Page 19 of The Wicker King

August: u busy 2night?

Jack: Yes

August: cncl ur plans. i wanna take u to the river.

Jack: August, I have much more to worry about than your crisis of conscience.

August: we can c rina again if you come.

It took over an hour for August to get a response. And it wasn’t just because Jack was in class. Jack texted in class all the time. August was purposefully being ignored. Jack didn’t like to be bribed and liked it even less when August was the one bribing him. But talking to Jack about figuring all of this out was important enough to try. When August finally got something back, it was just one word.

Fine

August shoved his phone in his pocket and went to trigonometry.

CUT

August fingered the edges of his hair. It had been weeks since his last haircut. He’d been too busy lately. But he couldn’t let this slide for any longer. He wanted to look right. He grabbed some things from the kitchen and went downstairs to the basement.

“Mom?”

His mom didn’t look away from Jeopardy!

“Mom, can you help me?” He pushed the blanket away from around her feet and laid the scissors and clippers in her lap. Then he sat down and waited. It took a moment, but eventually her hands settled on his head.

“You’ve let it grow a bit,” his mom said quietly. “You used to trim it once a week. It suits you this way.… Are you sure?”

August nodded and closed his eyes.

She parted his hair and began.

This might be the only thing she focused on as intently as the television. She measured the distance of his bangs with her fingers and lined up the nape of his neck on a razor’s edge. She hummed and tutted as she cut, brushing loose hairs off his shoulders with her soft hands.

When she finished, she rested both hands on August’s shoulders and gently kissed the crown of his head. “There we are. Perfect.”

THE RIVER

Jack was already annoyed when he arrived. But August felt like he had more reason to be angry, so he didn’t fucking care how Jack felt. They walked to the river in silence. Not even looking at each other until they reached the shore.

“Why did you bring me here, August?”

“I’ve been doing some reading.… You’re not all right, Jack. You’re doing a good job of holding together, but you’re not all right.” August picked up a rock and tossed it across the water. “We need to tell someone.”

“You’re not telling anyone,” Jack said, instantly authoritative.

“We. Have. To.” August gritted his teeth. “Things could get so much worse, Jack. You don’t even know.”

“I don’t know? I don’t know?!” Jack exploded. “You don’t even know what it’s like! It’s not happening to you. It’s happening to me—”

“And that’s why we’re here,” August interrupted. “It is happening to me. I haven’t slept in days, what with looking for answers and doing research and generally freaking the fuck out. You can’t do this alone, Jack. And you shouldn’t have to. I owe you.”

“You don’t owe me,” Jack spat. “You’ve got this delusional sense of duty that has nothing to do with me, which you’ve wrapped around yourself like some kind of weird emotional security blanket. It’s stupid. Why did you even drag me all the way out here to talk about this in the first place?!”

It was like Jack had seized his heart and squeezed it until it burst; it hurt so much he couldn’t breathe. So he reached back and punched Jack in the face as hard as he could.

Jack’s stubble scraped against his skin; his bones were so close to the surface. This was so strange. August had never done this before, he’d never hurt him. This was awful.

This was just more pain on top of pain. It would have been easier if Jack had punched him first.