“I…guess.”
“See, we got a plan,” he grinned, trying to look positive.
Jess and I used an old rope to pull the limbs to the platform. He dumped the toy trucks out of the tub and broke the branches down to fit inside it. I cracked the two windows while he dug around for a package of matches. We tore up an old box, trying to get the wet limbs to catch fire. After what felt like the hundredth try with the matches, a few embers burned in the old toy bin.
I pulled off my gloves, holding my hands over the fire. It wasn’t a body-warming heat, but it was better than nothing at all. My lungs burned from black cloud that hovered in the house. Staring into the flames, the fire lulled Jess into a trance. I wanted to ask how long he thought it would take for them to find us, but his slumped shoulders told me the answer. This was really bad.
The boy, normally full of endless smiles and words, said nothing as time ticked by in the house. Our fire burned lower and daylight faded. Jess added more sticks to the bin. Smoke billowed out around us as we huddled together under the musty blanket.
“What kind of spiders?” I asked, hearing my voice against the quiet.
“Huh?”
“In the jars. What kind did you have?”
“Oh, brown ones,” he muttered.
“Were they poisonous?”
“I don’t know. I had to catch bugs for ‘em. They ate too much. Most just shriveled up and died.”
“Oh,” I paused, glancing over at his sad face. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure?” His blue eyes never even looked in my direction.
“Why haven’t you brought me out here before?”
“I don’t know.” His shoulders shrugged next to me. “It’s always been like my place. My thinkin’ spot away from everyone.”
“You’ve never talked about it.”
“I don’t know how to explain it without soundin’ like some boy with a fort and a ‘No Girls Allowed’ sign.”
“You didn’t show me because I was a girl?” I shook my head trying not to smirk.
“You think it’s funny?”
“No, I think it sounds nice having your own place. But why’d you finally show it to me?”
He contemplated the question for a moment. “I was sittin’ in the house and wanted to escape. Every time I want to get away, I think of this place. I always come up in the summer. I’d never been in the snow and I wanted you to see it too. I wanted you to see my favorite place.”
He shared his favorite place with me. The admission burned in my chest; a painful combination of friendship and the Masons always giving something to me. I wasn’t sure what to say back to him. “You don’t have to share everything with me.”
“I know, but I want to.” His sincere blue eyes spoke more than the words.
“What were you escaping by coming to the treehouse?”
“It’s before you came to live here,” he said quietly.
“You were like eight.”
“I know, it’s stupid,” he paused, letting out a deep breath. “Parents wanted their kids to be friends with me, you know, to have a way in with my family. They were always just droppin’ in at the house. They’d act stupid. All of it just to have connections with my parents. I hated it. I’d leave when they came over and sneak out here. It lasted for a while then ya’ll came to Sprayberry.”
“What difference did that make?”
“Everythin’.” The embarrassment reflected bright on his cheeks in the light of the flames. “You’re different from all of ‘em. I didn’t need to hide out anymore. I had you.”
“Oh,” I whispered, hearing his answer that wasn’t really an answer. This wasn’t news about his family. I had lived in Arlis long enough to witness the dynamics. People wanted to use the Masons. With power, came the great burden to distinguish real friendships from those who wanted to coat tail on another’s pot of gold, or in their case, oil.
I didn’t see my family any different than the others. Yet, Jess saw me as the opposite; I was his savior when in fact, his family was ours. The idea required more thought at a later time when I wasn’t stranded in a snowstorm.
I watched the flames jump around in the metal bin until my sleepy head fell against Jess's shoulder. My nose tucked close to his hair that still smelled like soap, despite the smoke in the tiny room. In the moment, I was cold but felt safe next to him. Sometimes, I just pretended his last name wasn’t Mason.
“Jess!” I screamed, jerking awake. A log exploded in the fire, causing it to shift and knock over the metal bin. He threw the blanket off as the flames spread up the fabric.
“Come on!” Jess grabbed my hand and pulled me up. “We gotta get to the hatch!” The room filled with smoke and the old boards soaked up the flames. “Don’t let go of my hand. I’m gonna slide around the outside wall.”
I followed Jess blindly as we scooted through the haze to the exit. Something exploded, sending a wave of flames in our direction. I doubled over coughing as the heat scorched my face. Jess pushed me through the door and I hit the landing platform on my stomach. I rolled over and screamed as Jess struggled to get through the hatch with his coat sleeve on fire.
“Go!” Jess pleaded as he beat his glowing arm against the landing floor. “I’ll be right behind you!”
“No…I’m not going!”
“Now!” Jess shoved me off toward the ladder.
I slipped down the steps, desperately watching for Jess. At that angle, I couldn’t see the top of the platform. Jumping the last ten feet, I fell backward into a drift. The whole house burned bright in the cold air with Jess still on the platform. I pulled myself out of the snow and climbed back up the steps. Orange glowing boards fell all around me. Something struck the back of my head, knocking me down in the snow. The pain radiated down my spine then everything went black.
My body moved slowly through the snow. Ice caked around the waistband of my jeans. Opening my eyes, the flames burned hot in the distance. It hurt to move my head. Jess struggled to take another step; his hands pulling under my arm pits, dragging me away from the tree house.
“Don’t, you’re hurt,” I muttered.
“Nah…just a little.” His sweet face gritted up in pain. “Let’s…g…get further a…away.”
Everything went out of focus. For a moment, I didn't see anything but darkness. Feeling around my head, I located the knot just on the backside. I looked back up at Jess, smelling the scorched flesh. The image of his burning body stayed seared in my mind. Turning to the side, I saw something awful.
Jess made it a few more steps before sinking down in the snow. Crawling up beside him, I took a good look at his arm. My stomach lurched seeing the bloody, oozy mess mixed with melted fabric. I stared back into his sad, blue eyes.
“Maybe we should put snow on it.”
“Ok,” he mumbled.
I patted a handful of white fluff into the charred arm. I was afraid to push too hard. What if I knocked off part of his skin? The idea caused bile to form in the back of my throat. Taking another clump, I added a new layer, seeing the blood darken the ice. “Feel any better?”
“Yeah.” He half-smiled as a tear trickled out of his eye. The water froze on his cheek. My chest hurt, seeing him cringe in pain each time I touched his arm. I stopped packing the burn with snow. Jess needed a doctor.
“I don’t know what else to do.”
“It’s almost numb now,” he muttered. “It shouldn’t be long now. They’ll see the fire and come lookin’.”
Scooting closer to his side, I wrapped my arms around his shaking body. We clung together in the snow, waiting to be rescued. The smell of his burned skin lingered in the air.
It wasn’t long before two beams of light headed in our direction. The big four-wheel-drive truck barely stopped before both of our fathers came running toward us out on the meadow.
The burns and the head injury landed us both in the hospital. Tomorrow, Jess would see a specialist in Dallas. They held me overnight for
observation for a concussion. Dr. Mason arranged for us to share a room in side-by-side beds. Once again, I slept in the Arlis hospital, but this time as a patient.
Tonight scared me. It scared me in ways I didn’t want to think about as I watched my friend stare up at the ceiling. I knew he was still in pain.
“I’m really sorry,” he whispered softly.
“It’s ok.”
“No, it’s not. I do stupid stuff sometimes. I get caught up in the moment and I…I know we joke ‘round but you’re my best friend.” The blue eyes glistened in the dim room as he rolled over to face me. “You wouldn’t wake up after you got hit. I kept shakin’ you and you just laid there. The boards were fallin’ everywhere…and I was scared. I don’t know what I’d do if somethin’ happened to you.”
An odd pain stabbed me in the chest. I sucked in a deep breath. Every time I closed my eyes, I pictured his body covered in fire. I pictured the orange flames eating up his skin. I pictured a life without Jess. The image hurt. It hurt deep inside my chest in a way nothing else could reach me.
“I would cry,” I whispered.
“What?” His voice cracked like it often did these days.
“I would cry for you, Jess.”
Chapter 15
Today, 10:52 p.m.
The hospital still has the same wallpaper. I notice this as I open my eyes. The dim moonlight illuminates a man sitting in the chair; his hand resting across a knee.
“Dad?”
“Hey.”
Wiggling my hand, I move it free of the restraints. I lift it up to see ugly red marks across the blue stars inked into the skin on my wrist. Bruises speckle the rest of my arm, disappearing under my sleeve. I hurt in every possible way a body could hurt. I hurt from my skin to my soul.
“What time is it?”
“A little before eleven.”
“What’s happening? I want the truth.”
“You need to get cleaned up and we can talk.” His face constricts on the words.
“Stop it.”
“Alex, you broke the stained glass window in the chapel with a plant. You need to take it easy. I know you’re upset.”
“Upset? You think I’m upset? You of all people should understand I’m not just upset!” Panic grips my skin. I can’t breathe. Tucking my knees close, I grab on tight.
“Pumpkin, it will be ok.”
“Stop lying to me.”
His rubs his tired eyes. “I’m not lying. I just don’t have an answer, so it’s the only thing I know to say.”
“So you don’t know?”
“No,” he mutters. My father stands up from the chair. He sits down next to me on the bed, pulling me against his shoulder. “I would tell you if I did. I won’t keep it from you.”
“Promise?” Two tears slip down my cheeks upon hearing that word. Those two syllables represent something powerful in my world, the very one that spins in a perilous orbit.
“I promise, Pumpkin.”
Chapter 16
When I was fourteen…
Arlis. Not big enough to spit on, according to those passing through the hole-in-the-wall Texas town. It didn’t take long for me to know exactly what Jess meant when I arrived at Sprayberry. Arlis was not a wealthy place, which made the Masons stand out as local royalty among the gossipmongers and coat-tailers.
My involvement with the family became fodder of many dinner table discussions. The snippets of our legendary scandal caught my ear through the years. How’d those con-artist Tanners wiggle their way in with the Masons? You know they pay for everything. Bought the dad another new truck just last year.
For Jess and me, those wild days at Sprayberry made the rest disappear into oblivion. A bubble built by children destined to burst, but we lived every moment happy and together. That worked until this summer. In a few weeks, high school would start, bringing the full world of Arlis right to my doorstep. It was an understatement to say I was worried. Those thoughts plagued my subconscious as I sat sketching poolside at the Masons.
“When are you getting your ass in the pool?” Natalie demanded from the cool, blue water. I looked up at my only other friend besides Jess. She’d spent the last hour floating around on a reclining raft in his pool while I sketched in my notepad.
“Um, maybe later. I want to finish this and then I’ll jump in before we head back.”
“Good luck, Nat. She’s not gettin’ in unless you push her.”
Hearing his deep voice from the white lounge chair, I tilted my eyes up long enough for a nonverbal, shut up! Jess winked back.
“Jerk,” I mouthed at him.
I met Natalie when she moved to town during seventh grade. The school board members, who graduated high school with Moses, thought junior high students still needed a jungle gym. This just drove some kids to hang out behind the bus barn smoking whatever they could rustle up, and the rest to stand around with petty stares of social-ranking popularity.
One lunch period, while trying to escape the courtyard of fake smiles, I found a girl kicking the crap out of the Dr Pepper machine with her laced up Dr. Martens. She wore a black ruffled skirt and a tight, Nine Inch Nails t-shirt. As I watched the strange girl, she turned and gave me a twisted smile that screamed, back the hell up!
That was the day I met Natalie, the most unique person I’d ever seen. She came to Arlis kicking and screaming louder than me with a family-forced move, courtesy of her grandfather’s dementia. I understood and accepted the fellow outsider to this place. Despise plus despise equaled a match made in despicable heaven.
Hearing a splash, I glanced up again over my paper. Jess slipped in the deep end and surfaced close to Natalie. He slicked the dark hair back off his forehead. Swimming up to the raft, he grinned close to her face. “You wanna play volleyball?”
Seeing Natalie’s hateful snarl, I chuckled to myself. Those two basically tolerated each other because of me. I don’t think Jess disliked Natalie; he just didn’t understand her harsh personality or love of black clothing. On the other hand Natalie, saw Jess as the spoiled rich kid.
Jess assembled the net across a corner section of the pool. Natalie reluctantly climbed off the raft to play with him. Sitting under the large umbrella covered table, I focused again on my sketch, adding a few more lines of shadows around the windows. I had to admit, the architecture of Mason Manor was very interesting to reconstruct on paper. Jess hated the nickname I gave the house. I used it as much as possible just to grate on his nerves.
“Alexandra, would you care for some lemonade?” I looked up to see Mrs. Mason standing over me. Her drawn out words practically turned the last one into four.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She handed over a glass with her perfectly manicured fingers. Mrs. Mason’s eyes paused briefly on my Rangers baseball cap. I thought the blue canvas looked nice with my red braids sticking out on each side. She apparently thought otherwise.
“What are you working on, dear?” she smiled, the sun reflecting off her glossed lips.
“Um, some drawings.” I noted her carefully selected outfit. The crisp white pants and gold dress sandals complemented the yellow sleeveless sweater top.
“Do you mind if I have a look?” Reluctantly, I handed over the paper. I didn’t like someone seeing my work. Even if it was just a building, the picture was a little part of the person I was inside. Mrs. Mason scanned over the drawing. “Very nice, Alexandra.”
“Hey Al, show her your book. She’s really good.”
Thanks, I glared at him.
Taking a deep breath, I opened my backpack. Thanks to Jess and his big mouth, I really didn’t have a choice except show her my drawing pad. A flush of nausea shot in my stomach mixed with the pretty lemonade.
Mrs. Mason thumbed through the pictures of animals and buildings and flowers from the meadow. She paused on the sketch of Jess perched on Clive’s saddle. The entire picture was gray and white pencil except a few highlighted points. I added bright blue watercolor to Jess's eyes and th
e blue bonnets in the background.
“Your sketches are very good, Alexandra. Did you ever take lessons?”
“No, ma’am. Not formal ones.” Feeling the judgment, I absently chewed on my bottom lip.
“Hmmm, I see. Well, carry on, dear.” Handing back the sketch pad, she walked toward the house. “Jessup, you really should put on sunscreen.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Jess agreed to her motherly request even though he never burned. The sun just turned his skin into dark caramel.
Jess and Natalie climbed out of the pool to get some lemonade. They each took one of the decorative poolside cups, accented with a lemon wedge in the top corner.
“Stop dripping all over my stuff!” I spat at Jess, pulling my sketch book away.
“Maybe you should just get in the pool,” he grinned, taunting me. Bending down, he scooped me up from the chair. I kicked my feet in every direction and tried to elbow his chest. Walking over to the edge of the pool, his arms held me in a vice grip, making my clothes wet.
“Don’t you dare!”
“What’d ya think, Nat?”
Natalie just nodded her dyed black head in agreement.
“What? You two are agreeing on things together now!”
I twisted around trying to get free, but Jess gripped harder into my skin. He’d spent the entire summer training with the high school football team. I couldn’t beat him anymore. His toned up body got stronger every day.
“Ok, let’s do this,” his voice cracked with a laugh. “One, two… and three!”
I flew in the air and then landed in the cold, blue water. Thrashing around, panic climbed from my chest into my throat. My toes fought against the cement bottom until I stood upright in the shallow end.
“You asshole!” I surfaced, coughing up water. “I hate both of you!”
Jess landed with a cannonball next to me, sending another splash over my head. I wiped the spray from my eyes. “I’ll get you back. You better watch it.”
He laughed, getting close to my face. “What’re you gonna do ’bout it.”
The Mason List Page 8