Never Accept Dinner Before The Third Meeting

Never accept dinner invitations before the third meeting. Remember that.

It was one of his grandmother’s many wisdoms. She had an opinion about everything. Everything. Once she refused to drive Jonas home because she saw a black pigeon on a fine Saturday morning, which according to her was inauspicious.

“Pigeons can’t read the calendar, Grammy,” he had said.

But there was no reasoning with his grandmother.

Now, that he was sitting at the tables with Mclain's, the three meeting rules did not seem so absurd. 

Jonas tried to focus on anything other than the five pairs of unwavering eyes fixed at him. Suddenly, even patterns on the empty plate seemed intriguing. He wanted the ground to swallow him whole for putting himself in this situation. What was he even thinking while accepting the invitation? That’s right he wasn’t.

*AN HOUR AGO*

“We insist. It would be a dishonor to our family to let a guest leave unfed,” Mrs. Mclain said.

He stood at the doorstep, conflicted. Even if he did not believe in the ‘three meetings’ rule, accepting dinner from someone you just met did not seem like a very bright idea.

    But it was the only chance to meet Fayre before she leaves. And wasn’t that the only reason he came here? Returning a book that does not belong to her was just an excuse.

“I am honored by your invitation but I must refuse,” Jonas replied. Please ask again. Please.

“It is rude to say no to elders. Right mother?” the little raven-haired girl looked up at her mother.

“Yes darling, it most certainly is.”

The little girl looked back at Jonas, making him more nervous than her sister ever could.

 “Well, in that case, I would hate to be rude.”

“Aha, come on in then what are you waiting for?” Mrs. Mclain clapped her hands together and invited him in.

“Forgive me grammy, its matter of heart,” he whispered to himself and entered the house.

*NOW* 

“So, you are Fayre’s friend?” Mr. Mclain asked.

“Classmate actually. We take history together.” He finally met Mr.Mclain’s serious hazel eyes. 

Fayre had her father’s eyes. As did the rest of the family except her mother and her older brother, who hadn’t taken his gray eyes off Jonas since he had arrived.

“History? Interesting. Aren’t you a literature student?” the brother folded his arms. 

    They were all strangely overdressed as a host. The men in black suits and women in dresses. Their hair dark hair neatly plastered on their head. Occasionally, he ran a hand through his own hair to look a bit more presentable. 

“I believe history and literature are intertwined. All the great works were inspired by historical events. One cannot fully grasp the true essence of literature if they have no understanding of history, which is why I decided to take history class,” Jonas replied. It was not a lie, not entirely. It was another reason why he took history, first being Fayre.

“Very poetic. What’s your name?”

“Jonas Rietveld”

“Alarc,” he put forward his hand from across the table. Jonas shook awkwardly.

“You are one interesting man, Rietveld.”

“Call me Jonas, please.”

“I will call you whatever the hell I want, Rietveld.”

Jonas did not know how to respond. He was sure there were plenty of people out there who did not like him but no one ever made it so obvious. Perhaps if he had met Alarc thrice before, he would not have stayed for dinner.

“Alarc,” Mr. Mclain shot him a serious glance. “That’s no way to talk to the guest.”

Alarc rolled his eyes.

“Mother I am hungry. Where is Fayre?” asked the younger Mclain boy.

“She will be home soon, darling,” Mrs. Mclain replied.

    Jonas wondered if she called everyone darling out of love or she simply forgot their names.

“I see we did not have a proper introduction yet,” Mrs. Mclain tried to lighten the mood and introduced every member of the family. Turns out she actually remembered their names.

Alarc, the rude brother. Strange twins- Alaistair and Amelie, who would not stop staring at him. Sarah, mother with a smile plastered on her face, and Ferris, father who never smiled.

“Where is Fayre?” Jonas asked, ignoring the awkward interaction. He had been dying to ask but didn’t want to sound desperate. 

“Who is that?” Fayre closed the door behind her.

  She looked beautiful in her black dress. But then when did she not? Her soft brown curls rested on her shoulder, and her hazel eyes on him. 

“Jonas. From history class?” she inquired. 

   Jonas’ heart skipped a beat. She recognized him. The past excruciating hours were worth it after all. 

“Hey! yea- yes. Jonas. History class,” suddenly, he forgot words. 

“He came to return your book. So, we invited him to dinner.” Mrs. Mclain replied.

“Why?”

And just like that, the excruciating hours were back.

“Don’t be rude, sister. He’s a guest,” Alarc mocked. 

“Of course. Guests are blessing in disguise,” she smiled and took the seat next to Alarc.

“Extra dessert,” Amelie and Alastair said at the same time and giggled. 

“So Jonas, what brings you to the town?” Mr. Mclain asked. 

“His bad luck,” Fayre said.  

“Our good luck” Alarc added. 

“Extra dessert,” the twins giggled again. 

Jonas looked at them. Weird family. 

The clock struck seven and Mrs. Mclain started decorating the table with dishes.

THUD.

Mr. Mclains’ eyes met Alarc’s who then disappeared upstairs.

“What was that?” Jonas asked, surprised by the unconcerned reaction by everyone.

“Nothing to concern yourself with darling, the neighbor cat can be a nuisance sometimes,” Mrs. Mclain appeared again from the kitchen. 

“Must be a very heavy cat.”

“What can we say? A healthy diet is a must.”

“Which is why we decided to go vegetarian a few years ago,” Mr. Mclain said.

“Except once a year,” Alastair added.

“Yes, we are only allowed to eat meat once a year. So, we eat all we can.” Amelie explained. “Today is the day.”

“Is that why you are so excited?” Jonas asked. 

“Yes,” Amelie looked at Alastair, “and extra dessert,” they said together. 

“You must really love dessert.” 

Fayre’s eyes were studying him or criticizing. No way to know. 

“What book did you come to return?” she asked. 

“Your history book. You left it in the class earlier,’ he lied. 

she leaned in closer and signaled him to do so too. He did. 

“I never had a history book,” she whispered.

   Jonas wanted to punch himself in the face. Whatever hope he had vanished. He promoted himself from a stranger to a liar.  

She smiled. 

   He should feel humiliated. But all he could think of was the soft whisper of her voice and her bright eyes. She looked even more beautiful in the dim moonlight. He was doomed. 

“No secrets at the table, have you forgotten the rules, Fay?” Alarc descended from the stairs. 

Jonas leaned back to his chair awkwardly. 

“No secrets brother. I was discussing the weird anatomy of your nose with him.”

Jonas laughed. 

“Find that funny Rietveld?” Alarc dared him to say yes. So he did.

“Yes, I do.”

     Every eye turned on Alarc now, anticipating what he would do next. In all honesty, Jonas didn’t care. He had messed up one chance he had with Fayre. Nothing could be worse than that. Alarc might just as well knock some sense into him. But he did nothing of the sort. He took his seat, without taking his eyes off Jonas.

“We will get along quite well, Rietveld.” 

The clock struck half-past seven. Mrs. Mclain served the dinner. It was nothing Jonas had ever seen or heard of. Must be their traditional food. 

“So, what do you think about our Fayre?” Alarc asked. Nice trick. Jonas knew he was trying to make him uncomfortable and succeeding but he didn’t have to give him the satisfaction. 

“I think she is…she is a nice person.”

“Is she? Are you Fayre? Are you nice?” he turned to Fayre. 

“Am I, Jonas?” she asked. 

Whatever weird game this family was playing, he was going to play along. 

“Yes, I think you are a nice person and I am not saying this to impress you. If I wanted to then I would have said how beautiful you are. How your soft curls complement your bright eyes. How the way you smile when you get an answer correct in class brightens up the whole room. You are a nice person because you hold the door for people behind you even when you are running late. You stand up for your friends when they don’t stand up for themselves. You stop to pet the dogs every time you see one. So, yes you are a nice person.” 

Everyone was looking at him now. Even Alarc’s disdain had seemed to waver for a little while. 

Jonas wanted to throw up. Lying was one thing but confessing his feeling at dinner in front of her family was something he couldn’t get away with. If he had learned anything in college, it was how to bullshit his way out of a situation. But even that skill had failed him now. 

“Wow,” Alarc whispered. 

THUD.

“It’s Fayre’s turn,” Alarc said without looking up.

“I will not leave my guest alone.”

“We are not going to eat your guest, Fay.”

THUD.

Alarc swore before he disappeared upstairs again.

“So, when did you move to the town?” Jonas asked, wanting to fill the awkward silence.

“Two years ago,” Mr. Mclain said. 

   They were all pretending to forget the confession he had just made. Good for him. Though he knew Alarc would not let go of it so easily.

“That explains why my aunt never mentioned your family. She moved out two years ago after her husband’s sudden disappearance.” 

“Oh dear, that’s unfortunate. What was her name?” Mrs. Mcnail inquired. 

“Sarah Anderson.” 

They all stopped eating. Mrs. Mcnail looked at her husband. 

“Did you know her?” 

“Mr. Anderson was a good man. I met him once. It’s rather unfortunate, his disappearance,” Mr. Mcnail said. 

“I remember Anderson. I didn’t like it–him,” Amelie muttered. 

“Amelie.” 

Alarc appeared again. He ran his hand through invisible wrinkles on his suit. “Shall we begin with the dessert?”

“What’s the hurry? Night has just started,” it Fayre who spoke this time. 

Mrs. Mclain wiped something off Alarc’s cheeks. Blood. 

“Did you…did you kill the cat?” Jonas almost yelled.

“Kill? no, what do you think I am? a monster? I just taught it a lesson. Now it won’t interrupt the dinner anymore.”

Jonas looked around the table, not even a drop of concern. A member of the family is wiping blood at the dinner table and no one seems even a tiny bit concerned. Not even Fayre. The realization finally sank in. He was surrounded by a bunch of weird strangers. Eating god knows what.

“Did anyone give you a home tour yet?” Fayre asked.

“No. No, actually I am good, thanks. I should really get going.” Jonas was getting anxious to get out now.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

All eyes turned back to Alarc.

“Can you not handle one simple task, Alarc?” Mrs. Mclain hissed. Her sweet demeanor was gone. She pushed her chair back and left to do it herself.

“Come on,” Fayre took his hand and led him out of the dining hall.

“Don’t be late darling, you know the twins get impatient with the dessert" 

“Yes Father,” she kissed his forehead and led Jonas out of the room. 

***********

Mclains seemed to love the dim light and wooden aesthetic. There was hardly any modern furnishing in the house.

    Fayre took him to her room. Either it was her room or her brothers really loved her to decorate the walls with her pictures.

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” Jonas asked finally. “What is that sound? and why is no one talking about the fact that your brother literally murdered a cat.”

“You heard him say he didn’t kill it.”

Jonas shrugged. “and that makes it better?”

“Look, I know it might all be very weird to you—”

“Might? Might?”

“First of all, what the hell are you doing here?”

“I came here to…I came here to see you before the holidays”

“Oh.”

Oh. Great. He had confessed his feelings for her twice in one night and all he got was oh. 

“ I am not as nice as you might think but I guess I can be nice this one time,” she said. “You should leave.”

“Fine,” he was frustrated at himself, for being a fool and coming here in the first place. “I just wanted to let you know that I meant everything I had said back there. You are not only the nicest but also the most beautiful girl I have ever met.” 

She smiled. 

He wanted to freeze the moment. That smile. That smile had made him come all the way here. That smile had convinced him to make a fool out of himself. And he could do it a thousand times for that smile. 

“What a touching moment,” Alarc had stepped through the door, interrupting the moment. He hadn’t seen or heard him coming. “But I am afraid we cannot let our guest leave before dessert time.”

“Well then, we should invite Alyson next. I am sure she would like some dessert too,” Fayre stepped between Jonas and Alarc. “What do you say? brother.”

   Jonas could feel the heat coming off Alarc. He was sure if he had a gun right now, he would have shot them both.

   Alarc shot him a glare and left the room.

“Go,” there was an urgency in her voice now. “Through the window.” 

“You are asking me to run away?”

“Yes. Be grateful.”

“Your family-”

“Will forget about you as soon as they start with dessert. Now go.”

The October wind hit his face as soon as she opened the window. He climbed out.

“Jonas,” she called. “Next time instead of just staring from across the class, just go and tell her how you feel, you might have a chance.” 

And then her lips were on his. Many days and many nights he had wished of this moment and now he was living it. 

He looked at her hazel eyes one last time before she closed the window.

**********

Jonas didn’t know how to feel. It was one of the strangest nights of his life. He touched his lips, remembering the feel of hers, and smiled to himself.

    He put his hand in his pockets to stop them from shivering and realized his wallet was missing. He must have dropped it outside Fayre’s window. 

  **********

Jonas was hoping no would spot him wandering outside Fayre’s window. Especially Fayre. The last memory they had together was perfect and he didn’t want to change it. 

He found his wallet near the bushes and was about to leave when he heard a loud thud. There was no way it was a cat. He knew it was none of his business but he was curious. He went around the house making sure he was hidden from the view. The sight of the dining hall had him frozen. He hadn’t known true terror until now. Nothing could have prepared him for this moment.

      There was a man, a big man on the dining table and the Mclain’s were devouring it. Like monsters. Their mouths and hands inside the man's guts and head.

      Her mouth was covered with blood and flesh as she took a bite of the man's....heart. The bright hazel eyes met his.

She smiled. 

He screamed.