Autumn by Sierra Dean

as they progressed towards the lake. The trees around them were thicker, blocking out most of the sunlight and turning what made it through a bright green color.
    “I don’t like him,” Cooper confided.
    “No kidding? I really thought you guys were BFFs for sure.”
    He snorted and held up his crossed fingers. “Oh yeah, we’re like this.”
    “I could te—” Her sentence was cut short when Cooper slammed on the brakes, sending her forward in her seat, the old seat belt digging into her shoulder and stealing her breath.
    When Lou shook off her stupor, she looked at the road in front of them to see what had caused Cooper to stop so suddenly. A slim, reddish-brown coyote stood in the middle of the dirt road, staring directly at them.
    She turned to Cooper to say something, but the words died on her lips when she saw his face. He wasn’t scared or nervous. There was a look of recognition in his eyes, and his lips were pursed in a sad grimace.
    It looked like he recognized the animal.
    Like he knew it.

Chapter Eleven
     
    The coyote stared at him.
    Cooper stared right back.
    The coyote sat on his haunches and fixated on the truck, effectively blocking their path. He nipped at his own leg, satisfying an itch, then looked at Cooper again.
    “Cooper?” Lou placed her hand on his arm, and he jerked away involuntarily. She pulled her hand back, and he could feel her gaze on him. “What’s going on?”
    “It’s a coyote.”
    “I can see that. Is it normal for them to just sit there like that?”
    The animal looked from Cooper to Lou and cocked his head to the side, observing her carefully.
    “I’m not sure.”
    She trembled, her shiver vibrating through the bench in the truck. He wasn’t sure if he was imagining her heartbeat pounding or if he was hearing his own throbbing in his ear.
    Without thinking, he reached out and took her hand. “It’s okay,” he assured her. “We’ll back up. He’s not going to hurt you.”
    “What’s with the coyotes here?” she asked, her breath light, voice high. She seemed to be calm, but her tone gave him a glimpse at what she was really feeling. Fear.
    “What do you mean?” He pulled his hand free to shift the truck into reverse. The road was too narrow to turn around, so he would need to back out the entire way. Once he was in gear, he took Lou’s hand again, her fingers cold against his sweaty palm.
    The coyote was still staring at them, even as they backed away from him. When he was nearly out of sight, he got back on all fours and plodded off the road, disappearing into the brush. Cooper stepped down on the brake and looked at Lou, who was still focused on the empty spot where the animal had been.
    “Lou?”
    She started as if waking from a dream, then turned her attention back to him. “What?”
    “What did you mean? What you said about coyotes? Have you seen him before this?”
    “Him?” Her eyes widened, and a pallor cooled her skin tone from sun-kissed to ashen.
    “One. Have you seen one before this?”
    “Oh. Yeah. There’s been one coming into my yard sometimes. My grandma yells at it like it understands her or something, but it just keeps coming around. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. Until this.” She pointed at the vacant road. “Are people feeding them? They don’t seem afraid at all.”
    “I don’t know what to say.” He eased up on the brake and continued reversing until they reached the dirt highway and he was able to turn them back towards the main road. He had a few ideas about the coyote in Lou’s yard, but none of them would help him explain things in a way she’d understand.
    He barely understood.
    “I’ll take you home.” He angled his truck onto the real highway and turned in the direction of her house.
    Lou didn’t argue.
     
     
    Once Cooper had dropped Lou at the foot of her driveway, he went back the way he’d come. The sun was dipping low on the horizon by the time he arrived at the patch of road where he’d