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 would 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 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
Pike’s Island was completely blanketed in a thick layer of fluffy snow. From a distance it looked like a giant heap of whipped cream afloat in a cup of dark blue liquid. I hadn’t realized just how much it had snowed because it didn’t stick to the ground in Portland as shoppers walked up and down the streets, disturbing its final resting place.
As the ferry pulled up to the dock, I remembered I still had the note from Michael in my pocket. I had forgotten all about it because I was too preoccupied imagining the inevitable confrontation with my mother. Maybe it needn’t be confrontational after all, I thought. I could just humbly agree with everything she said, accept every insult she hurled at me and not challenge her one bit as she prescribed a fitting punishment for me. That’s what I would do. I’d shut my mouth and listen.
I took the note out and held the folded piece of paper in my fingers, but wouldn’t open it. Why had Michael told me not to “freak out” when I read it? That made me more curious, but also frightened me at the same time.
The boat finally pulled into the harbor and hit the side of the dock with a thud, giving all the passengers a good jolt. I told James to put his game away in the deepest, driest pocket he had because it was going to be a long and wet walk home. I put Michael’s note in the inside, front pocket of my jacket and hoped it would stay dry. I’d read it later when I was back in the safety of my room, in case I needed to climb into my bed to find solace beneath my big, warm comforter.
• • •
By the time we got home, James and I were soaking wet. It seemed to take us forever to walk through the deep snowdrifts that lined both sides of the streets.
My brother and I saturated the family room floor as we traipsed through it on our way to the kitchen and the tiny room off of it that served as a laundry room. James and I took turns stripping off all our clothes, boots and coats. We needed to get all of our clothing into the dryer. I went first because I wanted to hop in the shower and warm up. It felt like every inch of me was frostbitten, even though I knew it wasn’t.
I let the hot water run over me as I stood directly under the shower nozzle. I reflected on the day and was filled with a slew of mixed emotions. I was happy on the one hand to have seen Michael and been able to spend a little time with him. We had never had a meal together before, although Michael didn’t eat very much. It was nice to meet his little brother Kevin, too. He was so adorable and opposite from Michael in the looks department. Michael’s hair and eyes were so dark, while Kevin was blonde and blue-eyed. I knew, though, that it was because Kevin was adopted.
I lathered my hair and thought back to what Michael had said to me about wanting my love. Of course it scared me. How could it not? And then he casually mentioned that I shouldn’t let the note freak me out. The note! I totally forgot about the note! It was still in my coat pocket tumbling around in the dryer with the rest of the wet clothes.
I turned off the shower and dried myself off. As apprehensive as I had been earlier, I really wanted to read it now.
I went into my room and was searching for some cozy sweatpants and a sweatshirt to put on when I heard the front door close. At first I thought it was my brother and was about to yell down for him to stay inside. Then I heard voices, familiar voices and realized it was my mom and Brian. They were back and I was dead.
• • •
I didn’t know what to do. I could stay in my room and try to find a hiding spot where no one could find me. I looked around the small space. That wasn’t an option. Or I could go downstairs and deal with the messy situation.
I decided to take a deep breath and get the whole thing over with. I would plan for the worst and hope for the best.
I walked down the stairs. James sat in front of the television, as usual, still wrapped in the blanket he had used when he had taken off his soggy clothes.
I heard noise coming from the kitchen and realized my mom was in there. I closed my eyes as I walked toward it, hoping that her wrath would hurt less if I couldn’t see it coming. I walked straight into a wall.
I opened my eyes and found my mom and Brian both staring at me. If they didn’t think I was immature and irresponsible already, they did now.
I found my way into the kitchen, with my eyes open this time, looked at both of them and put my head down. “Hey.”
“What do you have to say for yourself, young lady?”
“I’m sorry.”
“Willow, I specifically told you not to leave the house and yet you disobeyed me.
“No,” I started to object, “you told me not to go to a friend’s house and I—“
My mother cut me off and became irate. “You knew exactly what I meant!
“Besides,” she continued, “the weather is terrible and you ventured out with your little brother in the middle of a nor’easter.”
I didn’t know what a nor’easter was, let alone that we were in the middle of one. I guessed that was another name for a bad storm.
My mom put away dry dishes as she continued her speech. Brian sat back and enjoyed the show. “It was almost impossible for Brian and me to get back here because of the snow. We didn’t even finish having lunch because of you.”
Yikes! Not only did my mother cut her weekend short because of me, she also cut her special luncheon short, too.
But then I thought about what she had just said. Did they come back early because of me or because of the storm? I wanted to ask her, but I remembered the advice I had given myself earlier about not saying anything, so I just stood and listened.
My mother slammed cabinet doors as she continued her tirade. “I should have forced you and your brother to come and meet Brian’s family.”
I couldn’t hold back and calmly said, “I don’t care if I ever meet them.”
“Well, you’ll have no choice but to meet them very soon at our wedding. In June.”
My mother informed me of her wedding date as if she were a nurse reporting my vital signs. If so, my blood pressure would have plummeted immediately.
“This June?” I asked dumbfounded.
My mother nodded. She and Brian hadn’t even known each other for a full year. How could she get married so soon to a man she hardly knew, to a man who could very well be harboring a secret girlfriend somewhere else on the island?
I felt as if I might get sick and my face must have spoken volumes.
Brian chimed in. “Willow, I love your mother very much.”
My mother put down the dishcloth, walked over to Brian and stood protectively by his side.
Were they a team now? Team Mom-Bri against me?
I didn’t know what to say. I was never going to accept that they were going to get married, whether it was this June or in June twenty years down the road.
With a wedding date set, apparently it was no longer up for discussion. My mother shifted her attention toward the real reason I was standing before the judge.
She started off slowly. “Willow, because of today and how you blatantly disobeyed me and,” she stopped and, in a show of solidarity, rested her hand on Brian’s shoulder. They looked at each other.
My mom co
ntinued, “The fact that you broke into Orchard Elementary and got caught by the police …”
My eyes widened with shock. I glared at Brian. “How could you?”
Brian remained calm and stared back. “You gave me no choice, Willow. I warned you.”
My mom was stern and serious as she handed down my punishment. “You leave me no choice but to ground you for a very long time, Willow, until the end of the school year. If you’re disobeying me at sixteen, what will you do when you’re off to college? You need to control yourself now and stop making bad choices and stupid mistakes, mistakes that could cost you your future.”
I was stunned and speechless. Only for a moment, though.
“Until the end of the school year?” I shouted. “That’s over four months away! That’s forever! How can you ground me forever?” So much for receiving my mother’s terms quietly and graciously.
Brian piped in. “I think that’s a fair punishment considering the crimes.”
“Crimes? Crimes?” I asked dumbfounded. “Since when is taking a ferry over to the mainland a crime?”
“Breaking into a school and trespassing are crimes, Willow, felonies actually,” Brian stated. He looked to my mother for support. With a slight nod of her head, she gave it to him.
I felt as though my back was up against the wall, like my life was over as my mom sided with Brian. Neither of them cared about what I was going through or how I was feeling.
“I don’t care what you think!” I screamed at Brian. “You’re not my father and never will be!”
I saw Brian flinch. I knew my words hurt him and I was glad.
“Willow!” my mother scolded. “Apologize this very minute.”
“Never!” I yelled as I turned from the two of them and fled from the kitchen. This time I made sure to keep my eyes wide open, even as tears fell from them so I could avoid all obstacles in my way, as I ran to my room feeling overwhelmingly all alone, the most alone I’d ever felt before.
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