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bonfire, now can
we?”
    “You just want to know where I live,” I
teased. “I think you might be a stalker.”
    “I think you might be the one stalking
me.” He pushed me playfully towards his car. “Get in the
truck.”
    The ride home didn’t last long enough.
All too soon my house came into view. The awkward moment between
pulling up to my curb and saying goodbye was instantly filled with
a few more jabs from Evan. A quick goodbye was all I could get out.
And then I was forced to get out and face my mom.
    “Where have you been?” she demanded as
soon as I stepped through the door. “And whose truck was
that?”
    I knew I should have had Tanner drop me
off a block away.
    “Relax, Mom. I was taking a walk in the
woods and ran into some guys who live around here.” I consciously
decided not to mention the archery lesson. I knew that would trump
the ride home with Tanner without a doubt. My mom wouldn’t even
carry a pocket knife. When my dad had wanted to get a gun to keep
in the apartment in Manhattan, my mom had all but threatened
divorce when he mentioned it.
    “Guys? What guys?”
    “Some boys I’ll be going to school with
in the fall. We hung out for a while and they gave me a ride home.”
I really hoped my mom would drop the topic. “What are we having for
dinner?”
    “Arrabella, you know better than to
accept rides from strangers,” she said, her stance moving into the
nagging mother position.
    “Oh good grief, Mom. Give it a rest.
You’re the one who wanted me to make friends, remember? There nice
guys. One of them lives a few houses down from us. Their names are
Tanner, Evan, and Jackson. I’m sure you’ll meet all their parents
by the end of the week.” I relaxed a little as I watched my mom’s
stance soften.
    “You just scared me, that’s all. I’m
just not used to being in a small town yet. I still feel like we’re
in Manhattan sometimes. I just worry about you.”
    I smiled at her. I knew my mom had been
the biggest push to move the family out to Grainer. She never felt
safe in Manhattan. Having grown up in a small town herself, she
just never adjusted to big city life. “So, do you still want some
help with dinner?”
    Dad was still at the hospital when
dinner was finally on the table, but me and my mom enjoyed sharing
the meal regardless. Eating without my dad was hardly a new thing,
although living in Grainer promised to make it a much less frequent
occurrence than usual. That, at least, was something to look
forward to. I watched my mom carefully prepare a plate for my dad
and place it in the oven to keep it warm, just as I had watched her
do so many times before. Together we washed the dinner dishes and
talked about our day. It felt nice. It felt normal. We had barely
talked at all in the past week. Stacking the last dish in the
strainer, I kissed my mom’s cheek before excusing myself to my
room.
    More tired than I realized, I found
myself laying on my bed wondering where I had left the novel I’d
been reading, but too lazy to get up and really look for it.
Opening the nightstand drawer because it was the closest place I
could think of, I was startled to find the photos staring back at
me. The afternoon out of the house had practically erased my
earlier uneasiness. The peculiar eyes in the photos struck me
deeply. I could swear that I could feel their eyes on me, watching
me and waiting. The unsettling shiver returned
immediately.
    I had pretty much forgotten about my
plan to visit my grandpa, but now I felt like I needed to keep that
appointment. Setting the photos back on my nightstand, I could not
forget them when I made my way over to the bathroom to get ready
for bed. I took my time, but found myself back in bed too quickly.
Climbing under a light blanket, thoughts of dying young girls
swirled in my mind.
    I laid in bed staring at the ceiling.
Knowing by now that the dream would come again, I tried to keep my
eyes open as long as possible. The problem was that there