"Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth." ~ The Buddha
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After all my damage is done in the lair of the Sleestak Queen, I take to the skate and slow slide down the hill towards the House of the Rising Raisins. I roll up onto my own little nightmare on Elm street, ghost down the drive and back to the tool shed, to stash my board. Silently skipping across the stepping stone path through the drought dead grass. I don't bother sliding out of my skate shoes before I hit the back kitchen door into hell.
As soon as I stomp into the empty old folks home, I do not bother to greet the denizens of death. Rather I head straight to my room, grab the cell off the charger and immediately call May's phone. Of course, I go straight to her voicemail, so I leave a message:
"Hey May, it's me. I heard you got sent home early and am seriously worried about you. Please call me back soon as you can."
Then I await my fate...
...and I wait...
...and I wait...
...and I wait.
An excruciating half an hour later, the phone finally starts playing the ringtone I set especially for May's calls, my just a gigolo theme. I snap the answer button before the song can start crooning about everywhere I go.
"May? Are you okay?" I snatch the phone up on the fly.
"Yep. It's me and...I'm fine." She sighs back over the open line.
"That is seriously good to hear." I exhale out the last breath I've been holding since my fun with April's Fool.
"So before you ask my leg is not broken, the doctor said it's just a deep bone bruise. The only reason it took so long at the hospital was that they made me get X-rays just to be sure. Oh yeah, and I got fitted an awesome new blow-up brace thingy to wear when I walk. So that will be super fun to try sun around in." May snorts. "But no hard caste, which is the good news."
"Seriously good news." I wholeheartedly agree. "So how painful is it?"
"Bad enough for some really decent pain pills." May snortles along. "But not bad enough to stay at the hospital and miss school for."
"Maybe, you should take a couple of days off?" I proffer. "I can pick up your assignments up from your teachers? Maybe come to your house and help you through them. No worries, it can be just like our own private study buddies ...but without Cliffboard and Butchy."
"Well, as tempting as that sounds? I think I'm gonna have to take the pass on all that homeschool action." May snickers, which is a seriously awesome sound to hear under the circumstances.
"Let's just say based on the quality of care I get around the old homestead, I'm probably better off taking my chances at school? At least the food is somewhat palatable, and if it gets too bad I can always take a nap in Nurse's Office. So long as it doesn't go past two periods, they don't seem to mind the company."
"Okay May, whatever you think is best. Whatever you need from me just say the word and it's yours." I assure her.
"Thank you, Dare. So did my sister come and find you, and tell you what was going on?" May asks hesitantly hopeful.
Now I know without a doubt that I am now going to have to crush that hope. While hope in war is good, the truth is often better.
"Oh yeah." I heave a sigh. "Just by the fact you have to ask that question, can I assume you haven't talked to April yet?"
"No, as far as I know, she is still practicing her cheer or whatever?" May hedges her next guess ever so slightly. "So why do I suddenly have the sinking feeling, that you two exchanged more than just passing pleasantries and well wishes for my speedy recovery?"
"Cause that's probably a good feeling to go with," I confirm her suspicions.
"So you two had words then?" The sad sigh resonates across the open channel.
"Yes, there were words exchanged," I reply cautiously.
"Dog dammit..." May sighs. "What the hell happened? What did she say?"
I want to tell her so badly just how much of a super psycho bitch her little sinister sister is. To get in those all-important first strikes in before her sinister sister starts stabbing me in the back. But I hesitate for a heartbeat, as the truth sets in.
So what if I can prove that April's a lying, conniving, backstabbing, psycho bitch from hell? Like somehow that is going to come as a shock to May? And what difference will that make in the grand scheme of things when I am long gone? Leaving her all alone with just Apeshit again? After all, I wasn't kidding at all when I told May, I was going to be a memory by Christmas. So what exactly will I win in this war, versus what might May lose evermore?
So instead of stabbing Someone's Sister through the soul. I elect to take a different route, the stranger path of the higher road.
"Honestly May, before I answer that question, I really think you should hear what April has to say. I think that under the circumstances that she should probably have the first slice."
"First slice under the circumstances?" I can almost hear May frown down into the phone.
Yeah, see we had us a bit of a knife fight outside the Other Library earlier. And well, that didn't go well for anyone. Like Khan said in the end: To the last, I grapple with thee! From Hell's heart, I stab at thee! For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee! Die pale whale die!
"The first chance to tell you everything she has to say on her own terms. Without you having any preconceived judgments cause of something I said?"
"So there's an 'everything' to say? Which implies that there are two sides to the story, and I will end up having to make a judgment between the two." She sighs again in irritation. "Maybe it's just me, but that doesn't sound cool at all."
"No, it doesn't." I agree. Knowing May as I do, I know her inquisitive mind is all kinds of wanting to know what's what. "But before you push at me to spill the tale and we end up in a frustrated place, let me just point out a couple of things. In a lot of ways, April is still a little girl and she was scared, and she was trying really not to show it."
"But of course, she ended up dropping bitchy bombs out all over the place ...as usual." May sighs, easily putting the pieces together.
"Yeah, something like that." I can't help but agree with this analysis of Someones Sister's crisis management skill set. "And as much as I might regret this? I'd rather she get the benefit of the doubt on this one. Let's call it a gentleman's prerogative and please leave it at that for now."
"So instead, I should have a preconceived idea from her towards you?" Her lilting voice is all kinds of suspicious now.
"If it comes down to that, I'm a big boy and I can take care of myself. After all, like you said, she's your sister and I'm just some dude passing through till Christmas." Right there is the truth in it's rawest form and the reason why I can't really be her friend in the first place. That after everything is said and done, I won't be here long enough to even be a memory to anyone besides May.
"Yeah, well there is that." I hear the implied sigh in her voice.
It stings me a little that I have to remind her that I am not long for San Fall, or for her life? So there is no long-term future in taking my side in anything. As usual, like a tsunami, I am left leaving only damage in my wake.
"Anyways, I am really glad your leg isn't broken." I switch her off the track she is heading on. "I was seriously concerned when I heard you went to the hospital."
"Oh really? And just how concerned were you?" Translation: How bad did you freak the flock out?
"You told me not to worry, so I tried not to. But after Someone's Sister told me what was what? Yeah maybe, I had a dark moment or two there for a minute." I freely admit my many transgressions. "I only started to get my zen back after Mrs. St. Clarie told me that your leg wasn't broken, and that you wouldn't have to wear a cast."
"How did Mrs. Saint C know about that?" May falls silent for a second and puts the vine together easily. "Probably had to be the Nurse who told her. Suddenly I'm not so sure how I feel about people talking about me behind my back?"
"I understand you don't like people talking about you behind your back or otherwise. I get that May ...I really do." I try to reassure her innate paranoia. "But at the same time, you can't make them stop caring about you behind your back."
"Honestly, I think the only reason she even told me anything at all? Was so I wouldn't make a bigger problem for you by demanding to know where you were and why? And also, I got the feeling that I might have intimidated Mrs. St. Claire ...just a little today."
"A bigger problem? Oh holy hell, what did you do now, Mr. Devil?" I can hear the amusement in her voice. Which I am hoping it's her wicked sense of humor reasserting itself, and not just the pain pills putting her in a fun mood. Bur when they wear off we won't be in full-on Mayhem mode in the aftermath.
"Ah... I might have ...sort of ...possibly made an indirect threat against Chins over that a coffee table?" I wince even as I explain this possibility, knowing full well May hates it when people talk about her behind her back. "But it won't come back at you I swear. It's all on me now ...being a concerned male escort or something."
"Okay, you have to start from the beginning of that tale." May sighs.
So I tell her the tragic tale of the horrible Hellen Keller note. Luckily for me, by the time I am finished she is actually laughing. Which I take as a good sign or some really good pain meds. Sad to say, but at this point in the saga? I think I will take either one and call it a hokahey, good day to die.
"Oh my dog, I can't believe you used that awful joke to make a threat against a teacher." May pauses and then starts to giggle even harder. "What am I saying? Of course, I can believe it! You're that tough guy from that day on the Annex bleachers, who called me blazing blind."
"You're not going to let me forget that are you?" I sigh in faux suffering.
"Not even a little...brah." She laughs me off.
What I will only find out later from May is that another strange truth is about to take shape. For when April arrives home from a bad day of practicing her cheer, she immediately drops her things at the door and heads to directly May's room. April has a very good reason not to trust either of her parents with her sister's care and welfare. As they have proven time and time again, they only care about one person in the Grimm house ...themselves.
"Are you sleeping?" April slides next to her sister on the futon on the floor in the corner.
"Nope, just thinking up some epic big thoughts on some damn decent drugs." May smiles up.
"How bad is your leg?" April asks, easing down to see the damage.
"Hurts like hell, but I'll live to fight another day." May's smile fades away. "Speaking of fights, you want to tell me what happened between you and my Lifeguard after school?"
"Why? What did that psycho tell you happened?" April immediately goes on the defensive, which tells May just about everything she needs to know.
"He wouldn't really go into details other than to say that he wasn't happy? The only thing he would say is that he thought you were scared for me. But other than that...not so much. Oh, and because you are my younger sister, that means you should have the first slice."
"I wasn't that scared. I was more pissed off than anything." April starts to spin her version of the truth.
"Okay, semantics aside, and then what happened?" May sighs, waiting for the inevitable snap her sister requires.
"We sorta had an argument? Actually, it wasn't really much of an argument at all. Your pet psycho pretty much just went off at me for no reason." April starts seething her slices. "I told you he was unstable, I just didn't realize he was unbalanced and..."
"For no reason, huh?" May inquires calmly. "Cause I got to be honest here April ...for an unstable guy he sounded pretty damn reasonable when I talked to him on the phone earlier. He even said he wanted you to have the benefit of the doubt before saying his peace. So?"
"Okay, maybe...I might have been a little bitchy at first?" April grudgingly admits her truth. "But that's still no reason to say some of the shit he said to me."
"Which was what, exactly?" May tugs at the truth.
"He said I was acting like a petulant child...as if." Aprils snorts in faux disbelief.
"Oh, and that I was way in over my head. That I didn't know how to handle myself. Oh, and that it was super screwed up of me for even trying to criticize him after the fact, for trying to help you? That if I ran around giving people shit every time they tried to help you? That pretty soon no one would want to ever help you again, because they'd too be afraid of having to deal with me after the fact."
"And what pisses me off the most..." April starts to tear up, " ...was that I just stood there and took his shit, cause I knew he might be right."
"Come here." May envelopes her sister and holds her close. "It's okay April, it's not your fault, it's my fault. I should have known better than to send you at him with that news. He doesn't know about us, and about the stress that we deal with on the regular. I'm so sorry."
"No, I'm sorry. I was so stupid and I just walked right into it." April starts skipping words in between tears as she lays herself out.
After April is all cried out and her stress has dissipated, they lay side by side on the mattress on the floor in May's room. Where they have always laid side by side, through the worst of nights. Whispering secrets in the dark that no one can hear besides the other.
"I want to tell him about what we're doing. About the Goodbye Kitty program and everything else?" May hesitates, knowing full-well how her sister will react to this betrayal.
"No way, May." April counters back evenly. "This isn't just your life anymore, it's mine now too. We have worked too damn hard, sacrificed too damn much, and screwed over way too many people. To suddenly just play show-n-tell with your brand new boy toy. I don't like him, and I certainly don't trust him to keep his mouth shut."
"He's really clever, maybe he could help?" May offers weakly.
"Oh, I get that he's somewhat smarter than I gave him credit for being." April snorts. "But I also understand a lot better now what Butchy was talking about, with that unicorn Spyder bullshit. He's seriously dangerous May. You didn't see his eyes when he was ripping me to shreds."
"He was angry." May sighs.
"No May, that's the strange thing ...he wasn't even really that mad." April thinks her way back thru the confrontation. "Or at least, he didn't look like it."
"It was more like he was just going through the motions of being mad, but without any emotion at all. Like I told you the first time we met him? All the lights are on ...but no one is home. And I am pretty sure that there is something seriously broken in that head of his. Cause he's not even close to normal, May. I honestly think that he is seriously bad news just waiting to happen."
"Maybe, but I really like him, April," May admits her truth. "Maybe more than I should."
"Then you are gonna have to chose who you want more ...me 'us' ...or him 'us'?" April lays down the ultimatum. "But you can't have both, May."
"That's not a choice and you know it." May sighs turning away. "Which of course, was exactly why you said it that way."
"May, I didn't say that just to be mean. I said it to keep you in perspective." April pushes herself up with her back up against the wall. "I got my half of this program covered, and you got the other half. So as far as I am concerned he doesn't factor in at all. You tell him anything, and he starts running his mouth? We are sofa king dead in San Fall, it ain't even funny."
"And I am not talking about the bullshit we are running at school...that's doable." April intones with a note of absolute surety.
"But the shit that could get back to mommy and daddy? Then that psycho bitch will start putting the pieces together, and that is definitely not doable." April shakes off the shiver. "That's you gone to Blind Boarding School, and me on lockdown until I am eighteen. And that's if we're lucky and daddy doesn't give a shit."
"More to the point, by his own admission he's gone by Christmas. So I fail to see the point of telling him anything ever." April covers before May can counter.
"Okay sure maybe you can tell him later on? Like way way down the line, when everything is in motion and it's too late to stop. But not now May, not until you are safe. Because above all else, that has always been the priority here. Remember what you told me, we both need out...not just you. All the rest of this shit show is just window dressing until the day we are free of the Spyder's curse."
"Okay, you're right." May grudgingly agrees. "I wasn't thinking clearly."
"Yeah, boys tend to make you do that." April snorts. "But that's not a critique of you alone. Don't forget my last boyfriend was super glee gay? So at least you got me beat there, maybe?"
"At some point, you are going to need to let that go, sweetie. It's not healthy to dwell on your bad childhood for too long. You can trust me on that score." May sighs sadly. "But can you please trust me on one more thing?"
"What?" April sighs, already knowing what is coming.
"I want to try to at least fix some of the damage between you two in the immediate if I can." May begins to lay out her reasons for the cessation of hostilities. "It's not just for him or for you, or even for my sake? But for the Master Plan."
"You have to admit that everything works so much better, when no one is really paying too much attention to me. So whether you want to admit it or not, having him around frees you up to handle your side of things better than not."
"What if you can't fix him? What then?" April counters back quick as a snake.
"Then like you said, he's gone after Christmas anyways, right?" May sighs.
"Yeah." April snorts. "I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to flocking Christmas this year."
"April..." May starts what she already knows is a lost cause.
"Yeah well...whatever." April shrugs. "The truth is the truth."
"The sun, the moon, and the truth." May resigns herself to the fact that this is about as good as she is going to do for now. "So better luck next time."
It's long after dinner when May's zither ringtone starts playing on the cell phone next to my head in bed. There has been more than enough time for her sinister sister to share my sins and slice my soul. I know what the hallowed songs the gallows sing for those last final steps towards death.
"Hey May, it's me. Is everything okay with you?" I inquire hopefully.
"Oh, I'm okay." However, the tone of her voice on the other end of the line pretty much says the opposite of that statement.
"I take it that you've talked to April then?" I brace in preparation for the onslaught of mayhem.
"Oh yeah, we talked." I hear a tightness in her voice. So I am pretty sure little Miss Mayhem in all her feisty glory is about to be unleashed upon my dumb ass. The sad part is that I know that I probably deserve it on some level. I should have known better than to have talking-time with April's Fool.
"So April told me what she said that set you off ...and some of what you said back to her." May sighs sadly. "I gotta say Dare, those were some pretty harsh words."
"Yeah, I know they were." I have to agree with that assessment. "And trust me, I am regretting speaking to her at all. I know that I could have handled that a lot better than I did."
"Yeah well ...about that? You might not have been nice, but I don't think you were way wrong either." I hear May take a deep breath. "She pretty much admitted that she handled the situation with you badly. She also admitted that you said a few things that made some sense too. Grant it, she's not really actually sorry of course. But she's not holding on to a grudge either, at least not for now. Which in April's world is about as close as you are gonna get to a formal apology."
"At this point, I'll take what I can get. Just so long as we're cool." I assure her of my heresy.
"Also, I wanted to thank you, for letting her have that 'first slice in the knife fight'. That was actually quite noble of you to do under the circumstances. April almost said the same by the way." I hear May steel herself for the next piece of bad news. "So do you think you can you meet me by my locker before school starts in the morning? I think we need to talk through some stuff."
"Okay, no worries." Yeah, cause that doesn't sound ominous at all.
"Cool, then I will see you there. But for now, I need to sleep." I hear May yawn long. "Cause in case you missed it ...I had a hella long day today."
"Then goodnight, May." I throw a last roll of the bones. "You can call me back on my cell if you wake up in the middle of the night if you want? And we'll do our talk all night on the phone thing again."
"Okay, and nighty night Mr. Devil." She yawns long. "Oh yeah, and Someone's Sister wanted me to tell you that she knows your secret power now too."
"Oh yeah? And what's that?"
"Underestimation." May snorts. "Night Dare."
"Night, May." I reply by rote to a dead line.
Suddenly I have a very bad feeling about what's coming at me in the morning. Cause unless I am sorely mistaken all the signs and portents point to Talking Day. The hands-down absolutely the second worst holiday in Insanistan after Birth Day. Because on Talking day, all the things you never wanted to say must be said until you are almost dead.