No Happily Ever After

Chapter 23

Thevarious members of Carnaval de le Nuit troop had differing ways ofspending their down time. They worked out, caring for their hardbodies, maintaining their peak physical conditions. They shopped;visiting the local vendors in whatever town or burg where theyroosted. They practiced their acts, to keep their performance evermesmerizing for the crowds they'd surely draw. And often most, theperformers preened their proverbial peacock feathers.

For Joshua Cross,the preferred method of blowing off steam had recently become findinga local library, borrowing a computer, and observing the town ofFaraway from afar.

His former home,the town in which he'd been born and raised, was making nationalheadlines. Perhaps even international. The disappearances andmurders occurring in Faraway had sparked speculation all over theweb, even though it appeared the cases had yet to particularlyinterest the FBI. There were newspaper articles galore for him topour over. Additionally, a surprising number of his former highschool counterparts had their own tattle tale blogs where virtualtongues wagged, from right inside the city limits. So, he'd justread about Zoe Locke's arrest, and her claims that nobody believed.

Josh leaned back inthe rolling chair, his arms folded across his chest, staring at theradiating computer screen. The blog post he was staring at was in anatrocious neon purple font against a black background and had givenhim a headache, yet he read it over and over. So, accusations werebeing made about the Bar family and nobody believed them? Kids weredisappearing and nobody was even going to investigate the claims? Typical, Josh thought. Typical oblivion from Faraway, theland of clueless authorities. He couldn't help but wonder if theFaraway police even cared... If they were doing anything at all tofind the missing teenagers, or stop the abductions.

He shook his headslowly as he pondered the blog post. It was probably too lateanyway. They were most likely already dead.

***

Josh heard thestory of his birth at least a hundred times; his older siblings lovedto tell it.

He was somewhere inthe middle of eight total children, born to a family living on a farmon the remote corner of the county outside Faraway. Of all thehandsome, well mannered, intelligent children in the family, Josh wasthe odd man out; the ugly duckling. His mother had gone into laborin the middle of a snowy night, and it had happened so fast, there'dbeen no time to get to the hospital. She'd given birth to him rightthere at home as a blizzard raged outside. Her labor had been quick,but brutal and she'd nearly died. All for a squalling, shrieking,ugly infant.

His father hatedhim on sight.

From the beginninghe didn't fit in with his plain looks that harshly contrasted thecharming good looks of his siblings. He was a fussy baby, where notone of the other children had given their parents a moment's grief. He grew into a moody and sullen toddler, but it was mainly becausenobody could get along with him, nobody even tried. His siblingswere awful to him with their constant ridicule, their pranks, andunloading their chores onto him. He was often beaten by them, and byhis father for the slightest of infractions. His mother was the onlyone who was even remotely kind to him. She never laid a hand on him,and in private moments, she treated him tenderly. But she did notdefend him, and she often begged him to just be quiet andcooperative.

Once he reachedschool age, he hoped that someone at school would help him. Hecomplained to several teachers about his treatment at home, only tobe ignored and callously brushed off. In fact, at school, he oftenencountered even worse treatment than he did at home and he becameprogressively more angry and alone.

That's how Joshcame to find out about Benjamin Bar; a secret he never revealed toanother soul.

Joshua was in thefourth grade, and Benjamin followed a year behind him. He'd oftennoticed that Benjamin was an outcast as well. Perhaps not for thesame reasons. Where Josh was homely, Benjamin was strikingly goodlooking. Where Josh came from a poor farm family, Benjamin wasclearly of pure bread stock. But, for some reason, Josh observedthat nobody liked Benjamin. Classmates did not tease and tauntBenjamin, as they did Josh, but it was clear they did not care forhim. Benjamin spent all his time alone at school unless otherstudents were forced to work with him on any sort of group project. Though the two boys had never once spoken, Josh decided one day thatBenjamin would be his one and only friend.