Frozen Past (3 page)

John was online and Luke sent him a message to meet him out front. John and Jimmy lived next door.

Chapter 4

Luke leaned into the shovel and scooped more snow off of the sidewalk. John stood by and watched while Luke sweated in the cold. John offered to help but Luke told him he could handle it. He knew John had his own shoveling to do later.

His cell phone rang. He pulled it out and saw it was Ellie.

“Hey.”

“Who is doing this!” she cried. She was almost hysterical and Luke knew she either hadn’t listened to him or never got the message.

“Are you ok?”

“No I’m not! What is happening here? Who is William Smith and why would he send me that picture?”

“I don’t know. I got it too. I tried to keep you from seeing it. Did your mother give you my message?”

Ellie didn’t say anything for a minute and Luke could hear her crying. Finally she said, “Mom gave me the message. But I looked anyway. I know I shouldn’t have but I couldn’t help it. I wish you had tried to talk to me.”

“I did. Your mom wouldn’t let me. She said I upset you enough already and now it looks like I’ve done it again.”

“It’s not your fault. I was warned and I did it anyway.”

More silence as she cried.

“Me and John are out in front of my house,” Luke said. “Do you want to come over and talk about it?”

“Ok. I’ll be over there in a minute,” and she hung up.

“Ellie got the picture too?” John asked after Luke put the phone away.

“Yeah. She’s pretty upset. She’s on her way over.”

Luke bent with his shovel and worked on the sidewalk a little more while John watched and kept silent. When Luke rested on the handle for a minute John asked, “I can understand some sick bastard sending the picture to her, since it was her dog, but why did he send it to you?”

Luke shrugged. “You didn’t get a friend request right?”

“No,” John said, “and I asked Jimmy too. Nothing.”

“It’s weird isn’t it? Just me and Ellie. I wonder if her brother got one.”

“Here she comes. Ask her.”

Luke watched Ellie make her way up the street. She trudged through the snow with her hands shoved in the pockets of her coat and her head bent staring at her feet. Her short blonde hair peeked out from beneath the hood of her coat and her jeans were carefully tucked into her boots. Luke couldn’t help thinking she looked cute no matter what she was doing or wearing.

She looked up as she got closer and her face was red from crying, but her eyes were dry.

“Hey,” she said. “Shoveling snow?”

“Yeah. Dad never does it anymore. Are you ok?”

She nodded but kept quiet.

“We were wondering if Patrick got a friend request too?” John asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I didn’t think to ask him, and I really didn’t have time. I called Luke right away and then came straight here. Mom doesn’t even know I’m here.”

“I know this is upsetting for you but what was in your picture?” Luke asked.

“It was Bentley’s head.” Her eyes looked shiny and wet again and her voice was a whisper, but she held it together.

“Was there a caption on it?”

She nodded, clearly upset. “It said, ‘Tell no one, or you’re next.’”

“Are you sure? Nothing else?” Luke asked.

“Yes. Why?”

He looked at John and John shrugged. Luke said, “That’s not what mine said.”

“What did yours say?”

“Are you sure you want to hear?”

Her head nodded up and down but he could tell she wasn’t sure.

“It said, ‘This is what happens when you get lazy’ and it had a frown emoticon at the end.”

Her face went white and her mouth formed a little ‘oh’ as she took this in. “Who is doing this to me? Why are they doing this? It’s like they know everything about me.” A tear fell down one cheek and Luke dropped his shovel and went to her.

“It’ll be ok, Ellie.” He touched her sleeve and she looked down at the ground.

“I’m scared,” she said.

“We won’t let anything happen to you.”

“How will you stop it? We’re just kids.”

Luke looked at John for help. John said, “We stick together. Watch out for each other. We make sure we all know what’s going on. No secrets.”

Luke nodded. “No secrets.”

“But he said tell no one. He could be watching us right now and we wouldn’t even know it,” she said.

Luke unconsciously scanned the court and then focused back on Ellie. “Even if he is, he can’t do anything to us when we’re together.”

She didn’t look as convinced. “Maybe I should talk to my mom. Tell the police.”

Luke shook his head. “I don’t think so. Not yet.”

“Why not?”

“That would definitely provoke whoever it is. If it’s just us, he might leave us alone.”

“I guess,” she said. “This is a nightmare.”

“I agree,” John said. “But right now, he’s only done something to a dog. I know the dog meant a lot to you, Ellie, but he hasn’t actually done anything to a person.”

She looked mad. “Killing Bentley was like hurting me,” she snapped. “If he could do this to an animal, it’s a small step away from doing it to a person.”

“You’re right,” Luke said, “but what John means is he hasn’t done anything to a human yet and maybe we can keep it that way. Everybody liked Bentley and we’re all mad about what happened. We’re not trying to make it anything less than what it is, ok?”

She nodded, slowly, looking a little better. “I know you guys liked him too. I’m just upset.”

“You have every right to be,” Luke said softly. “I had nightmares for three nights after finding him.” He could feel his face redden but kept his eyes locked on hers. Her face softened and then she looked at him funny as she reached up and grabbed his arm.

“Thanks for being my friend,” she said, looking at Luke intensely and then shifting her gaze to John. “Both of you.”

Luke smiled. “It wouldn’t be so hard if you weren’t such a Goofy Goober.”

She smiled at that. It was the nickname they called each other in third grade.

When they met for the first time back when Luke first moved into the neighborhood, she told him he was a Goofy Goober and he’d gotten mad until he realized she’d been joking with him. They hadn’t called each other that for a while now and it brought back good memories.

“You’re the Goofy Goober,” she said, poking him in the shoulder.

“You are!” he said.

“What’s this Goofy Goober crap?” John asked.

Luke and Ellie smiled at each other, but Ellie said, “Nothing. Just a joke between us.”

“Do I need to leave you two alone?” he asked, grinning.

Luke felt his face redden again and Ellie looked away quickly. “No,” Luke said.

“I gotta get back home,” she said. “I didn’t tell my mom I was leaving.”

“We’ll walk you,” Luke said.

“I can walk myself.”

“Remember,” Luke said, “we stick together.”

She smiled. “Ok.”

They walked her home and at her doorstep Luke said, “No secrets. Let me know if anything comes up. Call me at anytime and I mean
anytime
. Day or night.”

She nodded once.

John said, “Ask your brother if he got the same thing.”

“Alright,” she said. “Thanks guys.”

They said bye and Luke and John headed home. Luke hoped they could keep her safe.

* * *

Ellie locked the door behind her and headed up the stairs to her room. She felt a little better after talking to Luke and John, but she was still frightened out of her mind. It took everything just to keep climbing the stairs. All she could think about was turning around and telling her mother the whole story. She even stopped midway and started to turn around, but Luke’s words rang in her ears.
We stick together. No secrets.
She still wasn’t convinced they were doing the right thing.

Walking down the hall she passed her brother Patrick’s closed door and remembered John and Luke wanted to know if Patrick got the same friend request. She started to knock, then heard a noise. Her brother was two years older than her, and at sixteen, was insanely private. He had warned her not to bother him when his door was shut and she knew he could be mean and cruel. She hoped one day he would grow out of his mean streak, but she knew it wasn’t any time soon. The way he chose to tell her about Bentley proved that. He was an ass and at times she hated him with all her heart.

She decided she didn’t care if he got mad, she needed to know. She knocked softly and waited. Usually he would yell through the door at the person who had the nerve to bother him in his domain, but the only thing she heard was the strange noise. She tried the doorknob and it turned so she pushed the door open slowly and peered in.

He was facing away from her seated at his desk and she gasped as she saw what he was watching on his computer screen. Two naked women engaged in something she’d heard about but never in her life had she imagined. He had headphones on and the noise was coming from them. He seemed to sense something behind him because he turned quickly, ripping the headphones off and pressing the power button on the monitor all at the same time. The look on his face showed shock and anger, and then he grinned.

“Enjoying the view?” he asked.

Her mouth hung open and she forced it shut, backing out of the doorway. She was too embarrassed to even remember what she had wanted and there was no way she was sticking around anyway. She shut the door, heard him laughing behind it, and headed for her room where she closed her door softly and sat on the edge of her bed. It had been a hard week.

Chapter 5

Two weeks passed and Luke almost forgot about Bentley and the Facebook link.

Almost.

Ellie, of course hadn’t, and she brought it up periodically, but Luke thought at least it wasn’t on her mind 24/7.

No other messages had been sent and nobody received any new friend requests. It was as if the person dropped off the face of the earth.

It had snowed and melted twice over the last two weeks and now they were expecting another blizzard today. Virginia hadn’t seen this much snow in over a century. Everything was icy and slippery, and the roads were covered in dirty, brown slush. All the parents were grumbling about the cold, and the heating bills, and the driving, and, especially the school closings. Luke couldn’t understand how anybody could be upset about the school closings. His dad pointed out that even though they didn’t have to go to school now, they would have to make it up at the end of the year, which meant their summer break would be shorter. Luke didn’t care. He just wanted out of school now, at this exact moment, and it didn’t matter what had to be repaid later.

Luke, John, Jimmy, and Ralph, the kid who live three doors down from Luke, were walking home from the bus stop when Patrick, Alan, and Paul ran past and pelted Jimmy with slush balls they had made from snow in the gutters. Ice, dirt, and oil ran down the inside of Jimmy’s shirt. Jimmy froze with his shoulders hunched, and Patrick ran up and shoved another one down the back of his shirt. Jimmy lost it.

“Hey you dick heads!” Jimmy cursed, and grabbed Patrick by the collar as he turned to run. Jimmy yanked Patrick backwards and he came off of his feet, landing on his butt in the street with an audible thud. Patrick, who was 3 inches taller than Jimmy and a year older, looked stunned, then pissed. Alan and Paul laughed at him as he slipped and fell again trying to stand in the icy road. Jimmy stood over him with his fists balled up at his side.

“Get up!” Jimmy yelled.

Patrick finally got his footing and stood over Jimmy glaring down at him. “I’m up.”

“What the hell was that?!”

“Just having a little fun, Dickhead,” Patrick said and shoved Jimmy in the chest.

Jimmy stood his ground. “It wasn’t fun for me!” and shoved back.

John moved closer and Luke could see the anger growing in him. Paul and Alan sensed it and starting walking toward the group again. They were no longer laughing.

Patrick, looking uncertain, glanced around quickly. He seemed to shrink a little as Jimmy refused to back down. “Easy, Besner. We were just having fun.”

“I don’t care. It was wrong, man!” Jimmy pushed his face into Patrick’s. “Tell me why I shouldn’t pound you into the ground right now!”

Patrick seemed to regain a little of his courage. “Because you’d lose,” Patrick said coldly.

“Bullshit!” But Jimmy made no further move.

“Hey!” Luke said, “Patrick, back off! You’d be pissed too if we had done the same thing to you.”

“Shut up, Harrison!” Patrick said. “You stay out of this.”

“No,” Luke said. “None of us are staying out of this. You back off.”

Patrick looked at John who nodded and never took his eyes off of him, then at Jimmy, and finally at Luke. Paul and Alan kept their distance and it looked to Luke like they wanted no part of it, though they didn’t leave.

Patrick put his hands up and smiled. “Hey, no problem. I’ll be the man. This is me backing off.” He took two steps back. Jimmy wasn’t so easily swayed. He took two steps toward Patrick and started to say something but Luke yelled at him, “Jimmy! Enough!”

Jimmy stopped and turned to look at Luke as if to say
‘you’re just an eighth grader
,’ but then his brother grabbed his arm and said, “Come on, Jim. It was just a joke. Let it go.”

Jimmy stood for a minute and then seemed to relax a bit, letting John pull him away.

“Don’t do that again,” Jimmy said finally, and turned, walking off.

Patrick shrugged, joined his buddies and they left in the opposite direction. Nobody looked back. Luke knew the next snowball fight, if there was ever going to be one, would be bad.

* * *

That evening at dusk, they all played kick the can in the snow storm. The game was something their parents had taught them, and though it was old and dated, they all loved it. Most of the kids from Cotton Court were there including Luke’s sisters Katy and Deana. Ralph, the kid from three doors down, along with his little sister, Marsha, was there too. She was twelve and he was thirteen. Ellie came over from Willow Branch court along with Paul and Alan, but Patrick didn’t show. Ellie said he was locked in his room, and though she didn’t tell Luke why, she refused to knock on his door. Finally, the three new kids at the end of the court showed up and Luke learned their names were Cece, Ashley, and Chad. Cece was the oldest at fifteen, Ashley was fourteen, and Chad, eleven. They seemed alright but couldn’t play kick the can for crap.

The game had been an almost nightly ritual ever since Luke moved here in the third grade. No one ever seemed to tire of it and it was especially good at night. With the snow falling, it was even better.

John had just kicked the can (which in this case was a red rubber ball) and freed all the prisoners. Jimmy, who was ‘it,’ chased it down and hurried back to base hoping to catch some slow runners. Everybody made it into a hiding spot in time. Luke and Ellie were currently hunched down in a hedge at the side of Luke’s house and they smiled at each other in the dark.

“I like your new haircut,” she whispered.

“It’s stupid,” he said and fiddled with it.

She reached up, pushed his hand out of the way and combed the hair over to one side with her fingers. Little electric shocks ran up and down his spine as she played with his hair. He didn’t want her to stop.

“There,” she said. “That’s better.”

He grinned and said, “Thanks.” He could feel himself blushing and was glad she couldn’t see it in the dark.

He looked up and found her staring at him with a little smile on her lips. He couldn’t help it. He smiled, too, and said, “What?”

She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. It startled him and he almost pulled away, but then her soft, warm lips held him and he kissed her back. She pulled away a bit and whispered, “I know you’ve been wanting to do that, and I knew you never would, so…”

It was like he was floating in a pool of warm water. Sounds grew muffled and distant, his breath was quick and shallow, and all his senses tingled, feeling electric. He reached up, holding her face in his hands, and pulled her to him. He kissed her and felt everything else disappear. Nothing existed but her. The feel of her face in his hands; the smell of the soap she used; the heat from her body radiating out to him; her soft, moist, lips pressed against his; all those things and so much more. It was just him and her in the world and no one else.

Then he heard the voice.

“Help me…”

She jerked away, and now he saw fear in her eyes. “What was that?”

“I don’t know,” he said, thinking John or Jimmy must have seen him kissing her and was messing with him. “You heard it too?”

She nodded quickly and kept looking around in the dark. He started to say something but she put her finger to his lips and shushed him. They both listened to the silence drag out and Luke could actually hear his heart beating. Nothing happened for a bit and he was about to say something when the voice whispered again.

“Help me…”

It came from behind. He heard her take a sharp breath in surprise and look up over his shoulder. He was afraid to see. A palpable presence felt like it was pressing up against his spine and he shivered as he slowly turned.

He could see nothing in the gloom as his eyes tried to penetrate the dense growth of bushes. He heard a faint sound, almost like laughter, but it was so soft and seemed so distant he wasn’t sure if he was imagining things.

Ellie whispered in his ear. “I heard a laugh.”

He nodded but stared into the darkness where they heard the voice.

“It sounded creepy,” she whispered and shuddered involuntarily.

He suddenly grabbed her hand and said, “Come on!” He crawled from the bushes with her following behind and stood up. “Time!” he yelled and it sounded huge and booming in the silence. “Jimmy! John! Get over here! Quick!”

A grunt of anger came from the direction of the voice and then a crashing noise as someone, or something, broke through the hedge and ran off down the path through Luke’s backyard. Ellie and Luke jumped at the sound, and Luke had a hard time holding his ground. He wanted to bolt and run in the other direction, but he couldn’t leave Ellie there. He squinted into the darkness as he tried to follow the noise, but he could see nothing. John ran over and then Jimmy was there too.

“What’s up?” John said. “You guys quitting?”

“Someone was here,” Luke said.

“What do you mean?” Jimmy asked.

“Someone was in the bushes with us,” Luke said.

“So,” John said, not understanding. “You can hide wherever you want. Everybody could hide in the bushes at the same time if they wanted. It would be stupid, but they could do it.”

“No,” Ellie said. “Somebody else was here. Someone not in the game.” Her face looked haunted and she held on to Luke’s arm with a vice-like grip.

Jimmy’s mouth was set in a tight line and he looked at John, who stared back at him.

“Was it him?” John asked quietly.

“I think so,” Luke said. “It was creepy. This voice whispered ‘Help me’ twice, and then we heard a laugh. Not a funny laugh, but a mean laugh. That’s when I yelled ‘Time’ and called for you guys.”

“Is he still there?” Jimmy whispered.

“I don’t think so,” Luke said. “We heard a grunt and then someone ran off through my backyard.”

Just then Paul and Alan came running around the corner and they all jumped in surprise.

“What’s happening?” Paul asked. “We quittin’?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy said. “We’re done.”

“Why?” Alan asked. “It’s still early.”

“We’re just done.” And Jimmy yelled, “All-e-all-e-all-come-free!” Jimmy led the way back to the center of the court.

“Hey! What the heck?” Paul said. “What’s wrong with you guys?”

“Nothing,” Jimmy said. “I said we’re done and that means we’re done.”

“Man—ever since you guys found that dumb dog you’ve been acting weird,” Alan said.

“Hey!” Luke yelled. “That dog was our friend!”

“Yeah! That so called ‘dumb dog’ was mine,” Ellie shouted, her voice breaking.

“Jeez! It’s just a dog!” Alan said.

Luke got in his face. “Tell her you’re sorry!”

Alan was taken aback. “What?”

Luke grabbed Alan’s jacket sleeve and repeated himself, poking him in the chest with every word. “Tell—her—you’re—sorry!”

Ellie had tears in her eyes even though she was angry. She stood waiting for the apology. Alan looked around. Jimmy and John were staring at him intensely. Paul looked at the ground shuffling his feet.

“I’m sorry,” Alan said.

Luke let go of his sleeve. “Alright.”

All the other kids were coming out of hiding now and as Ralph walked up he asked, “What’s up?”

“They’re quitting,” Paul said. “Game’s over.”

“What happened?” Ralph asked.

“Nothing,” Jimmy said. “We’re just done.”

“But it’s early,” Ralph whined.

“I don’t care,” Jimmy said. “I’m telling you, go home. We’re done.”

“I don’t want to go home,” Ralph said. “You’re not the boss of me.”

Jimmy strode over and pointed a finger into Ralph’s face. Ralph’s eyes grew big and he flinched a little.

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go home,” Jimmy said, and then looked around. “All of you. Game’s over.”

“Fine,” Ralph said and grabbed his sister and started home. All the others mumbled something and headed off down the street.

Luke could tell the three new kids didn’t know what to make of it all. They stood around for a minute and then Cece said, “Well, it was fun for a while. Nice meeting you guys.” They waved goodbye and walked home.

Luke, Ellie, John, and Jimmy were left standing in the middle of the street. They stared at each other for a moment and then John said, “Do we go look?”

“For what?” Luke asked.

“Footprints.”

“Why?”

“To see if someone was really there,” Jimmy said.

“Someone was there alright,” Luke said. “Ellie heard it too.”

“I did. It was creepy,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.

“I think we should wait until it’s light out,” Jimmy said. “No use traipsing around in the dark.”