"Emmanuel is my name." He said. He seemed uninterested and unfazed by the conversation.

"Emmanuel huh?" Sydney said, he nodded. The mans parents must have hated him to give him a name like that. Sounded like a old Roman name or something. "So Emmanuel, can I call you Manny? Who was this friend of yours? He wasn't like, a criminal, was he? I mean it's totally fine, I mean he's probably a good guy, but uh...any reason to expect stolen goods in the car or I don't know like animal blood on the top of the roof when I strip off the old paint?"

"No. He was not a criminal of any sort, he was just a man trying to do right by his brother and father." Emmanuel said. He looked to the car. "There shouldn't be much in the car. Maybe some odds and ends, but that's it."
Emmanuel looked as if he was ready to leave.

Nick climbed out of the car and looked towards his brother. They would have to call a tow truck in order to get the car back to their house. He crossed his arms.

"Uh, well, thank you for the car. We'll get a truck to come get the car tonight and move it off." And with that Sydney shook the mans hand, took the documents, and wadded his way through the yard to Nick.

"I'll call the tow truck you empty anything loose in the car. The last thing we need is broken glass slowly falling out of the rear." Sydney flipped open his phone and called his coworker, Jason, to come and help him move the car on the promise of making cookies next week for his family in exchange for a free tow.

Nick nodded. He didnt see much that was loose in the car, aside from a few pieces of glass that hadn't been cleaned out and some pieces of paper. Nick gathered it all up and threw away the glass. He kept the papers though, for some reason. Everything in the trunk was strapped down under the secret compartment.

The sound of a wolf came from the woods. A solitary howl that was savage and feral. It seemed to be just out of sight. It was around 7 pm and dark already.

Sydney's spine went cold. "A wolf, really? This close to traffic. This day can't get any better." Sydney said holding his head in his hands. He was starting to get a headache. "I've never heard wolves here before, but then again I don't stand here in tall grass and dirt everyday."

Nick stood leaning against the car. "Aww, Syd, I'll protect you from the wolf." He picked on his older brother, a smile lighting up his face. He hoped his brother was aggravated by the comment he had made.

"Protect me from jack shit is what your twinky arms are going to do." Sydney mumbled in aggravation. He looked over to Nick who was shifting though some papers. "What's that?"

Nick heard Sydney's question and then shrugged. "I dont know. Havent looked at them yet." He handed them to his brother, dusting off one of his hands. "Be my guest."

Sydney muttered curses to himself as he looked over the papers. Most didn't make sense or had dirt smudges covering the pages. As far as he could tell the text was Latin or some ancient language just about as old. There were strange pictures of dark figures with fangs and fur. "The irony Nicky, you found the oldest book of Twilight." Sydney smirked handing the pictures over to Nick.

"Shut the hell up." Nick shoved his brother lightly, rolling his eyes. Nick took one of the papers from his brother and was surprised they had odd illustrations on them. They were beasts that seemed to be half man, half something else. They were lithe and aggressive, but thats all Nick could tell. "What the hell is this? Someones art?" He said. He was ready to go home; it was cold out.

"Do I look like an art critic?" Sydney asked sarcastically. "I don't know what it is. But it looks pretty cool. I could hang them in my room, I needed some creepy posters." He laughed. He could see his breath in the air and hoped Jason would come soon. The night was only going to get darker and he didn't want to walk home.

The tow truck pulled up nearby and Jason got out, dressed in heavy winter clothes. He smiled at them. "So how are you guys doing? Its cold tonight, you two go ahead and get in the truck." He smiled.

"Thanks man, cookies are coming next week I promise." Sydney said climbing into the middle of the truck seat and outing his freezing hands on the radiators.

When they got home, it was already almost 9 pm. Nick sighed and waved goodbye to their friend. He smiled at him.

The ride home was short and Sydney was happy to be out of the dirt and cold. He went to take a shower and got ready for bed afterwards. His room still smelled like smoke, so he opened his window. He yelled a swift goodnight to his brother before face planting into his bed.

Nick yelled goodnight to his older brother and got up from the couch. He walked over to his room, which was next to the one that smelled of oil and grease. He climbed into bed and fell asleep.
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