Two weeks passed and Luke almost forgot about Bentley and the Facebook link.
Almost.
Ellie, of course hadn’t, and she brought it up periodically, but Luke thought at least it wasn’t on her mind 24/7.
No other messages had been sent and nobody received any new friend requests. It was as if the person dropped off the face of the earth.
It had snowed and melted twice over the last two weeks and now they were expecting another blizzard today. Virginia hadn’t seen this much snow in over a century. Everything was icy and slippery, and the roads were covered in dirty, brown slush. All the parents were grumbling about the cold, and the heating bills, and the driving, and, especially the school closings. Luke couldn’t understand how anybody could be upset about the school closings. His dad pointed out that even though they didn’t have to go to school now, they would have to make it up at the end of the year, which meant their summer break would be shorter. Luke didn’t care. He just wanted out of school now, at this exact moment, and it didn’t matter what had to be repaid later.
Luke, John, Jimmy, and Ralph, the kid who live three doors down from Luke, were walking home from the bus stop when Patrick, Alan, and Paul ran past and pelted Jimmy with slush balls they had made from snow in the gutters. Ice, dirt, and oil ran down the inside of Jimmy’s shirt. Jimmy froze with his shoulders hunched, and Patrick ran up and shoved another one down the back of his shirt. Jimmy lost it.
“Hey you dick heads!” Jimmy cursed, and grabbed Patrick by the collar as he turned to run. Jimmy yanked Patrick backwards and he came off of his feet, landing on his butt in the street with an audible thud. Patrick, who was 3 inches taller than Jimmy and a year older, looked stunned, then pissed. Alan and Paul laughed at him as he slipped and fell again trying to stand in the icy road. Jimmy stood over him with his fists balled up at his side.
“Get up!” Jimmy yelled.
Patrick finally got his footing and stood over Jimmy glaring down at him. “I’m up.”
“What the hell was that?!”
“Just having a little fun, Dickhead,” Patrick said and shoved Jimmy in the chest.
Jimmy stood his ground. “It wasn’t fun for me!” and shoved back.
John moved closer and Luke could see the anger growing in him. Paul and Alan sensed it and starting walking toward the group again. They were no longer laughing.
Patrick, looking uncertain, glanced around quickly. He seemed to shrink a little as Jimmy refused to back down. “Easy, Besner. We were just having fun.”
“I don’t care. It was wrong, man!” Jimmy pushed his face into Patrick’s. “Tell me why I shouldn’t pound you into the ground right now!”
Patrick seemed to regain a little of his courage. “Because you’d lose,” Patrick said coldly.
“Bullshit!” But Jimmy made no further move.
“Hey!” Luke said, “Patrick, back off! You’d be pissed too if we had done the same thing to you.”
“Shut up, Harrison!” Patrick said. “You stay out of this.”
“No,” Luke said. “None of us are staying out of this. You back off.”
Patrick looked at John who nodded and never took his eyes off of him, then at Jimmy, and finally at Luke. Paul and Alan kept their distance and it looked to Luke like they wanted no part of it, though they didn’t leave.
Patrick put his hands up and smiled. “Hey, no problem. I’ll be the man. This is me backing off.” He took two steps back. Jimmy wasn’t so easily swayed. He took two steps toward Patrick and started to say something but Luke yelled at him, “Jimmy! Enough!”
Jimmy stopped and turned to look at Luke as if to say ‘you’re just an eighth grader,’ but then his brother grabbed his arm and said, “Come on, Jim. It was just a joke. Let it go.”
Jimmy stood for a minute and then seemed to relax a bit, letting John pull him away.
“Don’t do that again,” Jimmy said finally, and turned, walking off.
Patrick shrugged, joined his buddies and they left in the opposite direction. Nobody looked back. Luke knew the next snowball fight, if there was ever going to be one, would be bad.
That evening at dusk, they all played kick the can in the snow storm. The game was something their parents had taught them, and though it was old and dated, they all loved it. Most of the kids from Cotton Court were there including Luke’s sisters Katy and Deana. Ralph, the kid from three doors down, along with his little sister, Marsha, was there too. She was twelve and he was thirteen. Ellie came over from Willow Branch court along with Paul and Alan, but Patrick didn’t show. Ellie said he was locked in his room, and though she didn’t tell Luke why, she refused to knock on his door. Finally, the three new kids at the end of the court showed up and Luke learned their names were Cece, Ashley, and Chad. Cece was the oldest at fifteen, Ashley was fourteen, and Chad, eleven. They seemed alright but couldn’t play kick the can for crap.
The game had been an almost nightly ritual ever since Luke moved here in the third grade. No one ever seemed to tire of it and it was especially good at night. With the snow falling, it was even better.
John had just kicked the can (which in this case was a red rubber ball) and freed all the prisoners. Jimmy, who was ‘it,’ chased it down and hurried back to base hoping to catch some slow runners. Everybody made it into a hiding spot in time. Luke and Ellie were currently hunched down in a hedge at the side of Luke’s house and they smiled at each other in the dark.
“I like your new haircut,” she whispered.
“It’s stupid,” he said and fiddled with it.
She reached up, pushed his hand out of the way and combed the hair over to one side with her fingers. Little electric shocks ran up and down his spine as she played with his hair. He didn’t want her to stop.
“There,” she said. “That’s better.”
He grinned and said, “Thanks.” He could feel himself blushing and was glad she couldn’t see it in the dark.
He looked up and found her staring at him with a little smile on her lips. He couldn’t help it. He smiled, too, and said, “What?”
She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. It startled him and he almost pulled away, but then her soft, warm lips held him and he kissed her back. She pulled away a bit and whispered, “I know you’ve been wanting to do that, and I knew you never would, so…”
It was like he was floating in a pool of warm water. Sounds grew muffled and distant, his breath was quick and shallow, and all his senses tingled, feeling electric. He reached up, holding her face in his hands, and pulled her to him. He kissed her and felt everything else disappear. Nothing existed but her. The feel of her face in his hands; the smell of the soap she used; the heat from her body radiating out to him; her soft, moist, lips pressed against his; all those things and so much more. It was just him and her in the world and no one else.
Then he heard the voice.
“Help me…”
She jerked away, and now he saw fear in her eyes. “What was that?”
“I don’t know,” he said, thinking John or Jimmy must have seen him kissing her and was messing with him. “You heard it too?”
She nodded quickly and kept looking around in the dark. He started to say something but she put her finger to his lips and shushed him. They both listened to the silence drag out and Luke could actually hear his heart beating. Nothing happened for a bit and he was about to say something when the voice whispered again.
“Help me…”
It came from behind. He heard her take a sharp breath in surprise and look up over his shoulder. He was afraid to see. A palpable presence felt like it was pressing up against his spine and he shivered as he slowly turned.
He could see nothing in the gloom as his eyes tried to penetrate the dense growth of bushes. He heard a faint sound, almost like laughter, but it was so soft and seemed so distant he wasn’t sure if he was imagining things.
Ellie whispered in his ear. “I heard a laugh.”
He nodded but stared into the darkness where they heard the voice.
“It sounded creepy,” she whispered and shuddered involuntarily.
He suddenly grabbed her hand and said, “Come on!” He crawled from the bushes with her following behind and stood up. “Time!” he yelled and it sounded huge and booming in the silence. “Jimmy! John! Get over here! Quick!”
A grunt of anger came from the direction of the voice and then a crashing noise as someone, or something, broke through the hedge and ran off down the path through Luke’s backyard. Ellie and Luke jumped at the sound, and Luke had a hard time holding his ground. He wanted to bolt and run in the other direction, but he couldn’t leave Ellie there. He squinted into the darkness as he tried to follow the noise, but he could see nothing. John ran over and then Jimmy was there too.
“What’s up?” John said. “You guys quitting?”
“Someone was here,” Luke said.
“What do you mean?” Jimmy asked.
“Someone was in the bushes with us,” Luke said.
“So,” John said, not understanding. “You can hide wherever you want. Everybody could hide in the bushes at the same time if they wanted. It would be stupid, but they could do it.”
“No,” Ellie said. “Somebody else was here. Someone not in the game.” Her face looked haunted and she held on to Luke’s arm with a vice-like grip.
Jimmy’s mouth was set in a tight line and he looked at John, who stared back at him.
“Was it him?” John asked quietly.
“I think so,” Luke said. “It was creepy. This voice whispered ‘Help me’ twice, and then we heard a laugh. Not a funny laugh, but a mean laugh. That’s when I yelled ‘Time’ and called for you guys.”
“Is he still there?” Jimmy whispered.
“I don’t think so,” Luke said. “We heard a grunt and then someone ran off through my backyard.”
Just then Paul and Alan came running around the corner and they all jumped in surprise.
“What’s happening?” Paul asked. “We quittin’?”
“Yeah,” Jimmy said. “We’re done.”
“Why?” Alan asked. “It’s still early.”
“We’re just done.” And Jimmy yelled, “All-e-all-e-all-come-free!” Jimmy led the way back to the center of the court.
“Hey! What the heck?” Paul said. “What’s wrong with you guys?”
“Nothing,” Jimmy said. “I said we’re done and that means we’re done.”
“Man-ever since you guys found that dumb dog you’ve been acting weird,” Alan said.
“Hey!” Luke yelled. “That dog was our friend!”
“Yeah! That so called ‘dumb dog’ was mine,” Ellie shouted, her voice breaking.
“Jeez! It’s just a dog!” Alan said.
Luke got in his face. “Tell her you’re sorry!”
Alan was taken aback. “What?”
Luke grabbed Alan’s jacket sleeve and repeated himself, poking him in the chest with every word. “Tell-her-you’re-sorry!”
Ellie had tears in her eyes even though she was angry. She stood waiting for the apology. Alan looked around. Jimmy and John were staring at him intensely. Paul looked at the ground shuffling his feet.
“I’m sorry,” Alan said.
Luke let go of his sleeve. “Alright.”
All the other kids were coming out of hiding now and as Ralph walked up he asked, “What’s up?”
“They’re quitting,” Paul said. “Game’s over.”
“What happened?” Ralph asked.
“Nothing,” Jimmy said. “We’re just done.”
“But it’s early,” Ralph whined.
“I don’t care,” Jimmy said. “I’m telling you, go home. We’re done.”
“I don’t want to go home,” Ralph said. “You’re not the boss of me.”
Jimmy strode over and pointed a finger into Ralph’s face. Ralph’s eyes grew big and he flinched a little.
“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go home,” Jimmy said, and then looked around. “All of you. Game’s over.”
“Fine,” Ralph said and grabbed his sister and started home. All the others mumbled something and headed off down the street.
Luke could tell the three new kids didn’t know what to make of it all. They stood around for a minute and then Cece said, “Well, it was fun for a while. Nice meeting you guys.” They waved goodbye and walked home.
Luke, Ellie, John, and Jimmy were left standing in the middle of the street. They stared at each other for a moment and then John said, “Do we go look?”
“For what?” Luke asked.
“Footprints.”
“Why?”
“To see if someone was really there,” Jimmy said.
“Someone was there alright,” Luke said. “Ellie heard it too.”
“I did. It was creepy,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.
“I think we should wait until it’s light out,” Jimmy said. “No use traipsing around in the dark.”
“I agree,” Luke said. “Besides, what if he has a gun or knife or something?”
Nobody said anything for a minute as they all thought about that. Finally, Ellie said, “Sorry you had to be the bad guy Jimmy. Everybody seemed pissed.”
“I don’t care about that,” Jimmy said. “They’ll get over it.”
Ellie smiled at him. “Still-it was big of you to take the heat.” He waved it off.
“You guys do know that if this gets worse, we’re going to have to tell them all,” John said. “For their own safety.”
Everybody nodded, but Luke didn’t want to think about it getting worse. That voice he heard was going to keep him awake tonight as it was.
“We should walk Ellie home,” Luke said.
“Thanks, guys,” she said. The four of them headed off toward Ellie’s house.
The snow was falling hard now and Luke could hardly see ten feet in front him. They talked about mundane stuff as they walked and their voices had an odd quality to them; muddled and stale, like they were trapped in a vacuum. Ellie said only a few words here and there, then suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs. “Whoo hoo!”
They stopped and looked at her as she smiled, sheepishly.
“Did you hear that?” She said. “No echo at all. It was like my voice was sucked away.”
“You are weird,” Jimmy said, but was smiling. Luke laughed and John just stared at her.
“You scared the crap out of me,” John said.
“Whoo Hooooooo!” Luke yelled, and then laughed.
“Aaaaeeeeeee!” Jimmy piped.
Pretty soon they were all yelling at the top of their lungs and laughing at the stupidity of it. As they stopped, the giggling quieting down, they heard a distant “Whoo hoo!” mocking them and they all froze. Ellie shifted next to Luke and grabbed his arm. Luke felt suddenly colder and wished he were home in his warm house.
“Come on,” John said, and started walking faster.
They got to Ellie’s house and stood at her door.
“It could have been anybody, you know,” Jimmy said.
“Yeah,” Luke mumbled. “But it could have been him, too.”
“Thanks for walking me home,” Ellie said. They were all quiet for a minute, then Ellie added, “You guys are my best friends.”
Luke didn’t know what to say and apparently neither did Jimmy or John, because they all stood there shuffling their feet.
“Bye,” she said reaching for the handle, but then stopped. She turned, quickly took a step toward Luke, and kissed him softly on the lips. She smiled coyly and Luke felt himself turning red. She opened her door and disappeared inside.
“What was that?” John asked, grinning.
Luke couldn’t help the big grin on his face, but he said nothing. He could still smell her hair and the feel of her lips on his. He looked away, embarrassed, and led the way home.