Stricken with enough fear to immobilize every muscle and bone in his body, Seth felt a shroud of helplessness engulf him. He was old enough to know what a burglar was, knew he must scream for his mother and father, yet he couldn’t find his voice, as if the man’s shushing had cast a spell over him. He felt his crotch go warm and wet but the sensation did nothing to spur him into action. A subtle shaking, like a deep winter shiver, overtook his legs and chest. His teeth chattered. His heart pounded. Yet he could only lie there and watch and pray to God for help.
The man in the sweatshirt took a long step across the room on his spindly legs, more dirt wafting in his wake, bent down over Joana and kissed her forehead. The twiggy fingers on the ends of his mantis-like arms cracked as he slid them under her small frame and scooped her up. Still asleep, she rolled her face into the man’s chest and gripped his sweatshirt. Seth knew she thought it was Dad, but he couldn’t find his voice or his feet to tell her it was not.
The insectile man looked back at Seth for what seemed an eternity. His eyes reflected pinpricks of light from the bumble bee, his mouth twitched and made faint smacking sounds as if he were chewing meat. He measured Seth’s features, imprinting the young boy’s face in his mind, perhaps for later use. Again, he put one bony finger to his mouth. “Shhh.” Then he turned, carried Joana out the window into the night, and was gone.
It was the last time Seth or anyone else ever saw his sister.
The next four years were spent dealing with the police, missing persons experts, the FBI. Seth met with more councilors and therapists than he could count. He was the only one who had seen the man enter the house, which made his description gospel for a long while, but as the years went by the experts began to insinuate he’d seen things differently. “All this talk of bug legs and arms is a dissociative mechanism, a way to make sense of the nightmare,” one therapist had told his parents. “By turning the kidnapper into some kind of magical demon, it helps him rationalize his shock. It’s common in small children who suffer the intrusion of a stranger, and pretty prevalent in sexual abuse cases. Unfortunately he has become so accustomed to seeing this demon in his head that he may not actually be describing the man accurately for police. We need him to remember what the man really looked like if we’re going to ever catch him.”
In the end the police and FBI had never found a credible suspect. All Seth’s parents could do was ask him why. Why didn’t he scream? Why didn’t he run or make a noise? Why had it taken him a whole hour to get out of bed and come crying into their room? Why why why!
“Still not going to the party,” Connor said. He slipped out through the opening between the pallets and pushed through the trees until he got to the edge of the hill that looked down across Farmers Road and into the park. As he’d suspected, a soccer game was taking place in the closest field. From the way the players were all running in various directions, completely missing the ball, and even standing still trying to catch butterflies, it was clearly the pee wee league. Beyond the far field he could see the grassy area people picnicked on, but it was too far away to really see anyone’s face. He scanned it nevertheless, looking for a sign of—
There! He was sure he could see Nicole and Amanita laying out on big, white towels. Of course it could be anyone, but he wanted to think it was them. He sure did hope Nicole showed up tonight. Especially now that he told Seth he wasn’t going to the party it would be the only way to see her.
He sat on the hill and looked out over the town, followed the line of small mountains that ran around it on three sides. From this height he could see the Jefferson Bridge into Victorville, could see the rock walls of the Jefferson River ravine—now nothing but a dried up creek bed full of empty beer cans and old tires. He could see most of the town as well; the high school he’d be attending in two days, the public library, the 7-Eleven at the top of Draper Road, the pizza place his folks ordered from every Wednesday night, the garage Dad said ripped everybody off, the Dennys where the high school kids hung out and ordered coffee, the used bookstore where he’d discovered George R.R. Martin just last summer and, in the distance, the shopping mall.
If he squinted just right he could make out his street, but the trees that ran down it pretty much blocked out the view of the houses. Still, he knew whereabouts his house should be. He could look two streets over and see Nicole’s street. She’d lived so close to him for so long but they still didn’t know much about each other outside of school. He knew she was a brain, she knew he played sports, end of story.
Heavy footsteps alerted him to Seth’s approach. The boy sat down, crossed his legs Indian style, and looked out over the town as well. “Sorry about that back there.”
“About getting your pansy ass kicked by Germans? Forget it. You suck at games, what can you do?”
“You know what I mean.” Seth held up the PSP. “Here, wanna play? You did steal the batteries after all. Your game is still saved on the memory card.”
“Nah, it’s okay. I played so much yesterday I dreamed I was hiding in hedgerows in the South of France all night.”
“Suit yourself. What are you thinking about?”
Connor smiled. “About tonight.”
“What about it?”
“I don’t know…” Connor pitched a rock out toward the road. “Something just feels weird.”
Seth pitched a rock out as well. It didn’t go as far. “Yeah, girls are weird.”
Saturday, 8:11pm
The sky was striated with bands of amber and violet as night settled in. Connor took in the view, finding Rorschach patterns in the clouds as he and his friend once again returned to their sanctuary. It was, after all, the last weekend night they would share together here that wouldn’t involve worries about homework for many months.
“How was your dinner?” Seth asked.
“Okay. Dad made hamburgers on the grill. You?”
“Leftovers again. Mom said she didn’t want to cook. I think the docs upped her anti-depressants. C’mon, let’s go.”
Trudging up the hill to the fort at night was a real pain. The summer foliage was thick and seemed to absorb any trace of light that got in its way. The streetlights on Farmers Road bounced some glare back up through the trees, but mostly Connor and Seth had to navigate the path by moonlight and two small flashlights.
Thankfully the path was wide and traveled frequently enough that even in the dark you had a sense of where it was before you. Besides, Seth and Connor had been there enough times at night to be experts at finding their way even if there wasn’t a path. The only real danger, aside from getting too close to the hill over the road and falling a good hundred and fifty feet straight down, was walking through a spider web.
“Mosquitoes are hungry,” Seth said.
“I’ve got Off in my backpack. Wait ‘til we get there.”
Through the trees they could see the lights on at the baseball field in the park. Must be another little league game letting out, Connor thought. They usually ended at eight o’clock.
Seth entered the fort first and lit the dozen citronella candles inside. In the enclosed space they lit things up like a sun.
“Here, let’s go outside to spray this on so we don’t light the place on fire.” Connor handed the can of Off to Seth.
“Well, d’uh.”
Both boys ducked back out into the woods for a moment and sprayed themselves with the insect repellent. As they were finishing up, they heard twigs snapping back on the path.
Connor’s chest grew tight. “You think that’s them?”
“It’s either them or the trees are walking. That part always scared me in The Wizard of Oz.”
“That’s because you’re a pussy.”
“And you’re a douchebag.”
“You’re a level 18.” Connor burst out laughing.
Seth gasped. “Oh my God, you dick. Not cool. Besides, everybody on that game cheats. They all have modded controllers!”
Seth was referring to the Halo 3 videogame, w
hich they often played on his Xbox console. The game allowed you to rank up depending on how skillful you played. Connor was at 30, but Seth had been stuck on 18 for months. It was a sore spot with the boy. Seth didn’t fare well with real sports, Connor assumed he only signed up for them so they could still hang out together during soccer season. Videogames, however, were another story. Seth was a master at gaming, and could usually beat a game in under a week. Connor was pretty terrible at gaming, he just couldn’t move the characters the way he wanted to. For some reason he excelled at Halo 3’s online gaming system, where he had a knack for anticipating other player’s moves before they made them.
The snapping twigs grew into footsteps that got closer and closer. Someone in the dark swore and made a comment about how they could be at a party. Amanita. The cherry tip of her cigarette appeared in the blackness like a rogue firefly.
A second later the two girls stepped out of the gloom and into the spotlight glow of Seth and Connor’s flashlights. “Hi, Connor,” Nicole said. She was smiling. She had changed into jeans and a t-shirt with a sparkly star on the front. Her hair had been straightened as well. Even in the low light Connor could see the purple eyeshadow dusting her lids and the reflection of her lipgloss. She looked…adult. More adult than he’d ever seen her in school.
Next to her, Amanita, also in jeans and a t-shirt was huffing and picking a leaf out of her hair. “Yeah, hi, Connor. Nice hangout. I walked into a goddamn tree,” she said, bending down and rubbing her knee. She took another puff of her cigarette.
Nicole laughed. “It was pretty funny. Just all of a sudden she fell backwards.”
“I’ve got frigging heels on. It’s not funny.”
“I’ve got some Band Aids in my backpack,” Connor said. “Did you get cut?”
“No. I’m fine. Just leave it alone.” She pushed past them and leaned on the fort. The rickety construction allowed some candlelight from inside to leak out and create a yellow aura around the whole structure. “So this is where you two cuddle up together.”
“We didn’t build it,” Seth offered. “It was here—”
“I know. The whole town knows about the hippies that built it. Looks like it should still have their corpses inside.”
“My Dad says the hippy stuff is just a myth,” Connor added.
“Whatever. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say there’s no fridge in there?”
Connor shook his head. “No. Why would there be?”
Nicole opened her Dooney & Bourke tote—Connor knew the brand name because he’d overheard the girls talking about it at school when Nicole got it for Christmas—and pulled out a pint of Jack Daniels. “We brought something to drink.” She shook the contents in the bottle.
“It’s better if you drink it cold,” Amanita added. “But we’ll have to make do. Come on, let’s go inside so the bugs don’t bite.”
“We have Off,” Seth said.
“As if. I’ve got expensive perfume on and I’m not ruining it with bug spray.” Amanita pushed her way inside the fort, made a dozen comments about the cleanliness of the space, and finally plopped in one of the car seats. The others followed her in. Seth, who knew nothing of chivalry as it was not a common aspect of video games, took the other chair, leaving Connor and Nicole to find spots on the floor.
When they were seated, Nicole unscrewed the cap of the Jack Daniels and held it up. “Who’s first?”
“Where did you get it?” Connor asked.
Amanita, still sucking on her cigarette, held out her hand for it. “I stole it from my parents’ liquor cabinet.”
“Won’t they be pissed when they find out?” Seth asked.
“They won’t care.”
“What? They don’t care if you drink?”
“You got the first part right.” She put the bottle to her lips. They all waited with baited breath to see if she’d take a swig.
The interior of the fort began to stink like bourbon and smoke. It reminded Connor of the few times he’d visited his father’s friend’s bar up state. All they needed was a toothless man talking to himself in the corner, a digital dartboard that didn’t work, and a jukebox that played nothing recorded after 1978 and the facsimile would be complete.
Connor looked at Nicole. “You drink this a lot?”
“Me? No. I’ve only had a beer or two before. Am talked me into trying this.” She moved a little closer to Connor until her knee accidentally touched his. “Oh, sorry.” She looked away.
Connor blushed and scootched away from her.
Amanita rolled her eyes. “Nic is all goody two-shoes when it comes to drinking. She’s afraid—”
“Am! Shut up—”
“—but we’re going to a drinking party later and I’m gonna help her change all that. It’s fine, Nic, they don’t drink either, right?”
Neither boy nodded.
“See. Okay,” she continued, “let me show you how it’s done.” She closed her eyes, tilted her head back, and took a bug gulp. The liquor came out so fast it spilled down her neck. Instantly she coughed and spit bourbon all over the wall. Seth yelped as her cigarette, tossed aside as she choked, landed on his lap. He quickly stomped it out. Nicole rushed over and slapped Amanita on the back like she was a baby in need of burping. Connor sat wide eyed, unsure what the hell to do.
Finally Amanita finished coughing, wiped her mouth with her hand and handed the bottle to Connor. “See, nothing to it. Your turn.”
Connor took the bottle and smelled the lip of it. The caustic fumes burned his eyes.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Nicole said. “We just thought, you know, since everyone was going to be drinking tonight—”
“No, it’s okay. I mean I’ve had some beer before. It can’t be much worse, right?”
Seth pointed at Amanita. “I think she almost just died, dude.”
“I didn’t almost just die. It’s hard stuff is all. You have to acquire a taste for it. Least that’s what Cosmo said.”
Connor didn’t really like the smell of the liquor, but he could sense some kind of eagerness in Nicole. Maybe she just wanted to go the party and drink, or maybe she just wanted to see if he was a pussy or not. Tentatively, he took a small sip. The liquid burned as it slid down his throat and lit his stomach on fire. He let out a small cough. “Not bad,” he lied.
Nicole went next. Like Connor, she took a baby sip and winced as she swallowed it. “Jesus, Am, this tastes like crap.”
“Yeah but it’ll get you drunk fast.”
“I don’t want to get drunk.”
“No, but remember what we talked about?” The two girls shared a look that made Connor uneasy.
“What’d you talk about?” Seth asked.
“More Cosmo stuff,” Amanita said and laughed. Nicole laughed with her, but for some reason it felt forced.
Nicole, still fighting the burning sensation in her stomach, handed the bottle to Seth.
“I don’t want any,” he said.
“Oh, come on,” Amanita teased, “you can’t stay a geek your whole life. Just take a sip.”
“I’m not a geek.”
“Don’t be a bitch, Am.” Nicole looked at Amanita as though she might shoot fire out of her pupils and burn her friend to ashes.
“Oh please, I’m just kidding around. C’mon, Seth. Take a sip. It won’t kill you. I read that bourbon drinkers are refined. You could use some refining.”
Seth gave the bottle back to Amanita. “Look, just because your parents let you smoke and drink doesn’t mean it makes you cool.”
Amanita took another sip and this time didn’t cough. “What is that, some kind of peer pressure speech? What are we in junior high still? If you don’t want any then don’t drink it. I was just trying to be nice. It’s not like I even want to be here with you…” She was clearly going to add some kind of epithet but cut herself off.
“Then why did you come?” Seth pressed. “It’s not like you’re exactly wanted here.”
&nb
sp; “You’re a fat piece of shit.”
“Am, just drop it,” Nicole said. She turned to Connor. “Look, maybe we should just go to the party. Are you sure you guys don’t want to come?”
The truth was he did kind of want to go. He wanted to be where the in crowd was, and he wanted to talk to Nicole, which he’d hardly had a chance to do so far, but he’d pretty much promised Seth they’d hang out here for a while, play some more PSP. All this confusion sucks, he thought. “No, it’s okay. Maybe we’ll go to the next one. You go and have fun. I’ll see you in school on Monday. Who knows, maybe we’ll be in the same classes.”
The look in Nicole’s eye made it clear she was let down. “Yeah, I hope so. Well, it was cool seeing you. I like your fort.”
With that, she turned and followed Amanita out into the woods. “Well, thanks a lot,” she whispered.
Connor poked Seth in the shoulder and motioned for him to get up. “C’mon, we should walk them down the path to the street.”
“Why?”
“Because girls like that. And it’s dark out there and we have flashlights.”
“I don’t care. Amanita is a bitch with a capital B.”
“Then do it for Nicole.”
“Don’t see why I should.”
Connor thought for a moment. “Because I’ll rank your Halo stats up to 20 for you so you get the lieutenant badge.”
Normally Seth would never accept help on a video game, but he really hated being called a noob by the other players and wanted a better badge. “Fine. But only to the street. I’m still not going to that dumb party.”
“Thanks.”
Together, they snatched up their flashlights and caught up to the girls, who were only a few feet away from the fort, moving slowly in the darkness. “Here, let us guide you back,” Connor said. Once they played their flashlight beams over the path everyone was able to walk normal.
Amanita lit another cigarette. “Can’t believe I wore my good heels into the woods.”
“You’ll be fine,” Nicole said.
Hissers Page 4
