Silence from behind me. Then he says, “Why do you have to go home?”
The Strange Man holds his hand out in my direction as if silently asking me to take it in mine. “Need to get some plywood to board up the windows just in case.” It’s easy, this lie.
Footsteps approach from behind me. “What are you looking at?” Abe’s voice is hard, as if he doesn’t believe a single word coming out of my mouth.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see him follow my gaze across the street to where the Strange Man stands, having not yet moved from the same spot. His eyes do not widen. He doesn’t gasp; he does not start to tremble. He looks confused and darts his gaze up and down Poplar Street. He can’t see the Strange Man.
“Why are you so pale?” he asks me quietly.
“Worried about the storm,” I say. “Don’t want anything to happen to the store.”
“And that’s all?”
“Yes.”
He grabs me by the shoulders and forces me to turn and face him. “You’re lying,” he snaps at me. “What is it? What do you see, boy?”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “Nothing,” I say. “I told you, I just need to go get some plywood.”
“There’s some in the back,” he says, giving me a little shake.
“Not enough.”
“It’s Michael, isn’t it? It’s that bastard Michael. What did he say to you? What did he ask you to do? What did he promise you?”
He told me he would help me find the truth. And I can’t tell you because I need to keep you safe. This is not your fight. This is not Cal’s fight. This is mine. Stay away, Cal. Stay away.
I open my eyes. “This has nothing to do with Michael, Abe. I’m asking you to trust me on this. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“At least tell Cal! Have him go with you!”
“ No,” I say, startled at the anger in my voice. Abe flinches. “Leave him out of this.”
“Then I’m coming with you.”
“Abe….”
He shakes his head angrily. “You can’t lie for shit, boy. You aren’t going back to your house. You see something out there, and by God you aren’t going wherever you think you’re going without me attached to your ass.”
“Abe, just listen to me for a second.”
“No, you listen. The day your daddy died, I got down on my knees and I prayed. I prayed for his soul to rest in peace. I prayed for you and your mom to receive strength. And I made a promise. Do you know what I promised, Benji?”
I don’t know, but my heart already hurts.
“I promised him,” he says roughly, “that I would do my damnedest to watch out for you, to make sure that nothing happened to you. I’ve let you grieve and I’ve grieved along with you. I like to think that you are my own because you are my own. It’ll be a cold day in hell before I let you walk out that door without me, you can bet your ass on that.” He stops, glaring at me defiantly.
“I can’t risk you getting hurt,” I say weakly.
He nods. “And I can’t risk you going off on your own. Not when I can go with you. No arguments.”
Shit. “Strange Man, across the street.”
Now his eyes widen. Now he gasps. He looks over again, out the windows. “There’s nothing there,” he says, sounding confused.
“Oh, he’s there. You can trust me on that. Michael told me he would send him.”
“To do what?”
I look back at the Strange Man, who cocks his head again, so like a bird. He’s flickering even more now, as if my indecision is causing his existence to wane. Michael said he would send me a sign, but he didn’t say for how long.
“To do what?” Abe asks again, giving me another shake.
“To show me the truth,” I whisper as the bald man frowns.
Abe sighs. “And Cal? He needs to know, Benji. He needs to know, because if he doesn’t and something happens to you, it’s going to destroy him.”
“No. I can’t risk him. I can’t take the chance. He’s becoming human, and I can’t take the chance.” Stay away, Cal. Stay away. Calm. Hush.
“Human?” he says as he bows his head. “Oh, Benji… he’s becoming human?”
“I can’t risk him,” I say again. Because I can’t. I won’t. Once this is done, I will find a way for him to survive and stay with me