Page 60 of Marked By Shadows
“No,” Alex said. “What did Manning ask you?”
“About the group mostly. Who’s in it, who has left, etc.”
Alex seemed to think about that for a minute. “Have a lot of people left?”
“You do realize the actual cosplay Facebook group has a couple hundred thousand people in it, right?”
“Not that,” he said. “I mean your inner circle. Freya, Byrony, Chad, Bobbsey twins, pretty black boy, sorry, I’ve forgotten their names.”
“Nicole and Julie and Jonah. You think Jonah is pretty?”
“Never met a prettier boy than that who still wanted to be a boy,” Alex said. He glanced at me. “Oops. Was I supposed to say you’re prettier? Does it help that I like your pretty better than his?”
“Why am I dating you again?”
“My witty sense of humor and my hot bod,” Alex teased doing a little shake of his hips.
“You do have a fine ass,” I admitted.
“Still not answering my question. Who has left your group?”
“A handful of people. I’d have to look up some old chats and make notes.”
“Can you do that?” Alex wanted to know.
“You think this is happening because of the group?”
“Not a big believer in coincidence.”
“Wouldn’t that mean that I’ve attracted something to them? Since the weird and paranormal seems to follow me?” Wasn’t that an awful thought. Would I have to distance myself from everyone just to keep them safe now?
“What did we say about centers of the universe?”
“It’s a valid question,” I said. “Weird follows us.”
“Yes, but we don’t know this is actual paranormal weird and not people weird.”
“There’s a difference?”
“Sure. People don’t need help doing fucked up things all the time. Don’t even need to be overseas to know that. Watch the news. Stupid is fatal and highly contagious.”
“But we saw Death, or whatever, and that would mean paranormal weird,” I pointed out.
“Except that paranormal weird can show up whenever it wants. Maybe it’s drawn to people weird.”
“This is a very dizzying conversation. I think I need more coffee. Fuck. And all I wanted was a little holiday from weird random ghost shit,” I grumbled into my coffee cup, which was sadly empty again. Alex got up and refilled it from the last in the pot, not even bothering with creamer and sweetener. I didn’t really need them anyway.
“Distraction will be good. Fabric is fun,” Alex said.
“It can be.”
“Do you want to discuss what made you mad last night? Something that I told the police?” Alex prodded.
“It’s stupid.”
“Not if your instincts made you mad about it. Obviously, it bothered you.”
“It is stupid. I know I compartmentalize. I didn’t think of it in such simple terms until last night, but it’s not a surprise that you would see it. You see everything about me. That’s unnerving. Makes me wonder when the other shoe will drop.”
