Asking me this question couldn’t have been a coincidence. My special ability, as he called it, is something only I know about. I could hear things that no one else in the world could. Someone could be talking on the other side of town, and with determined focus, I would be able to hear every word. It’s not something I was born with, but it started happening to me about a year ago. Did Paxton have some way to detect it in me or something?

“Of course not,” I lied. And to try and add authenticity to the lie, I added, “What in the world kind of question is that?”

I wasn’t sure he was convinced that I was telling the truth, but I sat and stared at him with my mouth hanging open like I was an idiot. His eyes studied me for a few more moments, but then he dropped his hands and sat up straight.

“I’m going to let you in,” he said. “We have a room available for you and plenty of work we could use you for.” He stood from his seat and I did the same. He towered over me, but I wasn’t intimidated. Just thankful. He reached out his large right hand and nearly covered mine as we shook.

“Thank you so much,” I said.

“Don’t make me regret letting you stay here,” he said.

“Oh, I won’t,” I said. I felt like a beggar then, but thinking back on it now, I suppose that is what I was. “In fact, I will make you wish you had more people like me.” It sounded stupid when the words came out, but he nodded and smiled at me anyway.

I never got my weapons back, but Gabe told me that if I were ever to leave Crestwood for any reason, all my possessions would be returned to me. All my possessions. A gun, a knife, and a folded up, torn page from an atlas. Though I felt naked without those things during my first days in Crestwood, I quickly got used to it.

The idea of Gabe walking next to me as a friend is baffling when I think back on that day. He had initially scared me and made me think I might not be allowed to stay, but ever since I joined the town he has been a saint.

“You still liking it here?” he asks me as I near my apartment building.