Falls the Shadow (Sparrow Falls Book 2)

by Justine Sebastian

  “Why do you do this?”

  Tobias asked because he might not be angry, but he couldn’t stop wondering why when it came to Dawn Marie and the men she chose or the life she led outside of work and her friendship with Tobias. She did drugs, she drank too much far too often for it to be at all healthy or even casual. She put herself in situations where she was likely to get into trouble or find herself endangered in some way.

  Dawn Marie crossed her arms under her breasts and watched the flare and glow of Mike’s brake lights disappearing around the corner.

  “I don’t know,” she said. “Acting out because of behavioral problems due to my shitty childhood?”

  “I had an unpleasant childhood, too,” Tobias said. “I do not ‘act out’.”

  “You had a hell of a time in school and with other people, but at home… man. At home, you were safe and even if you sometimes weirded out your dad and step-mom, they still loved you,” Dawn Marie said. “You had stability.”

  “At home and nowhere else,” Tobias said. “It doesn’t really count for much when you look at it that way.”

  “I’m fucked up, Toby,” Dawn Marie snapped at him. “There. Is that better, Mr. Big Shot? Huh? Do you feel better now?”

  “Not at all,” Tobias said. He slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. The crow leaned around him to take a closer look at her and seemed to decide she was of no interest. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just wish that you would stop. It’s worrisome.”

  “You didn’t upset me,” she said. “Not really. I’m just… just upset. I’m— Hey, there’s somebody standing across the road. I think they’re watching us.”

  Dawn Marie stood away from Tobias as he looked across the road, finally noticing the tall silhouette standing in the parking lot of an empty building that had once housed a finance company. It seemed close proximity to funeral homes, dead bodies and mourners was not an ideal place to run such a business.

  “The fuck’re you looking at asshole?!” Dawn Marie yelled.

  Tobias closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Aaron Talley was not the only person in Sparrow Falls with class to spare. It was one of the things Tobias loved about Dawn Marie though, while he felt Aaron Talley might have benefited from more spankings as a child. Dawn Marie’s tenacity and unwillingness to back down were some of her greatest strengths; they were how she had survived her own particularly brutal childhood. Even when they were bigger and hit harder, she never stopped fighting.

  “Stop it,” he said though in case it was one of the many, many mentally unstable people inhabiting their little corner of Louisiana. “Remember what you always say? Don’t annoy the crazy people.”

  “I am one of the crazy people though,” Dawn Marie said. “So it’s okay.”

  “Hello,” Tobias called across the lot to the figure who was still standing there. He could see now that they were shifting from foot to foot; there was the tiny, glowing eye of a cigarette cherry winking in the darkness. Then it disappeared, spinning down toward the ground.

  Barely audible on the wind, they heard someone say, “Dude. That sucks.” The silhouette tipped its head down, presumably to look at the cigarette it had dropped.

  “What the fuck?” Dawn Marie said. “I think that individual might well be shit-housed.”

  “Likely,” Tobias said. Along with all the crazy people in Sparrow Falls, they had more than their fair share or drunks, druggies and flat-out junkies. Nearly half the town’s population was rotating along on the self-medication go ‘round. He took a deep breath and called out again, “Excuse us, but do you need assistance?”

  What they did not need, especially after the excitement of Mike’s visit, was some drunk and/or high individual bumbling around the funeral home. Sometimes people decided that just the thing they needed was some Thai stick, which they had usually learned about via the internet or a television cop show. To make Thai stick, formaldehyde was needed and what better place to procure such an ingredient than a funeral home.

  “Uh…” That one utterance was long and drawn out. Thinking was hard when you were full of drugs. “Oh. Yeah. Hey, I came to see you. Remember?”

  “What the fuck’s this guy talking about?” Dawn Marie asked. Then, “What the fuck are you talking about, waster boy?”

  “I do believe that is Mooncricket,” Tobias said after a second. “Tristan.”

  “Pretty boy from the park?” Dawn Marie asked.

  “Yes,” Tobias said.

  “Well, shit, why didn’t you say so? Come on over, Mooncricket!” Dawn Marie yelled.

  Oh, what fun this evening is going to be, Tobias thought as he watched Mooncricket make his way over at last, swaying and stumbling, but doing all right. The crow made a disgruntled sound and pecked lightly at Tobias’s cheek.

  “Don’t fuss at me,” he said. “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

  The crow ruffled its feathers and stared at Mooncricket as he came into the light.

  “Hey,” Mooncricket said.

  He smiled and nodded at them even as he crossed his arms around his waist, hugging himself. Mooncricket was wearing a long-sleeved black shirt with a snarling devil on the front of it. It was humid and still in the upper eighties even at night; the heat baking up from the pavement slithered its way beneath the cuffs of Tobias’s trousers like burning worms and Dawn Marie kept scratching her bare legs as the heat prickled them. But Mooncricket shivered, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead. Tobias wondered what he was hiding under his long sleeves and if it could possibly be any worse than the condition Mooncricket’s face was in. Even in the light his face was dark, a mottled patchwork of bruises that made Dawn Marie suck in a breath.

  “Fuck, man, are you all right?” Dawn Marie asked.

  “Huh?” Mooncricket said. He stared at her, stoned and a touch confused. Then he blinked. “Oh,” he said as he lightly touched his face. “Yeah, like, I’m okay. I fell down a couple of days ago.”

  “Did you hit a cinder block when you did?” she asked. “Repeatedly?”

  Tobias cleared his throat and she glanced at him, but did not withdraw the question.

  “Uh…” That long, drawn out utterance again. “No, I, uh… I hit the bumper of his car. Just once though.”

  Dawn Marie looked down at her feet and muttered, “Bullshit,” under her breath. Tobias agreed with her, but said nothing and Mooncricket did not seem to hear her.

  “Who is he?” Tobias asked.

  “Jeremy,” Mooncricket said after a moment spent in thought either trying to remember or (more likely) trying to decide if he should lie about it. “Jeremy Harris. He’s my… uh… you know.”

  “Boyfriend?” Dawn Marie asked. “Wait. Is he that artist guy?”

  “He’s something like that, yeah. Uh-huh, he’s an artist. He makes some really cool stuff, pretty, you know? He sews, too.” He licked his lips and bounced lightly in place, one hand going up to touch his mouth. “Not like old lady shit though. He doesn’t sew that kinda stuff.” He shifted on his feet and looked down at the ground, shoulders hunching up around his ears, long hair slipping over them to gleam in the light. “So, like, what’re you dudes up to?”

  “Working,” Tobias said. “Or rather, I was working and we were about to get back to that.”

  “I saw, you know,” Mooncricket said, lifting his head to look at Tobias. “What happened with that guy.”

  He seemed to realize how that sounded and his eyes got big in his bruised face as he took a step backward like he thought one or both of them was going to hit him.

  Tobias tilted his head to the side, adding it up in his head as he did. Bruises, long sleeves, what seemed like a drug habit if his behavior was anything to go by, some man he lived with whose name he seemed hesitant to even speak aloud. Mooncricket’s habits and learned behaviors were those of someone profoundly damaged; his life did not appear to be a safe and happy one.

  “I can bail out if I’m bothering you.�
� Mooncricket said, looking from Tobias to Dawn Marie and back again. His words said, Sure, I’ll go, but the tension in his body, the anxiousness in his eyes all said, Please, please let me stay for a little while.

  Tobias sighed. He should not do what he was about to do, but if Mooncricket behaved himself and didn’t throw up, he thought it might be all right just this once. Mooncricket obviously was not ready to go home to Jeremy yet and inside Greene’s Funeral Home was much safer than wandering around Sparrow Falls in the dead of night and high as a kite to boot. Tobias had yet to forget the dead young man he’d found in Laylie Park and had no trouble at all picturing Mooncricket in his place.

  “You can stay and visit if you’d like.” Mooncricket’s smile was bright and relieved when he met Tobias’s eyes. Tobias held up a finger. “But you have to behave yourself. Please be respectful and if you feel at all sick by what you’re going to see then step outside and compose yourself.”

  Mooncricket nodded, still smiling, still relieved. “I can do that, man, no problem. Like I said, coffins don’t freak me out.”

  “Do dead bodies?” Tobias asked.

  “Naked dead bodies?” Dawn Marie added helpfully.

  “No, nuh-uh,” Mooncricket said. “It’s cool. I’ve seen pictures like, on the internet.”

  “That is not the same thing,” Tobias said.

  “No, I know, but like, I’ve seen them before and not freaked out,” Mooncricket said.

  Tobias didn’t think he was getting the point that a picture of a corpse on the internet was not at all like seeing a real one, up close and naked. At least Mr. Jackson had died of a stroke, so there was nothing gory about his outside appearance aside from the ashen grey color of his skin.

  “Fine, but remember what I said about feeling sick,” Tobias said.

  “Go puke somewhere else,” Mooncricket said. “Got it.”

  “Good,” Dawn Marie said.

  The crow on Tobias’s shoulder stretched its wings then settled them back again with a rustle of feathers.

  “That is so fucking cool,” Mooncricket said. “I was gonna ask you anyways, but then I forgot, but… What’s with the birds?”

  “Tobias is the bird man of Sparrow Falls,” Dawn Marie said.

  “Seriously?” Mooncricket looked back at the parking lot, at the crows that had yet to re-settle in their tree. Some were on the ground, others perched on Tobias’s and Dawn Marie’s cars. All of them were still as glossy black statues, watching the three people in the doorway. “It’s kinda creepy, but awesome.”

  “Honey, you haven’t known creepy until you’ve known Tobias Dunwalton. He’s the greatest.” Dawn Marie leaned against Tobias, cheek pressed against his arm as she laughed. “God, how stoned are you right now?”

  “Uh… Kinda stoned,” Mooncricket said with another smile. “Not like, nod-levels of stoned, but like, gently stoned. You know. Enough to take the edge off with a little bit extra to make it fun, too.”

  Other than ‘nod’, Tobias had no idea what any of that meant, but Dawn Marie’s responding nod said that she got what he meant. Tobias made a note to ask her to explain that to him later. He sometimes thought he should have done more drugs when he was younger. At least then he would understand what his friend and brother and his brother’s friends were talking about half the time. He’d picked up a lot just by listening to all of them, but some things still escaped him.

  “Come along,” Tobias said after a minute spent watching Mooncricket stare at his own feet while Dawn Marie pressed her mouth against Tobias’s arm to muffle her laughter. “Mr. Jackson will not prepare himself for burial.”

  “Where are you with him?” Dawn Marie asked.

  “I was about to begin the cavity fluid injection,” Tobias said.

  “Do we have a respirator for Mooncricket?”

  “Yes,” Tobias said. “We have a suit, too. It’s Mr. Greene’s, but it should fit Mooncricket.”

  “Cavity fluid?” Mooncricket asked as something finally registered.

  “You’ll see,” Dawn Marie said with a secretive smile.

  Tobias opened the door and walked inside; the dry, frigid air of the room a shock after the evil heat of outside. Dawn Marie and Mooncricket both shivered and said, “Fuck,” at the same time as the cold air hit their hot, sweaty skin. Tobias was not bothered, but he did prefer the cold over the suffocating heat and humidity. The crow shifted on his shoulder and Tobias turned to look at it, only then remembering it was even there.

  “You need to go outside,” he said.

  The crow paid him no mind; it was looking around the room curiously, cataloging and familiarizing itself with the new environment. He walked back to the door, waving at Dawn Marie not to shut it and tapped the bird’s chest lightly. Then he pointed outside.

  “Go on then,” Tobias said.

  The crow flapped its wings and looked as betrayed as a bird could get. It pecked him and cawed, like it was saying, Really? Do I have to?

  “Yes, go,” Tobias said, motioning with his hand again.

  Dawn Marie covered her mouth to stifle a laugh.

  “That’s a bird,” Gary piped up behind Tobias. “That is not allowed. And who’s this guy? Has he received clearance to be in this sector?”

  Mooncricket, who had been watching Tobias argue with the crow, jumped and looked around.

  “Whoa,” he said. “I’m hearing shit, I think.”

  “That’s Gary,” Dawn Marie said. “And yes, Gary, he’s supposed to be here, Tobias said it’s okay.”

  “Hmm… I dunno,” Gary said. “Tobias is not the boss.”

  “He’s second in command,” Dawn Marie said. “Which makes him the boss when Mr. Greene isn’t here.”

  “All right,” Gary said after a minute. “All right. But the bird has to go. I won’t stand for that.”

  The crow looked right at the spot Gary’s disembodied voice was coming from and screeched at him, its caw loud and raucous.

  “Fuck you, too, birdie!” Gary yelled back.

  “Oh my God, dude,” Mooncricket said. “What the fuck’s happening?”

  “I told you, it’s just Gary,” Dawn Marie said. “Chill out.”

  “Who the fuck’s Gary? I don’t see nobody else except the dead guy over there,” Mooncricket said. “He is dead, right? Right? Aw, man.”

  “I’m Gary,” Gary said as he manifested right in front of Mooncricket. “And you’re all beat up. Hello.”

  Mooncricket screamed and fell backward into the long stainless steel worktable that ran along the wall.

  “Holy shit! Holy shit that’s a ghost!”

  “Uh, yeah,” Dawn Marie said. “Gary, meet Mooncricket. Mooncricket, meet Gary.”

  “Hi!” Gary said brightly to Mooncricket who looked like he was about to piss his pants. “We don’t get a lot of visitors here.” He looked over his shoulder at Tobias. “Especially not bird visitors since they’re a health hazard. I’m sure of it.”

  “You really should go now,” Tobias said waving for the bird to please go outside. Things were getting out of hand, he could feel a headache coming on and Gary complaining about the crow all night would surely give him indigestion as well. “I implore you.”

  The crow fluffed its wings, shifted from side to side then pushed off Tobias’s shoulder to fly out into the night once again.

  “Thank you,” Tobias called after it.

  “Fuuuuck,” Mooncricket said as he stared at Gary. He waved his hand out at Gary only to yank it back when Gary yelled at him to get his fingers out his face, thank you very much. “I’m sorry,” Mooncricket said, cringing back from the smoky outline that he saw as Gary. Over time and careful questioning, Tobias had learned that people like Mooncricket and Dawn Marie did not see ghosts the same as he and Hylas did; they weren’t as solid or well-defined, not even the strongest of them like Gary.

  “I’ll forgive you just this once,” Gary said. “You’re new, so you haven’t learned yet.” He looked at Tobias and jerked a thum
b over his shoulder. “Is the bruised cricket staying? I told you, I can smell crickets, but I’ve never smelled one from the moon. It smells kind of like beer and looks like a person. Wait.” Gary looked back at Mooncricket. “Are you an alien? Is this some kind of trick? Did Jesus send you down here to spy on me?”

  Mooncricket worked his jaw back and forth and blinked at Gary. Finally, he simply said, “What?”

  “P.S., Gary’s schizophrenic,” Dawn Marie said as she walked over to the locker to get her respirator. She passed Tobias his and handed him the other to give to Mooncricket.

  “Yeah, that’s what they say anyway,” Gary said. “I don’t know if I believe them. They lie, you know.”

  “We know,” Tobias said as he waved the respirator at Mooncricket to get his attention.

  Mooncricket took it then just looked at it. “What’s this for?”

  “He’s dumb,” Gary announced. “DUMB.”

  “Hush, Gary,” Tobias said. “He’s just learning.”

  “Dumb,” Gary muttered.

  Mooncricket glared at him and Tobias rubbed his temples. He had known this was a bad idea.

  “Gary,” he said sharply. “Stop being rude.”

  “Fine,” he said. “I’m going to talk to Dawn. She’s cooler than you.”

  “That she is,” Tobias said. Then to Mooncricket, “We have to wear the respirators because the chemicals we use for embalming are highly toxic.”

  “Oh, so like, I put it on my face?” Mooncricket asked.

  Gary giggled.

  “Yes,” Tobias said. He took the mask from Mooncricket again. “Here, I’ll help you with it.”

  “Thanks,” Mooncricket said.

  He went to work with the cavity fluid, Mooncricket standing a safe distance away making little groaning sounds of disgust once in a while. While Tobias injected the cavity fluid, Dawn Marie began to rub massage cream into Mr. Jackson’s face. That more than the cavity fluid seemed to do Mooncricket in. He muttered what sounded like excuse me from behind his respirator and lurched toward the outside door. When he pushed it open, the crow flew back inside and Gary shook his fist at it. The crow ignored him as it flew to where Tobias was working and perched on the end of the table beside him.