foliage, it was almost completely dark and I had to sense my way up
the trail by the type of ground under my feet. All the while I could
hear his heavy footsteps in front of me, and I clung to that sound the
way a driver clings to a steering wheel on unfriendly roads. It seemed
like we were walking a long way, and I had to stifle the urge to stop
and turn back. So far as I knew, no one ever walked up here, except
to get to the overgrown, undeveloped, other side of the island. It
would be the perfect place to stash a body.
Finally, we emerged from the darkness into a clearing. It was a
small area on what appeared to be the highest point on the small
island. There wasn’t much to see, except for a lot of vegetation and a
small tent where, I presumed, old Tree the bookish psycho stashed
his stuff. Slashed and snuffed. Smashed and crushed.
“Where are you taking me?” I protested.
“You shouldn’t be afraid of me Jake,” he said.
“Oh?” my voice cracked, suddenly wondering why the hell I had
followed him up there, “Why not?”
“Because we’re both one and the same,” he answered.
“What do you mean? We don’t seem to have all that much in
common.”
“Sure we do. We’re both on the run.”
I sat down. “How did you…who areyou?” I asked.
“Who I am outside this island is unimportant. Now be silent and
look at the horizon.”
I did as he told me. Another horizon, the horizon of my infinity
curtain peered back at me, reminding me of the horrors of the earlier
evening, the horrors that would await me in the near future. I
strained to see past it, but all I saw were the blue dots of limited
human night vision. I paid attention to a third horizon as well—the
horizon of my periphery, where I could see Tree’s movements as he
sat next to me on the ground, high above the beach, out of earshot of
other human beings.
For maybe twenty minutes we sat there, and though I felt tired,
bored, and still a little scared, I was incapable of refusing his orders.
I wished that he would at least give me a hint about why we were up
there, and if he was going to kill me I was hoping he would do it soon.
He remained perfectly silent, and finally I could take it no more.
“Listen, man,” I said, jumping to my feet, “I’m getting really sick
of this sitting around stuff. I think I’m going to go home, because I,
uh…well, my roommate is probably worried sick about me, you know
BIG AMERICAN BREAKFAST
100
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