Some Laneys Died: A Skipping Sideways Thriller

by Brooke Skipstone

  “We need to hurry,” I yell as I move past him.

  We’re both running toward her as she screams at the ice to break. She notices our lights, jerks her head toward us, then shouts, “Leave me alone. You don’t care about me. Just let me die.”

  Seconds before we get to her, she jumps onto the snow machine. Dad lunges for the handlebars as she takes off, dragging him with her. He stands on the rail and jerks the handle to his right, turning the machine back in a circle. Once it gets close to me, Gibbs jumps off and tries to run away, but she falls into the snow.

  “Laney, come here.”

  I hurry toward him.

  “You’re gonna drive this home. Can you do that?” I nod. “Here’s the throttle and brake. I’ll take her back to the truck.”

  He moves to Gibbs and picks her up. She’s crying and flails her arms at him until he pins them to her sides and pulls her toward him. He says something to her I can’t hear then she buries her head in his chest. After another few seconds, he supports her as they walk back to the trail. She’s crying, slumped against his shoulder.

  “Go on, Laney. We’ll be right behind you.”

  I nod and push the throttle with my thumb, moving slowly across the lake and up onto the bank. I move faster on the road until I round the corner and stare into the truck lights. Once I’m beyond them, I pick up speed until the cold wind makes my eyes tear up. The brilliant moon shines above our house as I coast down the driveway. Under different circumstances, I would love to drive around at night, cutting through moon shadows.

  After parking at the end of the driveway, I look back for Dad’s lights, but see nothing yet. I’m cold and hungry. My stomach rumbles from no food for twelve hours.

  I find leftovers in the fridge and stick them into the microwave.

  Gibbs needs serious help. Did she try to kill herself because Dad found the pills or because she’s bleeding and losing her pregnancy again?

  How would she react to Bailee in this condition?

  The microwave dings. I grab the plate with a towel and put it on the counter. The smell of chicken, rice, and gravy overwhelm my nose. I blow on a bite then savor every flavor. Gibbs is a great cook. Why does she wait tables? She could rule the kitchen.

  Headlights shine through the window as Dad turns to park. He runs over to Gibbs’ side and helps her out. She walks slowly, hunched inside her jacket, holding her stomach. As she enters the kitchen, she stares at the floor. Sad, embarrassed, cold and wet.

  “You want some coffee?” I ask. “It would warm you up.”

  She shakes her head.

  “Your food is delicious, Gibbs. I can’t believe I slept through your cooking.”

  A breath of a smile touches her face. “Thank you, Laney. I’m sorry I’m such a mess. You deserve better.”

  She walks toward their bedroom, Dad holding her shoulders. I scoop coffee into the machine and add water. While it brews, I finish my plate. Dad returns in a few minutes and drops into a chair at the table.

  “Coffee’s almost ready.”

  “Thanks.” He covers his face with his hands as his body begins heaving with sobs.

  “Dad.” I stand behind him and hug his shoulders.

  He grabs my hands. “I would’ve let her go. She’d be dead if you hadn’t forced me to go after her.”

  “We can’t give up on her. I met an author on the flight from Austin. His daughter had died two days earlier. She was an addict. He’d given up and wouldn’t see her when she’d wanted him. He’s never going to forgive himself. I don’t want us to be that man.” He nods his head. “You want coffee?”

  “Yeah.”

  In a few minutes, I set two cups on the table and sit next to him. We both sip in silence and look out the window at a bright light in the sky, staring at us.

  “Is that a star?” I ask.

  “Venus. She’s gonna be right next to the moon in a week. It’s called a conjunction.”

  “Meaning?”

  “According to Gibbs, the moon rules our emotions. As it moves toward Venus, certain people are drawn toward love and beauty.” He sighs. “I don’t know where she gets this stuff. She’s into astrology.”

  “Gibbs wants a child. She’s desperate for one. Is she still bleeding?”

  “No. Just a few spots now.”

  “Then it’s not her period.”

  “I don’t know. Could be just spotting.”

  “You told me there was no way she could be pregnant, that you made sure. I don’t need the details, Dad, but is there a possibility she could’ve conceived ten or twelve weeks ago?”

  He squirms and clears his throat.

  “Just yes or no.”

  “Yes.”

  “So maybe she is this time.”

  I take out my phone and open Photos. “Dad, I know this is going to sound crazy, but Bailee West is recovering in a hospital in Austin. Here’s her picture.” I show him.

  “She looks like you. Who is she?”

  “My twin sister.” He frowns. “She was born to you and Mom in a different universe. She was the twin that vanished in Mom’s womb before I was born. I vanished before Bailee was born. We found each other.”

  “Laney, that’s impossible.”

  “Hear me out. Mom resented the fact that I look like Gibbs when she was younger. But actually Bailee and I both look like your mother, but I wouldn’t know that because Grandma died when I was three. In Bailee’s world, Grandma didn’t have the wreck. Do we look like her?”

  He holds my phone, breathes deep, and stares hard at the picture. “I have a couple of old photos in my room somewhere to check, but yes, you do. Mom and Hannah never got along. I never said anything about you looking like my mother because Hannah wouldn’t approve. I didn’t know she thought you looked like Gibbs.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything when I measured my arms against Gibbs’? Bailee told me your arms are too long, just like mine. And let me see your right thumb.” I hold my thumb up and bend it back.

  He does the same. His bends almost ninety degrees. “Bailee and I have your toe thumb.”

  His eyes squint above his open mouth.

  “Bailee and I were murdered on the Fourth of July three years ago by the same man in the same spot in Falls Park. One version of each of us followed him with our bikes and were killed; another version did not. The reason I got so mad at you for having sex with Gibbs that day was because I’d heard Caden torture Bailee in a hunting blind. He was abusing her sexually, trying to make her orgasm and scream at the same time. I heard her sounds and did nothing because I was afraid. Bailee heard the same thing happening to me. We’ve been bonded ever since.” I thumb through my open Safari pages until I find the one with the story about the girls’ bodies. “The police found these skeletons last week in the river. The girls were twins and had been dead for about three years. I think because of the parallels in how we died, our two bodies joined in one universe.”

  He holds my phone, reading the headline.

  “I saved her from Caden, and now she’s in the hospital.”

  Breathless, barely loud enough to hear, he asks, “When did you save her?”

  “A few hours ago.”

  Dad pushes his fingers through his hair and stares at the table. “Laney, this is crazy.”

  “I know. Bailee’s your daughter. You need to see her, and I should tell Mom. But there’s something else.”

  He looks up. “What?”

  “Gibbs thinks Bailee is her daughter. At the lake on the Fourth, she said she saw a girl ride her bike past the campground. Gibbs would’ve named her daughter Bailee after her grandmother.”

  His eyes bulge, and an idea rushes into my brain. “Who picked my name? You or Mom?”

  “She did.”

  “What would you have named me?” I see tears fill his eyes.

  “When Gibbs was pregnant in high school, we picked names. I loved her grandma. She was a helluva woman. We’d decided on Bailee for either male or female, just spe
lled differently.”

  “We should all fly to Austin. As soon as we can. I told Bailee about Gibbs and her problems. She said she didn’t mind pretending to be Gibbs’ daughter if that would help her. I don’t think Mom will fly back to see Bailee.”

  “This is crazy.”

  “What’s going to be crazier is when Gibbs finds out Bailee is alive, waiting for her in a hospital.”

  29

  Dad holds his phone, waiting to talk to someone at Bailee’s nursing station while I scroll through flights on my laptop at the kitchen table. “Did you find tickets?” he asks.

  “Yes. Three seats together. Departs 5:30 this morning and arrives at 6:30 pm.”

  He nods. “Hello?” He pauses. “Yes, I’m Bailee West’s father. I can be there by 7:30 tonight. When will she be discharged?” He rolls his eyes. “That’s the soonest I can be there. Her sister, Laney, can sit with her until I arrive.” He shakes his head. “No, she’s not eighteen.” He looks at me. “They’re twins.” He grits his teeth. “Look, that’s the best I can do. There’s no one else in town who can take her. You have my number. Thank you.” He ends the call and sits down. “Have you bought them?”

  “Yes. I used the card Mom gave me. I need Gibbs’ birthday.”

  “Same as mine but in August.”

  I pause, watching his eyes. “Do you remember my birthday?”

  “Sure. The day before Valentine’s. How about mine?”

  “Day after Valentine’s.”

  “I should’ve asked Bailee her date. And time. I wonder if we were born at the same time and place, just like we died.”

  “I still don’t understand this, Laney. You didn’t die.”

  “Some Laneys lived and some died. You’ve lived and died hundreds of times. Most of the time we’re not aware of what happens to us outside our own universe. But Bailee and I formed a connection because of how we died on the same day.”

  “Then how would you know about each other if you both died?”

  “Because another version of us didn’t follow Caden. We lived but felt what happened to each other.”

  “I wouldn’t want to know what happens to me in another universe. It’s hard enough dealing with what happens in one world.”

  “I thought that too, but then I realized no matter what decision I make or what obstacles I face, some part of me will make it through. No decision is absolute. I spent too much time grieving over my decision to tell Mom about you and Gibbs, like I had ruined my life forever. But I also made the opposite choice. Just like one of me followed Caden and one didn’t. I’d prefer not to die, but knowing that some of me will live or be happy makes the suffering and dying easier to take. One version of me hung herself in the playground. One version did not, and here I am. The other little girl couldn’t imagine a life without pain and suffering, so she ended it. But no matter what I do, what choices I make, some part of my life goes on. Everything passes. No choice is the end of everything or the start of everything. Why would anyone commit suicide if they understood that?”

  “I wish you could explain that to Gibbs.”

  “She’ll figure it out when she meets Bailee and knows her story.”

  “Hope so.”

  “We need to pack.”

  He nods and heads toward his room. I look around the kitchen and into the living room. I won’t come back here, though versions of me will stay, which makes the leaving less painful. I would love to race along the dike by myself and see this place in summer. I can always skip back.

  * * *

  An hour later, we’re all in the kitchen filling up on coffee. Dad’s got the truck warming up and is carrying out the bags.

  Gibbs puts the carrier containing Penelope on the table. “Bailee’s all right?”

  “She’ll survive,” I say. “She’s pretty tough. Are you OK?”

  “Yes. No more blood. Does she know we’re coming to see her?”

  “Not yet, but I’ll tell her soon.”

  She looks like I just spoke to her in French. “You’ll tell her? How?

  I decide I don’t need to confuse her more. “I’ll call the nurse and ask her to give Bailee a message when she wakes up.”

  Dad comes back inside. “You ready? We need to leave.”

  “Did you leave a key for Tommy?” asks Gibbs.

  “Yes. And I turned the heater down.”

  “Not too far down. It’s better to spend more on electricity than to replace all the pipes.”

  Dad smiles. “When did you get to be so responsible?”

  “I’ve always been responsible.” She opens the door.

  Dad shakes his head at me and points at Penelope. “You forgot your cat.”

  Her eyes pop and her hand goes up to her mouth. Then she smiles and shakes her head. “No, I didn’t. You’re supposed to carry her.” She goes outside.

  Dad rolls his eyes at me. “She forgot her cat.”

  We leave the house.

  Five minutes later, we’re driving out of town on a clear, moonlit night. I’m in the back with the suitcases. I decide to send a note to Mom. I’ve told her nothing about Caden or what happened to Bailee and me. How will she understand who Bailee is without telling her everything, including what happened in the trailer? I don’t believe she’ll care about meeting Bailee or consider her my sister, but I need to give her a choice. That way, when she decides to stay in Chicago, another Hannah will make the trip.

  I open my laptop. Where to start? When else? July Fourth.

  * * *

  I stop typing when we pass through a section of road in the hills outside Fairbanks where every limb of every tree is covered by an inch of hoarfrost, like a garden of giant rock candy. A true winter wonderland, complete with a moose posed against a wall of naturally flocked Christmas trees. A sheen of ice hides the asphalt, and our tires slide a little. Seems like beauty and danger are bonded together up here.

  We arrive at the airport in less than ninety minutes. Dad drops us off at the curb with the bags while he finds a spot in long-term parking. We are the first in line because the check-in counters are empty. Soon we’re waiting upstairs at Gate 2. I connect to the airport WIFI and send my note to Mom’s email address. Then send her a text.

  Please check your email for a message I sent you. Sorry about the length. I didn’t realize how much I hadn’t told you. I don’t know if things would’ve been different if I had tried to talk to you earlier, but I’m sharing now. Dad, Gibbs, and I are about to board our flight. We will be in Austin by 6:30 and then at the hospital by 7:30. I plan to ask Dad and Gibbs to stay in Eddie’s room tonight. Bailee will be with me. She and I look like Grandma, who still lives in Bailee’s world. I think you knew who I looked like. Dad said you didn’t get along with his mother, but didn’t explain why. Gibbs is certainly attractive on her own, but perhaps you suspected Dad fell for a girl who looked like his mom. So my similarity to both Gibbs and Grandma must have been hard for you to deal with. Our relationship has been harmed by things totally out of my control. I hope you can rise above old hurts and angers. I don’t know Bailee’s relationship with her parents. I suspect they’re not good, since they wouldn’t understand why she cut her boyfriend. Plus the drugs and sex after her assault three years ago. So I think she, like me, would love a fresh start, if you’re willing.

  * * *

  After takeoff, I curl up in my window seat and close my eyes. I have to skip back to Jag in the lobby. Soon, I’m lying on my arm on the floor of the waiting room. I reach out a hand, expecting to touch Jag’s face, but he’s not there. His coat is draped over me. I sit up and see him walking toward me with two cups.

  “Coffee?” he asks.

  “Yes.”

  We both sit in chairs.

  “When did you wake up?” I ask.

  “Right after you pushed your tongue into my mouth.”

  I spit out some coffee.

  “I think you were dreaming,” he says with a sly smile. “I hope it was about me.”

&n
bsp; I know my face is beet red. “I don’t remember. Seems like every time something good happens, I’m on a plane, missing out.

  “Well, it was kinda embarrassing. People were staring.”

  I look around and see one woman smiling at us.

  “I need to see Bailee before we go to my house.”

  “We’re going to your house?”

  “Yes. My father and his girlfriend are flying in from Fairbanks. I’m also on the plane.”

  He squints his eyes. “How?”

  “I’ll explain when we have more time. When we’re not saving my sister or I’m not saving Gibbs.”

  “Who’s Gibbs?

  “You’ll see her tonight.”

  “OK. Can I see Bailee with you?”

  “We can try.”

  I stand and he follows me to the nurse’s station. I tell a woman sitting at a computer that my father called a few hours ago, that Jag is my cousin, and we’re the only family in town at the moment for Bailee. She calls a nurse who takes us to her room.

  When we enter, her eyes are closed as she holds her hands over her chest, a slight smile on her lips, like a sleeping angel. No one would believe she has cut throats or been hung from the ceiling while raped and tortured.

  “Hey, Bailee,” I say gently as I stand by her bed. “You’re smiling. What’cha thinking?”

  Without opening her eyes, she says, “The expression on Caden’s face after I sliced his neck.” Her lids rise. “And how I’m so glad we’re together.” She reaches for my hand. “Hey, Sis.”

  I squeeze her fingers. “I brought someone to see you.” Jag steps forward so he’s near the bed. “This is Jagger. He saved us both last night.”

  She reaches for his hand. “My ninja. The list of guys I’d want to carry me naked away from an exploding trailer is not very long, but you’re at the top of the list. Thank you, Jagger.”

  “You’re welcome. How are you feeling?”

  “A little haunted.” She closes her eyes. “I need to get out of here and find something else to focus on.” Two tears leak out of her eyes. “I keep seeing the same movie over and over.” She wipes her eyes and breathes deep. “Have they caught them yet?”