"Have you heard from your parents?" Lena asked as she set the fuzzball dog down on the tile, where he wandered off to scoot underneath the sofa, no doubt in search of dust bunnies.
"Yeah, they called a few minutes ago." Megan replied, filling a large pot with water and setting it on the heated stove to boil. "They went skiing all day. Seem to be having fun."
Lena thought back to her own parents, her father going to weekly doctor appointments, the date to his surgery ticking closer and closer. Her mother, she barely ever saw, certainly not often enough to talk. She could not imagine either of them skiing.
"Good for them!" she replied, watching Robert gently place Sarah on the sofa before doing the same with Georgia. They laughed, tackling to him, and he fell to the floor with a grunt. "Argh! You got me!" he groaned, before "dying", rolling his eyes back and letting his tongue loll out of his mouth, his arms flung dramatically to the floor. Their laughter was loud and unending.
Sarah shook his arm. "Come on, Robert!" she insisted sternly. "You can't be dead yet! We're going to watch a movie!"
Robert miraculously came back to life. "Oh, alright then. I'm not dead yet." He winked at Megan, who rolled her eyes and began searching through the pantry, where she pulled out a box of macaroni; several packages of cake mix and taco seasoning also tumbled out of the cabinet's overcrowded contents onto the floor, so Lena helped Megan put them back in their spots.
"Get me some butter and milk, will you?" Megan asked Lena, pointing to the refrigerator. Lena did so and measured the correct amount out, mixing it into a measuring cup with the cheese flavor packet; Megan dumped the dry noodles into the roiling water.
Without being asked, Lena went to the refrigerator again, emerging with her arms full of a bag of lettuce, a very squishy tomato, a bowl half-full of baby carrots, and a yellow bell pepper. Without saying a word, Megan handed Lena a cutting board and the girl set out to assemble a salad, mindful of the Whitgrass family rule of including one healthy item with every meal.
"Robert!" Megan called to the boy, who was playing Dinosaur with the girls (a game which involved crawling around on the rug, yelling "ROAR!" and the occasional "CAW!"). As far as Lena could tell, that was more or less the entire game.) "Make yourself useful and help the girls set the table, would you?"
"Awh!" they all complained, Robert even nosier than the twins. Lena hid a smile; he acted like such a little kid sometimes. She watched as he helped the girls to their feet, padding over to the cabinets to collect plates and silverware, cups and napkins.
Slicing the bell pepper into strips, Lena felt content. It was so nice here, so different from her cold and empty house. It was chaotic, yes, a mess in every direction you looked. And there was never-ending noise; screams and squeals, shouts and laughs. But it somehow felt safer here; she was with the two people she trusted most. The quiet of her empty home was more maddening than the four hyperactive children.
And speaking of four…
"Oh, crap," Megan sighed, pouring the macaroni from the pot into a colander which rested in the sink. "Jared's awake."
"Hmm?" now that she listened, she could hear the child's snuffles and coos coming from the bedroom he shared with Peter.
"Go and get him, will you, Robert?" she called. "I'm busy!" he replied, setting the forks out.
"I'll do it," Lena assuaged before the two could argue. Setting down her knife, she made her way to the crib of the one-year-old. He was standing, clutching the bars of his crib, and his face crinkled into a frown when he saw Lena. You're not my family, he was clearly thinking. He opened his mouth to howl, so Lena plucked him from the crib, lifting him high into the air.
"Hi, baby!" she cooed sweetly, bringing him to her face to kiss his neck in rapid, noisy kisses, tickling him like she had often seen Megan do. It worked; he burst into baby chuckles. His blue footie pajamas were twisted, one foot flapping empty; Lena adjusted it and wrinkled her nose at the smell; she loved Megan dearly, but some things a sibling had to do herself.
Carrying him into the kitchen, his curly black hair tickling her chin, Lena held him out to Megan. "I think he needs changed," she explained.
"Ugh, again?" Megan sighed, but took Jared from Lena's arms, smiling at him. He smiled back. She bore the little stinker into the bathroom, and Lena took over the macaroni duty.
The table was set and the four were seated before Megan returned, smelling of lavender soap and baby powder. She set her youngest brother into his high chair, scooping some macaroni noodles and extremely thinly sliced vegetables onto his tray before sitting herself down. She held her small hand out to Robert, and Georgia took her other one, reaching for Lena's hand. Lena accepted it, and Sarah took both Lena's other hand and Robert's free hand.
Megan lowered her head and the girls followed suit. Oh! Lena realized. Prayer! She had forgotten how religious the Whitgrass family could be. She felt something fuzzy settle on her foot and smiled. Biscuit.
"Dear God," Sarah spoke quietly. "Thank you for letting Robert and Lena come visit. And please protect mommy and daddy. Please don't let daddy get stuck in the snow again."
Lena couldn't hide her grin at the childish sincerity of the prayer. Sarah continued speaking. "Please keep all girls safe from the bad man." It took Lena a moment to realize what Sarah was saying; she must have been referring to the recent killings. She couldn't place why she felt so surprised that Sarah even knew anything of what was happening. Sarah started to wrap the prayer up, but Megan interrupted with a gentle whisper. "The food."
"Oh yeah!" Sarah agreed. "Please let this food make our bodies healthy and strong. Amen."
Everyone at the table replied with "amen.", including Lena, who said it a beat too late. She blushed as everyone looked at her.
"Oh, right," Megan realized. "Robert, I forgot that you're Jewish. Does that mean…"
"I can pray, too," Robert insisted. "Being Jewish doesn't mean you can't."
"Oh." Embarrassed at not knowing much about any religion but her own, Megan stood flushed and looked down. Robert patted her shoulder and heaped a spoonful of noodles onto her plate, smiling gently.
Jared crowed loudly and broke the tension by tossing a carrot slice across the table. "Jared!" Megan insisted. "I told you; throwing food is not nice." Jared giggled, enthralled at his own cleverness.
Dinner passed in cheerful conversation, collimating with a loud argument between Sarah and Georgia between what movie they would get to watch. Georgia wanted Spirited Away, an animated Japanese movie, but Sarah insisted that that movie frightened her and that she wanted to watch the Barbie Nutcracker. Megan settled the argument.
"Georgia, you got to pick out what we'd have for dinner. Remember, Sarah wanted hotdogs? That means that she gets to pick out the movie."
Georgia pouted at this, but finally agreed when Megan promised that they could have popcorn with chocolate pieces melting inside the bowl. Robert glanced down at his watch.
"I don't know if I have time to stay for the whole movie," Robert told Megan. "I need to be home before 8:30. How about I help clean up, instead?"
Lena strongly suspected that Robert simply didn't want to watch the Barbie Nutcracker, and her suspicion was confirmed when, at the girl's loud complaining at Robert's departure, he said "How about I swing by tomorrow and take you all out to Howie's for breakfast?"
"Count me in!" Lena spoke up. Robert grinned. "Did I invite you?"
"Shut up, jerk," Lena smiled, knowing he was teasing. Sarah gasped.
"Ooh! You said 'shut up'! Mommy says that's a bad word…" Lena tried hard not to roll her eyes.
"Hey, 'shut up' is two words." She growled.
"Lena, be nice." Megan countered, and Lena sighed. "All right, sorry."
"Yeah, breakfast would be nice," Megan smiled, knowing how inexpensive meals for children under eight were, and that babies were served for free. "I'll call Peter and tell him; you don't mind picking him up from his friend's house, do you?"
"Nah," Robert agreed. "Sounds
fine. Bring the little squirt's car seat, will you?"
The 'little squirt' in question was leaning heavily on his tray, large brown eyes drooping with "the goofy look". "Uh-oh!" Megan teased. "Bedtime!" she used a damp cloth to clean the cheese sauce smears from his hands and face. "Help me tuck him in, Robert," she told him, lifting Jared from the high chair. He followed her into the hallway.
"Girls," Lena told the twins. "Can you help me take the dishes to the sink? Then you can put the DVD in and I'll get started on the dishes."
They reluctantly agreed and trailed by a sleepy-looking Biscuit began to bus the table. Lena opened the empty dishwasher and began placing cups and plates into the racks. She could hear the girls in the front room turning the television on. Didn't Robert say he'd do the dishes? She grumbled to herself. I swear he said something about 'cleaning up'. He'd better put the leftovers away.
She finished up and, pouring dish soap into its holder, switched the machine on, where it began to gurgle sluggishly.
She heard the movie begin to play, and went in search of her two friends. What's taking them so long? She wondered to herself. Reaching the hallway, she stopped cold and stared, then blinked, looking away before looking back again making sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing.
Megan was standing on her tip-toes in the dark hallway outside of the closed door of Jared's bedroom, her face tilted upwards, her hands around Robert's waist, while he bent at the knees with his hands buried in her thick, short hair. Their lips were pressed together tenderly.
Lena must have made some noise or other, because they quickly separated.
"Lena!" Megan panted. "I—um…" lip-gloss was smeared around her face.
"S—sorry to interrupt!" Lena's face felt as hot as if she had decided to stick it in the pan of boiling macaroni water.
"I did the dishes and the girl's turned the movie on so I think I'll watch it with them um I guess I'll go now and…" she babbled without taking a breath. Turning on a heel she walked as if she were a tin soldier, feeling as if she were in a daze.
She settled on the sofa between the girls, and Georgia turned to her.
"Where's the chocolate and popcorn?" she asked, clearly already bored with the movie. Without saying anything, Lena went into the kitchen to prepare it, popping the kernels in the microwave before breaking a chocolate bar into little pieces over the fluffy corn. She hadn't realized Robert was behind her until he spoke.
"Come on; time to go home," he told her, taking the large popcorn bowl from her hand. He returned to the television room and put the bowl between the two girls.
"Bye, Sarah and Georgia!" he cheerfully waved. "Lena and I need to go home now, but we'll see you tomorrow!" they waved, Sarah standing to hug him. With a hand firmly on Lena's elbow, he dragged her to his truck. She got in, unable to look at him, feeling more embarrassed than she had ever felt before.
They drove in very awkward silence and were just turning down the street when a large something appeared in front of the truck. Lena screamed as Robert slammed sharply on the break, throwing a hand automatically over Lena's face to protect her as she slammed, chest-first into the front of the car. "O—ow!" she moaned, tears pricking her eyes. Robert grabbed by her shoulders.
"Lena!" he exclaimed. "Dammit! Talk to me—are you alright?"
"I—I'm…" she struggled for words to describe the fiery pain blooming in her chest. She grasped at her ribcage, trying to rub the pain from it. Robert's gaze turned to the window, looking for what it is that caused him to hit the brakes, and he froze.
"Oh, no…" he groaned, opening the car door and hurrying in to the street. "No, no, no…" crying openly now, Lena unrolled the window, staring out desperately. What she saw caused little waves of shock to course through her system.
Robert knelt on the icy street, lifting his mother into his arms. She appeared to be awake, smiling benignly and tugging on his sleeve.
"Hey, darling…" She drawled smoothly. "Missed you." Robert's jaw was clenched firmly as he stood, carrying her to the car and setting her into the back seat. His eyes crackled and flashed with a wild, burning fury, and it slowly dawned on Lena what was happening. Mrs. Dwane was stone-cold drunk, to the point of blacking out, the point of completely forgetting herself. He slammed the door behind her and, in seconds, she was asleep.
"Robert…" Lena whispered, horrified, as he slid in the car. He turned to her, thrusting his face into hers.
"Don't ever tell anybody. Do you understand, Lena?"
Confused tears still bubbling in her eyes, Lena gaped at him, feeling like a fish in the headlights. "Robert?" He shook her.
"Do you understand?"
"Yes…" she whispered, watching as he started up the car once again to drive her the rest of the way home.
"Robert," she began. "Shouldn't we take her to the hospital?
"No." He said it so firmly, so darkly, Lena was struck silent for a moment.
"Has this ever happened before?"
He pulled into her driveway. "Get out," he told her in clipped tones. "Be ready tomorrow. Never tell anyone."
Stumbling as she hastened to her door, she heard him drive away before she even managed to dig her keys out of her bag.
Chapter Ten
Lena sat on the sofa, knees held to her chest, fingernails in her mouth. The television was on, its lighted images flicking colors across her blank face. She didn't move a muscle but to chew each fingernail separately. Sharks swam across the screen, and a narrator spoke in a deep voice.
"The Hammerhead can weigh anywhere between five hundred to one thousand pounds, depending on health, gender, and age. Reproduction occurs only once a year, when…"
"Lena, honey," a soft voice caused the girl to jump with a loud intake of breath. The blonde girl whirled around, eyes wide.
"Oh, Ness!" she breathed loudly. "It's just you."
Her older sister padded to the sofa next to her little sister. "I just got home. Didn't you hear my motorcycle pull up in the driveway?"
Lena shook her head, returning her nails to her mouth and curling her legs tighter to her body. Vanessa took her hand.
"Stop that. You're going to ruin your teeth." She examined the bitten stubs of nails. "Look; you've bitten down too much. You're bleeding; doesn't that hurt?" Lena shrugged.
"I guess so." She tugged her hand free and began picking at the couch blanket, unable to keep still.
"Why are you still awake?"
"Couldn't sleep."
They both sat quietly as an unwise fish flittered too closely to the shark and became its next meal.
"And so you decided to watch a documentary? You really are a dork, sis," Vanessa teased gently. Lena still didn't look at her.
"You can change the channel if you want to," Lena said in the same flat, dull voice. "I don't care much." Vanessa took the remote from the arm of the sofa and began flipping channels; midnight cartoons, a cooking channel, and several infomercials flashed by before the television settled back on the sharks.
"Hmm. Guess there's nothing worth watching on. Want to watch a movie instead?" Without waiting for an answer, Vanessa went to the movie cabinet, poking through the DVD's and even older VHS's. "It's really dusty in here," she complained. "When was the last time anybody cleaned?"
"Dunno."
This seemed to stop Vanessa short. Turning on her heel, she plugged her hands firmly on her hips.
"That does it. What is wrong with you?"
Lena's eyes focused on her sister's stern face and for the first time that night she seemed to snap back to reality. "What do you mean?"
"I mean," the oldest Thresh girl huffed impatiently, "that you're losing it, sis. You don't sleep much. You've stopped doing your chores. You look like a train wreck, and your grades are going down the toilet, or more so than usual anyway. Mom may not have noticed, but I noticed."
Lena blinked. "So what?" she asked sullenly. Vanessa strode forward, grabbing her sister's shoulders.
"So; this
family is getting trashed! We need you to get it together. There are four of us, Lena; me, you, mom, and dad. Mom and dad are screwy; we can't afford for you to go nutso as well!"
For what felt like the millionth time that day, Lena felt tears flood her eyes. Vanessa stopped speaking when she saw them, surprised.
"Lena, I…"
With a whimper, Lena leaned forward until she was pressing her face into Vanessa's shoulder. "I'm so scared," she choked out. Obviously confused, her older sister wrapped her arms around her sibling, sitting down on the couch so that she could hold her in her arms. Rocking back and forth slightly, Vanessa whispered.
"Tell me what's wrong, sweetie; what is it? Boys? Drugs?"
"No," Lena hiccupped, fully crying now, feeling her tears soak the off-shoulder cusp of Vanessa's pretty outfit. "Dad's dying. Mom is gone. Girls are getting killed. Robert … Elliot…" Lena dissolved for a moment, unable to make any noise but high-pitched sobs.
"Baby girl," Vanessa hissed desperately. "What are you talking about? Dad's not dying. "
"Feels like he is," Lena choked, looking upward to meet her sister's gaze. Vanessa smiled gently.
"Don't be so dramatic; he's getting the best healthcare available; mom's making sure of it. There's no way he's going to die."
"I saw him barfing in the sink, Ness; he's not good!"
"Shh!" Vanessa hissed. "Don't wake them up. And I didn't say he was good; I'm saying that he will be good. This surgery will go well. He will get better."
After a long, sniffling silence, Lena nodded. "Okay." She whispered. She would believe Vanessa, for now.
"I never see mom," she whispered, as Vanessa settled into the sofa, leaning comfortably against the plush back so that she could still keep an arm around her sister. "I haven't had a conversation with her in weeks. I miss her."
At this, Vanessa's face turned grave. "I know," she murmured, pushing Lena's dark blonde hair from her eyes. "You're right. But she can't help it; she needs to work. To save dad. I know you understand that."
Lena agreed. "I do understand. But that doesn't mean that I don't miss her. I want to talk to her, go out to lunch with her, hang out, like we used to!"
Bag of Blood - Vampire Mystery Romance Page 6
