(FREE TO READ) Bad Moon

Chapter 7; éclairs

Two months passed.

Jaylin hadn't seen Tyler since Bobby's funeral. And even then, he hadn't attended—he only drove past, took in the sights because something in him wouldn't settle until he knew this was real. The hospital bills didn't convince him wholeheartedly that the night had happened the way he remembered, his own statement to the police felt surreal. But seeing those suit and tie silhouettes gathering at a coffin's edge—that was somehow enough for Jaylin. Almost too much when he caught Tyler's rangy shape, an arm around Olivia's waist. She had her head on his shoulder. Her hand on his chest.

They fit the role of mourning couple in love well, but Jaylin knew better.

Tyler was only another reason why love didn't exist.

"Yo, man, you listening?" Matt's voice echoed from the empty library walls. He was drumming his pencil against his knee, a comic book hung over his lap. He fingered over the next page and pinched the eraser between his teeth. "I was thinkin', what if I surprised her? Bought her flowers. Daisies or whatever girls like, y'know? Showed up at her place in a tux with a limo. Took her out on a nice fancy date—"

"You got money for that?" Jaylin asked, clicking to the next page on his bulky old library computer—the antiquated kind with CRT monitors that took up more space than they were worth.

Matt had come to get him that night—he'd seen the condition Tyler left him in, and for the past month that Jaylin had been back to work, Matt had clung to him like gum to his sneakers. For the most part, he sat around reading comics and belching out carbonation one Red Bull at a time. Being here with Jaylin when he should have been anywhere else. He was a friendly guy, Matt. Too friendly for his own good.

"I can put some aside," he countered. "I think...you know, I think it'd be worth it."

"Tisper doesn't like flowers, so you've already screwed that plan up."

"Tell me what to do then," Matt whined. "I gotta fix things with her."

When Jaylin didn't respond, Matt leaned over and peered around the monitor. "You ever watch porn on that thing?"

"Sometimes," Jaylin muttered into the palm that held him up, clicking over to the next photo.

Matt clamored atop the service desk and spun his body over to take a peek. He frowned at the spectacle on the screen. "Wolves? Seriously, you're still on that?" Then he bounced from the table and dropped himself into the extra swivel chair beside Jaylin. "I told you, my dad said there were some gray wolves spotted a few months back. They're comin' back to Washington, you know? That's gotta be what killed Bobby."

"It wasn't a gray," Jaylin said. "Look." He moused over to the second tab and the screen slid down to an image of an entirely different wolf—its fur a blackish red like dark garnet and baring its gums in a nasty snarl. "It was like this, I think. The other one was a Yukon, I'm pretty sure."

"A Yukon?"

"Yeah," Jaylin typed up the name into the browser and the screen came to life with image after image of the earthy brown wolf he'd seen that night. Large-chested and regal, but nothing quite like the real thing; the wolf he saw in person was far more beautiful.

"He was like this. But bigger. They were both bigger. They don't live in places like this, Matt. Both of those wolves, I think—I'm pretty sure they live in colder habitats."

"What does it matter?" Matt asked, kicking his feet up on the desk. "Bobby's dead and they got a nice meal out of him. Wish they'd just taken Tyler down too."

"There are wolves—massive-ass wolves just eating people we grew up with, Matt. Aren't you the least bit curious?"

Matt suddenly snapped his way, an anger in his eyes that looked alien to Jaylin. "I'm curious as to why I found you with a fractured rib and a busted nose. I'm curious as to why that piece of shit was out there so late lookin' for you. And frankly, Jay, I'm just wondering why karma hadn't found him sooner. I'm glad for those wolves." He snapped open his comic and burried himself in the pages. "If they were men, I'd buy 'em a fuckin' drink."