Page 94 of Pure Silence

It turned into a marathon because Day wanted to see the other movies in the series, and Goldie found himself fighting to stay awake during number three. This was his favorite after the first film because he loved Samuel L. Jackson, but he was tired. He caught his head dropping to his chest twice before he finally decided to call it a night.

He told Day he could stay up and finish the movie, but Day didn’t want to watch it without him. They got ready for bed, and Goldie smiled when he saw Day’s toothbrush in the cup on the sink with his own.

Fuck. This was really happening.

He’d never gotten close enough to anyone to cohabitate with them, and perhaps a large part of that was not wanting to make any concessions in his personal space for someone else. He didn’t know why it was so easy with Day, but the changes taking place didn’t bother or upset him in the slightest.

Day was very clean, neat, and he seemed to blend in seamlessly with Goldie’s quiet life.

Even Twinkle would be a good fit once Purrcy stopped hissing at him.

As for Day’s personal belongings, the contents of the cardboard box didn’t turn out to be very much. There were some ratty clothes that Goldie made a solemn oath to replace and trash as soon as possible. He made room in his sock and underwear drawer for Day’s, and he cleared out a drawer he’d been using for junk for Day to put the rest of his clothes in. The new sweaters got hung in the closet, and Goldie was again struck by how easy it was to let Day share his home.

He’d been meaning to empty out that junk drawer for months, and needing space for Day was the motivation he’d needed to finally do it. He liked seeing Day’s clothes in there now. They were a mix of the new items Goldie had bought and Day’s old things, and Goldie thought the contrast between the two perfectly showcased Day’s dismal past with what was hopefully a very bright future together.

The only other items in the box were a giant beat-up Bible and a silver necklace with a thick medallion. Closer inspection of the medallion revealed a surprisingly sensual engraving of a half-naked man with arrows sticking out of his stomach and chest.

“Saint Sebastian,” Day said when he saw Goldie looking.

“Oh, he’s a saint?”

“Yes. He’s the patron saint of archers, athletes, and those who wish for a saintly death.” Day smiled. “My father admired him greatly. He didn’t like the Catholic church because of their never-ending parade of lies and filth, but… he always did like the saints. Especially Sebastian.”

“And what exactly is a saintly death?”

“Dying for your love of the Lord.”

Goldie looked over the pendant. “That includes being shot by arrows?”

“Ah, that was only the first time he died.”

“Huh?”

“Exactly.” Day grinned, and he picked up the Bible. “Come here! I’ll show you.” He hopped into bed with the giant book in his lap, urging Goldie to join him. Twinkle took the invitation first, and he snuggled his way across the pages.

As Goldie sat beside Day to look at the book, he immediately realized this was no normal Bible.

The pages had been butchered, edited, and glued back together several times over. There were also several pages that had been added, many of which were handwritten. What had started as a Bible was now an erratic scrapbook of rambling religious litanies with the verses pasted in between. There didn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason to the madness, but Day was able to turn right to the page about Saint Sebastian.

A small copy of a Renaissance era painting of Saint Sebastian was glued next to a handwritten passage that Day read out loud.

“To punish Sebastian for being a Christian and converting his fellow soldiers, the Roman emperor Diocletian ordered that Sebastian be tied to a tree and shot with arrows. He died, but he was later found and resurrected by Saint Irene, who then nursed him back to health. When he had fully recovered, Sebastian confronted Diocletian with his sins.”

“I don’t imagine that ended well,” Goldie mumbled.

Day paused to remove Twinkle from exploring the pages and kept reading, “Though Diocletian was stunned to have his sins revealed to him by a man he thought dead, he called again for Sebastian’s death and had him beaten with clubs.”

“Didn’t come back from that one, did he?”

“No. He did not.” Day picked up a very stubborn Twinkle again and held him against his chest. “Father said his first vision from God came to him when he was reading about Saint Sebastian. He admired the courage it took for a man who had already died once to confront the very man who had him killed with his sins because his love for God was so great it commanded his need to take action.”

“Uh-huh.” Goldie felt like he needed to say something else because Day seemed so excited, and he managed, “And he’s the patron saint of athletes, huh?”

“Yes!” Day beamed. “Like you.”

“Me?”

“You’re a wrestler! You’re an athlete.” Day’s eyes widened, and he took the necklace from Goldie’s hand. “This is for you.”