Three Blind Mice

[Sorin Jacob Petrescu]

"SORIN!"

Marius sounded quite annoyed with his voice right beside Sorin's ear. His hand descended heavily onto Sorin's shoulder and Sorin let out an embarrassing sound not unlike a mouse being run over by a tractor. He looked up swiftly as, in the same motion, his hand jerked down to hide the conversation on his phone. Tucking the conspicuously lit screen under one leg, he stared up at his older brother with wide eyes.

"S-sorry! Did you want me to do something?"

There had never been a time in Sorin's life—that he recalled—where someone yelled for him and didn't want him to do something for them. Usually it was a fetch quest—get a packet of cigarettes from the corner store or get a parcel from the local mail center or get food, get drinks, get this, get that. Sorin was accustomed to dropping anything he was doing at the moment to accommodate his family's needs.

It never occurred to him to refuse; this was his established role and had been since he was a child. While Marius, the face of the Petrescu family, was trotted out as the golden child, Sorin clung to the shadows and hid. He read voraciously, devouring anything he could get his hands on. Even the silly so-called 'ancient tomes' that his family used as props in their fortune-telling business, he knew by heart. Fiction, non-fiction, biographies, historical texts, classics, even cheesy gay romance novels, Sorin didn't discriminate. Any new town that they ventured into, the library was the first place that Sorin sought out. He knew several languages and was always looking to learn more; that was his passion in life that so few knew about.

Sorin was unlike everyone in his family. His mother, aunt and brother were all strong people with a forceful personality. They could walk tall through a crowd and automatically have it part for them. When they spoke, people sat up and took notice and they were intelligent to the core. Sly, yes—but intelligent. It took a smart person to pull the wool over the eyes of so many. Every town they came to, people flocked to their carts. Marius, handsome and tall and charismatic, drew in all of the women with his dazzling smile. He seemed to have a lover in every part of the world. Sorin's mother was noble, beautiful and elegant and statuesque. Her grace was undeniable and she walked as if she owned the world. Her sister, Sorin's aunt, was fiery and flashy and demanded attention.

And then there was Sorin, small and mousy, short and invisible to the naked eye. He wasn't handsome in the traditional way; he didn't command one's attention. What he said to Neyen was true—no one ever expressed interest in him. Shamefully he had to admit that despite his interest in men, he... Well, there was one time but that was an encounter Sorin preferred to keep buried away in the deepest, darkest recesses of his memories. As far as legitimate interest, romantic interest, in Sorin was concerned, there was nothing.

It was all for the better that way. His family frowned upon his interest in men. They didn't speak of it, preferred to ignore it, and Sorin was just relieved that no one was trying to exorcise it out of him yet. For the moment, life was okay. Sorin didn't make trouble but why did he have a feeling that trouble was trying to find him? In the form of a startlingly handsome man with long, wavy hair?

"Who are you talking to, Sorin?"

Marius' eyes were on the phone partially hidden under Sorin's leg and self-consciously, Sorin shifted to hide it. "No one," he said before realizing that it was a stupid lie. Quickly, he sought to cover that up—with another lie. "Just. Um. Speaking with the site manager for our next show. Booking the campsite too, you know. Things like that. Nothing important." Sorin tried a smile but felt distinctively nervous. The hairs at the nape of his neck prickled and he felt uncomfortably as though Marius could see through him. After a moment's intense scrutiny, his brother lifted his hand and straightened.

"Hm. Well I need you to replace the curtain in my tent. There is a tear in it."

"All right. I'll do it tonight." Sorin watched his brother walking away with worried eyes. Did Marius know? It was so hard to read him sometimes... When they were children, Marius used to boss him around (as he did now) but he also looked after Sorin. He would tell Sorin what to eat, how to eat it, but then also fill his plate to make sure he had enough. It was his way of showing love, Sorin learned eventually. Now that Marius was fortune-telling full time, they had less time together and Sorin felt the distance between them growing gradually. His gaze softened as he watched his brother re-entering his tent, and then it dropped to the ground. Sorin was perched on top of a wooden crate; his feet skated the browning grass.

Another message made his phone buzz and he brought it up quickly to look. Neyen. Neyen, so enigmatic and admittedly persuasive. Bossy, too, like Marius but maybe he also meant well... Sorin didn't understand why he insisted on them meeting, to the point of orchestrating a rescue attempt just to get Sorin out with him. He wasn't foolish enough to think that it was a date or anything of that nature. Neyen didn't look like he had trouble finding someone, and besides, Sorin had seen him with that woman in the tent when they first appeared. He saw the way she held his hand, so possessively that there could be no mistaking that they were together. A man with a girlfriend didn't seek out another man—and if he did, he wouldn't merely settle for Sorin, not when there was no shortage of attractive gay men out here. Sorin had seen them, he had watched them longingly (maybe creepily too) coming out of the nightclubs and even the strip club, so he knew that if Neyen wanted a tryst, he could easily find someone.

But as pathetic as it may have been, Sorin was still delicately flattered by the attention. His heart beat faster every time a message flashed on his phone. He smiled despite himself, even if his return messages were guarded and careful. A large part of him did want to meet Neyen, even if Neyen merely wanted to know more about his visions or... Well, whatever Neyen wanted to know, Sorin would be more than happy to comply. Oh, he knew how sad that was. A part of him was cringing inwardly at himself but it wasn't as if an attractive man spoke to him—at length—every day. Plus, he knew that after the festival was over, they would be picking up and moving again so there was nothing to be lost by exchanging a few texts.

By that logic, there was nothing to be lost by going to the beach with Neyen either, but Sorin was anxious about his vision about water. Deep water meant danger right now and he knew that there was a lake nearby as well as a small beach, since Oregon was along the coast. Sorin worried his lower lip as he recalled the terrifying black aura surrounding Neyen. Something in him scratched to get out, a real and genuine concern for Neyen. If they met just one more time, maybe Sorin could see more. Maybe his visions would reveal the source of the danger, and he could at least try to save Neyen from a horrible fate...

Maybe...