by B L Teschner
Dwayne spit again in another attempt to get what was left of the grass out of his mouth. “Something tells me they won’t let that happen.”
I looked over at Connor, who still had his hands behind his head, his eyes fixated on the swaying leaves of the tree like it was putting a spell on him. “Hey Connor,” I said, tearing a little bit of grass up from the ground and tossing it playfully at the top of his red hair. “What about you? How did your counseling session go?”
His eyes stayed focused intently on whatever he was watching. “Terrible.”
“Really? How so?”
His top teeth grazed his bottom lip, pulling it in at one corner. “They put me in with the violent teens.”
Toby and I looked at each other. “Really?” Toby asked. “Why did they do that?”
“Because I’m violent.”
“No you’re not,” I scoffed. “You accidentally lit your treehouse on fire. That doesn’t make you violent.”
“It wasn’t an accident,” he said, his voice quiet and void of emotion.
The four of us eyed each other. “What do you mean?” Dwayne asked. “I thought you told us you weren’t a pyromaniac.”
“I’m not.” His voice broke as a tear streamed down his cheek and disappeared inside of his ear canal. “I’m not a pyromaniac.”
“Hey,” I said, sitting up and scooting over to him. “Don’t worry, we know you aren’t.”
Dwayne scooted closer to him as well. “Yeah, man. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Connor took a hand from beneath his head and wiped his face with it. “Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a firefighter. My mom used to buy me fireman figurines and costumes… Every year I would dress up as one for Halloween. My mom was the only person who ever believed I could really be one. She told me I could be anything I wanted.” The tears were flowing more freely by the second. “And then she died, and my dad met my stupid stepmom. She said I was too scrawny to be a firefighter; she said I would never be able to carry a person out of a burning building.”
“That’s terrible.” I picked away at the blades of grass I had tossed in his hair a few minutes prior. “You know that’s not true. You haven’t even finished growing yet.”
“Yeah,” Toby added. “I was scrawny up until I was a sophomore, then I started filling out. Sometimes puberty takes a while to set in.”
Connor sniffed. “My mom always believed that I could do it, even being on the smaller side. My dad is smaller; I’ll probably be just like him. But I don’t care. I was so upset that my stepmom ridiculed me that I started lighting things on fire and practicing putting them out. It was small things at first: cardboard boxes, piles of leaves… I was getting really good at controlling the flames. Pretty soon I thought I could try it with something bigger. The treehouse was perfect.” He wiped his eyes again as his crying slowly subsided. “I started a fire in it and then hurried down. The plan was to race back up the ladder with a garden hose just like a real firefighter and put it out. But my stepmom came out just as I lit it on fire and climbed down. She called the fire department and they came and put it out, and after that they decided it was time to send me here.”
I stopped picking and instead ran my fingers over his hair. “That’s terrible,” I said, looking down at his sad freckled face. “You really don’t deserve to be here, Connor.”
His bottom lip quivered as his eyes left the tree and connected with mine. “I’m scared, Millie. I’m scared to be in the group with those kids. Jill’s in there. And there’s a weird kid who hangs his arms at his sides and looks like a zombie and another kid who tortures animals.” His eyes clouded over again. “I’m. So. Scared.”
He was so little; completely defenseless. My eyes welled up as I leaned over and put my forehead against his, my long hair falling in a curtain around him. “You will be okay. You hear me? You just stay to yourself and don’t look at anyone the wrong way and you’ll be fine.”
“And you have us too,” Toby cut in. “We’re right there in the room with you at night. You don’t have to worry.”
I lifted my forehead away from his and noticed that Layla had placed her hand on his chest. “And I’ll kick Jill’s ass if she even looks at you the wrong way,” Layla promised.
There was a commotion from somewhere else on the lawn; the unmistakable sounds of grunts and thrown punches drifted over to us with the breeze. We all looked over to see two boys fist fighting each other, one obviously winning by throwing the other one to the ground and sitting on his chest, punching him repeatedly on his face.
Connor sat up as other kids gathered around, watching from a distance. “That’s one of the kids that’s in my class!” He pointed over at the pair. “The one on top that’s punching the other one. You see? David. That’s who I have to sit in group therapy with!”
Our heads all turned in unison as a whistle blew out from across the other side of the yard. It was Martha, tromping over the grass as best she could in her heels, blowing the silver whistle that was always hanging from her neck.
“Stop it!” she yelled at them. “Stop it at once!”
They ignored her and continued rolling over the lawn, throwing punches, both of their noses now bloody.
She blew the whistle again and held it in her bony fingers, stopping at a safe distance beside them. “No fighting will be tolerated here!”
Low grunts followed not far behind as the two security guards hurried over to subdue the boys. The uglier of the two guards, Troy—which was honestly a hard decision to make as to which one was uglier—grabbed David and pulled him harshly away as his brother yanked the other boy up from the ground. David tried to get away, and even attempted to throw a punch at Troy. Troy sneered and twisted his arm behind his back, spurring a loud painful scream from David’s mouth.
“Fighting is not tolerated here!” Martha spat, an angry scowl taking over her face. “From the beginning you were told what was and was not to be tolerated. You broke the rules.” She stood back as the guards dragged the two bloody boys away in the direction of the looming brick building. Her eyes scanned the crowd; she slowly lowered the whistle and let it go so it could dangle next to the old key around her neck. “Let this be a lesson to you all. Fighting. Is. Not. Tolerated. Here.” Her red lips pursed, the wrinkles around them becoming more apparent before she put on a fake smile and looked around at the crowd. “Now, back to enjoying the rest of your day. Please, enjoy as much sunshine as you can before the storm sets in. The weather report says it’s going to be a doozy.” Most of the kids in the immediate area dispersed, and Martha’s focus switched to the group of us. She headed our way.
Layla recoiled at her approach as we all stood up from the grass. “Oh god, please no.”
“Good afternoon,” Martha greeted us after stopping and conforming to her usual stance with her hands clasped behind her back. Her eyes went right to me. “Millie, correct?”
I was surprised she knew my name offhand. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Your mother spoke with me before she left. From what I understand, you are a very intelligent young woman.”
I shrugged in reply.
“Young, beautiful, and bright,” she continued. “Quite the trifecta. You have your whole life ahead of you; don’t let your sin ruin it.”
“I, I won’t,” I quipped out of nowhere. “As long as you have anything to do with it.” I didn’t know where that snarky remark came from, but as soon as I realized who I had said it to, I winced. I expected her lips to turn down with detest, but instead they turned up with a pleasant smile.
“Yes, as long as I have anything to do with it, you won’t steal anything again for the rest of your existence on this earth.” She spun around and strolled across the lawn toward another group of teens, who also visibly recoiled at her approach.
“That was weird,” Layla stated the obvious.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I wonder what my mom talked to her about.”
“You mean besi
des your intelligence?” Toby said with a smile in his voice.
I gave him a friendly wolfish stare. “I’m not that intelligent…”
“Okay, Miss Straight A’s…” he teased.
“I got an A last year,” Layla put in.
“What, in sex ed?” Dwayne hassled her with a grin.
Layla didn’t bat an eye. “In math, you idiot.”
“I like math, too,” Connor spoke up.
Dwayne watched her with a wry smile. “So, Layla,” he asked, his voice morphing into a professional tone, “if naked guy A was running toward you at thirty-five miles per hour, and naked guy B was running toward you from the opposite direction at forty-two miles per hour…”
“Oh yeah?” she crossed her arms with a grin. “If one chocolate donut was traveling toward your mouth at thirty miles per hour, and another was traveling at fifty miles per hour—”
“Then I would eat them both,” he quipped.
We all laughed. “Well now I just want donuts,” I admitted happily, which made us all laugh some more.
Toby nudged my arm. “You wanna go try out the tennis courts before the rain comes in?”
I smiled warmly at him. “I wouldn’t like anything more.”
Seven
Toby
We all sat at the table during dinner, our eyes searching eagerly for the two kids who had gotten in trouble for fighting earlier. We knew they would probably have some kind of detention for the remainder of the day, so we figured we wouldn’t see them. But when dinner was almost finished and we were eating dessert, we gave up our search. They must’ve gotten into some hot water for fighting like they had.
Dwayne shoveled the last bite of chocolate cake into his mouth. “Man, that’s good. I wish we could have seconds.”
“Well you know how important moderation is to these people,” Layla answered.
Millie slid her tray over to him. “Here, take mine.”
Dwayne’s face lit up like it was Christmas morning. “You sure?” he asked as his fingers gripped the edge of the tray and pulled it the rest of the way in front of him.
“Yes,” Millie said with a reassuring smile, one that made my heart jump every time I saw it. That was another quality I liked about Millie: her kindness.
“You always this nice?” I asked while nudging her shoulder with mine.
She looked over at me with a smile. “The world needs all the niceness it can get, right?”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“You’re nice, too,” she offered, nudging me back.
My face warmed; I enjoyed any and all compliments from that girl. “You think so?”
“I know so.”
“What’s wrong?” Layla asked Connor.
I looked over to see that Connor’s shoulders were slumped as usual. “I’m not looking forward to my group counseling session when David gets back,” he answered. “He’s probably gonna be in a worse mood than he already was.”
“Is the other kid he was fighting with in your group too?” Millie asked.
“No. I don’t know who that was.”
“Cory told me he’s his friend,” Layla offered. She leaned to the side, turning her head back in the direction of her most recent hookup. “Maybe I should ask him if he’s seen him?”
“Yeah, maybe you should,” Dwayne agreed.
Layla popped up from the table and walked over to Cory, her hips swaying sensually as his cheeks lifted with a grin at seeing her approach. Her arms slid around his shoulders and she nuzzled up against the side of his ear, making small talk, her dark lips curling up with a smile. I had the feeling she was discussing other things besides what we had sent her over there for.
“She sure knows what she’s doing,” I pointed out.
“No kidding,” Millie agreed.
After a few short moments, Layla’s demeanor changed and her face grew serious. Cory shifted his gaze up to her and his head shook, his shoulders shrugging as she pulled her arms away from them. Before leaving, she put her hand on the table in front of him and leaned forward, using the finger on her opposite hand to trace down the side of his cheek. He looked up at her with a glimmer in his eye and turned his head to the side, kissing it quickly. I was sure he was worried about the staff seeing their advances toward each other. Layla on the other hand didn’t care; she had no shame. It was a quality that actually made me like her more.
She also swayed coming back to the table, making sure to give Cory one last show, which he obviously saw since he hadn’t taken his eyes off her since she left his side.
“That’s him?” Millie asked with a bit of awe in her voice as Layla plopped down with a satisfied grin.
“Yep. Man, he is so fine.”
“Yeah, but what about his friend?” Dwayne asked with annoyance.
“He hasn’t seen him either,” she shrugged. “Said he hasn’t been back to their room, but his stuff is still there.”
* * *
They were a no-show at breakfast and lunch. Connor said David wasn’t in his group therapy session. He had tried to ask the counselor where he was but he said he didn’t discuss the personal details of other patients with anyone. And now it was lunch. There was a quietness amongst the group of us. We had absolutely no idea what to think about the missing kids. Where the heck were they? Cory once again confirmed that his friend’s stuff was at his bed, and he even checked David’s bed and said his stuff was there too.
Millie was beside me as usual. It was our normal way of sitting now, with her next to me and the others across from us in their same seats. I couldn’t help but notice she was inching closer to me on the bench with every meal. Obviously, I didn’t mind.
“I still haven’t seen Blue,” Millie told us in almost a whisper. “I found her bed, and it looks like her stuff is still there.”
“Really?” Layla asked, leaning forward. “Are you sure you just haven’t spotted her?”
“Yeah I’m sure; I’ve been looking for her like crazy.”
“It is kinda weird,” Dwayne added. “Kids randomly going missing like that.”
Millie nodded. “And what about the rules about no contacting our parents? Doesn’t that seem odd? How could our parents just sign something agreeing to writing us off for two weeks straight?”
“Speaking of writing,” I added, “no letters either. Because the ‘post office is slow and wouldn’t even get them to our family before we got back home’, or whatever crap excuse Martha told us our first day here.”
Layla scoffed. “Well I’m sure my dad was happy to write me off and have no responsibility for two whole weeks.”
Millie hit my arm. “You guys! Look!” She pointed over Dwayne’s head in the direction of the cafeteria doors.
Dwayne, Layla, and Connor cranked their heads behind them and I straightened up to see what Millie was so frantically pointing at. It was the two security guards. Each one was pushing a wheelchair, and in those wheelchairs were the two kids we had been looking for.
“What the hell?” I blurted.
“Oh. My. Gosh,” Layla said as she spun back around and looked at Millie. “Is that who I think it is?”
Connor looked over at her. “That’s David! I wonder what happened to him, and the other kid, too.”
A hush came over the cafeteria as everyone curiously watched the guards wheel them up to the ends of separate tables and park them in place, leaving them behind. The kids at the tables they were put at began whispering to each other and moved back as if they were contagious.
“What the heck is going on?” Dwayne said, looking back at me. “What did they do to them?”
“Maybe we should go find out?” I offered.
“No way,” Connor put in. “Not me, anyway. I’m not getting anywhere near David.”
“Well he looks harmless now,” Layla pointed out. She stood up from the table when she saw Cory stand up from his and go over to his friend. “I’ll be right back.”
She went over and stood behind C
ory who was crouched beside his friend’s wheelchair, looking up at him with concern. Layla crossed her arms over her chest as she listened to him talk. I could see that his friend wasn’t replying, he was just sitting with his head slouched down, his chin to his chest. David was sitting the same way in his chair.
Cory gave up after a few minutes of trying. He stood next to Layla and seemed to make one more attempt to reach him by placing his hand on his friend’s chin and lifting his head up to face them. Layla’s eyebrows furrowed as Cory said something to her with a shrug and gently let his head rest back down to its previous position.
They exchanged worried glances before Layla came back over and sat down with a sigh. “He’s not talking.”
“What do you mean, he’s not talking?” Dwayne asked. “Why isn’t he talking?”
“I have no idea. His eyes are open, but, it’s like he’s in a daze or something.”
“They probably drugged them,” I concluded.
Millie’s body moved another inch closer to mine. “You think so?” she asked.
“It makes sense, doesn’t it? If they’re out of it like that then maybe they gave them something to calm them down. I’m sure they were hard to handle when they first got into trouble with their fight. Maybe they had to tranquilize them.”
“But if that were the case then the tranquilizers should have worn off by now,” Dwayne said. “It’s been a while since they fought each other.”
I could feel Millie shiver nervously beside me. My fingers drummed my thigh as I glanced over at her. Deciding to take the chance, I moved my hand over and wrapped my fingers over the softness of hers, squeezing them tightly. She looked over at me, a little stunned at first, and then a warm smile slowly spread across her lips. I had made the right decision.
She looked back over at the two kids, still sitting with their chins to their chests. “Is anyone going to feed them?” she questioned, her face heavy with concern. “Those two goons just wheeled them in and left them.”
“I doubt they’d be able to even chew right now,” Layla said. “Cory’s friend was pretty out of it; it looks like David’s just as bad. They cleaned the blood off of their faces though at least.”