FIFTEEN
Joe was sitting on the couch with his earbuds stuck in his ears, listening to the bruising electric sounds of a band called Death Blow. He was staring at the ceiling and thinking about Valerie. He kept seeing her smile—those sparkling white teeth and those thin lips—and wondered what her lips tasted like.
He was in the middle of such speculations when Mac plopped down beside him. She was grinning with the same sly undertones that Joe was accustomed to seeing on their father’s face whenever he had a secret that he couldn’t wait to tell. Mac tapped insistently at Joe’s leg, trying to get his attention. He managed to ignore her for about thirty seconds before it was clear that she had no intention of stopping.
“What?” Joe said, annoyed, pausing the music.
“I know what you did,” she said, the smile still pasted to her face.
“What are you talking about?” he asked, ready to tune her out and ignore her again. Even now, his mind was already drifting back to Valerie, whom he was meeting in less than two hours.
“The other night,” Mac said. “I didn’t see you go out, but when you came back in, you woke me up. I know you snuck out.”
Joe pulled his earbuds from his ears and scowled at her. Sure, he was mad at her but he was also upset with himself. He thought he’d been quite stealthy, but apparently not.
“And?” he said.
“And I want to know where you went.”
“None of your business,” Joe said angrily.
“I want to know. And I want you to show me where you went. If you don’t, I’ll tell Mom and Dad.”
“Why are you telling me now?” Joe asked, wondering what sort of evil schemes an eight year old might be capable of.
“Because I’m getting bored,” she said. “The lake is fun and all, but it’s getting boring. I really wish Dad would rent us a boat for a few days.”
“He will,” Joe said, hoping to seize this opportunity to swerve the conversation. “Just give him time. He’s really busy. You think you could get up in skis or do you just want to tube?”
Mac shrugged and quickly returned to her point. She’s good, Joe thought. She’s going to be a handful when she gets older.
“I’ll tell them,” she said. “Unless you show me.”
For a terrifying instant, Joe thought of the thing that had come out of the water and nearly devoured him. He could easily still see its leathery hide and its impossible black mouth. He thought of Mac standing before it as the thing brought its weight down on her. She was a pest and could be a little bitch at times, but he loved her more than anything on the planet. Thinking of Mac in the same vicinity as that monster made his heart sag. It also made him brazenly protective in a way that he was unfamiliar with.
“I’m not going to show you,” he said.
“Then I’ll tell.”
He believed her right away. She was not really old enough to know how or when to bluff. As much as he hated to do it, he knew of a way to get out of this without causing too much trouble and inconvenience. He had to act fast, though; past experience told him that Mac wouldn’t wait long before running to their folks with the news.
“I snuck out to just hang with a friend,” he finally admitted.
“You don’t have friends here,” she pointed out.
“Well, I made one. We hung out. We caught fireflies.”
Mac’s face lit up at this. “That’s awesome. I want to go!”
“I don’t think we’re going to be doing that anymore,” Joe said. And then, before he knew he was going to say it, he added: “It was sort of scary.”
“Is this friend a girl?” Mac asked slyly.
“It’s none of your business.”
“It’s not Mom or Dad’s business, either,” Mac said. “But I bet they’d love to know.”
There’s no way out of this, Joe thought. He was furious with her but in a small way he actually respected her for being able to blackmail him so efficiently. And besides…he did sort of relate to her claim of being bored with the lake. After eleven days, she was already starting to get bored. It was slowly starting to lose its charms with him, too. But now that Valerie was part of the picture, it had gotten much more interesting.
“Yes. She’s a girl,” he finally answered.
“I want to meet her.”
“You won’t shut up unless I agree, will you?”
“That’s right,” she said, the sly smile coming back to her face.
“Fine,” Joe said. “I’m meeting her in two hours. If Mom and Dad will let you, you can come with me. Tell them you want to ride your bike with me or something.”
The delight on her face almost made Joe not care that she was infringing on his time with Valerie. She was too damned cute for her own good sometimes.
“Thanks, Joe,” she said, leaping on him and hugging him.
“Don’t thank me,” he said. “This is blackmail. I’m only letting you come because I don’t have a choice. I don’t want you to come.”
“Oh,” she said, as if she had temporarily forgotten the whole point of coming to him. She then furrowed her brow and did her best to put on an angry appearance.
“Two hours,” Joe said. “You better not make me late.”
She nodded and leaped off the couch, skipping towards their room. Joe watched her go, smiling. She was really smart for an eight year old and even though he acted like she irritated him most of the time, he knew that she was pretty cool as far as little sisters went.
He plugged his earbuds back into his head and zoned out with thoughts of Valerie again, a rather stark contrast to his music of choice. Thinking of Valerie made him feel weird in a way he had heard about and had even experienced with another couple of girls in school, but never to this degree. He thought of what her hand had felt like in his and how oddly romantic the aftermath of seeing the monster had been. They’d shared panic and fear and that had linked them in a way he wasn’t quite able to understand.
He wondered what it would be like to see her this time, two days after their encounter with the thing. He wondered if things would be different and, if so, if there would be a stronger connection or some sort of fissure between them. Mac would be along this time and there was no telling how that would change things.
He tried to bring his mind back to the feel of her hand and the way they had looked at one another as they had parted ways. All of it was electric, like a surge to his head and heart.
But it was also all ultimately tainted by the sight of the creature rising up from the lake, nearly paralyzing him with fear. And it was that image that stayed with him until he got up from the couch to meet Valerie an hour and a half later.
***
Mac was waiting on the porch steps when Joe walked outside. She looked up to him with a knowing smile and Joe could only roll his eyes. They wasted no time and started off together, Joe on his bike and Mac on her little pink bike that would have to be replaced next year. As it was, Mac’s knees nearly hit the handlebars every time the pedals came up, the chain housing creaking like an old floor board. Joe looked down longingly at the rusted bolts where the training wheels had once been and frowned.
She’s growing up too fast, he thought. This must be what parents feel like to watch their kids getting older.
Watching her on the bike made Joe understand that he himself was on his way out of childhood. It was more than just recalling how quickly his eight-year-old moments had passed him by; it was seeing how quickly his little sister was growing up. She had gone from training wheels to solo riding far too quickly and was now about to grow out of her first bike. She’d gone from hesitantly jumping into the deep end of the pool back home to waiting impatiently for her turn on the diving board. How in the hell had that happened so fast?
She was humming one of the songs from Frozen as she rode alongside him. He wanted to be angry with her but couldn’t bring himself to do it. They had a secret between them now and it made him feel closer to her, maybe even more protective. Hi
s dad had told him not too long ago that he’d end up caring a great deal for Mac as they got older and he wondered if this was the beginning of that.
Mac had held her end of their little act up well. When Joe had asked his mom if he could go out on his bike, she had agreed but only if he would take Mac as well. He’d acted as disappointed as he could manage and he was pretty sure she’d bought it. His parents usually had pretty good bullshit detectors but they seemed to be off this summer. Joe supposed it was the fact that they were dealing with whatever issues were between them—issues that Joe had started to sense less and less over the last few days.
Maybe the little vacation to this middle of nowhere lake was repairing whatever was wrong between them. If they had mended fences and worked things out, they’d done it all in private because Joe had been none the wiser. He hoped they were okay now or at least on the way there.
When he and Mac pedaled their bikes by the driveway to Valerie’s cabin, he looked to the yard. She was nowhere to be seen and her dad’s truck was parked where it usually was. He hoped she was already at the little shack waiting for him. With that thought in his head, he quickened his pace. His bike picked up a slight wobble and the humid air whooshed by his head.
“Hey!” Mac shouted. “Not so fast! I can’t keep up!”
Joe thought about how he had crashed on this very road not too long ago and certainly didn’t want the same thing to happen to Mac. That’s just what he needed—Mac to go home with a busted nose or some missing teeth while he was supposed to be watching after her.
He slowed down and then brought the bike to a halt at the footpath that led to the shack. He looked behind him and saw Mac trying her best to catch up. She was slightly hunched up over the handlebars, pedaling as fast as she could. Her tongue was sticking out between her lips as she put extra effort into the last few pumps of her legs. Joe couldn’t help but smile. If she pedaled any harder, the bike would fall apart.
Then, further off behind her, he saw Valerie step out onto the road from her driveway. She turned in their direction, hesitated for a moment, and then started forward. Joe felt his heart start doing cartwheels and he felt an impossibly wide smile spread across his face.
Mac pulled up alongside him, panting for breath and red in the face. She looked up to him, confused. “Why did we stop?” she asked.
“This is it,” Joe said, his eyes still locked on Valerie. She had now broken into a jog to reach them and as far as Joe was concerned, she was running entirely too slow.
“This?” Mac said, looking into the woods. “This little path?”
“Yeah,” Joe said, barely aware that Mac was even talking to him.
Mac turned around then, hearing Valerie’s approaching footsteps. Mac gave her a curious glance and then looked up to Joe. “Is that your friend?” she asked.
“Yes,” Joe said. He wondered if this was going to result in hours upon hours of being teased by Mac. He wouldn’t put it past her. It would be a shame, though; he was really starting to like the little brat.
“Hey there,” Valerie said as she came up alongside them.
“Hey,” Joe said, finding it hard to not look at her. Her hair was in a ponytail today, revealing the entire shape of her face. He found himself focusing on odd parts: the curve of her jaw, the soft flesh between her neck and shoulders, and the perfect shape of her ears.
You’re losing it, he thought to himself.
He managed to look away and then back down to Mac. “Valerie, this is my little sister, Mackenzie.”
“Well hey there,” Valerie said. “You were riding that bike pretty hard, huh?”
“Yeah,” Mac said proudly. “It’s hard, too. I’m getting too big for it.”
“I saw that,” Valerie said, giving Joe a quick smile.
“Sorry for bringing her,” Joe said. “I didn’t have much of a choice. She heard me come back in the other night and threatened to tell our folks if I didn’t let her come along.”
Valerie looked down to Mac and put her arm around her. “I would have done the same thing,” she said.
Mac giggled and then looked to Joe. “Yeah,” she said. “I like her. She should be your girlfriend.”
“Jeez, Mac!” Joe was petrified but the smile on Valerie’s face made it okay.
“I should be,” Valerie joked. “But I don’t know. Your brother’s a little clumsy. I’m not sure if he’s my type.”
Joe’s eyes grew wide as they teamed up on him. But when Valerie turned her back to him to look Mac in the eyes, her right hand found his and gave his fingers a squeeze. He squeezed back, understanding that this was all in good fun. She was trying to make Mac feel at ease and maybe even ensuring that Mac now became a part of their secret meetings. If she could do that, Joe felt certain that Mac would never go tattling to their folks about his secret.
“Should we show her the shack?” Valerie asked.
“Sure,” Joe said, trying to find the same playful enthusiasm Valerie was putting on. It felt fake on him, though. He figured he’d let Valerie run with it. Meanwhile, he’d stand by pouting because his little sister was soaking up all of Valerie’s attention.
The three of them walked down the footpath and came to the shack. Mac took a moment to look at then grinned. Sure, the place had a creepy vibe to it but it also had an irresistible you-probably-shouldn’t-go-in-there vibe.
“Cool,” she said.
“It is sort of cool, huh?” Joe said.
Mac walked a few steps ahead, inching closer to it. “What’s in there?”
“Just old dried up fish guts and fishing stuff,” Valerie said. “I think it used to be an old fishing cabin. People would catch fish and gut them and clean them in there. There’s a pitchfork in there, too. I think that must have been used for frog gigging.”
“What’s frog gigging?” Mac asked. Joe was listening attentively, as he had never heard of such a thing, either.
“It’s gross,” Valerie said. “People would go through the woods and along the banks of the lake looking for frogs. They’d gig them with a pitchfork and then take the legs home and eat them.”
“That’s disgusting,” Mac said.
“It really is,” Valerie said. “My dad said he did it a few times as a kid but he never liked the taste of frog legs. He always just liked killing frogs with a pitchfork.”
“Sounds like your dad has some issues,” Joe joked.
“Oh, let’s not open that box right now.”
Mac stepped closer to the shack, peering in through the partially opened door. She then turned back to Joe and asked, “Can I go in?”
“If you want,” he said. “Just watch your step.”
“I will,” Mac said, already sliding in through the doorway.
Joe and Valerie stood in front of the old building as Mac carefully stepped inside. When she was fully inside and out of sight, Joe felt a flutter of worry.
“She’s cute,” Valerie said.
“Yeah, I guess she can be,” Joe said.
“Does she follow you around everywhere?”
“Not really. Every now and then she’ll get in these moods where she wants to do whatever I’m doing…but not so much anymore.”
“And she knows you snuck out, huh?”
“Yeah. And that sucks, because I was sure I had been really quiet.”
Valerie started walking towards the far edge of the cabin, towards the back where a clear view of the lake could be seen through the scraggly trees. Joe walked along beside her and with arms that felt like wobbling jelly, he reached out and took her hand. Their fingers interlocked as they headed down closer to the water.
“I had a nightmare about that thing last night,” Valerie said. “It ate you and then came after me. I fell down and just before it fell on top of me, I woke up.”
“That’s terrible,” Joe said.
“We really saw that thing, didn’t we?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Still no idea what it was?”
&nbs
p; Joe had spent the last two days thinking about it but could come up with nothing. He’d even done a little internet research and never found any satisfactory answers. The best he could come up with was that the thing had been some enormous mutated eel but he knew that wasn’t right.
“No idea.”
“I almost told my dad,” Valerie said. “I know it would have basically been telling him that I had snuck out to meet you, but…I don’t know. It seems like the police or someone should know that something like that is out in the lake.”
Joe only nodded. She had a good point but he couldn’t imagine going to his parents with news like this. First, as Valerie said, he’d basically be turning himself in. Secondly, he wasn’t sure if his parents would believe him.
“I know one thing,” Valerie said.
“What’s that?”
“I won’t be getting back in the water for a while.”
“Same here,” Joe said.
“Something else happened in the nightmare,” Valerie said, turning to look directly at him. “Only, this thing happened before the bad stuff…before it actually became a nightmare.”
“What was it?”
She gripped his hand a little tighter and took a step towards him. Their eyes were locked and there was no more than a foot of space between them.
“We were standing in the field of fireflies,” she said. “I caught one and when I did, you came up to see it. When I opened my hand, it flew away and when I looked up to see it…you kissed me.”
“Yeah?” Joe said.
“Yeah. It was nice.”
His stomach felt like something had exploded in it and his heart was a thrumming coil of electric wire in his chest. All the same, his body did what it wanted to do. He leaned in, seeing that she was doing the same. Just as she closed her eyes, their lips no more than two inches apart, Joe thought: this is it, this is it, oh God, don’t blow this…
“Hey, Joe!”
He jumped at the sound of his name. His body felt as if it was burning. He was embarrassed but more than that, he was disappointed. He turned to see Mac standing at the edge of the shack, looking at them.
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