The Ghost of Lizard's Rock (10 page)

I had to shout, “Why don’t
we see where the wind is coming from?”

“It’s too close to dusk,”
answered Jacob loudly, “and the batteries to my flashlight won’t
last much longer. We could get caught down here with no light and
no way to get out!”

I nodded my head. Jacob
was right. We had to get out of there and not waste any more time.
I turned my shoulders one last time toward the tunnel where the
warm wind was coming from and wondered if the other entrance was
hidden like the one we found.

We continued to stand side
by side until the wind died down. Jacob led the way back through
the cave and out into the forest.

As we walked back out of
the cave and into the sunlight, I turned back around to look into
the entrance of the cave. “I still don’t understand what caused the
flickering light?”

Jacob shrugged his
shoulders, “Come on. It’s getting late.”

I turned back around to
follow Jacob. My mind immediately went back to what had started
this whole thing – the picture!

Michele’s Anger

“Timing it pretty close,” Judi looked
down from her driver’s seat on the bus to Allie, Dan, and Oliver,
who ran up to the door of the bus. “Another minute later and the
three of you would be hoofin’ it all the way home.”

Allie quickly entered the bus and
started down the aisle of kids shouting back and forth about their
day. Dan was right behind her.

Oliver stopped in the doorway to look
one more time for Kati.

“Where’s Kati?” asked Judi in a soft
caring voice.

“I don’t know.” Oliver turned toward
the bus driver. “She had a bad day.”

“Sometimes,” answered Judi, “middle
school can be that way.”

“Yep,” answered Oliver, as he walked
up the bus stairs and stood beside Judi.

Oliver’s angry eyes searched the rows
of the bus one by one for Maddison and her friends. He was
determined to cause some trouble.

Maddison was seated in the exact same
seat she had sat in on her way to school that morning beside
Heather and Rebecca. She was holding her iPhone and pointing at the
picture of Kati bent over. The three girls broke out into laughter
as they relived the event.

“Oliver,” asked Judi, “is something
wrong?”

“Nope,” answered Oliver.

Usually, Oliver would flash his
mischievous smile just before he did something; the look on his
face at this moment was anything but mischievous.

Oliver walked deliberately toward
Maddison and the girls sitting near the middle of the bus. His eyes
quickly located Allie and Dan seated two rows in front of Maddison
and on the opposite side of the bus. They quickly scooted over to
make room for him.

"Not today," smiled Oliver. "I think
there’s a seat back there with my name on it." He took out his
multi-colored hat and red sunglasses and put them on.

Dan smiled at the sight.

Oliver quipped, “Keep your hands in
your pockets or you’ll gross out Allie.”

Allie’s entire body shook just
thinking about it. Her dark eyes quickly looked down at Dan’s lap
just to double check where they were.

Oliver laughed as he moved on toward
Maddison and her friends.

Rebecca had her back against the
outside wall of the bus, facing Heather in the middle of the seat
and Maddison next to the aisle. She saw Oliver moving toward them
and whispered a warning to Maddison and Heather.

Oliver stopped next to Maddison and
got as close to her as he could get without actually touching
her.

Maddison slowly glanced up at Oliver
with her usual mean look, "I don't see our little celebrity. Is she
out signing autographs?"

Heather and Rebecca placed their hands
over their mouths to muffle their laughter.

Maddison turned away from Oliver as if
she were dismissing him and laughed with her friends.

Oliver took another step and slipped
into an empty seat directly behind Maddison. His eyes stared at the
back of the seat - thinking of ways to get even.

“Move over!” a firm voice said to
Oliver.

He looked up into the concerned eyes
of Michele staring down at him.

“Are you deaf?” demanded Michele.
“Move over!”

“What are you doing here?” Oliver slid
across the seat to make room for his sister. He was truly surprised
by her being there at this moment. “I thought you’d be on your way
home with Jill and Tami.”

“Who did this?” Michele held up her
cell phone with the picture of Kati on the screen.

Oliver pointed his finger to the back
of the seat where Maddison and her friends were seated.

“That girl is mean,” said Michele
softly to Oliver.

Oliver nodded his head without saying
a word.

Michele placed her right foot into the
aisle and reached around the seat with her hand. She gently tapped
Maddison on her shoulder and pulled her hand quickly
back.

Startled, Maddison figured it was
Oliver causing her some trouble. She turned her shoulders to look
back. Instead of seeing Oliver’s face, she was staring into the
angry eyes of Michele.

“I hear you did this,” whispered
Michele so no one else could hear her. She held up her cell phone
and the picture of Kati.

Maddison didn’t know what to do, so
she just stared back without saying a word. She had never been
confronted by an older teen, let alone anyone like
Michele!

“Kati,” said Michele quietly, “is like
my adopted sister. I take it real personal when someone hurts my
family.” Her eyes narrowed and her lips tightened. “You read
me!”

Maddison was unable to talk. She was
probably thinking that the oldest Jackson kid was going to take her
right on the spot.

“Turn around!”

Maddison quickly turned around and
placed her back against the seat. She was thinking about what had
just happened.

“It’s okay if with we mess with each
other or our friends,” growled Michele, “but nobody else better do
it.” She winked at Oliver. She was sure Maddison had heard
her.

Oliver smiled back at his sister. He
had never seen her so tough.

Maddison continued to sit with back
against the seat for the rest of the ride and didn’t say a word to
Rebecca or Heather.

Allie sat next to Dan with her dark
eyes continually watching his hands. Near the end of the ride home,
he started to pick up his right hand, but she slowly placed her
hand on his wrist and patted it gently a couple of
times.

Dan wrinkled his nose to get rid of
the itch, but kept his hands down.

Michele and Oliver sat the rest of the
ride side by side sharing their day with each other. Neither of
them talked about Kati anymore.

In the back of the bus, Susan Jackson
watched her sister and brother actually being nice to each other
and said softly to no one in particular, “That’s my
family!”

, “That’s my family!”

Maddison’s Plan

The bus stopped in front
of Maddison’s house as usual. She stood up without saying a word,
glanced at Rebecca and Heather for a moment, and started down the
bus aisle. Not once did she look back at Michele and Oliver seated
behind her.

Rebecca and Heather looked
at each other in a questioning way. It seemed strange for Maddison
to leave without saying a word.

"Goodnight Maddison," said
Judi. "See you tomorrow.”

“Maybe?” Maddison forced a
smile on her face and nodded her head slightly as she stepped off
the bus. She crossed in front of the bus, stepped up onto the
sidewalk in front of her house, and turned around to face the bus.
Her eyes focused on the window where Oliver and Michele were
looking back. The look on Maddison's face was one of deep anger and
revenge.

Judi watched her for a
second before closing the doors to the bus and pulling away. She
thought, "It’s only the first day and trouble already."

Maddison quickly turned
around and stomped up the long concrete sidewalk toward a large
two-story house that people dream about their entire
lives.

She stopped in front of
the door for a moment, took a deep breath, and opened it quickly.
In a flash she slammed it shut! The windows in the entryway
vibrated back and forth as if they were about to break.

"What was that?"
Maddison's mother quickly walked into the entry from the living
room and closely examined the stained glass windows surrounding
each side of the door.

Maddison threw her books
and sweater to the floor in front of her and stood in the middle of
the doorway with her arms crossed.

Her mom had seen that look
many times over the years. It usually meant that Maddison would
pout about something until she got her way. “What’s wrong
princess?”

"I hate riding the bus.”
Maddison could see by the look on her mother’s face that she was
going to get what she wanted. “The kids are loud and constantly
picking on each other.”

“Well,” stated her mom,
“I’d better go to the principal in the morning and get this all
straightened out.”

Maddison smiled inside.
She had totally hooked her mom and was reeling her in.

“Who are the ones doing
this?” Maddison’s mom was quite willing to go to school and stir up
some trouble.

“Everyone,” Maddison
looked down at the floor. It was definitely the performance of her
lifetime. “Can’t you just take me to school and let me walk home
with Rebecca and Heather.” She raised her face again to look at her
mother with her sad puppy-dog eyes. The drama queen was truly on a
role.

“Rebecca and Heather’s
parents said it was okay with them?” Maddison was home free. “I
told them that you would come and get us if the weather was
bad.”

“Okay,” answered her
mother reluctantly.

It was as if a magic wand
had been waved over Maddison and all the sadness had totally
disappeared. She leaned over to the floor, picked up her things,
and walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

Maddison sat down on her
bed and called Heather’s cell phone.

Heather was still on the
bus when Maddison’s call showed up on the screen of her cell phone.
She showed Rebecca who was calling and then opened it.

“Are you still on the
bus?” asked Maddison.

“Yes,” answered
Heather.

“Just answer with yes or
no,” directed Maddison. “I don’t want Oliver or his sister to hear
what I am saying. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” answered
Heather.

“I’m going to take care of
the little b----.”

Heather knew exactly who
Maddison was going to take care of.

“This is what we are going
to do,” Maddison explained to Heather that they would con their
parents into walking home as well. Once they were free to do
whatever they wanted after school – there would be no stopping
them.

Heather closed up her
phone and whispered the plan into Rebecca’s ear.

Nuke Em’

“Mom called,” yelled Eric
from the kitchen when he heard the front door open and close. He
had been anxiously waiting for me to walk in. “She’s working
another shift tonight.”

I placed my hands on my
hips and took a deep breath in relief. I had been trying to figure
out what I was going to say to her when she asked how my first day
had been. I’m an awful liar on a good day but after the emotional
roller coaster I’d been on all day, I knew that I’d end up telling
her everything, and I didn’t want to do that.

There was a part of me
that desperately wanted to just curl up on Mom’s knee like I used
to when I was little and have her make it all better. There was
also a part of me that never wanted to think about today
again.

I was staring at myself in
the hallway mirror when the tears welled up and began to run down
my cheeks again. “I look a mess!”

My hair was everywhere and
my face was smudged with dirt, sweat and make-up. My brand new
clothes were dusty and rumpled; and my new shoes still had that
nasty scuff on them from this morning.

“This morning,” I thought
as I exhaled and more tears streamed down my face, “my biggest
worry was that Maddison had ruined my new shoes. It was almost
laughable how stupid it had been to worry about my shoes. If only I
had known that was going to be the best part of my day.”

My eyes looked toward the
kitchen.

Eric was standing in the
doorway watching me. He moved nervously toward me one step at a
time, “Um, I was beginning to get worried.” His voice trailed off
as he came up to me. There was a long pause as he struggled with
what to say next. Instead, he opened his arms and gently placed
them around me.