⫸——⫷

No. He was wrong. You could not trust him. You could not trust anybody.

Staring at Wally, you took a brief internal assessment of the situation. He was asking you questions about what you were hiding, which meant he did not know the full extent of your past, which was good. You were probably going to end up lying. You could make up something secretive to satiate his weirdly persistant curiosity.

Unless he already knew everything that you were hiding and was only forcing you to tell him what you were hiding as a test. A test to see whether you would lie to him a third time. Now that would not be good.

The best way to lie was to tell part of the truth, and that was especially true considering your situation. If he was testing you, telling some truth would show that you were being honest; but if he was not testing you, your small truth would only reveal part of your secrets. Sipping your wine, you decided that was what you were going to do.

"I killed someone," you said, watching Wally's eyes for a reaction.

He visibly brightened, as if hearing good news. "Oh dear," he whispered. He placed his elbow on the table and rested his cheek in his hand, as if preparing to listen to you continue. You took that as a sign to keep talking.

"It was an accident, but somebody found out that it happened. They threatened to tell people what I did and make it look like it wasn't an accident. Something like that would ruin my life. So I... ran away." You swallowed, poking your pasta with your fork.

It was not an accident. It was self defense, which made the kill more cold-blooded. You deliberately shot the man who was robbing your house. It was hard for you to talk about this, not only because you had to double-check every word you said to make sure you did not say the wrong thing to Wally, but also because this much was a truth. You really had killed someone, and you really had been threatened. "I chose to ruin my own life before they could ruin it for me."

"That must have been hard," Wally said. It sounded like he was attempting to comfort you, which was irritating because he was the one forcing you to talk about this in the first place.

"It was hard, Wally. It's not any easier talking about it," you huffed.

Wally's smile had yet to drop, and it irritated you even further. He sighed gently.

You scoffed.

"Don't get mad at me," Wally said. He looked at his food, taking a 'bite' with his eyes. He lifted his napkin and patted at his mouth as if he had actually taken a bite. "I just have to know who you are, (Y/N). I'm sure you understand —"

"And who are you, Wally?"

He stared at you. This time, you stared back.

Now that Wally seemed satisfied with the bit of information you gave him, your anxiety had lessened. What remained of your nervousness was slowly being replaced with the irritation that Wally's actions continued to foster. He thought he had the right to sit here and play games with you, calling you by your name in front of others and painting that god-forsaken picture of your old home, without giving you the chance to play games with him. Who gave him the right to keep you in such a vulnerable position without offering anything about himself?

"Who am I?" he repeated.

"Yeah," you said, leaning back in your chair. "I'm sure you have something fucked-up going on. Tell me what it is."

For a moment, Wally looked embarrassed. Then he chuckled. "Why should I tell you?"

"So you do have something fucked-up going on. You admit it."

"No, I never said that."

"Well, I won't allow you to sit here and interrogate me like you're the FBI without telling me something about yourself. So, go on. I'm waiting." Your boldness would have been surprising if you were not so annoyed.

"Here's something." Wally's eyes widened at you, and for a terrifying moment, it felt like he was staring straight into your soul. "I could take a bite out of your face right now if I wanted to."

Your cheeks instantly flushed.

Wally blinked, then resumed his normal expression. He began to eat his food as if he had not just threatened your life, but you were still sitting there catching your breath as if you had just been punched.

His comment was not only uncalled for, but it proved that, no matter what you said or did, you would not be able to grasp the position of power in this conversation. And that was horrifying.

You started to feel dizzy. You tried not to show it, because you did not want to dive back into that feeling of panic while Wally sat there smugly. You stabbed some salad with your fork and chewed the bite slowly, staring at your plate.

Where had you gone wrong? You chose this town because you thought you would get a nice, quiet life out of it. You ran away from your past! What were you doing, sitting here and letting some blue-haired man in striped pants force all of this out of you?

But he was right. He could take a bite out of your face, as odd as that was. So you stayed seated and let the dinner go on.

"What about your family and friends?" Wally asked quietly.

You did not look up at him. "I told my family to run away, too. Just in case."

"So you abandoned them?"

"No." You watched your salad, as if hoping it would start moving on its own. "That's not what it was. But I had to get out fast. My family, on the other hand, had more time to pack and get ready to get out of town than I did. And I couldn't go with them. Just in case I was followed."

For a moment, Wally remained silent. You snuck a glance up at him before taking another bite of your dinner. "Just in case you were followed," he said. "Hmm."

Then, for a while, he did not say anything else, and neither did you. The two of you finished your meals and wine in silence. When you were done, you placed your silverware on top of your plate and stood up.

"Well, I should probably get going now," you said hastily. "Thanks for dinner. Fuck you for the conversation."

Wally laughed. "Such an attitude! I quite adore it." He stood up and pushed his chair in behind him. "Why don't I walk you home?"

"No thanks," you said. You turned to look out the window, where you noticed the window's circular shadow.

You frowned. You had never seen it from inside before. It flicked between you and Wally, resembling an eye again, like you thought it did the first time you saw it. Then the shadow vanished, exposing regular old glass. You were only meaning to look out of the window to see if the sun was setting yet (which it was not), but now you were curious about the house. "Wally?"

Wally was taking your plates from the dinner table over to the sink. "Yes, (Y/N)?"

Him saying your real name did not affect you with the same shock as it did the first few times, because now you could admit part of who you were to him. Less secrets poisoned the air. "Why does your house have eyes?"

Something clattered in the sink and the faucet turned on. "Because it is alive," Wally said without turning around to look at you. "Home! Why don't you come acquaint yourself with my lovely new neighbor?"

You waited, watching the window. After a couple of seconds, the shadow reappeared. It focused on you. No sounds were made from Home's end, so you rose a hand at the eye of a shadow and waved cautiously. "Hi, Home," you said.

So weird. This town was so weird. More and more things were being revealed to you that struck you wrong, like a violin's string being scratched with a knife's sharp edge. Wally could eat with his eyes, and he lived in a house that was alive. Not only that, but he knew way too much about you, and it seemed like his only motive for interrogating and threatening you was sheer curiosity.

"Well, if you must go, then I'll see you soon," Wally said, turning off the faucet. He grabbed a dish towel and dried his hands off, turning around to face you. "I'm not through with you yet."

"Of course you aren't," you mumbled.

Wally walked over to where you stood, coming closer than you liked. "Good luck with your job. And..." He looked down at your body, then back up at your face. "...Be safe."

'Be safe?' Wow. That was rich coming from him. However, it sounded sincere, which felt weird. Why was he giving such mixed signals? It was horrendous. One second, he was reminding you that he could kill you in a second. The next, he was blushing and calling you lovely and telling you to be safe.

"Sure thing," you said.

For a moment, you did not move. He did not move either. Your eyes were interlocked with Wally's in that waltz of secrets once more.

"Okay," Wally said. "Bye, neighbor."

"Bye, Wally."

Then you put on your shoes and left.

⫸——⫷