Hidden in Darkness (In Darkness, #1)

by Alice Winters

He smiles and passes by me, leaving me in the house alone with the man who hates my guts. That’s alright, I’ve lived with people that hated me before. How could this one be any worse?

“Toothbrush…where’s your toothbrush?” “Up your ass,” he says. “Nope, I think I would have noticed it there,” I say.

“Ow!” I snap as I grab my head. It feels like I should have a welt the size of an egg on my head. “Did that hit you?” he asks as he tries to hide a grin. “I’m going to have a brain tumor now.” “I don’t see anything,” he says as he looks quite content with himself. “Not even a red spot.” “Hmm. I’m going to buy you cat food for lunch,” I say.

“From the limited amount of time I have spent with you I have decided that you’re actually quite mean. I guess you’re really not the little happy boy you were pretending to be yesterday,” he says. “Being around you for any amount of time can turn a saint into a sinner,” I say.

“What the hell!” he yells in alarm as he grabs for the armrests. “You nearly killed me!” “Nah, you’re fine,” I say even though I had hit the doorframe so hard he probably has whiplash. “I hope you never have children. It’ll be survival of the fittest in your house.”

The music jumps to life, making Lane jerk back in surprise. “Jesus Christ!” he shouts. “Where?” I ask as I turn the volume down. “Wait a minute…I thought you were blind. How’d you see him?” “No, I’m now deaf.

“Guess where we are going?” I ask as I grab onto Lane’s recliner and shake it as hard as I can. He reaches out and flails his arm around as he tries to hit me away from him, but he can’t reach me, so I laugh maniacally as I keep shaking his recliner. “Hell, because I’m going to beat you,” he says as I keep just out of his reach.

“Shut up, you’re blind, you don’t know anything,” I say. “Yes, mental capacity degrades steadily as one loses eyesight,” he retorts sarcastically.

“Want to play a driving game?” I ask. “What game?” he asks suspiciously. “What about I-spy?” I ask. “I spy with my little eye a cruel asshole who thinks he’s funny.” “Me?” I guess. “Congrats,” he says.

“Are we here?” he asks. “I swear to god, if we’re at a stop sign again and you tell me we are here like when we went to the pharmacy, I will beat you within an inch of your life.”

I look in the rearview mirror. “Hey…well…I’m sorry to ruin you bashing my life, but I think we’re being followed.” “What kind of car?” I look in the rearview mirror. “A black and white one with sirens on top.” He sighs. “I told you that you were driving erratically.” “You don’t think perchance it was because you shot two people and I hijacked a car?” I ask as I look back again. The lights aren’t on yet, so I try to keep to the speed limit without losing my mind.

I’m sure we are quite the sight. My face is the color of violets, daisies, and a black hole. I’m wearing clothes supplied to me by a sweatpants-wearing hooker.

thinks he looks like an idiot or something. Or doesn’t want people to pity him or some stupid shit. It just makes me want to smack some sense into him. The only thing I pity about him is how he can’t see how amazing I look right now in my belly shirt.

I take Lane into the bathroom and show him where everything is, before doing the same in the bedroom. “And if you need anything, just holler, I’ll hear you if I feel like it.” “I wouldn’t expect anything else,” he says. “Makes me feel special the few times you listen.”

“I’ve actually been held at gunpoint before by a drug dealer my mom was beating with her purse.” “She was trying to save you?” “Oh God, no. He was trying to get her to back the fuck off and was using me as a hostage, but she didn’t much care. I think when you grow up with a mother like mine, you just go along with everything life throws at you. You’re like ‘oh, there’s some meth where the cereal is supposed to be? alright, push that to the side.’”

“Lane, you’re going to run into something, step to your right,” I say. Lane, trusting me like the good man he is, steps to the right and bumps into the counter. “Fuck,” he growls as I start laughing. “That’s what you get for being mean to me,” I say.

pop open the glove compartment praying there is at least a rocket launcher in there or something, but no! Some Arby’s napkins and a Now That’s What I Call Music! CD that must have been from the Stone Age because there’s no possible way people still listen to those things. “We’re going to die, Copper,” I say. He wags his tail in agreement.

“What was that?” I ask. “They probably shot out a tire. Just go,” he says. “What’d you think I was going to do? Jump out and change it?” I ask sarcastically. “Maybe you should go back and feed them some of your food and we wouldn’t have to even fight them,” he suggests.

He’s wearing a button-up that is pulled tight over his gut. Two of the buttons should win an Oscar for how hard they’re working at keeping it together.

“How have you been, García?” Lane asks, actually hugging him back. Is there something going on here that I should be jealous about? But then I think about how hot it would be to have a threesome with García included. That I could handle. Bad thoughts, Felix. Bad thoughts. I really didn’t need a hard-on in the middle of the seemingly important meeting.

“Sorry, dogs have to be in a carrier bag,” the attendant says. “Alright. Do you have a Walmart bag? If you have four, I could put a foot in each,” I tell him.

“I’m not scared of being hurt…I’m scared of being alone,” I admit. I feel like I shouldn’t tell him. I feel like I’m giving him a part of myself that I can never get back. And if he doesn’t accept it, I don’t know how I will ever recover. “I’m scared you will leave me.”

“You want to know the worst thing about being blind?” “Not seeing anything?” “No, it’s not seeing the look on your face when I leave your ass here and never come back,” he says.

“Can you tell me what they are?” Lane asks as he hovers over the safe. “There are some little pew pews and a couple of big pew pews,” I say. “You’re useless.”

“I hate this. I hate seeing people that I know,” he grumbles once we are out of earshot. “Well, it’s a good thing you’re blind then,” I say. He stops walking, and I slowly look over at him as he starts laughing. “Why do I even try with you? It’s like I’m bothered about something, I tell you, and you make fun of me.” “But are you upset now? Or are you laughing?”

“Aw, that was so good,” I say as I lean back and admire the empty plates. “It was,” Lane agrees as he pats his stomach. “I wish you were rich, so we could eat here every night.” “I wish you could cook, so we could eat something semi-edible.”