The Creek

by Jennifer L. Holm

  Penny looked at the shocked faces of the boys, the worried expression on her mom’s face, and wondered if she was losing her mind.

  “I … I don’t know,” she stuttered. And then the stress of the past week came crashing down on her and she burst into tears.

  Penny looked out dully at the passing landscape as her mother drove them home, the other kids quiet. The minivan pulled into the familiar driveway on Mockingbird Lane, and the boys jumped out, towels in tow.

  “See you tomorrow, Penny,” Benji said in a subdued voice.

  “Yeah, see you, Penny,” Oren echoed. Penny suddenly realized how tall he was, his arms ropy with muscles. He had to be pretty strong to have pulled her out of the pool by himself. How had she never noticed this before?

  “Let’s get inside, you two,” her mom said to Penny and Teddy, hoisting up the baby. “Penny, I want you to take a hot shower, okay?”

  “Okay,” she said.

  It would take a lot more than a hot shower to make things right, Penny knew. A hot shower would not get rid of the guilt that taunted her. Had she kicked Caleb over the cliff edge when he’d grabbed at her feet, or had the ground simply given way? And worse, had he still been alive when she’d left him there? But nobody could survive a fall that high … could they?

  Had his hand moved?

  Maybe, she thought, a shiver running through her, his ghost was after her. She remembered something Nana had told her long ago, about how restless spirits sometimes roamed the earth searching for vengeance. Was Caleb a restless spirit? The face in the pool had been hazy, but it had looked so much like him. She didn’t know anymore. She felt like she was going crazy.

  Penny went up to her bedroom. She stripped off her shorts, kicked off her flip-flops, and stood there in her damp, chlorine-scented swimsuit. She looked at the shorts, lying there in a tangle, and suddenly knew what to do.

  She would call Nana.

  She thought of the stuffy little pantry in the kitchen in Key West where Nana kept all sorts of odd-colored bottles, full of sand and seashells. Her spells, she called them.

  Maybe one strong enough to get rid of a vengeful ghost.

  Penny waited until her parents were in bed and then crept downstairs and flicked on the small lamp by the phone, the warm yellow light glowing comfortingly in the dark kitchen. She dialed the number by heart. Nana picked up on the second ring.

  “Hello?” the familiar husky voice said, and Penny almost wept in relief.

  She curled herself up on the chair and whispered in an urgent voice, “It’s me, Nana. It’s me, Penny.”

  “Hello, Penny dear. How nice to hear from my favorite granddaughter.” Her voice crackled across the distance. “How is your baby brother doing?”

  “Fine”

  “And your mother and father?”

  “Fine.”

  “Teddy?”

  “Fine.”

  “So you’re the only one who’s not fine, I’m guessing.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Tell me,” Nana said in a calm voice. Penny could almost see her in the sweet little kitchen, a cup of tea within easy reach, the scent of lemon in the air.

  Penny gripped the phone. “Someone tried to drown me today.”

  There was a distinct pause, and then Nana said in a sharp voice, “Tried to drown you?”

  “This boy Caleb,” she whispered.

  “Go on.”

  “Except I think it was his ghost who tried to drown me.”

  “What do you mean, ‘his ghost’?”

  Penny felt it building in her, the aching need to tell someone what had happened, to share this terrible burden.

  “There was this accident—”

  The kitchen light suddenly flicked on, and her mother was standing there in her nightgown, an annoyed expression on her face.

  “Who are you talking to at this hour? You’re supposed to be in bed. It’s past midnight.”

  Penny gulped. “Nana,” she whispered.

  Her mother’s features softened, and she walked over and took the phone from Penny. “Go to bed,” she ordered in a firm voice.

  Penny ran out of the kitchen, and then paused in the hallway to listen to her mother.

  “I’m sorry, Mom,” her mother said in a tired voice. “It’s been a bad day. We had a scare at the pool. I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you about it, okay? Penny’s just a little overwrought right now.”

  CHAPTER 14

  The day was relentlessly hot, even deep in the cool of the woods. A stingy breeze stirred the trees, carrying the faint scent of something rotting, and Caleb’s face rose before Penny’s eyes, hard and angry.

  Several days had passed since the incident at the pool, and with each passing day, Penny’s fear grew. It didn’t help matters any that she felt like she was being watched, stalked by a predator just out of sight, behind that innocent-looking row of bushes, or crouched in the shadows of the garage.

  Only the day before, she and the boys had witnessed Amy Bukvic stomp down the block and bang on the Devlins’ front door, looking for her boyfriend.

  “Maybe he dumped her,” Mac guffawed, watching as Amy practically ran up the block in tears after a terse exchange with a gray-looking Mr. Devlin.

  What had Mr. Devlin said to Amy? Did he think Caleb had just taken off, business as usual, or did he suspect foul play? And if Mr. Devlin thought his son was dead, where were the police? Were they the ones hiding in the shadows, waiting for just the right moment to jump out and slap the handcuffs on her?

  Or—and this thought shook her like nothing else could—was Mr. Devlin secretly nursing his son back to health behind the drawn blinds of the house? Or maybe it was Caleb out there, hiding somewhere in the silky dark tangle of the woods. A zombie, or worse: alive and really pissed off at her—

  “Yo Penny, wake up!” Mac was hollering angrily, as a box of nails flew past her, spilling everywhere. “you wake up!” she shot back. Penny didn’t even want to be here in the woods with the boys, building another stupid fort. She didn’t know what she wanted anymore, but she knew it was not this. It all seemed so childish to her now, so silly. “What did you say?” Mac said slowly. “Chill out, Mac,” Benji said, defending her.

  “You’re just mad ‘cause of your mom.”

  Teddy’s ears pricked up. “What about your mom?”

  “She’s acting all weird,” Mac said, mouth twitching. “She’s gonna send me down to my stupid grandmother’s in Georgia.”

  “Because of Caleb?” Teddy asked. Mac and Oren had carried Teddy down to the woods because he couldn’t maneuver on the uneven ground with his crutches. He sat on a log and spent a lot of time supervising the other boys.

  Mac nodded. “At the beginning of August. She said the fire was the last straw.”

  “That blows,” Oren said with a low whistle.

  And then Mac said, “Your bratty sister’s here, Benji.”

  Becky Albright stood in the clearing, her crisp white cotton eyelet dress out of place in the cool green woods. She seemed to glow where she stood.

  “How’d you find us?” Benji demanded.

  Becky shook her head, refusing to tell.

  “If Mom finds out you came here, she’ll kill me. Go home.”

  “No!”

  Benji marched up and grabbed her arm. “Then I’ll take you myself.”

  Becky started shrieking her head off. Benji glared at her in exasperation, and Penny walked over and competently took Becky’s hand. “Shut up.”

  Becky was so startled by Penny’s sharp tone that she did just that.

  “I’ll take her back,” Penny said, happy to get away from the creek.

  “Thanks,” Benji called in a grateful voice.

  Becky followed Penny quietly. They were halfway out of the woods when Becky stopped dead in her tracks.

  “I want to go back!” the little girl declared petulantly, and for a brief moment some part of Penny wanted to slap that defiant little face, slap it hard.
/>   “Too bad,” Penny said sharply. “I don’t have time to waste on bratty little girls.” She grabbed Becky’s wrist and pulled the resisting child after her.

  “Why are you being so mean to me?” Becky cried out.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Penny said.

  Penny stood in her driveway beneath the rapidly darkening sky, watching the porch lights flick on up and down the block, casting small pools of light. Down at the cul-de-sac, kids were gathering for flashlight tag.

  She had taken great care with her appearance this evening. She was wearing a pair of skimpy jean shorts and one of her mother’s skinny tank tops, a racy red one that entwined her body like a pair of hands. And she had put on the bra, thrilling at the way it made her chest curve softly beneath the thin fabric. This outfit made her feel different, wilder, like she was a cat that had just figured out how to climb trees.

  Across the street, Amy was sitting on the step of her front porch, applying nail polish to her toenails.

  With a careless ease she had not suspected she possessed, Penny walked across the short length of asphalt, one step after another, and right up to Amy.

  Amy’s eyes widened slightly as she took in Penny’s appearance, pausing on the tank top. Something approaching grudging admiration flickered in her eyes briefly and then disappeared.

  “Hey,” Penny said, sitting down casually next to Amy.

  Amy ignored her, expertly applying the bright red nail polish. Her face was splotchy, as if she’d been crying.

  Penny looked at Amy’s handiwork. “Nice color.”

  Amy narrowed her eyes, and Penny could almost see the biting reply on the tip of her tongue. And then Amy said, “Thanks.”

  “Can I borrow it sometime?”

  Amy shrugged.

  From the cul-de-sac, Benji’s voice rang loudly. “Come on, Penny! We’re picking sides now.”

  Penny hesitated. Amy stared at her challengingly.

  Something had changed. She didn’t want to play flashlight tag. Well, part of her did, but another part of her just wanted to sit here and put on nail polish and let the warm night air wash over her bare skin and talk about how it felt to have a boy like Caleb kiss your neck.

  “Penny!”

  Penny shook herself. Who was this girl inhabiting her body? What was she doing, sitting here with Amy and thinking about kissing boys? She stood up quickly, shaken.

  “See ya,” she said, and rushed down the block, leaving Amy to stare after her.

  Mac laid down the rules. “Okay, no hiding in garages, and the top of the storm drain is jail. Let’s pick sides.”

  Mac and Benji started the slow process of picking teams. There were over twenty kids. Mac picked Oren. Benji picked Penny. Mac picked Billy Gimble. Benji picked Alex Knief. Mac picked Ralphie Kearns. Benji picked Simon Hamel.This went on until there were only two kids left. Poor Teddy was relegated to sitting in the cul-de-sac, watching the action.

  Mac eyed the last two kids. Stan McCann and Zachary Evreth. A lame choice either way.

  “I’ll take Stan and you get Zachary,” Mac finally said to Benji, his eyes lingering on Zachary with obvious distaste.

  “Hey, Penny,” Zachary said shyly, coming over to Benji’s side.

  Penny smiled back.

  It was barely light now. By the time the game started, it would be pitch-black.

  Mac nodded at Benji. “Toss to see who goes first?”

  Benji dug a quarter out of his pocket and flipped. “Heads,” he called.

  The bright quarter landed tails up in his hand.

  Mac looked at his team and nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Penny and her teammates waited ten minutes and then took off into the dark, their flashlights scanning bushes, sides of houses, dark alcoves. Fireflies blinked in and out of the darkness. Every once in a while Penny saw a kid on her own team dart by, flashlight shining. She gave a quick flash back in support.

  In short order her team had caught five of the ten kids. Since they were limited to front and back yards, many of the hiding places were well known. Penny tried to get into the spirit of the game, but her heart just wasn’t in it. And for the first time in her life, she felt scared to be outside in the dark. She kept hearing soft meows and lingering barks, as if the ghosts of the pets Caleb had killed were following her in the dark, eyes glowing.

  Her flashlight abruptly winked off.

  “Darn,” she said.

  A hand touched her on the shoulder and she whirled around, heart pounding, flashlight raised high to protect her.

  “Hey,” Zachary said, a confused look on his shiny face. He flicked his flashlight on and shone it up at his face. “We’re on the same team.”

  Penny slowly expelled her indrawn breath, lowering the flashlight. “You scared me,” she said.

  “Sorry,” he replied, looking crestfallen.

  “It’s okay. I’m just a little jumpy.”

  “Because of what happened at the pool?”

  She nodded.

  He looked at her flashlight. “Batteries?”

  “I think it’s broken.”

  His face brightened. “We can both use mine.”

  “Okay,” she said, unaccountably relieved. She actually felt a little better being with another person.

  “Want a piece of gum?” he asked.

  “Where do you get all your gum?” she asked, taking a piece.

  He winked at her like he was letting her in on a big secret. “Baseball cards.”

  “I have a pretty good idea where Oren is,” Penny said. She had overheard Teddy whispering to Oren about the storm drain, how it was a good place to hide.

  Zachary handed Penny the flashlight. “Lead the way.

  The secret of flashlight tag was in the surprise, Penny knew. If someone who was hiding saw your flashlight coming, it was easy for them to take off to a new hiding place. So the best thing to do was to creep along quietly in the dark, flicking your flashlight on at the last moment.

  Zachary stepped on a twig with a loud crunch.

  “Shhh,” she urged.

  “Where are we going?” he whispered.

  “The storm drain.”

  He blanched. “By Devlins’?”

  “It’s pretty far from the house,” she said reassuringly.

  Penny crept quietly through the outskirts of the woods to the yawning, snakelike storm drainpipe. She eased herself up into the opening and knelt on the rusty corrugated metal.

  “Tag!” she shouted, aiming Zachary’s flashlight down the pipe and flicking it on.

  Zachary jostled behind her to get a look.

  But it wasn’t Oren after all. It was Becky. Her back was turned to them, and her gold hair glinted in the darkness.

  “Come on, Becky,” Penny said. “We got you fair and square.”

  But Becky just crouched there, ignoring them, as if they would go away if she waited long enough.

  “Benji’s right,” Penny muttered to herself. Becky could be such a brat.

  Penny crawled the rest of the way down the pipe, the light from the flashlight bobbing.

  The little girl seemed so still.

  Too still.

  Mr. Cat’s stuffed body flashed through her mind.

  “Becky!” she shouted.

  Penny scrambled down into the storm drain and grabbed Becky by the shoulder. Becky’s body flopped like a doll and fell onto Penny. The little girl’s eyes were wide and glassy, her neck a streak of red.

  Zachary made a strange choking sound, turned away, and started retching.

  The flashlight swept across the wall, and that was when Penny saw the lightning bolt—freshly drawn with chalk—pointing down at Becky’s dead body.

  CHAPTER 15

  She just had to go and look, to see for herself.

  As she descended the cliff to the creek bed in the still morning air, Penny remembered how ambulances and police cars had filled Mockingbird Lane after Becky had been found, how it had seemed that t
he street was one great flashing light. The still night had been filled with the screams of Mrs. Albright, and Mr. Albright had had to be forcibly restrained by the police after he threatened to go over and kill Caleb himself. Penny hadn’t had the courage to tell him that he didn’t have to bother.

  She smelled him before she saw him, and she gagged. It was a smell so incredible, so horrible, that she knew she would never forget it, not ever. It smelled like that dead frog, but a hundred times worse. The smell of hot, rotting meat.

  Caleb’s body lay sprawled like a broken puppet that had had its strings cut, arms flopping forward. Old rubber tires, rusty aluminum cans, and ancient sneakers littered the dry creek bed, and the dead body seemed to fit there, oddly enough, as if the woods had taken back one of its own.

  The body was black and puffy, bloated from being out in the sun. Ants crawled over it in determined little lines, winding their way over arms and across the nape of Caleb’s neck, as if he was one big scrap of toast with jelly. Some animal had been at him, and his clothes were bitten away in places.

  But it was his hand, in the end, that got Penny—the way the fingers were splayed out, reaching forward, leaving long furrows scratched in the dirt, as if he’d been trying to crawl away.

  She stumbled back and threw up until there was nothing left in her stomach, then tucked her head between her knees, feeling light-headed and breathing hard.

  Somewhere in the back of her head she’d worried that Caleb was still alive, or maybe even a zombie, wandering around killing little girls and stuffing them into storm drains. But looking at the body now, for the first time since that horrible day, she knew for a fact that it hadn’t been Caleb who had killed Becky last night. No, he had been too busy lying in the creek being dead.

  She couldn’t deny it anymore.

  It had been someone else all along. Someone who wanted them all to think it was Caleb. Someone who knew Caleb’s history and how everyone would react when things started up again.

  A shaft of sun broke through the thick trees and struck the dry creek bed. Something bright glittered.