"I thought you spent your entire childhood in the woods, like, hundreds of miles away from here."
I could see him chewing on the inside of his cheek, "I thought so too."
"Maybe you just saw something like it on TV?" I offered, but he shook his head.
"It's not like that," he mumbled, "I feel like I've been here."
Before I could say anything else he passed by me and opened the heavy glass door, sending out a cloud of meat stink. A bell jingled loudly as he disappeared inside, and I wasn't far behind him.
It was your classic small deli, featuring a wide array of meats and spreads on a grimy looking menu. Two small white tables were crowded in a corner, accompanied by a handful of metal folding chairs. The walls were littered with flyers, from local yoga lessons to cheap furniture for sale.
A man appeared in the doorway behind the counter. His face was lined with age but his smile was bright and untouched.
"What can I do for you guys?" He asked.
Peter didn't even react to the man's words. His eyes just scanned the place from bottom to top like he was looking for something.
"Sorry, were just looking," I said, and the man shrugged and went about his business. But I was still careful to mind my words.
I turned my attention back to the wide-eyed young man, "Peter."
He waved me away, refusing to rip his eyes from the details of the room.
I was about to growl his name again, but it got lost in my throat. There was something familiar staring me down from behind a flyer for cheap french horn lessons. I approached the wall slowly, and gently pulled out the pin holding the fresh flyer in place to reveal what was underneath it.
The paper was yellow with age and crinkled as I ran a finger over it.
I was a blurry black and white image of a boy with a half opened Christmas present on his lap. The boy was young, barely even school age. But underneath the layer of baby fat, I could see a familiar face. The curve of the jaw, the lilt of the smile, those I remembered, because the owner of those features was standing in the room.
YOU ARE READING
Nice to Know
Fantastique*SEQUEL to Good for Gone* Bowen is a 19 year old widow with a mysterious fortune, a trail of strange properties, and a morose warning from the lips of her dying husband. Now there's something brewing inside of her, making her do things against her...
