Sleep Well Beast

Sleep Well Beast

Written by Dillon Horner

Darting behind a deserted truck Sue sits and waits. More than waiting she is listening. Listening for any noise that could help her discern their movements. Hearing that they are walking past her she waits before slowly crawling in the opposite direction and runs off.

Carrying a tattered burnt-orange backpack, her hair is flowing behind her as she runs now with intensity and purpose. Through the cold wind she sorts through a maze of buildings and objects like a tunnel rat as she passes through town. Sue doesn’t much like towns as they are today and back at home their supply amount is considerable. But, be that as it may, she isn’t comfortable enough to wait around to make an attempt at getting more. One must act quick and instinctively.

The clouds are a dark gray as she moves into the woodlands. With her backpack and knife, Sue feels confident. Moving quietly through the trees she stops to listen before taking a look at the collection of a couple rabbits she tracked before running into those two men. They didn’t like her she thinks. She remembers her dad’s constant words.

No one is going to like you out there.

She feels the wind change and tightens her coat before making her way home. Cutting through thorny vines and trekking through the snow she finally makes it back into a corner tucked away deep in the woods. Home at last. The two-story wooden house is tucked away and hidden for a reason. Her father built it close to a decade ago back when the storm and the cold came in. When the chaos broke out and desperate people started raiding businesses and homes. David did what he could to collect as much as he could haul.

She steps foot unto the garden soil and David waves his big hands around and yells out quietly.

“Sue! Glad to see you back.”

Sue puts her shoes back on and runs over to her father through the allotted lines in the garden. Embracing her father she smiles gleefully. An equally covered up Isaac and Amelia wave and yell greetings over to which Sue absorbs and returns back. Sue is glad to be back home.

After cleaning and depositing her catch into the kitchen area for later use it is evening time now. A few hours of daylight left so she helps her father collect what is left of the broccoli crop. The two warmer months out of the year are ending and so they are doing their best to collect everything until the heavy snow makes it way back. David loads up the wheel barrel and transports the crops while Sue shucks the cauliflower and puts the edible crop into it’s own bucket.

Isaac is in charge of the cabbage crop and the collecting of wood to be burned overnight while Amelia’s duties include tending to the arugula and Brussels sprouts. In addition, they also have a chicken coup, a few pigs and a Jersey heifer. David made this place while taking care of a small child. It was slow building though as he was only one person. Things grew much more rapidly when Isaac and Amelia found him. On the run themselves and in love they were looking for something like what David described to them, a life of peace and quiet away from towns and people. Weary of people but in need of some help to create his vision correctly, they made a pact and he shook hands with them. Isaac and David built a working well and Isaac fortunately had a decent sized generator he had smuggled with him that they used as best they could.

The night is creeping downward on them and Sue sees Isaac and Amelia going in while her father keeps on. She wonders at asking him but continues to work, knowing that he will tell her when the right time is. David comes tugging at the wheelbarrow filled with corn stalks and dumps them into the right pile of Sue’s working station.

“So you made out with a good catch I saw, have any troubles?” David asks.

“I didn’t have much trouble at all, I found the last one on my way back. I had two guys on my trail for awhile but I shook them off,” she says.

“How many?”

“Just two.”

“And they didn’t see you?”

“No. I doubled back like ya taught me.”

“Good, good,” says David. “I worry about you when you are away.”

Sue smiles at her dad in hopes of assurance, if not, some semblance of confidence that could show her father that, indeed, she is ready.

I’m ready dad! Just let me go! I can find my own way. Somehow.

A couch and some chairs sit in the middle of the living room with a fireplace over to the right-hand side. To the left is the kitchen and counter top, followed by a table and chairs. A hallway leads back into the bedrooms and upstairs. The house feels ’homey’ indeed, with pictures and a painting hung up across the wooden walls. The fireplace is burning. Sue walks past Isaac and Amelia’s room.

Sue goes inside for a shower while David is still outside feeding and working with their two cows. Inside she smells the wood burning in the fireplace and listens to a record playing tunes of Ella Fitzgerald. Sue walks past Isaac and Amelia.

“Hey guys how was today?”

“Not bad, wasn’t that cold. Ike caught a bass during lunch over at ‘Danny’s river’. We got him sitting outside. You should join us tomorrow.”

“Nice! I’ll think about it I’m kind of worn out from today. Who wants to cook tonight?” asks Sue.

“Shit why not you this time?” says Amelia and Isaac laughs before adding, “Yes please cook! I can’t stand another night of burnt potatoes from that man.”

Sue agrees as she turns toward her room. The house is nice in a simple kind of way. A mellow color is plastered against the walls while the meager light bulbs planted across the place convey a tight, comfortable presence. Sue goes in her room and changes clothes. Her room is decorated with Bill Nye and different posters of musicians. Her ceiling and walls sport a dark red color in contrast to the rest of the house. Sorting through her drawer she finds some pajamas and a white blouse.

Time for dinner, or more, time for her to cook dinner, as it were. She goes to the kitchen and starts cleaning up the leftover dishes in the sink. A slab of dawn and a slight wash of the hand against the brush. Music is still in the air and Sue sways with the melody.