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“Seriously, how are you not noticing this?! He’s creepy, Aunt Marnie! Don’t you think it’s weird how he always knows where we are, and knows all our favorite things despite nobody ever telling him?!” Shane cried, waving his arms around in the air in frustration. Marnie glanced up from her inventory sheet and smiled at him indulgently before turning back to it.
“Don’t you think you’re overthinking this, Shane? Colin’s a nice boy, I think it’s sweet how he remembered my birthday last week,” she said, counting the number of rabbits she had left. Shane groaned, throwing his arms up and stalking away.
“Dunno why I even bother…”
--
“Gus, c’mon. You gotta believe me, there’s something weird about that new farmer. Yesterday he gave me Pepper Poppers and said he knew they were my favorite. I never told him that!” Gus laughed, wiping down the bar with one hand and patting Shane on the shoulder with the other.
“I think you’ve had a bit too much to drink, friend. Colin wouldn’t hurt a fly, there’s no way he’s doing something sinister with homecooked Pepper Poppers!” he said, shaking his head and chuckling. Shane stared at him incredulously, completely shocked.
“Couldn’t hurt a fly?! Gus, he spent all last winter in the mines and came out covered in blood with a bagful of monster drops!” he said, a bit hysterically. He stiffened when the bell over the door chimed, signifying the arrival of someone new.
“Hi Gus! Hi Shane! Man, it’s beautiful out tonight, huh?” Shane paled dramatically, gulping down the rest of his beer before hurrying out the door. Colin stared after him, disappointment and confusion painted on his face as he watched Shane go. “What’s up with him?” Gus shrugged, going back to wiping down the bar.
--
Colin sighed, leaning his head back against the trunk of the tree. Shane was avoiding him, for some reason. He had no idea why, it’s not like he’s done anything different… He stiffened, sitting up with wide eyes. “Oh no… Did he find out I like him?” He peeked in the window, smiling slightly when he saw Shane relaxing on his bed. He looks so peaceful… He sighed contentedly, scrambling back into the shadows when Shane sat up suddenly.
“Who’s there?!” he called, peering around suspiciously. Colin’s eyes widened, heart pounding in his ears. Shane nudged the window pane, widening the unnoticeable crack. He stuck his head out, looking around before grabbing his phone and turning on the flashlight. Colin stiffened, taking off his glasses quickly so they wouldn’t glint if the light hit them. Everything devolved into a fuzzy blur of light and shadow, so he didn’t see Shane climbing out the window towards him until a hand grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him out of the bush. “Ha! I knew you were up to something!” Shane cried, looking a bit manic. Colin slipped his glasses on, looking up and smiling nervously.
“U-Um… It isn’t what it looks like…?” he tried, wiping his sweaty palms on his shorts. Shane snorted, dragging him into the house through the back door.
“Aunt Marnie!” he called, peeking into the kitchen. She was sitting at the table, reading a book and sipping some tea. She looked up when he called her name, eyes widening when she saw Colin.
“Oh, Colin! What a pleasant surprise, I didn’t know you were coming over tonight!” she said cheerfully, smiling tiredly at him. Colin scratched at a thin scab on his cheek, smiling sheepishly.
“I didn’t know either, Ms. Marnie. It was kind of...unexpected.” Shane scoffed, pushing him forward a bit.
“Bullshit! You were hiding in the goddamn bushes outside my room!” he snapped, somehow looking both triumphant and freaked out at the same time. Marnie blinked, pausing just before taking another sip of her tea. She set the cup down, looking between Shane and Colin and gaping like a fish.
“W-What?” she asked faintly, her worldview completely shaken. Colin swallowed nervously, picking at a scab on his arm and looking away. “Colin, what's he talking about?”
Shane tightened his grip on Colin's shoulder, trying to control his anger. “Exactly what I said, Aunt Marnie! I was in bed, and I'd cracked the window to get some air in my room. I heard a noise, so I looked outside and found him”—he gave Colin a little shake at this—”crouching in the bushes by the fence in the backyard.” Colin frowned, mentally cursing his slip.
“I-It's not what it looks like?” he said, smiling weakly. Marnie's eyes hardened a bit.
“Well that's a relief, because it looks like Shane was right. It looks like you really are a stalker,” she said, her normally kind voice going sharp and cold. His breath caught in his throat, and he waved his hands defensively.
“I'm not a stalker! I just...okay, there’s really nothing I can say in this situation, b-but! I’d never try to hurt any of you! I just want to be friends with everyone!” he said, trying to explain himself. He looked away, digging his ragged fingernails into his arm. Blood beaded around the wounds, but he ignored it. “Everybody likes me, but nobody actually likes me. I’ve been here for a year and a half now, but I’m still an outsider. I just want to know what people like or where they’re at, so they’ll finally be my friends…” He forced down the lump in his throat, wiping his eyes roughly with one bandaged hand before looking back at Marnie. “I’ll leave. I won’t bother you guys again. I’m sorry,” he said, voice almost a whisper. He brushed off Shane’s grip like it was nothing, exiting through the store in the front of the house.
--
True to his word, nobody saw Colin for the next two weeks. The only contact he had with the outside world was his delivery box, and even that was bare of the note he’d usually leave in there for Lewis. At first, Shane felt accomplished. Like he’d finally rid the town of Colin’s toxic influence. In the back of his mind, he thought that Colin was joking around, and that he’d be back within a few days. After the end of the second week with not even the prickle on the back of his neck that showed someone was watching him, Shane got a little worried. The worry and guilt only increased when Maru visited him at the bar one day asking if he’d seen Colin. She said that he hadn’t responded to any of her letters, and that even though his crops were watered when she visited him he wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Shane reassured her that Colin was fine, and was probably just taking time off from town for a bit, like he did when he was in a mood sometimes.
Things came to a head the next day, when Colin showed up in Harvey’s clinic, covered in burns and bite marks. His normally light-brown skin was pale, looking almost grey in the harsh light of the hospital. His bandages were unwound and sitting off to the side, showcasing a patch of thick white scarring, neat little lines standing out harshly against his skin. Harvey, unconcerned at first because this was normal, because Colin ended up half-dead on his doorstep almost three times a week, suddenly paled himself thanks to the intensity of the injuries. Normally they’d be patched up sloppily with bandages from a first aid kit, but some of these scratches looked several days old, judging by the scabbing already starting to form. “What the hell did you do to yourself?” he wondered, eyes widening when they landed on the new scabs on his arms. These didn’t look like monster wounds.
They looked like cuts.