Sharing Nightmares

Belit Am || This Way Walk Sinners

Only the little boy is no longer there.

Biagio twists on the bench, swearing. Dark everywhere and no sign of the tiny Superman. He shifts his weight forward.

A sudden weight on his shoulder keeps him pinned in his seat. Biagio glares up at the kid in the costume, wild-eyed.

"I swear to God I'll rip your fucking hand off-"

"He is alright," the young man says. "See?"

A pale hand points into the gloom. It seems to glow, and so does the far side of the park. The little boy is there, following a woman down one of the twisting paths. Biagio frowns. The woman's face is lit up by the screen of her phone. She doesn't as much as look at the little boy skipping in her wake.

"Bitch," Biagio mutters.

"You are quick to judge."

"Yeah, well-" Biagio turns. The young man raises his brows from much too close at hand. Biagio thinks of making something out of the kid sitting down without being invited. In the end, he rolls his eyes and shuffles down the bench to make space.

"Kids aren't toys, is all I'm saying."

"Do you have children?"

Biagio hacks out a laugh. The sound is more pained than anything else. "Fuck no." They hadn't wanted any. Not while Biagio was still working the streets. Maybe not after, either.

"I'd make a shit dad." Biagio clenches his jaw, but the words have already made it through. "Shut up," he snarls.

"I have not said anything."

"Good. Keep it that way."

Biagio watches the dark for a while. The light flickers above the bench, making the shadows flicker. Biagio taps his foot. The silence's growing too heavy again. He still can't remember.

"Where's the rest of you?"

"I am here in my entirety."

Biagio shoots the kid a glare. The man's expression remains politely blank but the glint in his eyes is telling. Biagio smirks. "Shithead. Where's your crew? There a Juliet running around the park looking for ya?"

The young man laughs. "You have me confused with someone else."

"So there's no one with you."

The man's eyes curve up in pleased crescents. "Oh, I did not say that."

Biagio snorts. Some stupid college thing, no doubt. God knows what the kid's friends're up to.

"Are you alone, Mr...?"

"Mind your own damn business."

"That is a rather unfortunate name."

Biagio scowls, but it is half-hearted. The kid's annoying but it's not rubbing him in a bad way. Talking keeps the dark silence away, too.

"Biagio," he throws out. "What'd they call you?"

The kid cocks his head, makes as if he's thinking about it. "'Bastard,' mostly."

Biagio chokes on a laugh. "Shit," he thumps the kid's shoulder. "You're alright."

"You don't seem to be."

"Yeah, well." Biagio pats his pockets, mood souring. Nothing. Damn, the pack must be in his coat and his coat is in the room with Stella's shoes and Vinny's corpse and-

Biagio realizes he's bent forward when he feels the hand between his shoulder blades. It is heavy but not warm. He shrugs it away and straightens, eyes on the darkness.