by Tara Brown
Shane laughed at my face. “Okay, let’s walk this way.” He pulled me away from the kitchen and the smell as I started to rant.
“Do they have any idea how many toxins and narcotics they’re breathing in at the moment? There are four thousand chemicals in a cigarette, forty-three of them are known cancer-causing toxins like weed killer and bug spray. They could just suck on a can of DDT. And don’t even get me started on the marijuana! It can raise your heart rate anywhere from twenty to one hundred percent and cause heart attacks. And it has more cancer-causing chemicals than a cigarette.”
Shane raised an eyebrow at me. “You’re really fun at parties.”
“Whatever.” I stuck my tongue out at him. “Cancer is a serious problem, not only for health reasons but also on the costs it presents to the economy. Did you know there is even an increase in dogs with cancer since smoking has become a national pastime?”
“I can dress you up like one, but you will never be one.” He grinned and looked around the party. “Want to get out of here then?” His eyes had a gleam to them which told me he had plans other than dropping me off. Like the releasing of the hounds, butterflies raced around my stomach.
“No. We can stay for a couple of minutes longer.” I felt guilty that I wanted my hot new “sort of boyfriend” to stay at a party in hopes I would get to see the one guy I couldn’t get out of my mind. I had to be sure Aleksander wasn’t with Alise.
Shane nodded, showing a minuscule amount of disappointment in that request.
I didn’t know what I would find when I did finally locate my sister. I sort of assumed she would be sitting on the stairs somewhere, dressed like a whore. Blake would be kissing her neck from the back and Aleksander would be kneeling and kissing her hand. Her beauty would mesmerize them. She would sip from her drink and smile that wicked-stepmom grin she had mastered when we were little. She always focused on the wrong part of the classics.
I stood beside Shane as he held my hand protectively and chatted with Tommy.
“Holy shit, Aimee James, is that you? Damn, I thought we had a new girl at the party, and I was wondering how Shane found her first. You want to dance?” His wide smile and pointed eyebrows reminded me of the bad guys on my Saturday morning cartoons.
“She doesn’t want to dance, T.J.” Shane sounded annoyed.
Tommy shrugged with his filthy smile. His eyes never seemed to reach mine. “When you get tired of this, you know where to find me.” He turned and walked away, making a howl like a wolf. Everyone at the party howled with him. I was an outsider with no initiation yet on Crazy Island. The ritual would be something I wasn’t willing to bargain on.
Shane leaned into me. “Sorry, ignore him. I think most people do. I’m going to get a drink of water. Want one?”
“From the tap and a clean glass from the cupboard?”
He laughed. “Yeah.”
“Yes, please.”
As he walked away, the warm wind hit me. I peered around as my sister walked through the front door with Blake. She was wearing her usual uppity, self-indulgent grin. It was full of the knowledge she could have any guy in the room and you were lucky she let you keep yours.
Blake acted uncomfortable but true to form. He wore a gray tee shirt with a symbol of an atom on it. His dark hair was styled, and without his glasses his blue eyes were brighter than ever. He had on baggy cargo pants I didn’t recognize and a watch that most definitely was not his NASA space camp one. My sister had started to put her tastes on him, and like a puppet he wore what she wanted. He saw the distaste on my face and slid his hand behind his back. He was ashamed of his new watch which oddly was enough for me. I was glad to see that a small amount of the person I had always adored was still inside him.
Alise wore a bright-purple party dress. She outshone me, there was no doubt. I tried not to think about that and put a smug look on my face. She rounded the room to where I was standing.
“Nice dress, little sister.” Her perfectly manicured right eyebrow lifted. Her lips glistened with a berry-colored lipstick under an inch of gloss. She was gorgeous.
“You’re going to age prematurely if you don’t stop wearing so much makeup.”
She looked unfazed and glanced down at the dress. “I WAS taking it back, but since you like it so much, you can keep it.”
I gulped, trying not to let her get to me, but her face lit up.
“Ahhh, and here comes another one of my leftovers you seem to like. Hello, Shane.” It stung.
The warmth of him came up behind me. “Hello, Satan. You know, without the horns, it’s deceiving. Maybe you should wear them year round, instead of just on Halloween.”
I smiled at her response to being called Satan. She bounced back, taking a deep breath. “You can keep him, Aimee, and the dress. Thank me later.” She batted her long false lashes at us and grabbed Blake by the belt buckle. She dragged him through the crowd of people. He tried to make eye contact with me but I ignored him.
“Can we go now?” Shane asked, watching her walk away and be swallowed up by the crowd.
“Yeah.” I took my water and drank it quickly. “I’ll just put this in the sink.” I strolled past Jaime, my sister’s friend. She was holding a glass in her hand and leaning against the wall in the dining room, staring off into space and swaying like she was on a boat. It wasn’t even ten o’clock yet. The glass was the same as the one Giselle and I had drank from. The one the police had shown me.
My chest tightened. I recognized the look in her eyes. It was what I’d seen in the mirror after I was revived. Aleksander had held me in the mirror at Shane’s. My face was exactly the same.
She was either crazy drunk or she had been drugged. I glanced back at Shane who was talking with a guy named Murray. I hurried over to him, tapping him lightly to interrupt and whispered, “I think the date rapist has struck again. Does Jaime look like I did?”
Shane scanned the room for her. “Where is she?”
I pointed to the spot she had been. “The dining room.” I didn’t see her anymore, but she couldn’t have gone far.
“She’s not there. She’s a drunk, Aimes. It’s probably fine.” He turned back toward Murray.
Not convinced, I walked through the foyer into the dining room and searched. There were people everywhere. Someone must have seen her leave.
“Hey,” I asked a girl leaning against the wall, “did you see where Jaime went?”
“No.” She looked around. “Was she in here?”
“Yeah.” I sighed and walked back to Shane.
He seemed concerned. “Is she okay? Just drunk, right?”
“I don’t know.” I paused. “I couldn’t tell. I want to check around and see if she went out to the deck to throw up or something.” I walked away before he could talk me out of it. I held my breath as I entered the kitchen, scowling at the idiots smoking on the deck. I peeked through the open doors. Jaime was nowhere to be found.
I walked back to the dining room and went down the hallway. I peeked in each bedroom and bathroom, but there wasn’t anyone around. I slipped down the stairs in the hallway to the basement, literally, as the stupid shoes caught on the carpet. But I caught myself and managed not to look like a complete moron.
The hall was dark and the loud music made it impossible to hear anyone so I didn’t bother yelling for her.
Instead, I snooped. I peeked into the bathroom first but it was empty. “Probably peeing outside, the dirty savages,” I muttered.
Next I opened the guest bedroom door to discover struggling on the bed. I panicked, flicking on the lights. “Get off her!” I shouted.
Michelle Mitchell, the hostess, and her boyfriend scowled at me. “Turn out the lights, pervert.”
“Oh shit, sorry.” I flicked them off and locked the door from the inside before I closed it.
Feeling the burn of my cheeks, I took a deep breath as I stared at the closed wooden door. I would always be the girl who walked in on them. I accepted it and continued down t
he dark hallway. Deep down I imagined myself as Nancy Drew, but maybe a little sleazier version in my red dress. I opened the door to the garage and reached my hand into the darkness. I was nervous sticking my hand in, feeling along the wall until I found the light switch.
“Aimee.”
“What!” I jumped, turning as the lights flicked on. “Oh my God, you scared me.” I sighed when I saw Aleksander standing in the hallway outside Michelle’s guest room.
“What are you doing down here?” he growled.
“What are you doing here?” Alise would have invited him. It burned inside me.
“Worrying about you and the reckless things you do when I’m not around. Why are you down the dark hallway of the house party, full of drunk teenagers and dressed like that?” he scolded me.
“Okay, when you say it like that.” I laughed, gawking into the garage. I’d been getting a cramp when he showed up, but his scaring me made it go away. “You sound like my dad and Shane. I’m fine, but I will admit I’m glad you’re here. This garage is spooky. I’m sure Jaime, my sister’s friend, has been drugged so I’m looking for her. If she’s not drugged, she’s drunk off her ass and that’s probably not safe with a pervert on the loose.”
The garage was empty, but the door to outside on the far wall was opened just a sliver, making a whistling sound.
“Let me go first.” Aleksander walked into the garage, looking around at the tools and motorcycle. He grabbed a crowbar off the bench where tools were scattered and crept through the open door.
The cool night air was full of crickets and frogs singing. I looked around, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dark of the backyard. Aleksander put his hand out for mine. I eyed it guiltily, thinking of Shane. Our skin sizzled when we touched. I wondered if he felt it too. I rationalized that holding his hand was a safety precaution. I also reminded myself he would be gone in a few short weeks, whereas Shane would be with me at least until the end of the summer.
Our feet made little to no noise on the damp grass as we scanned the backyard.
“Did you hear that?” I whispered after I heard a rustling and a muffled sound to my right. It was down the yard a ways.
“Yeah.” Aleksander turned toward me. “Stay here.”
“No.” I pleaded with my eyes. I was terrified.
“Fine.” He resigned to the fact that I needed to come. He let go of my hand and put his pointer finger to his lips.
I nodded.
He crept with the crowbar in his hands toward the sound. I snuck along behind him, nearly peeing my pants, or panties rather—damned dress.
More trees and branches moved to the right of us, in the small patch of bush next to Michelle’s house. It was more like brush in between the houses for privacy than an actual forest so I wasn’t betraying my promise to my dad.
A soft crying sound drew us toward it as a branch snapped and Aleksander took off running after the other sound.
“Hello?” I whispered trying desperately to see but the moon had not come out to help with the light. “Jaime, is that you?” I couldn’t believe Aleksander had left me to wander alone through the brush. But when I heard a man scream, I had to assume he’d caught whoever had dragged Jaime into the bushes.
When I finally found her, she was on the ground in a small clearing with her shirt torn. I could barely see in the dark, but I reached for her, grabbing a vomit-covered hand.
“Help us! Someone help us, please,” I called out into the night. I was scared about giving away my location, but I was even more scared that Jaime had been drugged. I pulled her skirt down, tucking it around her. “Please, help me! Someone.” I started to cry as I patted her back. “Jaime, it’s okay. Someone will come and help you.”
She moaned into the dirt but didn’t move.
The potheads started looking over the railing. “Hey, you down there, are you okay?” one stoner asked.
“No!” I sobbed. “Call 9-1-1 and tell them we need police and an ambulance.”
“Okay, man. Is someone hurt?” he asked again. No one on the deck appeared to be moving.
“Just phone!” I screamed.
“Okay, God. She’s kind of bitchy,” Pothead One spoke slowly.
“Who is that?” Pothead Two muttered.
I sat on the grass, certain my leg was brushing against her vomit. I turned her on her side and pulled her clothes around her more.
Someone came running down the yard. Their footsteps sounded like my heartbeat.
“Aimee?” Shane cried out into the night, panicked.
“I’m here.”
“Oh my God, Aimee, are you okay?” His voice was stricken with grief.
“I’m okay.” I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “It’s Jaime.”
“Oh God.” He knelt on the ground beside me and touched my shoulder. “I thought you were going to look in the kitchen. I didn’t know you were leaving the house. You never said you were leaving the house. I told you not to leave my side.”
“I had to find her.”
“Okay.” He took his shirt off as he ranted and wrapped it around Jaime. He picked her up and carried her up to the house. I followed him around the side to the front yard. People were streaming from the house. Some were running from the front door, hoping not to be busted by the cops for underage drinking. Most of the others were trying to figure out what was going on as the yard was filling with emergency lights.
The ambulance was there first, rolling into the driveway slowly, so as not to hit anyone mulling about.
“I’m here, Jaime.” I grabbed Jaime’s hand when her head went floppy against Shane’s bare chest.
The outside lights flicked on and Michelle came running out in a panic. “What’s going on? Who called the cops?” she barked at the men getting out of the ambulance. “Get off my property. You need a warrant to come on here.”
They ignored her completely and walked to where Shane was holding Jaime.
Michelle froze, watching as a stretcher was carried to where Jaime was. Shane put her down gingerly on the stretcher and stepped back as a blanket covered Jaime. I couldn’t get the vision of her two white legs stretched out behind her in the dark woods. I imagined it would take me some time to get past this entire spring. Shane spoke to the two paramedics, no doubt explaining the situation with care so no one else would hear.
He walked over and put his arm around me. We both smelled of her vomit and were covered in dirt. He whispered into my neck, “I’m sorry I got mad at you.”
“No.” I tried desperately to ignore the tears streaming down my face. “You were right. I shouldn’t have left without you.”
He held me tighter. “You saved her, Aimes.”
“No, I didn’t. I found her.” There was a difference.
We watched in silence, as they took Jaime away. The police had arrived and were asking questions of the paramedics who remained. They all pointed in our direction.
Officer Bindley and Sergeant Williams made their way to us with grim looks on their faces.
“Aimee and Shane, want to come with me? The rest of the guys are going to stay here, take pictures, and talk to the kids that are left,” the sergeant said.
“You want to see where we found her?” Shake asked grimly.
Williams nodded. “Yup, and the exact path you took to get her here.”
Shane pointed. “I came around the side of the house this way and walked up the grass from the backyard.”
Williams pulled out a huge, long black flashlight that looked more like a baseball bat. He walked around where Shane told him. He inspected the ground carefully, the entire way down the back lawn.
“Who found her?” he asked as we walked back to the spot slowly so he could look around.
“Uhh.” I cleared my throat. “I did. I saw her at the party and she looked bad. I just knew something was wrong. She had the same cup I remembered Giselle and I drank out of—you guys showed us. Anyway, I raced around hunting for her for about fifteen minutes,
and I ran into Aleksand—”
“He was here?” Shane asked roughly, his hand biting into my arm.
“Yeah, I met up with him on my search for Jaime. He came with me. We were walking down here and when we got to about here”—I stopped and pointed to the bush—“we heard a noise there. He ran after whoever it was with a crowbar—” I stopped, realizing he hadn’t come back. My eyes widened as I spoke, “He never came back. Do you think he’s okay?” What if it had been him screaming? I’d assumed he made the other person scream.
Williams shook his head. “No. Either way, he’s in trouble now. He’s probably looking at an assault charge. He most likely never came back when he saw the lights. Who is this guy?”
Shane crossed his bare arms, staring at me defiantly. “Yeah, who is he?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “He’s a social worker of some sort from the city, working here for a family he helps.”
Williams leaned in. “If he comes near you again, Aimee, you need to phone me right away. There is no such thing as a social worker from the city coming to a small town without the police being notified of some extreme circumstances. We have our own social workers here in this county. They are government workers like me. They work where they’re assigned. He’s a suspect right now, and I want you to treat him as such. What’s he look like?”
I gulped but Shane started spewing out the facts. “Tall like me, white like me, built like me, blue eyes, dark-blond hair shorter than mine, clean cut. That’s what all the women in town are saying anyway,” he spoke through his teeth.
“Okay.” Williams clicked on the radio at his collar. “Dispatch, I need a BOLO put out on a young man, early twenties, late teens, Caucasian, dark-blond hair, blue eyes, six foot two, muscular build, seen fleeing from 1942 Elder Grove Road—”
“Black jacket and blue jeans.” My voice was hollow.
“Seen wearing a black jacket and blue jeans.”
I pointed to the woods as he finished. “It was right here.” I didn’t want to walk back in there. Shane put an arm around me as Williams walked cautiously into the brush. He stopped when he reached the spot.