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)
“What’s fancy about the popcorn?” Bram asked the group, stomach rumbling.
“It doesn’t come from a microwave,” Wes said. His voice was low and tinged with humor.
* * *
For some reason, Bram had thought of Zachary as a solitary soul, but he seemed to know a lot of the people attending the screening. He’d been introduced to Cameron, Henry’s partner, someone named Marie, whom he’d seen at Matheson’s Hardware but never spoken to, and a smattering of others.
“It’s a small town,” was all Zachary said when Bram mentioned it.
They sat with Adam, Wes, and Gus. Used to his nieces and nephews who preferred running around outside to sitting down, Bram was surprised that the moment the lights dimmed, Gus was fixated on the screen.
Henry, dressed to the nines, red hair slicked into a pompadour, tapped the microphone.
“Welcome to Thirty Nights of Spooky Cinema at the Odeon! Thank you all for being here. This kicks off our Halloween Horror month. The Wolf Man is a classic of horror cinema and one of the Universal Monsters movies that so deeply influenced the depictions of horror characters moving forward. Lon Chaney Junior’s wolf makeup took five or six hours to apply and a full hour to remove. The Wolf Man is the only one of the Universal Monsters to be played by the same actor in all film versions. I hope you enjoy it. And beware the bright light of an autumn moon,” he finished spookily.
Zachary had been right. The movie wasn’t too scary. In fact, there was something mournful about the character of the Wolf Man. Bram looked over to see Zachary utterly absorbed.
When Zachary noticed him looking, he whispered, “Did you get scared?”
No judgment. No disapproval. Just concern. Bram wanted to say yes, because he wondered what Zachary would do. He waited a beat too long to respond and Zachary held out his hand tentatively.
Bram’s heart pounded as he slid his hand into Zachary’s. Their gazes held for a moment, and Zachary gave a small smile, then turned back to the screen.
At the end, when the werewolf died, Bram thought he saw a tear at the inner corner of one of Zachary’s dark eyes.
As the lights came up, Gus, who’d ended up on Wes’ lap halfway through the movie, lifted her head up, snarled, and let out a wild howl.
Heads turned toward them, and Wes ducked his head behind Gus, like he wanted to hide. But from around the theater came answering howls as the town of Garnet Run welcomed Halloween.
Goodbyes said, they stepped into the cool night air and Bram grinned. For the first time since leaving Olympia, he’d felt like a part of something. Even if that something was—of all things—a horror movie.
He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it, that sense of belonging, of being part of something larger than himself. Of not being alone.
He tipped his head back to the night sky and howled.
Zachary snorted and kept walking. Bram jogged after him, put his hands on his shoulders, and squeezed, howling again.
“You’re ridiculous,” Zachary said, voice very proper. Then he turned, looked up, and pointed at the sky with a trembling finger. “Oh god,” he said, voice shaking. “It’s...the light of an autumn moon. It’s...changing me.”
Then he lifted his own delicately pointed chin to the sky and howled.
From behind them, moviegoers streaming out of the Odeon took up the howl, until Main Street echoed with cries to the moon.
They were laughing and falling over each other when they reached the motorcycle.
Zachary’s face was lit with happiness and mischief (not to mention the light of the autumn moon). His curls were in total disarray and he had a smear of chocolate in the corner of his mouth.
He was beautiful. How had Bram never noticed?
He reached out and gently wiped the chocolate away with his thumb.
“You just had some...”
Zachary’s eyes widened as Bram brushed his skin, and his lips parted. When Bram’s hand dropped to his side, Zachary’s tongue appeared for a moment, as if he wanted to taste the place Bram had touched.
Then he looked away and jammed the helmet on.
“Okay, ready?” Bram asked as he revved the bike.
Zachary squeezed his shoulders, then snaked his arms around his waist. He rested his chin on Bram’s back, and Bram’s heart went all funny.
The first time Bram rode a motorcycle he’d been sixteen and had a crush on Nathan Adamson, who’d graduated the year before. When Nathan took him for a ride, he’d fallen in love. His affair with Nathan only lasted about a week—long enough for him to realize that attractiveness is no guarantee of character—but his love affair with motorcycles had never waned.
He drove toward home, but instead of turning onto Casper Road, he took the road up into the pine forest north of town. He felt Zachary tense against him for a moment, then relax.