Forks

by A.E. Davis

It was nice driving to school for a change. Gone was the dreary landscape that normally greeted me on the way. Now that the sun was shining, I drove slower than usual and even rolled down the window. Passing the Timber Museum, I looked over into the lot. The red convertible I’d seen was now gone and Bella’s Truck was one of the only vehicles in front of the visitor’s center.

  Ken still hadn’t said too much about what was going on there the other day, only that the police were looking into it and he would fill me in on the rest when he could. That was fine by me. I wasn’t sure I even wanted to know.

  When I pulled into school, I expected everyone to be outside enjoying the sun but there was only a few kids out. Weird. When it rained the kids danced and hollered but now that the sun was shining no one was out to enjoy it.

  I settled back and waited for the first bell to ring, kind of hoping Vincent would magically appear again, but as the time crept closer to the first bell I didn’t think I would see him.

  A boy with shaggy hair, wearing glasses, ran past the front of my car and jumped, just missing a bright yellow Frisbee. I’d seen him in one of my classes but couldn’t remember which one. He grabbed the Frisbee off the ground and turned to look at me. He smiled, and waved.

  I waved back.

  He jogged over to my window. “Hey,” he said a little breathlessly. “Nice day, huh?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it is,” I agreed.

  “So, you’re the new girl…Amber?” He was wearing blue jeans and a t-shirt that read: “Tribbles are Trouble.” He shoved his hand through his hair making it stick up even more than it already was.

  “Yep, that’s me.”

  “I’m Jason, we’re in English together,” he said, and flipped the Frisbee in his hands.

  “Oh, right.” Now that he mentioned it, I vaguely remembered seeing him sitting behind Viola.

  “I haven’t seen you for a few days, I was wondering what happened to you.”

  “Oh, I was sick.”

  “Dang, that sucks.” He crouched down and put his hand on my door so he was eye level with me. “I thought you were gone.” His eyes widened.

  “Gone?” I asked, frowning.

  “Yeah, didn’t you hear?” He swiped his hair away from his face.

  “Hear what?”

  “Girls are dropping like flies around here.”

  “What?” My stomach swooped but not in a good way.

  “You haven’t heard?”

  “Nah…” I shook my head.

  “Yeah, it’s like out there.” He eyed me closely.

  “What’s out there?”

  “The police have been pretty closed mouth about everything but my dad works at the Timber Museum so he was there when they found the car.”

  “Oh, the red convertible?” I asked.

  He did a double take and gave me an odd look. “So you do know.”

  “Not really.” I pulled my bag over on my lap. “I was driving past the other day and saw a lot of cops parked out in front. The entrance was blocked.”

  “Yeah, that’s when they found them.”

  “Who did they find?”

  “These girls from out of town but they weren’t in the car.” He lowered his voice. “They found them in the woods around Port Angeles. At first they didn’t know that was their car but I guess they figured it out.”

  “Figured what out?”

  “Where all the blood came from,” he said.

  “What happened to them?” I almost didn’t want to hear but I asked anyway.

  He looked over his shoulder and then turned back, lowering his voice almost to a whisper, “They were pretty messed up.”

  “Messed up?” I swallowed hard.

  “Yeah, it was like one of those massacre movies where the people get all chopped up.”

  My stomach lurched. “You’re kidding right?”

  “Nah…” He shook his head. “I wish.”

  “Wh—what happened to them?”

  “No one is saying but they think there is some Vampy stuff going on.”

  “Vampy…like real Vampires?” I asked for clarification.

  “Yeah, like real Vampires.”

  “Vampire’s aren’t real,” I said adamantly.

  “Yeah well, tell that to the girls.”

  I didn’t’ have anything to say to that.

  “Wow,” He leaned back and looked at me. “You’re pretty gullible aren’t you?”

  . “No,” I snapped.

  He laughed. “I had you going didn’t I?” He seemed quite pleased with himself. “You should see your face.”

  “Thanks.” I was sure I was as white as a sheet.

  “Aw, sorry,” he exhaled. “I was just trying to break the ice with you.”

  “There are other ways, you know,” I deadpanned.

  “Yeah, you’re right. Kirk told me not to mess with you.”

  “Who’s Kirk?”

  “My cohort in crime,” he said and lifted his hand, motioning toward the trees. “We’re normal,” he said, like being normal was abnormal.

  A boy with golden blonde hair stepped out onto the sidewalk, sunlight glinted off his hair.

  “So you were lying about all of that stuff?”

  “I was serious about some of it.” He motioned for his friend to come over.

  His friend trotted over to the car window. William Shatner’s face abruptly came into my line of vision.

  “Amber, this is Captain Kirk.”

  “Dude you’re such a….” He shoved Jason out of the way and leaned in my car. “What’s up?” He lifted his chin. “I’m Kirk.”

  “Hey,” I said.

  Jason shoved back beside him.

  “Tell her what they found in the car,” Jason said, his face alight.

  “Dude, no. I told you I didn’t want to talk about that anymore. My Fruity Pebbles aren’t sitting well in my stomach.” He rubbed his belly, lifting his shirt slightly, revealing his flat stomach. The tops of his smiley-faced boxers peeked over the top of his jeans that were slung low on his hips.

  “Come on man,” Jason exhaled. “Amber here thinks I’m lying.”

  Kirk leaned forward. There was something red on his bottom lip.

  “Um, you have something on your face, right here,” I said pointing to my lip.

  “Oh, dang,” He lifted his finger and wiped it off then he looked at it and stuck it in his mouth, sucking whatever it was off. “Hmm, that’s good…” He pulled out his finger and looked at me, his eyes darkened. “Yeah…” His lips twitched. “There was some blood, that’s all.” He leaned down and looked at his reflection in my side mirror.

  “That’s all.” Jason gapped at him and pushed his glasses back up on his face. “Tell her about the body parts too.”

  “Eww, dude.” Kirk made face. “Why’d you tell her that?”

  “She should know,” Jason said. “That’s why.”

  Kirk shook his head. “I don’t know, I mean they found something in the woods but they still don’t know what or who it was.” He glared at Jason.

  “Hey, I’m serious about the blood in the car and they did find the bodies in the woods but I can’t say if they were chopped up though.” Jason gave me a sheepish smile. “I was improvising.”

  I swallowed hard. “What do they think happened?”

  “They were probably hiking and got chomped on by a mountain lion or bear. I swear,” he sighed. “What the heck are people thinking? They come here and are like …oh woods, cool, let’s go hiking and don’t even stop to think of where we live.”

  “What’s wrong with hiking in the woods?”

  “Come on,” Kirk scoffed, “not you too.” He shook his head in exasperation. “The woods are filled with wild animals here and since it’s getting colder food is not as plentiful as before and they’re hungry. People just don’t think about that stuff.”

  “Oh.” I thought of Viktor and the bears we saw and couldn’t help but wonder if he was also that naïve
about the woods and animals that lived in them when he was attacked.

  The bell rang out in the distance.

  “I gotta jet,” said Kirk, cutting Jason a look while he was walking backwards. “See you Amber and remember, stay outta the woods.” He winked at me, turned and jogged off toward school.

  Jason hung back and waited for me to get out of the car. “I’ll walk with you.”

  “Kay.” I shut my door and locked it. Lifting the strap on my bag, I pulled it on my shoulder. “So have you heard of anything else going on?” I asked just to see if he would say something about Glinda.

  He tossed his Frisbee in the air. “Um, there was that chick from English too.”

  “Did you hear what happened to her?” I sidestepped a puddle that covered part of the sidewalk.

  “Nah, not really, I Just heard she was in the hospital via Ms. Campbell.” He tossed the Frisbee again, higher this time.

  “Oh.” I switched tactics. “So, have you heard anything else?”

  “Yeah, I always hear stuff,” he said, and jumped in the air and caught his Frisbee. “What do you want to know?” He shoved his glasses back.

  “I don’t know.” And I didn’t… not really. I was just picking his brain.

  “Huh? Let me think.” He stopped at the door.

  Reaching forward, I grabbed the door and held it open for him to go through. A girl holding a stack of boxes rushed out.

  “Hey Casey,” he called. “Where’s the fire?”

  She turned her head toward him and gave him a nasty look. “Reject,” she mumbled and walked away.

  “She’s such a kidder,” he laughed and pushed his hair from his eyes. His face was really red.

  “Is she a friend of yours?” I asked.

  “Sure, of course she is,” he covered, and walked through the door.

  “Some friend,” I said, and let go of the door, once he was through.

  “Yeah, well, she’s got a lot on her mind,” he said. “She probably didn’t realize it was me.”

  “Hmm, okay.”

  “So what were you asking?” He shifted awkwardly. “Oh right…” He moved over to my other side when the door opened to one of the classes and a few kids walked out. “I don’t know if this has anything to do with the other stuff but I haven’t seen the girl that works at Thriftway for a few days and she’s always there.”

  “Really, what’s her name?” I asked and turned the corner.

  “I can’t recall her name, but I’m sure Kirk knows. He always tries to ask her out but she always says she’s seeing one of the Roth’s.”

  I stumbled and fell into a locker.

  “Whoa… are you all right?” He reached out.

  “Um, yeah,” I lied. “I just tripped.” My heart knocked against my ribs. Was he talking about Viktor or Vincent? Was it Sandy? I felt sick.

  “When I see Kirk, I’ll ask him.” He stepped backward into a guy with a blue hair.

  “Watch it, dork,” he snapped.

  “Sorry, Curtis,” Jason mumbled. “He must be in a hurry too,” he muttered, looking at me red faced again.

  I felt so bad for him. I reached out and touched his arm. “Thanks a lot Jason.”

  “No problemo,” he said. “Anything for you…” His eyes widened. “I mean…ah…” he trailed off looking down the hall.

  I looked over my shoulder but didn’t see anyone. Stopping at the end of the hall, I stood in front of the faded blue door to my class. “This is me.”

  “Right, well…” He swiped his eyes and adjusted his glasses. “I’ll see you in English,” he said, turning quickly.

  “Okay.” I put my hand on the door, wanting to say something to make him feel better but I didn’t know what.

  “Hey, Amber,” he called. “Want to have lunch with me and Kirk today?”

  “Um…” I opened the door.

  “I mean you don’t have to, it was just…”

  “Sure, I’d love to.”

  “Cool!” he grinned and pointed at me. “I’ll see you…at lunch.”

  “Kay. See you.” I walked into class wishing I stayed home in bed.

  twenty nine

  The lunchroom was unusually empty when I walked in. Scanning the room, I noticed a few kids from my other classes but thankfully, the room was void of Sparklers for change. I spotted Jason with Kirk all the way over at the far end of the cafeteria huddled together in deep debate over something. Taking a breath, I made my way over to them while looking for Viktor or Vincent but as usual they were nowhere in sight.

  “Hey,” I said, stopping at the long table.

  “Amber!” Jason beamed, pulling himself upright. “See Kirk,” he hit his arm, “I told you she would be here.”

  Kirk turned and his eyes slid down my body slowly and then he lifted them back to my face. He didn’t seem happy to see me like Jason. Suddenly I wanted to walk right back out of the cafeteria.

  “Um, am I interrupting something?” I asked, feeling uneasy.

  “No, were just strategizing,” Jason piped in and snatched up a piece of paper.

  “Oh, really,” I said, climbing over the bench to sit down. “What are you strategizing about?” I pulled out my lunch and a bottle of water.

  “Nunya,” Kirk said.

  “Nunya,” I repeated, unscrewing the lid.

  “Yeah, nunya business,” he laughed, really hard.

  “Stop it,” Jason warned. “I told you not to.” He scowled at Kirk who didn’t seem the least bit fazed.

  “Yeah, whatever.” Kirk pulled back the piece of paper Jason had moved earlier, grabbed a pen, and wrote something down.

  “So how’s it going?” I asked Jason, trying to ignore Kirk. I took a sip of my water and put back on the lid.

  “It’s good,” Jason said sounding nervous. “You get all caught up with what you missed?”

  “Um, yeah…well, kind of. I’ll have a lot of homework to do this weekend.” I made a face.

  “Well if you need any help, you can always give me a call.” He wrote his number down on a piece of paper and handed it out to me.

  “Thanks, I will… I mean, I will, if I need help.” I shoved his number in my pocket.

  Kirk grunted and muttered something under his breath.

  “Cool,” Jason said and took a too big of bite of pizza. He could barely shut his mouth.

  Kirk balled up the piece of paper and threw it across the table at Jason.

  Jason batted it away and the ball of paper rolled under the table. “Kirk, tell Amber what you told me,” he said, chewing with his mouth open.

  “What?” Kirk widened his eyes, acting oblivious.

  “You know,” Jason prompted, “about the girl you like from Thriftway.”

  “Oh, her.” Kirk shrugged. “There’s not much to tell.”

  “Dude you are so lying.” Jason dropped his pizza on a paper plate. “What is wrong with you?”

  “Nothing,” Kirk snapped. He pulled the paper off his straw and wadded it up, then flicked it across the table.

  “So, tell her,” Jason said and lifted his can of soda and took a drink.

  “What about the girl at Thriftway?” I asked.

  Kirk swung his head around and looked at me with narrowed eyes. “What’d you want to know?”

  “Um, nothing really,” I lied and unwrapped my sandwich.

  “Come on, Amber, just ask him.” Jason took a swig of his soda.

  I stalled and smoothed out the wax paper from my sandwich. “I was just wondering what happened to her, it’s not that big of a deal.”

  “If it isn’t a big deal then why do you even care what happened to Sandy?” Kirk asked… venom in his voice.

  Sandy? My stomach flopped and my heart rate sped up. I somehow knew that was who Jason had been talking about earlier. I wanted to ask him which Roth brother was dating her but didn’t know how to go about it. Kirk didn’t seem very forthcoming.

  “Come on Kirk, don’t be a jerk,” Jas
on said and then laughed. “Kirk the jerk,” he laughed harder.

  “Keep it up Jason,” he warned.

  “Get over it Kirk,” Jason snapped. “Just spit it out.”

  “Fine,” Kirk exhaled and turned. He gave me his full attention. There was something about his demeanor that set my nerves on edge.

  He lifted his brow. “Let me guess, you want to know which Roth brother is dating my girl Sandy?” He gave me a smug look. “Is that right?”

  “Um, not really,” I lied. “I was just wondering where she’s been.”

  “You two friends?” he asked, with a look of disbelief.

  “No,” I said and shook my head. “I’ve talked to her a few times though.”

  “Hmm…” He seemed to contemplate my answer. “Well, there’s not much to say. I asked her out and she said no.” He shrugged indifferently.

  “She is really pretty,” I said, trying to get on his good side. Mom said you catch more bees with honey than vinegar. “I can see why you asked her out.”

  “She’s more than pretty,” he scoffed, giving me another one of his looks, which were getting on my nerves. “She’s hot and you’re …not.” He snickered meanly.

  Donkeyhole! My face flamed.

  “Kirk!” Jason snapped. “He’s just kidding,” he assured me, and gave me a sympathetic look. “You’re hot too… just in a different way.”

  “It’s okay,” I said. “He’s right, she is hot.” I wrapped back up my sandwich and put it in the bag. My appetite officially shot.

  “You think she’s hot too?” Kirk asked looking bewildered by my honesty.

  “Of course,” I said, picking up my apple. I twisted the stem. With each turn, I silently said a name—Viktor and then Vincent. The stem broke in the middle. I stared down at the broken stem. Well that didn’t help in the least.

  “Hmmm,” Kirk murmured, and stacked his books back on top of each other. He turned toward me. “I did ask her out but one of the Roth’s came in and …”

  I hung on his every word, not because I really wanted to know but because I somehow needed to know.

  “The truth is…” he hesitated, looking dejected. “ I don’t really know which one she is seeing.”

  “You don’t?” I couldn’t mask my surprise.

  “Nah, it’s hard to tell.” He shrugged.

  “Why’s that?” I set the apple down.

  “They both show up when she’s working.”

  “Are you sure they’re not just buying groceries?” I asked hopefully.

  “I doubt that.” He gave me an indignant look. “Besides she’s friends with Viola.”

  “Viola?” I asked and took a sip of my water, wondering how she made it into the conversation. She was the last person I wanted to talk about.

  “Yeah, she’s their sister,” Jason cut in, his mouth full of pizza.

  I choked on my water, coughing. “Viola is their sister?” If I wasn’t already sitting down I would have probably face planted on the floor.

  “You should see your face,” Kirk taunted, laughing. “Guess you didn’t know that did you?” He seemed a little too pleased.

  “No, can’t say that I did.” I stared down at the floor afraid at what my face would reveal if I looked at him. I spotted the balled up paper, put my foot over the top, and dragged it back under me.

  “Don’t you notice the resemblance?” asked Jason. He picked off his can tab and flicked it over at Kirk who had his fingers propped on the table like a football field goal.

  He missed.

  “Now that you mention it, she does look a lot like Viktor but not Vincent.”

  “Yeah,” Kirk piped in. “That’s because she’s Viktor’s twin.” He chuckled, shaking his head, giving me a look like I was stupid.

  “What about Vincent? Isn’t he our age too?”

  They both looked at each other and laughed.

  They were getting on my nerves.

  Jason smashed his soda can on the table. “Vincent, he’s …”

  “Jason,” Kirk said in a warning tone.

  “I’m not saying anything,” he defended and rolled his eyes.

  “You better not.” Kirk gave him a death stare.

  I didn’t get it. I looked between the two of them. Obviously they both knew something, but neither one was going to tell me—at least not while the other was here. I would just have to ask Jason when Kirk left…

  As if on cue, the warning bell rang.

  Kirk climbed out off the bench. “Well it’s been real and it’s been fun but I wouldn’t say it’s been real fun. Ha!” he laughed. “Get it.”

  “Yeah, yeah, Kirk we get it,” Jason said. “How could we not. We’re not stupid.” He rolled his eyes.

  “Could have fooled me,” Kirk said and looked directly at me. I suddenly wanted to kick his shin. Jason was right… Kirk is a jerk.

  Jason looked at me. “Amber, just ignore him, I always do.” He cut Kirk a smug look.

  “I gotta go,” Kirk said and looked pointedly at me. “I’ll see you Amber.”

  A shiver of dread washed over me. “Yeah, not if I see you first,” I muttered.

  Jason laughed obnoxiously. “She got you Kirk.”

  Kirk’s lips twitched like he wanted to laugh. “We’ll see,” he said. He grabbed his bag and walked away.

  “Sorry, Amber,” Jason said. “I don’t know what his problem is.”

  “It’s not your fault,” I told him, and balled up my lunch.

  “Here,” he said lifting his tray. “Let me get rid of your trash and then we can walk to class together.”

  “Okay, thanks.” I set my bag on his tray. Once his back was turned, I reached under the table, grabbed the paper, and stuffed it in my messenger bag.

  My heart was pounding by the time he made his way back to me.

  “You ready?”

  “Yep,” I said and hoisted my bag on my shoulder. I followed him out of the cafeteria making a vow to myself, to eat in my car for now on.