leaning forward, tried to figure out who was missing. It didn’t take him long.
It was Evan.
Evan wasn’t there.
He scanned the shadows that filled the dining room, realizing now that the sound that had disturbed his sleep had been the creaking of floorboards …
As if someone had gotten up and was sneaking around.
A stronger, deeper chill took hold of Jeff, shaking his shoulders as he looked down the short, dark hallway to the door that led out onto the porch.
Had he also heard the faint twanging sound of the spring as the door opened and Evan went outside?
It was too dark to see anything in the hallway except the faint, gray smudge of night beyond the screen door. For all he knew, Evan was standing right outside the door. Jeff wouldn’t be able to see him.
What business of his was it, anyway, what Evan did?
They were adults now, not campers who had to sneak around. Besides, Evan owned the island and everything on it. It was his property. He could do whatever he wanted.
But he couldn’t get rid of the thought that it hadn’t been a noise Evan had made that had awaken him. He tried not to imagine the restless ghost of Jimmy Foster lurking in the night outside the dining hall, a pale, tattered remnant in the patchy moonlight.
“Screw it,” Jeff whispered.
He wanted to go back to sleep and forget all about it, but now that he was awake, he had to find out what was going on. His teeth were chattering as he slipped out of the sleeping bag and scrambled to put on his clothes before he got too cold. He cast a wary eye at his three sleeping friends, expecting one of them to sit up and ask what the hell was going on.
The truth was, he had no idea what was going on, but he was determined to find out.
Even if it was as innocent as Evan getting up to take a piss, Jeff wanted to figure out what had awakened him.. He wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep until he did.
After getting his pants on, he put on the socks he had worn yesterday and his sneakers. His legs were stiff from the cold, and his hip ached from sleeping on the floor. His knees popped when he stood up, and he had to rotate his arms to get the circulation going. He was still shaking from the cold when he tiptoed across the floor and down the hallway to the side door.
He almost laughed out loud as he wondered why he was sneaking around like this.
It would be hilarious if he ended up scaring the be-jezus out of Evan, who in all likelihood really had just gotten up to use the Port-a-Potty. After all the rum and beer he’d consumed earlier, Jeff was surprised his bladder wasn’t screaming for relief, too.
The floorboards creaked with every step he took. The sounds made him cringe and set his teeth on edge, but he realized this sound was exactly what had broken into his sleep.
When he got to the door, he looked outside. The ground was bright with splashes of moonlight that filtered through the pines. The black shadows of tree trunks stood out in harsh relief against the moonlit glow. As his eyes adjusted to the dark, Jeff realized Evan wasn’t standing on the porch.
Jeff paused and listened. The only sound was the crackling of the fire and the heavy breath of his sleeping friends in the dining hall.
So what’s he doing?
Jeff placed his fingertips on the screen door and started to push it open. The twanging sound the spring made as it stretched open made him cringe. The sound seemed loud enough to wake the sleepers, but Jeff glanced back and saw that no one had stirred.
Except for Evan … For some reason, Evan’s up and about at this hour … Doesn’t he ever sleep?
Jeff wondered why he was so mistrustful of Evan. As far as he could see, Evan hadn’t said or done anything so far this weekend that wasn’t completely above board; but a couple of times something he said or the way he reacted to something gave Jeff pause. He couldn’t help but wonder if Evan was up to something. And no matter how much he tried to stop his thoughts from going in a particular direction, he couldn’t help but think it had something to do with what had happened to Jimmy Foster.