08 Under The Moonlit Night

The night watched Adam with moonlight and starlight, that coming from above and that reflected in the water. The night was beautiful and peaceful, though filled with the croaking of European tree frog, those ubiquitous frogs so active in the spring. Even the sounds of night birds were peaceful.

But this boy, who had died so horribly, would never again be able to enjoy spring. And it was all Adam's fault....

Only, neither Piotr nor Niedziałek wanted to acknowledge this. They told him that he was not at fault. In a way, they were making him as alone as he had been when he cut his wrists.

He looked at his wrist. He knew now how clumsily he had taken to his suicide. Television, that teacher of life and death, had already shown him how to cut to increase the chance of mortality. Only now he wouldn't choose to slit his veins. He would probably hang himself. It was the best punishment for criminals.

Adam had been thinking about his death more often than usual lately, but he was choosing life. There were already three people in this world who cared about him and he knew they would be devastated if he did anything to himself. The weight of that responsibility was sweet, because he knew nothing scarier than being unwanted.

The first of these people was Piotr, of course. He had always been his best older brother and friend and first love, albeit platonic. The second was Niedziałek, a professor who at the university saw potential in him and helped him spread his wings turning him into one of the best lawyers in the country. The third was Niedziałek's daughter, Alicja, whom he tutored through her high school years.

She had a crush on him as a teenager, but quickly got over it when he started sighing at one of the posters in her room for a joke. The super extra popular singer wasn't his type, but Alicia proved to be too jealous and chose the celebrity. She hid the poster meticulously in a drawer. Since then she began to treat him as her own brother, although they both knew that Niedziałek would like to see them as a married couple. None of that, she announced, and before she started college, she announced her engagement to a guitarist from some amateur rock band.

So these three people were someone special in his life, and although he sometimes struggled to carry his life, he did it so that they wouldn't have to carry the guilt of not being able to do anything to stop him. Although of the three of them, only Piotr knew that Adam had a history of suicide attempts.

The air was clear and cool. The sky, too bright from the moon's rays, showed too few stars. Adam couldn't remember the last time he had been in a place like this - a quiet haven for tired legs and battered souls. Piotr had chosen a good place for him, only he shouldn't have had to.

For some reason, the media did not pick up on the subject of Kwiecień's attorney, who so abruptly withdrew from the case. They focused on the new "ace". This one was volunteer, not ex officio. Adam knew him from college, he was a senior and had pretty big ambitions. He wasn't a bad lawyer, he just picked the more high-profile cases that gave more money and publicity. And this case, although conducted pro bono would certainly give him both. And for sure at the right moment the counsel Adrian Nagrodzki will call his name.

Adam knew he couldn't run away from this case forever. He would have to return to it, if not of his own free will, then under a call from the police or the bar. No one will force him to testify from the time when Kwiecień was his client, but everyone will want to hear why he withdrew from the case so suddenly. He sure would like to know that being in their shoes.

But not yet. Just the thought of facing Kwiecień made Adam sick. How he had been manipulated by him, how much he believed in the innocence of the monster made him unable to even look in the mirror. Still, today was better than yesterday and probably, he hoped, tomorrow would be better than today. One of these days he'd be brave enough to go back and answer all his questions.

Suddenly something in the grass behind him rumbled and Adam heard an exasperated hiss:

“Damn! You should have brought a flashlight, moron!”

Adam ran his eyes into the space behind him and saw a dark shape rise from the ground transforming into a man.

“Sorry to scare you," the shape said. “I work on the construction site at the hotel and I live on the other side. I saw someone hanging around where he shouldn't be, so I came to see if it was a thief.”

“I'm not a thief.”

“I know, if you were, you'd get this.”

Something on the end of a thick rod flashed in the moonlight. An axe? Adam immediately turned pale.

“Take it easy, with the axe and the kidneys. I am a decent woodcutter, I only cut wood.”

Lechoń was not sure if it was a joke, he only knew that it did not make him laugh.

The man put down the axe, apparently not to give the impression of a wild thug from Masuria, and sat down on the pier next to Adam.

“For long in our neighborhood?” He asked looking at the lake.

“For a few days.”

“Then we will have time to become friends.”

“What if I am not looking for a friend?”

“What does it matter to me if I am?”

The stranger turned his face toward him, and though in the silver moonlight, Adam could see his features for the first time, strong, masculine, but very handsome. The man had a predatory nose, a sharply defined chin that was accentuated by a few days of stubble, and narrow lips that smiled provocatively. The eyes - it was too dark to recognize the color - looked at him with a mixture of predation and amusement, just like a cat that had just caught a mouse.

Lechoń swallowed his saliva with difficulty.

“I am Hubert," the man held out his hand to him.

The lawyer hesitated for a moment.

“Adam” he gave him his hand.

“You see, we are practically friends already.”

“I wouldn't say that.”

The man, Hubert, laughed.

“You're bold, saying something like that to a guy with an axe.”

“If you wanted to kill me right now, you would have done it. If you plan to do it later, it means you want to play with me now. You're probably local, so you have the terrain advantage. You're taller, stronger, probably faster. If you're a murderer and I'm your hunted victim, no matter what I do, my chances of survival are minimal.”

“But with your mouth, you have the edge. Who taught you to talk like that?”

“Life.”

“Shall we go to my place for one? It got rather chilly.”

Adam didn't think to answer. He stared into Hubert's mesmerizing eyes. The guy was dominant, direct and - he had a feeling - dangerous, and yet Adam wasn't afraid of him. On the contrary, he felt confidence in him.

“Lead the way.”

Hubert stood up and he held out his hand. Although Adam wouldn't have had the slightest trouble getting up, he took the help. The hand he shook was strong and rough - the hand of a blue-collar worker, not a fancy office boy like him.

As they stood side by side Adam recognized that the newly met man was admittedly broader in the shoulders, but not taller. It was the shadows of the night emerging through the silver moon that made him seem taller and bigger. Maybe, if Lechoń had actually been in a life-threatening situation, he could have escaped?

The man did not let go of his hand. He held it tightly, as if he was afraid that if they separated, the animal would run away. Could he have sensed that this was what Adam was thinking about?

“Don't forget your axe,” Adam reminded him as they took their first few steps.

“Don't worry, I won't forget it. It's my favorite.”

The surrealism of the situation did not escape Lechoń's attention. He had no idea what to expect, had he really become the victim of a madman from Masuria, or was this man perhaps twisted in some other way? Because normal he was not. Then again, neither was Adam at this point. The whole scene was taken out like a scene from a F-rated movie, it's "f like fucked up". And the fact that he was giving in to her so politely didn't speak well of himself.

Adam wasn't afraid, though. His heart was beating harder, but not from fear, but from excitement. He was more afraid of facing the media than of confiding in this suspicious man. Whatever he was going to do with him.

Hubert didn't let go of his hand even when they stood outside the door of his house. Instead, he put the axe down so he would have a free hand to open the door. He pulled Adam inside and asked.

“Shall I turn on the light, or would you prefer it in the dark?”