Billy came down from his high perch when Alan returned from burying Marci, holding out his hands wordlessly. He hugged Alan hard, crushing the breath out of him.The arms felt good around his neck, so he stopped letting himself feel them. He pulled back stiffly and looked at Brian.“You could have told me,” he said.Bram’s face went expressionless and hard and cold. Telling people wasn’t what he did, not for years. It hurt others—and it hurt him. It was the reason for his long, long silences. Alan knew that sometimes he couldn’t tell what it was that he knew that others didn’t. But he didn’t care, then.“You should have told me,” he said.Bob took a step back and squared up his shoulders and his feet, leaning forward a little as into a wind.“Youknewand you didn’ttell meand you didn’tdo anythingand as far as I’m concerned, you killed her and cut her up and buried her along with Darryl, you coward.” Adam knew he was crossing a line, and he didn’t care. Brian leaned forward and jutted his chin out.Avram’s hands were clawed with cold and caked with mud and still echoing the feeling of frozen skin and frozen dirt, and balled up into fists, they felt like stones.He didn’t hit Barry. Instead, he retreated to his niche and retrieved the triangular piece of flint that he’d been cherting into an arrowhead for school and a hammer stone and set to work on it in the light of a flashlight.
Billy came down from his high perch when Alan returned from burying Marci, holding out his hands wordlessly. He hugged Alan hard, crushing the breath out of him.
The arms felt good around his neck, so he stopped letting himself feel them. He pulled back stiffly and looked at Brian.
“You could have told me,” he said.
Bram’s face went expressionless and hard and cold. Telling people wasn’t what he did, not for years. It hurt others—and it hurt him. It was the reason for his long, long silences. Alan knew that sometimes he couldn’t tell what it was that he knew that others didn’t. But he didn’t care, then.
“You should have told me,” he said.
Bob took a step back and squared up his shoulders and his feet, leaning forward a little as into a wind.
“Youknewand you didn’ttell meand you didn’tdo anythingand as far as I’m concerned, you killed her and cut her up and buried her along with Darryl, you coward.” Adam knew he was crossing a line, and he didn’t care. Brian leaned forward and jutted his chin out.
Avram’s hands were clawed with cold and caked with mud and still echoing the feeling of frozen skin and frozen dirt, and balled up into fists, they felt like stones.
He didn’t hit Barry. Instead, he retreated to his niche and retrieved the triangular piece of flint that he’d been cherting into an arrowhead for school and a hammer stone and set to work on it in the light of a flashlight.