The Dark Light

by Walsh, Sara

  How to explain the light without sounding like Rich Manning? The holes in my story widened. What exactly had I seen?

  Pretty much zip.

  “It might have been a flashlight, or maybe a flare.”

  “What would some guy be doing out there with a flare?” asked Willie.

  “It only looked like that.”

  “Well, it’s something,” said the sheriff. “We combed that land pretty good today. Didn’t find a thing. I’ll send another team at first light.”

  We polished off the chicken, talking of other things, including the infamous curfew, which the sheriff hinted might exclude the high school kids, at least for now. When I finally reached home, I was ready for bed.

  I pulled up to find Pete on the porch swing, looking out over the Gartons’ fields, which backed up to our land. It was quiet, too early for the first of the season’s crickets. The house stood in darkness behind him.

  “You’re late getting home,” he said.

  “I swung over to Willie’s,” I replied.

  “Then you must have heard the update on Alex.”

  “Yeah.” I headed up the porch steps, unsure why Pete was sitting out in the dark. As with most things with Pete, it was better not to ask. “Rich Manning was in Mickey’s. He says it was alien abduction.”

  “Rich Manning doesn’t know his ass from his elbow.”

  True. I smiled. “Jay home?”

  “He’s in his room.”

  I folded my arms and looked out over the fields, remembering Pete on the driveway last night. Whatever he’d seen wasn’t there now, no more than what I’d seen on the land behind Rowe. Just the moon, the stars, and the corn. Always the same in Crownsville.

  “I’m gonna hit the sack,” I said, and headed for the door.

  Pete just stared into the distance. He was poised, as if at any moment he might vault over the porch railing and hurtle off into the fields. He leaned slightly forward as I passed, and as the swing tilted beneath him, I saw something that confused me more than his late-night vigil. A dull shape, previously hidden by the shadows, rested on his lap.

  It was Pete’s shotgun.

  Frowning, I entered the house, flicked on the kitchen light, and sidled across to the window. All I could see was the back of Pete’s head, the porch and the driveway, and a thick wall of blackness covering the fields.

  THREE

  Friday. One day until the Ridge. Willie was plotting again.

  “Andy loves red,” she said. We sat on the lawn beside the gym during lunch, trying to avoid the chaos of the cafeteria. “So wear those skimpy denim shorts and a red tee. Gorgeous.”

  I figured it best not to say anything about my reservations and just go along with Willie’s plans. Whatever happened would happen—probably nothing. I doubted a red T-shirt would make Andy collapse into my arms.

  “Wills, you do realize it’s just an afternoon on the Ridge?” I stretched out on the grass hoping to catch a few rays, especially since it looked like I’d be wearing shorts this weekend.

  “Just the Ridge?” she replied, outraged. “Mia, let’s wait and see.”

  “Wait and see what?” Kieran slung down his backpack and dropped to the grass. “Heard about the new guy?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “He lives on the river with Old Man Crowley. Didn’t we cover this yesterday?”

  Kieran gestured for silence. “Apparently, he has a huge tattoo.”

  “What?” cried Willie.

  Real news. I scrambled up onto my elbows, eager to hear more.

  “Yeah,” said Kieran. “On his back. It’s massive. Mike Woolley saw it.”

  Willie shook her head, clearly not buying it. I half suspected it was because she hadn’t been the first to know. “And how exactly did Mike Woolley see the new kid’s back?”

  “In the locker room,” said Kieran. “Everyone’s talking about it.”

  “Everyone except us,” I added. “Why are we always the last to know?”

  “Beats me,” said Willie. “So does this tattooed new kid have a name? You know, I still haven’t even seen him.”

  “Yeah,” said Kieran. “Sol. What kind of a name is that?”

  I laughed. “The sunny kind?”

  “And,” Kieran continued, “he doesn’t know how to play baseball.”

  “Again,” said Willie. “What?”

  “No lie. They’re running pitching drills, and this kid’s looking at Coach Wright like he’s from another planet! Watch out for this guy. I’m telling you—he’s a weird one.”

  Weird or not, I was grateful to the new guy for one reason: Without us even seeing him, he’d managed to distract Willie’s attention from me and Andy.

  * * *

  That evening, I washed my jean shorts and ironed my red tee. Okay, so I was playing it cool in front of Willie, but I was going to be seeing Andy so there was no harm in a little prep. You know, like hair serum, a new lipstick, leg wax. That kind of thing.

  On my way back from the bathroom, I tapped on Jay’s door. Since Alex’s disappearance, he had pretty much been keeping to his room, and I was worried how he was taking the news. I poked my head in to find him at his desk, in battle, as always, on his computer.

  “Hey, Spud. Kicking butt?”

  “Trying to finish this level,” he replied, thumbs going crazy.

  “Mind if I come in?”

  He shook his head, but continued playing.

  I’d never been into all those games with swords and stones and stuff. Life was crazy enough without axe-wielding maniacs bludgeoning each other to death. There were guys at school who played these games for hours. There was even a club, I think. To me, it was all just noise and comic book violence. And where were the women in these things? Lamenting the loss of their menfolk and gallivanting around in fur bikinis.

  I sat on the end of Jay’s bed just as a purple-horned behemoth condemned his avatar to eating dirt. I was about to ask him about Alex, when I noticed a photograph beside me on the comforter. It was an older shot, in color but grainy, of a young woman with mountains in the background. Her dress was kind of folky, like from the seventies or something, with billowing sleeves and a bodice front. Blond hair hung to her waist. Her eyes were wide like Jay’s, but there was no innocence to them. They were sad eyes. Sad eyes in a gorgeous face.

  I flipped over the picture, looking for a caption, but the back was blank. I turned it back over.

  “What’s this, Jay?”

  Jay glanced away from his monitor. “Mom.”

  I didn’t expect that.

  So this was the woman who’d dumped Jay. I’d never imagined her as young and beautiful, more like a gnarly hag with a cigarette in one hand and a bottle of malt liquor in the other. But there she was, young and beautiful. She didn’t look like a person who’d do something so cruel.

  I remembered nothing about my parents—nothing. I’d been a baby when they’d left me with Grandma in Des Moines. But Jay was different; he’d known our dad, though he rarely mentioned him. He’d known what it was like to have a mom, too.

  “Where’d you get it?” I asked.

  “Always had it.” The colors from the game flickered on his flawless cheeks. “I keep it in my drawer.”

  “Do you remember her much?”

  “Bits.”

  I looked again at the picture, staring deeply. I felt like she was watching me back. “What was she like?”

  “Don’t remember,” he replied. “I only remember when they took her.”

  I looked up, chilled by Jay’s statement. He believed that she’d been taken? Was that how he coped with what she’d done to him?

  “She gave you up, Jay,” I said, softly.

  “Only because they took her.” He paused his game, then turned to me. “Stacey Ann’s brother said the cops were hanging around your school today. Why would they do that if the man’s only taking kids?”

  I saw the connections forging in his mind. He believed an unknown assailant had snatched his mom.
Maybe someone else close to him could be next?

  “Jay, it’s just a precaution.”

  “Stacey said he’s only after boys.”

  “Which is why you have to be careful,” I said, desperate for the message to sink in. “Lock the door when you’re home alone. No more, ‘I forgot.’ Make sure you’re with someone when you’re on the street.”

  “I guess.”

  “I’m serious, Jay,” I said. “No one knows what happened to Alex.”

  “He’s gone for good.”

  “Is that what Stacey Ann said?”

  “Mrs. Shankles.”

  “Mrs. Shankles said he’s gone for good?” I considered reevaluating my opinion of old Cankles.

  “No,” said Jay. “But I could tell that’s what she meant.”

  Jay’s alter ego was back in business on the screen. Golden stars glistened around its sword. The purple-horned behemoth ran for cover.

  “They’re gonna find him, Jay.”

  “And the other kids?”

  I opened my mouth to reply and realized I didn’t have an answer.

  The avatar bounded over creeks and boulders before delivering the fatal blow. The behemoth, purple horn and all, vanished in a puff of silver smoke. Jay again turned back to me.

  “Are you going out tonight?” he asked.

  I placed the photograph back on the bed. “I’m staying home,” I said. His look of relief just about broke my heart. I hid it behind a smile. “And Pete says he’s taking you somewhere tomorrow. Maybe even bowling. Can you believe it?”

  “It’s not my birthday.”

  “So make the most of it.” I headed for the door. “I’m gonna make popcorn. You want some?”

  “Thanks, Mia.”

  Jay turned back to his game.

  Though I usually avoided thinking about my parents, sometimes I couldn’t help it, even though it was pointless, ridiculous, and a total waste of time and effort. Mothers were usually an off-limits topic of conversation at our house; mine in particular was guaranteed to send Pete straight to the bottle. She was a nasty little secret lurking in my past. I guessed Pete’s silence had something to do with the reason why his sister had been thrown in jail. Whatever it was must have been bad; she’d been there for all of my life. I didn’t know where. And I knew not to ask anymore.

  But having seen the photo of Jay’s mom, I couldn’t help wonder about my own. Before bed that night, I went to my closet’s top shelf, a spot Willie called the Black Hole of Crownsville. From beneath the mountains of shoeboxes and sweatshirts, I took down a blue velvet box. I placed it on my desk and opened the lid.

  Inside was a necklace, the one thing I had of my mother’s.

  I don’t know where my mother had gotten it, it was probably stolen. Pete had given it to me not long after I’d arrived in Crownsville. It was a weighty antique piece of twisted silver. Seven blocks of a translucent golden stone, like amber, hung from the ornate chain. The central gem was larger than the others, almost as big as my palm. Crimson veins ran through each stone like those old-fashioned marbles you could find at the five-and-dime. I held up the necklace, and the lamplight caught in the veins. They glistened like crimson rivers.

  I sighed, annoyed with myself for even taking it out of the box. It was probably a piece of junk, just like all the other junk my parents had thrust into my life. I couldn’t bear the thought of Jay nurturing hope that his own mother might return one day to claim him. Sometimes it was best to just walk away.

  I placed the necklace back in the box, a weight lifting as soon as I closed the lid and it was out of sight. I wandered to the window. A little more than a mile away stood the Ridge, hidden in darkness. On a clear day I could sometimes see it from my room. My parents were ghosts to me, but out there, on the Ridge with Andy Monaghan and the promise of summer spreading before me? That was real.

  I couldn’t wait to get up there tomorrow.

  * * *

  There was only one thing to do after a sweaty game of touch football, and that was to hurl ourselves into the cool river. After swimming, Willie caught up to me as we climbed the steep boulders back to the Ridge. She was in a triumphant mood.

  “Andy can’t take his eyes off you,” she whispered, after quickly checking that we wouldn’t be overheard.

  Really? I glanced to where Andy and his best friend, Jake, also climbed the rocks. I didn’t know if there was such a thing as too perfect, but if there was, Andy was it. He was like an Abercrombie & Fitch model, all straight white teeth, perfect tan, and groomed dark hair. It didn’t hurt that he’d stripped off his shirt to swim. Coach Wright clearly kept his seniors in shape.

  I’d sworn I was just going to enjoy the day and not get sucked in to Willie’s drama, which could only lead to a truckload of disappointment. But I was surprised how nervous I’d felt since we’d pulled up at the base of the Ridge to find a shiny black Corvette already parked on the gravel lot.

  Willie and I navigated the final boulders before emerging onto the wide, flat plateau at the top of the Ridge where the rest of the group was sprawled beneath the sun. The Ridge was one of Crownsville’s best-kept secrets. It was all that remained of a humongous crater that had formed in about ten billion BC.

  To the east, the plateau ended abruptly, plunging down to the river. Woodland bordered the gentle western slope, over which, on a day as clear as today, you could see across the plains. Our backs to the river, we sank to the grass with legs outstretched. The sun hovered above the Sleeper Hill Giant, the long mound outside Onaly with a flat peak that had eroded into the outline of a man snoozing beneath the sky.

  “Just keep doing what you’re doing,” said Willie. “It’ll work.”

  “What’ll work?” I asked, determined not to check back on Andy.

  “Pretending like this is all no big deal.”

  And here was I thinking I’d played it cool. “Am I that obvious?”

  “It’s a legitimate technique.”

  I laughed, giggled really, as if Willie and I were back in timeout corner. “You’d think he was the hottest guy on the planet.”

  Willie laughed back. “Definitely in Nebraska.”

  She jumped up before I could say anything more, leaving me for Kieran, who was trying to impress Sally Machin, one of the seniors, with a bizarre combination of kickboxing moves. Wondering why she’d suddenly bailed on me, I was about to call her back when Andy appeared at my side.

  “You rocked that game, Mia,” he said, beaming.

  He sat beside me on the grass, river water dripping from his shoulders and hair. The temptation was to grin like an idiot, which I often did when Andy was around. He was just so laid back. I guessed his confidence came from living on a pedestal surrounded by his father’s cash. And it wasn’t only the students who’d put him up there; every mother in town hoped he’d date their daughter and spread some of those Monaghan dollars around. Andy also had great shoulders, the broad, muscular kind I loved. It was hard to focus when they were on full display.

  “Maybe I should try out for the school team,” I said, smiling back, and trying to ignore Raquel Somers, one of Andy’s crew who’d been after him since kindergarten, watching us from her towel a few yards away. Andy showed no sign that he’d noticed. He shifted to face me full on.

  “I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages,” he said, his swoony eyes the color of melted chocolate. “How’s Jay?”

  “He’s good,” I replied, my voice calm.

  I was surprised how easy it was to slip back into Andy-mode. The last time we’d talked alone had been at Willie’s birthday party about three weeks ago. But Andy had been there with Jessica, and he’d appeared very conscious of that fact. Now it was only us. Willie and the others didn’t count. We were in our own little world.

  He scraped back his hair, water droplets glistening on his shoulders. If I were to survive this conversation intact, I needed him to put on a T-shirt. Stat.

  “Jay’s a great kid,” he said. “Are you going t
o the batting cages with him again this summer?”

  I groaned. “Every summer. Jay rocks. I suck. Total humiliation.”

  His laughter echoed across the Ridge. “Then maybe I could take him. Jay cracks me up. It’d be a hoot.”

  I tried to figure out his intentions. He appeared to be playing the same casual game as me, but still. Jay and I had bumped into Andy and Jake at the cages a couple of times last summer. We’d all hung out, Jay showing off to the older guys and Andy and Jake egging him on. But Andy actually offering to take Jay to the cages? My heart picked up its beat.

  “He’d love that,” I said. “I mean, going with someone who can actually hit a ball.”

  Andy leaned back on his hands, muscles popping all over the place, as he looked out over the plains. “You heard about me and Jessica.”

  My heart raced a little faster. It was difficult to know how to respond. We were friends, and friends talked about dating and breakups and all that went with it. It didn’t mean anything. Of course I knew they’d split—everyone knew. So why was he mentioning it now?

  No. I was reading too much into things. Andy’d offered to take Jay to the cages because he was a really nice guy and he was into sports and he knew Jay didn’t have a brother or anyone to look up to like that. He’d mentioned Jessica because it was big news, not because he’d wanted to push that he was single. I’d spent too long listening to Willie’s fairy tales. I liked Andy a lot. I’d never denied it. That didn’t mean Andy felt the same way about me. Did it? God, I was useless at this stuff.

  “I only heard that you’d broken up,” I said.

  Andy turned to face me with those chocolate eyes and that chiseled jaw. He was about to speak when—

  “OMG!” hollered Raquel.

  Cursing her big mouth, I watched her dash to the edge of the Ridge. Completely uninterested in the drama, I looked back at Andy, silently urging him to continue.

  “OMG!”

  Andy smiled, dismissing whatever he’d been about to say with a shake of the head. “I think she wants us to follow her.”

  Great. Why did something always get in the way?

  “I’m serious!” screamed Raquel. “Get over here! It’s the new guy!”