Don't Stay Up Late (14 page)

“He says he doesn't like scary things. But he
devours
anything about bugs or snakes,” Alice said. She wore a long plaid shirt over faded jeans.

“Did you study spiders today?” I asked.

She didn't answer. She stepped up close to me. “I want to talk to you seriously,” she said, lowering her voice. She glanced back to make sure Harry hadn't followed us.

I had a sudden feeling of dread. “Is anything wrong?” I asked.

“You let him stay up late on Monday, didn't you?” she said. “It's very bad for him. It's important you get him to sleep at the right hour.”

I swallowed. “Actually, I put him to bed a little after eight,” I said. “I think he stayed up late without me knowing it. He came out on the stairs when Brenda came home. He was bragging about how he stayed up late. But I didn't know—”

“You have to make sure he goes to sleep,” Alice whispered, glancing to the kitchen door again.

“Why?” I said. “Does Harry need more sleep than other kids his age?”

Alice nodded. She jammed her hands into her jeans pocket. I heard the cat cry again from downstairs, a sad wail.

“Brenda doesn't like to admit it. But he has a condition,” Alice said. “It has to do with brain patterns. I'm not a doctor. I think it's something like epilepsy. If he has his sleep, he's fine. Perfectly normal. He needs a regular sleep pattern to regulate these brain patterns.”

I didn't really understand, but I nodded.

“If he doesn't get his regular sleep,” Alice continued, “he's a very different kid, very difficult. It makes him moody, even angry. But his personality definitely changes, and he totally loses his ability to concentrate.” She sighed. “Those days are difficult for me, being his teacher. And there is always the possibility of seizures.”

“Seizures? Really? I-I-I'll be more careful,” I stammered. “I didn't know. Brenda didn't tell me. She only said—”

“Brenda has a lot on her mind, what with the new job and all. That's why I'm so happy to be able to help her out.” She smiled. “Also, because I love Harry so much. He's really an angel. And as I said, he really is perfectly fine … if he gets his sleep.”

“Yes, he's terrific,” I said.

And there he was at the kitchen door, the spider book tucked under his arm. “Lisa, can we go home now?”

I wanted to ask Alice about last Monday night. Had Harry heard anything about the murder across the street? Had he heard the intruder in the house? The frightening chase I had with the ugly creature?

“Come on, Lisa,” he pleaded, grabbing my hand and tugging me to the kitchen door. “I want to go home. Can we play
Candy Catastrophe
tonight?”

“Maybe after you do your homework,” I said.

He grinned at me. “My homework is
Candy Catastrophe
.”

Alice and I both laughed. “What about the arithmetic worksheet?” Alice said.

Harry shrugged. “Maybe I forgot it.”

I walked him home. I really didn't want to go into that house again. I wanted to stay at Alice's where it was pretty and quiet and comfortable, and there were no creatures lurking.

But what choice did I have?

I took a deep breath as I unlocked the kitchen door and vowed to be brave. Alert and brave. I'd checked my phone after school to make sure it was fully powered. If there was any trouble tonight, at least I'd be able to call for help.

Harry and I paged through the spider book for a while. Then I made dinner for the two of us. Brenda had left a package of ground beef, and I made hamburgers. I kept them on the stove a little too long, but Harry didn't seem to notice.

I kept listening for any sound, any blur of movement. My senses were on super-alert, but I was determined not to give Harry a clue that anything might be wrong.

It was obvious that he didn't know about Summer's murder across the street. That made me very relieved. He was such a sensitive kid. If he heard anything about it, I knew he'd be totally freaked.

He begged to stay up late. But I told him firmly he was going to sleep on time tonight. He made a pouty face, sticking out his bottom lip. It made me laugh, and he started to laugh, too.

I tucked him in at exactly eight o'clock with a stern command to go right to sleep. He yawned. I could see he was tired.
He shouldn't be a problem tonight,
I thought.

Downstairs by myself, I kind of wished I'd kept Harry with me. The house was silent except for the hum of the fridge in the kitchen and the
click click click
of the clock on the mantel. The silence made me even more tense, more alert.

I took out my phone and plugged in the earbuds. Maybe some music would help distract me from the horrible silence. But then I thought better of it, and tucked the phone back into my bag. I needed to stay alert.

Sitting stiffly on the couch, my eyes kept darting to the stairway, expecting the ugly creature to be hunched there again. I'd finished my homework. I had nothing to do. I needed something to entertain me.

I called Saralynn but it went right to voicemail. I picked up the spider picture book and riffled through it. It wasn't any fun without Harry to ooh and ahh over every creepy spider.

“I should quit this job,” I murmured to myself.
It's too dangerous,
I thought.
It's crazy to stay here. The creature is real, and he's already killed someone.

I jumped to my feet and started to pace, as if trying to escape my frightening thoughts. I hugged myself as I walked back and forth. Pale moonlight washed in from the living room window. Outside, all was as still as death. Not a leaf moved, no tree branch swayed, no car headlights swept over Fear Street.

Maybe the stories about this street are true.

I stopped pacing and gazed at the bookshelves against the back wall. A stack of white albums caught my eye. I stepped closer and saw that they were photo albums.

I'm not a snoop but I needed something to do. I pulled the top photo album off the shelf and carried it to the couch.

Curious, I spread it open on my lap. The first page held a large wedding photo. Brenda and the guy she married. What happened to him? When did they split up? I wondered. He was a good-looking guy, very clean-cut, very all-American, tanned, blue-eyed, short brown hair, a nice smile.

I turned a few pages. There was baby Harry. He was only a few months old and he already had curly blond hair. Photos of Brenda and husband playing with the baby. An outdoor photo of the three of them in a park, walking Harry in a stroller.

A few pages later, I stopped at a large photo of a crowded picnic. Blankets spread on the grass. Picnic baskets. Kids throwing a Frisbee. A family reunion, maybe. No sign of the husband. I spotted Brenda sitting cross-legged in the grass, a Coke bottle raised in one hand.

And then on the next page, a posed picture from the picnic. Everyone huddled in a group, grinning at the camera, kids sitting on the grass, adults behind them.

And … wait.

My mouth dropped open as I stared at the face in the middle row on the far right.

No. That's impossible.

Nate?

Yes. Nate's face. Nate, maybe a few years younger, standing with his arm around a girl in a red sweater.

“Oh, wow,” I muttered, my heart starting to thump in my chest. “That's Saralynn.”

Yes. Saralynn. Her hair shorter. Saralynn and Nate grinning at the camera.

But how could this be?

Why were Saralynn and Nate in Brenda's photo album?

 

37.

I gazed at the photo for a long moment. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? No. Saralynn and Nate grinned out at me from the family picnic scene.

Brenda stood on the other side of the group, with one hand resting on Harry's head. Harry had a plastic sand shovel in one hand. One of his knees had a big bandage on it.

I turned the page, hoping to find other photos with Saralynn and Nate. But the next page had photos of Harry on a school playground. In one shot, he was hanging upside down on a jungle gym. Brenda stood in the background, hands on hips, looking very tense. I guess she didn't like to see him hanging like that.

I shuffled quickly through the rest of the album. But my two friends didn't appear again.

My two friends? Really?

My head spinning, I shut the album and returned it to its place on the bookshelf.

Why were the two of them there? Why? I had to find out.

I tried phoning Nate first. The phone rang and rang and didn't go to voicemail. I tried Saralynn again, and again her phone went directly to voicemail.

“Call me,” I said. “I have a question.”

Then I dropped onto the couch, pressed the back of my head against the cushion, and tried to figure out what I'd just seen.

Brenda returned home a little before ten. “Everything okay?” she asked, dropping her briefcase on the floor and hurrying over to me. Her face was tight with worry.

“Very quiet tonight,” I said. “I got Harry to sleep early. He was tired.”

She dropped onto the couch beside me. “Lisa, I'm so sorry about what happened here Monday. I've been worried about you all day. After … after Monday, I thought maybe you wouldn't want to come back.”

“Well…” I started. “I was a little afraid—”

“You must have been terrified,” she said. “Something so horrible happening right across the street. Were you scared tonight?” She answered her own question. “Of course you were. I'm scared to be here, too.”

“Well, I kept expecting—” I started again. But again she interrupted me, her dark eyes wide with concern.

“I hope you'll stay on the job, Lisa. I know you must be tempted to get as far away from here as you can. But I hope you'll stay for Harry's sake. He's quite fond of you already. Really. He talks about you all the time. Even though you haven't been here long.…”

“I'm fond of him, too,” I said. “He's a very sweet kid. And he makes me laugh.”

I suddenly realized how attached to Harry I was. I really did care about the kid. And I wanted to protect him.

“So you'll stay?” Brenda asked.

“Okay,” I said softly.

She smiled and patted my arm. “I'm so glad.”

I opened my mouth to ask her about the photo album. I was desperate to know about that picnic photo. But I realized Brenda would think I was snooping. Not a good idea to tell her I was going through her photo album. So I said goodnight and headed for home.

I didn't get any answers until I finally reached Saralynn a little after midnight. “Where were you?” I whispered into the phone.

My mom thought I had gone to sleep at eleven. But I'd been trying to reach either Nate or Saralynn for the past hour.

She groaned. “I had to go to my cousin's house. She lives so far out of town, my phone had no bars. Would you believe I'm just starting my chem homework? I'm going to be up all night.”

“I have to ask you something,” I said. “You have to tell me the answer. I'm going crazy.”

“I'll try,” she said. Then she remembered where I was tonight. “Hey, how'd it go at Harry's house? Everything okay?”

“Yeah, no problem. But I was tense the whole time. Like my stomach was tied in a tight knot.”

“I'd be totally freaked,” Saralynn said. “I mean, I wasn't there, but I still can't stop thinking about poor Summer. You know, they're having grief counselors in school tomorrow if you want to talk to someone about it.”

“I just want you to answer one question,” I said.

“Shoot.”

“I didn't have anything to do, so I was looking through one of Brenda's photo albums. And there was this photo of you and Nate at a big family picnic.”

Silence for a moment. Then, Saralynn spoke slowly: “Uh … yeah. I know.”

“What were you two doing there?” I asked. “I mean, I was so totally shocked.”

Another silence. Like she was thinking hard, trying to decide how to answer.

“I
told
Nate we should tell you,” she said finally. “I don't know why he was acting so weird about it.”

“Weird about what?” I demanded. “What did you want to tell me?”

“Nate and I are related to Brenda,” Saralynn said. “The three of us … we're like second cousins or something.”

I blinked. My brain was trying to download this information. “I don't understand,” I said finally. “You and Nate and Brenda are all cousins? Why did you want to keep that a secret?”

“I didn't want to keep it a secret,” Saralynn replied. “It wasn't my idea. But Nate … I couldn't get Nate to explain. Sometimes he's just weird about family things.”

“Weird?” My head was spinning. “I don't get it. I really don't.”

That explains why Nate and Saralynn seem so close,
I told myself.
They don't have crushes on each other or anything like that. They're cousins.

“That picnic photo must have been a surprise,” Saralynn said.

“Uh … yeah,” I said. “You have me all confused, Saralynn. I thought I could trust Nate. Now I'm not sure. Why would he keep that secret from me? And we are friends. Why didn't
you
tell me?”

“I kept pleading with him to tell you. But he said something about confusing you. He didn't make any sense.”

“Maybe you and Nate shouldn't come to Brenda's house Friday night,” I said. “I don't really want you there if I can't trust you.”

“Can't trust us? That's harsh.”

“I'm sorry,” I said. “I didn't mean to sound that way. But—”

“We really do want to help you,” Saralynn said. “We care about you. I can't explain about Nate. But we want to be there for you.”

She sounded sincere. I felt bad that I had snapped at her. But I felt so bewildered by Nate keeping that secret. It didn't make any sense at all.