Saturday 11:15 a.m.
WARNING: Animal (fish) death.
I pulled into my driveway, put Baby in park, and huffed a deep sigh. Normally, the sight of home brought me peace. The large azalea bushes were blooming beneath my window, and so were the clusters of pampas grass along our drive, their fluffy white stalks swaying gently in the breeze. Everything about the scene said, "safety, love, home."
At this exact moment, though, I was regretting so much. Hector and Jess had been sniping at each other off and on the rest of the drive. Over the radio station. Over whether his window should be down or up. She didn't want the noise. He said he wanted all the noise. I didn't want to get involved. It was, after all, her dumb idea we "supervise" his stupid ass.
Technically, she was correct in the morality of the whole thing, but still. I didn't want Hector in my peaceful home. And not only did I have to bring Hector into my oasis, I had to drag him inside to explain to my dad that... well, that the world had gone to hell since I'd left this morning, and I'd brought home a mind reader in need.
This was not a conversation I ever thought I'd be having. How exactly did one start this? I felt exhausted, and my shoulders slumped.
"Don't worry, princess. I'll just tell Daddy Dearest the story." Hector's voice was full of his usual sneer, and he flung open his car door like he was going to march in and tell my dad Lord knew what.
"Oh. No, you do not!" I opened my own door, jumping out and shut it roughly. I wasn't about to have him open his nasty mouth and give some awful version of events. "You just be quiet, Hector!" I glared at him across the hood of my car and spat the words with every ounce of venom I possessed so he'd know how serious I was, "and you get yourself under control too, you hear me?" I pointed my finger at him, and it dawned on me I probably looked and sounded like my mother. I dropped my hand, feeling slightly foolish but then a little emboldened when I saw Hector only nodding at me. At least he kept any "mom" comments to himself. So, there was that.
The door was never locked during the day, so I threw it open, tossed my keys on the console table, and called out for my dad. I didn't make it far before I felt something off. And it was in the air.
It was hot.
Mom always insisted we keep the air at a temperature near arctic levels, and to my surprise, it was significantly warm inside. And humid. Like the outdoors had been allowed to encroach on her temperature-controlled oasis. My pace slowed as I crept down the hall.
"Dad?" My bellow from before was less sure. It was met by silence again.
"Daddy?" I repeated, worry in my voice. This wasn't funny. Not one bit.
My heart dropped to my stomach the moment I reached the end of the long hall and peeked into our living room.
Pure carnage and chaos spread before me. The carnage mostly in the form of fish. Our large saltwater aquarium had shattered, and water, fish, and colorful blue and white gravel were scattered all around the carpet, couch, and loveseat. Our Damsel fish gaped up at me from below the coffee table. A piece of glass was piercing just below his dorsal fin, standing up viciously, like a tiny, transparent knife. None of the fish were moving, their scales bright, their eyes dull. My favorite yellow tang seemed to be pointing her nose at the patio door, which was also shattered, contributing to the copious amount of glass and explaining how it got so all-fired hot. The A/C was escaping to the backyard through our busted door. There was blood on one of the jagged door pieces like someone had run through the opening in desperation to escape. There wasn't much blood... just a coating like red glaze on the point and edges, but looking at it in the light, a gust of muggy air hit me, and I couldn't catch my breath.
"Daddy!" I was shrieking now. I heard water splash beneath my feet as I raced toward my parent's bedroom. Which was also epically and tragically destroyed. The mattress tilted over; dresser drawers opened, articles of clothing and picture frames scattered throughout the room. There was no sign of dad, so I turned and ran again, hearing the splashing beneath my feet once more, my own breathing too loud in my ears. Throat clogging with fear. I looked in all the other room. None so torn apart like my parent's.
With my dad still missing, it was like the heartbeat of the house was absent. Everything was all too still.
What had happened? Whose blood was on the door? Where was my father? Why couldn't I think clearly, and where had all the oxygen gone? I gulped in air like a fish for all the good it did me. Jess came up behind me and put her hand on my shoulder. I screamed at the contact.
"Shhhhh." She shushed me in a quiet voice and rubbed my shoulder, "Shhhhhh." I recognized the tone she used with her younger sisters.
"You need to breathe," she urged me.
I nodded. I really did need to breathe. Breathing was a critical part of thinking, and I needed to think. Something bad had happened here. My poor fish. I couldn't think about that now. I wiped my face and tried to oxygenate. In. Out. In. Out.
When I looked up again, I met Jess's solemn brown eyes, "Thank you."
She just nodded, absently Then glanced around the room. We were both at a loss.
"I'm going to call 911," I announced finally.
On my way to the kitchen to find the phone, I noticed Hector had vanished, but he was the least of my worries at that moment. I was incensed to find the house phone had no dial tone. Shaking my head, I reached for my cell instead. A busy signal. I looked at the 911 displayed on my cell screen. How was it possible for 911 to have a busy signal?
"What's wrong?" Jess asked
I showed her the phone. "Busy," I told her with surprise written all over my face.
"Try it again!" she demanded.
I did, getting the same result.
"What the hell is going on with the police?" she asked, then, just like that, I watched my best friend shimmer... and disappear within seconds.
That did it. I ran to where she was just standing, waved my hands through where she should be in case she turned invisible. Heck, I'd seen crazier things today.
"Jess!" I Screeched at the top of my lungs, "Jess Marie Dunaway, where did you go? Come back here right now!"
I was just about to drop to the floor in a fit of absolute hysteria, because what the shit, you know? But then Jess rematerialized not far from where I was standing, screaming my fool head off. Her eyes were saucers.
"Where did you go?" I yelled.
" Nowhere." She stumbled forward, seemingly ready to have her own drop to the floor in tears moment. Somehow, I caught her, and we both wobbled a bit but managed to stay upright.
Hector reappeared while Jess and I were gathering our bearings. I wondered if he also had vanished the same way Jess had and was still in the house somehow.
I flinched when a voice came into my head. Hector's voice.
"No, just checking your underwear drawer. I wanted to know if you were a bikini, thong, or brief kind of girl." The words weren't spoken out loud. They were in my head. And that made them a billion times more disgusting. From his gross smirk, I could tell that must have been what he was going for. Eww.
"Hector... are you talking in MY HEAD?" I asked. This was worse than a disappearing best friend.
"How is me talking to you in your head, worse than me hearing you in mine?" He asked, "Besides, it's your fault. You told me to be quiet. This is the only quiet way to talk." There was that smirk again. I wanted to wipe it off his face. With a cement scrubby.
"Sweet God in Heaven!" I exclaimed, "What is wrong with you? Talk regular then. Your voice in my head is uber creepy!"
"He was talking in your head?" Jess looked at me.
I nodded.
"She disappeared?" Hector looked for confirmation of what I suppose he read in my brain.
I nodded again. At least he was speaking out loud and not about my underwear. I made a reflex gag at just the thought of him going through my room.
"What a world." Hector chuckled and spotted the fruit bowl on the dining table, grabbed an orange, sat down, and started peeling it. I decided the best thing for my mental health was to ignore his existence entirely, and turned my focus back to Jess.
"Seriously though," I asked Jess, "Where did you go?"
"Literally nowhere." She was breathless, and her eyes went wide again, "I was thinking of the police station." She shook her head. "I was somewhere, I guess... but it wasn't anywhere either. I thought I could see the police station from there. For just a second, I could. It was all kinds of crazy, crowded, loud. And I was gonna go there 'cause it was the only place there was, but then I thought I heard you, and I saw your kitchen again. Next thing I know, boom; kitchen!"
"That's..." I had no words.
"Bitchin'!" Hector supplied around a mouthful of orange.
Eww. Again. I chose to ignore him.
"It kind of was, though." Jess nodded thoughtfully, "It was also terrifying."
"You apparated." Hector shoved more orange in his face. "like a freaking wizard."
Jess laughed. "I guess I did." Awesome. They were bonding over magical powers now.
I sighed. My house was still a crime scene. I was about to let the fear surge back up inside me when I heard a truck roll up into the driveway. I ran to the dining room window to look out, and I saw my father step out.
"Oh, Thank God!" Jess's words echoed my own thoughts.
I bolted out the door only to rush right at my father. His arms opened up to embrace me just as I plowed into him. "I thought you died!" I muttered angrily into his chest.
"Not yet." He held me tightly. "Not today." He sounded tired. I pulled back to look at him, and he looked down at me with an unreadable expression.
"We have to leave," he told me, in a tone all too calm.
I opened my mouth to protest but saw my mother sitting in the front seat of the car looking shell-shocked.
"Mom?" I leaned around dad to call out to her.
Her owlish eyes turned to me and blinked once. Then went back to staring at her lap.
"What—what's wrong with her?" I asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"It's been a trying day."
"Shouldn't she be at work?" I had so many questions.
"I just went and got her." My father stepped back and opened the back door of his truck, "And now I've found you, and we're all leaving." He motioned for me to climb in.
"Well, Dad..." I had so much to tell him.
"Not now, Raina. Later." He was already going to get back into the driver's seat.
No. This was happening too fast. Jess and Hector were still in my house.
"But dad!" I needed his attention.
"Not another word, Raina!" he shouted. His voice so loud and abrupt, it made me jump. If he'd meant to make me jump in the truck, his plan backfired. I'd had enough scares for one day. I froze. Daddy hardly ever yelled like that. Much less screamed at me.
Jess and Hector must have heard him bellow because they came to the front door and paused. Gawping.
Dad got back out of the truck and sighed, "Jess, what are you doing here?" Then he noticed Hector, "And who are you?" His tone with Hector was much less cordial.
"My name's Hector." Hector wiped the remains of orange off his hands onto his jeans and then added, "and oddly enough. I cannot read your mind." He extended his hand, "Pleasure to meet you."
My father gave Hector a look and then motioned to the car, "I've got no time for this, kids. I need you all in the truck."
"Cool. Where we going?" Hector opened the back driver's door and got in.
My mouth was hanging open by this point, and my feet had yet to move. My father ignored me and addressed Jess, "Hurry up, Jess. In you go!"
With a look at me, she shrugged and walked to the truck, getting in on the other side of Hector.
Why is Daddy being so weird?
"Oh, and before I forget..." My father fished something out of his pocket. It flashed in the sunlight, sparkling silver threads. Before I had time to process it, my father had clasped it around my wrist.
"A bracelet?" I asked dumbly.
"For safety," he said. Then he clasped me by both shoulders and looked into my confused eyes. "I'll tell you everything. I swear. But now, we need to leave."
My friends were already in the truck looking at me. I didn't want to cause some huge, embarrassing scene. I looked at my father long and hard, remembering how glad I'd been just a moment ago that he'd been alive. I swallowed down my questions. He said he'd answer them when we got to wherever. I nodded and climbed into the truck behind my mother.
There was a deafening silence in the car, and I tried to glance around Hector to get a glimpse of Jess—to see her face. Her face always told me what she was thinking. But Hector's giant dumb self was in my way, and I leaned back with a huff. For the first time, I wished I had a superpower so I could know what in the Kentucky-fried-Crack-Cocaine was going on around here. I stared at the back of my mother's head for a while. Kind of willing her to say something to break the silence, but it wasn't her voice that I heard in my ear. Hector had leaned back too, turned his head, pretty much buried it in my hair in an effort to whisper in my ear (at least that's what I hope he was going for), and said, "I'll be happy to tell you anything you wanna know."
I made an undignified "eeeeeeeeeeeeee" sort of sound, sat bolt upright, and began brushing my hands through that side of my hair like maybe he put a bug in my curls. In my defense, he HAD done that once. In fourth grade, at recess, I was sitting under the oak shade tree with Jess and a couple other girls when Hector and these other boys marched right up.
"Why ya'll sittin' with the cripple?"
I looked at the other girls whose mouths were just gaping up at him, like my own.
"We're all just talking, dummy," I had replied, "nobody asked you."
"Yeah. A and B conversation. C your way out." Jess had followed up.
The other girls had giggled.
"Well, I heard, she don't even wash those tangled up curls. Got the cooties livin' in 'em. How you bathe in those braces cripple girl?"
I looked at the boys like they had half a brain between them. "The braces aren't attached to my legs, stupid. They're like shoes or socks. They come off."
"Then how do you explain this?" He marched forward and dropped a big ole beetle bug right on top of my head. One of the big shiny ones with the giant pincers. I'd never seen one on the playground before, only in a science book. And let me say, I shrieked and jumped up and danced and fell back on my butt because I didn't know that it wouldn't hurt me. It got so tangled in my hair, and I was afraid to touch it. But that wasn't the worst part. The two morons had more beetle bugs. They each had one in each fist. Hector threw his other one at Jess, who somehow swatted it away mid-flight, and we watched it scurry away. After that, the boys were more careful with the other two bugs. They chased my other friends until teachers came out to see what the screaming was about. People were scared to be my friend after that. Nobody wanted to be Hector's target. Why all this came flashing back now, I'll never know. But I punched him in the arm. Hard. "Don't get that close to me again without permission." I hissed.
"I'm sorry," was all he said. He leaned back in his seat.
"What's going on back there?" My father asked in his most ridiculous 'dad' voice.
"Nothing." I pouted. He was in the doghouse too for just ordering me in the car with an "I'll tell you later."
In another second, Hector folded his farthest arm across his body with an "Oof! That hurt. What was THAT for?"
From the other side of me, I heard Jess hiss, "It was for whatever you did that made her hit you in the first place. Round here, you get double."
I giggled.
"I'm serious, kids." My father's voice came from the front seat. "Settle down. We're almost there."
We all mumbled a form of affirmative. I spent the rest of the short drive lost in thoughts of grade school, me, Jess and Sy on the playground, just being kids and how we'd each stuck up for one another over the years. Well, Jess and Sy didn't exactly stick up for each other directly. But we were still a little gang of three. I was still lost in my thoughts of the past when the truck rolled to a stop at a house in Old Town. The part of the island where the streets were still dirt, and all the homes were turn of the century. My father said nothing after shutting off the engine. He simply got out of the vehicle, slamming the door after a quick "follow me, everybody." This whole cloak and dagger routine was getting very tiresome. I sighed and disembarked the truck, waiting for the next bit of mystery to unfold.