by Jesse Grey
Athena Wheaton walked out of the coffee shop, already exhausted as she impatiently tossed back her double espresso. Working at Arclan had been twice as tiring and stressful than she had anticipated upon taking the job. Managing a fashion boutique in New York was nothing in contrast to working as a nurse at Arclan Asylum.
She kept walking down the street to her car when she noticed a familiar face at the same time they noticed her.
“Athena.” came Adelaide Llewellyn’s velveteen voice, waving at her.
Athena smiled nervously as she saw that Adelaide wasn’t sitting alone outside the quaint coffee shop, but she recognized them. They were both present at the lockdown meeting at Adelaide’s house last week.
“Adelaide, hi.” She kept smiling as she walked over to them.
“Addie.” she smiled back, correcting her. “Would you like to join us?”
She looked at the sunkissed man and dark caramel fleshed woman sitting with Adelaide.
“I wouldn’t want to impose.”
“Please,” The handsome gentleman said, pulling out the chair between Adelaide and himself. “We don’t mind.”
Pushing aside her reluctance, Athena grinned and took her seat with earnest.
“Athena, I know you saw everyone at the meeting, but this is November St. James, Abram and Willa’s mother.”
November put out a hand that Athena shook in an instant. “You can call me Nova, everyone else does.”
Nodding, Athena turned her attention to the handsome man beside her. “And this is Araec,” Adelaide smiled. “He’s one of Mercer’s fathers.”
“Nice to meet you.” Athena grinned.
“Likewise.”
To redirect how uneasy she was feeling, she decided to steer the conversation, looking back to Adelaide once more.
“Did you hear about Kirby?” Athena started.
Adelaide shook her head. “About what?”
“Dagger cleared her from any further interrogations.”
The other parents looked completely floored, the other two looking to Adelaide for answers, which Athena was beginning to figure was the norm, given her lawful employment.
“He didn’t mention anything to me about that.”
“As if he would anymore.” November scoffed.
Adelaide growled in annoyance. “I’m starting to think he took this case just to get under my skin.”
“Do you have history with Detective Dagger professionally?” Athena asked innocently.
Araec guffawed, which preceded angry looks from November and Adelaide. “Sorry.” he apologized hotly.
“Am I missing something?” Athena laughed nervously.
As Adelaide sighed, November took over and answered for her. “Alston, I mean Dagger, and Addie used to date in college.”
“Oh.” Athena spoke softly. “And him taking a case involving your son…”
“He’s driving me crazy.” Adelaide admitted. “It feels like he’s settling a vendetta by being back in town.”
“I bet you regret moving here now.” Araec told Athena, laughing. “What even brought you to Armor Falls?”
Athena cleared her throat before she started. “I desperately needed a job away from Manhattan, so we moved to a town in Maine, where everything was fine for a while. Until it wasn’t. I wasn’t getting anywhere with my fashion background so I applied to jobs using my nursing degree. And when we needed to leave Maine, I used the same method and applied to any and all nursing jobs that could have used another employee.”
“And how did you find Arclan?” November chimed in.
“Google.” Athena breathed uneasily, feeling like how she imagined Kirby must have had with Dagger. “Just searched for nursing homes and mental institutions with good reputations. I applied everywhere, anywhere. The further away from Maine, the better.” she paused to look at all of them, sighing. “I was thinking I was going to get a job in Vermont, but Arclan was the first to call back. So we packed up our lives and found our way to New Hampshire.”
“You didn’t research Armor Falls before moving here?”
Adelaide interjected. “You guys are sounding a lot like Dagger.”
“It’s okay,” Athena assured her, deciding to just get it all out in the open rather than these type of questions coming up any later for her to address. “No, I didn’t research Armor Falls. Once I got off the phone with Arclan and found a place to stay, I was sold. Anything was better than staying in Maine.”
“Did something happen with Kirby’s dad?” Araec asked.
“God, no.” Athena scoffed. “Kirby’s father hasn’t been around since she was a toddler.” Pausing yet again, Athena enveloped another deep breath. “It was just personal affairs.”
“Plenty of that around here.” November nodded.
“Anyway,” Adelaide took a bite of her blueberry scone. “Back to the kids. I did hear about Kirby joining Yearbook though.”
Athena laughed lightly. “She told me this morning. She’s always had a passion for photography. I imagine she’ll do well taking pictures for the yearbook.”
“Are you sure you’re comfortable? I can talk to Thalia about it if you want.” Adelaide told her.
“Why would I? Just because I want to keep Kirby away from the Sumner Shadows case doesn’t mean I want to force her to give up her ambitions. And who’s Thalia?”
“Thalia is the principal at Westbrooke.” November said.
“She can help,” Araec continued. “She has a unique insight into the whole Sumner situation.”
“How’s that?” Athena looked confused.
“Thalia Cobbins is married to Viviane Cobbins.” Araec said.
“And Viviane’s sister is, was, known as Marjorie Cobbins.” November added. “Before Marjorie got married.”
“I’m not following.” Athena said nervously. “Who was Marjorie Cobbins?”
Adelaide looked really distant, as if recalling an old memory about the woman in question. Finally, she locked eyes with Athena.
“Marjorie Cobbins was Sumner’s mother.”
“You have to admit, they are pretty damn cute together.”
Alex and Abram couldn’t help but agree with Bridge as the three of them watched Mercer and Kirby on their picnic date out in the quad. They stood against a brick archway just outside of the cafeteria, feet from the stairs that lead to another entrance into the building, watching as Kirby and Mercer laughed together out in the grass.
“Lord knows what awful decade old jokes he’s telling her.” Bridge rolled his eyes as they leaned against the archway and looked out from in between the brick structure.
“Leave him alone,” Alex laughed. “I think it’s good for Mercer to be seeing someone.”
“I think so too. If nothing else, he needs to get laid.”
“Abe.”
Both Abram and Bridge laughed while Alex brushed them off with a couple of swats. There was a slight disturbance as a pair of easily recognizable faces were readily visible in the distance.
“What’s going on with your sisters?”
Bridge’s question prompted Abram and Alex to look over and see Willa and Faith in a very heated conversation as they headed toward the school parking lot.
“Faith’s been pretty shaken lately,” Alex huffed. “I think she and Straton might have ended things.”
“Yeah, I think they did.” Bridge agreed. “She mentioned it when we snuck out the night before the RV incident.”
Alex’s eyebrows wagged in succession. “Faith snuck out?”
“We were both at Core. I think Straton works there or something.” Bridge shook his head positively.
“Were you meeting Ben there?” Abram asked on impulse. When he saw Bridge’s dazzled expression, he pressed on. “Yesterday you said you were sleeping together.”
“Were being the key word in that statement.” Bridge sighed. “We met at the Heartmyth start of the year party.”
“Whoa, you went back to a Heartmyth party? After everything we
went through at the last one?” Alex chastised.
“I was already so drunk that night, it didn’t even register in my mind. But I met Ben at the party the night before school started. We flirted, we both got really drunk, and we hooked up. I had no idea he was seeing anyone, let alone that he was engaged to Westbrooke’s new guidance counselor.”
“So you told him it was over?” Abram asked.
“Well, there was a slight almost relapse that night at Core.”
“Bridge.”
“Shut up, Alex.” Bridge said sarcastically. “I told Ben yesterday that we were done. Even though he told me he’d leave Paige…”
“Seriously?”
Bridge shook his head. “I’m over it. Ben’s pretty sexy and all, but I’m no homewrecker. My own home is wrecked enough and I’m not gonna do that to someone else.”
“Good,” Abram scoffed. “Ben’s already too involved in my life and with everything going on, we don’t need him invested in yours too.”
“Well I have a paper to research so I’m gonna get my lunch to go.” Bridge finally said. “See you guys later?”
They both said their goodbyes and watched as Bridge headed inside to grab something quick to eat, leaving the pair alone, much to the wandering thoughts of Abram.
“Alex, can I ask you something?”
He smiled at the inquiring gaze that Abram held in his breathtaking blue eyes. “Of course.”
Abram stirred uncomfortably in place. “It’s about your transition.”
Alex’s earlier interest increased rapidly. “Okay.”
“I don’t really know the right way to ask this.”
“Abe, it’s fine. Just ask.”
Laughing to get rid of his swarming nerves, Abram decided to just oblige Alex’s suggestion.
“The night that we first...you know,” Abram cleared his throat. “Your reaction afterwards, did it have to do with you transitioning?”
Without even thinking about it, Alex reached over and grabbed Abram’s hand. The latter shifted a little but he didn’t recoil or resist when Alex squeezed his hand lightly.
“Abe, I know how weird this has been for you, but I don’t regret anything that happened between us, including sharing our first time together.”
“I just...I just wanna make sure your reaction wasn’t because of something I did.”
“Not at all.” Alex smiled. “It was me. You should know that by now. I just felt like something was missing within myself, and that night when we were...together, just helped me to think about why I was feeling the way I was after. You did everything right, Abe.” Alex giggled a little. “More than right.”
Abram snickered at that. “That good, huh?”
They both laughed together, sharing a unique moment in understanding. As they stared at each other and their laughter died down, they realized that they rarely had moments of clarity together since that night in the cemetery. Both of them felt they were too few and far between.
“Hey,” Alex smiled, retracting his hand from Abram’s. “Let’s go grab lunch off campus today. What do you say?”
“I say, lead the way.” Abram laughed.
Back on the quad, Kirby and Mercer were enjoying their picnic date. Kirby almost choked on her garlic chicken as Mercer told her another story about him and his friends.
“The garlic chicken can’t be that bad.”
Coughing a couple more times, Kirby shook her head. “No, the food is amazing. I just can’t believe that Abram used to be a cheerleader.”
Mercer laughed. “He was actually pretty good, even if he and Sumner did join the team to meet girls.”
“Did they? Meet girls, I mean.”
“No one serious. Except Lissa.” He winced at his words. “Alex.” Mercer stopped to shovel in another bite of mushroom risotto. “After that, guys were vying for a spot on the squad, as if Sumner somehow made it the new it thing for the guys of Westbrooke to do.”
Kirby sipped her sparkling grape juice. “Sumner seemed to have that effect, from what I’ve heard.”
“He did, definitely. He even convinced Bridge and I to make out at a party once.”
“You and Bridge!?”
“Don’t sound so shocked,” he cackled. “Bridge was totally into me once upon a time.”
Rolling her eyes and grinning, Kirby ate more of the seemingly gourmet food Mercer had brought for them. “You’ll have to thank your dads for lunch. I could probably eat yours if you’d let me.” she laughed again.
“I’m hurt.” Mercer grabbed at his heart, simulating hurt.
“Why?”
“Because I made all of this. By myself.”
She regarded him with wide mesmerized eyes. “You did?”
“Absolutely. My dads taught me it’s important to know how to cook.” He gave her a small smile. “You never know who you’ll be trying to impress.” Kirby smiled at him through her juice as she felt Mercer’s hand graze hers. “So, how am I doing?”
“I gotta say, I’m pretty blown away. I didn’t expect fivestar cuisine from you, Mercer.”
He laughed and scoffed at the same time. “I must be doing something right because you haven’t called me Meadows once today.”
“Yeah, I may have to put that one on hold for a while.”
They stared into each other’s eyes, smiling as Mercer closed the space between them for a possibly quick kiss when Alex came running up to them, almost mowing both of them over. Mercer had to throw himself backwards to avoid Alex’s skidding, just missing all of their food.
“Alex, what the hell?”
“I’m really sorry.” he said to them. “But Merce, you have to come quick, before someone sees.”
“Is everything okay?” Kirby questioned quickly.
“Mercer.” The urgency in Alex’s voice was alarming them both further.
“Stay here?” Mercer asked Kirby, whom just nodded, looking confused. “I’ll be back.”
Alex began running toward the school parking lot and Mercer had to push himself to keep up with him. As they approached the parking lot, Mercer saw Abram leading Bridge in the same direction.
“What’s going on?” Bridge yelled over to Mercer.
“Wondering the same thing.” he screeched back.
Alex and Abram led them over to where Mercer had parked his Jeep and where Alex had parked the car he shared with his sister. Mercer and Bridge saw why their friends had been so adamant that they see what was before them so soon.
On Alex’s windshield was a red inked message scrawled in huge letters that said STOP LOOKING. They realized the rest of the message was scribbled on Mercer’s windshield, where the scratchy letters spelled START CONFESSING.
A cackle of laughs erupted nearby, causing all of them to turn at the clueless freshmen, glad that they weren’t looking in their direction and hoping that no one had already seen the ominous message from someone who obviously knew something that had happened that night.
Faith hurled herself out of Willa’s car before it had even rolled to a stop at Heartmyth. Willa had to hurriedly throw her car into park so she could run after her emotionally charged friend as Faith stormed into a prestigious university to wreak havoc.
“Faith!” she called after her as they stomped around one of the Heartmyth dorms.
Willa finally caught up to her, grabbing Faith’s hand and pulling her back. Luckily, for a moment at least, Faith humored her and allowed Willa to eliminate her momentum.
“Can we just take a minute to think about this?” Willa begged.
“There’s nothing to talk about, Willa. This is happening.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have shown you that picture, but I wanted to show you before I showed the police.”
“And I appreciate it, I really do. But I have this under control.”
Faith pulled out her phone for a second, seemingly typing away, before quickly sliding it back in her jeans as she treaded through the dorms once again, Willa sighing and cursing herself as she ga
lloped to keep up with Faith and her wrath of a runway walk.
They were just nearing Straton’s dorm room when they turned a corner and ran right into Straton’s roommate.
“Oh, Jesus. Faith, you scared the shit out of me.” The chiseled jawed ginger laughed it off.
“Hugo, where’s Straton?” Faith seethed.
“Cafe, I think.” Hugo answered. “Everything okay?”
Faith didn’t answer him, instead choosing to turn around and head toward the Heartmyth cafeteria, Willa hot on her stilettos.
Willa tried to grab her attention, but Faith wretched her hand away as she found her way through Heartmyth until she pushed through the double doors of the cafeteria.
A few heads flew in their direction, but otherwise things didn’t seem amiss until Faith spotted Straton over the cafe looking for a place to sit. All Willa could do was spectate in solemn as Faith stomped over to him and flipped the tray out of his hands as more attention fell in their direction, Willa running over to them as food lined the floor.
“Faith, what the fuck!?” Straton bellowed.
“You lied to me!” Tears came to Faith’s eyes quickly, gathering like pools of grief that bubbled against her irises. “You made me think I was crazy about you knowing Sumner when you actually did!”
“I didn’t—”
“Stop lying!” Faith reached into the purse that was slung on her shoulder and pulled out the photo of him with Willa and Sumner, holding it up for him to see, where memories flashed in his eyes. “I want the truth. Now.”
Willa looked around and every single eye was on them, which Straton must have noticed too because he was steering Faith outside of the cafeteria. She followed them to just outside the doors of the cafeteria, away from all the college eavesdroppers.
“Tell her the truth, Straton.” Willa spoke up.
Straton nodded, looking from Willa and back to Faith, who quickly wiped away new tears with the back of her hand.
“Yes, I knew Sumner.” Straton blurted out, beginning his tale. “But it’s not what you think.”
“You were friends with Sumner.” Faith said it as a statement rather than proposing it as a question.
“Yes. No.” he sighed. “We met at last year’s Heartmyth start of school party. He was hitting on some freshman girls I knew and we started talking and we hung out a couple times before he brought your brother and his friends to the party the night he went crazy. And…” Straton sighed again, looking completely forlorn. “And the reason I was so afraid to tell you was because…he came to see me.”
Both Willa and Faith looked taken aback in the worst way.
“You’ve seen Sumner since he’s been spotted back in town?” Willa gawked.
“Sort of,” Straton looked worried, acknowledging Faith again by locking his eyes with hers. “Look, I can explain everything just...don’t take that picture to your mom and the police.”
Faith’s earlier sorrow was quickly replaced with anger and resentment. She gave him a smirk before she pulled out her phone, which had apparently been on since she had taken it out of her pocket earlier in the hall when they had been searching for Straton.
“Did you catch all of that, Mom?”
Both Willa and Straton’s eyes expanded in surprise when suddenly Adelaide Llewellyn rounded a corner and came up to them, another officer tagging along beside her.
“Thanks for the tip, sweetheart.” her mom said, asking the officer with her to grab the picture and take it as evidence as she stared into Straton’s eyes. “Mr. Jacobs, would you mind coming down to the station to answer some questions?”
Alex was the last one to arrive at Armor Falls Police Station. Fear throbbed against his head as he burst through the doors of the establishment. The first person he saw was Faith, who pulled him into a quick embrace as the Llewellyn twins held onto each other tightly.
“Alex, I’m so sorry.” his sister said as they pulled apart. “I had no idea that Straton was withholding any kind of information about Sumner.”
He dismissed her with the flick of his wrist. “I know you had nothing to do with this. Hell, I don’t really know what Straton even said to you. Just that Dagger called me down here.”
Nodding, Faith gestured over toward the hallway that led to the interrogation rooms. “Everyone else is waiting for you back there. They’ve already questioned Willa about finding the picture.”
“I’ll catch up with you later?”
Alex gave his sister a smile before he left her in the lobby and headed back toward the interrogation rooms, where he found his friends talking with Dagger in a room just in front of a twoway mirror looking into the interrogation room, where Straton sat alone, awaiting questioning.
“Ah,” Dagger said as they all regarded Alex. “And the little unit is complete.”
“What’s going on?”
“This is unorthodox, but I want the four of you to listen in on Straton’s questioning.”
“Why?”
“He wants us to know Straton’s story and to tell him if what he says sounds like the Sumner we’ve been telling him about.” Abram explained. “Or if we know anything about what he’s about to say.”
“I just need your insight to really crack this investigation.” Dagger concluded. “Hopefully what Straton has to say will bring us one step closer to finding Sumner.”
Dagger left them alone in the room as he entered the interrogation room, where Straton snapped to attention immediately.
“What did they ask Willa?” Alex asked Abram.
He shrugged out of annoyance. “Basically just asked her why she didn’t mention the StratonSumner connection until now.”
“She said she didn’t even remember him all that much until he showed up the first day of school to surprise Faith.” Bridge continued.
“First the message on our cars and now this.” Alex sighed.
“There’s more,” Mercer sparked his concern. “The picture of Willa with Sumner and Straton was signed.”
“Signed?”
Abram scoffed. “It was signed with a single letter.”
“Which was?” Alex inquired.
“S.” The three of them said together.
Alex’s shock was swallowed up by the fact that Dagger was beginning to question Straton, causing them all to turn to the twoway mirror and listen in on their conversation.
“Alright, Straton. You’ve said that Sumner has visited you recently. When?”
Straton sighed deeply, a rocky cavern between his lungs. “I’ll tell you the whole story, but I had nothing to do with Sumner coming back into town. I’ve just gotten caught up in the wake of Sumner’s second coming.”
“Enough excuses, Jacobs.” Dagger said, getting agitated already. He stopped his usual pacing around the room, eyes tearing tunnels through Straton. “Tell me about the night Sumner Shadows paid you a visit.”
His phone rang loudly for about the fifth time in an hour, eliciting a loud groan from Straton as he rolled over and grabbed his phone on the other side of his bed. As he quickly checked his screen and saw that it wasn’t his girlfriend Faith but rather a foreign and unfamiliar number, he silently thanked God that his roommate was out at a party. He was sure Hugo would have shattered his phone by now with its persistent wailing, especially as the night crept closer to midnight. Straton turned his phone off rapidly, rolling back over to get some sleep and hoped he wouldn’t be interrupted anymore.
Until there was a loud, obnoxious rapping on Straton’s dorm door. He swore under his breath as he ripped his sheets off his bed, revealing his naked chest, naked save for his navy blue boxer briefs.
“Hugo, you gotta remember your key, dude.”
Fully expecting to see a totally wasted Hugo, Straton had to swallow a scream when he opened the door and saw Sumner standing on the other side, looking manic and ridden with homicidal desolation.
His clothes were also stained with drying blood.
“Sumner!?” Straton looked out into the hall,
glad to see that no one was stirring in the hall currently. “Where the hell have you been? Why are you at my dorm? And is that blood?”
Sumner had a crazy look in his eyes. He looked petrified and utterly afraid of something as he looked down at his blood splattered white tshirt and the dried, cakey blood lathered on his hands before he looked at Straton again.
“I’m in trouble, Straton. I need your help.” Sumner’s head turned frantically to scan the hallway for onlookers, but he didn’t meet any new faces.
“I’m not doing anything but calling the police. You tried to kill your friends, Sumner!”
Sumner’s eyes welled with fear. “You don’t understand. I’ve been away from New Hampshire. And something happened.” Tears fell down his usually perfectly controlled face, turning his features fiercely dark. “Straton, something’s wrong. I don’t know what happened, where this blood came from.” He leaned in closer toward Straton. “I think someone’s plotting against me. I think someone is trying to make me think that I’m crazy.”
Straton shook his head. “No. No, I’m calling the police. You shouldn’t have come here. You should be in jail.” he said severely.
“No, please!” Sumner begged, clutching at Straton’s arm and holding on with incredible strength that set Straton’s teeth on edge. “Straton, my friends don’t know the truth about what happened the night in the cemetery.”
“Goodbye, Sumner. I’m not getting caught up in all of this.”
“You already are,” Sumner cried, releasing his arm. “By dating Faith.”
Alarms and red flags had nothing on how uneasy Sumner’s words had struck him at that moment.
“How do you know about that?” Straton demanded to know.
Sumner’s emotions were suddenly clear and sharp, tears no longer coating his cheeks or even on the horizon in his eyes, as if everything up to that point had been a very wellrehearsed front. “I’ve made a couple stops to Armor Falls before tonight.” Sumner then went back to wearing a veil of worry over his face, yet another counterfeit illustration of emotions. “Tonight, something happened. Something bad.”
“Tell the police,” Straton was putting his foot down. “Stick around, I’ll call them for you.”
A sinister look glazed over Sumner’s earlier facade of terrified innocence. “Be that way.” All too suddenly, Sumner pushed Straton back inside of his dorm room, staining Straton’s bare chest with blood. “One day, I’ll cash in this rejection for something...far more rewarding on my end.”
“Sumner, what are you gonna do?”
He let out a cackle that brought the hair on the back of Straton’s neck to attention, troops saluting a farewell to his better judgment. “You’ll know when I take my withdrawal, Jacobs. Until then,” Sumner laughed menacingly again. “Sweet dreams.”
Before a response died in the back of his throat, Straton watched as Sumner ran down the dorm hallway, vanishing once again from the residents of Armor Falls like a tangled vapor with salt slicked razor tendrils ready to strike its next waiting victim.
Sumner’s former friends stared in complete disbelief as Straton finished his confession, leaving not only them but also Dagger utterly void of a response at first.
“So let me just try and wrap my head around this,” Dagger breathed cautiously. “A bloody, distraught Sumner Shadows pleaded for your assistance involving...what?”
“I don’t know. Sumner said his friends didn’t know the truth about the night they were attacked.” Straton nodded. “And then he said something bad had happened that had gotten him covered in blood.” he sighed. “He made it seem like someone was messing with him, making it look like he was doing something that he wasn’t.”
“And you believed him? Is that why you didn’t tell the police about your little runin with a wanted fugitive?”
“Sumner tried to kill his friends, detective.” Straton shook his head. “Of course I didn’t believe him. A month ago, this happened and in that time, nothing came of his threat. So I thought I could just forget about it and he wouldn’t strike. Plus, I was terrified. Of what the cops might assume, yes, but more than that, I was scared of Sumner.” Straton looked like he might be shaking. “He said I’d know when he’d make me pay for shutting the door on him. Now I’m your new suspect in Sumner’s case, right? I’d say I’m well aware that he’s gotten me back.”
“So you think it was Sumner that left the picture for Willa to find?”
“Don’t you?” Straton scoffed. “Sumner’s watching, every last one of us. He wanted to get back at me for turning him away and he’s sufficiently succeeded.”
As Dagger asked Straton a little more about Sumner’s state of mind the night he showed up, the four friends were at a loss of understanding. They all turned away from the mirror and just stared at each other.
“What just happened?” Bridge said, shattering their silence.
Mercer rubbed his temples. “I don’t know which part to try and process first.”
“Why the hell was Sumner covered in blood?” Bridge wondered. “And if it was him outside the RV, could he have saved that blood to soak the stake in?”
“Aren’t we done assuming the RV thing was him? He signed the picture, Bridge. He wanted us to know that the picture was him. He’d have done the same with the RV.” Mercer rebuked.
Abram sighed. “I’m stuck on the part about us. How could we not know something about the attack at the cemetery?”
“I can’t do this.” Alex said, looking away from them. “This is all too...I can’t.”
Withdrawing from his friends, Alex walked out of the room heatedly, leaving for the front of the police station.
“Alex,” Bridge called after him, but Abram shook his head.
“I’ll get him.”
Alex was already flinging open the police station doors, glad his mom, sister, or Willa hadn’t been in plain view to stop him from leaving, when Abram finally caught up with him just outside.
“Alex, wait.” came Abram’s voice from behind him.
“Why can’t we be done with this?” He said, whipping around to meet Abram’s face. “Why would Sumner come back at all? He tried to kill us, and the police never found him. He got away, why come back?”
“I know Straton’s confession raises a lot of questions but—”
“I’m tired of questions. I want answers!” Alex lamented. “We’ll always be those kids that knew Sumner. Our lives will always be interrupted by police investigations and last minute questionings, Abe. I don’t want a life run by the memory of Sumner Shadows.” Alex tried to hold back his anger and sorrow from showing, but tears beckoned against his corneas. “I want the life I had before this, when it was just the four of us. When you and I listened to songs from the eighties and laughed and we weren’t burdened by crimes and alibis.” His emotions steered him now as his cheeks were assaulted by sudden moisture. “I transitioned so I could finally be myself and now I find myself trapped in a life I still have no control over.”
Losing to his sobs, Alex’s crying took over completely, Abram pulling him into a much needed embrace as Alex settled into his familiar arms, silencing his sobs into the taller boy’s shoulder.
“We won’t always be Sumner’s friends, Alex.” Abram said as he traced a pattern on Alex’s back comfortingly. “We will get past this, but in the meantime,” Alex’s hysterics dying down, Abram broke the hug to stare at him, wiping away his tears with a stray finger. “We can’t lose ourselves along the way. We’ll get back to times like before.” he smiled. “There is life after Sumner Shadows. We’ll get there, I promise.”
Alex grinned in spite of the situation. “What would I do without you?”
“Drown yourself in Rocky Road.” Abram laughed.
Agreeing, Alex grabbed one of Abram’s hands. “Thanks for always knowing how to ground me.”
“Anytime.” he smiled back.
Alex enveloped Abram into another hug, squeezing him tightly, feeling completely okay with dealing
with all things Sumner if Abram was by his side through it all. When they broke apart once again, Alex stared into Abram’s blue eyes and glanced at the smile he held, and he didn’t plan to, but all the feelings came rushing up within him like a soda can being shaken and opened abruptly. He was pressing his lips softly against Abram’s before he could stop himself, closing his eyes and savoring the familiar sensation he had missed so much.
The feeling of Abram’s hands on his shoulders brought Alex out of the happy ecstasy, pushing them apart sooner than Alex would have preferred.
“Alex—”
“I still love you, Abe.” Alex cut him off like the quick swipe of a razor blade, blurting out his feelings in an instant, like he'd ripped open a vein. “And I know you still have feelings for me too. That night in the car, before we went to the RV, I felt it. Don’t tell me you didn’t feel it too.”
“Stop.”
“I know this is complicated, I know it’s not what you’re used to, but we were so good, Abe. We can be Abe and Liss again.” He grabbed for Abram’s hand, elated that his former flame had let such an act transpire.
“Alex.”
“I’m still the same person I’ve always been—”
“No!” Abram pulled his hand back, breaking the last of the physical contact still remaining between them. “No, it’s not the same. It will never be like before because we’re not Abe and Liss anymore. I’m still Abe, but you’re Alex now. I’m happy for you, I really am, but things have changed.”
“Abe.”
“I didn’t hear from you for five months!”
Mercer and Bridge walked out of the police station, instantly ending their conversation as they made their way over to them.
“Tell them I had to go.” Abram said. “I’ll text Willa to come out and take me home.”
“Abe—”
“Goodnight, Alex.”
Abram started walking toward Willa’s car as Bridge and Mercer came up to Alex, looking perplexed.
“What’s going on?” Bridge asked.
Alex wiped away fresh tears as he watched Abram walk away, too hurt to explain in detail.
“Nothing,” he finally said. “Nothing at all is going on.”
9
WHERE SHADOWS DWELL