by Tampa Tyson
“I know you did, Gabby,” Hannah said, “and how’s that working out for you?”
“I’m kinda in rest mode right now, so I can’t really say.”
"Good... good... Listen, the reason I called is that I wanted to talk to you about that construction rink over there... You know what I'm talking about, right?"
“Yes, I know,” I said.
“You know what it’s gonna become right?”
"Of course,” I said, “a skating rink."
“’Right, right. The thing is, I brought it.”
“You did what?”
“Sheesh, Gabby, you’re acting like I bought a tarantula and you’d know I’d never do such a thing,” Hannah said, “the problem I’m having is that nobody wants to work there anymore. Since the day you got injured, people have grown frightened of that lot and they don’t want to be around it anymore. They think- it- and you- are a bad omen.”
"Wow,” no wonder why the principal was only able to find one aide for me, no wonder why my classmates didn't write me a Get-Well card.
“Gabby, this ain’t good.”
“Yeah, no, I know,” I said, “I’m just surprised, that’s all. Is there any way to fix this?”
“Yes,” Hannah said.
“How?” I asked.
“You must continue your investigation. Only once you have found the culprit may your curse be lifted. “
“That’s strange,” I said, “Robert and Kayla want the exact same thing.”
“They do?”
"Yes, they want me to solve the mystery," I quickly shared my suspect list, and then I mentioned the names of the remaining suspects- not including her, "Only Stephen, Sage, and Dr. Angie haven't mentioned anything about me solving the mystery. Either, they simply want me to stay safe or one of theme’s behind this."
“Gabby, I am sure that all of them simply have your safety in mind.”
“Yeah, maybe... but then somebody else is lying,” I said, “...and given I see no reason for Robert or Kayla to be liars, that means, you, Hannah, are still a possible suspect.”
“Impossible!”
“Well, on a one to three scale between you, Kayla, and Robert, you make a three. And since you dropped us at Kayla’s house for the goodbye party, it’s clear that you had access to both the construction site and the ski lodge. For all we know, you could have wiped out the power grid at the lodge and cut the wires in our neighborhood.”
“Why would I do that? You know that’s wrong.”
“Sure. It’s wrong,” I said, “but just because it’s wrong doesn’t mean that somebody won’t do it. And didn’t you want to get rid of me?”
“Getting rid of you was never personal, Gabby,” Hannah said, “it was just business.”
“Money can make people do terrible things.”
"You don't need to jump to conclusions like that- this wasn't about the money."
“Are you sure? Are you 100% sure that money had nothing to do with it?”
“Okay, okay, you got me,” Hannah replied, “but trust me, there’s more.”
“I’d love to hear it,” I said.
“And I’d love to explain. But not until you’re a little better, alright?”
Nearly forgetting that Hannah couldn’t see me over the phone, I nodded. Hannah must have taken my silence as a yes, as she quickly told me that she’d see me on Saturday and then she hung up. I retreated to the couch, where I waited for Mom to return home.
She came home early that afternoon and for a moment I worried that she had overheard the whole conversation with Hannah, but she didn’t mention anything about her. Instead, after Nicholas came to get Robert, Mom told me I’d be returning to school in the morning.
The remainder of the day was mostly rest— except when Mom gave me my typical sponge bath. As she bathed me, she let me know that she was waiting for Dr. Angie’s all clear before she’d permit me to have a bath with my new cast. After my bath, it was bedtime, and the next morning, after helping me get ready, Mom drove me to the bus stop.
She only waited until I was on the bus though, before disappearing. It was kinda hard to see her go and I began to miss some of the comfort she’d provided. When the bus arrived at the school, I asked my aide what had happened with Friday’s overnight forecast. She remarked that she hadn’t been able to look that far into the week. Even though I wasn’t sure she was being completely honest, I didn’t bring it up. I simply focused on taking it easy.
And when Saturday came, once Dr. Angie gave me the all clear, Mom took me home and gave me my first bath. She spritzed the water with bubbles, but just being in the water was so comforting, I would have sat in there for hours if Mom hadn’t insisted that I come out- after 20 minutes. “Ahh- Mom,” I complained, “do I have to?”
“Yes,” Mom said, “if you want that cheesy mac and cheese I made you.”
I nearly jumped out of the tub. Mom helped me get dressed and downstairs, as I ate my mac and cheese, I watched as she started setting up the TV for a movie. “Are you and Dad watching a movie?”
"No, Gabby," She quickly prepared some packaged microwave popcorn and popped a movie into the blue-ray DVD player, "don't you remember what I said about giving you a special afternoon once you returned home from the hospital?" Mom asked.
I nodded, though I’d forgotten.
“Well, while I didn’t want you to get your cast dirty until Dr. Angie gave me the all clear, I did want to make good on my promise,” Mom said, “so today’s your day,” She grabbed my hand, “how do you like it?”
I wasn’t sure how to react. In one way, I did like this. Mom had promised me this and I was happy about it. But in another sense- Hannah’s party. “What about the party?”
“What party?”
“Hannah’s party.”
“Oh. That party.” Mom ran to the phone and dialed Hannah. It only took a few minutes of conversation for Mom to convince Hannah to delay the party one day so Mom, Dad and I could have our family day. And even as I dug into my bowl of popcorn, I couldn’t wait to see all the suspects under one roof.
There, I believed, I’d find all the answers.
Chapter 20
Stephen arrived at my house early Sunday afternoon. He spent half an hour trying to keep me from attending the party- he kept asking Mom what she was thinking- didn’t she know what was at stake? She growled at him and then told him that if he was around to keep an eye on me, she’d feel safe.
Stephen scowled. But he took me, though resentful. I worried that if I confronted him, he’d threaten to turn us around and stop the party, so I tried to ignore him. We soon arrived at Hannah's house, where I noticed something strange- about her backyard.
I gulped. Two turns. Two turns and she would be in the construction site- which had never been fenced off. Community was too quiet; the police would probably say- easy access.
Hannah opened the door, carrying a large plate of chocolate chip treats- cookies and muffins. One glance at her and I swiped the cookies off her plate. “Hey...”
Stephen stepped between us. “Sorry, Hannah,” he said, “she's probably still a bit addled from the poison from last Saturday... Maybe I should take her back home.”
“No...” I said, stopping, “I’m gonna stay.” Even though Hannah frightened me some, I still felt a need to be at the party. As soon as I walked in, I headed to the living room. I heard Hannah tell Stephen to follow me. She wanted him to keep a close eye on me, she said.
But then, shortly after Hannah had gotten Stephen settled on the couch, she brought me into the kitchen, where she showed me some treats she’d made specifically for Robert. However, she said, he’d have to eat them now- as his sister was about to come and Sage didn’t like Robert having treats. “She’ll be supervised by Nicholas, don’t worry.”
“Isn’t Kayla coming too?”
“I think so, but I’m not really sure,” Hannah said, “Catherine keeps worrying that Kayla got herself locked up in her own house. Probably some sor
t of safety issue, her parents might think you’re a bad influence...”
“But I’m not...”
“Gabby, I’ve seen otherwise. I’ve heard Kayla say that you always blame other people for your troubles. You’ve blamed your teachers for your grades, and whenever you didn’t get the trophy, you always blamed the competitor ....”
“You didn’t let me off for only that reason, did you?”
“Has it ever crossed your mind that Kayla might have been trying to change you?”
“What?” She’d never do such a thing- how dare you accuse her!
“I’m just saying, if somebody thinks nobody’s listening, they will often go to extremes to try to prove their point. I know Kayla was too scared to confront you directly, but—”
I’d stopped listening. Hannah made some sense. Kayla had never confronted me directly- On the other hand, we were friends, and as the police had said, they’d found Kayla at the party. She couldn’t have been at the site, could she?
The doorbell rang. Hannah quickly removed my sling, handed me the plate of cookies, and told me to hurry upstairs. Carrying the cookies mostly with my left hand, I ran as fast as I could. I heard Robert in one of the bedrooms, went in and placed the cookies on the bed
Robert didn’t even look at me. He simply grunted, muttered a ‘thanks’ and yelled at me to get out of the room. “Don’t you want some company?” I said.
Robert scowled and then glared at me. The door opened, and I nearly jumped back, but it was only Nicholas, “You know, Robert,” he said, “If you act this way downstairs, Sage’s gonna think you’re a psychopath.”
“I don’t care what she thinks,” Robert said, “I ain’t a psychopath.”
“Right. Gabby and I both know that- Right? Nicholas looked at me.
“Right.” I nodded.
“But I don’t wanna go downstairs!”
“I know you don’t, Robert,” Nicholas said, “trust me, boy, we won’t be here long. I’ve still got work at the station, and you gotta get a good night’s sleep too, don’t you?”
Robert seemed to be pondering Nicholas’ words. “Well, son, why don’t you eat those cookies, and then we’ll go downstairs but for just a little while.”
Robert ate the plate of cookies and headed downstairs, where Sage, who was settled on the couch in an orange jumpsuit, immediately started criticizing Robert- out loud. She didn’t seem to understand why her actions were wrong- whenever Nicholas tried to confront her, she’d tell him Robert was embarrassing her. It took Nicholas threatening that they’d leave the party right away to get her to stop expressing her thoughts out loud- but she kept glaring at Robert anyway.
And it worked, too. Robert was so sensitive to Sage’s glare, that whenever she looked at him, he’d change his position, sometimes even whimpering. I positioned myself at the front of the living room, where Hannah was trying to set up the TV. But the TV had gone static- she couldn’t figure it out. Stephen eventually came to the rescue, rushing to fix the TV. Hannah got so happy, she thanked him like 100 times.
Then after I’d finished my apology speech, after Hannah had stopped the recording, I surprised everybody- by telling them that we were gonna play a little game. A little game of show and tell- to be precise.
“Show and tell?” Sage said, “that’s for babies.”
Robert, who’d perked up, started whimpering- his whimpers growing more intense and intense by the moment. Part of me wondered if Stephen had purposely arranged for Sage to be here- after all, if she made the comment that Robert had no self-control, Stephen could use that excuse to get us out of the babies. “Show and tell is not for babies,” I said.
Sage glared at me. Her glare was so sharp I couldn’t help but shift my position, looking downwards as my face grew redder. “Not the way we’re gonna do it at least.” I stammered.
I looked up Sage was still glaring at me. It still made me feel extremely uncomfortable, but at least she wasn’t staring at Robert anymore. He was starting to calm down, too. “Here’s what we’re going to do,” I said, “first you’re gonna tell me what you’re all good at, and then you’re gonna show it.”
“I’m good at baking,” Hannah said.
“Building. And fixing.” Stephen said.
"Knitting." We all looked over at Robert. Appearing to have nothing to say, he got up and left the house. Nicholas and I followed him, stopping only momentarily to put on our coats. Outside, we watched as Robert started to walk away- towards the construction site.
“Robert,” Nicholas tried to chase after Robert, but the snow was so deep he gave up only after a couple of minutes, “Robert, please,” he begged. “Please come back here.”
Robert didn’t turn around. He kept walking. Nicholas began gearing up to chase after him again, but I stopped him. “Wait,” I said, “let me talk to him.”
Nicholas didn’t protest. He let me go. I followed Robert and before I knew it- we, Robert, and I- were standing in the exact same place where- according to evidence- I’d been attacked at. Robert wasn’t even looking at me, either, he was looking away, into the distance, probably at the lake. I wondered what he was thinking.
“Robert are you okay?”
Robert turned around. His arms were crossed- he was seething. I knew I should have probably gotten away from him as fast as I can, but I don’t know why I followed him into the construction trailer. Maybe it was because I didn’t want him to hurt anybody else. “It’s okay, Robert,” I said, “it’s all gonna be okay.”
Robert didn’t answer. He’d gone silent. “Do you need to be alone?”
Robert sighed. He was quite a few moments. I opened the door and started to leave. “Wait,” Robert got up and led me over to the couch. He helped me sit down, “I want to talk to you, Gabby.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know why you had to throw that party, why you had to bring Sage here, but could you please not do that again? She gets on my nerves.”
“You’re really good at telling what you think, aren’t you?”
“Eh- not really...” Robert shook his head, “Sage tells me I don’t have tact.”
“That was very impolite of her,” I said.
The door opened. It was Nicholas. He’d come in. He saw me and Robert. Robert started to get a bit nervous- whimpering like an anxious puppy. “Don’t worry, Robert,” Nicholas said, “I only want to talk to you.”
Robert whimpered as I started to get up. “Oh, no, Gabby, you can stay. I am sure Robert would appreciate your company.”
I sat back down. Nicholas tried to ask Robert a few questions, but the boy was too timid to answer, he kept shaking his head. It took taking Robert outside for a “snowball fight” to get Robert to open. But I only got to hear what Robert liked- snowball fights- cars, computers- before his sister came running out.
She stomped on Robert’s pile of snowballs and glaring at Nicholas and me, began throwing insults at both of us. I felt sick, but Nicholas stayed calm and expressionless. “Sage,” he said, “please go back inside.”
Sage didn’t move. She tried to curse the day that Nicholas took Robert, and that moment, Nicholas turned around. His cheeks, for almost the first time I’d seen him, had grown red. He picked up a snowball, handed it to Robert, and gave him it. At first, Robert tried to resist, saying it was wrong, but after Nicholas said it was probably time for Sage to get a taste of her own medicine, he relaxed and took aim, working off all his anger...
The next thing I knew, a snowball came whizzing through the air, hitting me- right in my casted arm.
Chapter 21
Somebody caught me. I couldn't see their face though, the world had transformed into a jumbled mix of too bright colors, colors that kept pounding at my head like they thought it was a drum. "This is all your fault, Robert!" Sage bellowed, “and yours too, Nicholas. You should have never taken me away from my brother!"
Sage’s sharp-edged voice along with the sounds of Robert’s whimpers and cries and Nicholas a
ttempts at reassurance made the head pounding worse. Somebody- it might have been Kayla, but I didn’t think she was there yet- placed their hand on my head.
I heard Kayla’s gasp. Then she lifted me up. “We’ve got to call Dr. Angie. Now.”
“But Kayla,” Nicholas said.
“Now.”
That was the last clear voice I heard. Shortly after, Robert’s cries mingled with everybody else’s voices to the point I couldn’t hear anything clearly. All I knew was that somebody was tossing a blanket on me and trying to keep me from passing out.
I wish I could have promised them that I wouldn’t black out, but my body had the upper hand. It made the voices fade, it kept me from opening my mouth, and it let the darkness grab hold of me and suck me down under.
For how long the darkness had me, I don’t even remember. All I remember is coming to in one of Hannah’s bedrooms. Though it didn’t look like the bedroom that Robert had been in, Robert was there, along with my mother.
He was crying, saying Sage was right- this whole thing was his fault- while my mother tried to calm him down, telling him he couldn’t have known, and that Sage was the biggest idiot she’d ever known. She said that as far as she was concerned, whoever had given Sage the idea that it was okay to treat people with Asperger’s and autism with disrespect were complete idiots.
At that moment, I stirred. Mom quickly asked Robert to leave the bedroom, and then she rushed over to my side, pushing me back down in the bed. I groaned. I'd really wanted to get up, and her pushing me down so fast made my head feel as if somebody had thrown it into a burning fire pit. It made me want to fall asleep again, but this time I managed to keep myself awake.
I didn't know how long I'd be able to stay awake without moving or speaking though. Speaking made my voice sound off as if the snowball that had been thrown at me had broken my neck. But nothing was paralyzed, I could move everything. Not like Mom wanted me to, though, she kept telling me that I should rest. "Mom…"