Page 77 of Wandering in Darkness
“How big of a hole are you going to make with that shovel?”
“I’m not going to be digging a hole, silly.Youare,” I say.
The look he gives me makes me grin, which only concerns him more. “How deep do you want it?”
“Hmm… good question. How tall are you?”
“Six two.”
“Nice! That’s the exact same size as the hole I’m hoping to dig.”
“How deep?”
“I think they recommend six feet, but we might be okay with like two.”
“Will you just promise me that Traveler won’t have to watch when you put me down?” Grayson asks. “Shield his little eyes.”
“Sure. I’ll shield them,” I say as I begin walking. “So… are you still in the military?”
“No. I’ve served my time and couldn’t do more. I was done. I was very much done.”
I look at him in surprise. “I thought you weren’t going to leave? Weren’t you supposed to go overseas? You wanted to dedicate your life to being in the military.”
“I was.”
“What changed?”
“I found something else I’d rather dedicate my life to,” he says as he looks at me, but I refuse to take that as meaning he left for me.
“How long have you been out?”
“Four months now.”
“You didn’t even have enough time to get bored of your new normal life before infiltrating some drug operation,” I say, referring to whatever Ned has going on.
“That’s just a side hobby,” he jokes.
“Side hobbies are supposed to be like video games or reading.”
“Nah. I wanted a bit more spice.”
“What are you going to do with your life now?” I ask. “You know, once you’re tired of being a drug lord’s muscle.”
“I… don’t know yet. I told myself I’d give myself six months to figure that out. And as the days have ticked by… I feel more and more unprepared to face the real world. I’ve spent over half of my life serving. I’m not even forty yet, but I still feel like… I missed out on how to survive outside of it. Do I go to college? Do I go into a field that I could use my specialties in? Do I find myself a rich man to take care of me?”
I grin at that one. “If you find someone, I call dibs.”
“Arthur seems pretty rich.”
I laugh. “It kind of sounds like I’d have to wait until he dies, and a man like him is too mean to die. He’ll be a hundred and ten and wanting to piss on his ex-wife’s grave… I have to assume by then he’ll have finally found a hitman willing to off her.”
“I like him. He seems like a nice guy.”
“He’s the kind of guy where he’s actually an asshole, but because he’s older you just let it slide,” I counter.
“I could see that. But he seems open-minded, despite how evil he is,” Grayson says. “He wanted you to bring me along for dinner.”
“I was so anxious about him finding out I was gay. I… didn’t have any family to talk to. I only had my friends at school and… I don’t know. I wasn’t used to being honest with anyone. And then one day we’re at some shooting competition that he dragged me to because he wanted me to ‘Wipe that smirk off this guy’s face’ because of course he had some beef with some guy who always won the competition.
