Chapter 8

Pulling her from him, Phillip gently pushed her away. The color had returned to his eyes and skin and he had a look of shame on his face. Tears were starting to form and he took a deep breath trying to control himself. He sat where he was standing in the middle of the road pulling his legs to his chest and placed his head on his knees.

     Chloe was so shocked that she had barely escaped some horrible fate that she was convinced was about to happen at the hands of the beast version of Phillip. She stood there staring at Phillip sulking on the ground. Her mind was trying to rationalize the bizarreness but how could it? There was nothing rational about what happened to Phillip and she knew now that she must have these so called answers that they had set out to get earlier. She was now entirely committed to this trip even if it meant the death of her at the hands of Phillip’s beastie other half.

     “No one has ever been able to bring me out of it like you just did Chloe. You may not understand what that means but it’s not an easy feat.” His voice was barely a whisper and she could feel the vulnerability in his words. He was baring it all to her now and she knew this was something he had never done.

     “Phillip, tell me what you feel. I mean, when you turn all blue and stuff. You look, um, like a wild animal and it’s scary but does it feel like you are a wild animal?” Happy that he was opening up she was trying to get more out of him before he put his walls back up.

     He sat there pondering her question. So much time had passed that Chloe was about to give up when he began to talk in almost a whisper. Chloe sat beside him so she could hear better.

     “It feels like, um… no, that’s not right. It’s like all the blood is pooling to my heart. Like it’s draining from my skin, my arms, my legs, you know everywhere and I can feel it leaving my veins and it leaves everything feeling empty and cold. I feel so totally alone and almost like everyone abandoned me.” As he spoke he stared off in the distance to nothing in particular. Chloe could see the lonely feeling on his face and fought against the urge to take him in her arms and shield him from himself.

     “Then all of a sudden this powerful desire for who ever is next to me overcomes me. I can hear their heart beat inside my head and I want them. I mean every cell in my body wants them. Sometimes I can fight off the urge but most of the time I can’t. The need is so great it takes me hours to take back control completely. The other night when I told you to run from me I was so close. Too close.” His body shuttered at the memory.

     “And just now, I couldn’t stop myself. I was inside my head screaming at you to run, begging you to run but my body was no longer mine to control. I could hear you pleading me not to hurt you and I wanted so much to stop but I found myself beginning to merge with the wild animal, as you put it. I was starting to merge with the darkness. It had taken over and it wanted you. It wanted you so bad and I was locked away, a prisoner in my own mind. Then you kissed me. I felt you inside me. It was like you were opening my veins back up and my blood began to return back to my limbs. Your kiss called me back to myself and put the beast back into his cage. You saved me Chloe and I do not know what that means.”

     Chloe took Phillips hand in hers and laid her head on his shoulder. She listened to everything he said and it was like she understood that this was what she was supposed to do. She was supposed to help balance him. Not sure what that feeling meant she pushed it to the back of her mind for a later time.

     “You know it’s starting to get dark. Why don’t we continue to that camp site you promised me?”

     “I think that’s a good idea.” Raising himself up off the ground Phillip turned and took Chloe’s hand and pulled her up to his side. With her hand still entangled with his they continued down the road in silence.

     The darkening sky was beginning to cast shadows throughout the forest and Chloe pulled her dark green sweater closed. A gentle breeze began to blow and the warm summer’s air playfully blew her hair from her face. Regretting her earlier decision against pulling it back she dug around in her backpack regretting the lack of planning she had made in her haste to set off on this journey. She scrunched up her eyes and stopped in the middle of a step.

     “Chloe?”

     “I didn’t bring a blanket for the night. I am such an idiot. No brush, nothing to pull my hair back and how could I have forgotten to bring a blanket to sleep on?”

     Phillip looked at her with an amused expression that only added to Chloe’s annoyance. Rolling her eyes she sighed and continued walking.

     The trees swayed back and forth and Chloe’s imagination was getting the best of her. She could swear that she could see light coming from the forest a ways in front of them. It was just past the now closer house. The house drew her attention away from her imaginary lights and she walked more to the right of the road to inspect that house as they came upon it.

     It was a small Victorian style home that had once been white and glorious. The second story looked like it was minutes away from collapsing onto the first. The white paint had been stripped in many areas by the elements and the outside panels had fallen in several locations. The front patio was supported by two white pillars that were slated considerably to the right. The stone base was the only part of the entire house that seemed sturdy. Large bushes were overgrown all along the perimeter of the home and vines had begun to claim the back of the house.  Several windows were broken and Chloe decided that the residence had long since abandoned their home or died off.

     A spine chilling shiver went down Chloe’s back at the thought of the residents dying off with no one to inherit the once grand home. Picking up her pace she decided that she wanted to leave this house and it’s emptiness as fast as she could.

     “Ah, there it is!” Phillip pointed to a thick of forest that was glowing in the night. Chloe had not been imagining things after all. Veering to the right Phillip walked off the road into the forest. A small path was hidden in the brush on the side of the road and Chloe wondered how Phillip had known about this special camp site.

     Following Phillip into the forest Chloe was immediately caught by the freely growing branches of the trees. Her long hair was pulled frequently as she tried to catch up to Phillip and she whimpered with each tug at her hair. As if annoyed by her whining Phillip stopped and held a hand back for her. He didn’t even look back to make sure she was ok. As soon as she laced her fingers around his hand he took off again with a quick pace. He was eager to get to the camp site and Chloe knew she was slowing him down and he would have run the entire way through the trees.

     Hiding her head against Phillips back she began to hear music coming from the trees. She tried to peer around his back and immediately felt the unwelcoming slap of a long slender branch across her left cheek. Chloe quickly shrunk back behind Phillip, deciding it was better to clear the forest before she stuck her head out again.

     As they neared the camp Chloe could make out the sharp chords of a guitar, the gentle beat of a drum and the clashing jingle of a tambourine. The music was a beacon in the night and it seemed as if it was leading Phillip to the camp. Chloe felt the tension and guilt that had earlier emanated from Phillip melt away as if the music had soothed the beast from within him.

     His hips began to sway back and forth to the beat of the drums and as they cleared the trees he pulled Chloe from behind him, twirled her around and caught her in a frisky embrace. He laughed at the look on Chloe’s face that was a combination of shock and confusion. His sudden aggressive, yet, graceful movement had made her think that the beast within had returned but a quick glance at his face revealed a great joy. She matched his smile and was relieved at his new found happiness.

     Their sudden appearance from the forest didn’t seem to startle the people gathered around a large fire nor the musicians who continued to play their upbeat tunes. Chloe was immediately impressed by the size of the camp. Several Gypsy wagons were scattered around and from the size of the group there were more people than could fit in the wagons. The group looked poor but the gathering was laid back and almost cheerful.

     Phillip allowed Chloe to right herself but he possessively held her close to him. He had both arms wrapped around her small waist and she could feel his hot breath on the back of her head. More surprising was the beat of his heart that thudded at her back. He tensed a little as he gazed around the camp and the smile left Chloe’s face.

     The large group of people was divided into three noticeable sections. Most men were to the left dressed in loose black pants and equally loose white long sleeve shirts. Over the shirts they wore various dark colored vests and coats and most wore dark hats.

     Women of all ages were gathered close to the fire and sat lazily on the ground chatting and laughing. They were dressed similar to the men in white loose fitting blouses with full white underskirt that were more a stained off-white color. Every woman wore a different colored apron that was rectangular and had unique colored patterns woven on the bottom. The older women had scarves covering their heads and a large number had toothless smiles. The younger women had their hair pulled back into different styles of braids and sat closely to an older women counterpart.

     The last group was the children. This group tugged at Chloe’s heart. Despite their dirty and torn clothes they ran about playing tag and various games of ball. Some children sat in a circle playing paddy cake or braiding another child’s hair while others held hands and taught each other how to dance to the music.

     Several men were gathered around a large overturned wash pan. Small round objects were lying on the rusty top and the men seemed to be arguing over who had won some game that was unknown to Chloe. Despite their loud arguments the men wore large contagious smiles on their faces.

     A tall man stood out from the rest, mostly because of his stature. He was about a foot or two taller than everyone else, had a long red beard and matching long hair neatly pulled back from his face. His tight red shirt and blue pants indicated that he was not traditionally part of this particular group.

     Chloe was stunned when he lifted his head, as if smelling the air like a wild animal, and turned to meet her gaze. He had piercing blue eyes that made his complexion seem intensely pale under the red hair and long beard. There was something about the way he looked at her that unnerved Chloe. She felt as if he was stealing something from her soul. There was a darkness pulsating from him and she couldn’t ignore it.  She wanted to turn and look in another direction but she was caught in his gaze and couldn’t seem to control her body. She tensed up at this realization and was relieved when Phillip pulled her away, leading her towards an elderly woman. It seemed that he had not even noticed the red haired man.

     “Nama,” Phillip said releasing Chloe and reaching for the old woman. She sat in a rocking chair just outside one of the wagons and Phillip reached down wrapping his arms around the woman in a loving embrace and Chloe stood awkwardly at his side. He stayed bent in the embrace whispering something into the old woman’s ear. Chloe watched the expression on the old woman’s face change from confusion to a bright acceptance of whatever Phillip had said to her. 

     “Nama, this is Chloe, a dear friend. Chloe, this is my grandmother, Nama.” Phillip gestured to his grandmother who still sat in the rocking chair looking up at her with a curious expression.

     Her leather skin was a dark creamy color from years of sun exposure and her eyes had many layers of bags. White locks of curls escaped from under her black head covering and she wiped them from her face with a thin frail hand.

     Chloe extended her hand intended to shake the woman’s but Nama pulled her into an embrace just as tender as the one she had shared moments ago with Phillip.

     “It’s agood to see my Phillip with a woman. You will see that you love it here. We are good people and we are family, all of us.” Nama spread her arms gesturing at the people around them.

     “No, Nama, I am taking Chloe to see Nikolai. She is not my woman, simply a friend.”

     “Hmm, we will see about that. A woman does not follow a man to get answers about him if that man is a simple friend. Time will reveal all its plans when it is ready.” Her thick accent was strange to Chloe and she pondered the woman’s origins.

     The mention of getting answers left Chloe wondering if there were others like Phillip. Was she sitting in a camp full of people like Phillip?