CHAPTER TEN
A low growling noise stopped me in my tracks. To the left, by the neighbor’s fence, I could see the silhouette of Cheerio, snuffling and snapping at my presence. Even though the fence was thick with old knotted wood and a prickly bush spread out at its base, I entertained the thought of hopping over it into their yard and teaching the dog a lesson.
“Perry!” I heard my mother’s voice near my ear and I was suddenly aware that she had been yel ing it a few times already.
She was at my side, clutching her shawl with her dainty hand. In the afternoon light, its mint tone matched the fading grass at my feet.
“What are you doing out here? Where are your shoes?”
I looked down at my feet. I was wearing my pajama pants from earlier, along with a hoodie. My hair was tied back into a ponytail. I didn’t know where my shoes were.
Come to think of it, I had no idea why I was standing in the depths of our back yard, just staring at the neighbor’s fence. What wa s I doing out there? Where had I been before? Once again, I couldn’t remember.
“What were you going to do to the dog?” she asked quietly.
I looked at her as if she had two heads.
“The dog?”
“Why are you standing out here?”
“I…I…needed fresh air.”
My mom’s eyes roamed al over my face, her lips pursed as she thought about who knows what. Probably that I was a pig kil er. Then she took my hand and said in her extra-gentle, fabric softener voice, “You look cold, pumpkin.
Come on inside.”
That tone of voice brought back some pretty dicey memories. It was like déjà vu to high school al over again.
I forced a smile at her as we walked back up the damp grass to the house. I couldn’t get too wrapped up in what she thought and I couldn’t let her worry about me any more than she needed to. She had my dad to worry about. When he came home to see Officers Monroe, Hartley, and a few other cops taking photos of the house, he nearly had a heart attack. When he found out exactly what happened, his skin went so pale, I swore I could see his skul underneath. I thought he was going to scream or maybe throw up (seemed like the thing to do these days) but he just absorbed it al and shook. That was far scarier. My dad needed to throw things and yel and flip tables. That was his thing. That’s how he dealt with life. The fact that he just took it and kept it inside made me feel queasy. There was official y too much anger and fright in this household and it was only going to get worse.
We went up the back patio steps and through the back French doors into the house and walked past the study without even a glance. I was afraid to look. It was shut and tomorrow there would be a team coming over to clean it but I could stil feel the evil seeping through the cracks.
My mother sat down next to Ada and my father in the living room. They were watching A Fistful of Dollars but they weren’t real y watching it. They were watching each other. Watching the house. And getting lost in their own heads.
There was a smal part of me that was almost glad that they were freaked out. It was comforting to know I didn’t have to suffer alone, even though they only knew a very smal percentage of what was going on. I wanted to keep them in the dark about the rest for as long as possible and there was only one way to do that. I had to know what I was dealing with and how to get rid of it.
I know Maximus had said he’d talk to me in a few days, but I didn’t have a few days. I couldn’t explain it, but it felt like I was running out of time. Besides, I didn’t mind kissing him again. I welcomed that whole distraction with open lips.
I mean arms.
Taking my phone out of my hoodie pocket, I cal ed him and went up the stairs to my room to finish the cal in private.
“Darling,” he answered.
I smiled and hoped he could hear it over the phone.
“Hey. How are you?”
“I’m…I’ve felt better. Good ol’ whiskey head. My apologies that I didn’t cal you earlier.”
“That’s OK,” I said, having forgotten myself in al the commotion. I thought I heard a girl giggle in the background. My brow furrowed automatical y. “Where are you?”
He cleared his throat. “I’m out getting some fresh air. You know, at the market. It’s just wrapping up. Great tacos here.”
I listened harder. It did sound like he was somewhere where there were a lot of people. I don’t know why I was being so paranoid.
“Look, something happened today,” I said, not wanting to say too much over the phone.
“Are you al right?”
“Yes, I am. We al are. But the cops were here earlier and…”
“Cops?” he exclaimed. “Wel I’l be. You sure you’re al right?”
“I am for now but I was wondering if you’d come by and do like, a reading or something? I don’t know, I just feel like I’m running out of time and if this is going so far as to scare my family and not just me, I can’t just watch it happen. I can’t. I won’t!”
“Al righty, no worries Perry. I’l head over right now.”
“Thank you,” I whispered softly into the phone.
“You got it,” was his answer and the phone went dead.
I took in a deep breath and changed into leggings and a long teal sweater so I didn’t look like I just rol ed out of bed, then did a quick run of concealer and mascara on my face.