Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69895 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
“It’s not scary,” he promised. “Just a little bit spooky. Atmospheric, really.”
Bram nodded, and Zachary sank onto the couch beside him.
The movie was about children, but with each swell of ominous strings or camera tracking around a dark corner, Bram felt himself getting more and more tense.
It was a physical reaction—an involuntary cringing back in the face of something that seemed about to hurt him at any moment.
After twenty minutes, Zachary pressed pause.
“Too scary, huh?” he said.
“Huh? No, no. Um. Well. Yeah. Yes. Yep, too scary. God, sorry!”
Zachary laughed. “It’s okay. I kind of like that you’re so affected by all the musical cues and angles and stuff. I’m so inured to them mostly that I forgot how fun it is to watch with someone who doesn’t know the vocabulary.”
“I’m just sitting here waiting for something horrible to happen. It’s like...like getting dumped. You know something’s off even though your partner’s acting like everything is fine. Then one day, the hammer falls and you realize why you’ve felt wrong.”
“Oh.” Zachary seemed to think about that for a minute. Then he said softly, “I’ve been dumped but it was always after just a few dates.”
“It feels almost cruel,” Bram said. “The movie, I mean. Like its goal is to torture you.”
Zachary shook his head. “But that’s the thing. If you enjoy it, it’s not torture, it’s...”
“Masochism?” Bram joked.
Zachary frowned.
“I was just kidding. Sorry if I—”
Zachary waved his apology away. “Okay, but listen. The way you feel about horror movies? That’s how I feel about exercise. Like, those people who glorify sports training or military training? Running until you vomit? Doing a ropes course in the mud until you’re so physically exhausted you collapse. Listening to a coach or a drill sergeant bark orders at you like they’re encouraging you to shut off your own brain or awareness of your body and only listen to their commands? That’s torture to me. That’s masochism. Yet people voluntarily submit to it and our culture glorifies it. I don’t want to watch a movie about some teenager training past the point of pain every day to go play a game where he slams other kids’ heads into the ground. It’s unbearable.”
“Never really thought about it like that before.”
“Sure, because sports stars are heroes and fascist militarism is lauded in our culture. People who like horror movies are told they’re messed up for liking them, whereas people who like football get the message that they’re normal.”
A dozen other examples came to mind and Bram nodded, realizing Zachary was right.
Zachary stood and ran his fingers along the titles in the cabinet, then plucked out and swapped the disks.
“I think this will be more to your liking.”
The Wizard of Oz, the titles announced. Bram relaxed.
“I don’t know,” he said with a wink. “When that scary witch comes on you might have to hold my hand.”
Bram had been kidding. Had been flirting, really. But when the Wicked Witch of the East appeared on the screen, a cool, soft hand slid into his. Zachary kept his eyes on the film, but he squeezed Bram’s hand and didn’t let go until she’d disappeared in a puff of smoke. Then he turned to Bram with soft eyes.
“You doing okay?”
Bram felt something important liquefy in his gut and swallowed hard.
“I’m doing great.”
Zachary kept looking at him and all Bram wanted in that moment was to pull him close and kiss those full lips. “Um,” he said instead. “Does this mean our prank war is over?”
Zachary smiled, warm and delighted.
“Not a chance in hell.”
Chapter Ten
Zachary
Finally, everything was coming together. Zachary had spent the whole day putting up the first layer of what would be his Halloween decorations, and all was going to plan. It didn’t look like much at the moment—the first layer never did—but Zachary saw it all in his head.
The idea had been inspired by his friend Wes’ experiments with bioluminescence. It was derived from undersea creatures, and was what gave the depths of the ocean their eerie glow. So Zachary designed a concept that would take place under the sea. He was calling this year’s Halloween installation “Ghost Ship.” The challenge was in lighting the display so it was visible in the dark, while still maintaining the illusion of an absence of light. But Zachary Glass thrived on a challenge.
And this year, he wasn’t just thinking about his display. He was also about thinking of ways to prank Bram.
Bram.
Zachary had spent a lot of time thinking about him lately. He’d been surprised when Bram showed up at his house the other day, but it had led to one of the most enjoyable evenings he’d had in some time. Bram had seemed to see what he was doing with his designs and to be genuinely impressed. Zachary smiled remembering his wide blue eyes and his lips parting around “Wow” over and over again.