Strange in Skin (28 page)

“I’ve already heard this story,” Lucy whined.

“Hush now,” her mother scolded her. “Go into the other room and play with your dollies for a
while.”
Lucy began to interject but then saw her mother’s commanding eyes and stood up and left without a
word.
“I’d like some tea. Would you like some tea?”

“Oh.” I looked down at my intertwined hands. “No, thank you.”

 

I watched the woman stand and go into the kitchen. I glanced back at the person beside me still
sleeping away in her wheelchair. She made me feel slightly uncomfortable alone in the room with her,
so I decided to go into the kitchen and hear out the rest of the story.

“Lucas wasn’t a normal boy. Anyone could tell that just by being around him for a little while.”
“What was different about him?” I asked, watching her fill up a pot full of water from the spigot.

She shrugged. “He was always polite and nice and all, but he just seemed like he was in his own
little world half the time. He was spacey. He didn’t click with other kids, but he sure loved being
around Cassie.”

“You said they were headed to the lake?”

She put the pot on top of the stove and turned the burner on. She turned around to face me, her arms
crossed in front of her chest. “Well, I guess they never made it that far. They took a break on the
tracks. It wasn’t just Cassie and Lucas though. Another boy went along with them. What was his
name?” She closed her eyes as she sifted through her memory. “I can’t remember. Anyway, that boy
and Lucas got into an argument. Lucas got really upset and supposedly he started shaking all over.”

“Shaking?”

 

“Yeah, like he was having a seizure or something … only different. Cassie tried to help him. And
then the next thing they knew, Cassie was gone,” she said.

 

I frowned. “What do you mean by gone?”

 

“Just like poof, vanished into thin air.” She looked at me studying her face and laughed. “I know,
sounds crazy, right?”

 

Not entirely but definitely out of the ordinary
, I thought. “So they never found Cassie?”

She shook her head. “Not even a body, not a trace. Poof!” she repeated, throwing her hands in the
air to demonstrate. She turned around to check on whether or not her water was coming close to
boiling. “It tore up my aunt and uncle. They couldn’t have any more kids. Cassie was all they had, and
now she was gone. They blamed Lucas right away and themselves too, of course, for letting him into
their home.”

“So what happened to Lucas?” I asked. “He was a little boy, right?”

“Yeah, he was still in elementary school when this happened. Lucas swore he didn’t know what
happened to her, and even the other kid that was with them told everyone how Lucas just started
shaking right before Cassie’s disappearance.” She slapped her hand against her thigh and grinned.
“Gary!”

“Gary?”

She nodded. “Yes, that was the other kid’s name. It just came to me. Funny how a mind works.” She
laughed. “They didn’t believe Lucas or Gary. They were out to point the finger, and they had every
right to. Cassie couldn’t have just vanished like they said. And Lucas was a strange boy. So they
locked him up.”

“Like in prison?”

 

“Yeah. There was this young woman who convinced everyone he was a danger, a murderer who
would only kill again if he was set free.”

“Who was she?”
“Now wait a minute,” she said. “Just give me a moment to think.”
The pot started whistling, startling us.
“What are you making?” Lucy asked, popping her head inside the kitchen.

Her mother frowned at her, knowing she had been eavesdropping on a story she didn’t want her to
hear. “Tea. Now get on back to your room,” she commanded her.

 

I watched Lucy turn around and obey against her will. The woman poured the water into her creamcolored coffee mug sitting on the counter. I remained silent hoping she would go on.
She dipped her tea bag in the water. “She was kind of pretty. She had brown curly hair that was
always pulled up. Hanley was her last name.”

 

Hanley. I thought about the name for a moment. It didn’t ring a bell.

“She was bossy, the know-it-all type,” she explained. “I forget what her first name was, but oh, she
always wore this white lacy shawl around her head.”
White lacy shawl? Could it be? Mrs. Anderson. It
had
to be. She was always wearing that shawl.
And she was the bossy, know-it-all type, too. That explained why she knew so much about Lucas
Banesberry. She had helped in keeping him locked up even as a young girl at the time.

“This family hasn’t been the same since Cassie’s disappearance. It’s one of those things that wasn’t
ever solved and just wore on my poor aunt and uncle. You had to pity them, for not knowing and all. It
ate away at them all these years, and then after my uncle died, my aunt just deteriorated further. I don’t
think she’ll hang on much longer.”

“But I thought Lucas died, too?” I asked, puzzled by how exactly that fit into the story.

She took a sip of her tea as a little puff of steam lifted from the top of the cup and disappeared into
the air. “He was in jail the rest of his life then. When he was a teenager, they had another trial.
Someone had paid some top of the notch lawyer to come in and defend him.”

“Who?”

She shrugged. “Who knows. But he got him out of it. And then on the day he was released, I
remember it clearly because I was actually there protesting his release like everyone else, he took a
few steps out of that courthouse, and someone shot him dead right then and there.”

“What?” I asked in astonishment.

 

She smiled, proud of the fact that her story had affected me that much. “Never did find out who
either.”

“Did it have anything to do with that Hanley woman?”
“Huh,” she replied. “I never thought of that, but no, I doubt it.”

You have no idea what she’s capable of
, I thought. She has violence written all over her face, and I
wouldn’t ever put murder past her agenda if she thought it were the only way to get her way.
“It’s kind of an odd, little story, I know, but there it is. You now know how Lucas Banesberry
died.” She smiled again and took another sip from her cup. “Why is it you wanted to know again?”
I stared down at the floor for a moment. “Thank you for your hospitality,” I blurted out. “Please tell
Lucy goodbye for me, and I’ll pray for your aunt.” I practically sprinted out of the kitchen, through the
living room with the sleeping woman and straight to the front door.

I was horrified. I was trying to get Emry free, but it didn’t matter. Mrs. Anderson would have him
assassinated the moment he was free. They were out to get him. They were out for blood, if that’s
what it came down to. What on earth was I going to do?

Tears streamed down my face as I traversed the little patch of woods that Lucy had taken me
through. The old Banesberry house was just ahead. Poor Emry. I had to warn him. I had to get to him
again. But how? It seemed so impossible.
Nothing’s impossible though
, I told myself. I had gotten in
there before in disguise. They’d be watching for me now, probably checking everyone’s IDs, too. I
had to come up with a plan. I couldn’t let them try to kill him. He had to have the chance to be
properly set free again, and happy with me.

I thought about Lucas’ story as I started up my car and pulled out of the Banesberry driveway. I’m
sure it was a legend in a small town such as Elverson, which was very similar to Seneca. Strange
things didn’t happen in small towns, and when they did, everyone panicked. It seemed like the more I
was listening to people these days, everyone had a story to tell. Well, the story of us, the story of
Anna and Emry wouldn’t end so abruptly, so brutally if I had anything to do with it. Nothing else
mattered. No one was going to shatter the only smidgen of happiness that I had in this awful world.

Chapter 14

I woke up in my car again the next morning freezing to death. My mouth was dry and stuck together
as I attempted to sit up. All my muscles were aching. Why did I keep doing this to myself? I couldn’t
live in my car. I had even brought enough money for a hotel.

I realized I wasn’t in Elverson anymore. I was back in Ohio. I was in Seneca parked in front of the
antique store. The sun looked as if it were still trying to come up for the day. It must be very early. I
turned the key in the ignition so that I could see what time it was. It flashed on. 6:02a.m.

My eyes felt matted together. I remember I had had a bawling fit last night. I had just let all of the
balled up tension and emotions pour out of me. It seemed like it had lasted for hours as it felt good
just to release it. My life was such a mess. It was utterly phony. Somewhere out there I had two
parents who had given me up, who were leading probably totally different lives than the one I had
grown accustomed to here in Seneca. Somehow in the midst of it all, I had gotten in the middle of
people from another world. Other worlds did exist, at least one I knew of so far. There was life
outside of our planet. It was an amazing revelation but an overwhelming one at that. The bigger
picture was much more complex. We thought we were so intelligent, but really, humans were idiots,
blinded by their own selfishness and narrow mindedness, terrified of the unknown, striving to rid the
world of anything out of the ordinary because of fear of the unknown. It was a ridiculous and vicious
cycle, and now I saw it plain as day. How many others knew these secrets? It seemed like more
people
should
know and seemed impossible to have kept it a secret so well. I assumed that most, like
I had been, were completely clueless. Even those chasing evil, such as my father, truly didn’t know
the extent of what their actions meant. Again, they were just scared of any kind of change.

I glanced at the door of the antique store one more time before driving away from it and toward my
house. I wasn’t sure who’d be home, who I’d have to face, but right now, I didn’t really care. I didn’t
have to answer to anyone there. I just needed a shower, and then I’d be on my way again.

The house looked still in the early morning as I parked and didn’t bother being discrete about
slamming my car door. I even opened the front door of the house as loudly as possible, my keys
jingling as they dangled in the keyhole. I might as well make my entrance known this time.

I hung up my coat and saw that the kitchen light was on. It was quiet in there. I peeked my head in.
My mother was sitting at the small kitchen counter with a cup of coffee and a muffin in front of her.
She looked up at me. Dark circles were underneath her eyes. She looked more drained than I felt, but
the pity that I used to get when seeing her look frail didn’t come to me then. I just felt like she used it
against me to lure me in and suck the life out of me to regain some of hers. She had a worried look on
her face.

“You want one?” she asked quietly, meaning a muffin.
My stomach growled. I ignored it. “No. I’m going to take a shower.” I turned around to leave.
“Anna?”
I clenched my fists together and turned back to face her. I raised my eyebrows in question.
“Are you all right?”

What did she expect me to say? I wasn’t going to open up to her right here right now at 6:00a.m. in
the morning after crying my eyes out all night partially because she had turned out to be such a
hypocrite and a liar and partially because my father was in cahoots with Mrs. Anderson in trying to
keep Emry locked away forever. I had every right to be a little grumpy and not quite in the mood for a
heart-to-heart.

“Yeah,” is all I managed to say before heading up the stairs.

On the way up, my father was coming down carrying a newspaper under his arm. His hair was wet
as he had just gotten out of the shower. We stared at each other but said nothing as we walked away in
opposite directions.

I locked myself in the bathroom upstairs and turned the hot water on full blast. The mirror was
already all steamed up from my father’s just having been in here. I wiped it away to catch a glimpse
of myself. My hair was sticking up everywhere and my eyes were red. Wow.
Gorgeous
, I thought
sarcastically. I pulled my sweater up over my head and tossed it onto the floor.
Well
, I thought,
time
to get beautified
.
Today’s the day I make another venture down to the jail
.

After the shower, I shut the door to my bedroom and sat down on my bed. I looked around at the
room that had once been my place of comfort, of rest. It seemed so childish now with the girly paint
and dolls that I had had since I was a toddler sitting on my bookshelf. It seemed small and
uncomfortable.

I stood and walked in front of my mirror in my towel. I studied my face. I looked the same, but
different. More tired and probably even more aged, but I looked better, more alive and my skin had
more color than before. I tore the towel off my head, letting my wet brown hair fall over my
shoulders.

How was I going to get to Emry today? I had asked myself this a million times already over the
course of the morning. For some reason I couldn’t answer myself this time. I had no clue. I was
starting to feel hopeless about the idea, but I knew I had to try. Emry was now more in the dark than I
was for once. I couldn’t bear the idea of not seeing him again or of something terrible happening to
him. I forbid myself to think like that again. It was too crushing. It was something I couldn’t handle to
even think of, let alone to live it out. No. I didn’t have a plan, but I knew I was going to get myself
dressed and head straight down there.

A sliver of sunlight filtered in through my slightly parted curtains. I looked back at my face. What
should I wear? I knew the contents of my closet without searching through it this time. I had nothing
that I’d want to wear, so I decided on a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt with a sports logo on
the front. Well, at least I could put some makeup on. I didn’t want Emry to think I looked like a
disaster
if
I even made it that far for him to get a chance to see me. It probably wouldn’t make much of
a difference though. I’d probably just end up crying for some reason, and the makeup would streak my
face.