One Tiny Secret

One Tiny Secret - By Adam Kunz


Chapter One

“Perfect,” I say aloud as I finish the final touches on the flyer for the Halloween party this weekend. Leaning back against the pile of comfy pillows gathered behind me, I admire my work. A smile creeps across my face because of the fact I went with my gut and used the classic color scheme of an orange background with black writing.

SHRIEK & HOWL HALLOWEEN BASH

WHEN: This Saturday night!

WHERE: If you don’t already know, YOU’RE NOT INVITED!

WHY: Do you really need a reason?

You know the deal: full-on kegger, epic food spread, and best of all…NO ADULTS!

DON’T FORGET TO WEAR A COSTUME…THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING!!!

And remember, destroy all evidence of this flyer after reading it, or you’ll get one big-ass trick instead of a treat.

The door to my room abruptly swings open, and startles me while I’m busy proofreading the flyer. My dad stands there, still in uniform, with a tattered cardboard box in his arms. I can clearly read my horrible handwriting on the side of the box in thick black marker: Dani’s Stuff. He seems annoyed, and I’m pretty sure I know why.

“Uh, knocking would’ve been nice,” I huff as I quickly close my laptop. The last thing I need is my father, the sheriff, seeing what I’m working on. I’d be grounded for life if he found out that his daughter is helping promote such a prolific party. One that has him and his deputies searching all night in order to bust, but they never find it.

“Sorry, but you promised me you’d go through this stuff, and then donate anything you didn’t need anymore. I’m tired of tripping over it downstairs,” he replies, sounding a little irritated.

“I’ll get to it.”

“That’s what you said three weeks ago. And yet, here I am, after almost breaking my neck from stumbling over this box again, because it was still in the same place when you last told me you’d get to it. Dani, you’re eighteen years old now. I shouldn’t have to ask you a million times to do something,” he argues, and then sets the box on the floor next to my bed. “Here, let me help move the process along.”

He begins to pull open one of the flaps on the box, but I put my hand over it and push it back down.

“I’ll look through it right after I’m finished with what I’m doing, okay?”

He sends me a glare. “Scout’s honor?”

“Scout’s honor,” I reply after rolling my eyes.

He lets out a subtle chuckle and places a kiss on my forehead. As he begins to pull away, I notice his focus shifts to the side of my face.

“I see you’re wearing the skull-and-crossbones earrings your mom sent you,” he comments while positioning my earlobe so he can see the earring better.

“Yeah, I thought I’d get into the Halloween spirit.”

I see the sadness enter his eyes the moment he mentions Mom. They went through a rocky divorce almost a year ago after she decided to run off with someone much younger and not so super committed to his job. I still love her, but I hate what she did. The whole way she went about it was just all kinds of shitty. When it was all said and done, I decided to stay in Holden Ridge with my dad, since Mom seemed fixated on a sex romp with her hunky little boy toy. I didn’t really feel like changing schools during my senior year anyway. Besides, my father’s a really great guy when he wants to be and not too much of a pain in the ass to live with, faults and all.

“Hey, speaking of Halloween, how about we put up the decorations tomorrow? I know it’s a little late, and you usually did that with your mother, but—”

“I’d like that,” I reply, surprising him.

He smiles. “Good. Tomorrow it is then.”

I nod and watch him stroll toward the door. He turns back around and looks like he wants to say something.

“Yeah, Dad?” I ask, trying to help him along.

He hesitates. “You haven’t by any chance heard rumblings about a party going on this weekend, have you?”

“Nope. I’m not really in that crowd, you know that.”

“Huh. Well, can you do me a favor and keep an ear out?”

“Will do,” I reply, feeling bad that I just flat-out lied.

Once he leaves and shuts the door behind him, I open my laptop to find the flyer’s still there. It glares back at me, almost as if to say, “How could you lie to your father?” After I hit save, I close the file and put it out of my mind.

I reach for the TV remote on the nightstand next to my bed and press the power button. The iconic theme song for the movie Halloween flows through my room as it turns on, and I grin since it’s one of my all-time favorites.

My attention is suddenly drawn to my cell phone lying next to me on the bed as it pings, signaling an incoming notification. Unlocking the phone, I see the little Facebook icon at the top of the screen and swipe my finger down it to reveal the notifications’ menu. Under the icon is a little message that says I have a friend request waiting for my approval, but leaves off the name.

Before I have a chance to see who sent the request, my eyes dart over to the window when I hear a faint sound. My mind immediately thinks it’s just some branches from the trees outside brushing up against the house, but the little voice at the back of my head has other ideas. I push the thought away and refocus on the phone in my hands. The strange noise grows louder, almost as if in protest of me trying to ignore it.

Putting the phone and laptop onto the nightstand, I slowly raise myself from the reclining position and slide off the side of the bed. The wooden floor feels cold the moment my bare feet touch down, causing goose bumps to form all over my legs. I immediately leap into my slippers to ward off the sudden chill.

I hear the sound again, but this time it’s even louder and more distinct. It’s definitely coming from the window. From a distance, I peer outside and see the large trees in our side yard swaying eerily in the night breeze. “It has to be the trees making that noise,” I tell myself.

My focus is so concentrated on the window that I jump and let out a gasp when someone screams on the TV.

“Dammit, I really need to stop watching these movies at night,” I mutter with a nervous laugh.

The scratching sounds again, pulling my gaze back outside. I hesitantly make my way over to the window, the entire time listening to the unnerving theme music playing in the background. I should have turned the damn TV off.

Standing in front of the window, I look around outside for any sign of what could be causing the noise. There’s a branch from one of the large trees lodged in the lattice fence, scaling up the side of the house, that’s brushing up against the window. As I unlatch it and slide it open, I’m immediately enveloped in a gust of frigid wind, causing me to shudder. I regain my composure and slowly reach out to dislodge the branch. The moment I do, a hand shoots out of the darkness and grabs my arm.

“Boo!”

A scream erupts through my lips, and I hear laughter sound below me. I can barely make out the features of my two best friends who are there hanging out on the lattice, but I know it’s them. I want to slap the grins off their faces, but instead find myself laughing off the rush of fear.

Breaking free of Rory’s grip on my wrist, I playfully glare at him, and he resorts to sending me puppy-dog eyes, complete with a pouty lip.

“I can’t believe you two. You scared the shit out of me,” I whisper harshly, hoping my father didn’t hear me scream.

“Sorry, but I couldn’t resist,” Rory laughs.

“It’s Halloween. Everyone’s entitled to one good scare, right?” Alex quotes from the movie Halloween with a menacing smile after hearing the music in the background.

“Ha, very funny. Now get your asses in here already before you break something.”

“All right, Miss Bossy,” I hear Rory say as I help pull him up with some assistance from his belt loops. Alex follows in closely behind him.

Rory flops down on my bed face-first and lets out a contented sigh. “So comfy,” is all he says. He begins to do a reverse snow angel on my sheets by moving his arms and legs back and forth.

“Hey, no shoes on the bed,” I reprimand, swatting at his red Converse.

“Easy, I paid a good thirty bucks for these babies,” he complains jokingly while trying to nudge away my hand with his foot.

I laugh off his comment and take a seat next to Alex at the foot of the bed. “So rumor has it you and your band are playing at Gunnar’s party this weekend.”

“Yep, you heard right,” Alex replies with a little less enthusiasm than I expect.

“What? Aren’t you excited? This is Gunnar Benson’s party.”

“Oh, she’s excited all right. But it’s the costume she has to wear for the show that has her panties all in a bunch,” Rory chimes in.

“I really dislike you sometimes,” Alex says to Rory, who just smirks at her.

“The costume can’t be that bad. It’s not like they’re going to make you wear one of those black spandex skeleton costumes or something, right?” I ask. Alex goes quiet and sends me a look of what I think is shock mixed with a tiny bit of disgust. “Wait…they’re actually going to make you wear that?”

“It sucks so much ass—you have no idea. Do you realize what this will look like in spandex?” she whines, motioning to her figure, which, for the record, is thin and only slightly curvy.

I can’t help but laugh the moment Rory begins to. Alex swiftly gives both of us love taps and then sulks before face-planting into the comforter. “It’s not funny, guys.”

“Uh, yeah, it kind of is,” Rory comments and then receives another slap on the leg. “Oh, speaking of costumes, what are you going as, Dani?”

“Little Red.”

“Ah, how classic of you. So, will this be old-school Little Red, or Red with a sexy twist?” he queries with a mischievous grin.

“I guess you’ll just have to wait and see now, won’t you?”

“I bet you’re going as naughty Red,” Alex interjects while pushing my shoulder.

I giggle and notice Rory’s attention has shifted to the cardboard box on the floor.

“What’s all this stuff?” he asks, holding up some of my childhood things he’s drawn from the box. One of the items, a walkie-talkie, immediately catches my attention. A specific moment from my past involving that very device begins to seep into my mind.

I shake the memory away. “When did you get so nosey?” I ask before grabbing the walkie-talkie from him.

“He’s gay. He can’t help it, remember?” Alex states dryly.

“Hey, I resemble that remark,” Rory interjects while poking Alex with the tip of his shoe.

I laugh. “Oh, yeah, how could I forget that little detail?”

As I stare down at the little hand radio resting in my lap, the memories begin to invade again. Long after my bedtime, I used to chat with my neighbor, and once best friend, Janice, on this thing. We’d sit by our bedroom windows and stare out at each other and talk for hours. We’d chat about pretty much anything and everything. Janice used to get picked on relentlessly throughout most of elementary and middle school, which is why her mom pulled her out of the system and banished her to homeschool. Unfortunately, it only succeeded in alienating her even more. I vividly remember the day when her mother went all Carrie’s mom on me and called me a heathen and a bad influence on her daughter. She even banned Janice from ever hanging out with me again. Even though we’re still next-door neighbors, I rarely see Janice anymore.

“Earth to Dani,” Rory jokes, breaking into my thoughts. “You went all comatose on us for a second there while staring at that thing.”

“Oh, sorry. Got distracted, I guess.”

“I’ll say. Care to share?” Alex asks, giving me a little nudge.

“There’s not really much to share. This,” I say holding up the walkie, “is just something I used to mess around with. It’s nothing, really.”

“Uh-huh,” Alex says, clearly not convinced.

I roll my eyes and hand the walkie-talkie back to Rory so that he can put it, and the rest of the stuff he took out, back in the box.

“So, not to be rude or anything, but what exactly are you two doing here?”

“Truthfully?” Alex asks.

“Truthfully.”

“To, uh, copy your Algebra homework,” she says sheepishly.

“Really?”

Alex nods with pitiful pleading eyes.

I give her a withering stare. “Top right drawer of my desk. Red notebook. Just make sure I get it back tomorrow before school, all right?”

Alex squeals as she wraps her arms around my neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she says repeatedly in my ear. “I owe you, big time.” She jumps from the bed toward the desk and I turn to look at Rory. As I send him an interrogative look, he seems to know exactly what I’m about to ask.

“Don’t look at me in that tone of voice. I just came here to chaperone Miss I-can’t-do-my-own-work,” he says while putting his hands up, showing innocence.

“Hey, I’ve only done this like three times so far this year,” I hear Alex state as she plops back down next to me.

Rory laughs. “Yeah, but the year just started.”

“Irrelevant,” she says, intently flipping through the notebook.

“All right you guys, it’s late, and I, unlike some people, have work to do.”

Alex thanks me again before heading out the window and Rory follows quickly after. When I glance up after watching the two of them scale down the lattice fence, I see that Janice’s window curtain is closed, but the light in her room is casting a gentle, eerie silhouette against it. As the light turns off, the silhouette disappears. I sigh, thinking back to when Janice and I were younger. It’s sad that we haven’t talked in forever, especially since we live right next door to each other. A feeling of guilt flows over me as I shut the window before heading back to my bed.

Taking off my slippers, I slide under the covers to warm up. As I go to reach for my laptop, my phone chimes again. Unlocking the screen, I find that it’s just reminding me of the unchecked Facebook friend request. Tapping the Facebook icon, I wait for the page to load. Being on the outskirts of town really sucks for reception and Internet.

My eyes grow wide with surprise and my heart stutters as I see the picture and name of the person who sent me the request.

“Parker Reed?”

The moment that name leaves my lips, I feel a tingling sensation course throughout my entire body. The last time I saw his face was a little more than two years ago, when I was massively making out with it.

I used to be attached at the hip and utterly inseparable from his stepsister, Phoebe. Our best-friendship was rocked by my little…well, I wouldn’t call it “little”…fling with Parker. I found it really hard to keep my relationship with Parker from her, and it made some of our sleepovers quite awkward, especially when he’d text me sweet little messages before bed. When Phoebe eventually found out, I was so worried that I’d lose my best friend. We still hadn’t made up by the time Parker split for California, and it killed me not to be able to seek comfort from her since she’s someone I cared a lot about. Thankfully, Phoebe and I were able to keep our friendship intact even after what happened.

I let my phone’s screen fade to black without clicking accept or ignore to the request, and then place it down by my side. I let out a heavy sigh as I think back to the night Parker and I first kissed. He was a senior and I was a freshman. I pretty much had a crush on him my entire post-pubescent life, and that crush was firmly cemented the moment our lips locked.

“No…you’ve got to snap out of this, Dani!” I groan. “You can’t eff things up with Phoebe again.”

I shut off the TV and flip the switch on my bedside lamp, plunging the room into darkness. The only source of light is from the street lamp outside, shining through my window. While patting the pillows behind me, trying to fluff them into the perfect pile, thoughts of Parker keep flooding my head. I was going to try and get some more work done tonight, but there’s no damn way I’ll be able to concentrate with him on the brain. I should hate him for just up and leaving the freakin’ state for college without even so much as a goodbye, but here I am, thinking about how much I want to trace his perfect jawline with my hand while sucking face.

I toss and turn until I flop over onto my back, staring up at the ceiling. “Damn you, Parker Reed. Damn you and your damn friend request,” I mutter under my breath, succumbing to the realization that I was in for a long night of no sleep.