I linger after closing down the library to ring a bell in each corner of the building.I leave knowing more will need to be done to keep them out of the library, their always stronger near the new moon.
Tommy Long is sitting on his memorial bench right outside the entrance. He's staring daggers at the road running parallel to the library.
" Hi Seraphina." He greets hunching forwards to rest his elbows on his knees. The exposed vertebrae of his spine pop wetly.
" Hi, Tommy." He's one of the few conscious ones. His bow tie is strangely pristine compared to his cardigan and lower half of his plaid trousers.
" Here they come." Tommy's voice is dull, far too tired for a boy his age. Then again Tommy's been around longer than me. A cherry red Ford pickup comes up over the hill. It's a comet straddling the double yellow line. Flames fill the cab like an oven gone bad.
Three boys, skeletal, scream and holler from inside.
" Come on Tommy!" The driver hangs out of the window. His sunglasses glinting in the flames. " Come for a ride!" The sound of the horn echos a warbling chorus.
The blown out tires flap as sparks fly off the rims.
" Assholes." Tommy whispers pushing up his glasses. The muscles inside of his face contort and stretch. The road rash did number on him. " Same in death as in life." I remind him. He stands up, broken pieces of bone jut out from his right leg.
" I'll see you on Monday ." He drawled heading to the big tree where the sign is.
The highscool sits behind the library on a leveled out foothill. I have to drive up the curved paved trail and through the school parking lot to get back to the main road. A single car is parked by the chain link fence around the football field.
The gate is open the wind makes it rattle. He's out there on the field. His green jersey shines in the low light. " Young man, students aren't allowed on school grounds past eight o'clock."
He startles, biffs the throw, and the ball jumbles to the ground. " Oh! Hey Miss S." I keep my face like granite. " It's late John."
He flashes a broad toothy smile. " Big game next Friday, just thought I'd get a little practice in." John picks up his ball but doesn't move to leave. I've known Johnny his entire academic career. I remember when he needed me to reach the books on the high shelves. He has a lot of that teenage awkwardness now, a little long in the limbs, but hes a gentle giant.
He still rocks on his feet like he did when he was five and too shy to ask me a question.
" Do you ever feel like something bad is going to happen?" John's voice brings me out of my thoughts. “There's something always happening, John." A cold wind blows through the space between us. He nearly loses his balance but I stand and watch those Greasers in their Ford fade through the goal post at the end of the field.
" Do you smell that?" John sniffs hard," Like, burnt rubber."
I don't look back at him as I turn on my heels. " Let's get home." I say. He's a good kid and follows me off the field, he even closes the gate on the way out. It's only when he's about to open the door to his car that I warn him.
"John, the next time you feel the urge to go someplace you're not supposed to be. Don't." His eyes go big, brows to his hairline. " Uh, yes Miss S."
I make sure he leaves, smoke a cigarette in my car, waiting to see if he'll double back.
Groaning I move the dial on the radio, adjusting until I hit something familiar.
"So, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Where the dogs of society Howl."
I smirk and sit back. How many times did I listen to this song doing exactly this? Of course It wasn't tobacco I was smoking. Seventeen years feels like forever ago but this town hasn't changed.
Not since the seventies, not since the settlers.
"Back to the old owl in the woods, hunting the hor- Somewhere… over the rainbow."
A brief chirp of static sounds with the song change. I see the needle skirt over to another channel.
" Way up high there's a place that I heard of once in a lullaby."
The lights in the school switch on and flicker. I flick my cigarette out of the window.
" FUCK OFF!" I shout and the lights cut off.
The radio dies as I peel out of the parking lot.
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