Ebenezer

Chapter 6 - A Wretched Man

1

The light flickers on above them, but it's a different streetlamp in another neighborhood. They're outside the high school as parents and students mill out of the gym, and Simon mingles in with the crowd. The boy spots Grandma Trudy. She gives him a look of displeasure as he approaches.

"Where were you?" she asks in a hushed tone so the other children won't hear.

"I—" he begins.

"—lost track of time," she finishes for him with a curt nod.

"I didn't want to disturb anyone so I stayed in the back," he says.

Grandma Trudy favors him with a disapproving look. "See if the lie comes as easily when you tell it to Aria."

Aria comes outside and everyone praises her performance. Even Troy mutters his approval. The group gets going, following along with Grandma Trudy while Aria and Simon stay behind.

"You were great," Simon says.

Aria shrugs, digging the toes of her patent leather shoe against the concrete. She starts walking away from the school, catching up to the others.

Simon follows. "Really. You were," he says.

"I just don't think I like it anymore," she says. "My parents always pushed me because I was good at it. But just because you're good at something doesn't mean you have to do it forever."

Simon considers this.

Ebenezer recognizes the unintended significance of her words. He hadn't caught it then. With just the one kill behind him, he couldn't exactly tell then if he'd been good or bad at the task. And likely, his mind had been elsewhere.

"Well, what do you want to do?" the boy asks.

"I want to be a doctor," she tells him, with a prideful smile.

"To heal people?"

"That's the plan."

"It's a lot of school," he says. Even then he'd seen the chasm between them widening. He'd thought discouraging her might keep them together. But while he'd plunged headfirst into the dark, she'd embraced the light. He'd wondered if the thread Grandma Trudy had mentioned, the one Ariadne had given Theseus, would still lead him back to safety—or if it had frayed and snapped, escape from the labyrinth impossible.

"I like school." She gives him a sidelong glance and says, "You haven't been in a while."

"The teachers don't like me."

"I like you," she says. Her gaze, on her shoes, rises to meet his, and he looks away quickly.

"I don't deserve to be liked," he mutters.

The words stop Aria in her tracks but Simon keeps walking, discretely wiping away a tear he hopes she hasn't seen.

Back at the house, Troy's girly posters adorn the wall along the top bunk. Simon has claimed the bottom bunk recently, strong-arming the older, smaller boy into submission. Troy roots through the top drawer of the dresser as Simon himself steps in with Ebenezer and Marley in tow, unseen by either boy.

"Hey! Get out of my drawer!" He rushes to the drawer and slams it so hard the dresser cracks the drywall behind it.

Troy leaps back with fear in his eyes and scurries to the bunk stairs. Simon grabs him by the waist of his acid-washed jeans and jerks him back down.

"I'm sick of you touching my shit!" he shouts, spinning Troy around to face him. Troy turns away, closing his eyes. Simon has put good beatings into him over the past year. He punches Troy in the stomach. The smaller boy doubles over.