As Evil As Murder

13 | Too Much Sanity is Severe

"Experience is merely the name men gave to their mistakes."
-Oscar Wilde
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Dean kept staring at Lucas, completely ignoring his held out hand.

"What's going on?" I asked cautiously. "Do you know him?"

"Don't be silly Charlotte." Lucas let the hand fall back to his side with an awkward chuckle. "I think I would remember anyone from 1761."

"1761?" Dean whispered, his eyes snapping to mine.

"I asked Dean, not you," I stated, observing his reaction closely. He didn't relax his composure but something in his way of manner had certainly changed. He looked around, trying to collect himself before talking.

Before I could ask again, a shrill sound of joy interrupted us.

"Dean, my boy!" Elise rushed to us with what looked like a piece of paper in her hands.

"I brought the groceries yesterday, Elise," he said, eyeing the paper carefully. He didn't sound rude, just helpful. Maybe Elise had a terrible memory.

"I need brown sugar, dearie, why didn't you buy that?" She asked with disappointment, and I scoffed. Any second now, Dean would walk away and deny that he ever said he knew Lucas. I wasn't about to let that happen.

"Where did you see him?" I asked firmly, hoping Lucas would have slipped to his own fantasy world by now.

"See who? Him?" Dean pointed towards Lucas, while Elise kept rambling on about how brown sugar is her secret for chewy and soft cookies.

"Yes him-"

"It is a necessity in chocolate chip cookies-" She spoke.

"Elise, there wasn't any brown sugar in Target!" He laughed, pushing the paper back to her hands. "Last time, I bought some from a cupcake shop near that fancy mall you go to. You should have seen the look of surprise when I asked for one of their ingredients."

"Cupcake shop?" Elise sounded like Dean just ran her over by a truck. "How were you even sure it wasn't a bad batch? What if Clare gets sick? What if you get sick? We all ate-"

"I'm sure it was edible Miss. Wander," Dean smiled warmly. Elise nodded, and tried to calm herself by counting her breaths.

"I'm still standing here." I gritted my teeth, hating how he kept ignoring me. What's worse was that he was good at dodging questions, and that did not reassure me. If he wanted to hide something, it meant he had a reason to.

"Alright, he looks like someone I saw in a library once." Dean said finally, looking back at Lucas.

Until then, Dean's eyes were purposefully away from Lucas's direction, but now he seemed unable to look away. He kept his eyes fixed on him, almost like he was waiting for something. Something that never came.

"Which library is that?" I asked, trying to stay professional. How much more vague can you be before I push you to the traffic?

"Haywood Public library. Aisle four, I was looking for Middlemarch by George Elliot."

"That's specific." I was taken back and so was Lucas.

"Excuse me? I'm sorry, I don't know what you are on about." Lucas shook his head, letting out a forceful laugh. Dean continued on as if he never opened his mouth.

"Too much sanity may be madness and the maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be. You quoted Don Quixote and said it was a much better read than Middlemarch." Dean said blankly, no emotion or feelings whatsoever on his face.