The Creek

by Jennifer L. Holm

  She abruptly realized that she could scream and no one would ever hear her. What had she been thinking, to run into the woods? she wondered. Wasn’t this Caleb’s home turf? Didn’t he flush kids like small game into the deep, dark woods and then do terrible things to them?

  And then, suddenly, she was falling, her foot caught in a tangle of vines, the flashlight flying from her hand. For a moment she didn’t move—the wind was knocked out of her—but then she heard him gaining on her and she was up and off again, her knees wet with fresh blood.

  She kept moving, no matter that her knees stung and her stomach was tight with fear. She was the fastest kid on the block, and it was speed alone that was going to get her out of this. She had a bad feeling that he was catching up to her, but she couldn’t risk pausing and looking back, and she was thinking that maybe he was going to get her after all when it suddenly appeared out of the darkness—the big, thick old tree, the one wide as a child. Wide as her.

  Penny slid her slim body behind the tree, flattened herself against it, and went still, the way Mr. Cat did when he was stalking an unsuspecting bird. She closed her eyes and gulped, trying to slow her breathing by sheer force of will. The figure paused as if looking for her and then turned away, disappearing into the shadowy trees.

  She exhaled in relief.

  A hand grabbed her shoulder. She whirled around, a scream in her throat, blinded by a bright light shining into her eyes.

  It was Mac.

  “You’re It,” he said with a grin. And clicked his flashlight off.

  CHAPTER 4

  The phone calls began at the crack of dawn.

  First Mrs. McHale called Penny’s mother to say that she had seen Caleb lurking outside the liquor store. Then Mrs. Albright called to say that she had seen a boy who looked suspiciously like Caleb hanging out by the old stone bridge at the bottom of Lark Hill. Finally Mrs. Bukvic called to say that she had heard from another mom that Caleb had been seen clear across town, sitting outside the gas station, at the very same time he was supposed to have been lurking outside the liquor store and hanging out by the Lark Hill bridge. After that, Penny’s mother had taken the phone off the hook.

  Even so, Penny knew her mother was discomfited by all the calls, because the first words out of her mouth to Teddy and Penny were, “Listen, you two, I don’t want you going down to the creek.”

  Penny’s eyes flicked over to Teddy.

  “You mean because of Caleb?” Teddy asked nervously.

  “No, not because of Caleb,” Mrs. Carson said, her mouth twitching. “Why would I say that?”

  “That’s what the other moms are saying,” Penny said, knowing she was pushing the right button.

  Even though her mom was friendly with the other mothers, Mrs. Carson made a point of insisting that she had different ideas about how things should be done. And Penny knew that the other mothers sometimes talked about her mom behind her back, saying that she was too liberal.

  “Absolutely not. That’s all nonsense. I want you to stay away from the creek because there’s no one back there to supervise you. You can drown in an inch of water; that’s all it takes. Not to mention, there was that boy who got hurt last summer.”

  “Can we still play in the woods if we promise not to go in the creek?” Penny wheedled.

  “Yeah, please, Mom? Otherwise our summer will be ruined!” Teddy added with dramatic flair.

  Mrs. Carson looked between them and sighed. “I suppose so. As long as you promise to stay away from the creek.”

  Penny nodded. “We promise.”

  The swimming hole wasn’t the same thing as the creek, exactly.

  Penny, wearing her new yellow swimsuit, stood on the edge of the swimming hole trying to decide if she should dive in or just jump.

  The water was much lower than usual, and it was dark and slimy because it hadn’t rained in weeks. Parts of the creek were dry as a bone. But the swimming hole was the deepest part of the creek, a cozy little bend deep enough to dive into if you were careful. And they were all careful; nobody wanted to end up like Frankie Thomas, the kid from Finch Road who took a dive last summer and hit his head on the bottom. Her father said that he was a real vegetable now, that he couldn’t do anything for himself, not even go to the bathroom.

  Benji, wearing cutoff jean shorts, took a running leap off the mossy side of the creek, grabbing a rope hanging from the tree. He swung out over the swimming hole like a maniac, hung in midair for a moment, and then, clutching his knees, plunged into the water, hollering, “Cannonball!”

  He made an enormous splash.

  Heartened, Penny took a deep breath and jumped. She came up, spitting water, to see Mac crouching in the mud, digging at crayfish with a stick. He speared one and waved it about triumphantly.

  The trapped crayfish wriggled futilely.

  Penny tugged at the seat of her swimsuit. It kept riding up and was giving her a wedgie. She peered into the thick woods, the familiar sound of crickets chirping doing nothing to dispel the fear in her belly. She had told the boys about being followed during flashlight tag, but they dismissed her fears.

  “Penny, it wasn’t Caleb, it was me,” Mac had scoffed.

  And while that seemed to make sense, Penny still couldn’t shake the feeling that he was wrong, that somebody else had been following her the previous night.

  Penny paddled around, her feet trailing in the water. She felt a twinge of guilt about disobeying her mother, but it was very hot, and besides, she was a terrific swimmer. The creek was perfectly lovely, better than any old pool, Penny thought.

  Was it only two summers ago that she had taken swimming lessons with Amy in the big, deep public pool across town? She remembered how much fun they’d had, how Amy had urged her on whenever she’d been tired or discouraged. She didn’t understand why Amy wouldn’t play with them now, or why she was so mean to her. Ever since Amy had turned fourteen, she’d been different.

  It had happened in the blink of an eye. One day Amy was her friend, and the next day she acted like she didn’t even know her. Penny had been so surprised she’d just stared at her, dumbfounded; she’d had the same startled feeling she had when she tripped over her own feet. How did that happen?

  And so she kept going back to Amy, thinking each time that her friend’s behavior had been some sort of freak accident, like a solar eclipse. Except every time from that point on, Amy was mean to her, cruel in a way Penny had seen other girls be to each other. Amy acted as if Penny was some kind of lowlife insect to step on and make fun of. It was like she hated her now.

  At a birthday party months ago, Amy had locked Penny in a closet in the basement with a boy who tried to kiss her until she had started crying. The whole time, Penny had heard Amy shrieking with laughter outside the door.

  Now Penny’s own birthday party was fast approaching, and while she usually looked forward to birthdays, she was feeling some trepidation. She was turning thirteen, an unlucky number if ever there was one. Still, she harbored a secret hope that Amy would be nicer to her once she was thirteen. That everything would be normal again.

  “I lost my glasses! I lost my glasses!” Teddy howled.

  Teddy had to wear his glasses to swim, and he was always losing them in the water.

  Penny sighed. “Where?”

  “I don’t know!” he said, anxiety rising. “They just fell off!”

  “Okay,” she said in a calm voice. “I’ll find them.”

  She took a deep breath and dove into the water, swimming hard. She opened her eyes but couldn’t see anything; it was too dark and murky. Her fingers touched the silky bottom and she groped around, brushing slimy weeds and something sharp. An aluminum can? Then she needed to breathe, so she struck out for the surface.

  “Find them?” Teddv asked hopefully.

  She shook her head and, taking another deep breath, dove again. She worked her way gingerly along the bottom and felt something scuttling around. Probably a crayfish. She kept reaching, and then
she felt the plastic earpiece of the glasses, tangled in a clump of something, something sort of oval-shaped, she couldn’t tell what. She tugged hard but the glasses wouldn’t break free, so she reached down with both hands, just ripped the whole clump out, and swam for the surface.

  “Found ‘em,” she called, holding the thing in her hand high. Penny put the clump on the bank and pulled herself out, breathing hard. She rubbed at her eyes, and when she looked up, the boys were staring at her.

  “What?”

  Teddy was white as a ghost.

  Penny looked at the clump, except it wasn’t a clump at all. It was a small skull—Teddy’s glasses were stuck in the eye socket. Penny stumbled back in horror.

  “Looks like a dog,” Benji said, kneeling down to inspect the slimy greenish skull.

  Oren blanched, and then sighed in relief. “The head’s too big for Bozo.”

  “It was shot,” Benji said grimly. “Look.” He pointed to a hole in the back of the skull.

  “Could’ve been a hunting accident,” Mac said, but even he sounded skeptical.

  “I don’t think so,” Benji said. “It’s like a mob execution. Bam! Right in the back of the skull.”

  “Yeah.This would be just like Caleb. What a sicko,” Oren said.

  “Toby said they were always finding dead animals in the woods back then,” Mac said.

  “Is it recent?” Penny asked in a hesitant voice, water dripping down her leg.

  Benji shrugged. “Hard to say.” He fished Teddy’s glasses out of the eye socket. “Here.”

  Teddy took them gingerly and then went down to the water to rinse them off. He slid them on, looked at the kids, and said, “Maybe we shouldn’t swim here any more. There might be more animals in there.”

  “Or worse,” Oren whispered.

  Penny looked at the murky water and shivered.

  Penny felt like she was going to melt, just like Frosty the Snowman. She was going to turn into a puddle of water, but instead of a carrot and corncob pipe, all they’d find was a batting helmet and Teddy’s brand-new Louisville Slugger bat.

  It was dusk, the perfect time to play softball. She usually liked being up at bat, but the pressure was on thanks to Zachary, their lame right fielder who had missed every ball hit his way, even the easy fly balls. They had gotten stuck with Zachary because old Mr. Schuyler, the umpire, thought all kids should play, no matter how fat, or stupid, or just plain inept.

  The softball competition was the brainchild of Mr. Schuyler, a retired farmer. He had painted the cul-de-sac with bases and personally supplied batting helmets and balls and bats. Childless themselves, Mr. and Mrs. Schuyler were the block’s official grandparents.

  The kids competed by streets. The games were held after supper, and all the parents dragged lawn chairs down to the cul-de-sac and watched their kids and gossiped. So, in addition to the pressure of being one run behind and having two men on base and two outs, Penny had the added distraction of the parents gossiping. She kept overhearing snatches of conversation. From what Penny could gather, Amy Bukvic had been seen riding around in a car with some boy. It was widely speculated that this boy was bad news because, as Mrs. Albright declared, he was coming by during the day, when the Bukvics were at work. Penny was very surprised to hear grownups discussing kids like this. And then the topic abruptly changed.

  One of the mothers asked, in a hushed voice, “Anyone seen Caleb?”

  Penny stole a look at the Devlins’ house.The driveway was like a car graveyard. There was an ancient Cadillac on cinder blocks, a rusting Impala, and a Chevy Nova that looked like it had been stripped for parts. There was also a gleaming, new-looking Harley Davidson. No sign of the red Trans Am, though. The blinds were drawn and the porch light turned off. It looked like no one was home.

  “Yo, Penny!” Mac shouted.

  A ball was coming right at her. She swung too late.

  “Stee-rike one!” Mr. Schuyler called.

  “Penny, wake up!” Mac hollered.

  Penny sighed and hunkered down, trying to pay attention. A lot was riding on her. The winning team was taken to Wallaby Farms for ice cream.

  Mrs. McHale said, in a strident voice, “I told Angus that he better not go into those woods.”

  “I won’t let Benji go, either,” said Mrs. Albright. “But I have a bad feeling that they go down there anyway. Bud said some lumber at the range is missing. I bet they’re building one of their forts.”

  Penny winced.

  And then Mac was shouting and the ball was arcing right past her. Penny forced her arms to move, swinging fast, tipping the ball with her bat. The ball went sailing into the air above Penny, behind home base. The catcher dropped his mask and ran to get under the ball, glove out. The ball landed with a thump in the soft oiled leather and then bounced out, startling the catcher.

  “Strike two!” Mr. Schuyler called in a disappointed voice, as if he knew Penny could do better than that. While he was supposed to be an independent umpire, it was well known that he pulled for the Mockingbird Lane kids.

  Mac glowered.

  Penny made herself stare at the pitcher. The kid spit in his glove, kneaded the ball, and then looked Penny straight in the eye, trying to psych her out.

  Kids from the Wren Circle team started shouting, egging her on. “Hey, batter, batter, batter!”

  “Have you heard from Susie lately?” Mrs. McHale asked in a tentative voice.

  “Not a word,” Mrs. Albright said. “I’m almost afraid to call her. Wait ‘til she finds that they let him out.”

  “Poor Jeffy. I still can’t believe it,” Mrs. McHale murmured. “And he was such a nice boy.”

  Who was Jeffy? Penny wondered. Who was Susie?

  The pitcher wound up and threw. She relaxed and swung hard, her bat connecting with the ball. It went flying. She dropped the bat and started to run, but it didn’t matter, because the ball had landed on the Bukvics’ front lawn. Automatic home run.

  “Way to go, Penny!” Mac whooped.

  Penny grinned in relief.

  Penny was sprawled next to Teddy on the couch in the den, watching television, her belly full of strawberry ice cream, her favorite, when Mrs. Evreth appeared at the door, toting Zachary behind her.

  After the game Mr. Schuyler had driven everyone over to Wallaby Farms for ice cream. Well, everyone, that is, except Zachary, who was in the bathroom when they left. It had been hilarious to watch him rushing out of the Albrights’ house, running after them as Mr. Schuyler’s pickup truck drove away, leaving him in the dust. Mr. Schuyler, who was starting to go deaf, hadn’t even heard Zachary’s shouts.

  Now, watching Zachary stumble forward, his hair matted with blood, tears streaming down his face, a huge bruise on his cheek, Penny was thinking that maybe it hadn’t been all that funny.

  “Who clobbered you?” Teddy asked in a stunned voice.

  This was the wrong thing to say.

  “Doctor!” Mrs. Evreth wailed, her thickly coifed curls bobbing frenetically. “Why has God done this to me? I can’t believe this. I really can’t.”

  Mrs. Evreth, a divorced single mother, belonged to some strange born-again sect and was always trying to get the kids to come to her “Bible group.” Needless to say, none of them ever took her up on her offer, and everyone generally avoided the house at all costs.

  “I sent the poor dear to the market for ice cream and some hooligan beat him up,” she continued in a rush. “My poor little baby!”

  “Little,” Penny thought, was not a word that described Zachary Evreth.

  Zachary drew a ragged breath. His skin, which looked positively rubbery to begin with, looked even paler in the white light of the kitchen.

  “What happened, buddy?” Penny’s father asked gently, sitting Zachary down on a chair. Her mother, who was used to people showing up in her kitchen like this, pulled out a box of bandages and medical supplies.

  “Go on, Zachary, tell the doctor what that boy did to you,” Mrs. Evreth coaxed.r />
  He wore a pained expression. “He punched me like a hundred times right here,” he said, tapping his chest. He held out his arm. “And he twisted my arm. It really hurts.”

  “And he smashed you in the head, too,” Teddy added helpfully, pointing at Zachary’s blood-matted hair.

  “Oh, yeah,” Zachary said.

  Dr. Carson put his hands on Zachary’s chest. “Does this hurt?”

  Zachary gave a huff of pain.

  “And here?”

  A wheeze of discomfort.

  Penny’s father gently touched Zachary’s shoulder, and Zachary yelped.

  “Look, Zachary, we’re gonna have to take you to the hospital,” he said in a deceptively calm voice.

  “The hospital!” Mrs. Evreth screeched.

  Penny and Teddy exchanged a wide-eyed look.

  “It’s nothing to worry about, Bernadette,” he explained patiently.

  “But the hospital!”

  “He needs to get an X-ray.”

  “An X-ray!”

  “Yes, an X-ray. He may have a dislocated shoulder, and I want to rule out any broken ribs.”

  Mrs. Evreth burst into tears. Zachary’s lip worked tremulously, as if he, too, was getting ready to cry.

  “Bernadette, calm down. Zachary, why don’t you sit here and relax while your mom and I talk for a moment,” her father said, steering Mrs. Evreth into the adjoining living room, with Penny’s mother following close behind.

  Mrs. Evreth’s loud voice rang through the house. “Poor Zachary! He doesn’t even know how to defend himself. I don’t know how he’ll survive his teenage years!”

  “Now, Bernadette,” her father murmured soothingly in his doctor voice.

  “And he won’t even say who did it!” Mrs. Evreth wailed, her voice rising in pitch. “I just know it was that Caleb Devlin! He’s back! I heard from one of the girls in the hair salon!”

  Looking at Zachary’s pathetic figure, Penny felt a twinge of regret. She knew he wouldn’t have gotten beaten up if he’d been with them at Wallaby Farms.