by C. A. Rene
We walk into the cafe and I spot Ember and Adri sitting with Jake, Jordan, Cara, and Charles. Travis clasps me on the shoulder and nods towards his group and table. He wants to sit with them as he always does and that's cool. I nod and start towards Adri. Time to amp up the pressure, I need Ember to get used to the idea of her and I.
I stand behind Adri and watch as she stiffens. She can sense me even before she sees me and I take that as a good sign. I bend down and wrap my arms around her neck and kiss her cheek.
"Hey." I whisper in her ear.
"Hi." She whispers back and sends a nervous glance in Ember's direction.
I stand up and sit between her and my sister, leaning over to kiss Ember's cheek with a loud smack and grab a piece of grilled chicken off her plate. At first she looks completely murderous but then I grin at her and she rolls her eyes then focuses back on her plate.
"You're brave." Adri whispers as she eats her fries. I steal one of those, too.
"I actually just shit myself." I whisper back and she starts to giggle.
"Bro, we skating today?" Jake asks and I look up at him.
"I rode my bike today, I couldn't bring my board. Tomorrow?'
"Yeah man, that's cool." Charles chimes in.
"Or maybe we can all head over to the local bar and strip?" Ember states as she stuffs some green leaves into her mouth.
"Ew, no thanks. You're my sister. Take Vin." I pretend to shudder and everyone at the table laughs, including my stone cold sister.
"I can't believe you two did that." Ember mutters.
"Travis got talent though." I say around a mouthful of Adri's burger.
"True dat." Charles nods and we all laugh again.
"Where's Vin?" I ask.
"Sitting with the drama folks. No peasants allowed." Cara says, "Ember is the only one that will sit with her fans."
"Thank you," Ember mock bows, "thank you."
I have yet to see Ember act and I'm hoping she gets another lead role this year. I heard she did amazing last year. When the bell rings, I groan and lay my head on Adri's shoulder.
"Don't make me go to trig." I whine.
"I'll be with you," Ember grins and yanks on my ear. "Let's go."
"Ow!" I bellow and hear the table snickering behind me as Ember drags me out of the cafe.
"You have some serious explaining to do." She releases me with a shove.
"I promise no kittens were harmed in the time you were gone," I hold up my hands as she narrows her eyes at me. "Just trust that the three of us know what we're doing."
"Both of you want to date Adri, at the same time?" Her brow raises.
"Something like that." Her eyes narrow again and I hold up my hand, "let us sort it out and then we'll talk to you, okay?"
"Fine." She grounds out and stomps off in front of me.
"That looked dangerous." Travis says walking up beside me.
"Can I sleep in your room tonight? I'm scared she'll kill me in my sleep." I steeple my hands and give him my best puppy dog eyes.
"Sure..." he drawls out, "no clothes rule though." Then he winks and walks ahead.
"Did you just flirt with me?" I whisper loudly behind him and watch as his shoulders start to shake. "God damn..."
17
When trig is over, my cheeks hurt from holding in laughter while listening to Ember and Emmett's bantering, I get ready and head to the gym for baseball. I get to my locker in the change room and see Kevin sitting on a bench in front of his locker.
"Kev," I call out to him. "Can we talk after this?"
"Sure." He shrugs and begins to tighten the laces on his shoes.
It’s time for him and I to have a discussion about Coach and what I suspect happened to him. Maybe if he knows what went down with me, he’ll want to open up. As soon as I told Vin and Ember what happened, it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders. For once people who actually cared knew what happened to me and wanted to help. Ember killed Coach but that was her way of helping. I want to be a help to Kevin and whoever else that sick fuck touched.
I’ve decided tonight I will go to ‘check’ on my mother and call the police when I find her body. I really don’t want her rotting stench sticking to the insides of that house any longer than necessary. Then I plan on demolishing that whole house down to the ground. Maybe I will rebuild in a few years, raise a family and be content for once. One could hope.
I tried calling Sonja’s cell phone once last night and again this morning with no answer. What the fuck did my mother do to make her not want to talk to us? She’s put up with a lot of abuse at the hands of those monsters for years and now I know it was so she could be near me, her son. I’m worried, I can’t think of anything worse than what she’s already been through to make her up and leave, but there’s always worse and I know that for sure. When I asked Christina where she was, she just kept repeating ‘she left.’ I have a bad feeling about it.
“Travis,” Coach Wheeler sticks his head in the locker room, “almost ready?”
“Sorry Coach.” I tie up my shoes. “I’ll be right out.”
Coach Wheeler nods and closes the locker room door. He’s a good coach, keeps his hands and dick to himself, which is a plus these days. He just doesn’t have the hunger to see us as champions. The drive for that has to come from us. Coach Halbert wanted championships and accolades but Coach Wheeler just wants to make sure we have fun. Big difference. Most of the team has been conditioned to go hard and win everything we can. I hate to say it but that was because of Halbert, the newer guys on the junior team, you can see just fuck around and find baseball as an easy last period.
Today’s practice was pretty good. We focused on a lot of infield and outfield drills and I am a fucking mess. I play infield but I like to run both drills just because. The outfielders need fast burst stamina and it’s something I always lacked in. I still push through though.
After showers I find Kev sitting on the bench in front of my locker. His legs are spread and his arms are resting on his knees.
“I have a feeling I know what you want to talk about.” He mutters.
“Yeah?”
“Coach Halbert?” He looks up at me and I nod. “Yeah, I figured.”
“I found some shit at his house.” I say and his head snaps up.
“What shit?” He scratches his fingers through the growing beard on his face. “Videos?”
“Pictures.” I correct him and immediately start to wonder what the fucking perv had on tapes.
“Oh,” he drops his head again. “Of what?”
“Nothing really crazy, just that there were a lot of you… and me.”
He looks back up into my face and nods, “I thought so.”
“I was abused by him since elementary. I think he fucking followed me to this school.” I rest my head against the locker. It’s still hard to tell people this shit but Ember and Vin have made it easier. Especially since they have drilled into my head that I was a victim.
“It started in the seventh grade for me.” He starts quietly, “by grade nine he had taken it all from me and kept me quiet by threatening to expose my parents’ sham marriage.” He looks at me, “my father is gay but they stay married to hide that.”
“Fuck,” I mutter, “he was just plain evil.”
“Jeremy too, man. I think he may have had it the worst. Coach dated his mom for a few years in elementary.”
My stomach sinks at that thought and I mentally run through all the interactions I can remember between Coach and Jeremy. I realize that Kevin is fucking right. I need to speak to him.
“He changed a lot in grade nine,” I nod.
“Didn’t we all?” Kevin stands up and places his hand on my shoulder, “thanks for this. When you have that talk with Jeremy, let me know. We can do it together.”
“Okay,” I nod.
“Oh, and Travis?” Kevin turns back as he opens the locker room door, “whatever you did to mak
e him leave this school? It saved us, thank you.”
I nod and watch as he leaves the locker room. When I confronted Coach during the summer before grade eleven, I thought I was the only one he was abusing. I knew he recorded and took pictures of others but I really thought I was the only one that was physically abused. Hearing from Kevin and about him and Jeremy really hits home that this town is fucking infested and it may be time to really join ranks with Ember to exterminate them all for good.
“Did you want us to come with you?” E asks.
We are all gathered in her family room and we just finished filling in a shell shocked Adrianna on the recent turn of events. It was my idea to bring her into the fold slowly, starting with my family and what they were. I left out the part where Ember killed my mother because when the time is right, Ember can tell her exactly what it is she does.
“I think it’s better I just go over there alone and maybe call you guys once I find her.” I nod, “that way we won’t be seen coming all at once. That would be suspect.”
“So, you found your mother dead a few days ago and didn’t call it in?” Adri scrunches her nose up in confusion.
“When she admitted about my father raping Sonja and impregnating her, then stealing her infant to raise as their own, I was fucking pissed.” Her eyes widen and her mouth falls open, “so when I came back that day to talk to Sonja, I found Christina hanging in the bathroom. I was still fucking pissed and yes, I left her there.” I shrug.
“I get it.” She whispers and pulls on the end of her ponytail.
“Come here.” Emmett says as he pulls her down onto his lap and kisses her cheek. I’m glad he’s here to comfort her because I don’t have any in me right now.
E looks at them and then directly at me. When she scrutinizes my face and finds whatever it is she was looking for, she sends me a rare sweet smile.
“How about I go with you?” Ember says. “That’s not far off.”
“Fine.” I shrug. I know she won’t relent.
I pull into my driveway, put the car in park, and look over to Ember, “ready?”
“Hell yeah,” she grins, “I’m hoping Chief Moore comes himself, then I can watch him squirm.”
“Let’s go.” I chuckle at her and we walk into the house.
The smell of rotting food and sour milk has made its way to the front foyer. It’s nauseating and I quickly cover my nose and mouth with the sleeve of my hoodie. Ember though waltzes through like it’s fresh as a flower.
“Still smells like utter shit in here.” She nods as she looks back at me. I can’t help it, I start to laugh and it just explodes out of me. “You okay?” She grins.
“I think I’m starting to be okay.” I nod and walk up to her. “Because of you.” And I wrap my arms around her and hold her for a few minutes. She lets me and hugs me back.
“I don’t know if I’m helping you Travis, but I do know I can’t let anyone else hurt you. So, I will do what I have to and make sure you’re safe.”
I kiss the top of her head and release her. “Thank you.”
I head up the stairs with E close behind me. She looks over to my bedroom door and the hole in it. “There’s blood there.” She states.
“Yeah,” I nod, “I think the bitch tried to put her fist through it.”
“No,” Ember shakes her head, “the indent is too big, it looks like the top of a head.”
I stand staring at the door, transfixed by the indent that indeed looks like the top of a head. Like maybe someone was rammed into that door. I need to find Sonja because I have a feeling it's her head that hit my door and I know it was my mother that did it.
“Everything is still dead in here.” Ember calls out from my parents bedroom and I finally peel my eyes off the door.
I pull out my cell phone and call 911 as I meet E in the bedroom. I quickly relay to the operator in a shaky, terrified voice that I found my mother dead. She tells me not to touch the body and that she’s sending over police and an ambulance. Wasn’t going to touch the bitch anyways.
When the cops and ambulance do arrive a few minutes later, I watch as they pull her down from the door and lay her stiff, cold body onto a gurney.
“She took a nice cut to the face.” One of the cops says and my heartbeat picks up. I look over to E but she’s as cool as a cucumber.
“Look,” another says, “she has blood under her nails. She probably did it to herself.”
“Travis Greene?” The first cop looks at me. I nod and he continues, “the chief is on his way here to ask you a few questions.”
“Okay.” I shrug.
“Sorry about your mom.” The other cop says.
“Thanks, man.” I nod.
I watch as they cover her with a sheet and wheel her out of the room. I sit on the bed and take in a deep breath. The chief is going to try and squeeze the most information out of me. He’s going to be very suspicious since both of my parents offed themselves within a year. Two people who were the most unlikely to do so. He would know since they knew each other well.
“You okay?” Ember asks.
“Yeah, just stay in the room when he gets here.”
“You betcha.” She grins like this is the most fun she’s had all day. Fuck, maybe it is… it’s E after all.
"Ah, Travis," I hear him as he enters my parents bedroom, "we keep meeting under these horrible circumstances."
"Hello, Sir." I nod at him.
"And Miss Craven as well."
"Maybe we should speak downstairs in the family room." I say as I stand.
"Sure." He smiles and waves his arm out. "Lead the way."
I lead them to the family room and Ember sits to my left while Chief Moore sits across from us. He crosses his left foot and rests it on top of his right knee, then leans back with a weird smirk on his face.
"Tell me what happened." He says.
"I came home to check in on Mother. Her grief over Father was really bad and I knew she had upped her drinking and prescription intake because of it. I tried to stay and help her, I tried to contact many different facilities to come get her but at the end of the day she made me feel bad for getting rid of her, that's how she put it. Then a few weeks ago, she threw all my clothes off the second floor balcony and told me to move out. She destroyed my room and threatened to kill me in my sleep if I stayed." I bow my head in my hands and pretend to hold back on the tears, "I left, I did what she asked me to do but look how it turned out."
"I spoke to the neighbours while the paramedics removed your mother and they corroborated with your story about the clothing and that you seemed to be away while your mother was roaming the streets the past few weeks. Did you know she did that?"
"Yes," I nod.
"You already spoke to neighbours?" E cuts in.
"Of course," he smiles at her, "this is not just an open and shut case. I now have two people in the same household that have killed themselves in less than a year."
"Such horrible circumstances." She says mockingly while nodding.
"Listen, Travis." He starts, "there's a lot of suspicion here because your father and mother were two of the richest people in Whitsborough, and now as their sole heir, you inherit that money. It goes without saying, while you became emancipated this past summer..." He pulls out a pocket book and opens to a page, "here it is... based on your mother's inability to properly parent you, this makes it look even worse."
I can feel Ember's eyes boring into the side of my head, I didn't tell anyone about my emancipation, especially because she was going through a hard time and Vin was consumed with her recovery. I just knew it had to be done and I needed to control my own life.
"So, let me get this straight," Ember sits forward with her arms on her legs, "because Travis' father decided in a moment of weakness to kill himself, that in which drives his wife insane, then to protect himself Travis gets emancipated but still looks after his mother until she threatens his life, then because
she's weak and decides she would rather be with her husband than to raise her only son, Travis is at fault?"
"No, no" his hands come up in the air, "I'm not stating fault, I am investigating." He looks at me, "you understand, right Sport?"
That name coming from his mouth has me instantly freezing up and I lose all train of thought.
But E-knowing what that name means-flies off the couch and grabs the chief by his throat, "you ever call him that again and I will take your gun, shove it up your fat asshole, and pull the motherfucking trigger. Test me, see if I won't do it."
His hands come up and he has all the right to look uneasy right now, especially knowing exactly what Ember did to Coach while he slept peacefully at night.
"Okay, Miss Craven," he speaks soothingly, "didn't know I couldn't say that. I will remember not to repeat it."
She releases his throat with a shove and both his hands come up to rub at the skin. He doesn't take his eye off her until she is sitting once again beside me.
"I think I got enough from you today, Travis." He flicks his sight to Ember, "I will see myself out. Miss Craven." He nods at each of us then disappears out the front door.
"I'm going to make his death long and painful." She nods.
"You're going to kill the Chief?"
"Most probably," she nods. "Once I work through the list, there's no timeline right now." She speaks like it's any other day and this is her job. "Let's start cleaning this place up." She pulls out her phone and calls everyone over. We're gonna need them.
While Adri and Emmett tackle the kitchen, Ember and Vin take my parents room, I decide to sort out my bedroom. It's still a mess from the beating it took from my mother. I start by tidying all the shoes and clothes strewn across the room and flip my mattress back into its proper place. Laying underneath it is the book The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, this was the book Sonja had given to me as a child.
