by Meg Bonney
Tossing his backpack on the floor, he kept his eyes on mine. We didn’t speak as he moved across the room to where I sat slumped against my bed. As soon as he hugged me, my tears swallowed me again.
I laid my head on his shoulder, and we sat in silence for a while. For a few moments, it didn’t feel so terrible, and my stomach didn’t feel like a giant boulder.
Jason pointed to the shattered pieces of my phone strewn across my floor. “I love what you’ve done with the place.”
I sat up and wiped my face with my hands. “Ha, yeah, thanks.”
Jason laughed.
“Did you hear?” I asked.
“Shawn’s nose? Oh, yeah, I heard about that. I’m pretty sure my great-aunt Didi in Wisconsin heard about that one.”
If only that was the craziest thing that had happened to me today.
I leaned over to grab the balled-up piece of paper and dropped it in Jason’s lap.
“Thanks for your help with this, but I won’t be needing it anymore. They’re dead.”
Jason opened it just enough to see what the paper was, then tossed it behind us toward the wall.
“Yeah, Ruth called me,” he replied.
Classic Ruth. I got emotional; she couldn’t deal, so she called Jason.
Jason patted my knee. “Quite a day for you, huh?”
“Yep. Happy birthday to me.”
CHAPTER 6
I woke up slumped down in the ratty brown recliner that sat under the window in the bedroom. Jason had directed me to sit in it while he went to help at his parent’s restaurant during the dinner rush, and I fell asleep almost instantly in the cozy chair. It was my favorite spot in the whole house, and even though it was an eyesore, Lacy and Ruth never made me throw it out. The arms of the chair had little jagged lines in the leather that threatened to tear apart at any moment, but it was still as comfy as ever.
I listened to the birds and buzzing bugs that filled the silence of my empty room. My body was numb. I was numb. My nap didn’t help clear away any of the crappiness of my afternoon.
“Maddy?” Jason’s voice broke the silence as he walked back into the room with his computer bag and food in hand.
“Pizza!”
“I know a crisis when I see one.” Jason kicked his shoes off. “My dad’s pizza cures all.”
I shifted over just as Jason plopped next to me in the chair and set a bag of various snack foods into my lap. He opened the box of pizza from his parents’ restaurant. Melted cheese, spicy peppers, and beef. It was my favorite thing they served there. The restaurant was Italian and Puerto Rican fusion, just like Jason.
Having such easy access to free pizza was just one of the perks of Jason being my bestie. The greatest thing about having Jason as my best friend was how well he knew me. Not just that my favorite color was teal or that I was scared of water. Or that I loved anything with chocolate. No, the reason Jason was the greatest was that he didn’t make me talk all the time. He knew when to just let me be.
He also hadn’t mentioned the worst part of the day—my dead parents.
“Ran into some kids from school at the market.” Jason began setting up his computer and picked a TV show.
Great.
“Nobody is talking about the pool incident or the state championships, that’s for damn sure,” Jason added. “Just that Mad Dash broke the prom king’s nose again.”
“Now, if we can just shake the stupid Mad Dash part, I’ll be happy.” I pulled some napkins out of the bag and laid them out on my lap. “Guess I’ll be at the race on Saturday after all.”
Jason set a slice of pizza on my napkins before taking a huge bite of his own piece. “What are you talking about?”
“They’re—they’re dead,” I mumbled, still hating how that sounded. “There’s nobody to find. I would just get their names. And I guess the courthouse is only open during the week. I have no idea how I could make that work.”
I chewed my pizza slowly.
Jason shook his head. “So we skip class! School can kiss my ass, Mads. We’re still going to file that paper. You deserve to know. You may not get the ending you wanted, but we are going to find them, even if it kills us.”
Skipping school? Aunt Ruth would have my head for that. Even better. I smiled. “Always be you. You are perfect, you know that?”
“That’s what they tell me,” he answered with a laugh.
I took a deep breath and kept eating. “I’ll think about it.”
“Do that. I’ll back you, no matter what you decide, Mads.”
It was the relaxing end to a crappy day. Just some food, some TV, and Jason.
My bedroom door swung open, scaring both of us.
“All right! Who’s ready to go to the energy crisis rally tonight?” Lacy exclaimed from the doorway.
“Nope,” I replied.
“Second that,” Jason chimed in.
Lacy entered our shared room like a perky ray of sunshine in human form. She was always so damn happy.
“Come on!” Lacy encouraged me. “You punched my jerk of an ex-boyfriend. You owe me!”
“Ex?” Jason chimed. “That’s new.”
“I heard about the pool,” Lacy said, looking at me. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
Was I okay?
“Thanks, Lace.” I forced a smile.
Even with that sign of solidarity, I was too upset to go to the rally.
“You guys are in veg mode at 7:30 on Friday night, eating junk food,” Lacy said, folding her arms. “You are the worst teenagers on the planet. Get off your butts and let’s go out. I am not going to let you turn into a hermit again this summer.”
I did my best to hide the sadness that was trying to swallow me whole. I didn’t want to talk to Lacy about my parents. She wasn’t like Jason. She would make me talk about it, and that was not something I was in the mood for, right now or ever.
“Let’s go!” Lacy repeated.
“Like, leave the house?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Yeah.”
“But there are people out there.”
“We are in a mood, Lacy. We have earned this,” Jason said.
I nodded and took a bite of pizza.
“I don’t get why Maddy is upset, and I am not even going to try to figure that one out. But, Jason, why are you sad?” Lacy raised an eyebrow.
Jason held up a can of whipped cream and sprayed some in his mouth. “When she hurts, I hurt,” he answered with his mouth full. “We are basically one very, very, very attractive person. Maddy may or may not be going through something. She is upset and she is handling it with grace, if you ask me!”
Jason then offered me some, which I accepted, of course. My cheeks puffed with whipped cream as the can hissed.
“Yeah. I have grace!” I said, barely understandable through my mouthful of whipped cream.
Lacy sank down onto the foot of my bed and sighed.
“Have you talked to my mom, Maddy?” she asked.
“Unfortunately.”
“Did she rip your head off?” Lacy asked, not knowing the full scope of my day’s traumas.
Jason spoke before I could. “I know you meant that figuratively, but I am pretty sure Ruth could literally rip a head off. That woman is an animal. She could bench like two of me.”
“True story,” I replied.
“Maybe even three of me.” Jason’s eyes widened.
“She has been putting in some crazy hours at the gym lately. One of the other trainers quit, so she’s teaching classes all day,” Lacy added. She never saw the flaws in her mother, which was a good thing. Lacy seemed to be as well-adjusted and happy as I could hope for. Aunt Ruth was warmer with her, thankfully.
“This is Greenrock Island,” Jason said. “There are, like, ten thousand residents on this island in the winter. It’s already a ghost town with all the seasonal folks heading back up north. How is she finding all of these people to work out?”
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“Who cares? Pass me the gummy bears.” I held out my hand.
“Maddy! Stop eating that crap! You are going to feel horrible on our run in the morning,” Lacy said, standing up.
“I am not running in the morning. I am never leaving this chair ever again.” I shoved a handful of gummy bears in my mouth and handed one to Jason.
“Thank you, m’lady,” he sung out.
Lacy stomped her foot. “Seriously, Madison. You have a state championship meet! And ugh, you aren’t even going to come to the rally tonight? I am the only one here who seems to care about this energy crisis!”
“The lights flicker now and then. It happens,” Jason said.
“You need to care about this!” Lacy argued, crossing her arms.
“Lacy, the only thing I care about right now is whether this hot guy can get out of this deal with the crossroad demon,” I shot back, gesturing to the TV show that continued to play on the computer screen.
“Hot guy’s brother will save him,” Jason replied out of the corner of his mouth.
“I hope so.”
“Ugh! You two drive me insane. Maddy, if it wasn’t your birthday, I would give you a piece of my mind, but since it is, I will direct this at Jason!”
I looked up to meet the annoyed glare of a red-faced Lacy.
“Your best friend almost screwed up her chance at running in the state championships. Why? I don’t know,” Lacy started.
“I told you, your pervert boyfriend tried to kill me,” I interjected.
“I don’t know why Maddy did this, but I think she got scared,” Lacy continued, still only speaking to Jason.
“Scared of what?” he asked curiously.
“Don’t encourage this.” I slapped Jason’s knee. “Lacy, leave it alone. You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Maddy worked her butt off for this opportunity. She was the shoo-in to win State, and I think it makes her nervous. I don’t know why. I don’t know why someone would intentionally screw it up, but I think that is exactly what she did.”
“Why do you even care, Lacy?” It wasn’t funny anymore. Now I was starting to get mad.
She crossed her arms, looking even more defensive. “I care because it’s important! My mother gave up so much to raise us and make sure we had every opportunity. And you were going to just throw it away like it meant nothing!”
“Okay, Ruth. Are you done?” I asked, rolling my eyes.
“No! There are real problems in the world. Real problems that won’t go away just because you ignore them and binge watch TV shows on a Friday night. The rally is in the town square. You want to stay here and be remembered as the crazy violent girl, that’s fine. Or you could make a real difference at this rally tonight. Instead of sitting here like a couple of lazy selfish jerks, you need to get off your butts and go. We are the future, and we are the only ones who can save this place!”
“By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand, men of the West!” I exclaimed and pumped my fist in the air, my head leaned back against the recliner and my eyes closed.
Jason chuckled and let out a long, amused sigh. “Listen, Aragorn, she may have a point,” he said, turning his head to me.
I dropped my jaw and gasped. “Brutus!”
“Thank god you two have each other. I never know what the heck either of you are talking about.” Lacy threw her hands in the air and marched out of the room.
“You seriously want to go to the mayor’s dumb rally?” I asked Jason. “I broke his son’s nose.”
Jason shrugged. Spending my birthday with a bunch of people I didn’t know did not appeal to me, but I could already tell by the look on Jason’s face that he had made up his mind.
I sighed. “Do you think they have cake?”
“They might have cake,” Jason answered with optimism.
I grunted as I pushed myself out of the chair that Jason and I had been so solidly wedged into. “This has been the worst day ever. But I am going to get some damn cake on my birthday.”
“That’s right. Let’s get you some cake.” Jason stood. “I have to change. I’ll be back in twenty.”
I watched as Jason walked out of my room.
“You got it,” I said, but he was already gone.
Groaning, I stood up and stretched. Did I need a shower before this shindig? I took my hair down and held a few strands to my nose. Yeah, I needed a shower. Before I left my room to go to the bathroom and get cleaned up, I crossed back over to my window.
“They better have some frickin’ cake!” I yelled through the open window.
I heard the faint sound of Jason laughing as he crossed the street to his house. It was the cute blue one right across from ours.
Looking down at the super dull black T-shirt and khaki shorts that I had worn to school, I walked over to my closet. Before I could pick out new clothes, I heard the ringing sound again.
This time, it was unbearably loud. I pressed my hands over my ears, fell to my knees, and screamed.
CHAPTER 7
“Mads?” I heard Jason call out over the obnoxious ring that continued to sound through the air, but thankfully, the volume was decreasing. I was curled up on the floor in front of my closet.
“I heard you screaming.” Jason ran to me. “What’s going on?”
I couldn’t answer him yet. The sound was fading, but the pain in my ears lingered. I pulled my hands away and tried to sit up.
“Are you okay?” Jason knelt in front of me, holding my shoulders. “You weren’t downstairs like we said, and then I heard you screaming.”
I nodded as the piercing ring finally disappeared. “You said we would meet downstairs in twenty minutes.”
“Maddy, it’s been twenty-five minutes.”
“What?” I asked through my haze. Had I been laying here screaming for more than twenty minutes? “Did you hear that noise?”
Jason shook his head. “You screaming? Yeah, I heard it from outside. What happened?”
“Something…strange is going on,” I said nervously.
“What do you mean?”
“I just feel weird.”
“You are weird,” Jason shot back.
“I’m serious. Something’s happening to me, Jay.”
“You sound scared, Maddy.” His eyes were narrow and pensive, and I could see how worried he was, even with the little light in my room. “Okay. Well, don’t worry. I’m here now,” he reassured me.
And in typical Jason form, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders and pulled me close to him in an awkward embrace as we both knelt on the floor. Jason was taller than me, and he rested his chin gently on the top of my head, my arms pinned at my sides.
“Off! Off!” I said. My words were muffled by his shirt. “This is super weird.”
“Ugh, touching. Ugh, affection,” Jason mocked in his best girly voice. “I’m swaddling you, like a baby. It’s comforting.”
I let out a laugh. Hugging that went on longer than a second or two felt more like suffocation than affection, and this was even worse because I couldn’t move at all.
“I’ll go grab you a water,” Jason said as he released me and left the room.
“Thanks.” The setting sun gave the room a yellow glow, but it wasn’t bright enough to illuminate anything. Reaching my arm out, I flicked the light switch up. Nothing happened. I grabbed the digital clock on my nightstand next to me, but it was blank. I slipped my red sneakers on.
“Jay, the power’s out!” I called out.
He didn’t answer.
“Jay?” I called again and moved to the doorway of my room. As I started to walk down the hall toward the stairs, there was a rustling sound behind me. It was coming from my aunt’s room.
“Jay?” I whispered. “What are you doing? You know Ruth hates people going into her room.”
No answer. I pivoted and slowly walked toward Aunt Ruth’s bedroom. There were no
windows in the hall, making it almost pitch black—which wasn’t a problem. I had snuck out of this house in the dark many, many times, so navigating it blind was pretty easy for me.
“Aunt Ruth?” I called down the hall. Her room was at the end of the hallway, just across from the bathroom.
No answer.
I stopped at the closed door of Aunt Ruth’s office, a room she always kept locked.
“Aunt Ruth?” I called again, but there was no response.
My heart pounded in my ears, drowning out all other noises. It was the only thing I could hear now. I stopped in Aunt Ruth’s doorway.
There was an unnerving stillness in the room. The window was covered in a sheer white curtain, letting some light filter in, but not enough to see well.
“If this is another one of your stupid drills, I am not in the mood, Aunt Ruth.”
I clenched my fist and took a defensive stance, ready to fight, just in case. I turned back to the doorway and gasped to see the silhouette of a person there.
“Glacia!”
There was a jolt in my body, and then it felt like my muscles all knotted at once, like I had a thousand charley horses. I couldn’t move or speak. It was like I was frozen solid.
“Oh, it is you!” the person said.
Then the pain, the twisted stiffness in my muscles was gone. I stumbled backward into Aunt Ruth’s nightstand and knocked a lamp over, sending it crashing to the ground. It shattered on impact. I ignored it and spun to face the doorway.
“Lacy?” I exhaled in relief. “Wha—”
“There is no time. Listen to me. You need to act quickly. We must retrieve your magic now,” Lacy interrupted. Her face was stern and serious, more so than I had ever seen.
“What? Lacy, what are you talking about?” I asked, looking her up and down.
Lacy didn’t answer; instead, she grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the room. I yanked my arm away from her but followed anyway.
“Lacy?”
“There is no time,” she repeated.
“No, what did you say when you walked in the room? What was that?”
Lacy ignored me and walked down the hall to the Ruth’s office.