Suburban Dangers

by Megan Whitson Lee

  Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked at Sydney’s empty seat. Tightness gripped Kaki’s chest as she wondered why Sydney had not replied to any of her texts or phone calls. What had occurred during the rest of Saturday night’s party? Had something happened to Sydney that she just couldn’t remember?

  At the end of the day, Kaki stopped by Molly’s classroom to find out if Trixie had her puppies yet. Molly was sitting at her desk, her laptop open in front of her and a stack of papers beside her. She looked up when Kaki entered the room.

  “Hey, Katherine.”

  Kaki felt a little awkward just stopping by like this, but she moved closer to Molly’s desk. “Hi. How’s Trixie?”

  Molly smiled. “Oh, she’s settling right in.”

  “Any puppies yet?”

  “Any day. The vet said she’s ready. Maybe within the week. We’ve taken her to the vet twice now, and the vet says she seems healthy. He’s given us all kinds of material on what to do during a dog birth, how to help, when to get professional help…” Molly shrugged. “I guess we’re going to have a crash course in dealing with puppies.”

  Kaki slid into a desk. “I’m glad you’re going to keep her.”

  “Well, I don’t think Josh really wanted a dog—especially not a pregnant dog—but I think she wore him down with those sad, sagging eyes. She cuddles up close against his leg when we sit on the couch and watch television.”

  “That’s so cute.”

  “It’s almost as good as having a baby of our own.” Molly’s smile slipped from her face. She looked down at her hands, silent for a moment. Then she drew a sharp breath and looked up again. “So any word about Brandon?”

  Kaki shook her head. “No.”

  “I really hoped he would just come back. I know your parents are beside themselves.”

  “Yeah, pretty much. Mom’s been calling all day every day, and Dad hasn’t gone to work.”

  “I know Josh regretted that the weather was too bad on Sunday to go out looking for him.”

  “It was really bad out.”

  Her dad had trudged around in the snow, walking through all of the neighborhoods around them.

  Kaki cleared her throat. “Sydney wasn’t in your class today, was she?” Sydney hadn’t been in math class, but sometimes she went to one class and not another.

  Molly shook her head. “I haven’t seen Sydney in weeks. She’s pretty much stopped coming to my class. Have you seen her recently?”

  Kaki needed to be careful. “I saw her on Saturday at a party. I haven’t been able to get in touch with her this week, though.”

  Molly’s brow furrowed. “Hm. You worried about her?”

  Kaki nodded. “Yeah, a little. She hasn’t answered any of my texts or anything.”

  “Do you know her mother at all?”

  “No. Never met her.”

  Molly turned to her computer and began to type. “Let’s call home right now, and see if we can find out what’s going on. I should have done that before now anyway.”

  Kaki didn’t want to make any waves. But maybe Sydney’s mother would have some information. “I don’t think her family speaks English.”

  “That’s OK. I’m pretty fluent. My grandmother was Argentinian. I can get by.” Molly picked up the phone. “Let’s call.” She punched in the numbers and held the phone to her ear.

  “Ola?” she said after a few seconds. “Ola. Mi nombre es Molly Wolf. Soy profesor de Inglés de Sydney.”

  There was a long pause.

  “Si?” Molly continued in Spanish.

  Three years of French meant Kaki didn’t understand much of what was said.

  Molly’s face took on an expression of concern. Finally, she hung up the phone. “That was Sydney’s aunt. She said Sydney and her mother haven’t lived with her for some time. She said Sydney’s mom moved to New York. Sydney was supposed to stay with her and finish school, but she left and moved in with her boyfriend a couple weeks ago. Do you know her boyfriend?”

  Kaki cringed. “Um, not really.” Molly would never understand the truth. It would be dangerous to try and explain it.

  She really had known very little about Sydney. She’d never been to Sydney’s house or met any members of her family. The only places she’d ever gone with Damien, Sydney, or any members of the gang were the club, some motels, the cinderblock shack they called The Diggs, and a few house parties. She’d never been to Damien’s house. She didn’t even know where he lived. It was kind of weird how little she knew about the people in her life. But what part of this nightmare was normal?

  17

  Tyler

  Saturday, December 17

  On Saturday afternoon, Tyler drove up and down the streets of Herndon looking for Brandon. Snow banks lined the roads, and salt crews were still out trying to keep the roads from refreezing. He tried to take deep breaths and maintain some patience as he slowed to a crawl behind one of them.

  From the passenger seat, his cell phone rang. He glanced down at it. Abbie Jackson’s name appeared on the screen.

  “Hello?”

  “We’ve got a lead on Brandon.”

  Tyler’s heart leapt. “Where?”

  “Winchester.”

  “Winchester? That’s fifty miles away. What’s he doing there?”

  “We got a call from police in Winchester who thought they might have him in their custody,” Abbie explained. “Some woman in Winchester called the police after she chased a kid off of her back porch. Anyway, the Winchester police got him as he was running through backyards in the neighborhood.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Tyler breathed. He had been so sure Brandon was still in Herndon, staying at some friend’s house he didn’t know about. Tyler had driven up and down every road he could think of every day. And he’d spent a lot of hours driving through rough neighborhoods where gang members were known to live. “Are they sure it’s Brandon?”

  “He gave them another name,” Abbie said. “But one of the cops recognized his face from the news and the missing poster sent out to all Virginia police. They’re pretty sure it’s him. I’m on my way there now.”

  Tyler hung up and called Josh.

  Daylight was almost completely extinguished when they backed out of Josh’s driveway. As they drove down Route 28 toward Interstate 66, the sunset off to their right was at its end—only a small ball of fire burned in the distance as it sank below the line of businesses and strip malls.

  “I’m glad you called me,” Josh said.

  “Thanks for driving me out there. I…I didn’t want to call Christina until I’m out there and know for sure it’s him.”

  They drove in silence for a few moments.

  “You know,” Josh said. “I always pegged you for one of those guys who never shows a crack. You know…you always have your brave face on and look like you’ve got it all together. I figured it was either that, or you really did have it all together.”

  Tyler exhaled a short, terse laugh. If Josh only knew… “Josh, I don’t have anything together. I think I can readily admit that my life is a mess.”

  “Well, you need help, and you’re willing to admit it,” Josh said. “That’s a move in the right direction.”

  They turned onto Interstate 66 going west toward Winchester and were immediately forced into the far left lane to crawl behind a line of other cars as rubber-neckers all gawped at an accident on the shoulder.

  “There’s still a lot of ice out here,” Josh remarked. The grass was still piled high with the white walls of snow, now turning black with road debris.

  “It’ll take months to melt,” Tyler said. “I can’t believe Brandon’s been out in this for a week.”

  “And Winchester?” Josh scratched his head. “How did he get to Winchester? Fifty-five miles away.”

  “I don’t know. I just can’t believe any of this is happening. All of this craziness started with that sexting thing. And now running away? I just can’t believe he keeps doing these stupid things.”
<
br />   “Just so you know,” Josh said. “It’s not like this is the only sexting case we’ve ever had—or even the first case we’ve had this year. Unfortunately, we see this all the time. We used to prosecute every case. Now, there are just too many of them. I’m confiscating phones from kids every week because of the sexting epidemic.”

  A heavy, rattling sigh escaped Tyler’s throat, and he covered his eyes with his hand. “I guess I should have known Brandon was hooked on pornography.”

  “How would you have known?”

  “I should have been paying more attention.” And he should have been looking to his own behavior as a compass to that of his son’s. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree…the sins of the father…

  “It’s hard, you know? These kids are sneaky. You can be the best parent in the world and still miss this stuff,” Josh said.

  Despair settled over Tyler. He suddenly felt much older than his forty years. How had he ended up here? How had he let this happen to his son?

  “You OK, man?”

  “No. There are so many things going through my mind right now.” Tyler focused on the windshield wipers squawking against the glass, sweeping the delicate, mist-like snowflakes to the sides of the windshield where they turned to slush. There was no reason to keep his secret anymore. “I should have known…because I think I may have a problem with it myself.”

  “With what?”

  “Pornography.”

  “Oh.”

  An uncomfortable silence followed. Should he have told him? Would Josh judge him? If anyone seemed like they were straight-laced and had it all together, it was Josh. He probably wouldn’t understand. He might just think Tyler was a sicko.

  After a few seconds, Josh spoke. “You know—all of us guys struggle with that. Whether it’s pornography or lust. All of us. Anyone who tells you different is lying—or too old to care.”

  Tyler was relieved at his candor. “You look at porn?”

  “Well, no. But I used to—when I was in college. I mean, I even went to a few strip clubs, I’m ashamed to say. But look, I don’t have to use pornography to know what it’s like to be tempted, man. All I have to do is open my Internet browser, watch a movie, or even an ad on television. Some days it’s bad enough just walking around the school building. You know how some of those teenage girls dress.”

  Tyler was quick to follow up his first confession with his second. “I’ve met a girl at work, too.” He might as well let it all fly tonight.

  “Have you done anything with her?”

  Tyler shook his head. “I’ve had drinks with her, we’ve played racquetball. Mostly I’ve thought a lot about what it would be like to…you know…be with her.”

  Josh paused a minute before he answered. “Hmm … I guess this is how the devil operates. He keeps us in a state of dissatisfaction.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I was just thinking about how the devil keeps us all chasing our tails. No matter how much we have, we’ll always want more. Partly it’s our own human nature, but the devil takes advantage of that—shows us what we’re missing out on. ‘Look at all the thrills you’re missing!’” Josh removed one hand from the steering wheel and waved it in the air for emphasis.

  “I guess that’s true,” Tyler said absently.

  “We hate being told what to do by our parents, so we rebel and do all kinds of stupid stuff we later regret. Then we grow up a little, go off to college so we can party and get all that out of our systems, but then we can’t wait to get out, get our degree and find a great paying job, which, by the way, we’re sure will just fall into our laps. Then, we get the job, it’s not what we hoped, so we get married to the person we’re sure will never disappoint or betray us. When they do disappoint us, we figure there’s something else we’re missing. A big house, maybe? So we buy that. What comes next? Oh, yeah, kids. OK, so now what? And it never, never ends.”

  Tyler was quiet for a minute. Out of nowhere, a verse that he was pretty sure was from the Bible shifted into his mind. “’The eyes of man are never satisfied.’ Isn’t that in the Bible somewhere?”

  “Yep. Ecclesiastes,” Josh confirmed.

  Wow. Where had that come from? It wasn’t as if he’d tried to remember an applicable saying. It was as though God had plopped it into his mind.

  Only the sound of wet tires and wiper blades filled the car. “And then your wife tells you she’s disappointed with her life and the kids, and she wants to pack up everything and move across the country to California so she can fulfill her fantasy. Then you find out you’re not enough for her either.”

  “I thought you wanted to go, too,” Josh said.

  Tyler rested his head against the window pane. “I guess I did. I wanted a change, you know? But now, it just doesn’t seem important anymore.”

  “I’m so sorry, bro. Have you talked to Pastor Simmons about this at all?”

  “No. I haven’t been to church in ages. I think I’ve moved away from God. And let’s be honest, Lana was never a believer. My parents warned me before we ever got married that this was the way it would be. I went from a mentally ill wife with no faith, to one who faked her belief to get me to marry her. Then all she wanted was kids. So we had the kids. I thought that might change her—that she might have more interest in church after that. Instead, the kids just made her want a different life. Something more glamorous. Her parents were rich, and they traveled all over…our life just isn’t enough for her.”

  “I urge you to call Pastor Simmons. You need someone to talk to, man. And Brandon probably needs to get some counseling, too. Once you get him home, you need to sit him down, have a talk with him. Don’t use this as an opportunity to alienate and punish him. Use this as an opportunity to connect and come clean to him. Tell him you understand.”

  Tyler’s head swiveled as he looked in Josh’s direction, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “What do I need pastoral counseling for? You seem to have all the answers right here and now.”

  Josh chuckled. “No. I assure you. I don’t.”

  The exit leading to Winchester was just ahead of them. Josh turned onto the exit ramp, and the snow pelted the windshield harder. As they pulled into the parking lot of the Winchester Police Station, Tyler’s heart was in his throat. What if it wasn’t Brandon? Then he’d have to keep searching, worrying, wondering…

  Tyler and Josh climbed out of the car. As they walked across the icy parking lot, their feet made crunching noises. Tyler held his breath as he pulled open the glass door and stepped inside the police station.

  Then he exhaled.

  Brandon sat on a bench near the front door. An officer in charge sat nearby.

  Tyler’s heart soared at the sight of him, covered in bruises, cuts, and lacerations, his expression as sullen as ever. He didn’t look up as Tyler and Josh entered.

  Abbie Jackson was there, talking to the officer on duty. She waved as they came in.

  Tyler approached his son cautiously. His hand shook as he placed it on Brandon’s head. “Come on, son. I’m here to take you home.”

  Brandon’s head didn’t raise, and he didn’t move.

  “They’re getting him another hot cocoa,” Abbie called over.

  A female officer brought a steaming cup to Brandon. Brandon reached for it with hands riddled with black spots.

  Frostbite? They needed to get him to a hospital right away. Tyler walked up to the front desk where an officer on duty sat. “Did he say anything about what happened to him?”

  “Nope. Only that he was on that lady’s porch to get out of the weather. But I think he needs some medical attention. He’s got some cuts and bruises, and I’d be surprised if he didn’t have some other injuries, too.”

  Abbie moved to stand beside Tyler. “Take him straight to the Winchester Medical Center. We’ll worry about all the details next week.” Her dark eyes were soft, compassionate. She patted his arm. “It’s going to take some time. And you’ll need to keep a close
eye on him. He’s at risk for running again.”

  Brandon’s brows were furrowed, his mouth pushed out in an angry expression reminiscent of when he was a little boy. Fear was there as well. What was going on in that boy’s head? Would Brandon ever let him in?

  The doctor in the emergency room spoke of Brandon’s numerous superficial scratches and bruises, at least two lacerations that required stitches, and frostbite to Brandon’s hands and feet.

  “Several of the toes are bad,” the doctor told them. “But I think all of them are salvageable. Everything else should heal pretty quickly.”

  But Tyler knew the majority of Brandon’s injuries were internal—those of the heart, soul, and mind. Those would take the longest to heal.

  ~*~

  Sunday, December 18

  It was a relatively quiet homecoming other than Christina, who descended on the house early the next morning. They all sat in the living room, Tyler and Lana on one sofa, Christina and Brandon on the other. Katherine stood in the doorway looking on. Brandon remained taciturn throughout the hugging, the questions, the insistence that he immediately go and see one of the many doctors at Christina’s disposal.

  “Christina, let’s just get through the weekend before we worry about that,” Tyler said calmly. He was already making his own plans to take Brandon to see someone at the church.

  “What were you doing? Why did you run away like that?” Her voice was hoarse as though she’d spent the night screaming or crying or both.

  Brandon shrugged.

  “And how did you get to Winchester?” She grabbed his cheeks with the vise-like fingers of her right hand and turned his head to examine his bruises.

  “I got a ride with a truck driver.”

  “What?” Christina shrieked.

  It was the first Tyler had heard of it as well.