Page 38 of Evil Hearts

Monday

I n his dreams, Lewis reached out his hand for Huk’s presence. It was absent. The man shifted awake under the rasp of dry sheets. It was barely dawn and his bed was empty. Lewis’ eyes flashed to the window. It was open.

Pulling on his clothes, the man pressed against the frigid glass panes. His eyes roved for any mass that could indicate the creature either on the trail or in the water. He spotted none. His heart quickened, driving him out the door.

Rubber soles crunching the gravel trail, Lewis ran along the Sacramento river. The sky was still, cloudless. He hoped it was still too early for any joggers. He called Huk’s name several times but received no answer. His feet slowed.

Had the weekend simply been a waking dream? Was he so pitiful during Ryan and Ayla’s wedding that his mind conjured a mythical creature to mollify his longing? Lewis shook his head. He squinted in desperation as he scanned the water, the banks, and the trail. All was silent. Not even any feeding salmon broke the surface of the water.

The powder blue sky blushed at the seam of the world, and his feet carried him toward the horizon. His breath left him in ghostly puffs, evaporating into eternity. His eyes would not rest, scanning, continually scanning.

He passed the historic Bing Kong Tong building, passed the edge of town, until there was only the river, the levee, and the afterthought of the highway beyond a thin stand of trees.

“Huk.” The name fell from Lewis’ lips.

The sun crowned on the horizon, a rosy bloom seeping into the dawn. Beneath the halo of light, a tiny island of black resolved on the water. Lewis started to run.

His feet pounded into the gravel, each strike echoing his thundering heart. The beat carried him closer to the island. It began to move. One foot down, a coil loosened. Another pace taken, the mass unwound. A bouquet of thick black ribbon undoing itself beckoned the man forward.

As Lewis paralleled the mass in the water, a bright gleam flashed. Glowing silver emerged from the dark ropes splayed in the water. Lewis felt a chip of his heart loosen with it. He held his breath. The beam unfolded, shooting upward out of the water.

And then it ascended into the wan morning sky, body coiling and weaving just as the river below. For a moment, it hung there. From below, Lewis beheld it with his eyes, his full body. It tugged at him, pulling his core upward. He felt his soul lift. Line pulled taut, then snapped.

Lewis whispered farewell as the silver dissolved into the light of the waking sun. Nothing left in the sky. Nothing skimming the river’s surface.

There remained a few hours left before he had to check out. Lewis returned to bed to catch a few more winks of sleep. He closed his eyes with a crumpled hope that Huk would visit in his dreams again.

No sooner had he rested his head on his pillow than his phone alarm went off. The man shook off the crumbs of slumber and began to gather his things to leave. With his clothes packed, he gave his teeth a quick brush before tossing his toiletries in his bag. In the mirror, he noticed a dark shape by his collarbone.

He leaned in, rubbing his eyes to force them to focus. It was a muddy green-brown jade pendant hanging just beside the amber bead on his leather cord necklace. Had Huk left it with him? Lewis spat into the sink and wiped his face. His eyes softened at the new gem. It reminded him of the river delta and the amber beside it now echoed Huk’s eyes.

The hallway lights flickered still when Lewis paced away from his room. Thankfully the sun was beginning to stream in and overpower the weak fluorescence to palliate the goodbye. His lids fell heavy as he traversed into the path of a strong beam filtering in through a dust-coated window.

“ Lewis …”

The man’s feet skipped a step, but he continued onward. If his dreams were catching up to him in wakefulness, he would not indulge them as he had a couple hours of driving ahead of him.

“Lewis.”

He stopped fully in the hallway before the stairs that led down to the lobby. He hadn’t drank a drop of alcohol in hours.

“Lewis.”

He peered to the seeming source of the voice, down at his chest. Lewis hesitated.

“Huk. Is that you?” he whispered.

“Yes. I am with you.”

“As the pendant?” Lewis eyes darted up and down the hallway.

“I have shed my dragon form …”

Lewis’ heart opened. “That silver thing I saw this morning …”

“Yes.” The pendant remained unchanged, yet there was a soft heat emanating from the smooth surface. “I’ve changed. I am no longer who I used to be.”

The man suppressed a sad smile. “Aren’t we all?” His chin flicked up to check the time on his phone. “So you’re just a pendant now?”

“I can change into the form you met me as, along with some other shapes. But I no longer hold my original body.”

Lewis squinted past the flickering light. He held a palm over the pendant, clutching the warmth.

“Though … I am happy with what I am now …”

Lewis sniffed, and nodded. “That’s enough.” He proceeded down the stairs.

The sky held no clouds and stretched as an endless upturned sea. There was little traffic as Lewis sailed home. A small sigh left his chest as the distance closed between him and his duties, but it wasn’t as though this weekend hadn’t happened. It wasn’t a dream that one forgot after breakfast. He was different today than he had been on Thursday. A small bit of hope had nested in him. Better still, a bit of magic curled along his sternum.

“I … I thought you left,” Lewis said, hand tightening on his steering wheel.

“I’m over two-thousand years old. What’s seventy years spent with you?”

“You’re going to come with me? And stay with me?”

“It’s time I moved on from here.” The man glanced past the window. The stretch of river veered away from the asphalt, giving way to farmland.

“Well, whether you stay with me or not … it’s up to you.” Lewis smiled. “Don’t feel like you’re bound to me just because I was nice to you.”

“I will keep that in mind.” Huk pressed a little jade snout against the pit of Lewis’ throat. “You were more than nice, however. Do not undervalue what you do. Do not undervalue yourself.”

Lewis’ lips curled into a lopsided smile. “You as well.”

Huk raked a tiny claw over his skin beneath the collar of his shirt. It pawed affectionately.

Lewis tingled from the sensation. He shrugged it off and retrained his focus on the road. “You might like our house. My parents have a koi pond in the back. Something to remind you of the old country. You could probably dwell in there if you can transform into a fish”

“But as a pendant, I’m right up against your skin.”

Lewis balked and felt his face flush. “Just so you know you have options.”

“I can assess my options tomorrow.”

End