Rewrite Redemption (27 page)

Back at the parking lot, I tossed my dad’s sweatshirt in the car and went inside the hospital. My parents hadn’t moved. They probably never even noticed I was gone. I spent the rest of the endless night slumped in an uncomfortable chair, wrestling with the demons in my head. The demons were kicking my ass big-time.

The news on Devon continued to suck: critical condition, no change, still in a coma. By late morning, my mom looked my way, almost as if she didn’t recognize me.

“Constantine?”

“Yeah?” I sat up.

“Have you been here all night?”

“Pretty much.”

“Go home, Son,” my dad said. “There’s nothing you can do.”

“Yes, go get some sleep. We’ll give you a call if anything changes,” my mom added.

“I lost my backpack yesterday. It has my phone in it…”

“It’s okay, Con, we all got a little scattered yesterday. I’ll call on the landline.” 

“Yeah, okay.”

She thought I’d lost my stuff, because I’d been freaked about Devon. I didn’t bother to correct her. No point. I couldn’t believe I’d just left my backpack lying there. What a moron. “Um, all right if I take your car, Dad?”

“Of course, drive safe, son.”

The smell of sour food hit me the minute I opened the front door. I dumped out the spoiled dinner, stuck the dishes in the dishwasher, and took out the garbage. Then I wiped off all the counters, mopped up the spilled wine, and lit some incense. I figured sooner or later, my mom would come home to get some sleep. I didn’t want her to walk in on the mess.

I stood in the shower for twenty minutes, trying to wash off the hospital stench. I whipped off a text to Claire, just in case my parents forgot. I sent her a link to a You Tube video—the one where some guy plays Notorious Big music to his baby to get it to stop crying. She’d get a kick out of it. I didn’t say anything about Devon. I just tried to keep it light and funny.

Then I tried to distract myself by playing my bass. But no dice—I couldn’t concentrate. Finally, I fell into bed, exhausted. I slept for about six hours, waking up to a dark, empty, and creepy house.

There was a light blinking on the phone. I must have slept right through the call. No change. They’d stuck a cot in Devon’s room for my mom, and my dad was coming home later to get some rest. They said there was no reason for me to return to the hospital. No reason—for once, I actually agreed with my parents.

I made a sandwich and ate it in front of the TV, trying to distract myself from thoughts of A.J. lost and Devon dying. After a couple hours of channel surfing, I went upstairs and Googled coma. When I reached the part about “vegetative states,” I shut my laptop and contemplated my dad’s liquor cabinet. I really wanted to just not think for a while. But I had no clue what might go down tonight, and the critic kept yelling “forethought.” So I grabbed my running shoes instead.

I left a note and took off at a slow jog towards her house. I didn’t even argue with myself about it. I wasn’t going to stay long. I just needed to see if she had returned yet. Since I was overwhelmed with guilt for pretty much everything bad in the world, I figured that if A.J. was back, at least I could cross one thing off my list.

Disappointment punched me in the gut the second I turned onto her street. I felt nothing, not even a trace. When I reached her house, I detected a whiff of her essence, but not
her
. I collapsed on the curb for a moment, just trying to get a grip.

An impeccable, white BMW idled in the driveway, but the house was dark. Angry voices came from the back, and I snuck along the fence to investigate. They got louder the closer I got. Before I could peer over the fence, I heard a voice that made my skin crawl.

“Get your worthless ass into the car, Ivan, immediately! This play date is over.”

“But I—”

SMACK!

I reached my spot just in time to watch Ipod get backhanded to the ground by a burly, severe looking man in a pin striped suit and a flat top.

Lex launched herself at the man’s back, hanging on, as he turned and tried to shake her off. “Leave him alone, you stupid son of a bitch! My mom will sue your sorry ass.”

The man dumped her to the ground sneering, “Your
mom
is the one that alerted me to this untenable situation, you little slut. Your
mom
threatened to sue me if he got you pregnant. So get the hell out of my way.” 

 “Lex, don’t,” Ipod begged, blood pouring down his face.

Bummer toss of the dice, Dude
…a frickin drill sergeant for a father. I wanted to jump the fence and cream the SOB, but I didn’t want to complicate things. So I stood there, watching the scene unfold, trying to have forethought. I figured I’d move if it got really serious.

 “You’re a cruel, sadistic sicko!” Lex hissed at the man. She kicked him, making him wince.

He glared at her with hatred in his eyes, took a wider stance, and drew back his fist.

“Yeah, you want a piece a me? Go for it, freak! Go ahead and hit me,” she taunted him, thumping her chest defiantly. “
You
don’t scare me…”

I searched for a foothold, ready to fly over the fence.

He started for her and then stopped abruptly, clenching his fists, breathing loudly through bared teeth. When he stood his ground, I stayed put. It was none of my business. I knew that. But if he laid a hand on her, he deserved any damage I could bring down on him. Ipod seemed stunned, but Lex was fearless. I was impressed.

“Bring it on! I’ll jam your balls so far up your torso it’ll take a brain surgeon to get them out!” She stuck out her chin, daring him. Then she spit on his polished shoe.

He looked down, whipped out a white handkerchief, and wiped off his shoe. He slowly raised his head, anger pouring off him like steam.

She got right up in his face. “My dad’s a lawyer too. We’ll see what
he’ll
do to your sick ass in court.” She was bouncing from foot to foot as if she was going to launch herself at him.

The man glared at her. Then he slammed his fist into an open hand. “Get in the car,” he snarled at Ipod.

Ipod was trying to stop the flow of blood down his face with his shirt. He had a black eye, that was really starting to swell. He started to get up and staggered erratically to one side. “Father, I—”

“Shut up, you cretin.”

 “Just get out of here and leave us alone!” Lex hissed.

“Lex, don’t. I need to go.” Ipod wavered and then dropped to the ground.

Lex ran to him and kneeled, cradling him in her arms. She brushed the hair out of his eyes and wiped the blood off his face with the hem of her shirt.

“Get up and act like a man!” his dad barked. He leaned down, shoved Lex aside, and yanked Ipod to his feet, holding him tight by the upper arm. “I wondered where you went every night. I thought you were a fag, you little runt. Now I know you’re just a spineless wimp, hiding out in a tree house with a couple of pathetic, little girls. I would have had you in military school years ago, if I hadn’t thought they would just toss you out on your worthless pansy ass.”

“Father, I—”

“The van is waiting at the house. This is a done deal, Boy. We’ll see if the military can make a man out of you.”

“You’re going to pay for this!” Lex hissed. She wiped the tears from her eyes, smearing Ipod’s blood across her face.

The man let out a blood-curdling laugh and smacked Ipod to the ground again without even watching him fall. He crossed his arms and sneered at her. “Yeah, and who’s going to make me? You? There’s a lot of clutter in this world, girl. The military does a good job of cleaning it up.” He turned to Ipod. “Get a move on, Boy.”

“I need my stuff—”

“You don’t need
stuff
in military school,” the man barked, yanking Ipod to his feet. “You’ll be part of a machine, now, Boy, stripped down and efficient.”

“You can’t do this!” Lex yelled, holding on to Ipod’s arm.

The man cackled, sadistically. “You have no power here, you little bitch,” he sneered. “I’m in control.”

He grabbed Ipod by the hair, causing Lex to give up her tug of war. Ipod winced, and stumbled along beside his father to the front yard.

Lex just stood there, tears streaming down her face. She wrapped her arms around herself and fell to her knees, sobbing. “I’ll fix this, Ipod, I promise,” she called after him.

I felt like I’d been kicked in the gut. I could only imagine what
she
felt like, to say nothing about Ipod. I ran along the fence to the front yard and watched as the man shoved Ipod in the back seat, slammed the door, got in the front, and gunned the engine. Ipod’s anguished face looked back as the car drove out of sight.

I returned to my spot, torn about what to do. I saw Lex’s shadow pacing back and forth against the shades. Should I try to be there for her, revealing my role as a stalker? Or should I just go home and mind my own business? That jerk
was
Ipod’s father, after all. I cringed. I thought of my own dad and the complaints I had about him. All of my bitching about getting grounded. My dad was a frickin saint compared to that psycho.

I sat down on the rock and tried to have forethought. If I just appeared out of nowhere, it might really freak Lex out. If she saw me as a stalker, I’d lose any cred I had with her. I’d busted ass trying to look trustworthy. I certainly didn’t want to blow it now. I decided it was best to just go to school tomorrow and see if she’d let me help then. Maybe with both A.J. and Ipod gone, she’d be open to a little assistance.

After grabbing a quick hit of the maple in the front yard, I took off for home. When I got there, a light was on. Someone was home…my dad, not my mom, because her purse would be on the counter. She must have stayed with Devon. The door to their bedroom was closed. I figured my dad was sleeping. I hoped he was sleeping.

I nuked a pizza and watched TV, trying to tune out all the madness. When TV didn’t work, I took another shot at my bass—using headphones so I didn’t wake my dad. After majorly sucking at anything I tried to play, I put the guitar away. Then I just stood in the shower, trying not to think. Finally, at about two, I fell asleep and stayed that way until morning.

I opened my eyes to white cloth as if I was encased inside a coffin. Still groggy and now panicked, I flailed out my arms, hitting something rough and scraping the skin off my knuckles. I sat up to be bounced back down by the sheet that was pinned tight a few inches above me. Heart pounding, I kicked it off—juniper and blue sky. I was still in the past, which was disappointing.

But it was better than a coffin.

I scanned the campsite to make sure I was still alone. I was. Using a corner of the sheet to wipe the blood off my knuckles, I took a deep breath. I pulled energy from the tree to heal the abrasions on my hand. Then I crawled out of my nest and high-fived myself in my head.

I’d done it.

I’d slept through the night without incident—no freak-out, no nightmares, no mountain lion eating me for dinner. Of course I was still in the past, but at least I was in one piece. Surely, it wouldn’t be long now before I returned home.

The day was stunning. The cloudless sky was Easter egg blue, and the mountain valley sparkled with color. The scent of campfire filtered out from my clothes when I moved, along with the sweet smell of chamomile.

Pleased that there were still hot coals under all the ashes, I fed last night’s fire some dried grass and twigs. Soon I had a blaze going. The sun might have been up, but it was early, and I shivered in my smoky hoodie. Warming my hands, I figured I’d wait until the fire took the chill off, and then I’d go catch some breakfast.

So I sat, watching the flickering fire, thinking of home and all that had happened in the last week. I had little snippets of concern from time to time about my situation. But mostly, I was just content…surprisingly so. Lex would be proud of me.

When the morning chill evaporated, I loped down to the water and retrieved my fishing poles. Digging up a couple of worms, I speared them on my hooks and decided to forgo any pretense of fishing like a regular person. I sat cross-legged on my cottonwood balcony, holding a pole in each hand. I focused. Humming softly, I pulled energy from the tree and sent it out into the water, calling the fish to me.

Within thirty seconds my first line was jerking, and before I could pull it in, the other one almost jumped out of my hand. I yanked them both in like a Kung Fu guy with nun chucks. I wished Ipod and Lex could have seen that. I was the fish whisperer! I was the freakin Harry Potter of the Rocky Mountains.