Falls the Shadow (Sparrow Falls Book 2)

by Justine Sebastian

  Aaron looked up, saw Tobias watching them and jumped like he had been shocked. He saved face by flipping Tobias the bird with both middle fingers then stomped off, yanking at Jason’s shirt sleeve in a clear let’s move this along gesture.

  Tobias looked toward Glynn’s to check on Dawn Marie who was still waiting on her order. She blew smoke rings up at the merciless blue summer sky, rivulets of sweat running down her cheeks and the side of her neck like clear, dripping lacquer. She casually reached beneath her shirt and scratched her left breast, unaware of the leering man that walked by her just as she did so. Tobias pressed his mouth into a thin line, attention turning toward him. Like Aaron, the man jumped then hurried away, looking over his shoulder as he went. Tobias tilted his head and made an ugh sound in the back of his throat when brown recluse bite to the left eyelid skittered through his mind on itching little legs. That’s what you get for going hunting, getting drunk and passing out next to a deadfall though. November looked to be a bad month for that unsavory gentleman.

  He turned his attention back to the scarred top of the picnic table; he’d had his fill of people-watching for the time being, there was nothing good on and he found he would rather enjoy his large order of fries, aka, supper, in peace from there on out. Tobias only had a few fries left to eat and was working on that with steadfast contentedness when a shadow fell over him.

  “Hey.”

  Tobias ignored the voice; if he didn’t recognize the voice of Dawn Marie, Hylas or their father and occasionally one of the former two’s friends, Tobias understood that it was a waste of time. He ate another fry instead, compared the stack of fried potatoes to the ranch and realized the ranch-to-fry ratio was uneven.

  “Excuse me, dude. Hello?”

  A light touch on Tobias’s shoulder drew him up and he turned his head to look at the young man standing behind him. He was soaked through with sweat, long hair matted and clinging to his wet, flushed cheeks. The well-worn black wife-beater he was wearing clung to his thin body, the wet cotton molding itself to his shape. The bare skin between the tattoos on his arms was lobster red and would soon be painful. He was holding an empty water bottle and licking at a split in the corner of his mouth.

  “Are you talking to me?” Tobias asked. People crossed the street to avoid him and would not even look him in the eye nine times out of ten, so he was taken by surprise.

  “There’s no one else around,” the man said, waving the hand holding the water bottle to indicate the immediate area of the park.

  Tobias looked around and saw that he was right, everyone in the near vicinity had moved on. He was not surprised, that sort of thing happened all the time.

  “So it seems,” Tobias said. “What can I do for you?”

  “Can I sit down?” the man asked.

  Tobias raised his eyebrows; there were quite a few unoccupied tables to choose from, two on either side of Tobias, in fact. Still, he gestured to the bench opposite him.

  “If you’d like,” he said.

  “Thanks.” The smile that lit up the young man’s face was very pretty, there and gone again almost as soon as it arrived.

  When he sat down across from him, Tobias realized he had cracked the scab on the split at the corner of his mouth. It oozed red, violently bright against his fair skin. Tobias passed him one of his napkins. The guy took it and started to blot the sweat off his forehead with it, but Tobias shook his head.

  “It’s for your mouth,” he said. “It’s bleeding.”

  “Oh,” the man said. “I’m sorry.”

  “No need to apologize to me,” Tobias said.

  “Okay,” the man said as he gingerly blotted his mouth. He closed his eyes, swaying in his seat. “Jesus. I feel sick.”

  “What’s the matter?” Tobias asked. It seemed the polite thing to ask, after all.

  “I’m so fucking hot,” the man said. “Like, I feel like my insides are melting and getting all gooey and crap. I walked for… I dunno. A long time.”

  “Where did you walk from?”

  “From uh… out around Stony Point, I think,” the man said. “That’s what the sign on the road leading to the highway said.”

  Tobias raised his eyebrows. “That is a long way to walk in this heat.”

  “Yeah. Well. It’s wasn’t supposed to be that long. He said it wasn’t. Guess he, whatchacallit, underestimated. Over. Whatever.”

  “Clearly,” Tobias said. “Yet you carried gamely on.”

  “Shit,” the man said. “By the time I realized how far it really was, I was already halfway here, so I said fuck it.”

  “Intrepid, too,” Tobias said. Foolish as well, he thought.

  “I don’t know what that means, but… Thanks, I guess,” the man said.

  “You’re welcome,” Tobias said. “Would you like some more water?”

  “You got some?”

  “Here.” Tobias passed him one of the bottles he had bought earlier to take with him to work that evening. They weren’t cold, but at least they were wet.

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” The man grabbed the bottle of water with shaking fingers and unscrewed the cap. He spilled it all down his chin and neck, water soaking through his already wet shirt.

  “Do you have a name?” Tobias asked.

  “Yeah, of course,” the man said. He was still gasping after his long drink, breathless, mouth wet and shining in the bright sun. “Everybody’s got one of those.”

  Tobias smiled and tilted his head. “And what is your particular name?”

  “Mooncricket,” the man said, smiling back.

  “Moon… cricket…” Tobias steepled his fingers beneath his chin, still smiling, but now at the absurdity of such a name. “And what is the name you were born with? You look like a Tristan to me.”

  Mooncricket stared at him, throat working, fingers clenching against the plastic water bottle so hard it crackled and the sides popped as they dimpled inward.

  “What the fuck? No one’s called me that in years,” Mooncricket said. “I mean… like… years, for real. How the hell did you know that?”

  “Useless talent,” Tobias said with a shrug. “I didn’t mean to alarm you.”

  “You didn’t,” Mooncricket said. “I mean, it’s freaky as shit, but not alarming really. Just. Damn. I knew you looked interesting when I saw you sitting here.”

  “That is a rather uncommon reaction to my presence,” Tobias said.

  “Why? I mean, shit, dude, you don’t even look real. I’m all over that, ya know?” Mooncricket said. “I thought you were a carving or something at first, like one of those public art piece things.”

  “I might know a little, sure,” Tobias said. It wasn’t the first time someone had said he looked unreal. It was just that often people didn’t seem to like that about him any more than they liked anything else. “You’re rather sculptured yourself.”

  “Yeah. I hear that sometimes. Pretty as a picture and stuff like that. Shit’s tired, man.” Mooncricket smiled, but it was not an altogether happy smile.

  “I am sure it’s exhausted,” Tobias said.

  “Huh?” Mooncricket blinked at him, head tipped to the side, eyes narrowed in thought. Then he laughed. “Oh, yeah. Shit’s tired. Gotcha. Not what I meant though. I meant—”

  “I know, I was making a joke. I’ve been told I’m rather awful at that.”

  “You could use some work, yeah,” Mooncricket said. He drank more water. “So, hey, not to be nosy or nothin’, but why are you all dressed up? Aren’t you hot?”

  “No,” Tobias said. “I am not hot. To answer your other question, I am dressed up because I am going to work shortly.”

  “Cool, I guess,” Mooncricket said. “What do you do?”

  “I’m an undertaker and assistant director at a Greene’s Funeral Home here in Sparrow Falls,” Tobias said. For a town that size, there were lots of funeral homes and the cemeteries to match. “I would say you should come visit us sometime, but I fear that would be mis
construed.”

  Mooncricket thought about that a moment then snorted soft laughter.

  “Maybe I will come visit you one day,” he said. “Coffins don’t scare me.”

  He didn’t sound at all like he was joking and it confused Tobias: Did he mean he might drop by or did he think he might die soon? The boy, pretty as he was, did look a little rough around the edges, like he had been ill-treated much of his life. The split in the corner of his mouth was fresh, but the bruise around his eye was faded. Layers of injuries, one after the other. Tobias could sense a pattern there, he thought he might be looking at the marks and remnants of that pattern.

  Tobias decided it would be prudent not to pursue that line of conversation. His social skills were lacking, but they were not so bad he didn’t understand how rude it was to pry into a stranger’s personal life in such a way.

  “I like your tattoo,” Tobias said, gesturing to the great horned owl perched on the top of Mooncricket’s arm. It stared out from his skin with huge amber marble eyes, watchful and cruel.

  “Thanks,” Mooncricket said. “It’s one of my first tats. I got it back when I had a job, so it’s kinda more like… ya know… elaborate, I guess.”

  “It’s very nice.”

  “I’ve always liked owls,” Mooncricket said. “You got any tattoos?”

  “Me? No,” Tobias said. “My brother has a couple though.”

  “Your brother look anything like you?” Mooncricket’s smile was… What was it? Tobias thought about it for a moment and determined that it was flirtatious. How interesting.

  “Yes and no,” Tobias said.

  He and Hylas were fraternal twins, but they bore a close resemblance to one another in regards to their facial features, height and body type. They had the same hair color, though Hylas kept his shorter and looked like he didn’t often bother to brush it. It was really a result of his sudden and frequent bouts of napping; genuine bed-head that he didn’t have to work at for hours with styling products. Their eyes were different colors; Tobias’s black and Hylas’s deep sea blue. Hylas had a rich, warm tan where Tobias looked like an ice sculpture due to the skin condition no one had ever been able to diagnose.

  “If you’re in town long, you’re likely to bump into him. Or trip over him, though I hope not,” Tobias said when he realized the silence had gone on for too long.

  “Trip over him?”

  “Hylas sleeps a lot,” Tobias said.

  “Oookay,” Mooncricket said. “That’s… weird.”

  “He’s adjusted to it fine,” Tobias said.

  “All right,” Mooncricket said. “Well, I hope I don’t trip over your brother or nothin’ like that.”

  “He probably wouldn’t mind,” Tobias said. “Hylas says without accidents, life would be boring.”

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Mooncricket said. His stomach growled loudly and he grinned. “Sorry. But uh… Is there anywhere to eat around here?”

  “Yes,” Tobias said. He pointed to his left. “Just over there is Glynn’s. They make great po-boys. I also have to say that their French fries are excellent.”

  “Cool,” Mooncricket said. He sat at the table another moment, tapping his fingers on the edge. “I should go eat something.”

  “You should,” Tobias agreed just as Mooncricket’s stomach rumbled again. The boy was just shy of being too thin. “It was pleasant speaking with you, Tristan.”

  “Dude, come on,” Mooncricket said. “Call me Mooncricket.”

  “I’ll try,” Tobias said. The name felt wrong in his mouth; not only was it absurd, it was not real. He’d always had trouble with nicknames.

  Mooncricket nodded and stood up. “Thanks for the water,” he said. “And like, if I see you again, would it be okay if I said hello?”

  “Of course,” Tobias said. “I so rarely get to talk to strangers.”

  “Awesome,” Mooncricket said. “Later then.”

  “Farewell,” Tobias said.

  He smiled at Mooncricket who smiled back then turned to leave.

  “Whoa, watch it pretty boy,” Dawn Marie said.

  Tobias heard her voice and looked over toward her. She had her food in hand and looked annoyed, though she slowed down long enough to give Mooncricket a very obvious once-over. Mooncricket smirked at her and strode on his way. Dawn Marie stopped to watch him go, head dipping down to get a better look at his narrow ass.

  “Who was that, Toby?” she asked as she sat down. “Because damn.”

  “That was Tristan.” Tobias cleared his throat. “Excuse me. He prefers to be called Mooncricket.”

  “That’s fucking stupid,” Dawn Marie said as she pulled her po-boy out of the bag. “But I don’t care. I’ll call him whatever he wants me to.”

  “Really, Dawn Marie?” Tobias asked.

  “Well, I’m a slut for pretty boys and thing is, I know like every pretty boy in this town,” she said. “One is like my damn brother though, so that’d be gross and weird even if Hylas didn’t fall asleep on me. Then Nick and Wes are well, taken. With each other. Then there’s you. I mean, there are a few other hot guys around here, but they’re mostly assholes. Like Mike. Mike is an asshole. You know he said he was going to leave his wife for me? How fucked up is that? But anyway. Mooncricket. Tell me more.”

  “There’s not a lot to tell. He sat down and started talking to me,” Tobias said.

  Dawn Marie had been about to take a bite of her sandwich, but she put it down to stare at Tobias. “Seriously?” she asked. “Toby, that’s great.”

  “Is it? It does happen from time to time and usually such individuals are disturbed,” Tobias said.

  “Did he seem disturbed?”

  “No, just sad and perhaps a touch lonely,” Tobias said. “He was also overheated.”

  “So, what, are you trying to tell me the heat fried his anti-Tobias receptors and the poor bastard didn’t really understand what he was doing?” Dawn Marie said. “Because that’s crap, man.”

  “I said nothing of the sort, though it is possible,” Tobias said. “You remember Brittany; she was terrified of me when she was sober, but she absolutely adored me when she was high.”

  “Brittle.” Dawn Marie spat the name out with a twist of her lips. “Brittle was a needle freak, you can’t hold those fuckwits up to any kind of standard. Bitch OD’d like three years ago, did you hear?”

  “No,” Tobias said. “Was it a fatal overdose?”

  “Hell no,” Dawn Marie said. “She OD’d, got clean and found Jesus. Bitch is even more irritating now. I saw her in Papa J’s not too long ago—I swear I told you this—and she cornered me over by the coolers, asking me if I’d heard ‘the good news’. Who fucking talks like that? I hate her. Hate.”

  “Because of Ben, yes, I know.”

  “He left me for that strung-out skank.” Dawn Marie shook her hair back from her face, which then settled back right where it was to begin with. “Then… then he had the nerve to tell me it’s my fault because I’m distant. Me. Distant. So I got close to him.”

  “You hit him with a tea kettle and knocked out three of his teeth, dear,” Tobias said. “I don’t think that was the closeness he was looking for.”

  “Yeah, well, fuck him,” Dawn Marie said. She picked her sandwich up again, contemplating the roast beef po-boy like it held the secrets of the universe. Then she shook herself off. “Whatever, I’m over it. Tell me more about Mooncricket.”

  She took a bite of her sandwich, moaned lewdly and snickered when Tobias frowned at her for it. He lit a cigarette and tried to think of something to say about Mooncricket. There wasn’t much.

  “He has pretty eyes,” Tobias came up with at last. Dawn Marie was a sucker for pretty eyes and her nod said she had noticed that. Mooncricket’s eyes were electric-bright, they did jump out at a person. “He walked here from Stony Point, is apparently staying with someone there because he mentioned a ‘he’ when he was talking about how long the walk was. Said that ‘he’ must have thought it was a sh
orter jaunt than it was or something. He doesn’t think I look real and… Hmm… What else… Ah, yes. He likes tattoos.”

  Dawn Marie glanced back toward Glynn’s, looking for Mooncricket, but not finding him. Tobias thought he must have gone inside, he had been badly overheated and there was air conditioning in the dining room.

  “Maybe I should offer him a ride home,” Dawn Marie said.

  “No,” Tobias said. “We have to work and I don’t like you driving my car.”

  “My driving is not that bad,” she said.

  “Yes, yes it is,” Tobias said. “It’s wretched. That’s why you ruined your brakes so soon, which is why I am driving you around until your car is done at the shop. A major consolation of the entire thing is that at least this way, you won’t be late for work.”

  “Ugh,” Dawn Marie said. “Grandma.”

  “Mhmm,” Tobias said. “I worry, that’s all.”

  “I know you do.” Dawn Marie reached across the table to take Tobias’s hand and give it a squeeze. “Thanks, Toby.”

  “You’re welcome,” Tobias said. He lifted his hand to lick the smear of au jus Dawn Marie had left behind.

  She laughed around a mouthful of food and it made Tobias smile. Dawn Marie was as beautiful as she was trashy and Tobias loved her. It was not quite platonic love, but it wasn’t really romantic either. He didn’t know what to call it, only that it confused him sometimes.

  “So, who do we have on the docket tonight?” she asked, mouth still half full.

  “Ms. Connie Wilson and young Mr. Brandon Mason O’Connor,” Tobias said.

  “The kid that got run over?” Dawn Marie asked.

  “Yes,” Tobias said.

  “Shit,” Dawn Marie said. “Dead kids make me sad.”

  “They all make me a little sad,” Tobias said. “However, we are professionals.”

  “And we soldier on, I know,” Dawn Marie said. “I’ve heard Mr. Greene’s speech, too, you know.”

  “I do know,” Tobias said agreeably.

  “And wait. Isn’t Connie Wilson that woman who was always so goddamn mean to you when we were kids?”

  “Yes,” Tobias said. “She would practically throw my Halloween candy at me when I trick-or-treated at her place.”