Hollow

Chapter Twelve - Secrets

I find the large grey stone and wipe at the markings.

"It looks like it has been here for a long while." Tom says bending down to look at it closely.

"I know. Another reason that makes me know it could not be my mother, she only died eighteen years ago, this looks as though it has been here for at least fifty, if not more."

I stare at the name ~ BENNET~ there was a thick prickly shrub growing at the base of the stone, wrapping around the entire stone.

"I guess it could be a grandparent?" He says dusting the letters with his fingers.

"Well I thought that too but my father's parents both died in Italy, they moved there for the warmer climate. And this graveyard has only been here for the past sixty years, before that they used to carry them out to the lake until it started poisoning the water." I answer, staring at the name.

"Maybe they were no relation to you at all." He says still squatting near the stone.

"My family have been the only Bennett's in this town since it was first established." I shake my head wishing I could just ask my father, but he would never give me a straight answer and he would go mad if he knew I came here.

"I wonder if there is anything written lower down under this shrub." Tom asks softly as he moves closer to the stone.

"Careful, it has poisonous barbs." I warn.

He hesitates before removing his jacket and wrapping it around his hand, he begins to rip at the plant, pulling it from the soil and flinging it away.

"I think it's caught on something." He says tugging on the larger section of the plant.

He digs around the soil with his free hand and pulls with both hands on the plant until it frees suddenly. Dirt spits out from the ground along with what looks like a thick muddy root.

He begins dusting at the stone with his jacket trying to find other markings but I stare at the root lying inches from him that he freed from the ground.

I bend down and pick it up and feel the weight of it.

I begin to wipe the thick mud and dirt from it and see something shiny, metal.

"Tom, this isn't a root." I say softly.

He stands up and offers his jacket. I wipe at the object roughly, and hold it out.

"What is a knife doing buried near a gravestone?" I ask staring at the blade.

I blink and stare down at the knife.

I dry it with a paper towel and tuck it back into my belt knowing I would not be able to let it out of my sight again. I dry my hands and face then run my fingers through my hair smoothing it down trying to pick through the dried blood.

I give up after a few moments then take in the rest of me, splatters of blood covered my clothing and shoes as well and I realise I hadn't changed clothes in several days. I supposed the boy would also need a change of clothes and I remember the mental note I had made before any of this had even happened to stop at a department store.

I leave the bathroom and walk back to the booth where the boy sat still staring at the menu.

"What can I get for you?" A middle aged woman asks as she hovers over our table. Her dyed red hair reminds me of Evangeline and I replay the night before in my mind.

"I haven't got all day." She says impatiently. Her eyes stare at me, watching me warily as all humans did.

"I will just have the soup of the day, thank you." I say holding my menu towards her. She takes a moment before blinking and then writes down the order and takes my menu with a quick snatch. Manners towards a human were something unheard of in a Hollow.

"And what can I get for you?" she asks the boy and I wondered what she thought was going on. Would she think he was my feed, a soul I was using until he wore out?

I did not let myself think about how much quicker my body would heal had I fed from his soul.

"The same thank you." he answers, raising the menu towards her.

"You look like you could use some coffee." She says to the boy before leaving us in our silence.

"Here you go." She says returning with a jug and filling our cups with the dark black liquid.

The boy pours sugar into his and stirs it quietly. His silence is strange. I stare at his bruised eye.

"Are you sure you looked behind the right dumpster?" I ask, remembering his sadden expression when he returned this morning without his pack.

His clothes could easily be replaced but I knew he would have personal belongings that would not be able to be replaced.

He nods, staring at his coffee with a concentrated expression.

"I apologize for your eye. It was to slow down the two males." I explain, waiting for an answer from him but there is nothing.

"What? No questions?" I ask knowing there had to be some.

"Ok." He says looking up at me suddenly. "Everyone knows Hollow's are immortal, and yet last night you killed one." His voice is harsh and loud and I warn him to keep it down with my eyes. He sighs and leans closer lowering his voice. "There is obviously something you're not telling me, or the rest of the world for that matter." He leans back, folding his arms over his chest.

"It is impossible, to anyone else. It isn't something everyone knows because it is only something I have been taught, humans were the ones who started the rumour that we are immortal anyways." I try to explain

"Taught?"

"Well not exactly, something I was meant to do"

"And that knife." He continues

"The only reason it is actually possible."

"There is something you're not telling me, like where we are going and why every other Hollow is terrified of this place and who you were. Why everyone looks at you and knows you a certain way. Everyone seems to think going back would be a bad decision for you. And yet here you are, taking me with you."

"I made a deal." I reply softly, knowing it was more than just a deal that kept me with this boy. It was the need that lie hidden while he was safe and yet burst into flames inside me as soon as there was danger around. It was this need that was beginning to control my very being.

We stop talking as the waitress approaches with two bowls of soup. She sets them down with our cutlery and a worn out basket of bread rolls then walks to another table.

"Well it seems to me like you made a stupid deal." He muses softly but I ignore him because whether or not he was correct was irrelevant. The deal had been made and the need has been created inside me and could not be severed or stopped.

"Your right, there are things I haven't told you and they are because of my past. I have secrets that I want to keep that way about who I was and what I did."

He looks at me and I know he still has questions, I could see him struggling to only know that much but I could also see his gratitude that I had told him anything at all.

"All that matters right now is finding the girl, everything else is moot." I knew he would at least agree with that.