by C. L. Stone
I had a feeling it was Jimmy. I think he suspected it, too.
Meeting the Neighbors
Kota shut off the TV, and the rest of us worked as quietly as we could to close down laptops and drag most of them into the master bedroom.
“I’ll answer it by myself,” Nathan said, and he shooed us into the big bedroom and shut the door on us.
We dropped everything on the big waterbed in the middle of the room and came back to the door, standing close together. I pressed my lips together, leaning to hear what was going on.
“Hi,” Jimmy said after Nathan opened the door. There was a bounce of something that sounded like a basketball. “I heard there were a few other guys on this street. Want to come play basketball?”
I waited, holding my breath. That was it? Nothing about Carol discovering I was really here?
“Sure,” Nathan said, at first sounding reluctant, but then the next part sounded more positive. “I’ll need to get changed. Give me a second?”
“Yup,” Jimmy said.
There was a pause. “Come in if you want,” Nathan said.
Sneakers squeaked across the floor, alongside Nathan’s barefoot footsteps.
“How’d you know I was here?” Nathan asked.
“Marie said there were a few other guys on this block, and I asked her which houses. She said there was another guy across the street? And then further down?”
“Kota and Derrick,” Nathan said. “I guess we can see if they’re home.”
Kota whispered something that sounded like, “Not now...”
I didn’t blame him. Was it good to get friendly with Jimmy? Or to get distracted with playing basketball at this time?
A while ago, North had said we had to be careful with the friends we chose. We knew little about him. We already knew he’d go through my things to report back to his mom.
“Give me two seconds,” Nathan asked, and his footsteps faded.
I grimaced at the door, hoping Jimmy wouldn’t snoop. Had we left cell phones lying around? Was it obvious more than one person had been here?
North was in Nathan’s bedroom. Would this wake him up?
Kota moved away from the door. There was a sliding glass door in the back of the master bedroom that led to the back porch. He used sign language to talk to us. “Stay here. I’m going to my house.”
He’d want to get ahead of them. Was Jessica at home? Or his mom? He’d want to stop them from saying something to Jimmy.
His mother was sure Kota and I were dating, after all. If she said so, and I was expected to go to have a dinner date with Dr. Green that night, things might get a little weird.
I shared a look with Luke as Kota snuck out. Was this a good idea?
Luke shrugged and then simply held a single finger to his lips to indicate we should be quiet. He leaned against the door to listen again.
Nathan must have dressed quickly, but his footsteps now sounded softer, sock-covered. “Just let me get these shoes on.” I sensed he was buying Kota some time to get across the street. “Did you just move into the Sorenson house?”
“Yeah. He’s getting married to my mom. Kind of weird. Do you have a lot of siblings? That’s a lot of food.”
Luke’s horrified expression mimicked mine. The food!
“Uh,” Nathan said and then chuckled. “My dad’s sleeping in. But he loves the pancakes, so I picked them up...for him.”
Must have been difficult for him to say...
“So the diner is good?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Nathan said. “Sure is. Okay, ready to go. Did you play on a team at your old school?”
The boys went to the front door, and Nathan locked it behind himself. Their voices carried for a short while but soon faded.
I leaned against the door still, straining to hear, rattled that Jimmy was here. He was so close. He could have spotted me, perhaps through a window if I’d not been in the living room.
Was there a chance he might have noticed anything else while he was waiting for Nathan? We’d have to be much more careful.
Luke backed up from the door, collapsing on the waterbed. The bed rolled just a little before the water settled. Spreading out on his back, his arms went out above his head. “Ugh,” he said. “That was close.”
My hand hovered over my chest, trying to calm my heart, even though nothing extraordinary had happened. I pressed myself against the door. “He’s going to find out about us,” I said.
The door handle to the master bedroom rattled. I jolted away from it just in time before it opened.
North peered in, bleary-eyed and scary looking. He glanced at me, and then at Luke. “We’re the only ones left?” His deep voice was dry and cracked, making it sound more menacing.
I relaxed and nodded. “Jimmy was here trying to make friends.”
“I heard,” North said. “Where’s everyone?”
“Kota’s heading to his house. I don’t know if he intends to play basketball with Jimmy and Nathan, or if he’s just saying hello and circumventing anything his sister or mom might say.”
He nodded shortly and then motioned to all of the equipment on the bed. “Keep this all in here in case they come back. No one besides us comes in here. Lock that back door. Shut the blinds. We’re in blackout mode.”
“What’s blackout mode?” I asked in a hushed tone.
North directed his dark gaze to me. “Just stay in here. If they come back, you don’t want to get caught.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Luke said. “Go back to sleep.”
North’s lips twisted like he was going to bark something at him.
I reached for him, holding his arm. Now wasn’t the time.
He paused, freezing for a long moment before he relaxed and he let out a sigh. “Fine. But you’ll have to do Kota’s job while he’s out. Call in Victor. Have him park at the diner and come in through the back way. Maybe call in Silas if he’s awake.”
“Will do,” Luke said with a smile and a three-fingered salute. “We’ve got everything covered. Don’t worry about a thing.”
He rolled his head back, shooting glares at the ceiling. “This Carol situation is killing me.” He retreated, heading back to Nathan’s bedroom.
I didn’t know what was scarier: Jimmy almost discovering we were here, or North getting woken up.
Blackout
Luke explained more about what blackout mode was. No more people just showing up via the front door. No more parking cars here. Everyone parks at the diner and walks in the back. No one sits in the kitchen. Go get what you need and bring it into the safe room.
“It seems a little extreme,” I said. “He may not come back.”
“It’s the chance he comes back, or is now going to be stopping by randomly,” Luke said. “It’ll make it easier if we don’t have to remember if we left things out in the main rooms, where he might be able to see them. Or if he’s paying attention at all to who’s parking where.”
The master bedroom was designated as the best choice for a safe room in Nathan’s house. Equipment could be set up and the door secured. If Jimmy was invited over, even if he got a little nosy, he couldn’t get through the locked door without someone noticing.
It was easy enough to explain, That’s my parents’ bedroom. Don’t go in there.
Luke and I walked as silently as we could through Nathan’s house to allow North to get back to sleep. We put away the packages from breakfast, cleaned what we could of the house, and made sure any lingering equipment got placed into the bedroom. In the end, the rest of the house looked relatively normal.
Kota didn’t return, so we did our best to set up what we could in the master bedroom with the cameras for observation.
The waterbed was a little strange to me. Anytime I sat on it, I felt like I was leaning to one side. When Luke sat on the bed, I tilted into him, unable to sit up straight.
Luke smirked when I finally relaxed and just allowed myself to use him to prop myself up with. “I like th
is bed.”
“There’s a bubble or something in the middle.”
“We’ll need to let out the air pocket, and possibly add more water.”
I wasn’t sure I liked waterbeds, but we were able to spread out phones, the laptop and a couple of tablets, along with notebooks around us.
Luke shut the door and locked it. Any one of the guys would be able to open it, but it would be a small barrier for Jimmy if they returned.
Luke opened a laptop, checked in with Carol, who was still cleaning, and then frowned. “I know we’re waiting to find out if your dad or Marie or someone spills the beans about you and what she might know. Never stops you from feeling guilty, even when the cause is right.”
“Like when you break into homes?”
“Oh, I’d never do that,” he said, his face changing into a grin. “But supposedly, if you were to do that sort of thing, there’s always someone innocent involved. We’re doing this so we don’t have to deal with a police investigation about you and your background, and risk you getting put into the system, possibly sent to a foster home. We know this. I know it. It just sucks they’re in the middle of it.”
While he set up what he thought we needed, I typed messages to Victor, who said he was on the way. Dr. Green checked in, letting me know he was at the hospital and was going to be busy for a few hours. Gabriel was going to get picked up with Victor. Silas was at the diner, filling in for North, but he’d be by when someone replaced him.
The last one I messaged was Mr. Blackbourne, giving him an update.
Sang: Victor and Gabriel are headed here. Dr. Green is at work. Silas is at the diner. North is asleep.
I sent that message, counted the names on the screen. We were a large group to keep up with. I sent a follow-up.
Sang: Nathan and Kota are playing basketball with Jimmy to make friends. Luke and I are keeping an eye on things from Nathan’s house.
I sent that message too, and then second-guessed sending something so formal without saying anything else.
Sang: How are things with you?
That seemed awkward. Time passed as I tried to think of something to follow up with, but the longer he went without responding, the more awkward it was.
He usually got back to me pretty quickly. I hoped he wasn’t having problems.
He was the only one unaccounted for now. Did anyone ever stay by him?
What did he do when he wasn’t around the rest of us?
Luke had a mountain of pillows propped up behind us so we could relax and spread out. I opened a paper notebook, and at first just to have something physical in my hands. All I could think to do was doodle along the edges. Luke was watching the laptop. He wedged his leg under mine, until my thigh was propped up above his knee. To make it comfortable, I rearranged myself so I was leaning with my legs over his and using his arm to prop the notebook up on. He kept the laptop on top of my legs. The laptop warmed my skin, but for the moment, it was cozy.
Waiting for Carol to talk to my dad, or for anyone to say things that we needed to know, was taking so long. If they never spoke of it, what would happen?
Guilt weighed on me for watching them so closely.
Carol and I had different desires. She wanted to get married to my dad, to do what was best for her family, to move, and seemed interested in giving Marie and me direction in life. I appreciated it, but I wanted to be with the guys in the Academy.
Pretending to have returned and to be okay with everything going on worried me. It was taking steps further from what I wanted.
As I doodled in the notebook, I glanced on occasion at Carol and her cleaning, willing her to say something that made it so I didn’t have to go back.
It was horrible to think I wanted her to do something horrible to me. Some sinister action from Carol could expedite my escape from the house.
The line of thinking scared me. I hated that I thought so direly about them.
There was a gentle turn of the doorknob to the bedroom. I was slow to respond to it, deep in thought, and part of me assumed it was North, coming to check on our progress. I wasn’t sure he’d actually gone back to sleep.
Luke sat up quickly, double-checking the laptop before getting up just enough to put a foot on the floor.
Victor appeared. His wavy brown hair was breeze-blown, part of it hanging across his dark, wide eyes. He wore a soft white sweater on top of his collared shirt, but the sleeves were rolled up to midway between wrist and elbow. He spotted me on the bed, and then Luke. An eyebrow went up. The intensity in his eyes, the fire, sparked with concern.
“Do we want to be in here?” he asked, the smooth baritone breaking the silence.
Luke relaxed, pushing aside the laptop a little more carefully on the bed. “I don’t care. Someone pick a place so I don’t have a heart attack.”
Victor’s eyebrow rose. “Did we say we were—”
“Get the fuck out of the way,” Gabriel’s voice came from outside the room. Victor stepped aside, holding the door open wider. Gabriel appeared, looked at the two of us, and leaned against the door frame. His hair was brushed neatly. The blond locks on either side of his face had dark roots coming in, matching the rest of the russet. His ears had the three black rings, and one more pink ring opposite the black rings. The crystal studs in each lobe were pink. He wore dark jeans and a collared shirt with a bright orange tie.
The shirt and tie threw me off. What was that for?
Gabriel scanned the room, from the waterbed covered in tech, to the cords going everywhere. There was a low dresser across the room with a TV on it, but we’d piled a laptop and tablets we weren’t using around the base. He made a face. “If we can’t use the rest of the house, this room is going to get crowded.”
“We shouldn’t use Kota’s place,” Luke said. He settled back on the bed, keeping an eye on the video feeds for my house. “Someone is going to notice us walking back and forth. And Erica will figure out something is going on with a ton of laptops and gear over there.”
Victor closed a door and then came to the bed, picking up a tablet. He leaned partially against the bed and typed something quickly. “We need something Sang can access via the woods. Something on the other side of the street, perhaps.”
“A place Jimmy won’t show up at,” Luke said. “Or Carol.”
A place? There were only homes on this road that had access to the woods. There was the diner as well, but that was somewhere Jimmy could come looking for me, and we couldn’t set up laptops all day there.
Gabriel came around the bed, sitting on the corner closest to me. He squinted at me. “Fuck me, what’s with the hair thing?”
I touched the band that covered most of my hair, and the clip securing the rest. “I thought it was easier to keep it out of the way than to wash out all that hairspray she used. Dr. Green took pictures. We’ll need to replicate the makeup.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes, shaking his head. “I saw those. I may need to run out and get a few of the same makeup items she uses. I’ll need to go through her shit if she keeps trying to do this. It is hard to match colors with photos.”
“Not sure when we’ll get a chance to go in together,” Luke said. “But I can probably get an inventory list today, probably tonight...”
“Better get pictures of the outside and the back labels,” Gabriel said. “I’ll be lucky if anything she has is still available anywhere. This shit gets replaced like every season.”
I glanced at the clock, showing closer to ten. Time was slipping away, and I’d have to be back. “When should I go? I’m assuming I only work part-time. She just said be back before dinner tonight.”
The others looked at each other, each one shrugging.
“Never,” Gabriel said with a grunt. “Let’s try never going back.”
“Probably shortly after lunchtime,” Victor said, returning to looking at the tablet. “Between...eight and one? Maybe two?”
I wasn’t sure what was normal, but when no one countered, so
metime around one o’clock became the time I anticipated going back.
Besides, Kota and Nathan were at the house now. I wondered how long they could stick around. As much as I hated the thought of them getting caught, I hoped someone could get into the attic space before I got back so I wouldn’t be alone. Or was that possible?
When I did return, I wonder if I’d be allowed to shower and change clothing. Would I have to wear the dress all day?
It was all mentally exhausting, and I wasn’t even back at the house yet. I collapsed onto the pillows again, shoving away the notebook. “Do we have a plan yet?”
“I’m looking for a good location, sweetie,” Victor said. “This might take a minute.”
“I mean...on getting me out. Is there anything we can do to push this along?”
The guys stilled. I stared at the ceiling.
When no one answered, I sensed the heaviness, the doubt.
They didn’t know.
I didn’t mean to sound impatient. I simply dreaded going back. Jimmy shook things up, breaking the sanctuary of Nathan’s home for me. Here we were trying to figure out how to stay hidden longer, when I wanted to work on how to get out. I didn’t want to be on edge every moment. Not like this.
“If we’re going for a private school,” Victor said, “shouldn’t we work out a brochure?”
“A few,” Gabriel said. “Give her a choice.”
“North and Kota were trying to work out the technical details,” Luke said, staring at the screen. “They set up phone lines she can call where she’ll reach someone prepared to answer. Realistic-sounding names that didn’t already have schools associated with them...” He paused, his mouth open and eyes glazing over. “Ugh, why can’t I stop watching her? She’s dusting furniture. Why is this fascinating?”
Gabriel reached out, seized Luke’s pinkie toe and squeezed it, causing Luke to jerk. “Who the fuck cares what she’s doing? What’s he doing?”
Luke pulled his feet under himself to sit up, causing the waterbed mattress to stir and me to roll against the headboard. He switched cameras. “Jimmy’s playing basketball.”