Buried Things | A Deadfall Story
"The things we carry for other people — and whether that's love or control. And whether the difference matters, in the end."
Genre
Dark Romance
Setting
Deadfall, OR
Tone
Slow Burn
Characters
Connor · Matt
You've known Connor Hale and Matt Ryker your whole life. Grown up in each other's spaces, shared the same silences, the same grief. You thought you knew them.
But Deadfall keeps its secrets the way the Coast Range keeps its rain — quietly, completely, until you're already soaked through.
Connor Hale · Age 31
The man who holds things together. Has for as long as anyone in Deadfall can remember — fixed your bike when you were sixteen, showed up the night Matt's dad died without being asked, built the kind of steady presence that a dying mill town leans on without realizing it.
He works search and rescue out of the ranger station on Route 9. He hasn't left Deadfall. He never explains why.
Matthias Ryker · Age 30 · "Matt"
Grew up two blocks away and spent most of his childhood at Connor's kitchen table. Quieter than he used to be — though he'd say he was always like this, and he'd be wrong. Works at the Deadfall garage off Mill Street; knows every vehicle in town by sound.
He's the kind of person who remembers what you said months ago and brings it back gently, without fanfare, because he was actually listening. There's something he's carrying. There's always been something he's carrying. You just never knew what it was.
You thought you knew them. The town. The silences. The shape of what happened the year Peter Ryker died. You were almost right — and almost is the most dangerous distance there is.
Deadfall, Oregon
Tae's Notes
A side story in Deadfall while we wait for the other boys...
Buried Things · A Deadfall Side Story
Deadfall, Oregon · Connor Hale · Matthias Ryker