I grew up in a small town that sat up against the forests of the Appalachian mountains.
My dad was Christian, while my mom claimed to believe in some sort of indigenous fertility spirit. She never went into much detail about her beliefs.
At the time of this story, I was 17 and a bit of a rebel. I skipped school, smoked cigarettes and weed, drank, went on joyrides, was sexually promiscuous, and was generally just a walking stereotype of an irresponsible teenage girl. I also hung around a group of like-minded youths; one of which was Henry. Henry was 19 and had flunked his senior year and was forced to retake it or else be kicked out by his mom and stepdad.
He was a complete asshole, but he had a nice car and decent money from the inheritance left by his biological father, so we all (or I at least) tolerated him.
He also had a younger half-brother named Luther, but everyone called him Aphid. Aphid was 15 and was often a victim of torment by Henry, who would call him names, put him in headlocks, throw rocks at him, and other such things. I never directly participated but I won’t say I wouldn’t chuckle any time he got tripped or had the glasses knocked off his face. All the hazing seemed pretty harmless anyway and I was quite convinced that Aphid would be joining us in a year or so.
On an unseasonably warm October day, I was skipping math class with Henry and a couple others, smoking cigarettes around the back of the school, when we all abruptly paused whatever dumbass conversation we were having as we saw Aphid crossing the parking lot, a load of heavy books in his arms. Henry got an angry look on his face. He put out his cigarette and stormed over to Aphid. Myself and the others heard a bit of arguing between them before Henry swung his arm, knocking the books out of Aphid’s hands. Even across the parking lot, we heard Aphid shout “What the fuck, man!”
In response, Henry swung again, this time punching Aphid right in the face and sending him tumbling over.
Alarmed, I put out my cigarette and made my way over to the two of them, but Henry was already angrily walking back towards the school.
As I got to where Aphid was, he was just sliding his enormous round glasses back onto his face. His lip was bleeding slightly. I offered him my hand, which he took, causing the sleeve of his jacket to slide down his arm a bit. It was then that I noticed a column of cuts running down the inside of his forearm. He saw me staring, and hurriedly pulled his sleeve down, mumbled “Thanks.”, and then set about gathering up his books.
That night as I entered my room, I took off my jacket, sat down on the edge of my bed, and ran my fingers along the thin scars that covered my inner arm.
I suddenly felt terrible for Aphid.
The next morning as I arrived at school, I found Henry and a few others gathered around the dumpster around the side of the building. As I got closer, I saw they were taking turns shoving Aphid into the chain link fence that encircled the premises.
Just as I was about to yell at them to stop, Henry must have caught a glimpse of Aphid’s cuts, because he suddenly pulled him in and pushed his sleeve up to reveal about a dozen scabbed over lacerations.
Henry started laughing:
“Oh my god! Aphid’s a fucking pervert! You get off on this shit, you little freak!?”
Aphid’s face went from upset about being picked on, to completely mortified. Henry took the cigarette out of his mouth, and began pressing it against Aphid’s arm, causing him to cry out in pain.
Henry continued:
“What’s the matter, pussy? Is this shit not doing it for you? I thought you got off on pai-”
He was cut off as I grabbed the back of his collar, pulled him away from Aphid, turned him to face me, and decked him hard in the face, which caused him to fall over.
Shaken, he lifted his hand to his bleeding nose, looked at me and screamed:
“What the fuck, Lark! What the actual fuck is wrong with you!?”
I stared him dead in the eyes:
“Stay the hell away from Aphid from now on. Don’t you ever touch him, you hear me?”
Henry retorted angrily:
“Mind your goddamn business, you fucking bitch! What the fuck is wrong with y-!”
I planted my foot right in his chest, causing him to keel over backward. I heard his head smack into the asphalt.
“I said, stay the fuck away from him.”
Gasping for breath after having the wind knocked out of him, Henry stood shakily, shot me a dirty look, and started backing away to his car. I turned to see that the others who had been picking on Aphid had since dissipated to avoid being caught in the conflict. Aphid stood next to the fence, a single tear rolling down his cheek.
Seeing me looking, he quickly wiped it away with his sleeve and once again mumbled “Thanks.”
I approached him and spoke gently.
“Don’t go home tonight, ok? Spend the night with a friend or something, but don’t go home or he might retaliate. I’ll try and get this shit sorted.”
Aphid seemed confused.
“Um… ok, but… why are you… doing this?”
I was a little bit surprised.
“I- I’m uh… well I’m not really…”
I sighed and pulled up the sleeve of my shirt, showing him my scars.
“I get it.”
After I said that, it was clear he at least sort of understood. He nodded, picked up his backpack, and walked toward the school.
Following those events, I did something I had never done before: I reported an incident to the school. The person I went to was Miles. Everyone else called him Mr. Vi, but I was close with him. He was the phys ed teacher at the school as well as the counselor (since the town was so small and staff was limited).
Miles took my report very seriously and word spread through both the school and the town so that by the time the final bell rang, almost everybody knew that Henry was a total dirtbag.
As I passed Henry’s house that evening on my way home, I heard shouting coming from inside, so I paused by a lamp post just across the street so I could listen. Lighting up a cigarette, I listened to the voices for a few minutes until I saw the door open and Henry was shoved backward onto the walk, stumbling until he fell on his ass.
In the doorway was his stepdad, probably one of the most macho men I had ever seen. He kind of reminded me of the tough mafia-type guys from old movies. He shouted as he hurled a suitcase out the door.
“I am done with your bullshit! If you know what’s good for you, you’ll skip town because, Henry, I swear to god if I see your goddamn face again, I’ll cave it the fuck in!”
The door slammed. Henry screamed and pounded the ground with the side of his fist, which left it bloody. The pain caused him to shriek yet again. As he grabbed his suitcase and turned around, I could see across the narrow street that his tear-streaked face was red with rage and bulging veins.
As he saw me, he gave me a murderous glare, flipped me off, which I returned, and stormed over to his car. As he pulled away, I decided I had seen enough, and continued my walk home.
It was dark at this point and as I walked along the street, I gazed into the woods that ran parallel to the sidewalk. I wondered if any wild animals ever came near our small town.
It then crossed my mind that possums, deer, raccoons, and even the occasional fox or coyote were all pretty common sightings, so of course the answer was yes.
As I crossed the street, making a beeline for my front door, I felt a chill run up my spine. My back was to the woods and I got the intense and chilling feeling that something was watching me from just behind the treeline. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and though I had the urge to turn my head, some instinct in my gut told me not to do so.
I listened to that instinct and immediately took off in a dead sprint for my house, all the while with the fear that something menacing was hot on my heels.
I opened the door, rushed inside, and as I looked through the gap between the door and the frame for a brief moment, I fully expected to see an animal there.
But there was nothing…
I gazed into the treeline from which I thought something had been watching me.
It may have been my imagination, but I swear I caught a glimpse of something moving away into the deeper parts of the forest. My mom wasn’t home and my dad was asleep in front of the TV. I turned it off and went upstairs to bed.
My rest was deeply uneasy that night.
A few days later, I was having a smoke out back of the gas station I worked at when I turned my head to see Aphid approaching me. I put out my cigarette and asked how he was.
He asked if I had seen Henry and I told him I hadn’t seen him since he had been thrown out. I assured Aphid that he had probably skipped town after the threat from his stepdad.
Aphid shook his head.
“He can’t have because his car was parked by the woods at the edge of town with the driver’s-side door open. His suitcase was still inside and the battery was dead too.”
I became confused and slightly afraid. Why was his car still there?
I would later learn that in addition to the stuff about his car, an older man getting home from a late shift had seen Henry’s car that night, and thought he saw the light of a flashlight a short ways behind the treeline, but he couldn’t be completely sure.
It’s hard to know how to feel about the disappearance of someone so vile. To make matters more complicated, I didn’t know it yet…
But Henry was dead.