In the Middle of Nowhere (27 page)

CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX

We were inside the trendy boutique, Salsa,
and I could tell Michael wanted to say something. I held a summery,
floral-print shirt up in front of me and checked out my reflection
in a mirror. I liked it and thought about buying it. First, though,
I had to make sure I had enough money left after paying for James’s
game.

Michael and I left our younger brothers in
the gaming store, which was only two shops away from the boutique.
The boys promised they would stay together, wouldn’t leave the
store and wouldn’t talk to any strangers. They had moaned when we
told them we wanted to check out some other shops. Michael and I
figured out, this way, we could have the best of both worlds.

Michael had ruffled Kevin’s hair. “Now,
remember, stay together, look around and we’ll be back to get you
guys in one hour.”

“Okay,” Kevin had said.

I looked at my brother and was overly stern
with him. “You understand, James?”

James rolled his eyes. “Yes, ma’am, I
understand.”

“Ma’am? Since when do you call me ma’am?” I
wanted to know.

“Since you’re acting like one!” James huffed
and turned and walked away. Kevin shrugged his shoulders and
followed my brother.

Since Salsa only sold women’s clothing,
Michael followed me around like a cute, little puppy dog.

“I like that shirt,” Michael volunteered,
“although I have a feeling you’d look good in just about
anything.”

“Thanks.” I smiled and continued shopping. I
started to grab another shirt to add to my armload of potential
purchases when Michael stopped me. He put the blouse back on the
rack and took my free hand.

I was confused. “What are you doing?”

“Listen. I could tell you got freaked out
back there, in the restaurant, when I said that to you.”

I was about to ask him what he was talking
about, but then it dawned on me. He was referring to his earlier
statement when he said all he wanted to get today was my love.

I played dumb. “I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

Now it was Michael’s turn to be confused.
“You don’t? But you’ve been acting weird ever since I said it.”

I grabbed the shirt off the rack and
continued to sift through more. “Again, I don’t know what you’re
talking about.”

I was so uncomfortable talking to Michael
about what he had said. How could he say he wanted my love when I
didn’t even know him that well, nor he me, for that matter?

He kept following me so closely, almost
tripping on my heels, but didn’t say anything.

Finally I stopped and turned toward him.
Frustrated I blurted out, “Why me, Michael? Off all people, why did
you pick me?”

For once Michael was speechless. The boy who
wrote and recited poems so easily, who was so good with words and
their meanings, was suddenly at a loss for them.

He furrowed his brow, looked down and finally
spoke. “I dunno, Willow. At first, I guess it was because you were
new in school and you didn’t know any better.”

Michael looked at me and was solemn. “I
didn’t want you to think of me as the poor, sick kid, like everyone
else, but then we talked and I got to know you better and you
really got me and I really started to like you and …”

Michael trailed off and shook his head. “I
don’t know. I can’t explain why I was drawn to you.”

Michael continued. “And then once I found out
how tragically you lost your father, I was determined more than
ever to be normal to you.”

I softened and felt sorry for him. Michael
seemed like an old soul, a lost one at times. I took his hand. “You
don’t have to try and be anything but yourself for me, Michael. You
are normal,” I thought about it and wrinkled my nose, “whatever
normal
is.”

Michael’s mood lifted and he smiled. “I guess
that’s true. How would you define normal anyway?”

All of a sudden we heard someone scream,
“Michael!”

We turned toward the front of the store and
saw Kevin running toward us.

“What?” Michael asked when Kevin finally
reached us. “What’s wrong?”

Kevin looked up at the two of us, his eyes
filled with dread. He quickly caught his breath and said, “I can’t
find James.”

Kevin turned and pointed to me. “I lost your
brother!”

• • •

“Slow down,” Michael insisted. “What do you
mean your lost Willow’s brother?”

“He was next to me one minute and then gone
the next. I searched the whole store and he’s missing.”

I threw down my armful of clothes on the
nearest chair. “Let’s go back to make sure he’s not there.”

I led the way as Michael and Kevin followed.
The snow was really coming down as we made our way to the other
store. I was frantic to say the least. I couldn’t imagine where
James was, especially when we gave both him and James explicit
instructions to stay together and not leave. It seemed like it took
forever to reach the front door of the gaming superstore.

I burst inside and scanned the large space.
Racks upon racks of video games were scattered throughout. I
couldn’t see through the merchandise-covered racks and James wasn’t
tall enough to be visible above them. I ran from one end of the
store to the other, maneuvering through the aisles as if in a
giant, plastic maze.

I was panicking like never before. I would be
beyond punished if I lost my brother. I’d have to go home, pack my
things and move out for sure. My mother would never forgive me. I
would never forgive myself.

As I began to run even faster and call out
his name, my head filled with images of James being kidnapped by
some perverted child molester. I didn’t even know where Michael and
Kevin were. Had they followed me or gone in a different direction?
I didn’t care. I needed to find my brother.

I began sprinting when I heard someone yell
my name. “Willow!”

It was Michael. He stood at the back of the
huge store waving his arms to me. “Over here,” he shouted.

I ran toward Michael and found James standing
beside him next to a long row of cash registers. At first I was
relieved because my brother was safe and then I became angry
because he almost caused me to have a heart attack.

I took James by the shoulders and shook him.
“Where were you?”

“I went in the back room with the worker,” he
pointed to a girl about my age standing a few feet away from us
behind the service desk. The girl and her multiple piercings, waved
to me.

“Sorry,” she said and continued to ring out
customers.

“Why would you go back there with a stranger
and not tell Kevin?”

“The girl asked me if I wanted to see where
all the new games are kept before anyone else can buy them. Plus, I
told Kevin I was going,” James said.

“No you didn’t!” Kevin insisted.

“Yes I did. Remember, we were looking at the
used DS games over there,” James pointed to another part of the
store, “and I told you I would be right back. Remember?”

You could see the wheels turning in Kevin’s
little blonde head as he remembered. “Well … maybe you did.”

“See!” James exclaimed. “I told you I told
him!”

“At least everybody’s safe and sound,”
Michael said.

Just then my cell phone rang. I read the
caller ID. It was my mom. “It’s my mother,” I said to the others.
“I’ll let it go to voice mail.”

James furrowed his brow and looked like the
cat that swallowed the canary. “You probably should answer
that.”

Puzzled, I looked at my brother. “Why? I
don’t want mom to know we’re not home.”

“Too late,” was all he said and lowered his
head.

My big blue eyes became two little slits.
“What do you mean it’s too late?”

My phone kept ringing.

James wouldn’t look up and started off slowly
with his explanation. “The girl let me use the store phone and I
kinda called mom just to ask her for your cell number …”

James quickly rambled through the rest of his
stupid reasoning hoping it would have less of an impact, but it
didn’t, “… so I could call you to tell you I couldn’t find Kevin
when I came out from the back room. You told us not to leave and I
got scared because I couldn’t find him.”

“That’s because I was at the other store
telling them you were gone,” Kevin said defensively.

Michael patted Kevin’s back. “Shhh.”

My phone went to voice mail and then began
ringing again. I couldn’t bring myself to answer it. I put my hand
up to my forehead and rubbed. I could feel a raging migraine coming
on.

I took James by the shoulders again and held
onto them tightly. “What exactly did you say to mom?”

“I just told her I wanted your cell phone
number. I know mom’s number. I don’t know yours.”

“Then what?”

“She asked where I was calling from, I told
her it didn’t matter and she said it most certainly did and why
wasn’t I with you.”

You could tell from the look on James’s face
he knew we were both going to be in hot water. My cell phone
finally stopped ringing, but it beeped telling me that I had a new
text message.

I removed my phone from my pocket and read
the text. It was from my mom. It said, “Call me immediately or
else!”

I let out a deep sigh and reluctantly dialed
my mother’s phone number. I readied myself for a death-row sentence
and a tongue lashing like never before.

• • •

For some reason my mom was whispering. I
wasn’t sure why. Maybe Brian was standing nearby or one of his
family members whom my mother wanted to impress. “I don’t know
where you are or how you got there,” she stated in a monotone that
sounded unusually calm and rehearsed, “but you and your brother
better get home immediately. Brian and I will finish up lunch here
and head back afterward.”

She hung up the phone without giving me a
chance to explain myself. What good would it have done anyway? What
would I have said to my mom, that I didn’t disobey her really
because I didn’t have friends over or go to a friend’s house like
she instructed? There was no use in arguing that point. Leaving the
house and dragging my brother along to meet up with Michael was
wrong and I knew it.

Plus, I couldn’t believe she and Brian were
heading back to the island a day early. They weren’t supposed come
home until the next day, Sunday. She would never forgive me for
cutting her weekend short. I would just have to move out and
wondered how long it would take for Michael and his family to
realize that I broke into and started living in their abandoned
summerhouse by the water.

I put my cell phone back in my pocket and
joined the others near the front of the store.

“C’mon, James,” I said to my brother as I
grabbed the hood of his coat. “We gotta go.”

He recoiled and broke free from my grasp.
“Hey! What about the new Zombie Hunt? You said you would buy it for
me!”

The expression on my face said it all, ’cause
if looks could kill, James knew he’d be six feet under.

Michael took my arm. “Let Kevin and me walk
you guys to the ferry.”

“Fine,” I said and headed out the door. The
snow was really coming down now, big heavy snowflakes, which stuck
to the four of us like moths to a flame.

By the time we reached the pier, we were all
covered head to toe in freshly fallen snow. We looked like animated
snowmen, magically brought to life like Frosty.

Michael stopped before we got to the platform
and held onto a wooden post for support. He stayed by himself, bent
over, and coughed like I had never heard a person cough before. I
got scared and looked down at my brother. He looked concerned,
too.

Kevin walked back toward his big brother and
offered his little, gloved-hand for support. Michael took it,
reluctantly, and smiled appreciatively at Kevin. Slowly he looked
over at me and I could tell he was embarrassed. He didn’t need to
be. Michael was ill with a disease, a disease for which there was
no cure. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but I knew that’s exactly
what he didn’t want. He was strong and proud and not the least bit
interested in being the recipient of anyone’s pity, especially
mine.

Michael walked over to us just at the ferry
pulled up to the dock and started unloading passengers.

He stood very close to me and took both of my
hands in his. Michael’s face was paler than ever and seemed to
blend seamlessly with the soft, white snow that covered him. “Sorry
you got into trouble.”

I shrugged and looked down. “It’s not your
fault. I should’ve known better.”

The boat blared its horn signaling a warning
for its final boarding.

“I don’t know when I’ll be able to see you
again,” I said. “I’m not even sure I’ll live to see the light of
day after my mom gets home tonight.”

Michael chuckled and threw his head back.
“I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”