Awake Read online

  “What is it? What do you see?”

  “There’s a man inside the building wearing cargo shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, with a fanny pack and a visor, only he doesn’t look like a man to me. When I see him, I see a monster. His skin is red, his ears are pointy, and his face is hideous. He has claws.”

  Ivy looked over to the building and looked scared for a moment, then a look of determination came across her face. “Wait here, I’m going to go into the building to check him out.”

  “No, don’t do that…” Lee began.

  “I’ll be right back,” Ivy said, and headed off before he could get another word in.

  She was back within a few minutes. If it had taken much longer than that, Lee would have gone after her, demon or no demon. “Well, what did you see?” he asked.

  “I saw the guy you were talking about, at least by the clothes,” Stella said. “He looked like a regular guy. Kinda fat and he had an ugly beard, but the clothes were what you described, so you didn’t hallucinate the whole thing, at least.”

  “There wasn’t anything… off about him?”

  “Nope, just a regular fat tourist,” she said, and gave him a reassuring look and squeeze of the hand. “Your brain must just be playing tricks on you, because of the insomnia. You’re going to be okay.”

  “Look, I know it’s a bit nutty, but I still don’t want the guy to see me,” he said, casting his eyes to the ground.

  She nodded, “That’s fine. Ben and Stella said they’d be out in a minute. The guy doesn’t look like he’s going anywhere anytime soon. He’s lingering at every exhibit, taking pictures of every little plaque and statue.”

  Hearing about the demon taking pictures and staring at stupid plaques almost made Lee feel silly for being so afraid of it, but something still told him to stay away. “Speaking of Ben and Stella, do you think she’s finally coming around to him?” Lee asked in an effort to change the subject.

  Ivy laughed, “I think she already came around to him last night, you didn’t hear that?”

  “I did, I didn’t realize you did too.”

  “I would have had to have been deaf not to,” she said, and laughed again. “Stella’s loud.”

  “Well why does she act all stuck-up around him then?”

  “That’s just how she is with all guys, even when she’s dating them. She probably does it even more with the ones she dates or is going to date.”

  “How on earth did you both become best friends?”

  “Oh, stop it,” Ivy said, smiling and playfully slapping his shoulder. “She’s really fun, especially when we’re drinking.”

  “Hmm, I’m going to have to get you guys drunk tonight then. I want to see the fun Stella.” Ben and Stella appeared from around the corner and Lee quickly shut up.

  “Are you guys ready to get going?” Ben said.

  “Yeah, I want to get back on the road,” Lee said.

  They walked back up the hill and towards the garage, Lee trying to stay out of the view of the building the demon was in. He chanced one quick glance and saw that it still had its back turned to him.

  “Don’t worry, you’re fine,” Ivy whispered to him, noticing his glance.

  When they got back to the RV, Lee and Ivy took the front. Everybody agreed that it’d been a long day, and decided Lee would drive back to Wall Drug to park the RV for the night.

  “I’ll get us all some drinks, too,” Lee said. “I want to party tonight.” Everyone agreed to that as well.

  Soon they were out of Rushmore and heading back towards Wall. Ivy headed to the back of the RV to get a snack and a few minutes later, Ben came up front and took her seat.

  “So am I the master at getting us girls or what?” Ben asked in a low voice, grinning at Lee.

  “I have to admit, you did really good. I really like Ivy, she’s a really sweet girl. Glad I picked her, I’m not sure how you put up with Stella,” Lee replied, keeping his voice similarly low.

  “If you’d seen us last night you’d know how.”

  “I didn’t see you, but I heard you guys. Ivy did too. Stella’s kind of loud.”

  Ben chuckled, “It was my fault, I was too good.”

  “I bet.”

  Ben chuckled again, but then got serious. “What was the deal with you earlier when you didn’t go in to see that mold of the monument? Was it something to do with the disease?”

  Lee sighed. It looked like he was going to have to come clean with everyone today. “I was having some mild visions. It’s from the lack of sleep.”

  “Well fuck, should you be driving then? What if you fall asleep and run us off the road?”

  “It is so hard for me to fall asleep in a bed, there’s no way I could fall asleep driving.”

  “Still, you could hallucinate something running onto the road or something. Why don’t you just pull over at the next rest station? I’m fine to drive, it’s what you brought me along for.”

  “I brought you along because you’re my best friend, not my chauffer. I’m fine. You‘ve already driven a lot today.”

  “I guess. Just don’t worry about telling me, if you ever don’t feel like you’re up to driving. We should stay safe.”

  Ben went back to the living room area and Ivy took back the passenger’s seat. Not long afterwards, they arrived back in Wall. Lee had to drive around the town for a few minutes before finding a good spot for the rig at a truck stop, next to a gas station. Lee filled up the tank at the station, and then parked the RV in the truck lot.

  “Ben and I are going into the station to grab drinks, what do you girls want?” Lee said after he shut off the engine.

  “Wine,” Ivy and Stella said simultaneously.

  “Red? White? One or two of each?” Lee asked.

  “Two of each, if you could. We like to mix it up,” Ivy said.

  “Ok, we’ll be back,” Lee said.

  The small store didn’t have a lot of variety. “Dammit, I hate the cheap domestics,” Ben said as he surveyed the beer section. They settled on a case of Coors for them and two bottles from a local winery for the girls. Lee paid the station’s fat, mustachioed cashier for the booze and they headed back to the RV.

  Ivy and Stella had extended out the RV, prepared a plate of cheese, crackers, and cold cuts, and had put the satellite radio on a pop music station. Lee was surprised at how quickly they’d given the place a party atmosphere. They’re good at this, he thought.

  Ben put the beer in the fridge after taking a couple out of the case. After popping open his beer and taking a chug, Lee uncorked the red and poured a glass for each of the ladies. He rummaged through a few of the cupboards to find the glasses, but sure enough the RV had come with a set of four crystal wine glasses. Drinks in hand, they sat on the couch, which had ample space for the four of them.

  “So how come you never wanted people to really know who you are? You know, be legit famous?” Stella asked Lee after downing her first glass in five minutes and starting on the second. “Like insist on making a cameo in one of the movies they made from your books or something?” Ivy rolled her eyes.

  “Um, I guess I just never really wanted people in my business,” Lee said. “I get so anxious just with people reading my books, I don’t think I’d be able to handle doing TV interviews and stuff like that. I guess I’m kind of neurotic in that way.”

  “A little bit. Everyone knows your name: if I was in that situation I’d make sure they all knew my face too. It would be awesome,” Stella said.

  “I’ve got money already, what more would being famous get me besides people bugging me? I don’t need that.”

  “Makes sense to me,” Ivy said. “Besides Stella, you’re already semi-famous in the Portland club scene. Or infamous, more like.” With the buzz everyone had going on, they laughed much more at that then they might have otherwise.

  “I don’t mean to brag, but I’m decently well-known in the philosophy community for a few of my published papers,” Ben said in a humorous tone, though Le
e could tell that he was slightly annoyed at Lee being the center of attention.

  “Oh that’s really cool. I bet it’s hard for you to even walk down the sidewalk in Seattle,” Stella said mockingly, but then squeezed Ben’s knee flirtatiously.

  Before long they all had a pretty good buzz going on. The girls had finished the bottles of red and were working on the whites, while Lee and Ben had gone through more than half the beer. Ben and Stella stood up and began drunkenly grinding to the music, while Lee and Ivy watched awkwardly.

  “See, I told you she’s more fun when she drinks,” Ivy whispered to Lee.

  “Yeah, she’s stopped acting like she hates everyone.”

  A few minutes later and Ben and Stella started making out, continuing to grind. Lee and Ivy took that as their cue, and headed back to the master bedroom.

  They almost immediately started fooling around. As if they were in on the act, Stella started up with her screaming out in the other room. Lee felt a bit irritated; it was almost like Ben was trying to compete with him. He was slightly more irritated when he and Ivy had finished and Ben and Stella were still going strong. He turned the TV up so that they couldn’t hear them, and laughed with Ivy about it.

  Ivy fell asleep quickly. Lee had a harder time of it and took one each of his prescriptions. I probably shouldn’t take them with alcohol, but oh well, he thought, taking some of the over-the-counter sleep aids as well. The last time he looked at the clock before finally drifting off, it was past four in the morning.

  Lee dreamt that he and Ivy were sitting back at the picnic bench at Mount Rushmore, where he had avoided the demon. They started kissing. It was a deep and passionate kiss, and he felt distinctly aroused. After a while, Lee broke off the kiss and pulled his head back to look at Ivy.

  She had transformed into the demon. It grinned at him with its hideous smile and asked in Ivy’s voice “What’s wrong?”

  5

  Lee shot up in bed, wide awake and covered in sweat. Ivy moaned and rolled away from him, still sleeping. He looked at the clock. It was six in the morning.

  Knowing that there was no way he’d get any more sleep that night after his nightmare, he turned on the TV. So as to not disturb Ivy, he listened to it through a pair of wireless headphones he found beneath the set. He watched mindlessly for an hour, before getting up and taking a shower. When he came out, Ivy was up.

  “Hey there, someone’s an early riser,” she said, smiling. The smile quickly changed into a look of mild worry when she saw his face, and she asked “Or did you not sleep at all?”

  “I got a little bit. Woke up at six and couldn’t get back to sleep.”

  “Well that’s not too bad, I guess. I was about to go out and make us some food, but I’m afraid of how I’ll find Stella and Ben.”

  He laughed. “Just crack the door open and yell that they have five minutes to get decent before you’re coming out. Or I can do it, if you’d like.”

  “No, I got this,” she said. She went over and shouted out the door “Hey Stella we’re coming out in five minutes, get some clothes on!”

  “Shit, what time is it?” Stella yelled back groggily. Ben moaned something as well, but it was inaudible.

  “Time to get dressed,” Ivy yelled again, and shut the door.

  After waiting the requisite amount of time and shouting out a last warning to ensure that they were decent, Lee and Ivy walked out to the kitchen. Stella and Ben had gotten dressed, but had gone back to sleep, the both of them snoring loudly.

  “I’m beginning to think that they were made for each other,” Lee said.

  Ivy cooked breakfast for the two of them, while Lee rinsed off the dishes that had accumulated over the last few days and put them in the dishwasher. When the food was done they took it back to eat in the bedroom, leaving Stella and Ben to their sleep.

  “If they’re not awake soon I’m just going to start driving while they sleep,” Lee said as they ate, sitting on the bed.

  “You look really tired, you should show me how to drive this thing,” Ivy said.

  “I guess I could, it’s not hard at all. Everything’s automatic, it’s just about getting used to driving such a big vehicle.”

  “Well let’s do it then,” Ivy replied, and they finished up their food and headed to the front.

  Ivy drove around the parking lot for ten minutes to get used to the vehicle and then they were off. Lee realized that Ivy must have had some tomboy in her; the look of complete joy she got from taking the RV onto the freeway was beautiful.

  “According to the GPS, we’re only a few miles from Badlands national park, if you see a place to pull off so we can look at it you should do it,” Lee said.

  “That sounds good. I think we stopped there on the family trip too, but I don’t remember anything about it except for the name.”

  “I’ve never even heard about it before, but it looks really cool on the computer,” Lee said, having pulled out his laptop.

  Minutes after getting out of Wall they could see the Badlands in the distance. A short while later they were pulling off the interstate and onto a road that went through the park. It was an amazing sight, an endless craggy gash in the earth, filled with deep pits and jagged rocks that looked like stone knives. Lee picked up the intercom handset, turned the volume on the system up to max, and swiveled the passenger’s seat around so that he was facing the couch/bed.

  “HERE WE ARE IN THE BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK. YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS THIS UNIQUE SLICE OF AMERICA,” Lee yelled over the PA, his voice booming.

  Stella and Ben both shot up in bed like they’d had cold water thrown on them. “Dude! Fuck you!” Ben yelled, and threw a pillow at Lee, narrowly missing. Stella just gave one of her classic angry looks.

  “SORRY BEN, I FORGOT HOW ANGRY YOU GET WHEN PEOPLE WAKE YOU UP.”

  By the time they found an area to pull off and take pictures, Ben and Stella were up and about. Their moods had also improved slightly, but both were still a bit cranky about Lee’s prank. He thought they’d get over it.

  The group exited the RV and walked over to the scenic point. The view was even more interesting up close. To Lee’s mind, the sight of the immense pit put him in mind of another world, a treacherous alien landscape filled with demons. The jagged rocks pierced out of every nook and cranny in the badlands, reaching out like they were thirsty for blood.

  The place was certainly interesting, but after taking some pictures and looking around for a half an hour, there wasn’t much to do, so they left. Ivy insisted on driving again when they headed out.

  “So where do you guys want to go now?” Lee asked everyone when they were back on the interstate. “We’re about an equal distance from Minneapolis and Des Moines.”

  “Minneapolis,” Ivy answered automatically, “I’ve been to Des Moines before and it’s not bad, but I remember it being a bit quiet.”

  “Minneapolis just sounds cooler,” Stella added.

  “I’m going with Minneapolis too,” Ben said.

  “Minneapolis it is then. It doesn’t really matter, but I was thinking Minneapolis too, so it’s a unanimous vote.”

  Ivy drove for a few more hours, then stopped at a gas station in a town called Chamberlain, so Ben could take over the driving. Just to be safe, Lee topped off the gas tank and the water from hookups that the station had around the back.

  Stella had reverted back to her old self and wanted to sit in the living room and watch TV instead of keeping Ben company, so Lee sat up front, swiveling the chair around from time to time to watch the TV or chat with Ivy. “Is there anything interesting to see that the GPS recommends?” Ben asked after an hour had gone by.

  “Not really, just the usual stupid tourist traps,” Lee said, browsing through the GPS. “The ‘world’s biggest’ outhouse and shit like that, no pun intended.”

  “Aww, how does that not sound fun? I want to go.”

  “Unless you have to take the world’s biggest dump, we’re driving straight through,
at least until Sioux Falls. There might be something to do there; it looks a decent size.”

  “Actually, now that you mention it, I do kind of do have to use the bathroom.”

  “Well shit, I don’t want to stop. Just set the thing to cruise control and we’ll swap really quickly so you can use the bathroom by the kitchen” Lee said, joking when he started speaking but resolved to actually do it by the time the sentence was done.

  Ben glanced over at Lee as though he had lost his mind, “You’re joking right? That sounds really fucking dangerous.”

  “Dude, it’ll be cool. Set it to cruise and take your hands off the wheel for a few seconds on a straightaway to test it out, the thing drives straight as an arrow. Don’t be a wuss now.” Lee knew Ben hated having his courage questioned.

  “Alright, fine, but I’m waiting until there are no cars around us.”

  Ben slowed the RV down to fifty, and in a few minutes there weren’t any cars within a half mile. “I can’t fucking believe I’m doing this,” Ben said. “Are you ready?”

  For a moment Lee almost balked, but then realizing he might never have the opportunity to be so stupid again, he replied “Yeah, let’s do it.”

  Ben set the cruise and slowly pulled his hands away from the wheel. Then, making sure that the RV was staying straight, he jumped out of the seat, careful not to hit the wheel with his knees. Lee quickly slipped out of the passenger’s seat and into the unoccupied driver’s seat. It all took less than two seconds.

  “Did you guys really just fucking do what I think you did?” Stella said incredulously from the back.

  “We’re extreme baby, deal with it,” Ben said, and walked back to the bathroom.

  Ivy came up and took the passenger’s seat. “I have to agree with Stella on that one, what the hell were you guys thinking?” she said. She sounded mad, but not too much.

  “Sorry, the idea just popped into my head and I went with it. This thing doesn’t drift at all and there weren’t any cars around, it really wasn’t as risky as it looked.”

  “I guess. Just don’t do it again, please?”