When Kate went downstairs to sit down, everyone was quiet. What made her relieved was Jackson wasn’t at the table with them. The dining room wasn’t remarkable. It had an oak table and oak chairs that came with it. It had a clear view of the front door as well as the kitchen.

  Even though her father spent a lot of money on the farm and his tools. The kitchen was the least fancy thing. It had an ancient gas burner from the 1910s and the walls were painted in an ugly lime green. It was like the kitchen was designed to be separate from the entire house.

  Dinner was supposed to be the best moment of anyone’s day. Everyone gathered around the dinner table talking about their day or gossip about the latest ongoing events in town. It hadn’t been like that for almost a year. Everyone was on edge. There was always something going on or some sort of crisis looming from around every corner.

  Bob had to balance every cent the family had so they could keep the farm and produce a profit. The problem he and everyone else had to face was Butch. Ever since he got into the picture, demanding money once every month. It made everyone’s lives difficult. The threat of violence made many good folk comply, especially if they had the numbers to force compliance.

  The problem, however, was no one had a solution to stop him. Butch’s father would always defend him, and being the sheriff he would always throw the book at anyone who stood against Butch in any fashion. A punk that had the law on his side. It was ironic. So the only solution anyone could afford was to play along and pay Butch. If he demanded money, he would do everything to get it. Bob didn’t have any disposable money to give. He put the majority of it aside so Kate could go to university.

  So, as the family sat, eating their dinner in silence. They all knew that one day they would be confronted by Butch and his gang. There was no point in talking about it. However, it wasn’t the only issue that needed to be addressed.

  ‘Where’s Jackson?’ Kate asked her mother.

  ‘He decided to eat alone in the barn.’ She responded after taking a bite out of her steak. ‘I offered him to eat with us, but he refused.’

  Tyler grumbled, disappointed that the reptile he had fun with wouldn’t join him and his family for dinner. Her grandma seemed apathetic about it. If Kate had to make a guess, it would seem that Jackson eating alone was just part of his bizarre personality.

  ‘Either way, we need to talk about him.’

  Everyone turned to Kate as soon as she said that. The already dreadful atmosphere became even more bitter. Everyone knew it was a serious conversation and shouldn’t be ignored. Her dad sighed in relief, thankful that his daughter brought Jackson up before he could.

  ‘What do you want to talk about?’ Bob said, urging her to speak her mind freely.

  Kate put her utensils down, taking a few heavy breaths to ready herself. She turned to Tyler and her grandmother first. ‘Firstly, I am thankful that he helped when Butch attacked me. But I feel there is something really wrong with him.’

  ‘Like what? He seems like a decent guy.’ Her brother protested. ‘He is just… shy. I think.’

  Nancy raised her hand to get Kate’s attention. ‘He is just a little different. Once you get to know him, he is a good man.’

  ‘But when do we find out?’ Bob asked. ‘In fact, when was the last time you met him?’

  ‘I knew him since I was nine.’

  ‘Mum, you knew him 75 years ago?’ Jade replied in confusion. ‘Did you know him when you were both kids?’

  Nancy shook her head. ‘No, he was a man. He was married and had a kid of his own.’

  ‘But what about afterwards? Did you stay in touch?’

  Kate’s grandmother looked away, unsure how to even reply to that question. Tyler was oblivious to the whole thing. He was too young to understand the gravity of the conversation. Bob and Jade looked at each other when Nancy didn’t respond. It was clear to them that she couldn’t give an accurate image of what Jackson was, as her view of him was seeing through rose-tinted glasses.

  ‘Then we need to do something.’ Kate said, continuing the conversation. ‘When I checked on my computer, he was looking up dozens of names. The more I looked at them, the more I realised he was trying to find out if they were dead or alive.’

  Nancy bluntly said. ‘Are any alive?’

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  Kate looked at her grandmother in shock. ‘No. Most of them are dead.’

  ‘Why was he looking up names?’ Bob asked.

  Before Kate could get a word in, Tyler interrupted. ‘Maybe he is looking for friends. Maybe he is like Captain America and he was frozen in time.’

  ‘Son, we live in Arkansas. There is nowhere in this state that would freeze him for three quarters of a century. And no, I don’t think he came from somewhere else. Not in the state we found him in.’

  ‘You seem to doubt him.’ Jade calmly pointed out. ‘He helped you around on the farm and he helped our daughter. Shouldn’t we all be at least thankful to him?’

  ‘We are talking about something that isn’t human.’

  ‘He says he is…’

  ‘He isn’t!’ Bob cuts Tyler off to make a point to everyone. ‘Kate is right. Something is wrong about him and I don’t like it as well. He is strong, too strong! That chain he casually used as a whip is over 20-feet long and he used it like it was nothing. The way he herds cattle and sheep is strange! They avoid him or obey him like he is diseased. I know I am sounding paranoid, but there is something not right about him.’

  Nancy scoffed at Bob. ‘Don’t you hear yourself? We help him, he helps us. And all you can do is doubt him?’

  ‘Nancy, there is more to that!’

  ‘He was also gone for so long,’ Kate chimed in. ‘He is a quick learner, but he doesn’t seem to know much outside of what was normal in the 30s. A phonebook? A fax machine!? We don’t know where he came from, we don’t know who he is or what he is, or anything!’

  ‘That just means he might need help.’ Tyler pouted. ‘Maybe he doesn’t want to tell us anything right now? Maybe he will tell us when he wants to.’

  ‘But when will that be, Tyler? I don’t know what he is, but I know he is dangerous. If you are a fish out of water, the first thing you don’t do is look up random people on the internet to see if they are alive or not. In a way, I am thankful that he helped me, but at the same time, he scares the shit out of me. He isn’t human by any means. The man is an alien and I think he will bring unwanted attention to us and himself. He can’t stay here!’

  ‘I won’t.’

  Everyone darted their heads near the front door. Jackson stood there, looking over the family blankly with dirty dishes in one hand. No one had noticed him opening the door and walking inside. Nor did anyone know how long he was listening to their conversation.

  Jackson calmly walked over to the kitchen to rinse his plate before putting it into the dishwasher. Everyone sat there in silence in a trancelike state. Nancy seemed the most concerned out of everyone, almost as if she too was surprised by the reptile’s sudden appearance.

  ‘Thank you for the dinner.’ Jackson said to Jade, which she responded with a simple nod. He turned to everyone else, expressionless as ever. ‘I’ll leave by tomorrow evening.’

  As Jackson walked to the door, Jade stood up from her chair to call out to him. ‘Jackson, wait.’ The reptile turned around to listen to what she had to say. ‘I’m sorry if we came off as rude, it is just with all the things going on and, well… you. We are just worried, is all.’

  ‘Don’t be sorry.’ Jackson bluntly responded before leaving the house to return to the barn to rest. ‘Kate is right. But I am human.’

  As Jackson is out of earshot. Everyone turned to face each other. It was business as usual. It was time to eat in silence. Yet they all recognised, even Tyler and Nancy. Jackson scared them. Kate suspected that her brother and grandmother would still try to defend Jackson in some way. But there was no doubt that he was terrifying to a degree. Her mother and father pondered on the incident, trying to figure out the next best course of action.

  Kate sat there, her appetite now lost. Butch and his gang would scare her from time to time. But they were familiar, something she could grasp and move around if the need arrived. The reptile was something else. He was not something Kate understood or could even grasp.

  Jackson would call himself human, and his only physical proof might be his blue eyes. Kate could see through him. Though she could not tell if he was telling the truth or telling a lie. There was an anger in his eyes. He won’t admit it, but Kate could tell he had eyes of a monster thirsting for blood.