice queen of Neo-Earth, (or whatever—I wasn’t really paying that much attention), I decided he was never going to make a move. I felt a bit sorry for him. I knew boys like that back in college, back when it was all new and difficult. Then I realized that for him it was still all knew and really difficult—so I leaned over and kissed him,” she paused, frowned, and shook her head. “That’s not really accurate. I kissed him, then crawled all over him.

“So one thing leads to the next. I woke in his room the next morning after a very strange night. Not bad, just weird. It was a funny kind of sex and I knew it would never work between us. Of course, Kenneth found out, because one day we were fighting and I told him. I leveled him with it. I suppose I won the fight—as much as anyone wins such a fight—but he didn’t call, or answer any of mine, for a little over a week. I left a ton of apologies on his voice mail.

“A month goes by, then another. I get a bouquet of flowers with a letter. The letter apologized for Susie and confessed that after that morning when I’d called, he’d stopped seeing her altogether. Indeed, he stopped seeing everyone else, because he only wanted me—but he didn’t know how to tell me. He closed by saying he hoped I could forgive him and that I was forgiven, because he wanted to work it out, because I was all he wanted.

“That seemed fair. But I took my time. I called about a week later with intentions of getting back together, but going really slow. Of course, we hit it off instantly, only now negotiations were serious from the word go. We were inseparable. We picked up right where we left off, and for the first couple months, I was delighted. We saw each other almost every night. Two months after the letter, he proposed and I accepted. A few nights later, I went out with friends to celebrate the news.

“But wait. The next morning, after he proposed, I get a call at work. It’s Scott. He’s wondering why I haven’t called, why I haven’t returned any of his texts. He’s wondering if I’m okay, and I say let’s meet for lunch. Hell, we all know that a lunch date is no date at all.

“Now, I really like Scott. He’s a very sweet guy, so I figure I owe it to him to come clean. I knew he had hopes for me. He might as well be the first to know. Indeed, he took the news really well; he was always such a gentleman. I knew I wasn’t the first girl to slip his net, that he’d lost others perhaps closer to him, girls that liked him more, girls that understood his quirkiness. Anyway, I felt bad, but also good that he was so happy for me, so I invited him to drinks with my friends. I wanted to introduce him to Courtney, perhaps Erin—if she actually showed. I figured Erin was his best chance. Anyway, the plan was to set him up with someone, even it happened to be the waitress.

“The next day I’m telling Kenneth about the night out and I tell him Scott made such an impression on Stacey, of all people—because Stacey is never impressed—and Kenneth just explodes, ‘Scott what?!’

“Next thing you know, we’re screaming at each other about Scott and Susie—this big, blistering fight—and eventually I storm out, raining tears. I eventually calm down, then figure I’ll give it a few days, but that night, Kenneth calls and he’s still hot. I tell him to leave off until he can be rational, and I hang up. He calls me right back—and before I know it, he has me fighting him again—so I hang up again and shut off my phone.

“For the next week, he calls me in ever increasing amounts. One day he called me seventeen times!” she huffed. “I stop answering his calls altogether. All we’re doing is fighting anyway—but he can’t stop. He shows up at my apartment, multiple times. I stayed with various friends, and after a few days of this, and he turned up at my work! He came storming in and tried to find Scott—so he could beat him up. He accused me of sleeping around. I told him until he gets his ring back, I haven’t slept with anyone, and I still want to marry him, but I don’t think he believes me. The only reason I haven’t given it back to him is because I know he’ll claim its proof I’m sleeping around. I suspect he’s been back with Susie to spite me, but haven’t dared bring it up.” Julia sighed, “I’m so fickle these last few days. I go out because I can’t stand being alone. Last night, I’m out letting anyone buy me drinks, and letting the first guy who doesn’t mention sex take me home.

Nathan pointed a finger at himself.

“Yeah you, ya dog,” Julia smiled, then shook her head. “I just want to talk to Sash. I just want things back the way they were when they were fun, when I was young.

“But that’s not right either. I want Kenneth to hear me out, to understand. I just want things to be okay between us. I want to see Kenneth for his strengths again, and not his weaknesses. I want to go to the park and just kiss in the sun. I’m beginning to wonder if that’s possible, if we could ever be happy again. Maybe we ruined it. Maybe we’re too soiled.”

The tears were back. Nathan wanted to laugh, not malicious laughter, but defensive laughter, to fight off and lessen the bitter disappointment we hang on those we love the most. He wanted to laugh in order to expose the folly that makes such calamity of life. But Julia wouldn’t understand such a reaction. Nathan attempted to suppress the urge—though a bit of a chuckle still escaped.

Julia shot him an accusatory look, but despite his smile and the laugh, his face was sympathetic and her sharp eyes melted with sorrow. Marvelous reached out, taking her hand in his. He pulled her away from the stove and wrapped her in a hug. She was about to say something, but her lips quivered. She was going to laugh or cry, or maybe both if she tried to speak, and was suddenly reticent to display any emotions at all. She didn’t want to let herself go again, as she had last night, after the taxi pulled away with her fiancé in it. Julia wrapped her arms around Nathan’s neck and buried her face in his chest. She sat there, her face hidden from his, her sobbing out of sight.

He didn’t know what else to do, so he simply held her. He felt like kissing her, but he wasn’t sure that’s what he wanted. Sex would only muddle things and bring her down. Still, she was warm, her tears hot against his shoulder. Her skin was soft. Nathan contemplated making a mistake, weighing the potential guilt against fleeting pleasure.

They sat that way for a long moment, and suddenly Marvelous had an idea. There was something he had to show her. It was the perfect thing! It would distract her like nothing else! “Follow me,” he stated excitedly.

She nodded and let him lead her around by the hand. Marvelous pulled her through a long hall. It was the same wing Psychoto blew up with an RPG, burying his mother in her sunroom. The mess had taken several months to clean, had ‘killed’ his mother, but also offered and incredible opportunity to remodel! He stopped at a heavy looking door with thick paneling. He didn’t open it.

“You have to close your eyes,” he said, “and you have to keep them closed until you can smell it.”

Julia nodded and closed her eyes. He picked her up. He was so warm against her, so strong. When he opened the door, she cheated. She peeked at the room beyond, fearing it would have a king-sized bed right in the middle, that it would smell of vanilla, or maybe peach and ginger—whatever scent Nathan thought would ripen the mood. She feared it was a seduction trick; that he was expecting the physical intimacy she felt was imminent—that she at once wanted and feared. If it was a trick, she knew she would give in. She would mail the ring back to Ken and live in this palace forever…

…but of course, Nathan wouldn’t want her forever. He would take her, perhaps keep her around for a month or two, until he lost interest and found some other hot new tart to stick it to. She hated herself for thinking so—but there it was.

A heavy desk commanded the room—a room lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. There were huge leather bound books with paper bound volumes interspersed. She closed her eyes tight, and wondered if he’d set her on the desk and take her there. She wondered if perhaps this was where he brought all the pretty girls he met, into some stuffy office, to infuse the sex with some archaic authority, and to infuse the stuffy room with some of the baser interests of humanity.

As he he carried her into the room, Julia sniffed the air, remembering that she was supposed to be seeking a scent. There was only the faint woody smell of books mingled with ink. “I don’t smell it,” she admitted.

“We’re not there yet,” he answered as he opened another door.

This would be the bedroom, Julia thought. She was excited, yet at once she was also remorseful that a keen new friendship should be exchanged for a fleeting romance. The door swung open, and the fragrance of ripe sunny citrus struck her like a wall. Julia gasped. “My god!” She opened her eyes and gaped as Nathan set her on her feet with a biggest goofiest grin she’d ever seen. Before them were orange trees in neat rows, burdened with fruit.

Although dominated by the orange trees, the huge room was full of burgeoning greenery. Indeed, the room was tall, big enough to hold twenty foot trees with ample room for growth, mostly glass with thick wooden beams for support. There were at least a couple dozen trees spread about the massive space, a few which were not oranges at all. Julia moaned as she stepped among the trees, shocked that they would grow so far north, bright green leaves with globes the size of fists gleaming like tiny suns. “How…?! What...?!” she turned and gaped at Nathan.

“This is my greenhouse,” Nathan told her. “It took me forever to figure out where to build it. I guess I have Psychoto to thank for helping me figure it out.” His smile was unbearably wide. If she was shocked to see the oranges, wait until she saw the elephants that often occupied the back half!

Julia moved among the small grove, eyeing the delicious citrus with wonder. She touched the bark and leaves of the trees in an attempt to fill her senses completely. A tick in the back of her mind wondered if he would make a move now. A part of her wanted him to try, to make love in the dirt under these beautiful trees—the first touches of a long and beautiful love. She figured that anyone that took the time and care to grow oranges in such a magnificent greenhouse would keep the right girl around.

Julia turned to Nathan hoping to read his next move, and found it spelled across his face. There was nothing but genuine kindness. No wicked little glint in his eye to hint at any schemes or designs. Instead, he leaned back as if he’d done all he could. She wanted to sigh with remorse, to hug him in delight, to climb a tree.

Julia squealed in her excitement, offering a warm smile, and swung on a low branch. She picked her way through the little grove, “My God! They’re so…” She grabbed a thick branch and pulled herself bodily into the tree. There was an orange right in front of her, bright and fragrant as she curled into a crouch of the branch. The orange in her hand was ripe. She peeled it and playfully flicked bits of rind at Nathan.

Nathan slapped at the bits as they flew at him, deflecting several of the missiles. He caught one and threw it back at Julia, which glanced off her arm. She was forced to accept most of the return fire, and as she did, a light flashed through the room. It was a bright red pulse that ended quickly.

Julia stopped. She sat rooted to the branch, orange in hand, and wondered if she’d done something wrong. Did she imagine the light? She looked up at the walls of the room and the glass ceiling, searching for a possible source. She waited for the pulse to repeat itself, but it didn’t. She turned to Marvelous, sure that her senses were overloading, that she was now imagining things—but the look on Nathan’s face told her otherwise. His features had been soft, so receptive and inviting. Now there was nothing, no emotion, no anger or fear or excitement. His face was neutral, set. She realized this was the business end of Marvelous, cool and distant, a mask, the face of a fighter. Julia realized something was fundamentally wrong. “What is it?” she asked, her apprehension growing.

“Intruders,” he answered.

“An alarm?” she asked.

He nodded.

“Could it have been us?” she asked as she jumped down out of the tree.

Marvelous shook his head. “Stay in here, please. I’ll be back shortly, I promise.”

“But what do you…?”

“Please,” he cut her off, “I don’t want to worry about you. Just stay here. I won’t be long.”
Marvelous stepped out of the room. Julia huddled close to one of the orange trees. Who would break into Marvelous Mansion? She wondered. But everyone knew the answer to that. It must be Psychoto. The last time he paid a visit, Psychoto blew apart half the house. The last time he came by, he shot an RPG into the East Wing and killed Nathan’s mother. A knot of fear formed in the pit of her stomach, as Julia glanced about the trees, looking for a good place to hide.

If you enjoyed this, consider donating, because donating is love.