The two simultaneously recite the quote, “If this shirt gets ruined out here I’ll break off both your jaws and use ‘em as a bra.”

The two bust up laughing while the girls look onwards in confusion as to what exactly the context even is. 

   After a few more minutes of tomfoolery, they reach their destination. The group gets out of the bronco and makes their way towards the cabin. 

   This old rickety building looks over a hundred years old but just as lived in as ever. All sorts of hunting tackle and commodities lie on the front porch. Enrique jams the key and welcomes the party inside. Game mounts line across the beautifully ornate stone fireplace. A huge old cooler sits by the entrance, and if you open it, you’ll find one of the latches on the back makes a really loud screeching sound. Old hunting rifles and taxidermied fish line the walls to the entrance. Nets and reels, lanterns and snow shovels, this place feels like something out of a movie.

   Enrique wastes no time making the fire. He helps direct the girls to their room and recommends Clyde to the other room, ordaining himself as the couch sleeper. Clyde obliges without hesitation and heads to the other room. Enrique lays down but keeps one eye open. He can’t shake the paranoid feeling of being chased. The urge to panic always lingers under his throat and chokes him whenever it gets the chance. 

   The girls start getting ready to go to bed. Shelby glances over as Penny changes, having noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A long dark bruise travels halfway down the girl’s spine. Immediately, her heart sinks, a lump enters her throat and she feels sick to her stomach. She sits on the edge of the bed unaware that she’s staring. She knows she has to say something, but is now an appropriate time? Being unable to stop staring, Penny notices and covers her back. 

   Shelby’s face gets red as she apologizes profusely but Penny consoles her that it’s ok. 

   Unable to help herself, she finally asks, “What happened? Enrique didn’t do that, did he?”

   Penny’s eyes almost pop out of her head at the question let alone the thought and she proclaims, “No, Mr. Enrique would never do something like that!” 

   “Can I ask who then,” persists Shelby.

   A brief pause fills the room before Penny responds, “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

   Shelby stands up and walks over to Penny and they both sit on the edge of the other bed.

   “Ok, I’m not going to ask you to tell me what happened, but you promise that this wasn’t him.”

   “No! I really think you should lay off him! Enrique protects me. He’s taking care of me and he’s been teaching me how to defend myself. That way it won’t be my fault, this will never happen again.”

   Tears well up in the girl’s eyes. 

   Shelby twiddles her thumbs and looks down, her eyes darting around the floorboards. 

   “Whatever happened,” she assures Penny, “it wasn’t your fault to begin with.”

   “How can you say that?”

   Penny looks at Shelby and sees a smile behind eyes just as sad as her own. 

   “I understand,” she says to Shelby.

   A sorrowful look moves across Penny’s face as she continues the conversation.

   “Shelby, I’m not a good person.”

   Confused by this statement, Shelby tries to dismiss the claim, “you’re not a bad person, Penny.”

   “No, you don’t know what I did. What I tried to do.”

    “Ok, you’re right, I don’t. Wanna tell me?”

   “I’m not quite sure  if I should.”

   “Penny, whatever it is, I promise I won’t judge you. It will be between us.” With this statement, Shelby holds out her hand for Penny to shake it in agreement. Penny smiles slightly but doesn’t take her hand. Her smile quickly fades and she speaks in a barely audible whisper,

   “I tried to shoot somebody.”

   Shelby doesn’t respond for a few seconds, piecing things together. She sees the sorrow in Penny’s eyes. “They were the ones that hurt you?”

   A silent nod confirms her statement. “When I missed,” Penny starts to continue, shaken as she relives the night, “I ran. There was a big bridge where we lived and I knew I already planned what I was gonna do. But right when I got on the ledge, someone grabbed me. I didn’t see them. I didn’t fight back...”

   She looks down, rubbing her thumb down the palm of her hand.

   “They brought me to Enrique, they said he’d protect me for a while. The only thing is that I’m pretty sure they want to take me away from him. I think he knows that too. I’m just scared that if I don’t go when they come for me, they’ll hurt him.”

   Shelby nervously chuckles, much to Penny’s confusion. “What’s so funny?”

   She starts cackling uncontrollably which causes Penny’s concern to turn into an almost nervous laughter herself. Shelby finally finds enough air to respond, “I’m so sorry, it’s just, I can’t imagine anyone having an easy time hurting Enrique, he’s as big as a tank!”

  Nervously, Penny starts giggling before openly laughing at her remark and they return to some semblance of normality similar to before. 

   The two get to know each other as the conversation lingers on. Shelby, realizing what he’s done for Penny,  can’t help but feel terribly guilty for her misguided behavior towards Enrique. The more Penny praises him, the more Shelby realizes the kind of man is in charge of this excursion. She lies her head down after the lengthy conversation, trying to think of how she’ll apologize tomorrow for her previous approach.