“It’s like nine.”
“Yeah, but its Wednesday.”
It still wasn’t registering with Joel.
Paul rolled his eyes. “We’re supposed to walk to the pool.” His voice, much higher-pitched and three degrees more southern than theirs, sounded damn near feminine, especially when he got excited.
It all came back to Joel so fast his head spun. “Oh, shit…” He noticed both of them had a rolled up towel hanging around their necks and Ethan had his book bag strapped to his back.
Probably filled with snacks.
“You forgot?” asked Ethan.
“Yeah…I guess I did.” The pool–Blue Waves Pool–a public swimming spot off Highway 52, was within walking distance of Joel’s house. They could get there by taking a trail they’d imaginatively christened Blue Waves Trail in the woods adjacent to Joel’s backyard. Luckily, it was to the left of where Joel’s secrets lay. The hike wasn’t a short distance, either. It normally took them a little over an hour to get there. And by that time, they were more than ready to dive in and cool off.
Of course, Paul would keep his shirt on.
“How could you forget?” shrilled Paul. “We all agreed on the bus Friday that we’d do this.”
“Yeah, but I thought Ethan had band camp this week.”
“No,” said Ethan. “It was canceled, remember? We talked about this. Mr. Safrit got fired for statutory rape. They called the whole thing off.”
Joel
did
know that. He never took band, but he was well aware of Mr. Safrit. He’d noticed the way he stared at the girls in the lunch room; something about his roaming eyes had always made Joel feel weird. Though he’d never met the man, he didn’t trust him. “I forgot all about it guys.”
“Doesn’t seem like you to forget that,” said Paul. “Everything all right with you?”
“Yeah...”
“Great,” said Ethan. “Glad to hear you’re not coming down with anything.” He pushed his way past Joel, inviting himself in. “Because, I wouldn’t want to catch it.” He laughed.
“Asshole,” Joel muttered. He glanced at Paul who stood on the stoop, waiting to be invited in like a vampire. “I guess you can come in, too.”
“Thank you my good man,” said Paul, smiling.
Joel stepped back to give him some room. After Paul was inside, he gave the yard one quick look-over for any other visitors, then shut the door. He walked into the living room. Ethan sat where Pillowface had been; looking at the Horrhound he’d left behind. Paul, naturally, had taken Joel’s seat in the recliner. “Sorry, again, I ruined you guys’ morning.”
“It’s okay,” said Ethan, not looking up from the magazine. “We’re still going.”
“Oh?”
“Yep. And, so are
you
.”
He’d expected this. “I can’t. I wish I could, but as you can see, I’d forgotten all about it, and I’ve got a lot of shit to do around here.”
Paul laughed. “Please. Like what?”
“Clean out the basement.”
“That can wait,” said Paul. “Shit, it’s not like we’re going to be there all day.”
“That’s right,” agreed Ethan.
“Listen, I
really
want to go.” That part was true; he’d love to go swimming with the guys. “I just can’t.”
His friends stared at him in silence a moment, then traded expressions, then looked at him again. Ethan tossed the magazine on the coffee table. The slap it made when it landed was awfully loud in the quiet room. “Sounds tough.”
“What does?”
“Coming up with a whopper like that on such short notice.”
“A whop…no, I’m not lying.”
Not…not really.
With his eyes on the TV, Paul shook his head. He raised the remote and started flipping the channels.
Ethan continued laying on the guilt, “Look man, if you don’t want to go, just say ‘I don’t want to go’. Don’t waste our time with
that
shit.”
Ethan’s less than subtle way of trying to make him feel bad was working. Joel felt smaller than a cricket on the moon. “It’s not that I
don’t
want to go…”
“Then what’s stopping you?”
Paul snickered. Joel glanced at him. “Oh, not you,” he said, pointing at the TV. “Blue’s Clues is so gay.”
Joel rolled his eyes, “I don’t know, Ethan, I’ve got some deep shit going on here.”
“I can tell that much.”
“The kind of stuff that’s just
nuts
.”
Ethan raised his eyebrows, obviously intrigued.
Joel took a deep breath. “Rusky died the other night.”
Ethan frowned. “Damn, I’m sorry. That sucks.”
“Yeah,” Paul agreed. “He was a cool dog.”
“He was,” said Ethan.
“What happened?” asked Paul.
“I don’t know, really, I guess it was just his age.”
“Is that
everything
?” asked Ethan, expecting more gossip than that.
Joel felt a pang of anger. He’d just told him his best friend in the world had died, and he wants more?
What the hell? Fucking savage.
“What do you mean?”
“You said you were in some
shit
, and the tragic passing of Rusky just doesn’t seem like it’s all.”
“Well...”
Ethan threw a hand up, “You don’t have to explain anything if you don’t want to.”
Oh, but he
did
. He wanted nothing more than to tell them what he’d been up to. He was
dying
to tell them. A secret this huge was too much for a boy his age to sit on, and he
needed
to tell someone about it, and soon. But, now wasn’t the time, especially with the possibility that Pillowface was eavesdropping on the conversation. Joel knew that Ethan would keep prying until he finally broke if they kept this up much longer. He needed to divert the conversation and knew just how to do it. “All right, let me go get my trunks.”
“All right!” Paul shouted, folding down the footrest and standing.
“You’re going?” asked Ethan.
“Yeah, just give me a minute.”
“You got it. We’ll wait outside.”
“See you in a few,” said Joel.
He waited until they were outside, then snuck to the door and quietly locked it.
Don’t want to take any chances of them sneaking back in.
Then he raced upstairs and into his room. He found Pillowface behind his door, just as he’d been when they’d first met.
“I’ve got to go out for awhile,” said Joel. Through the mask, it looked as if he was frowning at the announcement. “Just for a little while. I have a…obligation that I can’t get out of.”
He was right; he
couldn’t
get out of it, not really. He’d tried, but it just hadn’t worked. He actually really liked those guys even though certain things they did bothered him, and yet for some reason they made him miss his parents more whenever they were around. Could be from the sleepovers they used to have, when his dad would get pizza for them all, or just the summers spent in the backyard playing with water guns while his parents watched. Or, it could be, which Joel would much rather reject, that he was jealous of his friends and he hated that they still had their parents to go home to while he had no one. Now with Rusky gone, he was only left with Haley, who wasn’t even home most of the time.
Just me and a big empty house. Well, not exactly.
He looked at his new friend and smiled.
Now, I have him
. Not that Paul’s dad would win any awards for being an outstanding father, but at least he was still alive. Ethan was the real lucky one now; he had a mom and a stepdad. His own father had passed away when he was just a baby. He’d gotten off easy; he didn’t remember him being alive.
But, neither of them had Pillowface. He was Joel’s alone.
Joel felt a touch of pride in that.
Pillowface sat at the edge of Joel’s bed as Joel dashed from his dresser to his closet and back, moving quickly and grabbing what he needed, but forgetting everything he should take. In a drawer he found his swimming trunks, and in the closet were his sandals. He grabbed his over-night bag, threw in the gear, and zipped it up. Then he stood up and exhaled long and hard. He was sweating.
“That ought to do it.” He looked at Pillowface who was watching him with poignant eyes. “It’s okay, bud. I’ll be back in a little while. I’ll fake a stomach cramp or something and get back home as soon as I can.”
He nodded, the burlap-bunny ears flapping. Joel put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “You going to be all right by yourself?” He shrugged. “Don’t do anything that you’re not supposed to, okay?” He raised his head; they looked at each other eye to eye. “Promise me you won’t get into any trouble.” He raised his hand, extended his pinky. “Swear to it.”
Nodding, Pillowface bowed his pinky around Joel’s, and they shook. “That makes it legit.” He patted his shoulder. “I’ve got to get out there before they wonder what’s taking me so long. Give us a few minutes to get gone, then go back down to the basement, but be sure to lock the back door on your way out.” He walked to the door and turned back before leaving. “See you in a little bit, okay?”
Pillowface nodded, again. Times like these Joel wished he could talk. Would sure make it easier to know what was on his mind if he could just tell him. After a quick wave, Joel was off.
He descended the stairs two at a time and didn’t stop his momentum once his feet slapped the floor. He whipped into the kitchen and took his set of house keys from the rack. Then he exited through the back door, circling around to the front where he found Ethan and Paul sitting on the steps waiting for him.
“There you are,” said Paul. “We were beginning to think you weren’t coming.”
“Had to get my stuff. Ready to split?”
“Yep,” said Ethan. “Let’s go.” He stood up, brushing off the seat of his pants. “It’s already hot as hell out here. That water’s sure going to feel good.”
“I can’t wait,” said Paul.
Ethan’s voice bounced to a serious tone, “You know you’d really like it a lot more if you took your shirt off in the water.”
“Whatever, you know I have sensitive skin.” That was Paul’s excuse to keep his pudgy figure hidden under his shirt. He’d never had a problem with sunlight until he’d gained all the weight.
Joel and Ethan laughed.
“Right,” said Joel.
Walking in a group, they traveled back around the house. As they approached the woods, Joel stopped and looked back at his bedroom window. He pictured Pillowface sitting on his bed, fiddling with his thumbs, and lonely. He felt bad about leaving him. He wondered if he purposely didn’t try as hard to cancel this trip as he should just so he
could
get away.
“You coming?” asked Ethan.
Ethan and Paul looked at him curiously, and Joel realized he’d been staring at the window for the better part of a minute. He forced a smile that he knew probably came across more as a goofy smirk. “Yeah.”
They were waiting for Joel at the start of the trail, and as he joined them, he hoped like hell Haley wouldn’t come home and find his hidden guest.
If she does come home, he’ll hide. He’s good at that.
He wasn’t fully convinced things would be all right, but what choice did he have now? He was already with the guys, trekking along the Blue Wave’s Trail.
Neither of them knew who
actually
owned the land (other than the two acres the Olsen’s owned on the other side), but they’d declared all of it as theirs. All of the woods were their own private playground, their kingdom. To them, no one else had the right to be on their tramping grounds. They were the knights of the Blue Waves Trail, and everyone else was trolls, hobgoblins, and ogres that they must eradicate. The few instances they had actually come across other humans (hikers or cyclists), they had felt as if their privacy had been invaded by trespassers. It rarely happened, but it had before, and Joel figured it probably would again.
****
As the guys marched forward, talking about horror movies and music, someone trailed them at a safe distance, waiting for the right moment to make a move. The lanky figure moved in stealth, listening to their conversation and hating every bit of it.
But, behind him, someone else was stalking.
(III)
The toilet flushed.
Richard tapped his penis once and had to stop. The tugging pain stunned him like a kick in the balls. He was
sore
. Peeing had been terribly difficult. Though his bladder was full, the urine oozed out of him as if it was yellow jam from the pit of a volcano. Much as he’d expected, Sharon had not been lenient with him last night; in fact, she’d acted as if an unhealthy hostility had possessed her: writhing atop him like a cowgirl trying to tame a wild horse. Screaming the recited dialogue from the infamous crucifix scene in The Exorcist. Slapping. Pinching. She’d even used hot candle wax to burn him, something he detested, but he had allowed her to use it nonetheless.