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lined
with tall grass that didn’t show the effects of autumn yet. I lay
down in it and propped up my elbows. The sun began to cast an
enchanting glow across the water. I had to capture it with my
camera. The thick pieces of grass were tall and surrounded me. For
a brief moment, I was taken back to the nightmare that I had, but I
pushed it away and readied my camera.
    With my camera’s capabilities, I was able to
blur the vivid grass in front of me and focus on the shining lake.
When I would get in this zone of picture taking, the beauty
of the world never ceased to amaze me. Its sharp lines, crisp
colors, and undying changes made it better and better. That’s why I
always found it so important to create stills like this.
This kind of beauty would end with nightfall, and a new one would
slip in.
*****
    After dinner, Will loaded up the fireplace
with scraps of paper and thin sticks. I sat on the couch to watch.
He grabbed a few logs from the pile that he had neatly stacked
earlier and placed them on top. In his hand, he had not matches,
but a long lighter. He pulled the trigger on it and it clicked. A
small flame erupted on the end, and he held it under the paper he
had crumpled as the fire caught.
    “Wow, its Grizzly Will!” I joked. He sent me
a quizzical look.
    “Huh? I don’t get it,” he said.
    “You’ve never seen Grizzly Adams?” I asked
dumbfounded. “It’s on the retro channel.”
    “Nope. Never seen it.”
    “Really?” I said shocked. “Well, it’s about a
guy who lives in a log cabin in the woods. He’s got a thick beard,
and his friend is an Indian? He lives with a grizzly bear? Not
ringing any bells?” I gestured with my hands in disbelief that he
had never seen it.
    “Nope. That sounds dangerous, though,” he
said sarcastically.
    “Yes, and working for the FBI isn’t
dangerous,” I quipped back acerbically. “Anyway, he was convicted
of a crime he didn’t commit, so he went off to live in the woods by
himself.”
    “How is he living by himself? You just said
he was friends with an Indian and had a grizzly bear.”
    “That was after... Geesh, keep up.”
    Will poked the fire with one of the metal
tools on the hearth. “Ben is awesome. He protects Grizzly
Adams...”
    Will cut me off. “The Indian’s name is Ben?”
he asked curiously.
    “No!” I said in exasperation. “Ben is the
bear!”
    “You watch some fucked up shows.” He shook
his head laughing.
    “I don’t have a ton of friends. Basically, I
go to school, take pictures, and watch reruns.”
    Will glanced up at me from his busy man-work,
attending to the fire. I knew his question before he even asked
it.
    “Why don’t you have a lot of friends?”
    “I knew you were going to ask me that,” I
responded. “Since high school, I just don’t really trust people.
That’s all. Jen has been my only true friend. It’s not that I don’t
have people I’m friendly with; I kind of just choose to be on my
own.”
    I thought that Will was going to pursue the
line of questioning in this conversation, but he didn’t. We both
became quiet. There was an easy silence in the room. I usually
found silences awkward, but, with Will, I was finding them
easier.
    “I’m going to sleep down here on the couch,”
Will said. “That way I can keep an eye on the fire.”
    I got up and headed for the stairs. When I
got to the catwalk, I observed Will over the railing, spreading a
blanket on the couch.
    “Good night,” I called out to him.
    “Night, Joy.” He didn’t look up at me.

Chapter 7
    Derek and Kara:
    September 22 nd Three
weeks earlier
    The next few weeks passed typically the same way.
Kara would just sit and draw. Derek would try to start a
conversation with her, but she would only give one-word answers.
Derek looked forward to math for the first time in his life.
    Kara noticed Derek from day one of math class. It
scared her when he sat down in the chair next to her. What she knew
of him was not good. He was a troublemaker