Lost Highway(33)

“Have you ever danced?” I ask while starting the CD.

“I don’t like that music.”

“Neither do I, but it’s all we have, so we’ll learn to like it.”

I sway to the strumming guitar and head toward Quill. He gives me an odd frown. No doubt he’s thinking about how to avoid my groping hands. Slapping them away was how he once handled them. Now he endures my fingers on his hips.

“Sway to the beat,” I say when he only stands robot-still.

“I’m not interested.”

“I don’t love Skittles or this music or living in the woods, but we need to find the joy in the small things, Quill.”

Hearing his name, he loses the frown and allows me to guide him. I take his hands, and we sway to the rough country beat. Outside the cabin, monsters lurk and the Lost Highway schemes. Inside, I’ve managed to make Quill smile while trying something new.

If living in this place is a battle, we’re definitely winning.





Chapter Thirty-Four


Quill




I turn the woods around the cabin into an obstacle course of traps and early warnings. For too long, I ignored the night-dwellers like the one that attacked Odessa. The creature hadn’t come into the light of the cabin, so I felt she wasn’t a threat even as her kind became savvier about the traps.

The Death Dealer I nearly failed to kill also provided a wake-up call. I’d felt invincible for too long. Or possibly I hadn’t anything to lose until Odessa. Either way, I allowed my standards to slip. No longer would I take for granted that I was on the top of the killer food chain.

Odessa decides we need to burn and bury the trophies. She says we must cleanse the house of Tom’s past deeds to make it truly ours. I don’t argue, even if I’m unconvinced the voices in the basement are tied to the remains in the trophy room.

“I was wrong,” I say later that night. “They’re gone.”

“For now. I’m not getting my hopes up,” Odessa says, wrapping a leg over mine. “Either way, I’m relieved to have them out of the cabin. Now we have a spare room since there’s no way I can get the other room cleaned up.”

Odessa gave up on wiping down her old room after realizing she’d waste our entire cleaning supply to complete the task.

“The scavengers take things from the accidents on the highway. Can we do that?” Odessa asks another night. “We could get in the habit of staking out the highway to see if we can get dibs on supplies.”

“The Death Dealers will be out in force. We won’t take the supplies easily. I don’t know why they allow the scavengers to take things, but they won’t be so forgiving with us.”

“With time, maybe I’ll be enough help that we can get supplies without having to rely on the scavengers.”

“In the Lost Highway, we have nothing but time.”

Odessa smiles at me, taking my words as an agreement to her plan. I don’t mind the idea of hunting and scavenging with her one day. For now, I need her safe at the cabin where I won’t lose her.

“I love you,” I say with more ease at every utterance.

Odessa reaches up and kisses me quickly. She pretends to be interested in the movie we watch every few days. I have no doubt The Bridge on the River Kwai wouldn’t make the grade in the old world. Today, she embraces anything to keep us sane. I’m learning to care about the movies, music, and food too. If they extend the time we’re together, I’m willing to do anything.

Too many years ago, I found my way to the Lost Highway and believed the killing was what drew me here. I hunted and waited while never certain what exactly I was waiting for besides my next kill. I assumed I retained my sanity and humanity because I was superior to the other Death Dealers.

Now everything possesses a clarity the Lost Highway rarely provides. I had nothing before arriving here while Odessa was broken. We couldn’t make sense of who we were meant to be.

We were lost until we created a piece of heaven together in the depths of hell.





Epilogue


Odessa




The Lost Highway never relents. It provides no escape or explanation. This place simply exists. If we want to survive, we’ll learn to accept the rules rather than fight them.

I still think we’re dead. Quill claims we’re in a parallel universe. Neither answer is right or wrong. The Lost Highway is our home now, and we’ll never leave except through death. I’m not even confident that’ll provide an escape.

Despite the predators in the Lost Highway, I’ve never felt as safe or blessed. Since Athena’s death, I remained stuck at the age of sixteen. All I wanted was to suffer for my mistake. Now that I’ve found forgiveness, I’m finally growing up.

Quill is teaching me to fight. He’s made me strong, and I believe I’ve helped him too. Quill never felt he was lost, but he certainly wasn’t happy with his life. I don’t think he even imagined he ought to enjoy happiness. Now he expects it.

We will fight for our territory. No matter what we face, we’ll keep our home safe. I haven’t enjoyed a sense of belonging since I was a teenager. Now I do with Quill, and I will die to protect what we’ve built together.

Most days don’t involve fighting, though. When the storms roll through, we spend entire days in bed, distracting ourselves from the noise and light.