They'd both gone out swimming, but Jake had gone back to the beach first. Ibiza was party central. The clubs were one of the main attractions. But Jake didn't mind taking things easier tonight. If he was being really honest with himself, Jake would always rather be out here under the stars, looking at the ocean, than inside under the disco lights. With the moon almost full, the stars seemed closer. Like nature was reaching for him. Whenever Jake looked up at the moon, he thought about Abbie. It was much easier to think about her when she was far away.
After they got back, Jake settled down in a good spot on the beach, just high enough to watch the night sky sink into the ocean. He didn't mind the sand. His skin was covered in salt that was just starting to dry anyway, and that was what showers were invented for anyway. It was getting really dark, but they were both creatures who liked the dark.
Jake took a swig from his own bottle, and then he looked over at Elise. His head tilted a little while he listened, and Jake thought about a younger Elise standing on a cruise ship, looking at the water. Jake kind of thought Elise should draw that someday.
“I think everyone is afraid of something. Even if they're dangerous themselves. I mean, jaguars are at the very top of the food chain. So you'd think there wouldn't be anything they had to be afraid of. But they stay in the jungle anyway, because they're afraid of the unknown. No matter how scary you are, there's always something that seems bigger and scarier than you are. Whether it's a rational fear or not.”
Jake wasn't scared of some of the things that other people were scared of, and a lot of the time, there was some other emotion that trumped fear. Curiosity. Stubbornness. Recklessness, maybe. Jake had done a lot of things he was scared to do on a dare. Of course, Jake had never really been dared to get close to the things that really, truly, frightened him.
“Gunfire,” Jake said. He remembered the sound of the hunter's guns in California. “Gunfire is scary. Fire in general. Not in like a camping pit or whatever, or in a small contained space. But forest fires, and how they turn trees into those dead sticks, kind of like the ones used to mark graves. Cages are scary. Being stuck somewhere and unable to get out no matter how hard you try. Just boxes in general I guess. Not being able to leave when you feel like you need to leave or to go where you feel like you need to go. Being separated from Lanie when she's in trouble. Something happening to any of my siblings while I'm not there. Snake people. I've only met two, but they're scary. I can handle regular snakes, but if I had a choice I'd never be around them. Being haunted. The American Werewolf in London was terrifying because of that when I was a kid. Like, the guy being haunted by his victims.”
He shrugged. “I guess you could say there's a lot of stuff I've been afraid of.”