Primani (Primani Series Book One) by Laurie Olerich
DAD AND JANET LIVE on a small side street not too far from the center of Plattsburgh, New York. White with forest green trim, the two-story house had dormers over the upstairs windows and a small covered porch stretching across the front. Lucky for me, a detached garage sat behind it. A narrow covered pathway led from the house to the garage. The front yard was graced by a huge old maple tree and someone had planted pink roses all around the house. It was pretty in a 1950s New England cottage kind of way.
The small house was stuffed full with too many people and not enough bathrooms, so I had a two-room apartment in the garage. And thank God for that! Too much togetherness was a bad thing. Before she married my dad two years ago, Janet had three kids of her own. The youngest, Trevor, was a carrot-top with sweet tan freckles splashed across his nose. He was nine years old and an Xbox junkie. He acknowledged his addiction to video games, but absolutely refused to cop to the raw sugar monkey on his back. He’d been known to lose his mind over cupcakes, but he was a sweet boy 99 percent of the time. When he was banished from the Xbox, he’d gotten into the habit of banging on my door for sympathy.
Then there were the twins, Abby and Monica. They were 12 years old and weren’t identical. They were the same height, but had different faces. Abby had green eyes and blond hair, which she wore in a short pixie cut. She was a cute jockette who’d rather play basketball than shop. Monica had waist-length straight blond hair and startling eyes; one was brown and one was leaf green. She was the polar opposite of Abby. This little girl was already planning her career in modeling.
This morning there was a layer of frost on everything. Red maple leaves lay scattered and sparkling in the bright morning sun. I was sitting on the front porch in my fluffy purple robe, sipping hot chocolate with Abby. Her sleepy eyes were innocent as she sat beside me on the bench. I couldn’t resist tousling her messy hair a bit.
As of today, I’ve been out of the hospital for a couple of weeks and am looking nearly normal on the outside. Except for the cast on my foot, I am not obviously hurt. I wasn’t sleeping well though. The nightmares were still haunting me. I looked like an irritated raccoon, thanks to the massive dark circles ringing my eyeballs. I stayed up late, journaling and listening to music. Occasionally, I did some homework to avoid flunking out of my freshman year of college.
The dreams were terrifying, but happened so often I was getting good at throwing myself out of them when they got too intense. Once awake, I refused to go back to sleep. My mind roiled with memories and none of them were happy ones. Today wasn’t any different. I was up at 6:00 am. Abby—the sweet girl—heard me making cocoa and came downstairs to keep me company. My apartment was great, but it lacked a kitchen so I had to come to the main house for hot things. One day I would buy a microwave.
She thoughtfully nibbled on her fingernail before eyeing me with a frown. “Mica, do you still feel scared?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I know you were really hurt and scared when you came home from the hospital. I think you look less scared now. But . . .”
“But what?”
“I’m really scared you’ll leave now. I don’t want you to go back to Ohio! I’d miss you so much!”
I gave her a one-armed hug. “Oh, I’m still scared, Abby. I’m scared a lot, but I can’t let that creep ruin my life. I like being here. I finally have friends, and I love having a family. I’m not planning to go anywhere.”
Not that I could go back to Ohio. There wasn’t anyone there to live with. For better or for worse, my life was here.
She hugged me back, and we finished our drinks in silence. I wasn’t planning to go anywhere. I wasn’t going to let Scott Flynn scare me away. He could kiss my ass! Jerk! I was glad he was in jail. He’d been arrested a few days ago while trying to hide out at his friend J.J.’s house. J.J.’s parents weren’t too big on watching the news, but eventually his mom caught a bit on the radio. Not being a complete inbred moron, she put two and two together and came up with Scott. The police were very appreciative. It was a small reprieve for me even though I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with him and the police, but I would do whatever they asked me. I just wanted him gone.
I was ready to start moving again. I was tired of being in pain and tired of sitting around. I was ready to get started on Plan B. Plan B involved me tearing up the mountains on my new snowboard and raising some serious hell with Ricki on her dad’s snowmobiles. I was itching to get moving and start living. I had been mostly dead for a month now. It was time to feel the wind on my face, blood running through my veins. Life was too short to sit around. Poor Dani would probably kill me. She was such a good friend, but I didn’t think she would like what I had in mind for winter sports. Dani was more of a hot cocoa and roaring fire kind of girl. Toss in some intellectual discussion and she was a happy camper. Ricki and Tyler, on the other hand . . . they would understand. I sent a fervent request to Mother Nature—make it snow!
Later that week, we had a visit from Officer Halliwell. She and my dad showed up at the door to my apartment just as I came in from class.
“Hi, Mica, Officer Halliwell has some good news for us. Do you mind if we come in?” Dad asked with unusual sensitivity.
I waved them inside. Good news would be nice for a change. I was tired.
“The good news is the lab in Albany finally gave us the results of all the samples we sent for DNA testing last month. The other tests came back too. We’ve got a 99 percent match that the hair, skin, blood, and saliva belong to Scott Flynn. The fingerprints and cloth fibers came back to him too. The DA brought him and his lawyer in this morning. His lawyer wisely advised him to plead guilty to a lesser sentence; aggravated assault vs. attempted murder. I liked him for attempted murder, but I know you didn’t want to drag this through a trial. He’s going to do some time and will be off the streets for now.”
Dad came over and sat on the foot of the bed, his mouth turned up in a rare smile. I was just relieved to have any news at all. It wasn’t the best news, though. That would be something more like, “So sorry to have to tell you that Scott Flynn was mauled by a bear and lost both balls and most of his dick.”
That would’ve been news worth hearing.
“Is there something wrong, Mica?” Officer Halliwell asked.
Shrugging with uncertainty, I said, “I’m glad he’s going to jail, but I . . . I still don’t understand how . . . I mean, why would he attack me?” I bit my lip. “He said it was my fault.”
She objected strongly, saying, “Absolutely not! You didn’t do anything wrong. You had no idea how unstable he is.” She dropped her gaze to her lap for a few seconds. Finally, she said, “Look, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but I think you have a right to know. You can’t share this with anybody else. Will you give me your word?”
My dad and I both agreed to keep whatever she said a secret. She nodded once before beginning her story. “You probably don’t know this, but he’s only lived here for two years. Before that, he lived in Rochester. Anyhow, during our investigation we discovered quite a long juvie record. He’s got a history of violence that goes back to age ten. Starting with assaulting a kid on the playground, he added two more assault charges that year before graduating to assault with a deadly weapon—a bat—at age twelve. He claimed self-defense, but there were witnesses who disagreed. He was placed in counseling and settled down for a few months. But then his mother was found dead of a heroin overdose, and he spiraled out of control.” She paused to check her watch.
“What about his father?” I was horrified for the little kid he once was.
She snorted with derision. “Well, according to the state’s records, mostly his father got drunk and beat him. After his mother’s death, Scott was arrested for harassing a neighbor girl who he later beat up and nearly killed. The girl was blinded in one eye. Her family was so afraid of him they moved to another state. He served six months in juvie. There weren’t any more incidents after that. That is, until his father mysteriousl
y died when their house burned down. Coincidentally, Scott wasn’t home when the trailer burned, and his father’s body was burned to ash. Cause of death was never determined.”
She finished up with, “As his only living relative, his grandfather agreed to take him in here. I know this is a lot to take in. I just wanted you to know that he has been violent and unstable for years. This isn’t your fault. Apparently he’s a pretty good actor since no one suspected anything.”
I asked, “So what happens now?”
“Well, I’ll keep you posted. I don’t know how long he’ll be locked up yet. You’re going to be okay though. I’ve talked your dad into putting an alarm on this little apartment of yours. It’ll give you some warning if anyone tries to get in. Also, I’d put up some motion lights outside so the yard is lit up at night.”
Dad added, “I think a couple of cameras might be good too. We’ll put one by the doors. We’ll know if someone tries to get inside.”
A few weeks later, it was snowing. Really snowing. Thank you, Mother Nature! Ricki and I were killing time while we waited for Dani to get off of work. Overflowing with excited energy, I pirouetted like a ballerina on the sidewalk in front of Zen. If you needed New Age crystals, incense, or interesting herbs, Zen was the only place in town. The tiny shop was stuffed inside an old ‘50s storefront that Dani’s mom had painted white and gold. This was Dani’s home away from home and current place of employment.
“Hello, my lovelies!” a friendly voice greeted us from right behind me. I jumped with a squeak, hand pressing my heart to keep it from leaping out of my chest.
“Geez, you scared the crap out of me!” I breathed unnecessarily to the tiny woman who appeared out of nowhere.
She had the kind of face that wouldn’t age; pretty, elf-like, ivory skinned, with huge grey eyes. She had pale blond hair with skinny braids randomly plaited over her head. She was wearing a flowing kind of top with a long skirt and moccasins. She was a picture perfect hippy chick from 1972. She was Dani’s mother. Dani could be her clone, minus the moccasins.
As usual, she glowed like a candle. The woman practically oozed peace and tranquility. It was frightening. “Dani’ll be done in a minute. Come in and get warm.”
Seeing no point in arguing, we shuffled in to wait. Still hyped up on the novelty of snow, I grabbed Ricki’s arm entirely too hard. “Ricki! I’ve got an idea!”
“Uh-oh, I know that look. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I swear I don’t want to take off my clothes and swim out to the island again! It’s way, way too cold. Don’t even think about it.”
“Oh, come on, not that again? You need to let it go. You survived, didn’t you? Look how much you learned. You had no idea you could swim that far, did you? And you have to admit it was awesome!” I was still enthusiastic. I thought it would be fun to swim naked to a little island in the lake back in September. It seemed like a good idea at the time . . . Okay, so maybe not the best plan ever. We almost drowned.
“I was thinking more along the line of getting some guys with trucks to take us up the mountain tonight. We could build a bonfire in the snow. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
With perfect timing, Dani popped up beside us. “What are we doing?” Her gaze bounced from me to Ricki, searching for clues.
Ricki sighed all the way up from her toes. “Oh, all right. What the hell? Let’s call Tyler and Aric.”
Dani perked up at Aric’s name. They were going out, and she would be up for anything as long as he was there. Her grey eyes nearly misted over just thinking about him now . . . It was nauseating. Love? Meh.
Hours later, we were gathered around a huge roaring bonfire in a small clearing way up on the side of the mountain. It was still snowing, but the flakes turned into rain over the flames. They popped and sputtered as they hit the fire. Other than that, the woods were completely silent from the blanket of snow. As far as good times went, this wasn’t half bad in spite of the freezing temperatures. My plan was a good one for a change. Everyone was content. Dani and Aric were snuggled together sharing a beer while Dani pulled ghost stories out of her head. She had millions of them. On the other side of the fire, Ricki was laughing and playing around with Tyler’s friend Kevin. Kevin was trying to flirt by shoving snow in her sweater. I shook my head. Guys are so bizarre. What makes them think freezing snow between a girl’s boobs is a turn on?
“Mica, catch!” Tyler warned just before lobbing a snowball at my face.
Startled into sliding off of my log, I landed butt first in the snow. Laughing too hard to help me up, he collapsed beside me before shoving a fistful of snow into my face.
Giggling and slipping back down again, I clutched his sleeve to pull him over into the snow and sat on him. With many threats and curses, he tried to get up; I tried to hold him down. It was an epic battle that he was winning when I heard it.
“Shh! What was that?” I hissed. Everyone gaped at me, beers half lifted, mouths frozen in mid-word.
Branches snapped behind us. Crack, crack, snap. Silence. As one, we all stood up and turned towards the forest. It was pitch black. I couldn’t see a thing. I squinted so hard my eye went into spasms.
Crack, snap, snap.
Where was it coming from? The snow distorted the sounds. Tyler reached over to shush me with his hand just as I opened my mouth to speak. That’s when I heard the grunting and snuffling sounds—crack, snap—a dark shape appeared in the trees, more a shadow really, but a huge one that lumbered towards us.
I lost it right then. “Bear! Bear! Run!” I dove head first into the truck before Tyler could move. “Let’s go!”
It was chaos after that. Tyler jumped into the driver’s seat as Ricki dove in behind me. Everyone else was doing the same thing, with a lot of screaming and yelling. No way was I getting eaten by a bear in my first snow in New York! Oh, hell, no. I was so out of here!
As we fishtailed down the logging road, I imagined a very surprised bear staring at our taillights disappearing into the snowy tunnel of trees.
It had been a couple of months since I got out of the hospital, and I was feeling mostly healthy thanks to my youth—and my friends taking me out to hunt bears. Tonight was another party night and I was actually excited to get dressed up and be surrounded by people. I peered closer at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Was my nose crooked? I turned my head back and forth for a better view. Mm, maybe it was okay. I inspected my eyes for changes. Wide and tilted up at the outside, they shone dark blue, but they were different since Scott. They had a shuttered look to them, a wariness that I couldn’t mask without real effort. I wasn’t quite healed. I forced a happy smile that would reach my eyes. Ugh! That’s worse. I look like a crazy person. Better to keep the smile small. I would just hope no one paid much attention to my eyes.
I was reaching for lip gloss when a movement flashed across the mirror. I spun around, but the room was empty. Snatching up a can of hairspray, I crept around the corner. If someone was in here, they would get a rude surprise. I was armed this time. With heart pounding in my chest, I swept my eyes around the rest of the empty apartment. I must have imagined the dark-haired man in the hall. At least my ghost didn’t look like Scott Flynn. Maybe I needed a dog.
The house party was rocking by the time Dani, Ricki, and I got there. We were fashionably late, as usual, but Dani’s cousin Angela wouldn’t mind. Probably she was too busy playing hostess to even notice. It had been a long time since I’d gone to a party. I was ready to have some fun tonight. I kept trying to push that man from my hallway out of my head, but he kept intruding anyway. There was something familiar about him. I was meandering from the pool house back inside when I saw him again.
I stopped in my tracks and gawked like a twelve year old. Whoa!
Who are these guys?
There were two ridiculously gorgeous guys standing in the shadows near a covered walkway. They were talking intently, scanning the crowd for someone. There’s no way they were partying. No possible way—
they were too intense—scarily so. They reminded me of Secret Service agents, but without the suits. Alarm bells clanged in my head. Instinctively, I crouched behind a snow-covered shrub to watch them. The taller one seemed to be chewing out the shorter one. The shorter one was listening, nodding his head unhappily. I couldn’t stop staring. It was him!
His hair was military short; his face hard and lean. I could see his cheekbones from my hiding place. I couldn’t make out his eyes, though. He looked as if he was about to kick someone’s ass or take over a small country. He stood tensely, listening to the other one. His powerful shoulders were squared back, tugging against his t-shirt. Taking advantage of my invisibility, I let my eyes wander over the rest of his tall, muscular body. Glancing down at his arms, I did a little swoon and kept going. Sadly, his good parts were hidden in the shadows. Oh, yum! He was hot. My stomach did a slow roll as I watched his lips move. Nice lips . . . beautiful mouth. Dangerous stranger. I gave myself a mental slap. Dangerous men were bad. I licked my lips in anticipation even though I had no intention of kissing this guy. Was he really in my house earlier? Surely not. That’s impossible.
“Find her!” The wind shifted and the harsh words drifted clearly. The taller one flipped a hand towards the house. This one practically screamed Navy Seal by his massive size and military bearing. Compared to the first guy, he was more bulky in the shoulders, but had a lean torso and a nice butt. I imagined he had amazing abs. Yes, he was gorgeous, but he also looked mean. There was something about the arrogant set of his jaw that said he’d take no crap from anyone. What were they doing here?
“Mica! There you are! We’ve been looking for you. Come back inside. Someone found a karaoke machine!” Tyler interrupted my spying when he popped up next to me, face glowing with one too many beers. Intending to drag me inside, he reached out to grab my arm, and I flinched away from his touch.
The strangers zeroed in on me like I was standing in a spotlight. Both sets of eyes pinned me to the ground, and I froze like a baby deer. While Tyler babbled about karaoke, I watched them watch me until the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Both stared so intently that I was afraid I would burst into flames. They seemed to recognize me. How was that possible? Who were these guys? The big one said something to the shorter one, and they started moving in my direction. The big one moved like he was stalking prey. I yelped and bolted back to the safety of the house. I was striving for a dignified retreat, but knocking people out of the way kind of ruined it.
“What’s with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Tyler skidded to a halt beside me.
I swallowed nervously, glancing over my shoulder, sure we’d been followed. “Did you see those guys?”
“What guys?”
“The two guys who were standing across from us outside! You didn’t see them? They were coming over to us.”
Tyler looked down his long nose, and said, “Dude, I didn’t see anyone but you standing behind a bush. I think you need another beer.” He slapped a new beer in my hand and clinked his bottle against mine in a toast.
I stayed inside the rest of the night. I kept a lookout for the “secret agents” (as I cleverly nicknamed them). I didn’t see them again. Maybe I had imagined the whole thing? It seemed so real though. It was really late when it was time to go home. Ricki was pretty wasted so I was driving. I wasn’t exactly sober, but hey, I had a new philosophy—I would die when it was my turn. In the meantime, I would live life as close to the edge as I wanted, and we’d just see how things turned out. Dani and her boyfriend, Aric, walked us to the car to help Ricki into the backseat. Aric made sure she had a seat belt on and asked how I was doing.
“Oh, I’m fine. I don’t feel buzzed at all. Don’t worry about us.”
He nodded dubiously and told me to drive slowly because the roads were slippery. I only had to drive about thirty miles to get us home. It would be fine. Ricki fell asleep before we turned onto the main highway. Feeling pretty alert, I sung disjointedly to a Lady GaGa song that I barely knew. Tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, I yawned. And yawned again. The miles mocked me as we crept along in the snow. Were we even moving?
My feet were freezing so I turned on the heater. Before long, the car was toasty warm and so were my eyes. Blinking to stay awake, I leaned on the steering wheel to focus better on the road. Not one of my better ideas. The woods were dark around us, and the falling snow obscured everything. It was like driving in a black and white tunnel. My eyes closed and I blinked hard again. The snow was so pretty bouncing off my window. It was mesmerizing. I was drifting off to sleep when the car started to slide and abruptly stopped. The bump jolted me awake. I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t even driving. I was in the passenger seat.
“What the hell? How did you get here?”
Secret Agent Man from the party pierced me with snapping eyes. “Are you crazy? You almost died back there! Do you know how close you came to wrapping this car around a tree?” His hands flew as he yelled, and I leaned warily away from him. Taking a deep breath, he raised his hands in a gesture of peace. “Calm down; I’m not going to hurt you,” he hissed, and wrapped his big hand around mine before I could protest.
I came awake slowly. Moaning happily, I stretched under the covers. So comfortable . . . My sheets were soft, and I was toasty warm. I could stay in bed all day. I cracked my lids to look at the clock. It was 11:00. Reality brought me completely upright. It was 11:00? I hadn’t slept this long since before my mother died. I felt good—unusually good. Bursting with energy, I wanted to go for a run. I should be doing something!
After a short three block run, I flung myself back inside. What was I thinking? Who goes running in the snow? There must be ice in my lungs . . . As I stripped off my gloves, I noticed the camera above the door and paused. Something nagged at the back of my mind. I should remember something . . . something to do with the camera. I thought for a second, and it was gone. Poof! I shook my head—no idea.
Ricki popped over later that day. We were sitting on the floor, polishing our toenails and listening to new music. She looked a bit rough after last night.
“Oh, hey, thanks for driving last night. I’m so glad you got us home. My dad said there were a bunch of wrecks from the snow. Were you freaking out?”
I didn’t answer. I was thinking hard. That nagging was still there. It had something to do with the drive home. I was puzzling it out. I drove home, right? I remembered getting into the car. I don’t remember getting out of the car. I know I wasn’t drinking enough to black out. I’d only had two beers the whole night. An image popped into my mind.
“Ricki! Did you see those two super-hot guys last night? They looked like Secret Service or something. I’ve never seen them before. Did you see them?”
“What guys? I didn’t see anyone new. But I was pretty trashed, so I wasn’t looking. What about them?”
Video tapes! I jumped up, racing to my dad’s office. I pulled up the camera feeds. I wasn’t sure what time I got home so I watched from midnight. Come on, come on. Nothing. No movement outside my door. I fast-forwarded a bit until I saw something interesting. At 1:15 a large shadow appeared in the lens’ field. I practically pressed my eyeballs to the monitor. Huh. The image showed me unlocking the door and going inside. I was alone. How was that possible? I should be able to remember that. Why didn’t I? Something wasn’t right. The tape was still running forward while I was puzzling it out. Wait! I stopped the tape.
At 4:12 there was something odd. I backed it up to 1:15 to be sure. There it was again. After the door closed behind me, I saw a faint flash of yellow light in my window. It was subtle, but it was definitely not my lamp. It was fleeting; not constant like the lamp. What was that? I fast-forwarded to 4:12. Another burst of light. There were no other flashes until that time. It was definitely something. But what? I had no clue. Weirder and weirder. I was trudging back through the snow when it hit me. I stopped and inspected the driveway. The snow was undisturbed except for footprints. Ah h
a . . .
Chapter 3: Winter X Games
The small house was stuffed full with too many people and not enough bathrooms, so I had a two-room apartment in the garage. And thank God for that! Too much togetherness was a bad thing. Before she married my dad two years ago, Janet had three kids of her own. The youngest, Trevor, was a carrot-top with sweet tan freckles splashed across his nose. He was nine years old and an Xbox junkie. He acknowledged his addiction to video games, but absolutely refused to cop to the raw sugar monkey on his back. He’d been known to lose his mind over cupcakes, but he was a sweet boy 99 percent of the time. When he was banished from the Xbox, he’d gotten into the habit of banging on my door for sympathy.
Then there were the twins, Abby and Monica. They were 12 years old and weren’t identical. They were the same height, but had different faces. Abby had green eyes and blond hair, which she wore in a short pixie cut. She was a cute jockette who’d rather play basketball than shop. Monica had waist-length straight blond hair and startling eyes; one was brown and one was leaf green. She was the polar opposite of Abby. This little girl was already planning her career in modeling.
This morning there was a layer of frost on everything. Red maple leaves lay scattered and sparkling in the bright morning sun. I was sitting on the front porch in my fluffy purple robe, sipping hot chocolate with Abby. Her sleepy eyes were innocent as she sat beside me on the bench. I couldn’t resist tousling her messy hair a bit.
As of today, I’ve been out of the hospital for a couple of weeks and am looking nearly normal on the outside. Except for the cast on my foot, I am not obviously hurt. I wasn’t sleeping well though. The nightmares were still haunting me. I looked like an irritated raccoon, thanks to the massive dark circles ringing my eyeballs. I stayed up late, journaling and listening to music. Occasionally, I did some homework to avoid flunking out of my freshman year of college.
The dreams were terrifying, but happened so often I was getting good at throwing myself out of them when they got too intense. Once awake, I refused to go back to sleep. My mind roiled with memories and none of them were happy ones. Today wasn’t any different. I was up at 6:00 am. Abby—the sweet girl—heard me making cocoa and came downstairs to keep me company. My apartment was great, but it lacked a kitchen so I had to come to the main house for hot things. One day I would buy a microwave.
She thoughtfully nibbled on her fingernail before eyeing me with a frown. “Mica, do you still feel scared?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I know you were really hurt and scared when you came home from the hospital. I think you look less scared now. But . . .”
“But what?”
“I’m really scared you’ll leave now. I don’t want you to go back to Ohio! I’d miss you so much!”
I gave her a one-armed hug. “Oh, I’m still scared, Abby. I’m scared a lot, but I can’t let that creep ruin my life. I like being here. I finally have friends, and I love having a family. I’m not planning to go anywhere.”
Not that I could go back to Ohio. There wasn’t anyone there to live with. For better or for worse, my life was here.
She hugged me back, and we finished our drinks in silence. I wasn’t planning to go anywhere. I wasn’t going to let Scott Flynn scare me away. He could kiss my ass! Jerk! I was glad he was in jail. He’d been arrested a few days ago while trying to hide out at his friend J.J.’s house. J.J.’s parents weren’t too big on watching the news, but eventually his mom caught a bit on the radio. Not being a complete inbred moron, she put two and two together and came up with Scott. The police were very appreciative. It was a small reprieve for me even though I wasn’t looking forward to dealing with him and the police, but I would do whatever they asked me. I just wanted him gone.
I was ready to start moving again. I was tired of being in pain and tired of sitting around. I was ready to get started on Plan B. Plan B involved me tearing up the mountains on my new snowboard and raising some serious hell with Ricki on her dad’s snowmobiles. I was itching to get moving and start living. I had been mostly dead for a month now. It was time to feel the wind on my face, blood running through my veins. Life was too short to sit around. Poor Dani would probably kill me. She was such a good friend, but I didn’t think she would like what I had in mind for winter sports. Dani was more of a hot cocoa and roaring fire kind of girl. Toss in some intellectual discussion and she was a happy camper. Ricki and Tyler, on the other hand . . . they would understand. I sent a fervent request to Mother Nature—make it snow!
Later that week, we had a visit from Officer Halliwell. She and my dad showed up at the door to my apartment just as I came in from class.
“Hi, Mica, Officer Halliwell has some good news for us. Do you mind if we come in?” Dad asked with unusual sensitivity.
I waved them inside. Good news would be nice for a change. I was tired.
“The good news is the lab in Albany finally gave us the results of all the samples we sent for DNA testing last month. The other tests came back too. We’ve got a 99 percent match that the hair, skin, blood, and saliva belong to Scott Flynn. The fingerprints and cloth fibers came back to him too. The DA brought him and his lawyer in this morning. His lawyer wisely advised him to plead guilty to a lesser sentence; aggravated assault vs. attempted murder. I liked him for attempted murder, but I know you didn’t want to drag this through a trial. He’s going to do some time and will be off the streets for now.”
Dad came over and sat on the foot of the bed, his mouth turned up in a rare smile. I was just relieved to have any news at all. It wasn’t the best news, though. That would be something more like, “So sorry to have to tell you that Scott Flynn was mauled by a bear and lost both balls and most of his dick.”
That would’ve been news worth hearing.
“Is there something wrong, Mica?” Officer Halliwell asked.
Shrugging with uncertainty, I said, “I’m glad he’s going to jail, but I . . . I still don’t understand how . . . I mean, why would he attack me?” I bit my lip. “He said it was my fault.”
She objected strongly, saying, “Absolutely not! You didn’t do anything wrong. You had no idea how unstable he is.” She dropped her gaze to her lap for a few seconds. Finally, she said, “Look, I’m not supposed to tell you this, but I think you have a right to know. You can’t share this with anybody else. Will you give me your word?”
My dad and I both agreed to keep whatever she said a secret. She nodded once before beginning her story. “You probably don’t know this, but he’s only lived here for two years. Before that, he lived in Rochester. Anyhow, during our investigation we discovered quite a long juvie record. He’s got a history of violence that goes back to age ten. Starting with assaulting a kid on the playground, he added two more assault charges that year before graduating to assault with a deadly weapon—a bat—at age twelve. He claimed self-defense, but there were witnesses who disagreed. He was placed in counseling and settled down for a few months. But then his mother was found dead of a heroin overdose, and he spiraled out of control.” She paused to check her watch.
“What about his father?” I was horrified for the little kid he once was.
She snorted with derision. “Well, according to the state’s records, mostly his father got drunk and beat him. After his mother’s death, Scott was arrested for harassing a neighbor girl who he later beat up and nearly killed. The girl was blinded in one eye. Her family was so afraid of him they moved to another state. He served six months in juvie. There weren’t any more incidents after that. That is, until his father mysteriousl
She finished up with, “As his only living relative, his grandfather agreed to take him in here. I know this is a lot to take in. I just wanted you to know that he has been violent and unstable for years. This isn’t your fault. Apparently he’s a pretty good actor since no one suspected anything.”
I asked, “So what happens now?”
“Well, I’ll keep you posted. I don’t know how long he’ll be locked up yet. You’re going to be okay though. I’ve talked your dad into putting an alarm on this little apartment of yours. It’ll give you some warning if anyone tries to get in. Also, I’d put up some motion lights outside so the yard is lit up at night.”
Dad added, “I think a couple of cameras might be good too. We’ll put one by the doors. We’ll know if someone tries to get inside.”
A few weeks later, it was snowing. Really snowing. Thank you, Mother Nature! Ricki and I were killing time while we waited for Dani to get off of work. Overflowing with excited energy, I pirouetted like a ballerina on the sidewalk in front of Zen. If you needed New Age crystals, incense, or interesting herbs, Zen was the only place in town. The tiny shop was stuffed inside an old ‘50s storefront that Dani’s mom had painted white and gold. This was Dani’s home away from home and current place of employment.
“Hello, my lovelies!” a friendly voice greeted us from right behind me. I jumped with a squeak, hand pressing my heart to keep it from leaping out of my chest.
“Geez, you scared the crap out of me!” I breathed unnecessarily to the tiny woman who appeared out of nowhere.
She had the kind of face that wouldn’t age; pretty, elf-like, ivory skinned, with huge grey eyes. She had pale blond hair with skinny braids randomly plaited over her head. She was wearing a flowing kind of top with a long skirt and moccasins. She was a picture perfect hippy chick from 1972. She was Dani’s mother. Dani could be her clone, minus the moccasins.
As usual, she glowed like a candle. The woman practically oozed peace and tranquility. It was frightening. “Dani’ll be done in a minute. Come in and get warm.”
Seeing no point in arguing, we shuffled in to wait. Still hyped up on the novelty of snow, I grabbed Ricki’s arm entirely too hard. “Ricki! I’ve got an idea!”
“Uh-oh, I know that look. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I swear I don’t want to take off my clothes and swim out to the island again! It’s way, way too cold. Don’t even think about it.”
“Oh, come on, not that again? You need to let it go. You survived, didn’t you? Look how much you learned. You had no idea you could swim that far, did you? And you have to admit it was awesome!” I was still enthusiastic. I thought it would be fun to swim naked to a little island in the lake back in September. It seemed like a good idea at the time . . . Okay, so maybe not the best plan ever. We almost drowned.
“I was thinking more along the line of getting some guys with trucks to take us up the mountain tonight. We could build a bonfire in the snow. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
With perfect timing, Dani popped up beside us. “What are we doing?” Her gaze bounced from me to Ricki, searching for clues.
Ricki sighed all the way up from her toes. “Oh, all right. What the hell? Let’s call Tyler and Aric.”
Dani perked up at Aric’s name. They were going out, and she would be up for anything as long as he was there. Her grey eyes nearly misted over just thinking about him now . . . It was nauseating. Love? Meh.
Hours later, we were gathered around a huge roaring bonfire in a small clearing way up on the side of the mountain. It was still snowing, but the flakes turned into rain over the flames. They popped and sputtered as they hit the fire. Other than that, the woods were completely silent from the blanket of snow. As far as good times went, this wasn’t half bad in spite of the freezing temperatures. My plan was a good one for a change. Everyone was content. Dani and Aric were snuggled together sharing a beer while Dani pulled ghost stories out of her head. She had millions of them. On the other side of the fire, Ricki was laughing and playing around with Tyler’s friend Kevin. Kevin was trying to flirt by shoving snow in her sweater. I shook my head. Guys are so bizarre. What makes them think freezing snow between a girl’s boobs is a turn on?
“Mica, catch!” Tyler warned just before lobbing a snowball at my face.
Startled into sliding off of my log, I landed butt first in the snow. Laughing too hard to help me up, he collapsed beside me before shoving a fistful of snow into my face.
Giggling and slipping back down again, I clutched his sleeve to pull him over into the snow and sat on him. With many threats and curses, he tried to get up; I tried to hold him down. It was an epic battle that he was winning when I heard it.
“Shh! What was that?” I hissed. Everyone gaped at me, beers half lifted, mouths frozen in mid-word.
Branches snapped behind us. Crack, crack, snap. Silence. As one, we all stood up and turned towards the forest. It was pitch black. I couldn’t see a thing. I squinted so hard my eye went into spasms.
Crack, snap, snap.
Where was it coming from? The snow distorted the sounds. Tyler reached over to shush me with his hand just as I opened my mouth to speak. That’s when I heard the grunting and snuffling sounds—crack, snap—a dark shape appeared in the trees, more a shadow really, but a huge one that lumbered towards us.
I lost it right then. “Bear! Bear! Run!” I dove head first into the truck before Tyler could move. “Let’s go!”
It was chaos after that. Tyler jumped into the driver’s seat as Ricki dove in behind me. Everyone else was doing the same thing, with a lot of screaming and yelling. No way was I getting eaten by a bear in my first snow in New York! Oh, hell, no. I was so out of here!
As we fishtailed down the logging road, I imagined a very surprised bear staring at our taillights disappearing into the snowy tunnel of trees.
It had been a couple of months since I got out of the hospital, and I was feeling mostly healthy thanks to my youth—and my friends taking me out to hunt bears. Tonight was another party night and I was actually excited to get dressed up and be surrounded by people. I peered closer at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Was my nose crooked? I turned my head back and forth for a better view. Mm, maybe it was okay. I inspected my eyes for changes. Wide and tilted up at the outside, they shone dark blue, but they were different since Scott. They had a shuttered look to them, a wariness that I couldn’t mask without real effort. I wasn’t quite healed. I forced a happy smile that would reach my eyes. Ugh! That’s worse. I look like a crazy person. Better to keep the smile small. I would just hope no one paid much attention to my eyes.
I was reaching for lip gloss when a movement flashed across the mirror. I spun around, but the room was empty. Snatching up a can of hairspray, I crept around the corner. If someone was in here, they would get a rude surprise. I was armed this time. With heart pounding in my chest, I swept my eyes around the rest of the empty apartment. I must have imagined the dark-haired man in the hall. At least my ghost didn’t look like Scott Flynn. Maybe I needed a dog.
The house party was rocking by the time Dani, Ricki, and I got there. We were fashionably late, as usual, but Dani’s cousin Angela wouldn’t mind. Probably she was too busy playing hostess to even notice. It had been a long time since I’d gone to a party. I was ready to have some fun tonight. I kept trying to push that man from my hallway out of my head, but he kept intruding anyway. There was something familiar about him. I was meandering from the pool house back inside when I saw him again.
I stopped in my tracks and gawked like a twelve year old. Whoa!
Who are these guys?
There were two ridiculously gorgeous guys standing in the shadows near a covered walkway. They were talking intently, scanning the crowd for someone. There’s no way they were partying. No possible way—
His hair was military short; his face hard and lean. I could see his cheekbones from my hiding place. I couldn’t make out his eyes, though. He looked as if he was about to kick someone’s ass or take over a small country. He stood tensely, listening to the other one. His powerful shoulders were squared back, tugging against his t-shirt. Taking advantage of my invisibility, I let my eyes wander over the rest of his tall, muscular body. Glancing down at his arms, I did a little swoon and kept going. Sadly, his good parts were hidden in the shadows. Oh, yum! He was hot. My stomach did a slow roll as I watched his lips move. Nice lips . . . beautiful mouth. Dangerous stranger. I gave myself a mental slap. Dangerous men were bad. I licked my lips in anticipation even though I had no intention of kissing this guy. Was he really in my house earlier? Surely not. That’s impossible.
“Find her!” The wind shifted and the harsh words drifted clearly. The taller one flipped a hand towards the house. This one practically screamed Navy Seal by his massive size and military bearing. Compared to the first guy, he was more bulky in the shoulders, but had a lean torso and a nice butt. I imagined he had amazing abs. Yes, he was gorgeous, but he also looked mean. There was something about the arrogant set of his jaw that said he’d take no crap from anyone. What were they doing here?
“Mica! There you are! We’ve been looking for you. Come back inside. Someone found a karaoke machine!” Tyler interrupted my spying when he popped up next to me, face glowing with one too many beers. Intending to drag me inside, he reached out to grab my arm, and I flinched away from his touch.
The strangers zeroed in on me like I was standing in a spotlight. Both sets of eyes pinned me to the ground, and I froze like a baby deer. While Tyler babbled about karaoke, I watched them watch me until the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Both stared so intently that I was afraid I would burst into flames. They seemed to recognize me. How was that possible? Who were these guys? The big one said something to the shorter one, and they started moving in my direction. The big one moved like he was stalking prey. I yelped and bolted back to the safety of the house. I was striving for a dignified retreat, but knocking people out of the way kind of ruined it.
“What’s with you? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Tyler skidded to a halt beside me.
I swallowed nervously, glancing over my shoulder, sure we’d been followed. “Did you see those guys?”
“What guys?”
“The two guys who were standing across from us outside! You didn’t see them? They were coming over to us.”
Tyler looked down his long nose, and said, “Dude, I didn’t see anyone but you standing behind a bush. I think you need another beer.” He slapped a new beer in my hand and clinked his bottle against mine in a toast.
I stayed inside the rest of the night. I kept a lookout for the “secret agents” (as I cleverly nicknamed them). I didn’t see them again. Maybe I had imagined the whole thing? It seemed so real though. It was really late when it was time to go home. Ricki was pretty wasted so I was driving. I wasn’t exactly sober, but hey, I had a new philosophy—I would die when it was my turn. In the meantime, I would live life as close to the edge as I wanted, and we’d just see how things turned out. Dani and her boyfriend, Aric, walked us to the car to help Ricki into the backseat. Aric made sure she had a seat belt on and asked how I was doing.
“Oh, I’m fine. I don’t feel buzzed at all. Don’t worry about us.”
He nodded dubiously and told me to drive slowly because the roads were slippery. I only had to drive about thirty miles to get us home. It would be fine. Ricki fell asleep before we turned onto the main highway. Feeling pretty alert, I sung disjointedly to a Lady GaGa song that I barely knew. Tapping my fingers on the steering wheel, I yawned. And yawned again. The miles mocked me as we crept along in the snow. Were we even moving?
My feet were freezing so I turned on the heater. Before long, the car was toasty warm and so were my eyes. Blinking to stay awake, I leaned on the steering wheel to focus better on the road. Not one of my better ideas. The woods were dark around us, and the falling snow obscured everything. It was like driving in a black and white tunnel. My eyes closed and I blinked hard again. The snow was so pretty bouncing off my window. It was mesmerizing. I was drifting off to sleep when the car started to slide and abruptly stopped. The bump jolted me awake. I wasn’t alone. I wasn’t even driving. I was in the passenger seat.
“What the hell? How did you get here?”
Secret Agent Man from the party pierced me with snapping eyes. “Are you crazy? You almost died back there! Do you know how close you came to wrapping this car around a tree?” His hands flew as he yelled, and I leaned warily away from him. Taking a deep breath, he raised his hands in a gesture of peace. “Calm down; I’m not going to hurt you,” he hissed, and wrapped his big hand around mine before I could protest.
I came awake slowly. Moaning happily, I stretched under the covers. So comfortable . . . My sheets were soft, and I was toasty warm. I could stay in bed all day. I cracked my lids to look at the clock. It was 11:00. Reality brought me completely upright. It was 11:00? I hadn’t slept this long since before my mother died. I felt good—unusually good. Bursting with energy, I wanted to go for a run. I should be doing something!
After a short three block run, I flung myself back inside. What was I thinking? Who goes running in the snow? There must be ice in my lungs . . . As I stripped off my gloves, I noticed the camera above the door and paused. Something nagged at the back of my mind. I should remember something . . . something to do with the camera. I thought for a second, and it was gone. Poof! I shook my head—no idea.
Ricki popped over later that day. We were sitting on the floor, polishing our toenails and listening to new music. She looked a bit rough after last night.
“Oh, hey, thanks for driving last night. I’m so glad you got us home. My dad said there were a bunch of wrecks from the snow. Were you freaking out?”
I didn’t answer. I was thinking hard. That nagging was still there. It had something to do with the drive home. I was puzzling it out. I drove home, right? I remembered getting into the car. I don’t remember getting out of the car. I know I wasn’t drinking enough to black out. I’d only had two beers the whole night. An image popped into my mind.
“Ricki! Did you see those two super-hot guys last night? They looked like Secret Service or something. I’ve never seen them before. Did you see them?”
“What guys? I didn’t see anyone new. But I was pretty trashed, so I wasn’t looking. What about them?”
Video tapes! I jumped up, racing to my dad’s office. I pulled up the camera feeds. I wasn’t sure what time I got home so I watched from midnight. Come on, come on. Nothing. No movement outside my door. I fast-forwarded a bit until I saw something interesting. At 1:15 a large shadow appeared in the lens’ field. I practically pressed my eyeballs to the monitor. Huh. The image showed me unlocking the door and going inside. I was alone. How was that possible? I should be able to remember that. Why didn’t I? Something wasn’t right. The tape was still running forward while I was puzzling it out. Wait! I stopped the tape.
At 4:12 there was something odd. I backed it up to 1:15 to be sure. There it was again. After the door closed behind me, I saw a faint flash of yellow light in my window. It was subtle, but it was definitely not my lamp. It was fleeting; not constant like the lamp. What was that? I fast-forwarded to 4:12. Another burst of light. There were no other flashes until that time. It was definitely something. But what? I had no clue. Weirder and weirder. I was trudging back through the snow when it hit me. I stopped and inspected the driveway. The snow was undisturbed except for footprints. Ah h
Chapter 3: Winter X Games