Shadow

by Mere Joyce

  Something shuffles behind me. I turn in my seat, listening for the familiar footfalls of my friends.

  “Vi? Did you get it fixed?”

  No answer. I stand, gripping my cane and making my way out of the row. I could go up to the booth and find Vi myself. But I’m sure I heard someone down here already.

  “Vi?” I ask again. My cane glides along the floor as I walk. As I approach the staircase at the back of the theater, a faint scent of lemon wraps around me. Cleaning solution. The smell must be lingering from the cleanup after yesterday’s double feature.

  I reach the narrow stairwell leading up to the projection booth. The door to the booth is usually locked when the theater is open to the public, but it’s unlocked now. As I place my foot on the bottom stair, I can hear the faint sound of Vi cursing upstairs.

  I open my mouth to call her name again, but I hear shuffling behind me once more. I twist back toward the empty theater. The door to the stairs bumps against my arm. I press my free hand to it and push it flat against the theater’s velvet-draped wall. It thuds softly. And then something else thuds too. I tilt my face toward the theater’s seats as a quick-moving shadow crosses in front of me.

  “N-Nico?”

  No response. There shouldn’t be. Nico’s out in the lobby. And when he walks into a room, everyone knows it. He couldn’t be this silent if his life depended on it.

  I step away from the stairs, my cane feeling the way before me. I take one step, two, three.

  “Preston?” Vi calls down from the booth. Her voice is tight and high.

  “Vi?” I call up, turning back toward the stairs.

  “It’s gone!” she says. “Abbi’s movie. It’s been deleted.”

  Chapter Four

  “Wait. What do you mean, it’s been deleted?”

  I’m up in the booth now with Vi, and she’s sobbing. She grips my arm. Her forehead’s slumped against my shoulder.

  “I mean it’s gone!” She raises her head and sniffs again. “When I got up here to see why it wasn’t playing, the file was gone from the computer. I thought maybe it just got closed, but it’s not anywhere on the computer. So I checked the thumb drive, and it’s been deleted from that too.”

  “That’s impossible,” I say. I wish I could help her. I wish I could hunt through every document on the laptop and find the missing file. But this is the school’s laptop, and it doesn’t have voice controls or a screen reader like my own does. “Vi, it must be there, buried somewhere. Maybe Nico can look for it.”

  “Preston, I know my way around a computer better than you and Nico combined,” Vi says. It’s true. She is a computer whiz.

  I don’t know what else to tell her. It’s not possible the file just deleted itself. Not from both the computer and the thumb drive.

  “Let’s get Nico anyway,” I say lamely. Vi loosens her grip on my arm and turns toward the stairs. She’s just taken a single step when we both hear Nico returning to the theater below.

  “Hello!” he shouts. “Anyone alive in here?”

  “We’re up in the booth!” Vi shouts back. “Can you come up here?”

  Nico is up the stairs in a flash. He’s quick. I’ve told him a thousand times he should be trying out for the track team.

  “What’s up? I got my snack. Now where’s my movie?” I can smell the popcorn, and it makes my stomach clench with hunger. I didn’t eat dinner tonight. I figured I’d be pigging out on popcorn and candy.

  “Abbi’s movie is gone,” Vi says and sighs. She tells Nico what happened, and just like I did, he tells her it’s not possible that the file simply vanished.

  “Well, if the file didn’t delete itself, then where did it go?” Vi asks while Nico clicks around in the computer. He mutters something to himself. Vi leans against me, her body tense.

  “It’s okay, Vi,” I say, reaching out and finding her hand. I give it a squeeze. She presses more heavily against my side and leans her head on my shoulder. “If we can’t find the file, we’ll just go to Abbi’s house and get another copy from her. I’m sure she wouldn’t have deleted it.”

  Vi starts shaking her head before I even finish my sentence. I can feel the swish of her hair against my neck.

  “Abbi’s family is out of town this week,” she says quietly.

  “Why would she go out of town the week of the film festival?” Nico asks. He clicks the mouse twice. He types something. Then he clicks again.

  “Abbi gets upset sometimes when there’s too much excitement,” Vi explains. “Her parents thought her being here during the festival might be too much for her. They’ll be back next week, after the festival is over.”

  “But if we can’t get a copy of the file—” says Nico.

  “Then Abbi’s film won’t be in the festival at all,” I say. Now I understand why Vi was so upset. Abbi’s film is the best one entered into the festival. She deserves the chance to be recognized for all her efforts. I didn’t know her parents had left town. Abbi was really excited about watching her movie on the big screen. I am annoyed that they’re not going to let her come to the screening after all the hard work she did to get her film made. And I am annoyed they are not here now so we can get another copy of the file.

  Ugh. I think of Bradley and how delighted he will be to learn his competition is gone. I can almost hear him saying, Now why didn’t I think of deleting the file myself? It would have been genius.

  But maybe I don’t need to imagine this. Maybe Bradley did think of deleting the file.

  “Vi,” I say, gripping her hand.

  “What is it, Preston?”

  “If the file didn’t delete itself, maybe someone deleted it on purpose,” I say.

  “But how? I know the file was on the computer when we got here. And we were all down in the theater…”

  “But what if we weren’t the only ones here?”

  “Whoa. What are you saying, Preston?” Nico asks. He’s not clicking anymore.

  “I’m saying, what if someone was up here? What if they deleted the file while we were watching the first movie?”

  “We would have seen them,” Vi insists. She gently tugs her hand away from mine. Reluctantly I let it go.

  “Maybe they hid, or—” I stop, remembering what happened when I was downstairs. The sounds I heard, like scuffling feet. And what I saw. What I didn’t see. What I almost couldn’t see. “There was someone else here,” I say.

  “What? No, there couldn’t have been.” Vi’s voice shakes. She steps farther away from me.

  “But there was. I heard something when I was down there alone. I think someone was hiding behind the door to the booth.”

  “Preston, how would you know the something you heard was a someone?” Nico asks.

  “I saw them too,” I say.

  Nico lets out a laugh. “No offense, good buddy of mine, but since when can you see anything?”

  Even my friends don’t understand what it’s like for me. Not really. It’s hard for them to make sense of the ways a blind person can still see.

  “I didn’t see who it was, but I know someone was there,” I say firmly. “When I was downstairs. I thought it was Vi, but she was in the booth. And Nico, you were getting popcorn in the lobby. But someone else was in the theater. I thought I heard a noise. I went to check. And then I saw.”

  “Saw what?” Vi asks softly.

  I take a big gulp of air. My stomach hurts again, but this time it’s not because I’m hungry.

  “A shadow,” I say quietly. “The shadow of whoever came in here and deleted Abbi’s film.”

  Chapter Five

  “So someone snuck into The Chestnut and deleted Abbi’s film? Why?”

  Vi says nothing in response to Nico. I wait for her to piece it together. I wait for him to piece it together. I wait for either of them to figure out what I’m already certain of.

  I wait in vain.

  “Abbi’s film was going to win the festival,” I say when I’m tired of waiting.

  �
�We don’t know that for certain,” Vi mumbles.

  “Well, there was a very good chance.” I feel for a chair and slump down onto it. “So the only reason someone would delete the file would be if someone didn’t want Abbi to win.”

  “But who wouldn’t want her to win?” Nico asks.

  I tilt my chin in Vi’s direction, but she still doesn’t seem to get it. I let out a deep breath and shake my head.

  “The person who is her biggest competition,” I say.

  “Bradley?” Nico asks. I stop shaking my head and start nodding instead.

  “You can’t just accuse Bradley like that!” Vi cries. The shrillness of her voice startles me. “That’s a really serious allegation. And you don’t know. Even if someone did delete the file, who’s to say it was Bradley? There are three other movies in the festival too.”

  If anyone did this, I know it was Bradley. But Vi makes a valid point. I can’t just accuse him without first building a case.

  “What about the other films?” I ask. “Are the other entries still on the computer?”

  “Yeah, they’re all here,” Nico says, clicking the mouse a few more times. “The only one missing is Abbi’s.”

  “So it wouldn’t be one of the other three competitors,” I say. “Anyone who’s seen the films knows Bradley’s and Abbi’s are the top choices. And everyone who is in the festival has seen all of the films already at school. If it was one of the other three, they’d have deleted Bradley’s film too. His is still there, and so are the rest.”

  “That’s pretty flimsy evidence, Preston,” Vi says. Her voice is still sharp. I don’t like it. I don’t like the way she seems to be against me on this.

  “He has a point though,” Nico says. “I mean, Vi’s right too. You need more evidence than a shadow and a half-baked theory, man. But Bradley’s been moaning about the festival all week. Says it’s not fair he has to be judged against a pity entry.”

  “I know he’s been rude,” Vi says. Something thuds against the rear wall of the booth. I think she may have kicked the wall in aggravation. “But accusing him of deliberately sabotaging the festival is risky. There may not have been anyone here at all. That shadow could have been a coincidence. It could have been the door swinging back or something. And even if someone was here, it could have been someone other than Bradley. We were the only ones supposed to be here tonight, remember? Us and Mrs. Colander.”

  “Are you suggesting our teacher did this?” I ask.

  “No, of course not!” Vi sounds upset again. Upset and frustrated. “I just don’t think we should get ahead of ourselves. We can talk to Mrs. Colander tomorrow at school. Maybe she has another copy of Abbi’s film. And maybe she can start an investigation into what happened. A proper investigation. She can talk to Bradley—and the other kids too.”

  “That’ll take too long,” I say. “We only have two days. If Mrs. Colander doesn’t have another copy of the film, then the festival will have to go ahead without Abbi’s entry. Bradley will win.”

  “Preston’s right again,” Nico agrees. “We need to do this quietly, if we’re going to do anything at all. We need to figure out what happened and get a copy of Abbi’s movie—or get Bradley to admit what he did and drop out of the festival—before Friday.”

  “I still think we should talk to Mrs. Colander first,” Vi says.

  I grip my knee with my left hand. The fabric of my jeans is rough under my palm.

  “Okay,” I tell her. I only agree because I don’t want to fight with Vi. The last thing I ever want to do is to fight with Vi. “Okay, we’ll talk to Mrs. Colander. But only to ask if she has another copy of the file. We’ll tell her the film went missing, but we won’t say anything about Bradley deleting it.”

  “We don’t know that Bradley—that anyone—deleted it,” Vi argues.

  “So we won’t accuse anyone. Not formally,” I say. “We’ll figure this mystery out ourselves.”

  “And how are we going to do that?” Vi asks.

  Honestly, I don’t know. All I have to go on is a shadow. It and the fact that I know Bradley wants to be the star of the festival. Not exactly iron-clad evidence.

  But I will figure it out. I have to. I can’t let Bradley get away with what he’s done. Abbi is not just a good filmmaker. She’s also a good friend. She may be in the grade below me, but we’ve attended the same summer camp for years. Abbi is sweet and kind. She sees the best in everyone.

  I am not going to let Bradley Wilk or anyone else ruin the festival for her.

  “We’ll investigate,” I say, sounding much more confident than I feel. “I’ve watched dozens of detective movies. If Sam Spade can do it, we can too.”

  “Um, I don’t think that’s quite how it works,” Nico says. “By that logic, we should be able to keep dragons as pets and live forever and have pizza whenever we want.”

  I kick out my foot and land my toes squarely against Nico’s shin.

  He groans. “I would tell you to watch where you’re stepping, but I doubt it would do any good.”

  I smile. Sometimes I get away with things when I really shouldn’t. “We can solve this,” I say as firmly as possible. “And once we get Abbi’s movie back, we can work on the dragons and immortality and never-ending pizza.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Nico says.

  Vi doesn’t say anything.

  I try not to let her silence bother me. I need to solve this mystery, and I’ve only got two days to do it.

  Chapter Six

  Mrs. Colander doesn’t have another copy of Abbi’s film. When we ask her about it at school on Thursday, we learn that her files have been tampered with as well. She thinks it might be a virus. She has no suspicions of foul play.

  “And maybe she’s right,” Vi says at lunchtime, ripping open a bag of chips. The foil package crinkles until she picks out a chip and crunches it in her teeth. Ketchup. I salivate as the sweet smell wafts over me.

  “One virus to wipe out one movie, on three different devices?” I ask. I hold out a hand and wait for Vi to share her chips. She’s so distracted she doesn’t even notice my outstretched palm.

  “Is she going to cancel the festival?” Nico asks through a mouthful of food.

  In the bright sun of the warm May day, I can see Vi’s outline as she shakes her head. I think her thick hair is in a ponytail today. It swings from side to side as she talks.

  “Not when there’s only one film missing,” she says. “The tickets have already been sold, and the judges have been selected. It’s too much work to cancel the entire festival because of one missing film. Unless”—she pauses, then speaks in a low voice—“unless we can prove the film was deleted on purpose.”

  “Then that’s what we have to do,” I say. Vi was quiet the rest of the time we were in the theater last night. Her silence had me worried, but I’m glad she’s on board now. We need to find proof that Bradley took the file. Proof better than a shadow and a hunch. I just don’t know how. How do you catch someone you didn’t actually see committing the crime? If we had more time, maybe we could plan a foolproof way to figure out how he did it. But we’ve only got until tomorrow night. We need to work fast.

  “Should we talk to Bradley?” Nico asks. He pops the tab of a can of soda. It gives off a satisfying fizz.

  “No, not yet,” I say. “If we find enough evidence, then maybe we can corner him into giving Abbi’s file back. But if he finds out we’re on to him, he might do something to ruin our chances of retrieving the film. I think our best bet is to go back to The Chestnut tonight and look for clues.”

  “Preston, The Chestnut’s open tonight,” Vi says. She still hasn’t given me a chip, and I’ve lowered my hand to my lap. The jeans I have on today are fraying at the knee. I pick at a loose thread. “Any evidence there may have been will be wiped out by the time an entire theater full of people have come and gone.”

  “I still think it’s worth checking out, Vi.”

  “Fine,” she says. She sounds annoyed.
She stands up and shoves the open bag of chips against my chest. “I’ll tell my parents you’re coming. They’ll keep a lookout for you.”

  “You’re not going to be there?”

  “No.” Vi shakes her head again. “I want to figure out what happened as much as you do, but I’m not going to dig around the theater looking for clues that probably don’t exist. Sorry, Preston.” She turns away from us. When she speaks again, her voice is tense. “I…I have to go.”

  “But Vi, wait!” I call after her as she hurries away. A minute ago she was offering to help us. At least, I thought she was. I don’t understand what made her change her mind.

  “Don’t bother, man,” Nico says, grabbing the chips from me as I offer him the bag. “She’s talking to Constance. They’re heading inside together. What’s with her anyway?”

  The smell of the chips has suddenly turned from delicious to disgusting. I scoot farther away from Nico so the scent’s not as strong.

  “I don’t know,” I say. It’s the truth. And I hate it.

  Nico agrees to come with me to The Chestnut. I don’t know what we’re looking for. Something, anything, to prove Bradley was at the cinema.

  After school I wait for Nico at my locker. Usually I walk home with Vi, but I haven’t talked to her all afternoon. We have math together in the morning, and most days we meet between classes and at lunch. But Vi’s been missing since she left me and Nico at lunchtime. I think she’s been avoiding us. I still feel sick when I remember the way she stormed off earlier.

  I don’t understand her reaction. But I try not to let it distract me. If Nico and I can find the evidence we need, this whole ordeal will be over and done with. Then we can get back to normal. Then I can get back to being friends with Vi.

  I put my earbuds in while I’m waiting for Nico to show up. We’re not supposed to listen to music at school, but none of the teachers really mind as long as we keep the volume low. I’m not actually listening to music anyway. I’m listening to a movie. The screen on my phone is too small for me to even try and make out night or day. So I press Play, tuck it into my pocket and just listen.