“Thank you,” I say, giving her a small grin.
“It’s a good thing Anna has that cute short haircut, or no one would be able to tell you two apart.”
I smile once again as Anna giggles.
“Well, you two better go get your muffins before they’re all gone.” She pats my arm before turning to walk away.
“It was nice to meet you, Mrs. Bailey.” As I wave goodbye, I consider that the people here might not be so bad after all.
“It was lovely to meet you, too, Alex. Now, don’t be a stranger.”
The bakery is a quaint shop. It’s nestled between two stores in the town square, where it stands out from the rest of the buildings. The outside is splattered in red with two big glass windows on each side of the glass door. A golden yellow and white striped awning shades the small café tables on the sidewalk. Painted on one of the windows is “Sweets and Such” in bright yellow with tiny candies in various colors and shapes surrounding the name of the bakery. The other window holds a display of fresh baked breads, muffins, scones, and cupcakes with sparkling frosting. The inside matches the outside with canary colored walls, and white and yellow metal tables and chairs set throughout. An enclosed display, filled with every baked good imaginable, takes up most of the wall behind the register. You name it, they have it. The fragrance surrounds me and takes me back to the times when Anna and I would come home from school and Mom would have cookies baking in the oven. We would jump on the counter and wait, impatiently, for the timer to go off. As soon as the cookies were out of the oven, we would shove one in our mouths and chew as fast as we could before they burnt the taste buds off our tongues. We never could wait long enough for them to cool down.
Anna points me to a table off to the side and then goes to order for us. I sit in the metal chair and stare out the window as several people make their way past the shop. I shift my gaze, following a small child, his brown hair sticking up in a cowlick, his short, stubby legs moving as fast as they can, struggling to keep a hold of the leash attached to his hyper Chihuahua, and a slight giggle escapes my lips.
Soon, Anna returns, carrying a paper sack and two steaming mugs. “Yes, I know it’s summer and hot as all get out, but you gotta have hot chocolate with muffins,” Anna says, sliding my cup over to me.
My lips heft up into a smile, and I swear it reaches clear to my eyes, as I think back to when Anna and I were younger. Mom and us kids would curl up on the couch and watch a movie while we waited for Dad to get home. We would sip on hot chocolate and eat marshmallows by the handful. Then Dad would walk through the door and plop down next to Mom. The movie would be forgotten as we listened to Dad, a respected police officer admired by the community, tell us about his day at work clearing the streets of criminals.
Alex, snap out of it. You can’t go there, not right now. I shake my head, clearing the thoughts, and pull myself back to the present. I take another sip of my hot chocolate and am bringing a pinch of the decadent muffin to my mouth when that eerie feeling I had at the pool consumes me. A tingling sensation runs through my body, almost as if someone were burning a hole through me with their eyes, absorbing all my innermost secrets and thoughts. I casually look around, acting as if I’m just checking the place out. There’s a lady in a floral print top and white capris at the table next to us reading a paper and sipping on something in a white Styrofoam cup. The couple a few tables over are holding hands and sharing a scone while carrying on what appears to be a friendly conversation with one of the employees. The guy sitting in the corner with his hat pulled low over his eyes reading a book is…oh, God, it’s him. My heart skips a beat at the realization.
“Anna, do you see that guy over there?” I flick my eyes in his direction.
She angles her body slightly, gives him a small wave, and turns back to me.
“That’s Tyler. I’ve never really talked to him but I see him around a lot. He lives over on Burch Street with his cousin Travis. Why, do you have the hots for him, too? First day out and you’re already fawning over the local boys. You don’t waste any time, do you?” She giggles.
I roll my eyes at her, refusing to take her bait. “He’s the one I was talking about, the guy at the pool. Something about him just doesn’t feel right. What do you know about him?” I pick at my muffin while glancing over at him.
“Not much, just that he moved here about a month ago because he was having problems at home. There are a lot of rumors about why he walks with a cane and always dresses like it’s winter outside, but who knows what’s true. My favorite one is that he was part of some underground fight club at a private school in California. He had to go up against this guy who was like three times bigger than him. He ended up getting his leg crushed. Then, apparently, a huge riot broke out and someone started a fire. The whole place was engulfed, and he had to be dragged out. He suffered third degree burns on most of his body. Anyway, the school found out about this so-called fight club and he got expelled, and now he’s here. Isn’t that just the most nonsense thing you’ve ever heard?” Anna takes a swig of her hot chocolate before continuing. “The people here are really nice but the stories they come up with are unbelievable. You should have heard some of the things they said about you.”
“Huh? What do they say about me?” I ask, my voice rising with anger, causing the woman next to us to shoot me a disapproving glare. Now, I’m not only freaked out over this Tyler guy, I’m also pissed. These people don’t even know me and they have the audacity to say crap about me.
“Calm down, Alex. It’s nothing bad. Just stupid stuff like you’re allergic to the sun and that’s why you never leave the house. Some idiot even tried to start a rumor about you being a vampire, but, of course, no one believed that.” She laughs and pops a bite of muffin in her mouth, like it’s no big deal the whole town has nothing better to do than spread stupid stories about her own sister.
“Seriously? These people are insane. It’s just like Hilldale.” I lean back in my chair, crossing my arms over my chest.
“It’s not an issue, so don’t make it one. They know the stories aren’t true. It’s just something to do to pass the time. No one ever said anything bad about you, I wouldn’t let them.”
“Whatever.” I huff out an exaggerated breath. “So, what else do you know about this Tyler?” I ask, trying to get back on track. I sneak another glimpse at him. He quickly drops his gaze back down at his book, but not before I catch him staring at me. A chill runs up my spine, raising goosebumps across my skin.
“He doesn’t really associate with anyone other than his cousin, but he’s harmless,” Anna says through a mouthful of muffin, “so don’t get all worked up over nothing.”
I risk one more peek at him, but like before, he’s gone. How the hell does he keep doing that? There’s definitely something strange about him and I’m determined to find out what it is.
“Is that J—?”Anna stops, leaving her unfinished question hanging. She squints her eyes and stares out the window, all the color draining from her face.
“What are you looking at? I don’t see anything.” I crane my neck, attempting to get a better view. Trying to see what it is that has caught her attention and rendered her momentarily speechless, which, for Anna, is nearly impossible.
Anna tosses the last bite of muffin in her mouth and points out the window. “I thought I saw someone we knew but I guess I was wrong. Oh, well.”
“Who did you think it was? And how do we know him?” I ask, curious about her reaction. She looked like she had seen a ghost.
“No one important,” she replies, but her expression tells a different story.
I stand up and rake my eyes over the street, but all I see are strangers. I really don’t know anyone in this town. “Who was it, Anna?” I ask again.
“I said it was no one. Just drop it!” She almost shouts the words.
I cringe away from her sharp tone and deci
de the subject is best dropped. There’s no sense in ruining what has been an okay day. “All right,” I concede to ending the matter, although I know that whoever she thought she saw has really ruffled her feathers.
“Good. Are you done?” Anna says, standing and shoving her chair under the table with more force than necessary.
“Yeah.” I gather up my trash and toss it in the garbage on the way out. I search up and down the street for Tyler and this mysterious person that Anna was sure she saw, but don’t see either. What’s the real story with Tyler?
“Alex, you coming?” Anna calls, a few steps ahead of me.
“Yeah, sorry, wasn’t sure which way we were supposed to go.”
Anna closes her eyes and I see her chest rise with a deep breath before she pushes it out through pursed lips, clearly annoyed. She opens her eyes and points toward home.
AS SOON AS WE GET HOME I run up the stairs, grabbing my laptop off my desk, and plop down on my bed. I start to type Tyler’s name into the search engine, eager to see the results, but suddenly realize I don’t know his last name. Anna said he just moved here, but from where? Was the whole story about him attending a private school in California a rumor, or is that really where he’s from? I shove my hands through my hair, loosening my ponytail. His cousin…what was his name? “Dammit,” I mutter. None of this information is going to help me. I should have asked more questions. My fingers hover over the keys. Maybe I could do a search for illegal fight clubs at private schools. Who knows, the story could be true.
I lower my hands to the keyboard when my computer beeps, notifying me I have an IM. I haven’t gotten an instant message in forever. I wonder who it is? I click on the screen and see it’s from LRAM695. LRAM? Who the hell is that?
I open it up, curious as to who it could be. Maybe it’s someone from back home. Maybe it’s Jake. My heart does a weird flutter at the thought.
You can’t hide away forever, Alex. I know what you did! And soon everyone else will, too.
My heart skips a beat as I read the words. Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is. It can’t be. The horrible images from that day flash through my mind like a DVD on fast forward. I quickly blink them away, refusing to go back there. They don’t know, they can’t. No one knows. This can’t be happening. I start to type a response but my hands are trembling so badly I keep hitting the wrong keys. I take a deep breath, shake out my hands, and try again.
Who is this?
A winking emoji pops up and then I’m notified that my secret messenger has logged off. I check the sender’s name, thinking I may have read it wrong, but nope, it’s from LRAM695. Who could this be? It must be a joke. This is just a stupid prank, nothing more, I try to convince myself. I fall back on my bed, annoyed and exhausted. I think about Tyler and the cryptic message. Did Tyler send it? I have to find out more about him. All I have is a first name and nothing else. Is he LRam? I pinch the bridge of my nose, a headache building and pressing against my skull like it’s locked in a vise grip, the pressure increasing with each thought. I consider asking Anna to get some more details about him for me, but quickly decide it would be best to keep her out of it, so she doesn’t think I’m taking a ride on the crazy train. The last thing I want is to listen to one of her lectures. I’ll just have to get the information on my own. But maybe Anna’s right…maybe he is harmless…but what if he’s not? I should have just stayed home today. My eyes are getting heavier by the second. Though I try to fight it, sleep overtakes me with images of Tyler and the mysterious message still lingering on my mind.
IT’S NOON ON THURSDAY WHEN I arrive at the Community Center where Anna asked me to meet her, but no one’s here, not even Ms. Frizz who mans the front desk. I walk around the pool area a third time, and just as I’m about to give up and leave, Anna walks in with Tyler. Wait a minute, I think to myself, something’s not right here. Why is Anna with Tyler? She said she barely knows him and it’s not like her to hang out with people she doesn’t know. Hoping our twin mind reading is still strong, I burn my eyes into hers and think, “Why are you with him?” But when I look at her, all I see is the undeniable fear in her eyes.
“Well, hello, Alex,” Tyler says. “I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but you and Anna aren’t going to make it to your lunch date.”
“What are you talking about?” I ask, cautiously taking a step forward.
“Well, Anna and I have made other plans. Instead of the two of you going to lunch, the three of us are going to go for a swim. Doesn’t that sound like a lot more fun?” He grips Anna’s arm, a sly smile spreading across his face.
“What is he talking about, Anna?” My voice cracks.
“Just do what he says, Alex,” Anna tells me, a tear sliding down her reddened cheek.
“Look, Tyler, I don’t know what’s going on here, but my sister and I are leaving!” I inch my way, tentatively, toward them, a plan building in my mind of how to get to Anna and around Tyler to the exit. I suppose I could shove him, or snatch his cane away, and just hope he can’t maneuver very well without it. All I know is that I have to get us the hell out of here and away from Tyler.
“Oh, Alex, I beg to differ. See, I know something about you, a nasty little secret, and I’m sure you don’t want everyone finding out what it is. So, if I were you, I would do exactly as I’m told. Do you know what I’m talking about? Who am I kidding, of course you do. It’s time for you to pay for what you did, Alex! The fun is about to begin, and I’m sure you want to stick around for it.” Tyler smirks and throws his head back, his devious laugh bounces throughout the room and reverberates in my mind. He swiftly lifts his cane above his head and brings it down, hitting Anna over the head with a loud snap. The sound of a bone cracking echoes around me and the horrifying sound stabs at my ears. Anna’s eyes go wide with shock and then blank as blood starts to drip down the left side of her face. I take off running toward my sister, shouting her name. Oh, my God, what has he done? My stomach rises into my throat while my heart drops to my feet. “Anna,” I try to yell, but the words only squeak out. I stretch my arms in front of me, ready to grab her, but before I can, Tyler shoves her limp body into the pool. I momentarily freeze in place, watching the blue turn a deep crimson as the water swallows her body. Come on, Alex, move, damn it! I scream at myself, and that one thought brings me back to the here and now.
“Oh, my God, Anna!” I jump into the pool after her. “Anna! Oh, God, Anna. Please be okay. Anna!”
Anna’s head bobs on top of the water, her lifeless body floating behind her. I watched in shocked horror as her head turns and her dead eyes meet mine.
“ALEX! ALEX!”
I am jolted awake, shirt clinging to my sweat-slickened body, gasping, desperately trying to fill my lungs with fresh air and not the over-chlorinated pool water that threatened to kill Anna.
Anna stands by my bed, gripping my shoulders. “Alex, are you okay?” She asks, her voice laced with concern.
“I….” The words catch in my throat. I clear it and try again. “I’m fine. It was just a bad dream. Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” I struggle to calm my breathing and settle my shaking body.
“Why were you screaming my name?” Anna asks, sliding her hands from my shoulders.
If she already suspects I’m paranoid, what will she think if I tell her about my too real nightmare? “Beats me,” I reply, trying to sound unaffected by the images still lingering in my mind. I can tell by her expression she doesn’t believe me, but, to my relief, she doesn’t ask any more questions. I rub my hands over my face, trying to block out the remnants of the dream, but all I see when I close my eyes is Tyler thrusting Anna’s lifeless body into the pool.
I look at the clock on my bedside table; its angry red numbers glaring at me. It’s three o’clock, which means I’ve been asleep almost five hours. Great, now I’ll never get to sleep tonight. Anna’s hanging around the room, busying herself
with putting her clothes away, but every couple of minutes, I see her glancing in my direction. I know she’s worried the dreams have returned, the ones that haunted my sleep and tormented me for weeks after that horrible day and then again when Dad went away, but what she doesn’t know is that they never actually stopped. I just told her they did so she would stop worrying and hovering over me. But every night, when I finally drift off to sleep, they pounce on me like a rabid dog.
“Anna, it’s not what you think,” I assure her. “It was nothing, and I don’t even remember what it was about, so don’t worry. I’d tell you if they were back, I promise.”
She nods, obviously unconvinced.
I take a shower, hoping to wash away the horrible images that remain etched in my brain, and when I enter the bedroom again, Anna is gone. I slip on some jeans and a tank top, throw my hair up in a messy bun, and go downstairs. I head to the fridge and see that Mom left a note on the counter:
Zack and I are out running errands. There’s some money on the counter for a pizza. Be back later. Love you!
I grab a soda and make my way into the living room where Anna is sitting on the couch, flipping through the channels. I drop down beside her.
“Anything good on TV?” I ask, not at all interested, but feeling like I need to lighten the mood.
“Not really,” she tells me, tossing the remote on the coffee table.
“Mom left some money for pizza. You hungry?”
“I could eat,” Anna says, “but let’s go out. I don’t want to be stuck in the house on such a nice day.” She turns on the couch to face me.
“I don’t know, Anna. I really don’t feel up to it.”
Grave Little Secrets Page 3