Chapter 13 Chapter Eleven

After a hangover and a terrible headache, I felt a bit lost, wondering where I was. "Good morning, handsome." Rita stood at the foot of the bed and looked at me with a happy smile on her face. "Hmm," I snorted, feeling my headache getting worse, I was overwhelmed by the situation in front of me, this may be a strategic error. Rita bent down, rubbed my thigh, then turned and walked into the bathroom to get me an aspirin.I closed my eyes and waited for the aspirin to arrive. It seems that I need a little time to adapt to this normal life. I got used to it pretty quickly, and with just a beer or two, I could relax enough to mingle with the slipcover.So whenever Officer Doakes was in my rearview mirror, I would go to Rita's house after get off work, play with Cody and Astor for a while, and sit with Rita after the kids went to sleep .I'd leave Rita's house around ten o'clock, just in time for Doakes to see our passionate kisses.

After getting used to this kind of life, even I almost started to fake it.However, the Night Walker is not used to it. He thinks this kind of life is too boring, and he has started to snore, which makes me feel a little scared and a little lonely at the same time.I still persevered and made going to Rita's a little game. Day after day, Doakes refused to give up, and his appearances were always unexpected.Sometimes I don't see him for a whole day, but I can still feel that he's there.I was like an actor trapped in a movie, and although he knew the real world was off-screen, he felt that the real world was out of reach.I just can't stand the thought of Recker slacking off in those ridiculous red boots.

Doakes wasn't going to keep going like this forever, he had his job.But over time, my cover-ups go awry, and the calm whisper from the backseat grows more and more impatient.Sooner or later I'm going to be the real me, but until that day I'm still going to see Rita a lot.While she's no match for Nightcrawler, Rita was my cape, my red bodysuit, my utility belt—pretty much my entire outfit—until I managed to get rid of Doakes. As the days passed, I sank deeper and deeper into this cover-up life.I couldn't help but ask myself: Am I enjoying the life of a suburban family man too much?Still, I'm somewhat relieved to see Cody and Astor's bloody passion for the innocuous pastime of "Gallows" charades.They showed such enthusiasm for those line-drawn, hanged figures that I couldn't help feeling that we might be of the same kind.Whenever they took pleasure in murdering unknown persons, I felt a mysterious kinship between us.

Astor quickly learned to draw the gallows and noose for those letters that were guessed wrong. "Seven letters," she said, and then, biting her upper lip with her teeth, added, "Wait, six letters." When Cody and I didn't get it right, she'd pounce and yell Get up, "An arm! Haha!" Cody would stare at her blankly, and then look down at a hand-drawn figure hanging from a noose.If it was his turn and we didn't guess correctly, he would say "legs," softly, and look up at us with a strange expression on his face.If you change to someone who is good at expressing emotions, it must be called triumphant.When at last the top of the horizontal lines under the gallows was filled with guessed letters, they both looked contentedly at the little figures hanging from the gallows, and once or twice Cody even said "dead," Aspen Tate would jump up and down excitedly, "One more time, Dexter! It's my turn!"

It's all very much to my liking, but no matter how many people we execute with stick figures, I can't help but get pissed at the wasted time, and if I can't figure out how to get out of it, I'll be like Cody and Those little people drawn by Astor with lines can never escape the fetters of the noose.It was so frustrating, and I'm embarrassed to admit it, I almost lost hope.But as long as I don't forget one very important thing, I will never lose hope. The thing is: this is Miami.