Page 78 of Wandering in Darkness
“But my eyes were on the guy’s grandson, and I remember Arthur looking over at me and going, ‘Your eyeballs are going to fall out of your head if you don’t stop trying to get his attention. How about if you win this competition, I’ll get you a date with him.’ I was so embarrassed and worried, but he couldn’t have given a single shit.”
“Did you win it?” Grayson asks.
“I fuckingdemolishedthe competitionandhe got me a date with the guy. The guy was super boring, though, and really only sexy to look at… like you.”
Grayson laughs. “Man, these compliments just keep rolling in.”
I grin. “You’re welcome. I’ve left all traces of kindness behind and have resorted to being evil. I think it fits my image better.”
“Understandable. You’re a very handsome bad guy.”
“Thank you. I appreciate that,” I say as I head off into a field.
“Oh, this is really a thing. Like you weren’t joking. Do I get to say goodbye to my family first?”
“I don’t know if we have time for that. I was hoping to be back in bed by three.”
“Okay, maybe you can tell them for me. Uhhh… tell my mom that spaghetti isn’t actually my favorite food but I’m too afraid I’ll hurt her feelings to tell her myself. As for my father, tell himthat I know he cheats every time we play cards. And then tell my sister that I’m the favorite even in death.”
“Got it,” I confirm as we reach the tree line. There really aren’t many trees, only a scattering of four or five that the farmer had decided to let grow up in his field. I stick the shovel into the dirt and scoop out my first bit.
“Oh man, this is so much work,” I say as if one scoop is impossible to tackle alone.
“Here, I’ll do it,” Grayson offers before he takes over.
“Oh, how kind of you.” Grinning, I step back and lean against a tree while he digs a hole. I just watch and wait.
“I’m just going to dig a small hole. My hope is you can only bury my body so at least my head is free and maybe someone will notice me.”
“That’ll work,” I say as I watch Trav wander in the dark, sniffing the ground and looking for wildlife he can fuck with.
After several minutes, I take the shovel from Grayson and poke at the hole a bit with the shovel, then I set the shovel next to Grayson, like I’m trying to measure how deep we have to go for him to fit.
“Can you stand in it a little? Just want to make sure I’m on the right track,” I say.
He steps into the hole and looks at me. It’s only big enough for his feet and ends partway up his ankles.
I heave a heavy sigh. “This is going to take a while.”
“It is.”
“I’m an impatient man. Alright, get out. I guess you can hang around a little longer.”
“You’re so selfless.”
“You’re welcome.”
I sit down in front of the hole, and, looking uncertain, Grayson sits down in front of it as well. I pull a small coin out ofmy pocket and flick it toward him. He catches it and stares at it for a moment. “This is Tate’s?”
“Yeah. Lucky coin. He told me if he had it on him, he was always safe. His grandma declared it, so it must be true,” I say. “I can’t hold on to it anymore. Every time I see it… it just makes me feel sick. How long had the lies been going on? Was it from the start? Was all of this orchestrated by Devon from the beginning? That day Lt. Allen called me at college, telling me shit about how I was the best of the best and he couldn’t use anyone on active duty because they weren’t good enough… was it a lie from that day?”
“Yes. I didn’t know it either, though. I didn’t know until recently.”
“I should have known. I should have fucking known that the military wouldn’t… pull me back in like that. But I was so desperate for something. I never had a family until I joined, and when I left, I felt like I left my family. I felt like I finally found people and then I left, so when they came calling, I ran back. It’s so foolish now that I think about it. None of it makes sense.”
“All of us were naïve, Cal. Not just you. Lt. Allen was my commanding officer. Why would I ever expect him to be lying to me about something?”
“So Lt. Allen really is involved. All that bullshit about him not knowing… he’s involved and that’s what you’re doing, isn’t it?”
