aterovis_bleedinghearts.pm6

aterovis_bleedinghearts.pm6 Page 22

by Arlene Chance

  “How’d you get so smart?” I asked fondly.

  “I dunno, good genes I guess.”

  I laughed and got up to call Zack’s house. I wanted to make sure he was home before I drove to his house.

  I talked to his mom for a few minutes then hung up, leaving my hand on the receiver while I was lost in thought.

  “What?” Kane asked after a moment.

  “Zack never came home last night. They’ve called Jesse, and Jesse says he left him at the party. They split when the cops arrived.”

  “What’s that mean?”

  “I don’t know.” Just then the phone rang, startling me and causing me to jump. The receiver was still in my hand and it clattered to the floor. I scooped it up and said hello quickly.

  “Killian?” It was Adam. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, I just dropped the phone.”

  “Killian, listen, is Kane there with you?”

  “Yes.” I said.

  “Good. After we hang up, lock all the doors and check the windows and don’t go anywhere until I get home.”

  “Why? What’s going on? Adam, you’re scaring me.”

  “I’m sorry, Killian, they just found Zachary Phillips’s body floating in the creek behind the Sheridan house.”

  The phone suddenly became heavy and my arm slowly dropped down until I was holding the phone at my side. I could still hear Adam’s voice squawking but I could no longer understand individual words. I 236

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  couldn’t seem to find words to say either. My mind had become a total blank.

  I heard Kane asking me what was wrong, then I felt him come up behind and me and gently take the phone from my hand. I heard him talking to Adam, asking him what was going on, asking when he’d be home. I heard the phone hang up and then Kane was standing in front of me.

  “Killian, snap out of it. I need your help,” he said.

  I forced myself to focus on him.

  “Why are you acting like this?” he asked, “You weren’t close to that guy, were you? Wasn’t he the jerk?”

  I shook my head to clear it. “We used to be friends.

  I’ve known him since we were little kids. We grew up together. Now he’s gone. The killer got him, too. And he’s not going to stop till he gets me.” I was getting more and more hysterical with every passing second.

  Kane grabbed my shoulders and shook me, “Killian, listen to me,” he said urgently, “No one knows if Zack was murdered yet. All they know is that he was dead in the creek. Maybe he got drunk and fell in. Don’t jump to conclusions yet. Dad said they are sending his body up to Baltimore for an autopsy; it’s a rush because of everything that’s been going on. Besides, why would anyone want to kill Zack?”

  “I don’t know. I just know that this is bad. Very bad.

  It’s too much to be a coincidence.”

  “Well, of course it’s bad. It’s always bad when someone dies. But you need to calm down right now. Dad wants us to lock all the doors and windows. Help me do that.”

  We went around the house locking and checking all the doors and windows on the first floor, then after some thought, the windows on the second floor as well. We’d watched too many movies, though, and by the time we were finished we’d thoroughly spooked ourselves. Kane 237

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  had brought a bat with him, which we retrieved from the closet, and I armed myself with a large kitchen knife.

  Then we barricaded ourselves into the living room to wait for Adam to get back.

  As we were sitting there, it suddenly occurred to me that we were acting like little kids. It was broad daylight and here we were hiding in our living room. The more I thought about it, the more ridiculous it became, until I was laughing out loud.

  “What’s so funny?” Kane asked, sounding a little insulted.

  “Just that here we are, you’re 14 and I’m 16, and we’re acting like a couple of babies scared of our own shadows. It’s broad daylight. I’m not going to live my life in fear. I had plans for today and I’m sticking to them.”

  “But Adam wanted us to wait for him here,” Kane protested.

  “I’ll leave a note. Do you wanna come with me or do you wanna stay here?”

  “I’m not staying here alone!”

  “Okay, then lemme go shower and get dressed and we’ll go see Asher and maybe go see Jake if we have time.” I became quickly sober again, “He must be really shaken up. I mean, having a dead body in your back yard has got to be horrible. I wonder who found him?”

  “Dad didn’t say,” Kane said.

  I shrugged and sighed as I stood up. I returned the knife to the kitchen before heading up for my shower.

  Adam was home by the time I showered and dressed.

  He and Kane were talking quietly in the living room when I came downstairs; the bat was still resting across Kane’s lap.

  They both looked up and fell silent as I came in

  “What?” I demanded.

  “What do you mean?” Adam asked innocently.

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  “You stopped talking when I walked in the room. You must have been talking about me.”

  Adam and Kane exchanged glances, then looked back at me.

  “Sit down, Killian,” Adam said.

  This wasn’t going to be good. No conversation that started with the words “sit down” was ever good. I crossed the room and sat down on the couch next to Kane.

  “Does this have to do with Zack?” I asked.

  “Yes. I couldn’t go into it over the phone, or rather I could, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to be here to tell you in person.”

  “Why? Tell me what? What’s going on?”

  “Killian, I told Kane that they were taking Zack to Baltimore for an autopsy, and they are, but what I didn’t tell him is that they don’t really need to determine the cause of death. They pretty much know that already.”

  “What are you saying?”

  Adam swallowed and took a deep breath, “Killian, Zack was murdered just like Seth. His throat was cut.

  He was most likely dead before he was thrown into the creek.”

  I sat stunned for several moments. “I don’t understand,” I said finally.

  “Well, without the autopsy and all the forensic examinations, nothing is positive, but it’s a little much. I mean, no one likes coincidences, and it’s a little much to believe that we have two killers running around our little town. Zack’s throat was cut, just like Seth’s. The police don’t understand what the connection could be yet. They are still looking into it. They do think that it was Zack that either broke your windows or left the note, or maybe both. The fabric fragment that the police found matched a tear in Zack’s costume.”

  “But that doesn’t make sense. If Zack is the killer, who 239

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  killed him? And if he isn’t, why would he leave that note?”

  “Like I said, the police are working on that. Now that they are taking this case seriously, it’s not up to us to figure it out anymore. As of right now I want you out of this, completely and totally. I want to know where you are at all times and I don’t want you going anywhere alone. You are to come directly home after school and nowhere after dark until this killer is caught.”

  “But I...”

  “But nothing, Killian. I want you out of this. And I mean out. I must have been crazy with grief when I agreed to let you get involved with this in the first place.”

  “I’m already involved, Adam,” I argued.

  “This is a cold-blooded killer we’re talking about. He’s already killed two boys, one of whom was my son.

  Killian, I have come to love you as if you were my own.

  You and Kane are all I have left. I don’t think I could bear to lose either of you at this point. I couldn’t bear it, Killian. Do you understand what I’m saying?” His voice was so thick he could barely even speak, and tears had begun to roll down his cheeks. I sat stunned for a second as the impact of what Adam had just said sunk in.

  Then almost without thinking, I was off the couch,
on my knees in front on Adam with my arms around his waist as I sobbed into his chest. I felt Adam gently wrap his arms around me, and after a few beats, I felt Kane slide in next to me to complete the group hug.

  “We’re a real family now, aren’t we?” I heard Kane whisper.

  “Yes. Yes, we are.” Adam answered.

  * * *

  After I got myself back together, I called Jake to see how he was doing. Todd answered the phone and said that everyone was pretty shook up right then and that I 240

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  should call back later.

  A sudden disturbing suspicion shot through my mind. “Todd,” I called as he went to hang up.

  “Yeah?” he said.

  “I didn’t see you last night. Were you there?”

  He was quiet for a moment. “I was upstairs in my room. Costume parties aren’t really my thing.” And he hung up.

  I sat staring at the phone until the operator came on and told me that if I wanted to make a call, I needed to please hang up and try again. I hung up for a second then picked up again and called Asher.

  Asher wanted me to come right over, but Adam didn’t want me to go anywhere and couldn’t take me anyway, and my car, while having been released from impound, was now at the shop getting the glass replaced. We settled for talking on the phone for several hours. We talked about everything from the beginning till now, all the misunderstandings, the hurt feelings...and our true feelings for each other. As we talked things began to fall into place for me, like seeing a puzzle come together before my eyes. I knew now that it was Asher I truly loved. By the time we hung up, I had my first official boyfriend.

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  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  It was two days before I got my car back and several more before Adam would let me go anywhere except school. Meanwhile, Adam called the police twice a day to check on the case progress, which was minimal. All they would tell him was that they were pretty sure it was someone at the party — Well, duh! I was pretty sure of that, too. Give me a detective badge and get me on the force! — and that they were still examining evidence. They did give us one piece of information that lifted a huge burden from my shoulders; they told Adam that the medical examiner had placed the estimated time of death at or around midnight.

  I felt guilty for even still having it in the back of my mind, but I had never been able to completely shake the idea that Asher had something to do with the murders. When I found out about the time of death, I was finally able to put that nagging doubt to rest. I had been with Asher, Kane, and Jake all night except for the brief time I was with Dash, and they were with each other that whole time.

  Suddenly, I couldn’t wait any longer to see Asher. Of course, Adam didn’t want me to go anywhere by myself, but it didn’t take too much whining before he agreed to let me drive directly to his house as long as I called as soon as I got there. I was out the door before 242

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  he could change his mind.

  Marcus answered the door. “Killian, hey! Come on in. Dude, did you hear about Zack? Well, I mean, sure you have. Wasn’t that awful? He died while we were at the party! I mean, we were right there! It could have been any of us!”

  “Not really,” I said without thinking. I picked up the phone and called Adam and assured him I was safe and sound at the Davis’s.

  “What do you mean?” Marcus asked as soon as I hung up.“Well, just that...if the murderer killed Zack, he must have had a reason. I don’t think it was just a random murder any more than I think Seth was killed in a random mugging.”

  “Whoa! Zack was murdered? And you think it was connected to Seth’s murder?”

  Oops. I had forgotten that the police hadn’t yet released the information that Zack was murdered; just that he was found dead in the creek. I had already said way too much and didn’t know what I should say now, so I settled for, “Yeah, I do. It just makes sense, you know? I mean, I don’t know that he was killed, I just assumed...” Smooth, real smooth, Killian.

  “You know more than you’re saying, don’t you?”

  “Hey, is Asher here?” I tried desperately to change the subject.

  “He’s upstairs in his room. Have you talked to the police?”

  “Something like that,” I called over my shoulder as I loped up the stairs. Marcus went as far as to follow me to the base of the stairs, and for a moment I thought he was going to follow me up, but then he just shrugged and wandered off. I breathed a sigh of relief and walked down the hall to Asher’s door. I stood in front of it for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and knocking.

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  I watched in amusement mixed with apprehension as Asher opened the door and his eyes widened in surprise. What if he wasn’t happy to see me? I hadn’t called first or anything.

  “Hi,” I said, suddenly shy. This was the first time I had seen Asher since we’d become boyfriends, and I was surprised at how nervous I was. I’d known Asher almost all my life; why should I be nervous?

  It wasn’t long before my nerves were calmed, though, as Asher broke into a huge smile and opened the door wider.

  “Hi, come on in,” he said softly.

  I stepped into the room and he shut the door behind me. As he turned to face me, that strange phenomenon that always seems to happen to me at key moments in my life went into effect — time slowed to a stop. Nothing else existed as I looked into his beautiful blue-gray eyes; it was just Asher and me. It was as if we melted into one another as we embraced in a tender hug. Moving as a single unit, we pulled back slightly only to move back in again — this time for the softest, most gentle love-filled kiss I had ever experienced. In that moment, in that utterly perfect moment that would be burned into my memory for the rest of my life, I knew I had made the right choice. I knew that I was meant to be with Asher, now and forever. He completed me. We stood there with our arms around each other and my head on his shoulder, moving to the silent sounds of music that can only be heard with the heart. The notes of an old song that Mom had listened to over and over when I was little began to float through my mind. Soon, the words followed, and I began to softly sing them:

  “Someday, when I am old, and the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you and the way you look tonight. Oh but you’re lovely, with your smile so warm, and your cheek so soft, there is nothing for me 244

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  but to love you just the way you look tonight.”

  I was very self-conscious about my voice — not that I couldn’t sing, I’d been told I had a very good voice. In fact, I had been in chorus all the way through middle school, often getting solos. When my voice had changed it had become low and husky, which I now found perfectly suited to the old Billie Holiday ballad.

  “With each word your tenderness grows, tearing my fear apart, and that laugh that wrinkles your nose touches my foolish heart. Lovely, never, never change.

  Keep that breathless charm; won’t you please arrange it ‘cause I love you just the way you look tonight ”

  Asher cut off my serenade with another one of those wonderful, tender kisses. This one quickly escalated to a deeper level of passion. Suddenly, Asher pulled back.

  His eyes locked on mine as if he were searching them for something.

  “Stay with me tonight,” he said softly.

  I stood there for a long time. Too long I guess, because before I could say anything I saw the fear and uncertainty flicker through his eyes.

  “Killian?” he asked with fear in his voice.

  “Asher, I want to. I want to so bad.”

  “Then what’s stopping you?” he asked, pulling me closer and running his hands up my back under my shirt.

  “I can’t,” I felt his hands freeze on my back and I rushed on, “Asher, I want to do this right. More than anything, I want this to work. I don’t want to miss anything along the way; I don’t want to skip any steps. I don’t want to do anything that would ruin what we have.”

  His arms dropped and
he took a few steps back, away from me. Pain was written all over his face and I knew that I had goofed once again. Why couldn’t I ever get anything right?

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  “So...let me see if I’ve got this right,” Asher said slowly, on the verge of tears, “you are saying that sleeping with me would ruin our relationship?”

  “Asher, that’s not what I meant...well, actually, in a way it is, but not in the way you mean.”

  “Please explain it to me, then,” he pleaded in a desperate voice.

  “I used to think that love was this unstoppable force and that it just picked you up and took you along with it, like a fast-moving river or a tidal wave...but now I know that what I thought was love was just lust. Real love develops over time, more like how a tiny trickle of water from a spring carves a canyon over time. Adam has helped me to see how important sex is; it’s a beautiful and powerful thing, and Asher, I do want to share that with you. But I want it to be right. I want it to be perfect. I don’t want to rush into something this important, something that has such a huge potential to change everything.” I closed the distance between us again.

  “Asher, I realized something when we talked on the phone the other night and it was confirmed so strongly just now when I was in your arms...I love you — I love you, Asher!”

  Tears spilled over and ran down his cheeks, but he just ignored them. He reached out a trembling hand and touched me softly on the cheek, just for a second and then it was gone, almost leaving me wondering if it had even happened.

  “Killian, I’ve loved you for years. I was so jealous when I saw you with Seth. I wanted so badly to tell you how I felt, but I was scared. And then when you got hurt and I thought I might lose you...I was terrified.

  When I finally told you I thought everything would be perfect, but nothing went right. I was still scared at first and then there was Gilly. When you said that she was just a cover I thought that maybe I still had a chance but 246

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  then I heard you talking to Jake and it was like I had lost you again. And now after all that...here you are, standing here telling me you love me. I want so much to believe that — to believe that you do love me — but I’m scared of losing you again. Maybe tomorrow it’ll be someone else, maybe Jake again or that guy Dash or someone new. Maybe I’m not enough for you. Killian, I love you with all my heart. When I’m with you, it’s the happiest I ever feel, and when I’m not with you it’s like a part of me is missing. You’re all I ever think about.

 

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