by Tara Brown
“Okay.” I giggled. “You look great too.”
“I look like your butler. You look—wow.” He walked around to the other side of the truck, still talking to himself.
Blake took my sister to the car he had arranged, with a driver who stood before my sister in his suit and top hat. She waved at me as she gushed and climbed into the car.
I smiled at her, sensing so many good things all at once. I didn’t have to fight to keep the bad things down deep. It seemed the wall I had built had crumbled and filled in the moat. I didn’t need any of it anymore. I didn’t need Aleksander either. I wanted him in some ways, but choosing him was like choosing a lifetime of heartache. I’d already suffered through that.
I peered out at the night sky as it darkened and made a mental note to let him go. I would let this be my life. Normal. It was secretly everything I had ever wished for. Secretly.
We walked up to the huge doors where the dance was held in the school gymnasium. The teachers were there with the spring formal committee taking the five-dollar admission to the dance. Teachers were checking each person to see if they were intoxicated.
Police stood around in plain clothes with their weapons on their hips, like detectives in the city would wear. I breathed a small sigh of relief seeing Officer Bindley. He smiled, giving me a knowing look.
Shane paid our entrance fee and walked me in. Mr. Mac was already talking to Blake and laughing as my sister stood unmoving and seeming confused.
Mr. Mac stopped talking when I walked in. He smiled at me, nearly blushing. “Well, well, Cinderella. You have cleaned up for the ball, I see. You look fantastic, kid. I always knew you had it in you.”
My face reddened as Shane squeezed my arm. “Thanks. I feel a little weird being in a fancy dress but this is my last chance at doing it.”
“That’s funny.” He acted concerned. “How are you feeling?”
“Good days and bad. Today is good.”
He rubbed my arm. “I’m so glad to hear that. I have been worried about you.”
“Thanks, Mr. Mac. I’m just glad the year’s almost up, and I can take the summer to relax and focus on my health.”
“Yes, school is almost done. Well, I better be getting back to chaperoning. I’d hate for anyone to say I slacked off.” He gave me a sideways glance, smiling one last time. I smiled back and let myself be dragged to the dance floor with Shane.
He stared down at me as he led me into a slow waltz. “You look incredible.”
“Stop. Seriously.” I groaned. “You said that already. I hate that I look like this amazingly hot babe and everyone is nodding when they see me. It’s like my sister was right all along and a little care and attention wouldn’t have killed me. Of course then everyone would have let me get by on my looks and not on merit and hard work. That path leads to either marrying an old-ass billionaire or working at Target and everyone saying, ‘Man, I bet she was something to look at back in the day.’ You know?”
He laughed. “Ah, but you’re still the bitter cynic I love.” I didn’t know what I was about to say when he said the words, but I stopped breathing.
He bent to kiss my cheek. He lingered at the side of my face. “I do love you, Aimee. I have loved you since we were five and you saved all the worms on the sidewalk when it rained in kindergarten. I’ll never forget you putting them into a plastic pail. Hundreds of creepy slithering worms in a pail, under the back deck at your house. You stayed with those dirty bastards until it stopped raining and then you released them.”
I laughed into his chest as he continued, “I loved you in grade seven, when that girl Robin got picked on by the mean girls. You found the maxi pad colored with red felt marker they’d stuck on her bag, and before anyone came around the corner, you grabbed it and stuck it to your bag. You think no one saw, but I did.” I remembered that and the merciless torture I got for it from the mean girls.
My head was spinning but he continued, “I loved you in grade ten when Grace Mellotti’s dog got hit by that car and you carried him three miles to the vet’s office. You saved his life, even though Grace had made your life hell.”
He kissed the other side of my face. “I loved you last summer so much, but when your mom got killed I couldn’t bring myself to ask you out. So I went to your sister and asked her about you. She told me you were madly in love with some nerdy kid and I thought I had missed the boat. I panicked while asking your sister about you and accidentally acted like I wanted to ask her out.” His voice was filled with regret, “I am so sorry I never manned up and just asked you out.”
I laughed nervously. “You make me sound like a saint. I have done bad things in my life, FYI.” My head was swimming in emotions.
He raised his eyebrows in doubt.
I shrugged. “Okay, well not bad, but stuff. I’ve lost library books and let my sister take the blame. I wanted to try to peroxide my doll’s hair lighter than it was when I was in fifth grade, but I was nervous about doing it. She was my fave, the only one I actually ever played with. I thought the bleach might ruin her hair, but I wanted it to match mine. So one night I filled a spray bottle with water and peroxide and I sprayed Alise’s hair. In the morning, her hair was a tacky copper-brown color and all streaky. When my mom yelled at her for trying to dye her hair, I never fessed up that it was me. It cost my mom a fortune to fix it and Alise got so confused she tells the story now like it was her idea.” I was still a bit ashamed of that one.
Shane laughed. “Your sister was an evil brat so it isn’t hard to imagine her doing bad things like that. Surely your mom knew she was evil?”
“Yeah, my mom knew. Her sister was exactly the same.” I gazed deeply into his eyes. “Shane, I am so lucky to be with you.” I meant it.
He smiled. “Ditto.” We hugged and danced slowly, enjoying each other. I loved the fact he was my history. He knew everything about me and remembered the things that made me proud of myself.
We danced for a few minutes before he stopped again and stared at me very seriously. “Where is that Aleksander guy? Have you seen him?”
“Yeah.” I tried desperately to keep my emotions in check and not reveal anything in my expression. “I’ve seen him a few times, but he’s not the bad guy. I know you want him to be, but he’s really not. I saw the guy that day—he had a different face than Aleksander. Besides, Aleksander is leaving town tonight, I think.”
“Good.” He nodded, processing the information. “Speaking of bad guys, I am joining the police force. I take the test in the city in two weeks.” He said it and left it out there for me to think about or comment on.
“Oh my God.” I smiled, proud of him for making a choice that would better himself. Even more so, I was desperately grateful we could stop talking about Aleksander. “Good for you. That’s a great fit for you, I think.”
“You really think so?” He watched my reaction, letting a smile grow on his face.
We had covered a lot of relationship areas in one night. It was a bit intense for my first dance, first boyfriend, and first love. “Will you wait for me?” He grinned.
“Yes, of course. It’s only six months of training, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it isn’t exactly a huge wait. What if I end up being a city cop?”
I shrugged. “Cross that bridge when we get there?”
“Okay. It’s a long ways away. I’m not even guaranteed to get past all the tests. They’re pretty intense.” He kissed my hand. “I just want us to be together, like boyfriend and girlfriend together. Are we there yet?”
“Yeah. I think we just arrived there.” I had another door to close before we were completely there, but I wanted him more than anything else.
We stopped dancing and walked to the punch table where two parent chaperones stood watch. I smiled at them as Shane got us both a drink. He drank his before I had any. He smiled, knowing what I was doing. “It’s safe, Aimes—that’s Becky Magee’s mom. She’s a Baptist.”
I drank the punch.
We went and sat at a table where my sister and Blake were sitting with a few other people.
“So, the police force. I watched a show on it once. It was brutal. It’s like the marines. Police boot camp is savage, but the guys seemed so confident and proud of their accomplishments there. Are you excited?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation light.
“I saw that one too. It was pretty intense. Yeah, I’m excited, but I have a long process before I’m in.”
“I’m really proud of you.” I wanted to encourage him. His parents were living for themselves and he had such potential. It would be a shame for him to spend his life in our little town working for his dad. I glanced down the table at Blake who was happily talking to my sister. She seemed somewhere in between mystified and happy.
The girl next to us was named Nadine. She was one grade behind us. Her boyfriend, William, was graduating with us. Nadine whispered to me, “You look pretty. I didn’t even recognize you. You could be a model. Like your sister.” It was a backhanded compliment, but she meant well.
“Thanks.” I smiled at her. “You do too.” Her long brown hair was pulled up into a French twist and her yellow satin halter dress was formfitting. She looked amazing for a sixteen-year-old.
“Have you heard how Jaime is doing?” she asked.
“No. I have been meaning to go see her. Have you heard anything?”
“Yesterday they said she woke up, but she doesn’t remember anything. She seems to be on the mend, I guess. Kind of creepy, huh—the whole thing?”
“Yeah,” I spoke softly while watching Shane start a conversation with Tommy who was beside him. My sister tried to be discreet as she eyeballed Tommy and then me.
I scowled, trying not to respond to her. We both scrutinized him as he talked to Shane. His lips were full and thick. He had crooked teeth in the front and a very tiny mole on his left cheek, low on his face. None of which the rapist had. Tommy was creepy enough to do a lot of things, but I could never imagine him being that skeezy.
He was off the list.
The dance was a booming success, not that I had anything to compare it to. My sister appeared to be having a great time with her friends. I worried about Blake though. At one point he made eye contact with me. He was uncertain of his surroundings, but also of us. I smiled, hoping to reassure him we were fine. It was a conversation that would eventually have to happen, but not right then.
I was light-headed and excused myself to go to the bathroom. I couldn’t focus my eyes and was starting to sweat a little. Shane gave me a worried look, but I continued to head toward the bathroom.
Mr. Mac walked toward me, smiling. “Hey, kid, you’re a little pale. You feeling okay?”
“Yeah, still just a bit weak, I guess. Who knows how long that’s going to last?”
“You’ve had quite the year, haven’t you? Well, take it easy.” He frowned at me like my dad did sometimes. Usually when I got caught for going along with whatever bad idea my sister had convinced me of.
I walked around the corner to the girls’ bathroom. I barely made it inside when I started to pass out. The warm breeze came as I slipped into Aleksander’s arms. I couldn’t see him. My world went black.
Everything was dark and calm and then I heard a voice, “Aimee, please wake up. Please or I’m taking you back to the hospital. Please wake up.”
I strained to open my eyes, but focusing took longer than I expected. “Aleksander, you’re here?” I knew the answer, but I needed to be sure I wasn’t dreaming.
My eyes fuzzed out and then centered on his worried face. “Yeah, I’m here. Just hold on to me. Did you drink anything at the dance?”
“No. Just the punch the Baptists were guarding. It was clean, trust me. Everyone else is fine. I think it’s my body still.”
“I can’t stay any longer. I feel the pull already taking me somewhere else. But I can’t leave you sick like this. None of this should have happened.” His voice was thick with emotion. “This is all my fault. I’ve made such a mess.”
“It’s not your fault. You always make me feel better. Just being near you is enough.” I smiled, trying to reassure him. “I feel like I’m getting sicker except when I’m with you. It’s not you.”
He closed his eyes and groaned, “Nooooo. Oh no. I’ve done this to you. You’re in organ failure, that’s what’s wrong with you. I am an idiot.”
“No. No, the doctors said I was fine. My eyes aren’t yellow and my skin isn’t. I have energy, not much, but some. I would be weak and sick all the time if I was in failure.”
“As long as I’m here, you’re going to feel fine. Only the symptoms are being masked, not the actual problem. Like the headache you had that I took away, I never cured it, only relieved the pain. I’ve been touching you and near you so much it’s masked your illness. We need to get you back now. Your body was probably fine when you left the hospital, but it worsened sometime in the last couple of weeks.“
“Shit.” I glanced around. “Where are we?”
He smiled, making my heart skip a few beats. “The beach I took you to the first night.”
I saw it all clearly, the waves crashing and the sand beneath me. The cool ocean air had cleared my head.
“I need to go back to the school for a minute. I need to say goodbye to my sister, Shane, and Blake. In case.”
He bent down and picked me up and then tensed as though he was about to take off again. “I need to take you to the hospital now.”
“I know what happens to someone who goes into organ failure. I am at least a couple of hours away from a major hospital by helicopter. In this small town, I will be dead by morning. I will be flown to the city the minute I get to the hospital, and once I’m away from you I might not survive. That means I won’t be seeing anyone else for a while or again. I need to tell them I’m okay. They will worry if I don’t, and I can’t explain how I got myself to a hospital. Not without outing you on the weird traveling thing you do. They’ll send out a search party.”
“Fine.” His jaw tensed and the warm wind came. I leaned into him as much as possible, taking as much of the painkiller from his skin as I could. I didn’t understand the science behind a person giving off a soothing pheromone that stopped pain, but in that moment I didn’t care. I didn’t try to understand, I was too tired. My skin felt like it was in a cold fire and my head was starting to pound so much my eyes burned.
He walked in through the back door of the school gymnasium and put me down outside the bathroom. “No one but you can see me right now, okay? So don’t talk to me. I will walk with you and keep a hand on you at all times.”
“Okay.” I sighed.
As we walked from the hallway he held a hand on my shoulder, making me feel weird. His touch was essential if I wanted to stay upright.
Shane eyed me oddly. He stood up from the table and walked over frowning. “Hey, you okay? You look sick.” He reached down and picked up my hands. “You’re freezing.”
“I don’t feel so good.” It was awkward with him touching my hands and Aleksander holding my shoulder, like my love triangle had come to its head. “I’m getting my dad to come get me. I’m sick again. I need to go back to the hospital. Thanks for bringing me here.”
He leaned down and kissed my cheek. “Thanks for coming with me, Aimee. You’ve made this the best night of my life. I’ll walk you out and come with you.”
I felt dirty and panicked. “No, that’s okay. Stay and enjoy. He’s waiting for me outside. Seriously, don’t worry. Tell my sister and Blake I went with my dad, okay? I need you to stay and make sure my sister is okay—you know, the rapist.”
He frowned. “I should come with you. Your dad won’t mind.”
“Yeah, I know. But he wants me to go with him, just me. He said he wants to talk about something.” I was the worst liar ever. Four-year-olds could be more convincing.
My stomach twisted with the guilt and lies as Shane’s face filled with disappointment. “Okay. Well, let me walk you out.”<
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I didn’t know what else to say, so I turned and started to walk out. The music was at a quiet moment in between songs. Then somewhere in the crowd I heard it.
The bird squawk ringtone.
It happened once and then again, just like in the woods. I turned, scouring the room to see Mr. Mac pick his phone out of his pocket and answer it. I eyed his mouth as he was talking, his thin lips moving quietly into the phone. How had I missed how thin his lips were?
His eyes shot over to me, seeing the recognition on my face. He turned to leave the gym quickly.
“Shane—it’s Mr. Mac. It’s him! He’s the rapist,” I shouted, pointing. The room began to spin in confusion as Shane ran and tackled the fleeing teacher.
“You son of a bitch.” He held him facedown on the hard floor and sat on his shoulders, pinning him to the ground.
Mr. Mac was a strong-looking man, but Shane was markedly imposing standing next to him. Sprawled out on top of him, it was clear Mr. Mac didn’t stand a chance. Shane used to play football and weight lifted. Mr. Mac was a nerd, a fit nerd, but a nerd nonetheless.
Blake came running over, outraged.
“No, Blake, it’s him. He did this to me. He is the rapist.”
“No.” Blake froze in disbelief as his mentor was held on the ground. My sister was already calling for the police officers in the corridors, as were a few others, no doubt. Mrs. Sinclair, our principal, tried to break up the fight. Everyone was attempting to explain the struggle to her, before she helped free the pervert.
Mr. Mac turned his face and peered up at me. His thin lips curled up into a smile. His always-friendly eyes turned merciless as he watched me. I felt dirty knowing what his intentions had been in the woods that day. His face would haunt my dreams forever. His expression sent a shiver down my spine.
The warm air filled the space around me and I knew, no matter what, in that moment I was safe from the stalker. Shane turned back toward me to see if I was okay. His worried face ripped my heart out.
The stress of the moment was more than I could bear, and I shivered with the cold burning in my skin again. I was slipping away.