June 30, 2020
Today was Lillian's eighth birthday. Jordan and his wife, Dana Porter, showed up along with Sarah's sister, two of Lillian's friends from Coeur d'Alene, and one of Sarah's new friends who was "just stopping by." Edward stared at him, sipping beer from his bottle.
He didn't know his name but what he did know was that this guy was handsome. The man had a chiseled jawline, slicked back blonde hair, and a watch that he assumed was fairly expensive. Sarah had just started working at a daycare and watched over the man's five year old son. They got along fairly quickly, much to Edward's distaste.
It went quiet and Edward could smell rubber and hear the sound of gurgling. He stared at the guests in his house but couldn't hear them. He could only hear a car and the sound of screaming. Then, he heard a river and the sound of rocks rolling. He licked his lips, tasting salt and something else - something he couldn't quite recognize at the moment.
"Happy birthday to you..." He heard the crowd of people singing.
"Happy birthday to you..."
Edward wouldn't sing along with them. He lifted his beer bottle back to his lips and swigged it down.
"Happy birthday dear Lillian! Happy birthday to you!" They finished.
Lillian, with her wide smile, blew out her candles. Everyone cheered. Everyone except Edward, that is.
"Make a wish!" He heard his wife say.
The little girl shut her eyes and, upon reopening them, giggled. Edward got up and left the room.
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Edward sat on the back porch and started drinking his forth bottle. Inside the house, he could hear people chattering and little girls chasing each other around the house. The cat was hiding upstairs and the dog was running around the yard.
Footsteps approached Edward and he looked up to see his brother and sister in law. She was a bit larger than Jordan, especially around the hips. Her face was more rounded and her hair shorter than most women's but that didn't bother Edward. He looked behind her and knew why Jordan fancied her so much.
"What are you out here for Ed? Don't you want to be celebrating?" Dana asked.
Edward looked at her and took another sip of his beer. "Not much of a celebrator."
Dana looked back at Jordan, expecting him to say something. "It's your daughter's birthday, Ed. Can't you celebrate for her, at least? She only gets one eighth birthday, after all."
Edward laughed. "I never had an eighth birthday party. Don't much see the point in them."
Dana, again, looked at Jordan. Her brows were furrowed and she was exhaling out of her nose faster.
"Dana, why don't you go inside and let me talk to my brother?" Jordan said.
She stared at Edward, who only stared at his bottle. She walked back inside, thudding her feet against the ground. Jordan sat down on one of the chairs next to Edward.
"You're a real buzzkill, you know that?" Jordan said.
Edward shrugged his shoulders. "We never had birthday parties. Dad thought they were ridiculous."
"You never wanted a birthday party. Mom always offered to invite your friends and throw you a party but you never wanted to."
"Because they're ridiculous. Everyone just comes for free food and to gossip with the adults. Nobody cares if it's your birthday," Edward said.
Jordan shook his head and sighed. "Alright, well just because you don't care to have a party for yourself doesn't mean everyone else feels the same way. Your daughter loves having birthday parties and seeing her friends and family. Can't you at least be happy for her?"66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhlhihggUVp
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Edward said nothing. He finished what remained in his forth bottle and opened a small cooler that sat next to him to grab his fifth.
Jordan sighed once more. "I think you've had enough..."66Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAF0S5CLGDm
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"Don't fucking touch it!" Edward said with anger in his voice. He popped the cap off and started chugging the bottle down. "This is my house, don't touch my shit."
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Jordan said, standing to his feet.
"Not a goddamn thing," Edward quickly replied.
"Not a goddamn thing? Every time I see you, you've already drank yourself half to death," Jordan said. "When you are sober, you're a fucking miserable asshole."
"You know why, Jordan. You fucking know why," Edward said a bit quieter.
Jordan took a deep breath and spoke more calmly. "Yes, Ed, I know why. But that was, what, nine years ago? You need to let it go. Your wife needs her husband. Your son and daughter..."
Edward threw his bottle into the side of the house, glass exploding and beer splattering everywhere. "She's not my fucking daughter!" He screamed.
He turned to see the guests in the house looking outside now. Sarah watched, tears forming in her eyes. Beside her was that new guy she was talking to.
Jordan slowly walked towards the door. "You need help, Ed."
He walked back inside, leaving Edward to himself. Edward yanked the cooler open, grabbed another bottle, and slammed it shut again. He staggered sitting up but quickly began walking to the gate by the tree line.
The sun was setting and the sky was getting darker but he wasn't going to talk to anymore guests, nevertheless hear them talk to each other. He imagined all the things they would be talking about. They would say how he's an alcoholic - he's an asshole - he's abusive. That was bullshit. Edward never so much as laid a hand on Sarah, not that he wanted to anymore. Sure he was an asshole and drank a lot of beer, but he never touched his family.
He walked into the forest until he could no longer see his own house.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------He didn't know how far he had walked in but he knew that nobody was going to find him. He found a fallen tree and sat on it, breathing heavily. He sipped the last of the liquid from his beer bottle and threw it at a tree.
Dammit, I should have brought the cooler.
Edward sat on the log, hands cupped together and his eyes staring at the ground. Thoughts were all he was left with now. That and the hundreds of trees that were slowly blocking out any sunlight that was still shining.
He thought back to a few weeks ago, when he started at the sawmill. First, he thought about the man that was bleeding profusely from his arm. Apparently the man, Daren, was fixing a jammed gear that was preventing the logs from moving forward on the saw. He said he got distracted by something standing by the conveyor belt when the saw turned back on and sliced through his arm. Lucky for him, it didn't cut too deep but he swore there was someone else in the sawmill that day. Everyone else claimed they didn't see anyone else there. It was a disgusting sight to see but, according to the supervisor, Oliver Flores, accidents were extremely rare.
Then, he remembered the laughter from Robert and Pierce, shortly after Daren was taken away. They laughed and called him an idiot. However, it was when they said that if the blade could have just cut a little more, they could take turns on Daren's wife, that boiled Edward's blood. He had only known the two men for less than an hour at that point and he already despised them.
Despite the hard work he had to endure at the Hallington Sawmill, as well as Robert and Pierce, he much preferred it to being at home with Sarah. Just thinking about her made him angry. Every waking minute that he had to be around her made him feel regret. He should have left her nine years ago when he had a chance. He could be with someone else now. Someone more beautiful. Someone like Rebecca.
Edward his his palm to his head. Enough of that Ed. You are a man of god. I'm a married man. I'm a loyal man.
Sometimes he wished he wasn't loyal, however. He could be happy again and would never have to deal with Sarah or Lillian again. But he couldn't leave her, as much as he had wished. He took his vow seriously. When the time came, God would look down upon him favorably because he stayed loyal. He was a loyal man to his wife. Sarah sure wasn't.
The sound of a twig snapping alerted Edward.
"Hello?" Edward said, slowly standing up.
Next, he heard a little girl giggling in the distance.
"Lillian? Is that you?"
The giggling continued but there was no response. A breeze blew through the trees, making the hairs on Edward's arm stick up.
"Lillian, if that's you, you need to come here, now."
The giggling stopped and the forest began cooling down dramatically. Edward wished that he had a coat now. He stood still, hearing nothing but could see his breath, even as the darkness was creeping up on him.
"Come on Lillian, we need to go home now. Your mother is probably worried about you."
Still, no response.
I wish I had a goddamn beer right now.
He began slowly walking the direction from which he came. Every step he took, he heard another step from behind him. He clenched his fist.
"Listen Lillian, if you don't show yourself right now, you're not getting a birthday party next year!" He shouted.
Faint whispers started coming from the trees. Now, it seemed like there were numerous people talking. Did they bring the whole party out here? How the hell did they find me?
"Alright, that's it. Fuck all of you, I'm going home."
Edward started quickly walking out of the forest. He was sick of everyone. He would sleep in his car tonight.
"You need help, Ed," He heard a voice say from the woods.
Edward stopped, feeling his his mind tingle. His eyes widened and he felt like he had instantly sobered up. "Jordan?" He said, slowly turning around.
He didn't see anything. Not Lillian. Not Jordan. Nobody.
Another twig snapped. He didn't know what was going on but he officially felt freaked out. He sprinted away from the voice. Adrenaline fueled him now as he made his way through the trees. At the same time, he could hear twigs snapping behind him. If this was some kind of prank, he was going to kill someone.
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Feeling like he had run for an hour straight, he finally reached the fence to his house. Outside of it, he could see Jordan and Sarah standing on the porch, conversing with each other. "Ed, where the hell did you go?" Jordan yelled as he saw Edward.
Edward slammed the gate shut. "You know damn well where I went! You assholes thought you were funny did you? Following me into the forest? Trying to scare the shit out of my pants? Well fuck you all!"
Jordan and Sarah exchanged perplexed looks. "Ed, what the hell are you talking about? We've been here at the house the whole time," Jordan said.
"Bullshit. I heard Lillian giggling and I heard you talk. I heard all of you whispering to each other. Well laugh it up because you succeeded. You freaked me out."
"Ed, I don't know what you're talking about. We didn't even know where you went. Lillian's been playing with her friends the whole night."
Edward stopped to collect his breath and to think things over. When he thought about it, it really didn't make any sense how they all beat him back to the house when it sounded as if they were right on his heels the entire time.
"Wha... What?" Edward said, thinking to himself.
"Honey, are you okay?" Sarah asked.
Edward didn't respond to her. He shot her a glare.
"I know you don't want to hear this Ed but I have to say it again. I think you've had too much to drink," Jordan said.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Edward said. "Piss off."
He walked up to the porch where they were standing and grabbed another beer from his cooler. He popped the cap off and began chugging it. Several faces were looking outside at Edward. Again, Edward saw the man that was Sarah's friend. He wanted to punch him in his chiseled jaw.
"Dana, honey," Jordan said. She came out and looked at Edward in disgust. "I think we're going to head out now."
Dana nodded her head and looked to Sarah. "Thank you so much for inviting us. It was lovely to see you and the kids again."
Sarah smiled back at her. "Thank you so much for coming. Be sure to say goodbye to Lillian, she'll miss you."
"We will for sure," Jordan said to her. He looked back at Edward, looking disappointed.
Soon after Jordan and Dana left, Sarah's friend left and the two little girls that were friends with Lillian were picked up by their parents. Sarah's sister, Mabel, was staying the night in the basement for the remainder of the week. Her brown hair color was different from Sarah's blonde hair and her weight was much thinner. Despite his disgust for his wife, Edward couldn't deny that Sarah was much more attractive than her sister.
It was pitch black outside now. Edward sat on the porch once more, only being able to see the outlines of the trees in the sky.
"Isaac and Lillian are in bed now. Will you be coming to bed soon?" Sarah asked.
"No," Edward replied.
Sarah didn't say anything. She nodded her head and went back inside.
Edward looked out into the darkness. Maybe he did have too much to drink. He pondered to himself for a while longer. Or maybe, the forest was playing tricks on him. The lights in the house went off and Edward brought his beer up to his lips. The darkness was his friend.
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