by Chris Bedell
“It’s the truth—family is everything—whether you believe it or not.”
Wow. Life would always be filled with surprises. I never once expected Andrea to care about anything but herself. So, I wouldn’t cut her out for interrupting my alone time. Discovering her humanity meant having one less problem. I didn’t know what I would’ve done if the Mallory debacle ended only for another to begin. Doubt wasn’t that difficult to manipulate—the power of suggestion caused more problems than physical violence could.
“I’ll go order my drink now,” Andrea said.
“Great.”
So, yeah. Andrea and I would give this friendship thing a try. If our dynamic changed, then I could always change my mind.
BEFORE
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2018
I rang Mallory’s doorbell.
No matter how difficult my mission was, I had to do it. I wasn’t gonna lose Archie to Mallory for a third time. To hell with worrying about seeming frivolous because of arguing over a guy. Archie provided me happiness—the kind of joy I would’ve gotten from having multiple snow days in a row—and I’d hold onto it.
If getting Archie back entailed an unpleasant conversation with him and Mallory, then so be it. Her con was up, and there was nothing Mallory could do about it. Not even if she stomped her feet against the ground and threw a million tantrums. There was no spinning Tommy’s missing trust fund money, the argument Tommy’s lake house neighbor witnessed between Mallory and Tommy the day after the Fourth of July, Mallory’s diary entry about finding Tommy in bed with Gemma, the missing video, and Archie ending our relationship only to start following Mallory around like a guard dog.
I pressed Mallory’s doorbell for a second time.
No answer.
The wind rattled against Mallory’s house so loudly that someone might as well have screamed. I shivered before stuffing my hands into my jacket pockets.
Mallory and Archie were gonna have to try harder if they wanted to me leave. Especially since the living room light remained on.
Fuck it. Maybe knocking on the door several times was my answer, so that was what I did.
In addition to getting answers from Archie and Mallory, it would’ve been nice for them to let me inside since the blue almost completely waned from the afternoon sky. Standing outside in the dark was the last thing I wanted to do on a Friday evening.
Damn. Still no answer.
Time to make another fist and bang on the front door. I had nothing to lose—it wasn’t like the neighbors called the cops on me.
The door opened, revealing Mallory.
She hissed. “What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk, and I’m not taking no for an answer.”
“This isn’t a good time,” Mallory spat. “And if you ever cared about our friendship, you’ll leave.”
“Guilt trips don’t work on me,” I said.
Her eye bulged. “I’m serious, Chad. You’ve gotta get out of here. You have no idea what’s going on.”
“Then tell me.”
“I’m doing you a favor by demanding you leave,” she said.
Please. Mallory should’ve known better than to insult my intelligence. I was a teenager, not a preschooler.
“Please. You’re just trying to steal Archie from me again,” I said. “Well, sorry, but it’s not gonna work.”
Footsteps squeaked against the wooden floor. A guy stood next to Mallory.
“I’m not a toy,” Archie said.
No need for Archie to state the obvious. The awkwardness of my response didn’t change its truthfulness. Mallory took Archie from me for a third time, and I wouldn’t let her succeed. This was real life, not an indie movie where criminals never suffered consequences.
“If you don’t let me inside, then I’m gonna scream,” I bellowed.
Mallory grunted. “You’re too much.”
“Just let him in—he’s not gonna leave,” Archie said.
“Fine. Have it your way.” Mallory yanked me inside, then closed the front door behind her. In fact, she couldn’t haven’t shut the door any faster if she tried. If I didn’t know better, then I would’ve thought she made a deal with the Devil and he was about to collect.
We shuffled into the living room.
My nostrils flared. “I know what’s going on, Mallory. Like with how Tommy cheated on you with Gemma. What I can’t figure out was if you blackmailed him to leave town and he did, or if you went further and killed him.”
Mallory crossed her arms. “Thinking you know everything must be nice. But as usual, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t be so harsh,” Archie said.
“Quit defending him,” Mallory quipped.
I bit my lip. “I wanna know why Archie broke up with me.”
“You’re right,” Mallory revealed. “I blackmailed Tommy to leave town because of my tape I made of him and Gemma.”
Archie massaged his forehead. “But Tommy recently came back to town. He blew through his trust fund and wants more money to stay silent—five million dollars to be exact.”
“Archie and I also think he’s the one who stole the flash drive—the one with the video of him and Gemma,” Mallory said.
“I don’t understand,” I said.
“That’s why you can’t be here,” Mallory said, struggling to catch a breath. “He’s gonna arrive any minute.”
I laughed. “Wow. You actually sound scared.”
“This isn’t funny.” Mallory pushed her sleeve up. “He did this to me.”
My eyes remained glued to Mallory’s left arm. More specifically, her black and blue coated wrist. Wow. Hard to picture Mallory as the victim after everything she did to me.
I didn’t have to be psychic to believe Mallory wasn’t faking her feelings. It wasn’t like she was a special effects makeup artist, skilled in prosthetics. Plus asking Archie to hit her just for show didn’t seem likely either.
“Let me guess. You don’t have the money,” I said.
Archie hung his head. “You should go. I’ll call you tomorrow when this is all over.”
Tears welled in my eyes. “Why end things with me?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Mallory demanded. “Tommy is a threat, and it’d help to have a fake boyfriend.”
“Even if it meant hurting me?” I asked.
“That wasn’t my intention—not this time,” Mallory said.
“I don’t believe you. Not anymore,” I said.
“It doesn’t matter what you believe. You’re leaving.” Mallory grabbed my arm, then dragged me through the living room and to the front door. Except the front door just slammed shut.
“Nobody is going anywhere,” said a voice.
The three of us turned around. A guy with combed-back black hair stood by the front door.
Mallory glanced at the metal object in Tommy’s right hand, then made eye contact with him. “Let Chad go. He isn’t part of this.”
“He is now,” Tommy said. “Besides, he’d go to the police.”
“I wouldn’t,” I said, voice quaking.
Tommy waved the gun at me. “I’ve got no reason to believe you, Chad. We haven’t been friends for a long time.”
“And whose fault is that?” I asked.
“You’re right—mistreating you is the one thing I regret. Too bad things didn’t turn out differently after that summer afternoon,” Tommy said, placing his left hand over his right, which remained on the gun.
“What are you saying?” I asked.
Tommy scoffed. “Isn’t it obvious?”
If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought Tommy just implied he had a crush on me. But that possibility didn’t matter. Not when he could fire bullets at a moment’s notice, because I would’ve been in denial if I didn’t acknowledge my increased pulse.
“Why do you have the gun pointed at me?” I asked. “I didn’t blackmail you.”
“You make good leverage until I get my money,” Tommy said.
Mallory shook her head. “Sorry to ruin your plans, but I don’t have the money.”
“That’s a shame. I was counting on leaving town tonight, because I wouldn’t be alone this time,” Tommy said.
Archie’s brow lifted. “What? Are you leaving town with Gemma?”
“That’s for me to know and for you to find out,” Tommy said. “But if you really don’t have the money, then I should just kill Chad.”
Mallory grumbled at Tommy. “I bet you stole the flash drive from my bedroom.”
“Yes, I did,” Tommy said, smirk expanding. “You should’ve known better than to leave your spare key under the doormat.”
Mallory tossed her hair over her shoulders. “You’re unbelievable.”
“Sometimes I forget how clueless you are,” Tommy said. “If I was gonna extort money from you, then I had to make sure you didn’t have any leverage.”
“Where’s the flash drive now?” Mallory asked.
Tommy cackled. “Someplace safe.”
I smacked my hands together. “Please, Tommy. You don’t have to murder me.”
“It’s not like I wanna kill you. Mallory just needs to know actions have consequences.” His tongue wet his lips. “Any last words?”
Fuck. Tommy was gonna shoot me, and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it. And that fact was just great. Robbing me of my entire future might’ve been the universe’s greatest sin against me.
“Just do it,” I mumbled.
“Things could’ve been so different,” Tommy said, hands still wrapped around the gun.
“Go to Hell!” Mallory grabbed the bookend on the mahogany table in front of us, then smacked it against Tommy’s head.
Tommy collapsed onto his back after teetering backwards. The gun clanked against the floor, yet by some miracle, it didn’t go off. Blood trickled from Tommy’s forehead, splattering onto his shirt and staining it red.
“Come here, Chad.” Archie opened his arms, inviting me in for a hug.
Regardless of our relationship status, I fell into his chest with the same grace of a ballet dancer preforming a recital. Archie continued patting my back. I even sobbed while my head remained buried in his shirt. This evening was the closest I’d ever come to dying, and it couldn’t happen again. No matter how irksome the universe was, I deserved to live my life.
I couldn’t forget about another fact, though—Mallory saved my life. I didn’t know what I would’ve done if she hadn’t hit Tommy in the head with a bookend. And as much as I wanted to blame Archie for remaining frozen, I couldn’t. I would’ve done the same thing as him. Doing nothing was sometimes the easiest thing.
AFTER
THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2019
A humid breeze trickled through the air while the moon’s glow provided extra lighting. I shuffled to the end of my driveway while crickets chirped from a nearby pond. Then, I got into the car parked by the curb.
I cocked my head. “This couldn’t have waited till morning?”
Kelly bit her nail. “We can’t have this conversation at school.”
“Doesn’t mean this clandestine meeting is any less creepy.”
“You’ll get over it.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“I can’t do this anymore. We need to find a way for Mallory to be released from the sanitarium without implicating ourselves.”
“It’s too late for buyer’s remorse.”
Kelly sneered. “Mallory is the only family I have.”
“You weren’t thinking about that when you inherited your parents’ money.”
“I was wrong—there’s more to life than being rich.”
“We’re not changing the plan—not now. I worked too hard for my happy ending with Archie, and your conscience isn’t gonna ruin everything.”
“How can you be so cold?” she asked.
Kelly needed a reality check ASAP—she couldn’t have said what she had. Nothing could ruin my now perfect life, and I’d repeat that sentiment as much as I needed to. I deserved a happy ending after all the crap that occurred since the beginning of the school year, and I wouldn’t let anyone tell me otherwise. Judging me was also much easier when Kelly hadn’t dealt with half the stuff I had.
I rolled my eyes. “Have you forgotten everything your sister did to me? Like her indecent proposal scheme last fall?”
“That’s in the past,” Kelly said.
“People don’t change. I believe a person once they show me who they are,” I said.
“That’s harsh.” Kelly paused for a beat. “Have you forgotten how Mallory saved your life?”
I chuckled. “We both know that isn’t the whole story.”
“What are you talking about?” Kelly removed her leather jacket and placed it on her lap. After that, she scowled. “Don’t tell me you’re so delusional that you can’t acknowledge how Mallory saved your life?”
“That’s only partially true, because there’s something you don’t realize,” I said.
“And what’s that?”
“I saw everything.” I pressed my head against the front passenger window while an animal howled. Hopefully, it wasn’t a coyote attacking a deer. I cringed just from imagining a coyote’s teeth ripping apart the deer’s flesh, making blood spill everywhere. Kind of like my current emotional state from the direction our conversation would soon take. There was no undoing my revelation once I dropped it.
Kelly snorted. “I should’ve known you were making an empty threat.”
“Hardly.”
My head remained against the car window while my mind drifted back to the Snowflake Ball. More specifically, what happened after Mallory smacked Tommy in the head with a bookend. Mallory didn’t realize I knew something she didn’t, and that was worth more than free Starbucks for life.
***
“Shit!” The bookend fell from Mallory’s hand while we hovered in front of Tommy’s body. “What did I do?”
Archie sighed. “Don’t apologize. Chad would be dead if it wasn’t for your quick thinking.”
“That doesn’t mean Tommy deserved to die,” Mallory said. “We were only supposed to rough him up.”
Wow. For once, I hadn’t shuddered from something Mallory said. Her contradiction—despising Tommy one minute and then whimpering about his death the next—provided a small comfort. Perhaps she had a shred of humanity left and could become a better person. Most people wouldn’t worry about the person who tried to kill their best friend or turned their life into a nightmare.
“It was self-defense,” Archie said.
“I can’t do this right now!” Mallory exclaimed.
She darted through the living room. The deck door slammed shut after another beat, creating an echo.
Archie’s jaw twitched. “I should check on her—make sure she doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“Good idea.”
Yeah. I meant what I said. Petty jealously would’ve only made life more complicated. We needed to be aware of Mallory no matter how much rage shot through my body from Archie and Mallory having alone time. One wrong move, and we’d be in jail.
I turned my head.
Archie could’ve been the Flash, because he left before I could blink. Whatever. The sooner he dealt with Mallory, the sooner we could spin our story.
I continued surveying Tommy’s body. More specifically, the dried blood on his forehead. No matter how much I always anticipated the universe’s surprises, I couldn’t stop scoffing. One moment my former childhood best friend was alive and the next he was dead. There was just something final about death that I shouldn’t have had to deal with so early in life. Especially when his earlier vague comments were the closest thing I had to closure. That one summer afternoon tryst was the only thing I had to remember him by.
The door clinked, and I jerked my body around.
Kelly couldn’t have been home—it was only a little before eight and the Snowflake Ball wasn’t over till eleven.
The clinking conti
nued and my heart fluttered. I had to do something fast if I didn’t wanna be caught. I couldn’t check up on Mallory and Archie—not yet. Being around Mallory during one of her emotional moments was less fun than chemistry homework.
The door started opening, and I did the only thing I could. I hid against the den wall before the turn in the hallway.
My pulse hadn’t stopped vibrating in my ears despite me counting to twenty in my head. If even a small chance existed that Kelly would discover what Mallory, Archie, and I did, then I’d need sedatives for the rest of my life.
I peeked outward from the den.
Kelly’s hand remained clapped over her mouth while she stood in front of Tommy. Then, she scratched her head. “What the hell?” she bellowed.
Shit. Shit. Shit. There was no returning to a normal life. Kelly would uncover the truth in a matter of seconds, and Mallory, Archie, and I were doomed. It wasn’t like Kelly and Mallory were best friends, and she’d exert herself for her younger sister.
No matter how much my heart should’ve shattered from anticipating what would happen, nothing could’ve prepared me for what occurred next. Not a film, television show, self-help book, pamphlet, or therapist.
Tommy grunted before rubbing his eyes. “Those assholes have a lot of nerve.”
Good gracious. Tommy couldn’t have been alive—Mallory hit him pretty good, and that should’ve ended the Tommy problem.
Kelly kneeled. “What do we have here?”
“Please.” Tommy looked upward, struggling to take a breath. “You’ve gotta help me—I need to get checked out by a doctor.”
“What are you doing here?” Kelly asked. “The whole town thought you were missing.”
“It’s your bitch of a sister,” Tommy said. “She tried to kill me, and you’ve gotta help me—I beg you.”
Kelly scoffed. “I don’t care what you want. You were never good enough for Mallory, and I’m gonna end you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Tommy asked.
“It’s simple. I’m gonna do what Mallory couldn’t.”
“Huh?”
“Have fun in Hell, asshole.” In one swift motion, Kelly snatched the bookend—which was a few inches from Tommy’s head. She repeatedly smashed it against his forehead, blood gushing down Tommy’s body.
