by Law, Adriana
I covered her mouth with the palm of my hand, stifling the word that came next, “You.” My cheeks radiated heat. I am going to kill my sister soon as we get home.
“She can make it,” I told Clay. “You don’t need to worry about her. Seriously.”
David searched the ground, found a long stick and used it for a cane. “It’s settled then. Let’s go. We haven’t got long before it gets too dark to see.”
Brooke paused. “It’s muddy. What am I supposed to do about that?”
“Try not to fall on your ass,” David called over his shoulder.
“You are so rude. Clay, call off your friend.”
“Not my fight anymore,” he told Brooke. “Besides, you asked for it.”
“Whatever. Both of you can kiss my muddy ass. I came with Em, not you, so bag the hot air from your inflated ego and stop making out like I’m so unwelcome.”
Clay ignored her.
“You can at least talk to me,” she told him.
He lit another cigarette. Smoke reached my nose; it smelled bad.
“Or keep ignoring me, jerk! Whatever.”
Evie paused, falling behind the rest of us. She pulled a blade of grass from the tangled weeds growing in a ditch beside the road. I wanted to walk with the others, but I waited for her, telling myself I should take her back to the main road and wait for help to arrive.
I didn’t.
I wanted to stay with Clay. He was all that mattered.
“I don’t think he’s nice,” Evie told me, once the others were far enough away not to hear her. “Do you?”
“You haven’t given him a chance.”
“I don’t like his girl friend.”
“Brooke is not his girl friend.”
“She sure acts like it.”
I watch their silhouettes move away down the tree-lined logging road ahead. I counted four No Trespassing signs between me and Clay. “Come on, let’s keep up. Remember what you told Clay?”
“I could walk farther than him.” Evie gave me a doubtful little smile.
I took her hand. “Come on then, let’s prove him wrong and you right.”
Evie squeezed my hand and we trotted off to catch up with the group.
Emily was already whining. “My feet hurt.”
“Christ, you are soft.” David stepped into her path and stooped. “Hop on, babe.” Emily smiled and did as he asked. He grabbed hold of her calves, and straightened up, grunting. “Damn Moo, you ‘bout broke my back.”
Emily slapped his head. “I’m not fat!”
David’s hair fell forward into his eyes. He jerked his head to the side, and the hair fell against his ears. “I never said anything about you being fat. Uncoordinated maybe, but not fat.”
“You made a mooing sound.” Her arms dangled freely over the chest of his black T-shirt.
“It was a joke. I think you’re beautiful. You know that.”
“Thank you.” She smiled and kissed him where she slapped him. “For carrying me, and for the apology.”
He reached around and cupped her bottom with his wide hands, hoisting her higher. “Anything for my baby girl.”
“Come on, slow pokes,” Emily called to the rest of us.
“You know, it would be nice if—” Brooke glanced at Clay.
“I’m not carrying you so forget it,” he told her.
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t deserve it.”
“That’s not what you used to say.”
Clay stopped in the center of the road and waited for Evie and me to catch up. “You two okay?”
“We’re fine,” I told him. Fine but uneasy. When we weren’t talking, the only sound on the road was our footfall, gravel crunching beneath our feet. We stood apart from the forest, the trees, the thick, thorny bramble. An intrusion…trespassers.
“You locked the truck up good, didn’t you?” David asked Clay.
My unease was clearly not shared by anyone else. The boys were worried about the truck. The girls about getting muddy and tired.
“No. You said she wasn’t worth anything,” Clay replied.
David stopped abruptly. “I didn’t say that.”
“Yes. You did.”
“You’re always twisting my words.”
“I do not.”
“Yes, you do. If someone says you have one single hair out of place you assume they’re saying you look like shit. You can’t take criticism, man. You need to relax.” Emily rested her chin on David’s shoulder, still clinging to his back. “You’re worse than a chick.” Emily grabbed a handful of hair and yanked. “Would you quit it?” David squatted and dropped his hands, Emily slipped off his back. “I didn’t tell you to leave the doors unlocked.”
“You said nobody would be coming by, remember? That’s why we didn’t wait.”
David shook his head. “See, that’s my point. I said I hadn’t seen a car. Did I say there was no chance of anyone driving by? No. I’m not God. I don’t have all the answers.”
Clay threw his hands in the air. “Did you girls hear that? I need witnesses that David Jacobs admitted he’s a dumbass.”
“Never said I’m a dumbass. That position is already filled by you.”
“Yeah?” Clay grunted. “How is it I’m always right and you’re always wrong.”
“Guys!” Emily shouted. “Why the hell does it matter?”
David made a face and plunged a finger into his ear. “Could you not scream?”
“Just tone down the testosterone, will you. We’re sick of your sore egos.” She pointed into the sky. “See that up there. Turning black. There’s not enough time for you two to have a pissing contest.” Emily tapped David’s shoulder. David crouched and she hopped back onto his back.
“Now giddyup, mule.”
“That’s stud to you, little missy, or you might end up flat on your ass.”
Her mouth fell open. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Taking hold of her ankles he tipped her backward. She squealed, her arms squeezing his neck.
David chuckled. “You know I could never hurt you.”
Chin on his shoulder, she grinned. “Because you wuv me.”
“Yes.” He rolled his eyes. “Because I wuv you.”
It seemed we’d walked forever. My hamstrings were beginning to ache. If I was feeling the walk, I knew Evie was. I nudged her arm and nodded at the water bottle Clay gave her. “Drink.”
She opened it and took a few swallows.
“Sorry,” Clay told me, dragging a hand through his hair. “I guess this was a bad idea, huh?” His tone was flat. “Bet you wish you would’ve never decided to come.”
I thought about Frank. “Beats sitting home on a Friday night.”
“God, David, did you fart again?” Emily pinched her nose shut. “It stinks.”
“Um, sure didn’t. You know what they say. The smeller is the feller.”
Emily grabbed a handful of hair and yanked.
“Oww! Will you stop it? Jesus. Do you want me to go bald before I’m twenty?”
Emily’s cheeks brightened with color. “I do not fart.”
I wasn’t sure about her farting, but Emily was right about it stinking. It was a stink worse than what comes out of people, even after they’ve eaten Mexican food. Whatever it was, it was growing so pungent I began to taste it at the back of my throat. A musky odor. Thick and heavy.
“Every girl says that,” David told Emily. He didn’t think the smell unusual. He must have believed such a smell belonged in the woods. I knew it didn’t. “Hey, has anyone ever heard the one about the frog and the scorpion?”
“Not another one of your dirty jokes,” Brooke groaned. “I can’t take it.”
“That’s not what I heard. I heard you take it up the—”
“Language,” Emily warned. “There’s a child with us.”
“Fine. So a scorpion was on the bank of a river,” David began. “The water was flowing like whip ass. The scorpion wondered how the
hell he was going to get across to the other side where his family was waiting. Then this frog came swimming by, you know, doing the froggie paddle, kind of like how Brooke swims.” He imitated the technique, flailing his arms in the air. Emily pushed her mouth into his shoulder, stifling a laugh. “The scorpion called out to the frog, ‘hey buddy, think you can help me cross to the other side?’ The frog thought for a second and said, ‘I don’t know. The current is pretty rough. I’m not sure I can get us both across.’ The scorpion didn’t stop asking. Kind of relentless, like Em. He begged the frog to take him across the river. Finally, the frog caved and let the scorpion climb on his back. The frog did everything he could, but the water was just too choppy, they were almost to the other side when the frog got in trouble. They were both sinking, and just a few feet from the shore. Well, the scorpion really wanted to see his family, so he whipped out his tail and stung the frog on the ass. The frog cried, ‘damn, what’d you do that for? I was trying to help you.’ Know what the scorpion said?”
“No, but I’m sure you’re going to enlighten us,” said Brooke.
“He said, ‘I’m sorry. It’s just my nature.’”
Nobody laughed except David. “Ya get it?”
“Sure. We get it. It’s in your nature to be a dumbass.” Brooke swept her hair off her shoulder and stuck her nose in the air. “We know you can’t help it. Just like you can’t help that you love to hear yourself talk.”
“This coming from a girl whose best friend is a mirror.” David’s laugh stopped abruptly, as did he. The smile on his face vanished as quickly as the light in the sky. He nodded toward the woods. I held up behind him, holding my arm in front of Evie to do the same. “Wait a minute guys,” he said. “What’s that over there?” His tone was dead serious. He let Emily slide from his back and pointed into the woods.
“On the other side of that gully, there on the ground? You see it?”
Clay and Brooke stopped just ahead of us. Clay followed David’s attention into the woods. Brooke moaned and wrapped her arms around her chest.
The forest bed was covered with dried leaves and leafless bramble, all gray and brown. I saw almost immediately the object that had attracted David’s attention because it was pale, the color of skin. Nothing in the woods should be that color.
A shiver ran through me. “That’s where the smell is coming from,” I said.
David’s eyes lit up. “Want to go check it out?”
“NO!” The girls shouted in unison.
I pointed at a sign posted on a nearby tree, in case they missed it. “It says, no trespassing.”
“No shit, Einstein,” Brooke said to me, avoiding my gaze.
“We trespassed the second we pulled off the main road,” David reminded us. “Didn’t bother anybody then.”
“It bothers me now,” I told him.
“Fine. Clay and I will go check it out while you girls wait here.”
I looked at Clay. “I think we should just keep going,” I suggested to him.
“I don’t want you to leave me.” Emily slid her arms around David’s neck.
His hand went to her lower back. He gave her a kiss on the lips. “We won’t go far. Just curious. Could be interesting…something you don’t see every day.”
“Maybe it’s a dead body,” Evie said.
Emily gasped, her eyes growing wide as she gave Evie a look of disgust.
“Don’t say that,” I scolded Evie.
“Could be. That’s all I’m saying.”
I knew what she was doing—giving the guys something to think about while they were out there where they didn’t belong. Evie was like that. Cunning. She could plant seeds in your mind that would grow with your imagination. I’m not sure she even realized what she was doing when she did it, but she did it a lot to Frank. It never failed to trip him up.
“The two of you are not going out there.” Emily dug her fists firmly into her hips.
“It’s probably a deer carcass some hunter dumped,” David said. He put an arm around Emily and her body relaxed.
“Then why go look,” she said to him.
“Because as citizens it’s our duty to check it out,” David told her.
“You are so full of shit.” Emily pushed him away.
“Killing anything is mean,” Evie said. She looked up at me. “Right?”
I looked down at her. “Right.”
David pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and held it out in front of him. “Damn.”
Clay sighed. “I’ll take that to mean you still have no signal.”
David turned his screen so it was facing us. “Battery died.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Clay shook his head, unzipped his backpack and took out his cell phone. “You always forget to charge that damn thing.”
“Anything on yours?” I asked Clay.
He stepped closer and showed me his screen. “Nope, still no bars.” Brooke was watching him, watching us. My shoulder brushed his. I could feel his breath on my cheek. Brooke didn’t like how close we were. I stepped even closer. Drawn to Clay and not really caring who it pissed off.
“Jesus, that smell is horrible.” Emily pinched her nostrils shut.
“Look there.” Clay pointed toward a place in the woods just off the side of the road. “There’s a trail there through the briars.”
I saw it, a thin line where the overgrowth was beaten down. I nodded at Clay and he turned away again, searching the woods. In my head I was agreeing with Emily. Stupid idea to check out the source of the smell. Better idea to get the hell out of here as fast as our legs could run.
“For real, are you two stupid enough to go in there?” I was glad Emily was not going to give up.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of,” David told her. “I’m going to cut scary movies from date night if you can’t handle ‘em. Give me a little credit, don’t you trust that I could protect you if something bad were to happen?”
Her expression said it all. She didn’t trust him.
Whack! The sound of David’s hand smacking her read-end was loud. He whistled air through his teeth. “Oh wow, I bet that one stung.”
She clenched her hands. Made a sound similar to a rabid dog. “Sometimes—”
A brow rose in warning, “Sometimes what, babe?”
“Ugh, you get on my nerves!”
He risked a kiss on her cheek and laughed, following Clay into the woods, leaving us girls behind. As they worked their way along the narrow path, I heard Clay tell him he would be laughing hysterically the day Emily finally kicked his ass.
Brooke walked backward moving toward the briar trail. “You chickens can stay here if you like. I’m going with the guys.” She gathered her blonde hair, smoothing out the tangles, arranging it in a messy bun. “Well, are you coming or not?”
“No,” my answer was quick. “I’m staying with my sister.”
“What’s wrong, Millipede, you afraid?” she taunted. Her smile was malicious. Everything about her was malicious.
“No. I’m not scared,” I told her. “I just don’t want to go.”
“If you’re not chicken, prove it, and go take a look with me. Do you want all of Trap Hill High knowing you cowered like a baby behind your little sister?” She made air quotes around the word sister. “We all know what matters most to you, Millipede. Impressing Clay.” She faked a sad frown for my benefit. “Oh, are we getting angry? You know it’s the truth. We’ve all seen the way you stare at him.”
My gaze narrowed on the bitch. I’d give anything to say something witty and mean, something that would knock her off her pedestal, but I couldn’t come up with one word. There was too much blood pumping through my brain, too much anger and rage to think straight. I despised Brooke and all her superficial ways. When Evie was an infant she had colic. She cried for hours at night in horrible pain. I thought she would never stop. That’s what I wanted for Brooke. Horrible pain.
“I’m staying with my sister,” I repeated.
&n
bsp; “Evie can stay with me,” Emily offered. “We’ll hunt for cool looking rocks.” She looked at Evie. “Sound like fun to you?”
Evie’s eyes lit up. She loved searching for rocks, and anyone who offered to spend the time to do it with her was an instant friend.
I watched Clay working his way into the woods. “Fine,” I told Brooke. “I’ll go.”
I ducked under vines draping from limbs and made my way to the narrow path. Briars snagged my jeans, stinging. I stepped over a decaying log covered with ants. The closer we got to where the boys stood, the stronger the smell was.
“Watch out!” Brooke shouted.
I froze, my heart beating at the base of my throat. I swallowed hard and took a deep breath.
She aimed the end of a stick she was holding at a fat spider clinging to its almost invisible web. It was eye level no more than an inch away from the tip of my nose. I stepped back and shuddered. I hated spiders.
I offered her a thin smile. “Thank you.”
“No problem.” She took my arm as if we were best friends suddenly and urged me on. “We girls have to stick together out here.”
When we reached the guys, the smell was almost too much to bear. I cupped a hand over my nose and studied what was immediately in front of us. Ankle deep leaves and pine needles. The sound of angry, insistent buzzing.
A clearing.
In it was not a dead deer. It was something though…something dead.
“What the hell?” said Brooke, stepping back, swiping flies from the air in front of her face.
“How many do you think there are?” David asked.
“Too many to count,” Clay replied. He snapped a few photos with his cell phone.
David disturbed the leaves and pine needles with his boot. “Dude, this is sick.”
“What is it?” Emily called from the road.
“Stay the hell where you are, Em!” David’s voice was sharp. He pointed to the carnage in front of us, what was a pile of dead and broken dogs. “I’ll never be able to get that girl to leave the house again if she sees this shit.” He scratched more leaves aside with his boot, uncovering a skull.