Page 41 of Shadowface 1979

Her hands find my belt, and, for a moment, I think she might unlock it. “You can’t ever take this off. Promise me you will never take this off.”

“I promise,” I whisper.

TOMMY

Ipull up to FreshMart on Saturday night with Bax and Remy in my blue Camaro as it rumbles to a stop.

Yes, that Remy.

Last night he told me everything…and I mean everything. He told me how Talia was the one who killed Daniel Jenkins, and why he covered it up and took the blame. He told me about the Order of the Shadows—the group I was certain was a myth.

He explained the Codex and the rules we must live by. Now that I know, I’ll be expected to take my blood oath. Both mine and Remy’s old man murdered their high school sweethearts in cold blood and inherited a fortune. We talked for hours, like we used to. None of it surprised me…I always knew this town was messed up.

I sat and listened, and when he was done, I told him in no uncertain terms that Didi was mine. Like hell would I ever let Remy kill her. He never gave me a clear answer.

We changed the subject and talked about the good ol’ days. For a few hours, I had my buddy back.

I stumbled home at six AM. The door to my dad’s office was open, so I dug through my dad’s desk trying to make sense of this. He has a picture hidden deep in a drawer. I always wondered why he had a photo of another woman in his desk, and it wasn’t my mother.

I stared at the photo. With her blonde hair styled in tight curls, she wore a simple white laced nightgown and posed on the bed, gazing at the camera as if smitten by the photographer. Then I noticed an obituary clipping from a newspaper tucked under his ledgers, and my stomach did backflips. Everything Remy said was true.

My father was a murderer.

1956 - Mary Swinton went missing after leaving a parish social. She was presumed dead three weeks later when her body was never recovered. Local authorities found pools of her blood in the woods, by the cave in the nearby forest. She was survived by her loving parents, Ruth and William Swinton, and her high school sweetheart, Peter Landry.

After I nursed my hangover, I woke up at two in the afternoon, picked up Bax and Remy to get drunk all over again. This is a lot to take in. Even though Bax isn’t one of us, and they could kill us for telling him, we swore him to secrecy. He’s part of this too, now.

I let Remy take shotgun, forcing Bax to crunch in the back even though his legs are long and gangly. I pull into FreshMart telling them I need to make a quick pit stop for snacks and beer.

I pull my keys out of the ignition as a dust cloud puffs up beside us in the dirt parking lot. I don’t trust these creeps. “Stay here. I’ll grab some beer.” Bax jostles from the back. “Hey, let me out. I want to come in, man. I’ve got the munchies.”

“No… No way. Mrs. Holly doesn’t like you, dude.” Mrs. Holly hates everyone, but she seems to like me. If any of us can get some beer, it won’t be Bax. “I’ll grab you something.”

FreshMart is the only place that will sell us beer and smokes, and since it’s Saturday, we want to party again tonight.

“Whatever, dude,” Bax says, pulling out a joint and lighting a match. He stares at the match for a few long seconds as if he’s transfixed by it. “Get me some Cheetos, man. And a Twinkie.”

Remy grins at me and I roll my eyes. Dude smokes too much dope. His brain’s getting all mushy.

Shutting the door, I leave Bax and Remy in the car and head inside. Mrs. Holly waves at me and smiles as I walk in. Her eyes light up like a slot machine, and she pushes her arms into her cleavage, so it pops as she leans over the counter.

“Hi Tommy,” she coos.

Let’s call a spade a spade. FreshMart is a dump, and she’s inappropriately flirty, considering she’s old and washed-up and I’m in high school, but who am I to deprave a horny old woman?

I grab a pack of smokes, beer and Bax’s snacks and head to the till.

Mrs. Holly smiles at me, her yellow teeth gleaming in the ray of sun shining over her face, which only makes me see how wrinkly and washed-up she really is. Her lips are extra puckered.

I place my smokes and beer down like it’s no big deal.

“You gonna make this town proud at the track meet, Tommy?” she asks ringing in the items in the cash register.

I smile back at her, the kind of smile where you show your tongue and bite your bottom lip. “That’s the plan, Mrs. Holly.”

She throws me a wink, looking at me up and down playfully. “There’s a good boy, Tommy.”

Good boy… Ugh. Sick.