Red Sun by Raven St. Pierre Page A

Ruthann wanted me to go, I had no choice. 
                  The long, dark, winding road led me to the driveway of a small blue house with no shudders on the windows and very little character to speak of.  Out front, there was a rusted out gray truck that was undoubtedly the one I’d seen Jolon driving day in and day out whenever he came to Ruthann’s to make his purchases.  I felt the corners of my mouth turn down into a frown at the mere thought of his name.  How did I get suckered into doing a favor for someone that I don’t even like?
                  The porch light glowed through the oncoming darkness while my hesitant feet carried me to the door.  The sounds of crickets chirping echoed in the air, becoming louder as night fell over the sky like a blanket.  I’d already seen Jolon once that day and it seemed an injustice that I had to go through such a thing twice.  That was all I could think about while I waited for him to answer to my knock.  He’d no doubt be just as distant and evil as usual so there wasn’t any point in hoping for anything different. 
                  Inside the house, I heard heavy footsteps approaching and rolled my eyes dreading the short time I’d have to be around him.  The door swung open and he stood there, blocking out the light from behind, his body almost filling the entire doorway as he stared down on me without lowering his head to do so.  I felt my body subconsciously wanting to turn back toward the car and flee, but I still hadn’t given him his sample.  My eyes blinked uncontrollably, trying to focus on his face and not his shirtless body as he stood there in nothing more than a pair of dark shorts. 
                  “Here,” I said curtly, shoving the rock toward him, only allowing myself to glance at his chest one more time for good measure.  When we made the exchange, his hands grazed the outside of mine and I hurried to separate myself.  To be safe, I folded my arms while he looked the rock over with scrutiny.  It was so like him to even pass judgment on something as trivial as a stone. 
                  “Let me compare it to the one I already have to make sure it’s close enough.”  He turned and walked toward the back of the house and left me standing outside on the porch alone…..with the bears and whatever else lurked off in the distance.  Nervously, I checked over my shoulder to make sure nothing was creeping up on me.
                  “You can come in if you’d like,” he called out, never looking back to see if I’d accepted his offer or not before disappearing inside one of the rooms. 

              Entering his home went against everything I believed in, but between the predators waiting to drag me back to their lairs and the mosquitoes making a meal out of my legs, I didn’t have much of a choice.  I walked in, convincing myself that it’d be fine if I only stood by the front door and didn’t touch anything.  I hugged myself and looked around at all of his things, his furniture, and then back toward the hallway I’d seen him walk down.  Being there made me jittery, or maybe it was just being around him that did it.  Either way, I was becoming more and more uncomfortable as each second passed. 
                  To my relief, I saw Jolon’s dark figure step out into the hallway which meant I’d be free to leave just as soon as he gave me the okay.  When he came into the light, I was shocked to see that it wasn’t Jolon at all, but another man of similar stature and an almost identical face – this had to be the brother Ruthann spoke of.  He too was bare-chested and wore dark shorts like Jolon.  It was easy to see how I’d made such a mistake.  In the dark it was hard to tell that his hair was cut short, nearly bald except for the shadow left behind on his scalp.  At first, there was confusion in his eyes, but then they