“I didn’t even know there was a phone in this house…,” Christopher muttered as he began searching the room. He rummaged through the mess, pushing boxes aside and picking things up that probably hadn’t been touched in years.
The phone continued shrieking, seeming much closer this time.
They’re going to hang up before I even get the thing, Christopher thought, lifting up an old dirty shirt that, for some reason, smelled faintly of fish. The phone had been sitting right underneath it. “Hello?” he said into the phone, hoping that whoever was calling had not already hung up.
“This is Doctor Jameston’s office. Is Mathias there?” a woman asked.
Christopher was unsure as to who exactly they were asking for. “I’m sorry?” he replied after a short moment of silence, irrationally wondering whether or not she meant him.
“Mathias Janes…,” the woman said, her voice becoming fainter and trailing a bit, as though she thought she had called the wrong number and was about to hang up.
“Ooh…,” Christopher said, recalling that Mathias was Bones’ real name. He had heard it used next to naught and almost forgot that Bones wasn’t his given name. “Yeah, he’s…”
Before Christopher could finish Bones came quickly through the door of his bedroom, looking as though he had just woke up. He wasn’t even dressed.
“I got it,” Bones said as he grabbing the phone away from Christopher.
Christopher was surprised to see Bones so active and nervous over something; he always seemed like such an easygoing person. He hoped that this was nothing serious, especially the call being from a doctor.
“Yes?” Bones asked, the phone to his ear.
Christopher sat there on the couch, mostly curious at the situation, since he could no longer hear what was being said on the other end.
“Oh…,” Bones said. “Oh, yes, of course…not a problem at all…. I’ll be in today.”
Bones slowly returned the phone to its carriage, looking somewhat upset, and then let out a protracted sigh.
“Is everything all right?” Christopher asked.
“Yeah…,” Bones said, hesitating for just a moment, as if he had forgotten that Christopher was in the room. “No problems; just missed my damn check-up. Hate those things, you know?
“Oh…,” Christopher said, feeling a bit relieved yet just as equally unsure. He knew that sometimes people say things to make others feel better; he hoped that this wasn’t the case.
“Oh, come now!” Bones exclaimed, cracking a half smile at Christopher’s slight frown. “Don’t be like that; it’s perfectly fine. I just have a phobia of hospitals, somethin’ I’ve carried with me my whole life. Anyhow, I should be getting into town anyway; we need supplies.”
“I’d like to come!” Christopher said, perked up for a moment.
“I’m sorry,” Bones said, shaking his head reluctantly. “I’d love for you guys to come with me, but honestly I need the room for stuff this time.”
“Oh…,” Christopher replied. “It’s okay.”
“Next time, though, definitely,” Bones said. “Besides, you guys wouldn’t like hanging ’round the hospital for hours, would yuh?”
James made his way downstairs about a half-hour or so later, making it the first time since the brothers had arrived that Christopher was up before James. This actually made Christopher feel a bit better; it was nice for James to actually be there in the morning. All of the other days, he would already be out of the house by then.
Bones remained surprisingly quiet throughout breakfast that morning, and didn’t even volunteer to cook anything. Even James seemed concerned when he was told that Bones would have to see a doctor today. Just as he had with Christopher, Bones quickly dismissed James’ concerns and made joking comments about doctors and how “Their day isn’t complete until they’ve had their cold, gloved finger up someone’s ass, and today it’s my turn.”
Picturing such an event disturbed Christopher more than just a little bit.
With nothing really planned today for the Janes brothers, it was decided that they would be dropped off at the Bait ’n‘ Tackle, and then left from there to do whatever their hearts desired. James had pretty much demanded that they go there today; saying something about there being something important that he “Really had to ask Kylie.” Christopher didn’t mind this much at all, because if she was there today that would just make him all the happier.
The drive to the shop, just as the breakfast that preceded it, was filled with an uneasy quiet. The sky was dark and threatening of rain, yet the heat remained as relenting as it had the day before. The truck’s windows were rolled all the way down; otherwise it would have been like being trapped in an oven. Christopher was happy to finally see the store as they rounded a curve, for being there would end the invisible tension that hung in the air of the truck. He knew how it felt to be afraid of doctors, yet it just seemed to Christopher that Bones shouldn’t be so afraid of them. After all, he remembered, Bones fought in a war. He thought that if you can fight in a war, you shouldn’t be really afraid of anything at all in the whole wide world. In a way, it made Christopher realize that Bones was a lot more human than he might have initially thought. Despite the tattoos, the hard drinking, constant smoking and gruff exterior, he really was just like Christopher and James inside, where it counted.
Kylie was at the Bait ’n‘ Tackle, as Christopher pleasantly discovered. She sat there in the exact spot as the time he had first met her, on that dusty brown bench underneath the store’s archway, just a few feet from the front door. This time however, she was reading a book. As the truck approached, she slowly lowered the book to her lap. For a moment her piercing blue eyes caught Christopher’s as he looked at her through the window. This time, she smiled, and so did he.
“You guys went without me?” Kylie said, frowning and shaking her head once Bones had left. Then she displayed an expression of deep interest, biting her bottom lip as she spoke. “So how was it?”
“It was creepy…,” Christopher said, and then backtracked a bit. He didn’t want Kylie to think that he was some kind of scared little kid, after all. “But it was amazing in there.”
“We found it,” James said, “We found where Alena disappeared.”
“Seriously?” Kylie asked in awe. “What was there?”
“A white cross!” Christopher exclaimed, as if couldn’t keep it inside any longer. “It was crazy….”
“Yeah, the family must have painted a cross on the ground where they found her shoes and necklace,” James added, and continued in a serious tone, “Did you know about that?”
“That’s so sad…,” Kylie said. She placed her hand over her mouth for a moment. “I didn’t know; ain’t really never been down there. I’ve been real curious about it, but I never wanted to go down there by myself. Besides, after the story and all that, my mother would kill me.”
“I’m glad you’re here today,” James said. “I really need to ask you…do you know what Alena looked like?”
“Wow…,” Kylie said, pausing for a moment. “I don’t really know, I heard that she was real pretty though…. I’m sorry, I…”
“Do you know anyone who might know?” James pressed, and there was urgency in his voice.
“Hmm…,” Kylie mumbled, biting her lip again in concentration. “My mom, she might know a bit. Why do you want to know so bad?”
“You’ll think I’m so crazy,” James said quietly, sighing heavily and then turning to Christopher. “You remember how I told you that I thought I saw a girl crying in my room that one night, but I wasn’t sure if it was a dream or not?”
“Yeah…,” Christopher said. For a moment he also remembered something else, something important that he wanted to tell James, but before he could put it into words it slipped away again. “I remember, she said she was sorry for what happened to our parents, right?”
“Yeah…,” James said. “I saw her again last night, I’m almost certain this time I wasn�
��t dreaming.
“No way…,” Christopher whispered. “Why didn’t you say so before?”
“A girl in your room?” Kylie said, unconsciously placing her hand right over Christopher’s. “Like a ghost girl?”
“I think so…no…I’m certain of it now.” James’ eyes became distant, as though he was drifting back to some far-off moment. “Sorry I didn’t mention it earlier. I was still trying to work it all out in my head. At first I thought I was going crazy, but last night it was like she wanted me to know that she was really there.”
“Do you think it’s Alena?” Christopher asked. His palms were sweaty and his voice a bit shaky. He could feel the warmth of Kylie’s hand against the back of his hand; it tingled in an odd way that felt like pins and needles, like it had fallen asleep.
“I know it’s Alena…,” James said.
“How do you know?” Kylie asked. She cleared her throat as she moved her hand from Christopher’s hand and back to her own lap, looking embarrassed. She glanced over to Christopher, seeing that his cheeks were bright red.
“Something she said to me last night, right before she disappeared,” James said. “That there is still some magic left in the world.”
Christopher forgot about his feelings of embarrassment for a moment and his jaw fell open. He remembered back to the conversation he and James had when they were in the chamber with the white cross. There was no way that the girl, or ghost girl, could know about that. Not unless she really was Alena. Just the thought gave Christopher a shiver that ran from the bottom of his spine and that burst in a cold surge at the base of his neck. Hearing James talk about seeing Alena made him feel more and more like he was forgetting something important.
“What does that mean?” Kylie asked.
“When we went down the first time,” James replied. “Me and Christopher were talking about stuff, and I said that I thought there was no magic left in the world. After everything that has happened, that is. You know, with our parents.”
“I’m sorry…,” Kylie whispered. The corner of her mouth dipped into a frown on one side, her eyes narrowing. “It must be hard. Bones told us about it…me and my mom, that is, a couple of days ’fore you came.”
“It’s okay,” Christopher said. “Don’t worry about it.” He remembered that Bones had said something about Kylie’s dad no longer being around or something like that. He secretly wanted to hear about it, but really did not feel like asking.
“I was hoping you had heard something about what she looked like, so I’d know for sure,” James said. He was nervously rubbing his head, making a small part of his hair stand up on ends. “Even if I don’t know what she looks like, though, I’m sure of it now. I’m sure it’s her.”
“I want to go…,” Kylie said with hesitation in her voice, and then, with confidence: “I really want to go.”
“You can come with us,” Christopher replied. He was trying not make it too obvious that he really just wanted to stay with Kylie. Besides that, having three companions (and one canine) would make him feel just that much better about going back down there, which was something he honestly wasn’t sure he really had much a heart to do.
“I feel as though I need to go back,” James said. “We could go today….”
“I can’t today…,” Kylie said, sounding rather disappointed. “I promised Mom I’d stay around and help with the store today.”
“Your mom runs this store?” Christopher asked, wondering why he had never heard this before.
“You mean you didn’t know?” James said with a chuckle.
“Yep!” Kylie said, swinging her arm around as if she was presenting it as some prize on a game show. “My mother owns the spectacular Bait ’n‘ Tackle, the jewel of the Ozarks, and one of the many wonders of this tiny—so tiny you can’t even call us a town—place called Pine Hallow.”
“That’s great!” Christopher said, very much amused.
“It’s not so great, though,” Kylie said. “Business hardly keeps up well enough to even call it a business. Mom sometimes says that’s why dad left us, ‘cause the store was losing so much money.”
“Where did he go?” James asked.
It was a question that Christopher had really wanted ask, but felt too odd asking about.
“Don’t really know, not far enough though, wherever he is. My father was a real angry guy,” Kylie said, looking down toward the ground. “He didn’t even like me calling him dad. I think that he was ashamed of us in a way. He left a lot of his stuff behind, after him and mom got into a huge fight. He left her with a black eye. I never want to see him again.”
“I’m sorry…,” Christopher whispered. He thought back to something James had said the day before, that everyone here has lost someone and that the world was full of pain. For a moment, he really did feel that that was the truth.
“Are you ever afraid he’ll come back?” James asked.
“Mom is sometimes—she keeps a gun around at night because of it,” Kylie whispered, as if someone might overhear. “I don’t really think he’ll ever come back here. Towards the end, he was just acting so strange all the time. Like he was sick, and didn’t care about anything anymore.”
‘That’s horrible…,” Christopher said, shaking his head.
“Yeah, well…,” Kylie said as she finally shifted her gaze from the ground to Christopher, “…we don’t need him. He’s a dumbass anyway.”
The three of them had a good laugh. Christopher felt a new sense of respect for Kylie since he knew a bit more about what she had gone through. In a way he felt a bit closer to her just knowing that she had been through something similar. It may not seem as though it was something as bad as Christopher and James losing their parents, yet it was definitely painful and real enough for her. Christopher wondered if this meant something. This couldn’t just be random, could it? It just made him feel better to think that he was supposed to meet Kylie. Better in the same way that James was searching for a world where everything wasn’t all pain and loss. A world where there might be more than that. A world where there just might be a touch, and just a touch…maybe not enough for everyone to know about it, see it, and get used to it, and then find it commonplace and boring. Just a spoonful of this special something, in the ocean of everyday reality. If that could exist, then Christopher and Kylie truly were meant to meet each other. These thoughts filled Christopher with such a sense of hope that he believed if the possibilities were really realities, the three of them could grow wings at that very moment and they would fly away.
The three talked for a bit longer, and, as the clouds slowly gave way to the sun, the heat grew close to unbearable, yet they took little notice as they had such wonderful ideas and plans to discuss. The three agreed that the next morning Kylie’s mother would drop her off at the Janes’ house, and from there they would go off in search of something they all really wanted to find—a bit of magic in the world.
“Tomorrow then…,” Kylie said, raising a hand to shield her eyes from the midday sun. “We’ll all go together.”
Chapter 6: Bones’ Celebration
A dream may sometimes be just a dream, no matter how many mountains you move, giants you slay or miles you walk in order to reach it.
It was well after dark when Christopher and James finally heard Bones’ truck rolling its way up the rock-covered driveway. It was a good thing, too; the brothers were growing more and more concerned with each passing moment Bones did not return. They had managed to fend for themselves regarding dinner, having found a few old boxes of macaroni and cheese stored underneath a cabinet sink. They wondered how many decades the boxes of mac-’n‘-cheese might have been in there, but eventually hunger and a slight case of desperation quelled any further debates on whether or not they should partake of the ancient food. Besides, they mused, pasta lasts forever, doesn’t it? They wondered about how they would care for themselves in the absence of Bones never returning, but they also worried much about him. Had the visit to the doc
tor gone well? Was coming home so late a sign of bad things to come? The two secretly hoped it was not the case, but neither would speak to the other about it. Instead, the two would pretend as though they were fine, not wanting to make the other worry. They had worried about so much lately, anyway; more worrying wouldn’t make it any better.
The front door suddenly flew open from a kick on the opposite side, startling Christopher and James. Bones stood in the doorway with a big grin on his face as the door swung on its hinges, bouncing off the wall next to it. He was quite a sight: he managed to balance an upward-tilted cigarette in his mouth that seemed as if it would burn his eye if he made one wrong move, and in his long arms he held several swelled bags and boxes, in the end somewhat resembling a much skinnier, chain-smoking, creepy version of Santa Claus himself.
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