Love Like Sky

by Leslie C. Youngblood

  I shot a hopeless look to Tammy, then put my hand on my stomach to speak. “We went to the hospital.”

  “What do you mean ‘the hospital’?” Jevon said. “Nikki ain’t supposed to leave this block. Did she take her inhaler?”

  “Yes, she has it.”

  Then he took in the entire street in one glance and held up his palms. “Wait, wait, wait. You’re back. He’s back. Tammy’s here. You mean she’s still at the hospital?”

  “I’m sorry! It’s all my fault. She tagged along with me to check on my sister.”

  “I’m sorry about your li’l sis, Georgie. But what happened to Nikki?”

  I took a deep breath. “I don’t know. When we came back to the spot where she said she’d wait, she was gone.” I shoved my hand into my pocket, yanked out a tissue, and dabbed my eyes.

  “What do you mean…gone?”

  “Oh my God!” Crystal said.

  “We left her at a spot outside the hospital. She wasn’t there when we got back, so Kevin rode around to a park looking for her. I stayed put in case she showed up. We came back here thinking she was sore at us and found her way home.”

  “What hospital?” Jevon asked.

  “Grady.”

  “Are you joking? On a bike?” Jevon punched the inside of his palm. “How long was she by herself?”

  I couldn’t even get out those words, so I stared at Kevin.

  “Close to an hour,” he said.

  Jevon swallowed hard. “That long? Georgie, you should have come back sooner when you realized that she wasn’t there.” He clasped his hands in back of his head for a second. “You two, leave the bikes with Tammy. We’ll take the van back up to the hospital.”

  “I want to go, too,” Tammy said.

  “This is serious,” Jevon said. “Somebody’s gotta stay here in case she comes back. You have a phone?”

  “In the living room,” Tammy said.

  “Well, if she shows before we get back, have her use that and call my cell. She knows the number.”

  Tammy nodded. “I’ll make her do it ASAP.”

  Then Jevon shook his head. “’Preciate that, li’l bit, but that won’t cut it. I know Nik. She barely listens to me.” He turned to his girlfriend. “Crystal?” he said, and rubbed his chin.

  When she tapped her foot, her baby-pink Skechers mushed the grass. “I hear you. I’ll stay. Matter of fact, I’ll make sure she calls you from my phone,” Crystal said. She yanked the phone from her back pocket.

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” Jevon said. He hugged Crystal, then waved his left hand several times. “Hurry up, you two.”

  Kevin and I dropped our bikes in Tammy’s yard and hopped into the van. The streetlight was shining above us like the sun.

  On our way to the hospital, Jevon called home.

  “Hey, Ma…Yeah…Nik and Georgie are with me. We’re going to take them with us to grab a bite and hit up Redbox…. We’ll be home in a few…. All right. Have a good time.” He hung up and said, “Now that’s my neck for sure if we don’t find Nik.”

  He was the only one who was allowed to call her that. I tried hard not to think what I knew Jevon was thinking, what Kevin was thinking. Something bad could have happened—Felecia Williams bad. She was only nine years old when she went missing. Frank and Mama were upset because they’d only showed her face once on the news,

  and she had on a Hello Kitty shirt like mine. Mama said if she was a little girl called JonBenét Ramsey they’d show her face every five minutes. When the police found Felecia Williams, she wasn’t alive anymore. I grabbed my stomach but still couldn’t stop the queasy feeling like I was upside down.

  “Hey, you okay, Georgie?” Jevon asked.

  My lips felt like they were glued with Elmer’s. “I’m fine. Stomach just hurts a little.”

  Jevon’s left hand tapped on the steering wheel like it was his keyboard. “No time to get sick now. Need you alert to help me find Nik.”

  “I’m fine,” I said, but I couldn’t even hear the words.

  “Come on, sis. Come on, sis. Don’t do this to me,” Jevon sang, tapping harder. When he gets on Nikki’s nerves, she calls him a wannabe John Legend.

  When we got to that parking garage, I grabbed the door handle. As soon as Jevon parked, Kevin and I dashed out of the van, and Jevon followed us. I was so scared that Nikki wasn’t gonna be there that I didn’t want to open the door to the walkway where she was supposed to wait. I crossed my fingers and said a quick prayer. I called that “a double.”

  Kevin pushed the door. “She’s not here,” he yelled as we all looked at the empty steps.

  My hand flew to my mouth. “Oh my Josh! It’s really getting late now.”

  “Let’s check out the park,” Jevon said. “And here’s the thing: if she ain’t there, gotta go ahead and call the police.”

  When he said the word “police,” I got that stinging feeling in my head I had when I sucked the freeze pop too fast. Oh, God. Please, please…don’t let my best friend be an Amber Alert. I couldn’t make myself believe that Nikki would go alone to a place neither one of us was familiar with. I took a deep breath before I spoke. “Kevin already checked the park, Jevon. You know how Nikki loves the mall.”

  “That’s my roadie. Makes sense,” Jevon said. “Her allergies keep her out of parks anyway.”

  We hopped in the van.

  “We better get there soon. It’s almost nine,” I said, this time louder than I thought. I straightened up in the front seat and held on to my knees.

  Jevon turned his baseball cap backward. “Gotcha. Lenox isn’t that far away.” Then he muttered to himself, “C’mon, sis, be there.”

  Once we were out of the hospital parking garage, Jevon picked up speed. No one spoke. I strained my eyes peering out the window, hoping to see Nikki pushing her bike along the sidewalk.

  Minutes later, we were pulling up in the mall parking lot. I thought about all the stores, halls, and corners of the mall. I used to love them, now they were just places Nikki could be and no one would find her. Instead of the castle Lenox used to look like to me, it seemed like nothing but a massive cave. The size of it scared me. Its glass Lenox Square sign seemed as big as that Hollywood sign you see on TV. The lower roof in the front spread out like humongous eagle wings, with crisscrossed beams swooping down. But it wouldn’t even matter if Drake himself swooped down from the ceiling, all I would want to see was my best friend. How could I be so stupid to leave Peaches alone, then Nikki?

  Jevon zoomed up to the front of the mall doors where people have to pay to leave their cars. He parked along the curb. “You guys jump out here. Wait for me right inside the doors.” A guy wearing a red polo shirt and black pants rushed up to Jevon. From the inside of the mall it looked as though I was watching Jevon on TV.

  “Think she’s here?” Kevin asked.

  “Yeah,” I said, but I wasn’t telling the truth. It’s just all that I could say.

  “Probably is,” Kevin said.

  Inside the mall, the cool air made me shiver.

  Seconds later, Jevon was standing next to us. “Hopefully it’ll be four of us on the ride back. So where to?” Jevon asked, looking around.

  “We should go to Forever Twenty-one, that’s her favorite store,” I said.

  “You know better than I do,” Jevon said. “Let’s give it a shot.”

  I led the way. The boys followed. I felt like I was doing that funny-looking speed walking that we’d do around the track. But the next thing I knew, the speed walk-ing wasn’t fast enough. I was running to the far end of the mall.

  As soon as I saw the empty bench out front of the store, my heart sank again. “Dang,” I said.

  “She could be inside,” Jevon replied. He and I rushed in. Kevin didn’t come in the store with us, but I could see him peeking into Express.

  “Hi, I’m Sherry,” said the girl at the front of the store straightening T-shirts. She smiled at Jevon, then spoke to me. “There’s two-for
-one boyfriend tees today and two-for-one graphic tees there on the middle table. Let me know if I can help.” She wasn’t much older than Jevon, and her red blush and blue eye shadow looked like watercolors.

  “We’re looking for my li’l sis. ’Bout eleven,” Jevon said. “This tall.” He held his hand up to my nose.

  “She has a whole bunch of hair. Probably has it in a ponytail like mine.” I pointed to my hair like she couldn’t see it.

  Sherry stopped refolding T-shirts and let her head rest in her hand for a second. “Gosh. I’ve seen so many girls today, I couldn’t remember.”

  “This one would have a pink-and-turquoise bike,” I added.

  “Well, I’d doubt she be riding it in here,” Sherry said.

  My shoulders drooped.

  “Never hurts to ask. You don’t know my sister.” Jevon scanned the store. “What about those fitting rooms?”

  “Just cleaned them out. Empty.”

  “Gotcha. Thanks,” Jevon said, and turned to me. “What’s next?”

  I took a few quick breaths. “Let’s check the food court.”

  “Since the mall is closing in a few minutes, stopping by security first is your best bet,” Sherry offered. “It’s on this level, next to Things Remembered. Hope you find her soon.”

  “Thank you,” we said as we exited and linked up with Kevin.

  “The food court. That’s where we should go. Auntie Anne’s Pretzels,” I said. Whenever we go to the mall, we meet in front of Auntie Anne’s if we get separated.

  I started walking faster, then running again. Jevon knew where he was going this time. Kevin and I were right behind him. Jevon slowed a little when his phone rang.

  “Anything?” he said. “No, nothing there…. Not yet…. Yeah…. We were gonna try to make it there next.”

  A voice came over the loudspeaker. “On behalf of all the employees of Lenox Square, we appreciate your patronage today and want to help you in making your final selections. The mall will be closing in fifteen minutes.”

  Jevon jumped on the escalator, taking two stairs at a time. Kevin and I did the same.

  “Security after this,” Jevon said. “Police are next.”

  That word turned my stomach to sludge, though my legs kept moving. Kevin wasn’t familiar with the mall, but Jevon and I weaved through it like Kevin did the hospital. My shoes were slippery, but I still didn’t let that stop me from getting to Auntie Anne’s Pretzels. An employee was cleaning the tables and pushing chairs underneath them. Most of the tables directly in front of us were empty.

  Then I glanced to the right at a row of tables next to the down escalator. A girl with her arms folded and her head resting like she was taking a nap on a school desk was sitting there alone. Running up the escalator made me so dizzy I couldn’t remember exactly what Nikki had on, but there was no mistaking those huge ponytails that flopped down like bunny ears.

  “Nikki!” I shouted loud as a fire drill. Several people turned my way. “Nikki!”

  Her head shot up.

  “’Bout time! Thank God!” Jevon huffed.

  Nikki ran up and hugged me, tears streamed down her face, and she breathed like a tiny engine starting and stopping. I pulled her closer to me, my tears streaming, too. If I wasn’t holding on to Nikki, I would crash to the floor. Her favorite sweet-pea body spray floated around us.

  “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, Nikki. I don’t want anything bad to ever happen to you.” I took a shaky breath. “I love you,” I said, and couldn’t remember if I’d ever told her before.

  “I love you, too, Georgie,” she whispered, and tilted her head back. “You’re making me cry more.”

  Kevin grabbed a few napkins off one of the tables and handed them to Nikki. “We’ve been looking for you all day,” he said. “I thought you’d been kidnapped or something.”

  It took me a second before I remembered Jevon was even there. When I looked at him, he had his head hung low and he was scraping his sneaker on the floor like he was kicking dirt. Nikki walked toward him.

  “I’m sorry, Keys.” She always called him his nickname when she was in trouble.

  “Don’t give me that ‘Keys’ business. Y’all excuse us for a moment.” He wrapped his arms around Nikki’s shoulder and scurried her off a few tables away. Then he kneeled down to her height, said a few words to her as she wiped her eyes with a napkin and nodded.

  “She’s in major league trouble,” Kevin said.

  “I know it,” I said. I could still smell her sweet-pea body spray on my shirt. Next thing we knew, Jevon reached over and hugged Nikki, then lifted her off her feet and spun around with her. He held her so tight, it was like he was scared to let her go.

  As we walked out of the mall, Jevon held Nikki’s hand. When he answered his phone, Nikki lagged back with us.

  “What in the world happened to you?” I said. “Jevon was playing it cool, but he was about to lose it. You had us worried sick.”

  Nikki sniffled. “Did he tell my mama and daddy?” she asked me.

  “He was getting ready to. After the police.”

  “The police?” If Nikki thought she whispered, she didn’t.

  “Yes, the police,” Jevon said. He held the door as we walked out into the muggy air. “Do you know how many girls get snatched up around here? What did you expect me to do, Nik?” He had his regular big-brother tone back. “After Mom and Dad, I’m the most responsible for you in this world. Don’t worry me like that.” His voice raised that time. But I couldn’t blame him. Nikki deserved it.

  Jevon got back on his phone, and Nikki, Kevin, and I walked to the van. Kevin said, “Where’s your bike?”

  His question hit me like ice water splashed on my face. Nikki didn’t say a word. She reached in her bag and gave herself another squirt of sweet pea. If I wasn’t still glad to see her, I would have knocked it right out of her hand.

  “Well, where is it?” I said.

  “Ugh. The guard wouldn’t let me bring it in. I mixed it in with bikes that were locked, thinking no one would bother it. When I got back to where I left it, it wasn’t there.”

  “Stolen?” Kevin asked.

  “Yeah.” That made more tears fall. I waved another napkin at her and she grabbed it.

  “Well, we can’t worry about that now. We’re just glad you’re safe. It’s just a bike.” But my eyes watered again when I remembered how happy she was when she first showed it to me. She smiled as big as Peaches did when Daddy gave her Girl. I’d made an absolute mess of things. All because I wanted nothing more than to get Tangie to like me. Now, Peaches was in the hospital and Nikki’s prized bike was gone.

  “Let’s just get out of here,” Jevon said as he opened the van’s door.

  Kevin turned to me and whispered, “Want me to stay behind and start looking for Nikki’s bike?”

  “Right now?” I asked back.

  “Yeah. Whoever has it might be still around.”

  “Thanks, but we should all go. Your ma— I mean, it’ll probably be better to find it during the day.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  Nikki got in the front. Kevin and I hopped in the back. Soon as we buckled up, Jevon drove off. “I’m missing something here, Nik. Your friends said you went bike riding. Where’s your bike?”

  Nikki squirmed a bit before answering.

  “I got bored waiting and caught the bus to the mall. I put my bike on that rack thing. It was too late when I remembered I didn’t have my lock. It got stolen.”

  “First things, first. You shouldn’t have taken off,” Jevon said.

  “I told you I was bored.”

  “Are you catching an attitude, sis? You’re getting off easy. What if I go home and tell the folks? I’m going to get blamed either way, so I got nothing to lose. And who you think they can ground, huh?”

  “Sorry…I shouldn’t have left. I didn’t mean to be snappy.”

  “Where’s that game I got you?”

  “Right here
,” she said, and pointed to that fuzz ball of a purse.

  “If you were so bored, you should have whipped that out. And, Georgie…”

  “Yeah,” I answered.

  “Going up there in the first place was the wrong move. If your folks thought you should be there, they would have taken you, right?”

  “Yes,” I acknowledged, lowering my head.

  “You’ve been by yourself this whole time, Nik?”

  “Not really. As soon as I got to the mall, I saw some kids from Sweet Apple.” Nikki planted her entire face in the napkin for a second, wiped, and continued talking. “They told me that they’d show me the quicker way to get back to the hospital. So I hung out with them. I was gonna stay with them, but when we started walking around the mall I found out they planned on stealing.” On “stealing” she let out a cry that made me reach out and pat her back.

  Lucinda Hightower. Nikki didn’t say her name but it’s all I heard. Lucinda. Lucinda. Lucinda.

  “I’m glad you got good sense. You know I’ve been down that road once. Ain’t worth it,” Jevon said.

  “They tried to talk me into it. But I left.”

  “Good job. Still not happy about all this, but you haven’t completely lost your mind,” Jevon added.

  “When I left the kids, I browsed around in a few stores and when I tried to get back to the hospital, I went to get my bike and it wasn’t there. First, I thought someone moved it. I searched for the kids and didn’t see any of them. I was scared to start walking by myself because I couldn’t remember the way.”

  “If it wasn’t locked up, one of hundreds of people could have thrown that bike in their trunk. Maybe surveillance cameras or something could help us.”

  “But I can’t even remember where I left it. The mall is so big.”

  That was odd to me because Nikki could find Bath and Body Works in Lenox blindfolded.

  “We’ll get back to that later, but you’ve known the house phone number since you were five, and you know my cell. You could have found a phone to use.”

  “I didn’t want to get us in more trouble.”

  “Sis, I don’t think you realize how close you were to being an Amber Alert. Please never scare us like that again. None of y’all. You hear me?”