Page 86 of Black Hollow: Awakening

Will smiled gratefully.

“That would be great, thanks.”

“I’ll just go change,” Norma announced, then ran upstairs.

Will decided to wash the cups. He had barely finished when his cell phone rang. He was surprised when he looked at the screen.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Will,” Oscar said in a strained voice. “You know…”

Silence fell. Will waited tensely for him to continue.

“I’ve been thinking about our conversation on Friday,” Oscar continued after a long pause. “And I feel like it shouldn’t have ended that way. I’d like to talk. If you want to, of course. I’m at Mirrors right now. Will you come?”

Will was so surprised that he didn’t answer for a moment.

“I’ll understand if you don’t,” Oscar said nervously. “After all…”

“I’ll come, I’ll come,” Will assured him.

“Okay.” Oscar seemed relieved. “Thanks.”

“See you.”

He hung up and then went into the entryway.

“Norma!” he called out, not wanting to go upstairs.

“What is it?”

“Oscar called!” Norma poked her head out of her room and looked at him with interest. “He wants to talk. Now. You won’t be mad if I go?”

“I’ll be mad if you don’t. Go.”

Will practically ran to the bus stop. He didn’t know why—he just wanted to get there as quickly as possible, though it didn’t make much sense when he was at the mercy of the bus schedule. He waited for almost fifteen minutes. The ride into town also took a while. He was stressed and kept glancing at his phone, feeling like any moment he would get a text saying that Oscar had to go. Fortunately, when he finally burst into the coffee shop, more than forty minutes after their conversation, Oscar was still there.

He was sitting against the wall, in the corner of the room. He had a tea in front of him. Opposite him was another cup, and for a moment Will thought Oscar had met with someone else earlier, but the cup was full and looked untouched.

“Hey,” Will said, taking off his jacket and sitting down.

“Hey. I ordered for you,” Oscar replied listlessly. He looked worse than usual. As if he had slept badly. His hair was messy and his clothes were baggy. “I hope you don’t mind. What am I saying, you probably do, I’m sorry. I was just sitting here for a long time and I had the feeling everyone was looking at me. I didn’t want to…”

Will placed a hand on Oscar’s. He immediately fell silent.

“Is everything okay?” Will whispered with concern.

“No. I keep thinking about our conversation.”

Will didn’t press. He decided to give Oscar time.

“I regret that it ended where it did,” Oscar finally stated. “You were honest with me, and I should have done the same, but to do that, I have to tell you what happened to me. I just don’t want it to sound like I’m feeling sorry for myself.”

“It’s okay. Tell me.”

Oscar swallowed loudly. He ran his fingers through his hair, combing the unruly strands with a trembling gesture, and then began to speak.

“When I was seven, my dad died. In an accident, supposedly.”