Chapter 2: Suspicions

Caleb narrowed his eyes, zoning in on his target. He remained unmoving unwilling to spook his prey. Slowly, he lowered himself behind the small house preparing to strike.

Everything was in order. The target didn’t seem to have noticed him as it continued to calmly scratch at the ground searching for food. Caleb clenched his fist, shoring up his determination. He coiled up, readying himself to pounce. This time, he was going to do it. This time, he wouldn’t fail.

Caleb lunged forward, using the element of surprise to catch his target off guard. Its head shot up and it squawked in surprise. However, its speed was not to be underestimated. With a couple flaps and a small hop, the bird was out of reach, evading Caleb’s attack with surprising agility for its clumsy appearance.

With the disappearance of his target, Caleb was left off balance. In his attempt to adjust himself, he fell over in complete defeat, his face digging into the dirt. He let out a small growl of frustration and looked up, only to see the silkie chicken scuttling to a safer portion of the yard.

“Stupid hippie chicken. I didn’t want to catch you anyway.” He grumbled as he picked himself up into a sitting position. He crossed his arms angrily as he glared at his adversary, an obvious pout on his face.

The chicken cocked its head toward him for a moment, before cautiously returning to its foraging.

Caleb collapsed back with a sigh and looked up into the blue sky of what had once been New Mexico. Not a cloud in the sky today. If there was at least that, perhaps he could find a way to entertain himself. He tried to enjoy the view, but the unending blue skies just weren’t doing it for him. this was the problem with living in the middle of a desert. No noises, no clouds, nothing to do. What exactly was Rebecca trying to do, kicking him out here for an entire day? He lasted two minutes before he was back on his feet looking for a stone to kick.

Boring. All of this was so boring. Was it too much to ask for them to live somewhere a bit livelier? What was the point of ‘embracing the outdoors’ when it was so dull?

Perhaps it was. After all, if not for coming here, perhaps he wouldn’t even be alive to complain like this. He couldn’t really expect everything to work out for him, considering he was already pretty lucky just to be in a situation which he wouldn’t starve.

However, to his eight-year-old mind such thoughts were only passing thoughts. More importantly, he was bored!

“Rebecca, can I come back in yet?” He yelled at the house.

“It hasn’t even been thirty minutes yet! What kind of sad excuse for a man are you?” Rebecca’s voice yelled out from the house. “I said you could come in once lunch is ready!”

“But there’s nothing to do out here!”

“If you can’t think of anything to do, do something useful! The pigs need feeding!”

Caleb held back a groan. If there was one thing he hated doing, it was feeding the pigs. It wasn’t a hard job, but he couldn’t stand the smell.

“Is there anything else?” He called hopefully.

“Just go feed the pigs, Caleb. You have to get over it eventually.” The merciless mistress called back.

Caleb gave a sigh in defeat and dragged his feet toward the pig pen, grabbing a pail of feed along the way. Although it was heavy, he had built up enough strength in the last year to manage it without struggle. However, he was clear he wasn’t strong enough. Since he had to lift with both hands, he didn’t have the ability to cover his nose during the process. For him, it was a tragedy.

He ran into the pen holding his breath, dumped the feed into a trough and sprinted away without wasting a second, doing his utmost to get away before the swarm of swine trotted over to their freshly supplied trough. Once he felt that he was far enough away, he finally took a breath, sucking in the sweet, clean, pig free air.

From the side, he heard laughter. Rebecca had come out on the back porch and appeared to have seen his actions. He flushed a little in embarrassment. Why did she always appear at times like this?

“It really isn’t that bad, Caleb. I don’t get why you think pigs stink so much.”

“I don’t know. They just do, okay? Don’t make fun of me.”

“Well, I’m glad you can at least get past that to help around the house. It means a lot.”

“Could I do things besides feed the pigs to help out?”

“Of course not. What would I laugh at if you didn’t?”

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“You’re teasing me again.” Caleb grumbled.

When he looked up at Rebecca again, his pouting stopped for a second. A slight frown crossed his brow. For some reason, she seemed different than usual. She was smiling, but it lacked its usual warmth.

However, it was only for a moment. The smile he’d grown accustomed to quickly returned. Caleb was left a little confused. Had he imagined it?

“You make it too easy to resist.” Rebecca said as she gave a light laugh. “You ready to come in? I have food ready.”

Caleb brightened up at the mention of food, forgetting about his earlier concerns. He didn’t hesitate in the slightest, whisking past Rebecca into the house. The table was set up already. Fresh bread rolls were sitting on the oven, and a pot of homemade tomato soup was cooling over the stove.

Caleb didn’t bother with etiquette. Rebecca barely made it to the kitchen before Caleb had set himself out a full meal. His manners had never been good, ever since he hobbled up to the doorstep last year. He’d spent too much time hungry to properly learn such things, no matter how much scolding he received.

It was regretful that this habit also caused him to forgo caution, an unfortunate mistake when it came to hot foods. Before he noticed how hot it was, he’d already swallowed three spoons. He gagged as the liquid seared his tongue and throat, trying his best not to spit it all over the table. Caleb quickly swallowed the remaining liquid and exhaled with a pained cough.

“And that’s what happens when you don’t test the heat of your soup before start eating it. How can you be so smart and still never learn?” Rebecca scolded. She handed him a glass of water, which he quickly accepted.

After draining the glass and releasing a relieved gasp, Caleb gave an embarrassed smile and scratched his head. “I just can’t wait to taste your cooking, I guess.”

“Don’t try that silver tongue of yours on me. I had enough men trying to woo me back in the day to know what your game is.” Scolding him further. However, her smile had become a little wider hearing his words. The flattery was clearly successful.

“It’s good! Honest!” Caleb continued, laying it on heavier.

“Keep it up and no more soup!”

Rebecca and Caleb sat down and ate the rolls and soup. It had been a blessing for him that he’d stumbled onto Rebecca’s doorstep. Life wasn’t easy for most people, so taking in another mouth to feed was usually out of the question. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d been chased off like a stray dog. No one in this world was willing to share what little they had with a useless orphan after all. He’d met with many setbacks and troubles in his two years since he’d woken up. If not for her kindness, he was sure he would be dead by now.

He looked up at the middle-aged woman, his eyes bright and hopeful. She smiled back then gestured toward the empty bowl, silently asking if he wanted more. Naturally, he accepted without the slightest modesty, nodding his head vigorously. What kind of idiot would turn down extra helpings? He dug in immediately, sucking down food with breakneck speed.

After eating three bowls and a number of rolls, Caleb stopped. Looking up, he realized that Rebecca didn’t seem to be eating. The expression on her face seemed a little tense and distant, filled with a sense of worry he hadn’t seen before. Her gaze had wandered toward the window, staring out into the empty expanse. He gave a concerned look at the full bowl of soup in front of her. Was there something wrong?

“Are you not going to eat?” Caleb asked. “It really is good.”

Rebecca snapped back to attention and tried to hide the anxiety on her face. “Oh, sorry Caleb, I just got lost in thought for a moment. Don’t you worry, I just wanted to let it cool.” She immediately picked up her spoon and ate some of the soup.

Caleb look of worry didn’t wear away. He wasn’t stupid, and it was clear she was forcing herself for his sake. Even now, her eyes were darting toward the window. But why would she need to act so strangely? There was nothing disgusting about the food.

Now that he thought about, wasn’t she doing something like this earlier as well? When she’d sent him out this morning, she’d been looking out that same window. He hadn’t thought much about it then, but now he couldn’t help but be anxious.

She hurriedly finished the bowl and gave a fake sigh of satisfaction. “You’re right, that was good soup, wasn’t it? Do I rock or do I rock?”

“Rebecca, is everything alright? You seem off.” Caleb asked.

“What do you mean? Everything is fine.” She denied, maintaining a cheerful smile.

“Are you sure?”

“Caleb, don’t be stupid. What could possibly be bothering me? Trust me, there’s nothing you need to worry about.”

Caleb was about to say more when the sound of hoofbeats interrupted him. Rebecca stiffened for a moment before returning to her acting.

“Caleb, could you go feed the chickens? I’m not sure I’ll remember today.” Requested Rebecca. She was still trying to force a smile, but it was growing more and more obvious with each moment.

“Is there someone at the door?” Caleb asked, moving towards the curtain. However, before he could pull them open, Rebecca stopped him.

“I’m sure it’s just a group of travelers. They probably wanted to stop for directions to town.” Rebecca explained. “I’ll handle this, you go feed the chickens. Remember to bring back the eggs, okay?”

Caleb gave her a doubtful look, hesitating to follow her instructions. However, in the end he walked out the back door, an uncertain look still covering his face. Even if he didn’t understand, he trusted her. Pressing for more information when she was already this tense wouldn’t help.

“Oh, and Caleb?”

“Yes?”

“Don’t come back in for a while okay? Just stay in the back.”

This statement couldn’t help but alarm him. A small sense of dread entered his heart. Still he nodded silently and headed toward the coop.

Something definitely didn’t feel right about this. For travelers to appear on a day when Rebecca was acting so strangely couldn’t just be a coincidence. Barely anyone ventured out here, even the townsfolk living a few miles south. She must have been expecting them. The way she was trying to hide it made him uneasy.

Distracted, it took him a moment to find the feed, and he even sprinkled a few handfuls outside of the coop before realizing his mistake. This brought dismay to the intended recipients, who could only pace and stare at the grain just out of reach.

Caleb’s eyes were glazed over. Those final words she’d spoken to him It definitely wasn’t something she’d say for no reason. He was almost sure something dangerous was going on. Who were those people to make her act so cautiously? A woman like her wasn’t easily frightened.

Danger. An alarm went off in his head. Whoever those people were, Rebecca was in danger.

He couldn’t be sure how he knew. Somewhere in his chest, a feeling had arisen, a sixth sense that had developed during his time in the desert. Caleb dropped the bag of feed, causing a swarm of poultry to crowd around the spilled contents.

He rushed back into the house. “Rebecca!” He called. “Rebecca!”