Page 78 of That Last Summer

“And it didn’t occur to you that if you could go down, the monster could use the ladder to come up there instead of using the door?”

“Fuck.” He snorted. “Thank God I didn’t tell you this when I was nine. You didn’t climb it, did you?”

“Ah... Yes?”

“Shit, Pris, that’s been there for a thousand years. You can’t trust it.”

“You’ve never used it?”

“No. The monster never came.”

“Well, it works.”

“Good to know.”

Reluctantly, Priscila got out of bed and started to dress, thinking that just in case Alex ever felt the need to escape, she would leave her bedroom window open. Forever.

“Do you want us to go down the rope, so you can see how much it can take?” she asked.

“We’d better use the door,” he replied, pulling on some pants.

“Okay.”

“Come on, let’s go.” He slapped her butt. “You’re a crappy kidnapper.”

“Hey! It’s my first time!”

Shortly after, observing that Priscila had started down the slope without a bicycle, Alex asked “Where are we going?”

“We’re going to take a train.”

“A train?”

“Uh-huh. You know what a train is, Alejandro?”

“You’re so funny today,” he said, grabbing her ass and squeezing it. He pressed a noisy kiss to her cheek. “And where are we going on this train?”

“I don’t know, that’s the idea. We catch one at random and get off at a stop that looks interesting.”

“Hmm. I like it.”

“And if you didn’t, I wouldn’t have cared. This is a kidnapping, remember?”

They arrived at the station just as one of the trains was beginning to move, so they ran full speed to get on—they didn’t even know where it was going, and they didn’t care.

They climbed in, sat side by side, and checked the next stops on a screen hanging from the ceiling.

They chose one quite far from home, two hours journey away, and soon fell asleep—she leaning against the window; he with his head on her lap—so they ended up getting off at a stop even more remote.

When they woke, they raced down the train at the speed of light. Luckily, it was still early; the whole day was ahead of them.

They took a late breakfast in the village, in an establishment that, given its decor and the shop clerks, seemed like something out of the sixties.

They spent the day exploring the place, venturing to its outskirts, into the forest.

They found a stream and went into the water, even though it barely reached their knees. Alexander St. Claire and water was always a great combination, and Priscila knew that too, especially when her pants magically disappeared.

The girl took advantage of the quiet, placid moment that followed their lovemaking to glean more information from Alex.