Dark Mind (The Dark Mind Trilogy Book 1) (22 page)

“Amy? Are you all right? Did anyone tell you anything?” She shook her head and he continued. “There's no easy way to say this so I'll just be honest with you. Your parents were out shopping at a store when the store was held up. The police are still trying to figure out the details, but in trying to escape, the thief fired his gun and your parents got caught in the crossfire. Your father is unconscious but he survived the surgery.”

“What about my mom?” Amy said in a quiet voice, still facing the wall.

Josh hesitated a moment and Amy broke down, bursting into hysterical sobs and burying her face in her lap.

“I'm so sorry,” he said. He began to rub her back but Amy shook him off.

Meredith's eyes welled with tears and she covered her mouth in horror. She sat down next to Amy and caressed her back, whispering words of comfort, but Amy took no notice.

Cole pulled his chair in front of her and held her in his arms.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered in her ear, but he doubted she heard him. “I'm here.”

21

For a few minutes, Cole sat there, holding Amy as she wept, while Josh stood next to them, unsure of what to do. The officer had long since disappeared unnoticed.

“Are you Cole's mother?” Josh said to Meredith.

Meredith nodded. “How do you know Cole?”

“Come with me,” he said and led her out of earshot where they began to converse in hushed tones.

Cole continued to hold Amy for a long time, his mind failing to conjure any words that would help his best friend. There was nothing he could do for her. Her tears just kept flowing, her body convulsing in agony. Many passersby stared but none dared stop to ask what was wrong.

When at last it seemed as though Amy had run out of tears, she sniffled and Cole gradually relaxed his grip on her.

“What say we go home?” he said.

Amy raised her face, her eyes bloodshot and her bottom lip quivering. “Not possible.”

“I know,” Cole said, feeling stupid and inappropriate.

Amy got up and went over to Josh. She tugged on his sleeve for him to bend over and then she whispered into his ear.

“I'll see what I can do,” Josh said and the two of them left.

Cole got up to join his mother.

“That's so awful,” she said to him. “I can't even imagine how she must feel right now. How are you taking this?”

“It's just so crazy,” he said. “Do you know where they went?”

“I assume to see her father, although I was told he's in a coma and they don't know when, or if, he'll wake up. I don't know if that's healthy for her to see.”

“We have to take her home with us.”

“Well yes, for now I'd say that's a good idea,” Meredith said. “Guess she'll end up in a foster home like she wanted. Just not under such terrible circumstances.”

“Why can't she stay?”

“What do you mean? Like forever?”

Cole nodded. “Well, indefinitely.”

“I don't know Cole, I can barely support us as it is. And that's a major undertaking, becoming a foster parent.”

“Please, Mom. It'll be best for her. Pleeeeaase...”

“Who knows if they'd even let me? Oooh, we'll talk about this later. They're coming back.”

Josh had his arm around Amy, who was sobbing into her hands again, guiding her through the hallway back to the waiting area. Josh leaned towards Meredith to whisper something in her ear that was inaudible to Cole but caused Meredith to cover her mouth and shake her head.

“Can we take her home with us?” Meredith asked.

“Since she doesn't have any family or godparents in the area to give her over to, she can stay the night with you,” Josh said.

“Thank you so much,” Meredith said. “You were too helpful in all of this.”

“My pleasure, ma'am. We'll sort this out more permanently soon.”

Meredith took Josh's place, wrapping her arm around Amy's shoulder. “Come along, Amy. Let's get you out of here.”

Amy said nothing, her hands still covering her face, but she offered no resistance to Meredith’s guidance.

The ride home was quiet, interrupted only by Amy's intermittent cries and sniffles from the back seat. Cole rode up front, allowing her some privacy, and having no words left to comfort her.

Inside the entrance of the house they were greeted by Beth who, after taking one look at Amy, softened her countenance and fell silent. Cole led Amy into the library while Meredith and Beth convened in the kitchen to discuss recent events.

Cole closed the door to the library and took a seat while Amy plopped into her usual chair and rested her head in her lap. Cole sat there watching her, struggling to find words to lift her spirits but knowing those didn't exist.

“Let's do something,” he said at last and cringed.
That was stupid. Now it just sounds like I'm bored.

Amy didn't respond and Cole sat back in the chair, his eyes wandering the room, wishing for a suitable distraction. His eyes settled back on her collapsed form when her head shot up suddenly.

Her eyes had that same look of death, her voice that same icy tone, as when she heard about her parents’ accident. “Did you do this?”

Cole froze as Amy's piercing gaze raised the hairs on the back of his neck. “What?”

“Are you responsible for what happened to my parents?”

“What are you talking about? How could I have had anything to do with it? And why? Amy, you're seriously freaking me out.”

“Don't lie to me. I swear to God. I know how much you hated them because of me. Did you get an agreement about them? Did you lose it on purpose?”

Cole had to divert his eyes from Amy's unblinking stare.

“Look at me,” Amy whispered menacingly.

Cole locked eyes with her. “No, of course not,” he said. “I thought you didn't believe me about that anyway.”

In an instant, Amy's death stare was gone and tears were flowing down her now pathetic face. “I don't know what to believe. I'm sorry. That's horrible of me to even consider that you would do something like that. I just can't handle...” Her words were lost as she broke down and buried her face.

Cole slid next to her in the chair and pulled her close. A knock at the door brought them out of the moment and they looked up as Meredith came in.

“I made up a bed for you in the living room,” she said. “You can stay home from school tomorrow. I’ll take you out to do anything you want to do.”

“Thanks, Mrs. Sicarius,” Amy said. “I really don't think I could deal with school right now.”

“Don’t you have to work tomorrow?” Cole said.

“Not a problem. I can take off a day or two,” Meredith said. “Have a good night, Amy. If you need anything at all, come get me.”

“Thanks again, for everything,” Amy said.

Meredith nodded. “It’s the least I could do, Sweetie. You’re in good hands here. Come, I'll get you all set up.”

Amy wished Cole a good night and they left, Meredith closing the door behind them.

Cole flicked off the lights, stumbled through the dark and crawled under the blankets. He settled into position and closed his eyes. “Good night, Amy,” he whispered into the darkness. “Feel better.”

He lay there, hoping to be overcome by exhaustion, but his concern for Amy got the better of him. He kept picturing her in the living room, wondering how she was doing, doubting whether she could sleep either. After a long unsuccessful attempt at sleep, he was about to check on her when there was a gentle knock on the door.

He lifted his head. “Come in.”

The door swung open and, standing there, a dark silhouette in the entrance, was Amy. “I didn't want to be alone,” she whispered in a pathetic voice. She sniffled. “Can I stay here for a while?”

“Of course.” Cole slid over, tapping a space next to him. He watched as her shadow crept under the blankets, feeling her slide towards him. She wrapped her arms around his and rested her head on his shoulder, breathing deeply and sniffling occasionally. Cole’s mind was racing, but he did not move. After a moment he found his voice.

“Your mom is in a better place. She’s happy and she’d want you to be too.”

“Mhmm.” She sniffed again and tightened her grip.

“And I’m sure your dad will get better soon.”

“Mhmm. I wish I could convince myself of either one of those.”

There was a silence and, as Cole’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, they wandered the room, differentiating all the dim shapes around him.

“Have you ever kissed a girl?” Amy said.

“What?” He felt as if cold fingers were wrapping around his body, leaving him in a sweat. “Um, no. I’m only in eighth grade.”

“So? Plenty of kids our age have kissed. Would you like to?”

“I don't know, I mean...”

Amy lifted her head to look down at Cole. “What's the matter? There's nothing to be afraid of. It'll be fun.”

“I - I just don't think it's a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“Well... you're probably going to be kinda like my sister soon.”

Amy sprung off the floor onto her elbow. “What are you talking about?”

Cole remained lying down, already regretting his forthcoming words. “I, uh, asked my mom if she would take you in, like a foster parent, so you wouldn't be given away to random people and she didn’t say yes yet but…”

“Are you serious?” She flopped onto the pillow on her back. “Wow. That’s a lot to take in.”

“I thought it would make you happy. Only if you want of course.”

There was a long pause during which Cole was afraid to breathe.

“I’m going to sleep,” Amy said. “Too much happened today for my brain to process.”

At that moment, Cole hated himself more than he could ever remember. “All right, good night.” Amy reattached herself to his arm, resting her head back on his shoulder, but Cole remained wide awake, his eyes refusing to shut.

That was a stupid idea. She doesn’t want to be your sister. What were you thinking? You’re always so naïve. Now that's ruined forever.

His train of thought was interrupted as Amy burst into tears on his arm.

“I can't believe she's gone. She can't be. She just can't. Why?”

Great, now I'm an insensitive asshole for even thinking about that at a time like this.
Cole reached his free arm over and began to gently stroke her hair. “Shh. It's okay. I'm here. Remember, she's looking down on us right now. She'll only be happy if you are.”

Amy didn't respond. She continued to sob intermittently through most of the night until exhaustion overcame her and she fell into a deep but fitful sleep. Cole slept little more than a couple of hours as, even when Amy had passed out, he lay awake, his mind spinning, confused, berating his actions, wondering what the near future held for him.

He was awakened from his short, troubled sleep by a knock at the door.

“Good morning,” Meredith said as she opened the door. “There you are Amy. Come Cole, rise and shine. You need to get ready. And Amy, you should get ready too. We'll drive Cole to school and then we can be off to do something.”

Amy remained behind as Cole got up to get ready and, when he came out of the bathroom after getting dressed, his mother was waiting for him.

“Cole,
I understand you probably just wanted to make her feel better,” she said in a hushed voice, “but I'm not comfortable having you two sleeping in the same bed.”

“Mom, that's ridiculous. She didn't want to be alone. Did you really expect me to turn her away?”

Meredith hesitated and Cole could see the internal struggle taking place within. “I'm sorry. If she doesn't want to be alone I'd rather she slept in my room. I'll talk to her later.”

Cole gave up the argument and followed his mom to the kitchen where he found Amy sitting at the kitchen table, in her clothes from the previous day, picking at a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her. That was when it occurred to him that all of her belongings were at her house, in a place where she most likely would never want to return. He wondered what she was going to do about it but he dared not ask. She said nothing during breakfast, and did nothing more than stare at her plate and pick idly at it. When Cole was ready to leave, she followed them to the car and got quietly in the backseat.

No one said anything during the ride to school, each of them feeling awkward for different reasons. As Cole got out, Meredith wished him a good day and turned around to the back. “Amy, why don't you come ride up front with me?”

“I'll see you later,” Cole said when Amy was outside. “Have fun with my mom.”

“Thanks,” she whispered as she climbed in the front.

School that day passed as a blur like any other and, besides the fact that his mind was focused on Amy in strange new ways, it was a rather typical day. At lunch he sat by himself as he waited for the conversation that he knew was coming. As if on cue, a minute later, he was surrounded by Martin and company.

“You wouldn't happen to know where Amy is today, would you?” Martin said, glaring down at him.

“You didn't hear?” Cole said, dreading his next words.

“Hear what?”

“There was a horrible accident last night. Amy's dad is in a coma and her mom...” He sighed. “She wasn't so lucky.”

“What, she died?”

Cole nodded.

Martin smiled. “You're so full of crap. Really, do you know where she is?”

Cole hesitated for a second. “No, sorry, no idea. Haven't talked to her today.”

“All right. Man, that girl's been out a lot lately. I wonder if she's sick again. Come on guys, let's let Cole eat his lunch.”

The group sauntered back to the other side of the table and Cole finished his lunch in peace.

Meredith was waiting outside with Amy after school when Cole got out. Amy looked far from happy but the crushing look of despair from that morning had mostly dissipated.

“Hey Mom, Amy,” he said. “What'd you do today?”

“We went to the arcade,” Meredith said. “She's really good at everything. And I'm really terrible at everything. After that we bought a whole lot of new stuff for her and then we saw a chick flick you wouldn't be interested in and, just before we came here, we got ice cream.”