We were inside the trendy boutique, Salsa, and I could tell Michael wanted to say something. I held a summery, floral-print shirt up in front of me and checked out my reflection in a mirror. I liked it and thought about buying it. First, though, I had to make sure I had enough money left after paying for James’s game.
Michael and I left our younger brothers in the gaming store, which was only two shops away from the boutique. The boys promised they would stay together, wouldn’t leave the store and wouldn’t talk to any strangers. They had moaned when we told them we wanted to check out some other shops. Michael and I figured out, this way, we could have the best of both worlds.
Michael had ruffled Kevin’s hair. “Now, remember, stay together, look around and we’ll be back to get you guys in one hour.”
“Okay,” Kevin had said.
I looked at my brother and was overly stern with him. “You understand, James?”
James rolled his eyes. “Yes, ma’am, I understand.”
“Ma’am? Since when do you call me ma’am?” I wanted to know.
“Since you’re acting like one!” James huffed and turned and walked away. Kevin shrugged his shoulders and followed my brother.
Since Salsa only sold women’s clothing, Michael followed me around like a cute, little puppy dog.
“I like that shirt,” Michael volunteered, “although I have a feeling you’d look good in just about anything.”
“Thanks.” I smiled and continued shopping. I started to grab another shirt to add to my armload of potential purchases when Michael stopped me. He put the blouse back on the rack and took my free hand.
I was confused. “What are you doing?”
“Listen. I could tell you got freaked out back there, in the restaurant, when I said that to you.”
I was about to ask him what he was talking about, but then it dawned on me. He was referring to his earlier statement when he said all he wanted to get today was my love.
I played dumb. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Now it was Michael’s turn to be confused. “You don’t? But you’ve been acting weird ever since I said it.”
I grabbed the shirt off the rack and continued to sift through more. “Again, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
I was so uncomfortable talking to Michael about what he had said. How could he say he wanted my love when I didn’t even know him that well, nor he me, for that matter?
He kept following me so closely, almost tripping on my heels, but didn’t say anything.
Finally I stopped and turned toward him. Frustrated I blurted out, “Why me, Michael? Of all people, why did you pick me?”
For once Michael was speechless. The boy who wrote and recited poems so easily, who was so good with words and their meanings, was suddenly at a loss for them.
He furrowed his brow, looked down and finally spoke. “I dunno, Willow. At first, I guess it was because you were new in school and you didn’t know any better.”
Michael looked at me and was solemn. “I didn’t want you to think of me as the poor, sick kid, like everyone else, but then we talked and I got to know you better and you really got me and I really started to like you and …”
Michael trailed off and shook his head. “I don’t know. I can’t explain why I was drawn to you.”
Michael continued. “And then once I found out how tragically you lost your father, I was determined more than ever to be normal to you.”
I softened and felt sorry for him. Michael seemed like an old soul, a lost one at times. I took his hand. “You don’t have to try and be anything but yourself for me, Michael. You are normal,” I thought about it and wrinkled my nose, “whatever normal is.”
Michael’s mood lifted and he smiled. “I guess that’s true. How would you define normal anyway?”
All of a sudden we heard someone scream, “Michael!”
We turned toward the front of the store and saw Kevin running toward us.
“What?” Michael asked when Kevin finally reached us. “What’s wrong?”
Kevin looked up at the two of us, his eyes filled with dread. He quickly caught his breath and said, “I can’t find James.”
Kevin turned and pointed to me. “I lost your brother!”
• • •
“Slow down,” Michael insisted. “What do you mean your lost Willow’s brother?”
“He was next to me one minute and then gone the next. I searched the whole store and he’s missing.”
I threw down my armful of clothes on the nearest chair. “Let’s go back to make sure he’s not there.”
I led the way as Michael and Kevin followed. The snow was really coming down as we made our way to the other store. I was frantic to say the least. I couldn’t imagine where James was, especially when we gave both him and Kevin explicit instructions to stay together and not leave. It seemed like it took forever to reach the front door of the gaming superstore.
I burst inside and scanned the large space. Racks upon racks of video games were scattered throughout. I couldn’t see through the merchandise-covered racks and James wasn’t tall enough to be visible above them. I ran from one end of the store to the other, maneuvering through the aisles as if in a giant, plastic maze.
I was panicking like never before. I would be beyond punished if I lost my brother. I’d have to go home, pack my things and move out for sure. My mother would never forgive me. I would never forgive myself.
As I began to run even faster and call out his name, my head filled with images of James being kidnapped by some perverted child molester. I didn’t even know where Michael and Kevin were. Had they followed me or gone in a different direction? I didn’t care. I needed to find my brother.
I began sprinting when I heard someone yell my name. “Willow!”
It was Michael. He stood at the back of the huge store waving his arms to me. “Over here,” he shouted.
I ran toward Michael and found James standing beside him next to a long row of cash registers. At first I was relieved because my brother was safe and then I became angry because he almost caused me to have a heart attack.
I took James by the shoulders and shook him. “Where were you?”
“I went in the back room with the worker,” he pointed to a girl about my age standing a few feet away from us behind the service desk. The girl and her multiple piercings, waved to me.
“Sorry,” she said and continued to ring out customers.
“Why would you go back there with a stranger and not tell Kevin?”
“The girl asked me if I wanted to see where all the new games are kept before anyone else can buy them. Plus, I told Kevin I was going,” James said.
“No you didn’t!” Kevin insisted.
“Yes I did. Remember, we were looking at the used DS games over there,” James pointed to another part of the store, “and I told you I would be right back. Remember?”
You could see the wheels turning in Kevin’s little blonde head as he remembered. “Well … maybe you did.”
“See!” James exclaimed. “I told you I told him!”
“At least everybody’s safe and sound,” Michael said.
Just then my cell phone rang. I read the caller ID. It was my mom. “It’s my mother,” I said to the others. “I’ll let it go to voice mail.”
James furrowed his brow and looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. “You probably should answer that.”
Puzzled, I looked at my brother. “Why? I don’t want mom to know we’re not home.”
“Too late,” was all he said and lowered his head.
My big blue eyes became two little slits. “What do you mean it’s too late?”
My phone kept ringing.
James wouldn’t look up and started off slowly with his explanation. “The girl let me use the store phone and I kinda called mom just to ask her for your cell number …”
James quickly rambled through the rest of his stupid reasoning hoping it wo
uld have less of an impact, but it didn’t, “… so I could call you to tell you I couldn’t find Kevin when I came out from the back room. You told us not to leave and I got scared because I couldn’t find him.”
“That’s because I was at the other store telling them you were gone,” Kevin said defensively.
Michael patted Kevin’s back. “Shhh.”
My phone went to voice mail and then began ringing again. I couldn’t bring myself to answer it. I put my hand up to my forehead and rubbed. I could feel a raging migraine coming on.
I took James by the shoulders again and held onto them tightly. “What exactly did you say to mom?”
“I just told her I wanted your cell phone number. I know mom’s number. I don’t know yours.”
“Then what?”
“She asked where I was calling from, I told her it didn’t matter and she said it most certainly did and why wasn’t I with you.”
You could tell from the look on James’s face he knew we were both going to be in hot water. My cell phone finally stopped ringing, but it beeped telling me that I had a new text message.
I removed my phone from my pocket and read the text. It was from my mom. It said, “Call me immediately or else!”
I let out a deep sigh and reluctantly dialed my mother’s phone number. I readied myself for a death-row sentence and a tongue lashing like never before.
• • •
For some reason my mom was whispering. I wasn’t sure why. Maybe Brian was standing nearby or one of his family members whom my mother wanted to impress. “I don’t know where you are or how you got there,” she stated in a monotone that sounded unusually calm and rehearsed, “but you and your brother better get home immediately. Brian and I will finish up lunch here and head back afterward.”
She hung up the phone without giving me a chance to explain myself. What good would it have done anyway? What would I have said to my mom, that I didn’t disobey her really because I didn’t have friends over or go to a friend’s house like she instructed? There was no use in arguing that point. Leaving the house and dragging my brother along to meet up with Michael was wrong and I knew it.
Plus, I couldn’t believe she and Brian were heading back to the island a day early. They weren’t supposed to come home until the next day, Sunday. She would never forgive me for cutting her weekend short. I would just have to move out and wondered how long it would take for Michael and his family to realize that I broke into and started living in their abandoned summerhouse by the water.
I put my cell phone back in my pocket and joined the others near the front of the store.
“C’mon, James,” I said to my brother as I grabbed the hood of his coat. “We gotta go.”
He recoiled and broke free from my grasp. “Hey! What about the new Zombie Hunt? You said you would buy it for me!”
The expression on my face said it all, ’cause if looks could kill, James knew he’d be six feet under.
Michael took my arm. “Let Kevin and me walk you guys to the ferry.”
“Fine,” I said and headed out the door. The snow was really coming down now, big heavy snowflakes, which stuck to the four of us like moths to a flame.
By the time we reached the pier, we were all covered head to toe in freshly fallen snow. We looked like animated snowmen, magically brought to life like Frosty.
Michael stopped before we got to the platform and held onto a wooden post for support. He stayed by himself, bent over, and coughed like I had never heard a person cough before. I got scared and looked down at my brother. He looked concerned, too.
Kevin walked back toward his big brother and offered his little, gloved-hand for support. Michael took it, reluctantly, and smiled appreciatively at Kevin. Slowly he looked over at me and I could tell he was embarrassed. He didn’t need to be. Michael was ill with a disease, a disease for which there was no cure. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but I knew that’s exactly what he didn’t want. He was strong and proud and not the least bit interested in being the recipient of anyone’s pity, especially mine.
Michael walked over to us just at the ferry pulled up to the dock and started unloading passengers.
He stood very close to me and took both of my hands in his. Michael’s face was paler than ever and seemed to blend seamlessly with the soft, white snow that covered him. “Sorry you got into trouble.”
I shrugged and looked down. “It’s not your fault. I should’ve known better.”
The boat blared its horn signaling a warning for its final boarding.
“I don’t know when I’ll be able to see you again,” I said. “I’m not even sure I’ll live to see the light of day after my mom gets home tonight.”
Michael chuckled and threw his head back. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”
The man started gathering the heavy ropes that held the ferry in place so he could leave the harbor. James called to me, “Come on, Willow! Hurry!”
I looked up into Michael’s eyes. They did more than just look back at me. They penetrated me, delving deeply into my soul, as if it would be for the very last time.
“I gotta go,” I managed and started to walk away.
“Wait!” Michael called. He unzipped his coat, reached into an inside pocket and pulled out a small piece of paper. “Here. It’s the poem I wrote you the other night.”
Michael stuck the paper in the palm of my hand, but told me, “Don’t let it freak you out.”
I smiled at him, quickly stuck the note in my pocket and hopped on board with seconds to spare. The ferry revved its engine and steered away from the dock.
James and I went inside the warm cabin and closed the metal door securely behind us.
“Who was that guy, by the way?” James asked as he pulled out his DS.
“Just a friend,” I answered as we walked toward open seats.
“He seemed like more than just a friend to me. I saw you making googly eyes at him,” James said matter-of-factly right before he sat down and switched on his game.
I ignored his comment and stood, staring out the small, frosted window next to me. I tried to see beyond the heavy snowfall, but it blurred my vision and I was barely able to make out Michael’s silhouette off in the distance.
I took my sleeve and wiped the condensation from the inside of the window in order to see better. For a few brief seconds the snow completely stopped coming down and I could clearly see Michael standing on the shore watching as the tired, old boat ferried me away from him and delivered me to a cold, remote island situated in the middle of nowhere.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN
In the Middle of Nowhere (Willow's Journey #1) Page 36