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)
The thing that he had never told anyone—not the police and not his parents—was that he hadn’t been surprised when one day she was gone. He’d been shocked she had disappeared. But leaving? That was something she’d talked about all the time.
Getting out of Cheyenne and going to LA. Or sometimes it was New York, or Paris if she were in a romantic mood. For the first few days, that’s what Zachary had assumed happened. Because the night before, she’d come into his room after an argument with their parents. (His mom hadn’t told the police about that, either.) She’d pressed her spine against his door frame and closed her eyes. He always thought of her as tall, since she was his big sister, but as an adult, he realized she’d been small. She’d closed her eyes and let out ragged breaths until she wasn’t about to cry. Then she’d turned blazing eyes on Zachary and said, “Don’t ever let them tell you who you are, Zachary. Don’t let them poison you against yourself.”
Zachary had never known exactly who his parents had tried to tell Sarah she was, and he’d forgotten the event over the years. But now, with the dreams recurring, he wondered again.
Bram had told him that Halloween traditionally marked a time when the veil between the living and the dead was thin. Zachary had never put much stock in such things, but in the week leading up to today, he’d wondered if perhaps there wasn’t some element of truth—if not spiritual, then psychological—to Bram’s explanation.
Because more than anything, it felt like Sarah was visiting him and telling him to take a chance on himself. To remain true to his own vision.
“Zachary. Baby. Are you okay?”
“Huh?”
He snapped back to the present to find Bram looking at him curiously.
“You seemed like you went away somewhere. What are you thinking about?”
“Do you believe in ghosts?”
“Mmm. I believe in energy, and the energy that life has. So it makes sense to me that energy could remain after someone’s body was no longer living. And I definitely believe that people leave impressions on us long after they’re gone. So the line between memory and ghosts is thin.”
Zachary nodded.
“Are you okay?” Bram asked, cupping his cheek.
“Yeah.” Zachary shook himself. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s get started.”
The install went better than Zachary had planned for. He supposed he’d planned for two of himself working on it, which meant he’d reckoned without Bram’s seemingly tireless energy and strength. It was a little irritating how strong he was, honestly. Zachary grumbled at him as he just lifted basically a tree to reposition the dragon-cum-sea monster.
“I’m Bram, I’m Superman,” Zachary muttered to himself.
Bram burst out laughing. Not exactly to himself, then, apparently.
“Aw, baby. Are you impressed?” He flexed his muscles in a way that was clearly self-mocking, but also legitimately impressive.
“No,” Zachary lied.
Bram caught him up in his arms and kissed him sweetly, and Zachary felt some of his irritation drain away.
“Okay, okay,” he said when Bram kissed all over his face. “It’s fine that you’re Superman.”
“Well, you’re Professor Xavier,” Bram said.
“I’m not even a comics aficionado and even I know that Superman is DC and X-Men is Marvel,” Zachary said.
“So what? I’m building bridges, baby.” Bram grinned and kissed him again.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bram
At four o’clock the children descended on Casper Road. In all the hullaballoo of setting up, Bram had forgotten that they would actually be expecting candy, so when Zachary had pulled the bags of sweets out of the cabinet, he’d zoomed to the nearest store and stocked up for his side of the street.
Zachary had shaken his head, but said, “This is why I built in a buffer.” Then, screwing up his face, “Don’t get any gross healthy candy, okay?”
He’d thought Zachary was exaggerating the amount he would need and resigned himself to eating candy for the next month. Now that he saw the hordes pouring in, he worried he hadn’t gotten enough.
Hoot Owl Road, perpendicular to Casper Road, was closed for parking and Casper Road itself was blocked off to all but pedestrian traffic, making a safe street for the kids to trick-or-treat on. The poles of all the streetlights had been draped with fake spiderwebs and their bulbs were wrapped in orange gels that cast globes of titian light on passersby. At the head of Casper Road, a plume of black and orange balloons bobbed in the breeze, marking the turnoff, and beneath it was a table piled high with jackets, the kids doffing them the second they arrived, happy to sacrifice warmth to display their costumes.
If the inhabitants of Casper Road went all out on the decorations, the trick-or-treaters matched their enthusiasm. With one glance, Bram took in an elaborate Batman, a Punky Brewster with a bandanna-ed dog in tow, and an extremely impressive Rubik’s Cube that seemed to actually turn somehow.