After descending down the mountain some the plan was decided that Connor would drive the two of them to the edge of town and then Sawyer would go about his business as he would while Connor filmed at a safe distance.
Upon making it to the car and fumbling around for the keys Connor watched as Sawyer skeptically circled around the vehicle peaking in the windows and kicking the tires softly.
“Haven’t been in a car for a while?” Asked Connor as he opened the door and fell down into the driver’s seat.
“Certainly not in a few years,” he responded. Sawyer opened the door and climbed through the door in an uncomfortable and odd way. He situated himself, rolling his shoulders around and back into the seat while motioning his hips in a slight sideways motion to get a feel for the ride.
“Only years?” Connor questioned.
“Well, yeah,” Sawyer said gesturing with both hands, “evidently I wasn’t always the local Sasquatch,” He then added. Connor made sure to keep his camera rolling.
“When did you?” Connor asked, poking softly at the notion. There was a momentary pause presumably for thought.
“You know, I went to the local college too. I would have been in the graduating class like two or so years ago? But, it’s hard to adapt and I certainly struggled,” He thought for a moment, he wasn’t somber in his words but he certainly was careful, “as a kid, I didn’t have a stable home life. I was in and out of foster care and the system never really worked out for me so I’d end up running a lot when I was very young,” He paused again, “It was those three to four hour stretches of time, just me and the woods before the search party would find me. That was when I was at my most peaceful,” He chuckled with only a twinge of pain, “So at school, I started to flunk some classes, didn’t get along with the roommate, had minimal success finding friends, so I did what I knew would make me feel safe and in control,”
“You ran?” Connor added.
“And here we are,” Sawyer said with a nod of the head.
The car came to a stop on a side street not far from the center of town. It was time.
From afar Connor watched as Sawyer darted off into the depths of civilization.
Frankly, he stuck out like a sore thumb. He moved through the sidewalks like a banshee, swaying from side to side in an attempt to avoid sight lines despite it being broad daylight with cars passing.
Eventually he came to a juncture. He must cross the street. He cautiously stood up and rounded the corner he was braced behind. He fixed up his walk and stature like a drunk would do to pass a sobriety test. He pressed the button at the crosswalk and waited for a moment. A lady walked up next to him and looked him up and down. Wiping some grime from his chin he nodded at her with a big smile. As he looked forward the crossing light switched and he made his way forward as she stood in shock.
In her stagnancy she raised her phone and snapped a picture, a picture which would change the course of this mission. Strutting forward with a newfound sense of false confidence Sawyer rounded the corner of the building and dipped inside the pizza shop of his liking.
While inside phones of those all around the town square began to buzz. As Connor stalked from afar he noticed, nearly everyone around the area were looking down at their screens, engulfed in the shock and fear of what they had seen.
Standing a few feet away from Connor one of the local college students stood still on the sidewalk, his eyes buried in his phone.
“Hey, what’s everyone looking at?” Connor asked. The kid glanced up at him, with either fear or excitement, it was hard to tell, gleaming in his eyes he raised his phone to let Connor see.
“The beast,” He said with a sharp swallow. On his phone was an image of the social media account titled, “ForestFreakFindings,” the social media account dedicated to sightings and conspiracies of Sawyer. The most recent photo, him at the crosswalk strutting like Bigfoot.
“Oh no…” Uttered Conner now looking up for Sawyer who was oblivious to the hoopla, and now strutting unknowingly into the hordes of likely both adoring but curious fans, and the infancy of fear mongering mob.
