aterovis_bleedinghearts.pm6

by Arlene Chance

  The more I thought about all this, the more muddled it all became. In movies and books they always make lists when they are trying to figure stuff out, so I decided to give it a try. I pulled a notebook out of my backpack and made a heading at the top of the page: 181

  JOSH ATEROVIS

  People Who Talked To Seth. Under that I listed Asher, Zack, Jesse, Becky, Marcus. That was all I had so far. I looked at the list and sighed. It wasn’t very much. I added a check next to Marcus’ name since I’d talked to him, for all the good that did me.

  I stared at the page for a few more minutes, even turning it around a few times, but for the life of me I couldn’t see anything else useful. It sure didn’t make the killer pop off the page the way they always did in the movies. In frustration I threw the notebook across the room and turned the computer back on.

  I was barely online before Kane sent me an instant message.

  “I LOVE YOUR IDEA!” he typed. “do you really think it’ll work?”

  “i don’t know but it’s worth a try,” I answered.

  “i don’t know why I didn’t think of it”

  “i got the idea today while i was talking to your dad”

  “i’ve got to find the right time to do it.

  does my dad know about this new plan?”

  “no, i didn’t tell him, i was afraid he’d think it was too risky”

  “he’d probably be right, but it doesn’t matter, i’m doing it anyway...if it works it’ll be worth it”

  “but what if it doesn’t work?”

  182

  Bleeding Hearts

  “don’t think like that, it WILL work! Do you have any ideas about who killed my brother yet?”

  I told him about what Jake had told me and about the frustrating list. Then he said, “well, at least you have some people to talk to now...who knows what you might find out when you talk to them”

  “i guess”

  “hey, i hafta go...mom just got home and if she catches me on here, she’ll kill me”

  “okay, bye”

  “bye, Killian, thanks again...i can’t thank you enough...i love you”

  By the time I got over my surprise and typed and sent ‘i love you too’ back to him he was already gone. I felt a little better about the list after talking to Kane, but now I was worried about my plan. What if it backfires?

  And to add the confusion, Kane had said I love you to me. What did he mean by that, just brotherly love? Or was it more? I was too tired to think about it now. I swept everything off my bad, got undressed and crawled under the covers. I’d think more about it in the morning.

  * * *

  I was watching a group of people from a slight distance away. I could see them clearly, but none of them seemed to notice me, almost as if there were one-way glass between us. I looked closely and realized that I 183

  JOSH ATEROVIS

  knew almost everyone in the group. There was Zack and Jesse, Asher, Marcus, Jake, Kane, Becky Rosinski, and someone else who I couldn’t quite make out. Seth stood off to one side, not included in their little huddle.

  They were talking casually among themselves when suddenly the shadows around them began to undulate and swirl as if they were coming to life. Several wisps of darkness separated themselves and formed into a familiar person, the faceless man.

  No one else seemed to notice him as he drew closer to the group. I wanted to scream and warn them, but I couldn’t seem to make any sound. He paused a few feet away from Seth and turned his head in my direction.

  Even though I couldn’t see his face, I knew he was looking right at me. I felt as if he was smiling at my inability to cry out to him.

  Without warning he reached out and grabbed Seth.

  There was a knife in his other hand and with one smooth, effortless motion, Seth crumpled to the ground dead. I tried to scream out again, but once again, nothing came out. The faceless man looked at me again and I could hear his cold laughter ringing in my ears. Why couldn’t anyone else hear it? No one even noticed that Seth was dead. The killer moved forward again, closer to the others. I tried to throw myself forward to stop him but I couldn’t move. I was helpless to do anything but watch in horror as he leaped into the circle and raised his knife to kill once again.

  “Killian!” someone screamed my name, but I didn’t answer. I had to stop the faceless man.

  “KILLIAN!” he screamed again, louder this time.

  I turned to see who it was.

  I found myself looking up at Adam leaning over my bed, one hand on my shoulder. I was still shaking from the dream; residual images still skated 184

  Bleeding Hearts

  around the edges of my consciousness.

  “Are you okay? Were you having another nightmare?” he asked.

  “It was awful,” I told him groggily.

  “It sounded like it,” he said with a concerned look on his face. “I talked to a counselor, but I had to get back to him with your medical and insurance stuff and I’m afraid I forgot it with all the legal stuff with Kane. I’ll call him again tomorrow.”

  I nodded; I was only half listening since my mind was still on the dream.

  “Do you think you can go back to sleep?” he asked me.

  I nodded again and he bent down and kissed me lightly on the forehead. Even with the nightmare fresh in my mind, I was asleep again in minutes. If I had any more dreams the rest of the night, I don’t remember them.* * *

  The next morning was busy; after I got up, showered, ate, and watched a few Saturday morning cartoons, I cleaned my room. While I was cleaning I came across the notebook I had thrown the night before. I sat down on my bed and looked at the list again. Maybe if I tried to talk to everyone on the list I would find out something more. I’d already talked to Marcus and all I’d gotten from him was that crack about Asher, which I’d almost convinced myself was just Marcus being a jerk. At any rate, I wasn’t quite ready to talk to Asher, so I moved to the next names on the list, Zack and Jesse. Let me think about that one; did I want to call Zack and Jesse and ask about Seth? Um...no! I’d have to find someone else to ask them about that, maybe Gilly.

  Next on the list was Becky. I didn’t know her num-185

  JOSH ATEROVIS

  ber but I thought Gilly might, so I called her.

  Gilly answered the phone and gave me Becky’s number after I explained to her why I needed it.

  She also agreed to try and talk to Zack and Jesse without raising too much suspicion.

  After we chatted for a few more minutes I hung up and called Becky. She couldn’t figure out who I was at first, but once I mentioned Gilly she was able to place me. What an ego boost. I was now relegated to accessory status, just what I’d always wanted. Oh well, if it meant I had an in with the people I needed to talk to, I could stand it.

  “I have a kind of weird question,” I told her.

  “Okay,” she said uncertainly. Actually she said,

  “Ooooo-Kay.” If you’ve ever watched the cartoon Daria and you remember the character Sandy, that’s who Becky always reminds me of, just not as exaggerated.

  “Did you ever talk to Seth?”

  “Seth was, like, that guy who was gay, right?”

  “Yeah,” I said and held my breath.

  “Yeah, I used to talk to him all the time; he was in my art class. He was really cool. That was really sad what happened to him.”

  “Did you ever talk to him outside of class?”

  “Maybe, but probably just about art stuff. He was helping with a project. I got an A on it. It was really awesome. It was this painting of...”

  “That’s great, Becky,” I interrupted, and then tried to steer her back to the conversation at hand. Becky was always a little hard to keep on track. “Did you ever see him talking to anyone else?”

  She thought for a minute, or at least I assumed she was thinking. She got quiet, but maybe she was just fil-ing her nails or whatever. Finally she came back with,

  “You know, I did see him talking to some guy a couple 186

  Bleeding Hearts

  times, but
I can’t remember his name.”

  I immediately thought of Asher. “What did he look like?” I asked her.

  I heard someone talking to her in the background and then her voice answering, kind of muffled, as if she had her hand over the receiver.

  “I don’t know, I have to go,” she finally said to me.

  “Wait, what did the guy look like? You have to have some idea.”

  “Why is it so important? Were you hot for him or something? Geez! He’s like a surfer dude or something, maybe a skater. Who gives a damn? I have to go, my boyfriend is waiting.” And with that, she hung up.

  Everything I tried seemed to turn out to be a dead end.

  I glanced at my watch. It was only a little after 2:00

  and I wasn’t supposed to be at Jake’s until 3:00, but I decided to go a little early. I was tired of sitting around my house moping and besides, maybe this person Jake was going to tell me about would be the big break I needed. I giggled to myself as I got into the car. Big break...I sounded like a cheesy detective novel.

  By the time I arrived at the Sheridan’s house it was 2:30 so I was only half an hour early. Not too bad I guess.

  I knocked on the door and Todd answered.

  “Are you here for Gilly or Jake?” he asked, then before I could answer, “Cuz Gilly’s gone shopping and Jake went surfing, although he might be back by now.

  He took the boat out. You can check out back by the creek.” He walked away leaving the door open.

  I shrugged and pulled the door to, and then walked around to the back of the house. Gilly had shown me the old boat house and dock the night I’d had dinner here, so I knew generally where it was. I had to walk through a small copse of trees to get there, so it was somewhat shielded from the house and I couldn’t re-187

  JOSH ATEROVIS

  ally see the boathouse until I cleared the trees.

  Just as I was about to step out of the trees I saw Jake coming out of the boathouse, and for some reason I stopped. He hadn’t seen me yet. His hair was wet and tousled and he was wearing a full wet suit.

  He paused outside the boathouse and rummaged through a backpack that I hadn’t noticed before, since I’d been so busy watching Jake. He pulled out a big towel and hung it over the door handle. He then pro-ceeded to unzip his wet suit and peel it down. I caught my breath at the sight of him naked to his waist. I felt a stirring down below as I watched him grab the towel and dry off his upper torso. He wasn’t overly buff but he was well defined, as most surfers are. And tan all over, at least what I could see. He reached back into the bag and pulled out a T-shirt, which he slipped over his head.

  Then he unzipped the wet suit the rest of the way and pulled it down and off. I almost passed out. I had a completely unobstructed view of Jake’s perfect butt. I took an involuntary step backwards and bumped into something warm and solid. I let out a yelp and spun around. It was Todd, and he was watching me with narrowed eyes.

  “Like what you see?” he said in a low, dangerous sounding voice.

  “Todd,” I gasped. I would have gasped even if he hadn’t just scared two years off of my life. I was still having trouble breathing from seeing Jake naked.

  “Killian? Is that you?” I heard Jake call, still down by the boathouse.

  “Yeah,” I called back, without taking my eyes off Todd.

  “Come on down, I’m just getting everything put away; I went surfing this afternoon. The waves were awesome but it was a little chilly.”

  188

  Bleeding Hearts

  “Be right there,” I yelled.

  “Go,” Todd said, still in a low voice, “But talk to me before you leave. And if you hurt my brother...or my sister...I’ll come after you.”

  I turned and walked down to the boathouse without looking back, my heart racing.

  Jake was now fully clothed and was bent over locking the boathouse door. “Hey, Killer,” he said as I approached.

  I froze in my tracks, “What did you say?” My voice came out sharper than I’d meant for it to — so much for the subtle approach.

  He looked up at me with a confused expression. “I just said hey.”

  “No, what did you call me?”

  “Killer? I’m sorry, you don’t like that?” He straightened up and left the lock hanging open in the hasp.

  “No, its okay. It just surprised me. Seth called me that.

  No one else ever has.”

  “Really? You’d think it would be a natural nickname for Killian. Especially with that killer smile of yours.”

  He added that last part with that incredible grin of his that got me every time.

  I laughed, the tension of the moment forgotten. He turned around and bent to pick up his backpack and I couldn’t help but think about his bare butt, and once again the appropriate body part responded. I must have had a funny look on my face when he turned around, because he gave me an odd look then said, “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” I managed to say.

  “You don’t look it,” he glanced meaningfully at my crotch and then gave me a lopsided smile. “So how long were you in the trees?”

  189

  JOSH ATEROVIS

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  My mouth was moving but nothing was coming out.

  How was I going to explain this? Jake would find out I watched him change and he’d be mad at me, maybe even stop talking to me.

  “Killian, I’m kidding,” he said, grinning, “I knew you were there the whole time. Did you enjoy the show?”

  “You...you knew?” I couldn’t believe what I’d just heard.

  “I saw your reflection in the window. Do you think I always change out in the middle of the yard?” he laughed. “I wanted to see how far I could go before you said something.”

  I blushed and he laughed even harder. Suddenly, he stepped in close to me and kissed me softly on the lips, then stepped quickly around me and walked away down the path towards the house. I stood where I was until I’d calmed down enough to follow him. I caught up to him near the back door.

  “By the way,” he said when I came up alongside of him. He didn’t sound quite so pleased with himself now.

  “Don’t expect a repeat performance anytime soon.”

  “I-I-I d-don’t,” I stuttered and he giggled again.

  “Oh, and one more thing,” he said with his hand on the doorknob, “Don’t worry about Todd.” I opened my mouth to say something, but he gave me a look that 190

  Bleeding Hearts

  effectively said ‘shut up’ and then went inside.

  I followed him in, wondering the whole time where the nervous, self-conscious kid from the other day had gone. This confident tease was another whole side of Jake that I hadn’t even known existed. Obviously, I still had a lot to learn about my new friend.

  “Come on up to my room,” he said, so I followed him up to his room, which he apparently shared with Todd. He sat on one of the beds and I decided it might be wise to keep a little distance, at least until I’d figured him out a little more, so I sat on the chair at the small desk that was positioned between the two beds.

  We both sat there for a few seconds in an awkward silence. Jake suddenly wasn’t looking so sure of himself. The seconds stretched into minutes with neither of us saying anything and Jake began to squirm and even had the grace to look a little queasy. I was enjoying the sudden shift in power until I realized how sleazy that was and then I just felt guilty. So I decided to break the silence, at the exact same second Jake spoke up.

  “So, you wanted to talk about...” I started as he blurted out, “Killian, I’m so sorry!”

  “Sorry?” I repeated stupidly.

  “For that whole thing down by the boathouse. I can’t believe I did that,” he was almost in tears and his hands had started shaking. “That was so not like me.”

  “It’s...okay,” I said feeling very lame, “Let’s just forget about it.” Oh yeah, like I could forget what I had seen, forget how beautiful his body was.

  He looked up at me through these incredibly thick, black lashes and I felt as if he were
looking into my soul.

  Our eyes locked for several seconds before I started blushing again and looked away.

  “Why are you blushing?” he asked me.

  “Let’s talk about something else,” I suggested, ever so subtle as usual.

  191

  JOSH ATEROVIS

  “Why are you always avoiding my questions?” he asked me.

  “Why are you always asking such personal questions?” I countered.

  We stared at each other for a few seconds before I cracked and smiled. He quickly followed suit and in no time things were relaxed and we were comfortable with each other again.

  “So,” I thought I’d try again, “you said you wanted to talk to me about the other person that you saw talking to Seth.”

  “Well, yeah—about that...”

  “Jake, don’t tell me you’re backing out on me now.”

  “Not backing out so much as offering a rain check,”

  he said with an apologetic, lopsided smile. He was the undisputed king of lopsided smiles. I found that I couldn’t even be upset with him.

  I sighed. Might as well give in with dignity, I thought.

  “So what is it now?”

  “Well, the person in question asked me to hold off for now so they can talk to you themselves.”

  “They? How many people are we talking about here?”

  “Just one, I’m trying to keep things gender neutral,”

  he grinned at me.

  “You weren’t trying to keep things gender neutral outside,” I teased. I was surprised when he blushed a fetching shade of red.

  “I thought we were gonna forget about that,” he mumbled.

  “Sorry,” I said, but I didn’t even sound convincing to myself. Jake shot me a dirty look. “Look, if you saw me naked would you be able to just forget about it?” I asked.