Dream Smashers (6 page)

“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with this,”
Evan says.

“You can go back to wait in the car if you
want. That’s cool.” I squat down onto my knees to push the cracked
window open enough to peek my head through.

The room is dark. “Rainy,” I whisper. No
answer. A red glow from the alarm clock casts a shadow over the
laundry littered room. Her bag isn’t hung on the door where she
keeps it and her jacket is gone. I close the window, leaving it
cracked, and stand, brushing the wet bark from my knees. “She’s not
here.”

“Oh. Well, maybe you can just ask her later
or something.” He pauses. “I thought she wasn’t feeling good. Maybe
we should check with her parents to make sure she’s okay.”

“No, no.” I shake my head. “Her parents won’t
know. She’s probably just hanging out with someone else.”

Evan’s eyebrows rise. “I don’t
understand.”

“I can see that.” I laugh. “Rainy is a
complicated person and her relationship with her parents is even
more complicated. Or more like non-existent as far as she’s
concerned. And, no, she wasn’t really sick.”

“She wasn’t?”

“Nah, she ditched us.”

Evan’s mouth drops open, horrified. “She
did?”

“Ha! I take it you’ve never been ditched?
That’s funny.”

“Why?”

“Oh, I don’t know. It just is. I’ve been
ditched a gazillion times by Rainy. You’ll come to find that she’s
not the nicest person you’ve met. It’s mostly a front though. I’ve
known her forever and deep down, she can be nice.” I shrug. “She’s
just been going through a lot of crap with her brother and her
parents and school and junk like that, so she takes it out on
everyone else.”

“Aren’t you worried? Maybe we should go look
for her.”

“Nah, I’m sure she’s fine.” We walk through
the wet grass to Evan’s car, an arm’s length between us. I’m
tempted to step closer to him, but my legs aren’t brave enough.

“Now what?” I ask.

“Do you want me to take you home?”

“Oh, that’s okay. I live right there.” I
point to the second house down on the right.

“You live close to everything, huh?”

“Yeah, me and Rainy walk everywhere. Or we
ride our bikes. We aren’t fortunate enough to have an awesome car
like you.”

Evan blushes. “It’s not mine, actually. It’s
the family car. I just borrowed it.”

“I was wondering how you could afford a car
with all that volunteer work.”

“Yeah.” He kicks a rock across the
street.

“That’s cool. So, eh, it was really nice to
meet you and all.” I take a step closer to him.

“Oh, yeah, yeah, it really was. You’re a
great person, Autumn. Thanks for spending the evening with me.” He
enters my space, gives me a brief, sincere hug, then steps back,
tripping on the curb. His face beams red—handsome and sweet. “I’ll
pick you up on Monday?”

“Okay. Umm….” I shove my hands into the front
pockets of my denim jacket and decide to leap off a cliff. “Do you
want to hang out this weekend or anything?” Please say yes, please
say yes.

His smile grows further, if that’s possible.
“That would be great! I’ll have to check with my parents first.” He
bites his bottom lip. “Actually, I forgot, my family has a reunion
thing tomorrow.” He pauses. “If I can get out of it, which is kind
of doubtful, can I call you?”

“Of course. Yeah.” I dig the heel of my shoe
into the grass. “If you’re busy Saturday, there’s always
Sunday.”

He hesitates. “You wanna go to church with
us? Uh, I mean, with my parents? That would be—”

“No, uh, no. I mean, I think I forgot my
Grams asked me to do something with her. So, I guess Sunday isn’t
such a great day after all.”

“That’s okay. Maybe another time. I’ll call
you tomorrow morning if I can get out of the family outing.”

He drives off down the road, splashing
through several puddles along the way.

Now, to go kill Rainy.

CHAPTER SEVEN

From the outside, the pit seems empty. Broken
windows bleed the darkness from within. Not a normal darkness, but
one that warns you to stay away and screams danger. The street lamp
illuminates the tears falling from the sky. I don’t know what
happened to this shack of a house before we came to know it, but
I’m sure evil deeds were once done here.

I would have just ridden my bike past the pit
without looking twice. But since I know about the secret crawl
space under the house, I prop my bike against the back of the
house. The only place left to look for her is here. I’ve been to
the park and the skate rink and the movie theatre. She has to be
here.

I slide the glass door open. Although the air
inside is dry, it is much colder than outside. I shiver. “Rainy,
are you here?” My breath turns to fog.

I step into the house and walk to the hidden
door in the floor usually covered with a heavy carpet. The carpet
sits rolled-up in the corner, exposing the wooden door. I only hope
that it’s Rainy down there and not some tweaker.

I stomp on the door. “Rainy?”

No answer.

Muffled voices sound from under my feet.
Dread drains my body. I turn to tip-toe out of the house. A
familiar laugh shakes the floor and my confidence fills back up.
“Rainy?”

“In here,” Rainy says, her voice small.

The door squeaks and a stream of light and
smoke billow from the open hole in the floor. Rainy peeks her head
from the floor. “Oh, hey, dude. Whaaaaz uuuup?” She coughs and
laughs. Not a true laugh, but a giggle that never ends.

“Are you kidding me? Please tell me you’re
not stoned,” I say.

“Hahahaha…no way, baby. I ain’t stoned.”

A man’s voice says, “Yes she is.” And then
laughs. Ace’s head pops up behind Rainy.

“What the hell? Are you seriously with this
guy again? Isn’t he, like, old enough to be your dad or
something?”

“No…no….no…” She burps a ridiculous laugh
this time with snorts and mouth farts. “He’s snot. I mean, he’s
not. He’s like…” She turns to face him. “Dude, how old are
you?”

“Ha. I ain’t tellin.”

“Whatever. Come on Rainy. We need to go,” I
say.

“Ace? Have you met my mom?” Rainy glares at
me. “Mom, this is my new friend, Ace. He ain’t no tight ass like
another friend of mine.” She grabs the beer out of Ace’s hand and
takes a swig off it.

Nice. I swear I need new friends.

“Hi Mom.” Ace waves.

“I’m not your mom and I’m not a tight ass.” I
take a step closer and kneel down. “I’m your friend, remember? This
is just some older guy that doesn’t have a life of his own. What is
he, like, twenty-five?” I lower my voice to a loud whisper just to
be sure Ace doesn’t hear me, even though he seems oblivious to
everything around him. “You know he’s probably going to want to
have sex or something.”

Her blood-shot eyes squint at me.

“Come on.” I hold my hand out.

Her head rolls back then she jerks it
forward. “Nah, I’m good.” Her breath reeks of beer. Ace rubs her
shoulders. “See, he likes me. He’s my boyfriend now, so it’s all
good.”

“Come on Rainy. Please?” Think, think, think.
“I need you to walk me home ’cause it’s dark out. You know how I am
about the dark.”

Her eyes light up. “Ace can drive us!”

Yeah, and kill us in the process. “I didn’t
see his car out front. We’re just going to have to walk. Will you
walk with me?”

“Dude. He’s just parked down the street.” She
turns to face Ace again. “Are you gonna give us a ride or
what?”

“Sure, sure, sure.” He rubs his face and
yawns. “Yeah, I can give you pretty ladies a ride. No
problemo.”

Be nice, take a breath. “That’s okay Ace.
It’s very kind of you to offer. I know you’re tired and all so we
won’t burden you. It’s not far.” I reach to help Rainy out of the
hole. “Come on. I need you to walk with me.”

She pulls her arm from me so hard that she
slaps herself in the face. “Ouch. Now look what you did.”

“You’re okay. Here—” I grab her by the other
arm and pull. “—let me help you up.”

“Don’t touch me. I can do it without your
help.” Her words slur together. She pulls herself out just to slip
and fall, hitting her face on the ground, her body still in the
hole. “I don’t wanna go. Ace?”

Ace’s eyes snap open. “Huh? What?” He finds
Rainy. “Oh, yeah, what’s up baby?”

She points at me. “Tell her I don’t have to
go.”

Ace climbs out of the hole. I take a step
back.

Please God, help me. Please don’t let him
hurt me.

“Listen, listen. Mom.” He staggers. “Rainy
doesn’t need to go. She’s perfectly fine here.” Except he doesn’t
pause between words and they are all drawn-out and long.

My stomach turns into shoe strings lit on
fire. “No, Ace. She’s not. This place isn’t safe—especially with
your drunk ass here. Her parents will ground her for life if she
doesn’t come home. Right now.” I march forward, push Ace out of my
way, and bend down to pull Rainy out of the hole.

She’s dead weight.

“You don’t push me.” Ace comes from behind
and shoves my butt.

I fall forward, knocking Rainy back into the
crawl space. She tumbles onto the dirt ground—out cold.

“She’s stayin’ here.” He stomps his foot and
pushes my shoulder.

I jump back out of his reach. Think. There’s
no way I can lift her out of the crawl space by myself. I’m going
to have to get help, even if it means Rainy killing me in the
morning. “Okay, okay.” I hold my hands up and take a step back.

He says, “That’s what I thought. You ain’t
nothin’ but a chicken shit. You can’t even fight.”

“I don’t want to fight you, Ace. Besides, why
would you want to fight a girl?” You big dork.

One eyebrow lifts on his forehead and now he
takes a step back. “What? Nah, I don’t wanna fight no girl.” He
trips over the carpet and lands on his backside.

“Why don’t you get some rest?”

“I’m just gonna—I’m just gonna close my eyes
for one, for one minute.” He lays his head down on the carpet.

Good. Now I don’t have to worry about his
creepy hands all over Rainy. She is so going to hear it from me
tomorrow. Just to be sure that no strange transient or tweaker sees
her down there, I close the door to the crawl space and pull the
carpet from under Ace to cover it.

The shoe strings grow longer and hotter and
push into my chest, burning my insides.

Rain pricks my face and eyes. If I ride my
bike any faster, which is impossible, I might as well have a
motorcycle. My wet hands grip the handle bars, numb from the cold
air. My skirt is pretty much ruined. Did I mention that I’m going
to kill her?

I ride past my house. Grams left the porch
light on for me. I hope she’s not waiting up.

I drop my bike in the front grass of Rainy’s
dark house and walk up to the door. Years ago, the door seemed
huge. Now, it’s not so towering, only scary.

I reach to ring the bell and stop an inch
away from the button. Life will change forever with one ring. No
more secret hideout, no more skipping classes together, maybe even
no more best friend. What if they ship her away like they did her
brother? What if she hates me forever? I know she will, but it’s
not my fault. I have no other choice.

I ring the bell. The door opens.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Saturday, October 3
^rd

“JC!” A deep voice wakes Jacinda from
oblivion. “Yo. Jacinda.”

Rays of gray light stab holes in the
curtains. A giant man, like Big Foot, stands at the open door.
Fuck. Jacinda’s head throbs, her stomach rumbles. Pictures shake on
the walls from the music pounding from somewhere—probably from the
next room.

“There’s an old lady here asking for ya. She
says she’s your mom.” Big Foot disappears and the door slams
shut.

Ma? Oh, God. Fuck. I don’t even know where I
am—how does she? The room spins. “Oh, shit—” Foam zips from
Jacinda’s throat and out her mouth. She leans over the couch a
little too late. The puke moistens what looks like another accident
that had dried up on the couch. Gross.

Jacinda crawls off the couch on to the floor.
Garbage and shit coat the ground. The scent of rotting garbage hits
her and up comes another splatter to mess the floor. It’s clear
this time, and burns her nostrils and throat. She gags, dry and
hard.

The door opens again. Air wooshes onto her
face. Ma, horror stricken, stands in the doorway. Fuck. Ma’s sad
eyes fill with tears. She looks down at her daughter, helpless in a
pile of garbage and bodily waste. Everyone always looks down at
Jacinda. Fuckers.

“What are you doing here?” Jacinda says
through gags.

Ma takes a small breath. Wipes the tears from
her cheek and reaches for the Virginia Slims out of her grandma-bag
on her shoulder. “I’m sure no one will mind if I smoke.” She lights
up. Smoke plumes into the air.

“Can I have one of those?”

“Of course, dear.” Ma pulls another smoke out
of the box and hands it to Jacinda along with a gold Zippo.

Jacinda recognizes this lighter. The name
engraved on the side is a dead giveaway. “Pops,” she whispers.

“Yes, it was.” Ma looks around the dark room.
“I have to talk with you. Clean yourself up, dear.”

“I can’t go anywhere right now, Ma. If you
haven’t noticed, I’m sick as shit.” The smoke filling Jacinda’s
lungs eases the wood peckers in her head, just taking the edge off.
She needs a drink, something to kill the ever-metallic taste in her
mouth. “How did you find me anyway?”

Ma clears her throat. “I have my ways. We
need to talk.”

“I’m thirsty. You got a beer or somethin’?
Get me a beer and we’ll talk.”

“Fine. Clean yourself up and meet me in the
back yard. I need some air.”

***

Ma sits on a lawn chair next to a picnic
table covered in more garbage on the patio. She clenches her beige
sweater around her body and sucks a cigarette. Her sweater looks
like the same one she wore when Jacinda was a kid. Ma would sit in
the rocker in the front living room with her sweater wrapped tight
around her small frame. She always had a smoke in one hand, coffee
in the other, and a worry line in between her brows. Some shit
never changes.