by Kunz, C. A.
“Ooh, we could have some real fun with Cat now.” Becca smirked looking at the phone. “Let’s send our little friend a text, shall we?”
Across town, Cat’s phone beeped on her desk indicating a message. She sprang from her bed, threw her copy of Red Twilight on to her nightstand, and grabbed her phone. Plopping back on her bed Cat stared at her cell, her eyes full of concern. The text was from Linda and it read:
Guess who?
What’s happening? First Linda disappears. Then I see her at the parade, and now a cryptic text from her cell? After she set her phone down, Cat curled up on her bed while clutching her pillow against her chest, and went into deep thought.
A light scratching noise at Cat’s window startled her. It was Jewels. Opening her bay window, the feline sauntered in, and then laid down on Cat’s bed, swaying her tail back and forth in utter contentment. Cat cuddled next to her, absently stroking her fur as she stared at her cell, trying to make sense of everything.
Linda snuck away while Amy and Becca were feeding. As she trudged along through the tunnels toward her house, sadness enveloped her. She had traveled to her home this way several times before without anyone knowing. Part of her wanted to just turn around and walk away, but she couldn’t, she had to say goodbye to her old life one last time. Why me? Why did Andrei choose me? I had a life, a family…friends. I don’t want to live like this! I’m a freak of nature! This isn’t fair! Linda thought crossly.
Finding the manhole leading up to her street in Madison, Linda climbed out. The glistening of the moon in a nearby puddle drew her attention to it. Standing over the pool of water, she stared into it deeply. Seeing no reflection, she stomped into it, splashing the water. As she saw a glimmer of herself through the ripples in the puddle, Linda backed away from it and turned around, coming face to face with her house. The windows were dark with a lack of activity. No lights were on except the faint flicker of the TV in her mom’s bedroom. Silently entering the house, she made her way to her room. Her mom hadn’t changed a thing. Everything was still as Linda had left it. Looking to the vanity mirror, she saw all the pictures of her and her friends lining it. One in particular caught her eye. It was of her, Cat, and Julie in their Madison Prep uniforms, all hugging each other and laughing. Happy times, she thought, and then placed the picture back on the mirror.
Heading to the next room had her looking in on her brother, Max. He was quietly snoring with Buck, their family Boston terrier, sleeping at his feet. Blowing him a kiss, she made her way to her mom’s bedroom and peeked in. As usual her mom had fallen asleep watching TV. Linda saw evidence of the tears that had stained her face, and it made Linda’s sadness worsen knowing they were for her.
“Stay tuned for breaking news from Astoria’s Founder’s Day disaster! Full story coming up in two minutes!” Jillian Brown, Astoria news’s top reporter, stated through the television. Linda felt a sense of guilt, even though she had nothing to do with the fireworks. She wished she would’ve had the strength to stop them, but instead she had stood helplessly by as the carnage unfolded before her.
Quietly lying down beside her mom, Linda stared at her face. She wished she could turn back time when her only worries were what to wear to a school dance, and whether she had studied hard enough for tests. Seeing Cat earlier that night had made the pain that much worse, knowing that her life might be in danger from the very people she was now associated with. Andrei terrified her, the other two completely trusted him, but Linda had this sneaking suspicion they were all just pawns in his plan. Combing back her mother’s hair, Linda kissed her forehead. Tears began welling up in her eyes as she whispered, “Goodbye, I love you.” Her mom suddenly sat up and began looking around.
“Linda?” Casey asked the empty room. Looking to the left she noticed the window open and the curtains gently blowing in the night breeze. Linda hovered just below the window and breathed a sigh of relief, glad her mom hadn’t seen her. Making her way back to the tunnels, Linda turned around once more to look at the place she had spent her whole life. She couldn’t fight back the tears any longer. As they began to stream down her face, she descended into the tunnels, not looking back, finally saying farewell to her past life.
“Where have you been?” Amy’s voice called out from the dark as Linda reached a small chamber within the tunnels.
“Just went for a walk, that’s all,” Linda replied trying to hide her face, not wanting Amy to see her tears.
“A little walk, huh?” Becca interjected.
“Yeah, a walk.”
“What’s that in your hand?” Amy asked. Linda clutched the charm bracelet her mom had made for her. She had grabbed it from atop her dresser, and forgot she was still holding it.
“Nothing,” Linda replied, putting the bracelet into her coat pocket.
“Nothing? It looks like something to me. We know where you’ve been. And if you want Becca and me to keep your secret from Andrei, you’ll do exactly what we tell you from now on. Am I understood?” Amy asked with an evil grin. Linda nodded her head. “Oh, and I’ll let you keep your silly little charm bracelet, I’m feeling quite generous tonight.”
How did she know I had that with me? Linda thought. She shuttered. She didn’t know who scared her more, Amy or Andrei. But one thing she did know was that Amy never made idle threats.
The next day the doorbell rang at the Brewer residence. Casey sighed, sitting at her usual place at the kitchen table. The tabletop was littered with newspaper articles about her daughter Linda’s disappearance. As the doorbell rang again, an exhausted Casey realized that her son, Max, was not going to answer it and went to do it herself. Standing on the porch, Cat smiled as Casey opened the door. “Oh Cat, what a nice surprise! How have you been?” Casey asked, giving Cat a lengthy hug.
“Hi, Mrs. Brewer. How are you holding up?” Cat asked, reciprocating the hug. Cat had felt bad about not visiting after Linda’s disappearance. She wanted to, but found it too hard to deal with. Even now she was overcome with emotion after seeing Linda’s mom’s face.
“Well, I have my good days and my bad days,” she replied with a wan smile. “Oh, what am I doing? Come in, come in.” Scanning the walls of the foyer hallway, Cat saw pictures of Linda and Max, revealing memories of a cheerful past. A feeling of sadness came over her as she watched Mrs. Brewer straighten one of the pictures of Linda hanging on the wall.
“They have no leads,” Casey muttered unexpectedly, catching Cat off guard.
“They’re still looking, they’ll find her. I know it,” Cat replied.
“I know she’s still alive…that’s why I haven’t disconnected her cell phone line yet. I had the police try and track her through the phone. But every time they did, there wasn’t a signal on her end,” Casey responded. “Everyone thinks I’m going crazy with depression or something…but I’ve seen her.” Cat felt conflicted. She wanted to tell Mrs. Brewer that she’d seen Linda too, and that she had also received a text message from her, but knew she couldn’t. Cat didn’t want to cause more problems for Linda’s family, and wanted to wait until she found out what was really going on before she said anything.
“Hey Cat, long time no see!” Max called out as he ran downstairs, interrupting their conversation.
“I think I’m going to go lie down for a bit. It was lovely seeing you, Cat. Please don’t be a stranger,” Casey sighed heavily as she made her way upstairs to her bedroom.
“Sure thing, Mrs. Brewer. Take care of yourself,” Cat replied as Max put his hand on her shoulder.
“Just between us,” Max whispered, “I’m really worried about Mom. She refuses to do anything the doctor recommends. And she swears she sees Linda every night. I feel she’s losing it. And with her saying that she sees Linda all the time, it makes things harder for all of us. She needs to get out of the house, but won’t. Could you ask your mom if she’ll plan a ladies night out or something?”
“Sure, I’ll talk to her when I get home,” she replied after seeing the desperatio
n on his face.
“I really do miss her,” he said sadly while looking at the picture of Linda his mom had straightened earlier.
“Yeah, me too,” Cat replied.
6
New in Town
“Mom, I look, ridiculous! Tell me again why I have to wear this flower hat thing?” Cat moaned while adjusting the frilly purple flower pot hat that sat on her head.
“It’s our new and unique way of advertising the store, plus it looks wonderful on you,” Rachel said with a smile. “Julie doesn’t seem to have a problem wearing it,” she stated, pointing at Julie, who was ringing up a customer. Cat adjusted the hat again as it seemed to want to take a nosedive every five seconds.
“Mom, I know I said I’d help out around the store for the rest of summer, but I never signed up for crazy hats. Plus, what if someone walks in who knows me? I’ll be the laughing stock of Astoria High.”
“Oh, stop being so dramatic, Cat. You only have two weeks left of summer, just go with the flow of life, and embrace the flower hat,” she replied while placing the flower pot hat on her own head. “Now hurry along, we’ve got a busy day ahead of us, and there’s no time to dawdle,” she said, shooing Cat toward one of the registers. Rachel watched as Cat walked away, happy that things were finally getting back to normal. “I won’t cry,” she mumbled to herself as a tear ran down her cheek, and quickly made her way to the back of the store so no one would notice.
Covered in potting soil and animal excrement, aka fertilizer, Cat and Julie loaded the flower van after closing time. Business had been booming for Florals by Rach. Of course, it did help being the only floral shop in town.
Cat climbed into the driver’s side of the van, as Julie hesitantly got into the passenger’s side and buckled in. “Cat, are you sure you’re ready to drive this beast?” Julie asked with concern in her voice.
“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?” she replied, starting the engine.
“I don’t know, maybe because this van is twice as big as your Jeep and you-”
“Oh Julie, you worry too much. I can handle this, it’s just like riding a bike...a really, really big bike.”
“Yeah, but Cat, you still fall off your bike.” Cat rolled her eyes, put the van into drive, and took off down the road.
Rounding the bend that led to Nehalem Avenue, a completely bare tree caught Cat’s eye. All of the trees around it were full of life, their branches covered in colorful leaves. This one tree though, was dark and muted. No sign of life. Hmmm, that’s odd, Cat thought to herself as she suddenly smelled the strong odor of cinnamon coming in from the open van window. Her attention quickly shot back to the road, “Cat, watch out!” Julie yelled as they barreled toward a huge semi-truck. Quickly turning the wheel, she barely missed the truck. Cat slammed on the brakes, breathing heavily.
“You okay, Julie?” she asked apologetically.
Julie laughed nervously. “Yeah, I’m alright. That was a close call.” Cat poked her head out of the window and looked back at the large green truck. The words International Movers were written on the side.
“Hey, it looks like we have new neighbors,” Cat announced.
“That would have been a great welcoming, crashing into their moving truck,” Julie said while giggling. “I wonder where they’re from?”
Cat noticed a young dark-skinned girl, who looked to be about her age, walking from the house toward the moving truck. “It seems like we’ll also be getting a new addition to our school this year,” Cat said with a smile as she continued up the street to her house.
Buzz...buzz. “Hey, Julie, can you get my phone? It’s vibrating in the cup holder up front,” Cat asked as she gathered several potted plants from the back of the van.
Julie picked up the phone, “Cat, it’s your mom. Do you want me to answer it?”
“Yeah, I kind of have my hands full at the moment,” she groaned, struggling to carry all of the plants to the front door.
“Hello Mrs. Colvin, uh huh, yeah, I can tell her for you. Alright, well, I guess we’ll see you in a little bit then.” Just as Julie hung up the phone, she was startled by a crash near the front door. Cat had dropped one of the plants, breaking the pot, and spilled the soil all over the porch. “What happened?” Julie hid her grin, as she realized what Cat had done.
“Oh, I’m just a klutz. Mom’s going to flip,” Cat murmured while sweeping the soil into a pile with her hands.
Julie chuckled. “I’m sure she’ll understand. She still might lecture you though on how you should make multiple trips instead of one.”
“Let’s just clean it up before she gets home.”
“Oh, and she wants us to put the casserole that’s in the refrigerator in the oven for dinner.”
“Hello, is anyone home?” Sam announced as he entered the house.
“Hey Dad, glad you’re here. I just preheated the oven, so could you please put in the casserole when it beeps? Oh, for about 30 minutes or so should do. Thanks, Dad, you’re the best.” Cat gave Sam a peck on his cheek and then she and Julie disappeared out the front door.
“Welcome home, Dad. How was your day? Oh, Cat, thanks for asking, it was wonderful. Sure, I’ll put the casserole in the oven. I’m good for something, right?” Sam mumbled to himself, making his way to the kitchen.
Outside, Cat and Julie both grumbled as they saw Maude Roberts standing by Cat’s car. “Hey, you two,” she called out as she waved to them. She then yanked on Fredricka's leash, who was busy trying to dig a hole in the yard. “Your dad was in a bit of a hurry, tried to catch him before he went inside. For his age, he moves rather quickly. Anyway, have you noticed the moving truck down the street? It seems we have new neighbors.” Leaning in closer Maude’s voice lowered, “I didn’t see any signs of a mother figure, but there is an older man and a young boy. The strange thing is, there’s also a young girl who has a really, really dark tan, if you know what I mean. They must be one of those progressive families I’ve heard so much about. Not that I’m discriminatory or anything, no sirree, I’m equal about everyone.”
Yeah, you talk equally about everyone, Cat thought. “We’re just on our way to welcome them to the neighborhood.”
“I’d come with you girls, but I have to start dinner. Do come over after you visit with them and we’ll have a little chat, shall we?”
Julie and Cat nodded their heads and took off down the street trying to hold back their laughter. “Yeah, like we’d really go over and purposefully have a chat with her. Not in this lifetime,” Cat whispered to Julie.
“Maybe we should wait for the rest of our group before we go and meet the neighbors.” Julie slowed down and then stood still.
“Like that wouldn’t be totally overwhelming. Matt would probably say something inappropriate, and Amanda would smack him for it. Elle would probably be so nervous, she’d immediately ask to use their bathroom. No, I think we should go by ourselves and then report back to the group.”
“Okay, maybe you’re right.”
“Hey look, what is that thing in their front yard? That looks like one of those wooden training dummies. You know, like they use in karate,” Cat explained after seeing the confused look on Julie’s face.
“Don’t you think it’s a little weird that they have one of those?”
“And Matt having a blow-up clown punching bag isn’t?” Cat commented.
As the moving men were closing the back door of the truck, a tall, good-looking older man stood off to the side holding a clipboard, flipping the pages quickly as his pen flew over them. “Thank you, gentlemen,” the man said with a distinct British accent, handing the clipboard over to one of the men. “It looks like we’re all set here.” The three men jumped into the truck and pulled away from the curb.
Julie and Cat crossed the road and were met by the greenest eyes that either one of them had ever seen. His hair was short and wavy with a mixture of colors from blonde to brown. He smiled when he noticed them. “Well, hello, young ladies, are you what
they call the Welcome Wagon?”
Cat grinned, “I guess you could call us that. We’re your neighbors up the street,” she said, and then introduced herself and Julie.
“The name’s Gerard McNeil, and it’s a pleasure to meet you. Oh look, here comes my eldest now. Duffie, come and meet our neighbors, Cat and Julie,” he called out. “If my guess is correct you’re all about the same age.” Julie and Cat watched as a girl matching Maude’s description walked toward them. Her smile was friendly. Her beautiful black hair bounced with every step she took, and her long legs helped make short work of her journey to meet them. However, the girl’s brown eyes were guarded.
“Nice to meet ya,” Duffie said in her distinct British accent.
“Why don’t we all go inside and have some refreshments. I find myself feeling a little parched,” Gerard stated, walking toward the front door. Julie and Cat followed them into the foyer and found themselves surrounded by boxes.
“It’ll take us a little while to get this place in order, but I know it’ll get done. Right, Duffie?” Duffie nodded.
Looking into the dining room, Cat saw numerous plates full with cakes, pies, muffins, and other random desserts. “Duffie, what’s with all the baked goods? They look delicious,” Cat asked gesturing toward the dining room table.
“Oh that. Well, you see, my dad has already become quite popular with the women in the area. Especially when they found out he’s single,” she giggled.
“Leif! We have guests, please come down and meet them,” Gerard called up the stairway. A loud sound from above caught their attention and they watched as a young man ran down the stairs. “One day if you’re not careful you’re going to break something,” he chastised jokingly.
“Cat, Julie, meet my daredevil brother Leif,” Duffie said dryly, rolling her eyes. Cat and Julie were speechless as their eyes glanced over him. He was tall like his dad and looked sporty in his running shorts and tank top. His hair was bleached blond and his eyes a bluish green. His grin made their hearts beat just a little faster. Make that a lot faster.