“No.” Beckett’s voice was firm.
“Excuse me?” Rion could feel the heat rising in her blood.
“No.”
“You have to do your homework.”
“I’m not going back.”
Rion was torn between being relieved Beckett was finally willing to acknowledge something unpleasant was happening at school and being angry at being defied. “Well, if someone is upsetting you, we will fix that. But, you don’t have a choice. You have to go to school. You told Mrs. Chambers you were ready. If we had known we could have waited longer. Now that you are enrolled, you have to go.”
“I said no.”
“Go to your room Beckett. And do your homework. I need to get caught up on my work. No news or Mario Kart until you finish your homework.”
Beckett’s dark eyes flashed and the skin around them wrinkled. She opened her mouth several times but nothing came out. Instead, the lines in her forehead eased and she spun on her heel and stomped towards the bedroom. Rion let out a whoosh of a sigh. I think I just won that. But even as she started to relax, her stomach churned. Beckett had looked as if she had decided not to argue. And was that really winning? Or just the kid letting her win?
Two hours later, she had made up for the work she had missed while venting with Kerry and she went to check on Beckett. She was sprawled out across the old gingham bedspread with her head resting on top of a notebook. Rion held her breath as she pulled it out from underneath her face. She expected to see some kind of creepy or scary drawings. If horror movies had taught her anything it was to be scared of children’s drawings. Instead, the picture that Beckett had drawn drew a hiccupping breath from her.
The directions at the top were simple enough for a second grader to understand. It said, ‘Draw Your Family.’ On the blank space underneath, Beckett had drawn a tall figure with dark hair and big round, and unmistakably sad eyes. Next to it, was a smaller figure, inside a box. The smaller person also had dark hair, but the eyes were large blank circles. Rion could see the fear in them. She sat softly on the side of the bed and could feel the heat of the tears in her eyes.
She had to assume the taller person was her and the smaller was Beckett. She had drawn them as a family. That alone warmed Rion’s heart and added to the guilt she felt over not being able to help Beckett. But, she was also surprised that the kid read so much sadness in her. How had she shown that? And why is Beckett in a box? She flipped through the rest of the workbook but saw nothing else that stood out. Just normal school work you would expect.
Sighing, Rion returned to the kitchen and started making dinner. A knock at the door made her smile before she had time to second guess herself. Shep held up several books when she opened the door. “Hi! I thought these might help.”
Rion looked at the titles and realized they were self-help books dealing with childhood trauma. “Wow. Thanks. I’ll take a look at them.”
“No problem. Something smells delicious.”
Rion rolled her eyes. “Unsurprisingly, you’re just in time for dinner. I made a lasagna.”
“Sounds great,” Shep had the decency to look sheepish.
“Don’t expect too much. It’s my first time making it.”
“I’m sure it will be great. Hey kiddo!”
Rion turned to see Beckett standing in the doorway. “How was your nap?” She didn’t respond, but instead plopped down in front of the TV and turned it on. “Did you do all your homework?” Beckett nodded without turning around. “I think she’s still mad at me,” Rion told Shep.
“Why?”
“She said she didn’t want to go back to school. I told her she has to.”
“Are the kids giving her more trouble?”
“Apparently. I’m going to talk to her teacher and make sure she does something about it.”
“There’s not much else you can do,” he shrugged.
Dinner was quiet and awkward. Beckett’s surliness spread into Shep and Rion both and left them all afraid to fill the silence with small talk. Long after Shep had left, after putting Beckett to bed, Rion laid on the futon staring up at the dark ceiling. She didn’t want to fail her sister, but she couldn’t stop thinking she was making things worse. She finally drifted off to sleep despite being riddled with guilt and anxiety. When she woke, it felt like it had only been minutes. At first, she assumed it was the anxiety giving her restless sleep, but as her senses woke up, she realized she wasn’t alone. She could feel the weight of eyes on her, and could hear the soft exhalation of a breath. Her hair stood on end and she fought the urge to close her eyes and ignore it.
She wasn’t stupid—or naïve. She knew Beckett was awake. But she didn’t know if she wanted to find out what the kid was doing. It would just be one more thing to deal with. One more thing that didn’t make sense and would frustrate and worry her even more. Finally, knowing she had to be the adult, she slowly turned her head to the side expecting to find the kid trying to turn on the TV or something. Instead, she came face to face with her sister. Beckett was standing at the side of the futon, silently staring down at Rion.
Rion jumped so hard her hand smacked into the wooden arm of the futon. “Shit!” She pushed herself into a sitting position and flexed her hand, making sure her knuckles weren’t broken. She tried to remain calm, Beckett probably had a nightmare. But her heart slammed in her ribs like a trapped rabbit. The kid hadn’t reacted at all to Rion’s fright. She stood silently staring at her.
“What’s going on?” she asked. Of course Beckett didn’t answer. “Do you need something?” The kid’s face was blank and her dark eyes looked like two black pits. Empty, but full of terrifying possibilities.
After a moment, Beckett blinked, jerked, and her eyes filled with confusion. Her breathing picked up as she looked around as if trying to figure out where she was. “Beckett?” She met Rion’s gaze and her confusion shifted to guilt.
“I’m sorry.” Her voice was small and full of remorse.
“It’s OK,” Rion’s heart began to slow. “I think you were just sleep walking.” Beckett backed away, her face sad and confused. “I’ll put you back in bed.” She climbed from underneath the blankets and followed the kid into the bedroom. Beckett shuffled ahead of her—seeming unusually childlike.
Beckett climbed into bed and slid under the covers. Rion sat next to her pulling the blankets up to the girl’s chin. “Were you dreaming?” Beckett shrugged, her eyes still large but she looked less confused and sad. She looked more tired than anything. “Well, is there anything you want to talk about? Anything you are worried about?” Beckett shook her head.
Rion wasn’t sure what to do. Clearly, her sister either didn’t remember dreaming, or didn’t know what was bothering her, or didn’t want to say. “I won’t be mad, you know. That’s what I’m here for—to help.” Rion wondered if she should give the kid a hug. She thought about the possibility of Beckett pulling away and the awkwardness crawled across her shoulders. Before she made up her mind, Beckett rolled over closed her eyes. Rion sighed. “Well, if you need me, I’m here.”
She returned to the futon and checked the time on her phone. It was four in the morning. Too early to get up, but too late to get much more sleep. She groaned and laid down, putting an arm over her eyes. Why had Beckett been staring at her in her sleep? And this time, Rion was confident Beckett had been asleep. She saw the girl’s eyes go from asleep to awake. It was a lot creepier than she had expected. What would have happened if I hadn’t woken up? She already knew that Beckett was capable of hurting an animal, but would she hurt a person?
Ten
In the morning, both Beckett and Rion were exhausted. Neither had slept well and it was showing in the matching circles under their eyes. “We’ve got to hurry,” Rion ushered her sister out the door. She needed time to talk to Mrs. Frakes about Beckett’s wish to not go back to school. Beckett dragged her feet as she clomped down the stairs. “Look, I know you don’t want to go back. But not going to school isn’t an opt
ion. I’m going to talk to your teacher. Make sure she keeps an eye on the other kids.” Beckett still hesitated.
Mrs. Frakes was herding kids into the room when Rion and Beckett arrived. “Good morning, Beckett,” she called. Her dark curly hair was pinned up on her head haphazardly.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Rion asked.
Mrs. Frakes glanced into the room at the kids who were yelling and not settling into seats. Two boys were kicking a trashcan back and forth. “Eh, I have a moment, I suppose.”
“Thank you, it should just take a moment.”
Mrs. Frakes shut the door after the last kid and leaned against it before taking a breath. “What can I do for you?”
“Yesterday…Beckett came home from school saying she didn’t want to come back.”
Mrs. Frakes face softened in sympathy. “Oh no. Did she explain what the others have been doing to her?”
“No. She still refuses to talk about it.”
Mrs. Frakes sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, there still isn’t too much I can do if she won’t tell us what is happening. I’ll make sure the kids stay away from her at recess and lunch though. And I won’t sit them next to her. I’ll arrange it so some quieter students are near her. They will grow bored soon.”
“I hope so,” Rion set her jaw. She wanted the teacher to know she was taking this seriously.
“Of course.”
When she returned home, she started for her door but paused. She looked towards Shep’s and after a moment of indecision she crossed to his door and knocked. He had said he had the day off today, but part of her held out hope that he had errands or appointments and wouldn’t answer. But, he opened the door after the first knock.
“Good morning!” He seemed surprised to see Rion on his door step.
“I hope I didn’t wake you up?”
“Nope. I’m an early riser. Come on in.”
“Thanks. I was hoping to hang out with Link for a little while.” At Shep’s raised brow, she blushed a little. “And I was going to tell you about last night.”
As she stepped inside, Link trotted from the direction of the bedroom meowing excitedly. “Hi kitty!” she called and bent down. “I missed you,” she whispered. She scooped up her cat and scratched the back of his neck while he purred.
“Do you want some coffee?” Shep asked.
“Sure.”
They settled on the couch sipping coffee and taking turns petting Link’s back as he slid himself under each of their hands in turn. “So what happened last night?” Shep asked, his tousled hair making him look younger than he was.
Rion sighed and tucked her feet under her and told him the story of finding Beckett standing over her.
“Do you think you can get her some medication to help stop her sleepwalking?”
“I don’t think so. I think it is mostly stress related.”
“So what can you do?”
Rion shrugged helplessly. “Tell the therapist Monday. Hope that Beckett will finally open up to one of us. And let us help her.”
“I wonder what happened to her. What she saw?”
“I don’t know. But it must have been bad.”
“Yeah.” They were both quiet for a while before Shep spoke again. “There was a kid in the camp where I lived with my family.”
“Camp?”
Shep rolled his eyes. “Some might call it a commune.”
Rion almost laughed. “Go on.”
“Well, the pastor of our church, he didn’t really believe in therapy. But this kid had come from a really bad home. He was just there with his mom. The story was, her husband—the kid’s father—tried to kill the whole family. He drugged their food or something they drank, or whatever. When they were asleep, he put the mom and the kid in the car. He stuck a hose in the tail pipe and climbed in, started the car, and waited. Luckily, a neighbor heard the car running and broke into the garage. They all lived and the dad was sent to prison.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty messed up.”
“Right. Well, the teachers wanted to help. They started letting the kid take care of the horses. He was young, so he couldn’t do much more than brush a couple of the old, harmless ones. But he loved it. After a while he started talking to them. He would spend hours in their stall brushing and talking. The horses loved it too. After a while, I guess he was telling the story of what happened to the horses. Eventually, he had talked about it enough to them it was easier for him to talk to the teachers. When I left, he was making real progress. He had even made a few friends.”
Rion wrinkled her face. “I don’t think giving Beckett a pet is going to help,” she motioned towards Link who was grooming himself at their feet.
“No. But maybe you can find something she likes. She likes the news, but that doesn’t really give her a chance to express herself. Neither does video games. But, maybe, she likes art. There is a good reason therapists use art. Especially with kids. Everyone needs a way to siphon off the things that are bothering us. We haven’t seen Beckett do that at all yet.”
“Except through sleepwalking,” Rion nodded. “I like that idea though. I’ve always loved painting. Never been very good at it. But, I like it anyway.”
“There you go! Something you guys can bond over.”
When Rion picked Beckett up from school she didn’t have a chance to speak with Mrs. Frakes. The woman was surrounded by a group of parents who seemed to be worried about assignments for the Halloween party even though it was months away. When it was clear Mrs. Frakes wasn’t going to have time to chat, she gave up waiting. She couldn’t tell by the look on Beckett’s face if she’d had a good day or a bad day. The kid was a blank slate. It was her usual resting look. That was the other thing about her that Rion found odd. The kid didn’t laugh, make up stories, look confused, or excited the same as other kids. She, almost always, looked calm and stoic beyond her years.
Rion gave her a small smile and held out her hand. Beckett looked at it for a moment before taking it. The kid’s hands were hot, but at least they weren’t clammy or sticky like many kids. “I’ve got a surprise,” she said, holding up her canvas bag. Inside was paper and a starter set that included brushes and small tubes of paint. She waited for the kid to ask what was inside, but she didn’t. “I think you’ll like it,” Rion continued, undeterred.
By the time they were outside, Rion finally decided to bite the bullet. “So…how was school today?” Beckett didn’t answer for a while.
When she finally spoke, her voiced sounded tired and almost resigned. “Fine.”
“No trouble from other kids?” Beckett shrugged. Rion stopped walking and looked down at her. “Talk to me, kid. Were the others mean today?”
“Not really,” she finally answered. “Mrs. Frakes kept them busy.”
“Well that’s good.” Beckett shrugged. “See, some of us have your back,” Rion tried.
The rest of the trip was silent as usual and Rion tried to be reassured by Beckett’s trouble free day at school. It was a good sign. I’m just glad something is finally going our way. She realized she spoke too soon when they found Beckett’s case worker, sitting on the front stoop of their building.
“Hi!” Chambers called, standing as they drew closer.
“Hi,” Rion answered. Her brow was wrinkled in confusion. Her feelings must have been obvious because Chamber spoke quickly.
She stood and dusted her pants off. “Don’t worry. We didn’t have a meeting set. I just wanted to stop in and see how things were going.” She smiled down at Beckett before smiling at Rion as well.
Relieved she hadn’t forgotten an appointment, Rion tried to return the smile. “What can we do for you?”
“Oh, this is just a routine check-in. Can we go up and talk?” Rion raised a brow and Chambers looked a little embarrassed. “I talked to Beckett’s teacher this morning.”
Rion felt her stomach churn and her throat tightened. “Oh.”
“Don’t worry. I’m just checking in to see
how I can help.”
“Oh,” Rion said again, and she wanted to kick herself. She cleared her throat. “Well, let’s go up.”
Chambers followed them up the stairs and into their apartment. Rion did a quick evaluation of the living space and was relieved it was clean and orderly. “Can I get you anything?” she asked.
“Oh, no, thank you though.” Chamber sat on the futon and opened a large leather binder. “Beckett, would you mind playing in your room for a few minutes while I talk to your sister.”
Rion held her breath waiting for the same malicious appraisal of the case worker as Beckett had given the detective. But, the kid turned and headed for the bedroom without complaint. Rion sat at the breakfast counter, on the side closest to Chambers. She should have sat next to the woman, but she wanted distance between them. Chambers smiled up at her and didn’t seem bothered by her seating choice.
“So, how are things?”
“With school?”
“With school, yes. But everything else too.”
“Well, you, apparently, know how school is going. Beckett said no one bothered her today.”
“That’s great. Mrs. Frakes said she was taking precautions to keep the kids giving her trouble away.
“Right.”
“Beckett won’t tell you want happened?”
“No,” Rion sighed. “I’ve asked, but she doesn’t want to say. I am trying not to push her too much.”
“That’s understandable.”
“I’m going to make sure her therapist knows about it, maybe she will have better luck.”
“Also a great idea. How did the first session go?”
“Fine, as far as I can tell. She didn’t tell me anything they talked about.”
“Of course.”
“Beckett has trouble sleepwalking. The therapist, Jennifer, is working on some stress relieving exercises for her to try next time.”
Something Happened Page 12
