Wilderness, p.4
Wilderness, page 4
“Hotter! Four more.” They love to count down the questions.
Okay, so that eliminates the half behind me. I move to my right. “Hotter or colder?”
“Colder! Three more times.”
So it’s in the upper-left quadrant. That means the shell could be in our makeshift ballroom, library, or horse stable. Kaylee is giggling a little more than usual, and she’s in front of the stables, so I head to the left. “Hotter or colder?”
“Colder. Two more to go!”
Damn, her giggle was a red herring. That leaves the library and the ballroom. If I go to the library in the middle, they’ll say “hot” no matter what. So I work my way over to the ballroom on the far right. “Hotter or colder?”
“Colder. Last one!”
The library it is. Pillows stack side by side against the far mattress wall. Haylee has one of her stuffed triceratopses facedown, reading one of her imaginary books.
I move to the shelf of pillow books. “Hotter or colder?”
“Colder! That’s five questions. Ten, nine, eight—”
Screeching brakes signal Mom’s arrival. My heart plummets. Guess pretending everything is okay can only last so long. Out the castle window, she gets out of her car, anxiously digging a thumb into the palm of her hand. A large unmarked white van parks behind her, the type parents warn their kids to stay away from because there are no puppies or candy inside. Two men step out.
One is a tall, thin, middle-aged man with a buzz cut failing to hide a receding hairline wearing a green plaid dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to highlight the tattoos running the length of both arms, worn jeans, and a pair of light brown felt sneakers. Next to him is a rotund guy about the same age but a head shorter with a salt-and-pepper crew cut and thick chinstrap beard framing his big smile, a brick-red business casual sweater over his dress shirt, gray dress pants, and matching loafers.
Mom leads them into the house. They’re too casual to be the police, but her nervous body language sends all the warning bells in my head into overdrive.
“Three, two, one—”
I flip over the pillow with the stuffed triceratops, revealing the seashell.
“Ugh!” The twins groan. “Every time. How are you so good?”
“Cody, can you come to the living room please?” Mom calls out.
I hand the twins the shell. “You two stay here and find another place to hide this. I’ll be back in a minute.” The two brainstorm as I leave.
I find the two men from the creepy van waiting in the living room and Mom pouring four glasses of water.
The lanky one gives me a friendly smile and waves me over. “Hey there, my man. You must be Cody. Name’s Jeremy. Nice to meet you.” He reaches out a hand. I cross my arms. “This is my colleague, Steve.”
Steve ushers me over to the couch. “You mind grabbing a seat so we can talk?”
I stay put. I glance at my mom, but she focuses on the glasses.
Jeremy leans forward. “I hear you’re having some problems at home and school. Things getting a little out of control? Your mom gave us a call and asked if we could help.”
“Help? What kinda help? Who are you guys?” This really isn’t good.
“We’re from New Beginnings,” Steve answers. “We’re a non-profit that helps teens like you get away from the chaos of their lives for a while and give them the opportunity to face their challenges head-on. Our clinical psychologists are some of the best in the—”
“You’re sending me away?!” I turn on my mom. I know what this is. Mom used to threaten me with it. It’s like a psych ward you live at for months. No phone, no internet, just a bunch of other crazy kids dealing with their issues twenty-four-seven. I never thought she’d actually follow through. “But I didn’t do anything wrong.”
I see tears welling in her eyes, but I don’t care. She betrayed me...again! She keeps her attention on her glass of water. “This is for your own good.”
“How would you know what’s good for me? You don’t care! You don’t even believe me.”
Jeremy shifts forward in his chair. “Listen, dude, we wouldn’t be here if your mom didn’t love you. I know it’s hard to see that now. I totally get it—you feel ganged up on. I mean, you got two strange guys in your house telling you they’re taking you away. I freaked out when that happened to me too. But I promise you, we’re only here to help. You just want someone to hear you, to believe you? That’s what we do, my man.”
“Believe me?” I snap. “If my mother believed me, you wouldn’t be here.”
“You left me no choice,” Mom counters. “You pull this crap when you’re an adult and they won’t suspend you, they’ll send you to jail.”
Steve cuts in before I can respond. “New Beginnings is in the Payette National Forest just outside of McCall, Idaho. The idea is to get you back to the basics. Help you discover the person you want to be. We supply you with all the necessary equipment to live comfortably out there: a tent, sleeping bag, clothing, et cetera so you don’t need to pack anything. Think of it like an extended camping trip, but where you get to process a lot of what you’re going through.”
My heart pounds in my ears. My lungs crash against my chest so hard it feels like I’m going to pass out. Their voices fade away.
The woods. She’s sending me to the woods. Trees flash in my mind. Shadows stretching, growing taller. Dad and me running. Mr. Shadow laughing. Dad lifted off the ground.
Steve rests a gentle yet firm hand on my shoulder. “Hey buddy, I need you to calm down. Okay? It’s not that bad—”
“You’re sending me to the freaking woods?!” I scream at Mom. “Are you kidding me?”
“They say it’s the best one for you. That being out there will help—”
“Send me to jail—I don’t care. There’s no way I’m going to the goddamn woods.”
Jeremy shakes his head. “This isn’t an option, my man. We’re here to pick you up and help you be okay with that. But we’re going, one way or another. We just really prefer the one where you choose to go.”
All the air is sucked out of the room. How could this be happening? I didn’t do anything! It was Mr. Shadow. It’s always been Mr. Shadow. But I’m the one who’s getting taken away.
Mom wipes a tear from her face. “Please, Cody, think of your sisters. You have to do this. You have to get better. If not for me, do it for them.”
“Don’t you dare use them like that,” I force through a quivering jaw. I feel cold and empty, except this time it’s not because of Mr. Shadow. It’s because of her . I want to fight, to argue, to scream—anything that would help convince them to leave me here—but the truth is this is happening. I’m going to the wilderness. And it’s all Mom’s fault. “Can I at least say goodbye to Haylee and Kaylee?”
“I don’t know if that’s such a—” Mom starts.
“You got a minute,” Steve interrupts. Mom shoots him a look, but he waves her off.
As I head back to the room, I hear Jeremy whisper to my mom, “Only way this is going to work is if he trusts us, and I’ve learned with kids like your son, trust is earned.”
I step into Castle Awesome Unicorn and find my sisters waiting in the center. “There’s no way you’ll find your shoe this time, Cody,” Haylee challenges.
Kaylee nods. “Yeah, this one’s—”
“We’re going to have to pause the game,” I cut in. “I have to go away for a little while.”
“What? No!” Haylee cries. “You said you didn’t do anything wrong.”
“It’s not a bad thing. It’s like a sleepaway camp for big kids.” I could run and disappear. Get away from Jeremy and Steve and New Beginnings, away from North Creek Academy, away from Mom…
Kaylee is near tears. “I don’t want you to go.”
But I can’t abandon them. “I know, but I have to,” I pull them in and squeeze them as hard as I can. “I love you two so much.”
A minute later, Mom’s waiting by the front door with my sketchbook and a pen in hand.
“They said you can have one personal item. They were very specific about the limitations. I hope I made the right choice…” Tears build in her eyes.
I bite my tongue and take the single permitted personal item. No matter the rage and pain warring inside me, I’ll leave with dignity. I need to be strong for Haylee and Kaylee.
But as I step outside, Mom adds, “Please tell me I made the right choice.”
Any semblance of emotional control is shattered with the plea. Like a cornered rattlesnake, I turn on her and lash out with venomous vitriol. “You’re getting rid of me and want me to make you feel better? That’s not happening. What you’re doing… This isn’t love. This is abandonment. You’ve given up on me. You’re sending me to suffer while you finally get to live your normal life. I hope you’re happy. Just so you know, I’ll never forgive you for this.”
Leaving her stunned and wounded, I head for the van. But as Steve slides the door open, the twins try to rush past Mom. “Don’t go, Cody! Please!”
With one foot in the vehicle, I hesitate. Every fiber of my being wants to charge back into that house and hide in Castle Awesome Unicorn with the two of them for the rest of my life. For all I know, this is a potential death sentence. But if I go, so does Mr. Shadow. Haylee and Kaylee will be safe. No more nightmares. No more suffering. They can be normal.
Steve walks up next to me. “This is the hardest part. Just remember, this is for them.”
I get in the back and wave goodbye as they slide the door shut. Mom, cheeks streaked with tears, struggles to hold my sisters back. With a jerk, the van starts down the street, and all I can do is watch my world shrink and disappear out the back window.
Chapter 5
For the next seven hours, Jeremy and Steve try to convince me that everything is going to be okay, that I’m making the right choice, and that it’s not as bad as I think it’s going to be, but it all goes in one ear and out the other. I’m lost in my mind, replaying all the times Mr. Shadow ruined my life. Anytime I’d start to make a friend, he found a way to push them away. I was his toy to play with; no one else’s. And now he’s taken my family too.
The van comes to a stop, jolting me from the dark rabbit hole. Pins and needles shoot through my stiff muscles. The sun has dropped low over the horizon, almost touching the evergreen treetops. Behind us, the road is a long stretch of absolutely nothing.
Outside my window, a bright-red neon sign sitting atop a restaurant catches my attention: Shelly’s Diner . Turquoise paneling with a checkered racing stripe wrapping around the middle sparkles along the side of the retro building. There’s even a neon-blue analog clock sitting above the double-door entrance. And it’s all pristine, as if I’ve been teleported to the 1950s.
Jeremy hops out. “Welcome to Idaho, my man. This is your last chance to get a bite of a delicious greasy burger and use a real toilet for the next couple of months. I recommend you take advantage of both. Plus, you’ll get a chance to meet Shelly. She’s something else.”
“You just like her ’cause she gives you free pie,” Steve jokes as he opens the sliding door and escorts me in.
The inside has the classic hot rod red leather booths and checkerboard tiled floor, but the decor looks like a grandmother’s garage sale threw up all over the place. Christmas lights zigzag across the ceiling; rosy-cheeked lawn gnome lamps mark the center of each table; paintings of surfing ferrets and dancing pandas decorate the walls; and a massive stuffed alligator with a sombrero hangs over the bar.
A petite waitress about my age with perfect posture waits behind the pink-and-green palm tree host stand. For how zany this oasis of tacky is, she’s the opposite. The part down the middle of her shoulder-length auburn hair would make a ruler jealous and the tacky buttons on her old-school diner suspenders are level and equally spaced. Even her candy-striped uniform is ironed.
Her anxious hands betray the calm facade. They dart from her side, to interlocked on the host stand, to stacking the menus, to arms crossed, then back to her sides.
She nudges her thin, tortoiseshell, green rectangular glasses up a little with her index finger and flashes a practiced smile. “Hello and welcome to Sherry’s Diner.” Even her greeting sounds like a how-to guide. “My name is Nessy. How many?”
“Hot diggity, look at what the cat dragged in!” A pudgy lady with short spiked gray hair and red flamingo sunglasses sits behind a counter decorated with antlers. She spots us and her face lights up. “If it isn’t my favorite tall drink of water and spicy tuna. How are you boys doing?” She nods toward me. “Still saving the world, one lost soul at a time I see.”
Jeremy pulls up a seat at the counter. “Hey, Shelly. When did you start hiring?”
“First day on the job, bless her heart. Sweet girl and smart as a whip, but stiffer than my Long Island special. Then Chester goes and gets some flu, so I had to call in a new cook too. Guy’s got chops—I’ll give him that. Makes a burger that’ll blow those taste buds outta your face.”
“It’s all about the secret ingredient,” a baritone voice chimes in. A bald head with a bright smile that stands in stark contrast to his dark skin pops up in the kitchen. The human mountain almost fills the entire window, and he has to lean on the counter to see us. His spotless white apron is about to explode at the seams. Even the guy’s muscles have muscles. He holds up a handle of bourbon that disappears in his grip and gives me a wink. “Don’t worry, kiddo. It cooks out.”
Steve sits me down between him and Jeremy. “Not tonight. Shelly, please tell me you still have that rhubarb pie. I’ve been craving it for weeks.”
“Anything for you, sweetheart. And you like your eggs running out the door?”
“You know it.” Steve nods. “And some black coffee when you get a chance.”
“Done. And how about for…” Shelly hesitates, peering at me from behind her crazy glasses. “My, oh my, what have we here?”
“Easy there, Shelly.” Steve chuckles. “Don’t want you making Jeremy jealous now. Let’s get the young man your famous Shelly burger and a soda.”
But Shelly ignores Steve. “I haven’t seen someone like you in a long time. Dying breed. Pity if you ask me. The world is such a strange and beautiful place, wouldn’t you agree?”
She pulls her sunglasses down the bridge of her nose to reveal her electric-blue eyes. Eyes just like mine. She gives me a quick wink before hiding them behind the flamingos again.
“I’ll get that going for you boys right away,” and before I can ask Shelly a single question, she turns and disappears behind the swinging doors.
Jeremy shakes his head. “Told you she was something else. We met her years ago…”
I’m not listening. I’m staring at the swinging doors. Or rather, what sauntered through them. A feline light spirit with long, floppy rabbit ears. It leaps onto the bar and finds a comfortable spot under a set of heat lamps and makes a sound that’s a blend between a purr and the rustling of long grass in a gentle breeze.
I take a good look around the diner and notice the light spirit wasn’t the only one. Small sparrow-like ones dart around the ceiling while a few ferrets curl up on the empty couches. The diner is bustling with them.
I’ve never seen anything like this before. The warmth radiating from all the creatures in such a tight space feels like a cozy fire on a snowy day. For the first time in what feels like days, I catch myself smiling. The positive energy is intoxicating.
A spotted golden retriever with ram horns strolls over and takes a seat next to me. With a slight huff, it rests its head on my knee, making my leg tingle. It takes all my self-control not to try and scratch it behind the horns. Steve and Jeremy already think I’m crazy; I don’t need them seeing me petting thin air.
The happy light spirits seem at peace here.
With a wink, Shelly slides a burger in front of me. “Making friends already. That’s Luna. She’s my favorite, but don’t tell the others. They come from all over. Really brings some life to the place, don’t you think?”
A bolt of electricity surges through my body, short-circuiting me. My muscles lock in place, my breathing stops, and my jaw opens and closes like a robotic goldfish with no sound coming out. For all I know, my heart has stopped too. I can only stare at this eccentric old lady in absolute shock and awe with the simple and world-altering realization: she can see spirits too.
“Luna?” Steve eavesdrops.
Shelly gives me a pat on the back of my numb hand and grabs our order from the kitchen window. She plops a plate of runny eggs and coffee in front of Steve and a healthy slice of pie for Jeremy.
The plate is barely on the table before Jeremy impales his dessert with a fork. His eyes almost roll into the back of his head. “Oh, Shelly, you are incredible.”
He doesn’t know the half of it. I can still feel the warm tingle of the now snoring spirit dog on my leg. “You… You can really see—”
Shelly gives a quick shake of her head and glances at my two escorts. Both are focused more on their food than us, but she still leans in and whispers. “Best if you keep this your little secret. Don’t want people thinking you’re crazy.”
Too late.
Steve glances at his watch mid-bite. “Shoot. We’re late. Shawn’s going to kill us.” He turns to Shelly. “Can we take this on the road? Don’t want to leave the boss lady waiting.”
Shelly grabs some to-go boxes from the counter and loads the leftovers. The bunny cat nuzzles against the back of her hand, and she gives it a quick scratch behind its ears. To anyone else watching, it would seem like an old lady stretching her tired fingers.
Steve hurries us out the door. “Sorry to rush, Shelly. You know how Shawn can get.”
Shelly walks us out. “Don’t you worry ’bout a thing. You boys just drive safe and—” She stops in her tracks as all the light spirits dart into the café.
The night air fills with the noxiously sweet aroma of ozone, and a cold spider crawls in the pit of my stomach. For a split second I’m relieved. There was a nagging whisper in the back of my mind since I left home. What if Mr. Shadow doesn’t follow? What if my waking nightmare stays to torture my family? What if I’ve left them to the devices of a monster they can’t see? But the cold fear gripping my chest alleviates those concerns.
