Page 53 of Come Back To Me
Sixteen
Gareth
I think I know who he is. Since I’m not a hundred percent sure, I don’t share my thoughts with Riley. What if I’m wrong and I ruin one of his friendships. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I tore him away from the wrong person. I really am growing soft . . . or perhaps more human. I don’t tell Riley I ate the neighbor either. He came into our back yard while Riley was sleeping yesterday, using his sheers to trim our overgrown bushes that were coming through his fence.
He pointed the sharp tool at me and that’s all it took for me to charge forward. No one has come looking for him, but they will. It’s why I’m headed over there now to light a few candles and leave them in a hazardous place. I laugh as I use poorly made ones where the wax was poured into a non-heat-safe container.
I laugh louder when the flames are too high and way too close to cleaning products. I don’t worry about DNA being left behindbecause I’m not sure I have any anymore, and if I do, surely it’d show it came from a dead man. They aren’t going to lock up a dead man.
I go to where I left the body after I ripped out several of his organs and ate most of his brain. The brain was my favorite part. It made me remember more and also apparently has the most nutrients. My skin stopped peeling within seconds. I’m able to stand my reflection again and Riley is no longer looking at me with worry when he does.
He’s been smiling again after our talk in the cemetery. We went home, made love—yes, actual love. It was gentle and I treated him like the most precious thing in the world. Yeah, I’m definitely changing. Both sides of me. When you want something bad enough you learn to be what it needs. You learn to try without having to try too hard.
I love him. Every fucking fiber of my being does, and I need him more than the air I breathe. He’s my air. He’s the life that fuels me. Those smiles show me how to feel. His kisses show me how to be affectionate. And he shows me that as long as we have each other, we don’t need anything else.
Grabbing a lighter and gasoline-soaked rag from my back pocket, I light the end. The flame grows and I toss it on Mr. Mendez, watching him slowly burn. Once the flames are rolling up and down the front of his body, I leave the way I came in, shutting the door like I was never there with my sleeve covering my hand.
“What did you do?” Riley says as I hop the fence back into our yard.
“What had to be done. He was a problem.”
“His house is also on fire and next to ours,” he bellows.
“It gives us more of a reason to start over. You can keep in touch with your friends from another city.” I lift his hands in mine.
“I knew you were looking better. You . . . you’re talking differently too. Yesterday you were going to bite me too much and stopped yourself.”
“Riley, let’s go inside and we can talk more there.”
“Inside?” His hands pull away from mine. “Are you insane? Our house might be on fire soon.”
“Yes, so we should hurry up and pack what we can.” I yank at his arm and he tugs it away from me.
“Right when I think I can do this, you do something that has me questioning everything again.” He turns away from me, wiping at his face, and the feeling inside my chest is suffocating. “Our neighbor, Gareth. Our damn neighbor.” He lowers his face, shaking his head as he pinches the bridge of his nose.
“No one will miss him.”
“His sister will. Cops will ask questions. They’ll come to my door. I’m surprised they haven’t yet.”
“Our door,” I say.
“No, mine. You’re dead, remember? In everyone else’s mind there’s only me.” His eyes swell and he shakes his head again.
“I’m sorry. I want to be right for you. Show me.”
“That’s the thing . . . I shouldn’t have to. The human Gareth—”
“Was thinking about going away with someone else. Not just meeting him there but sharing a hotel room with him.”
“He never—” His words stop mid-sentence, his lips twisting.
“No. We never did anything beyond talking and having dinner. There were no goodbye kisses, and if one of us wanted it, it was only him.”
“You’re not lying to me?” His eyes glow the closer the fire gets to us.
“No.”
“You kept things from me before.”
