The Rules for Disappearing (13 page)

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Chills run down my spine and I can’t move. Is someone in the

car? I stare at it a few seconds but can’t see past the tinted windows.

I take a deep breath and shake my shoulders. I’m letting

Dad’s craziness make me crazy. A ton of people live in these little cottages—it’s not odd that someone is in the parking lot. It’s only nine thirty.

The laundry room is dark and it takes a minute to find the light switch. I feel better when the room floods with light. I load the machine and as the wash churns I settle down in one of the chairs with my journal to write about how crappy my life is.

Before long, the buzzer notifies me it’s time to put everything in the dryer. Just as I get comfortable again, I realize some loose change has made it in with the clothes. The rattling is annoying.

And then there’s another noise. It’s a metal sound coming from the window that stays open on the back wall of the laundry room.

It’s a grinding sound similar to a set of nails scraping down a chalkboard. And then everything goes dark. I’m frozen in my spot. The clink, clink, clink of the coins slows until it’s completely silent.

I drop the journal and inch my way to the wall, flipping the

switch up and down an absurd number of times. Nothing happens.

The only light in the room comes from a flood light outside

the back window. So the power is only out inside THIS building.

Maybe some animal chewed through the wires or maybe one of the breakers flipped. I strain to hear something, anything that might help this make sense but there’s nothing.

Then, the grinding sound is back but this time it’s closer. Louder.

S—

Screw this. I haul ass out of the laundry room and run down the N—

driveway to our little house. One glance at the parking lot before I 100

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bust through the door shows that the black Suburban is still there, fumes rising out behind it.

Everything is dark. A light flashes across the room. I can’t get out. The
light misses me by a few inches. I crawl on the floor in a haze until I hit
something hard, don’t know what it is. The flashing light is gone and the
room is pitch black. Voices, angry voices, but I can’t hear the words.
I’m
scared and my heart beats so loud I’m afraid they can hear it. I peek to see
who is there but their faces are blurry. And then Laura’s beside me. She
doesn’t move. Or talk. Or open her eyes. I shake her hard and then her face
changes. It’s Elle on the floor beside me now. I scream for someone to help
but nobody comes. Something breaks, sounds like glass. A huge noise. And
then Elle disappears.

I stare at the ceiling and try to catch my breath. There’s something warm next to me and I look down to find Teeny cuddled up at my side. Her eyes are wide open and staring at me.

I’m soaked in sweat again and know it’s the dream. I put my

arm around Teeny. “Did I wake you up?”

“Yeah.” Her voice is soft, scared. “I didn’t know what to do. You were moving around and crying.”

I kiss the top of her head. “I’m sorry, it’s over now. You can stay here the rest of the night if you want.”

I feel her head nod and I pull the covers over us both. I didn’t tell anyone about what happened in the laundry room and I know thinking about Laura and Elle earlier somehow got them mixed in with my nightmare. It had taken me hours to convince myself that

—S

there were a hundred explanations for what happened. Buildings

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lose power all the time. It could have been a squirrel or some other animal outside that window, chewing some wires.

“What are you dreaming about that makes you cry?” Teeny

asks.

“I don’t know.” It’s hard to think about the dreams after I wake up, much less talk about them, which is why it’s become important for me to write them down. “I think it’s all the moves. And not knowing why all this is happening. It scares me.”

Teeny snuggles in closer. “Yeah, it scares me, too.” It takes a few minutes, but Teeny finally falls back to sleep. I reach for the journal and realize I left it in the laundry room.

So stupid! I want to run back there to get it, but I can’t make myself get up. I’m drained from the nightmare and not sure I could face that room again in the dark. It takes some time but I finally drift off to a dreamless sleep.

S—

N—

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RULES FOR DISAPPEARING

BY WITNESS PROTECTION PRISONER #18A7R04M:

Remember your old life is dead and gone. Better it than you.

It’sbeen a little less than two weeks in this placement and it already feels like I’ve been here forever. The nightmare last night has left me exhausted but I throw on my hoodie and run to the

laundry room before anyone else gets up. I want my journal back.

When I yank open the door, every light in the room is blazing.

My chair is still overturned in the corner but no journal anywhere.

It’s gone.

I search the laundry room three times, including emptying out

the trash cans.

Nothing.

“No! No, no, no!” I yell to the ceiling, pounding my fists in the air. I sink to the floor and want to cry.

This is a devastating loss. My neck hairs are standing up again and I jump up from the floor. What if it was a person out there last night? What if they cut the power on purpose? Did they take my journal?

—S

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I run to the dryer and open the lid. All our clothes are still there so I pull them out and run from the room.

Mom’s up, sitting on the couch, drinking coffee when I rush

through the door.

“Where’ve you been?” she asks.

“I had to grab our stuff from the laundry room.” I drop every-

thing on the table and start folding.

“You shouldn’t leave things in there all night. It may not be

there the next morning.”

Gee, thanks, Mom, for the great advice. Maybe if you would

step up and do the laundry for a change, I might not have lost the only possession in the world I cared about. Just thinking about all the personal things I wrote floating around out there for the world to see brings tears to my eyes.

She helps me fold the clothes and it’s hard to watch the train wreck she’s turned into. The high this morning will fall around lunch and she’ll be stinking drunk again by the time I get home.

When it’s finally time to leave for school, Teeny and I wait outside for either Ethan or the bus—whichever shows up first. Teeny can barely contain her excitement when his truck pulls into the driveway. She gets in the front seat, sitting between the two of us again. She’s definitely got a crush on him.

She talks non-stop until we roll up to her school.

“He won’t be able to pick you up. You get out a lot earlier than us,” I say.

Teeny’s face falls and I see small hints of that sad girl again, but S—

she nods and runs toward school.

N—

“Man, I feel bad. Are the kids on her bus really mean to her?”

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Ethan asks as he pulls away from Teeny’s school.

“I don’t think it’s that bad. She’s exaggerating so you’ll come get her. Riding the bus is fine. You really don’t have to pick us up.”

Ethan lets out a sharp laugh. The bruise on his cheek has mostly faded but there’s still a tint of yellow. His hair is slightly damp and he’s entirely too cute this early in the morning.

“You’re gonna sit there and tell me you’re happy riding the bus with a bunch of freshman?” His grin will be my undoing.

“I didn’t say I was happy about it, I just said it was fine.”

“It’s not that out of the way to pick y’all up. I don’t live far from Pearl’s, just a few blocks.”

We pull into school and go our separate ways once we make it

inside.

I trudge down the hall, dreading the day. Barely getting by in class, cleaning up Mom after school, and then working all evening at Pearl’s just to go to sleep and be assaulted by my dreams. The only bright spot today will be my ride home with Ethan. I’m as bad as Teeny.

I get to my locker, and Emma is waiting nearby. She’s alone,

which is odd since she’s one of those girls who travel in a pack.

Before I get my locker opened, Emma’s right next to me.

She doesn’t look happy. Her eyes are squinted and her upper lip is curled.

“Do you need something?” I hope she hears the boredom in my

voice. Whatever her problem is with me is so at the bottom of my list of things to worry about.

“What’s the deal with you and my brother? I saw you get out

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of his truck.”

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I roll my eyes and get my books out of my locker. “Really?”

I wait a few seconds then shift back toward her. “You’re hanging around, waiting for me this morning to ask me that?”

“Just answer my question.”

I finish getting what I need for first period and slam my locker shut, spinning the dial on the lock. “Why do you care? You’re with Ben. It’s not like you’re showing a lot of sisterly concern for Ethan by staying with the guy who beat the crap out of him.”

“That is none of your business.” Emma folds her arms across

her chest and taps her foot incessantly.

“Whatever.” I walk away.

When I walk into homeroom, Ben is there waving me over.

Great.

I take a seat near him, but not right next to him. One of the

minions is in my homeroom, too, and I have no doubt she’ll report back everything she sees.

“Meg, we need to get together and work on that thing for

Knighton.”

Minion’s head pops up. She’s not even shy about eavesdropping

on our conversation.

“Yeah, well, I have to work every day after school. Maybe we

could work on it at lunch?”

Ben shakes his head. “No, no good. Can’t do it. What’s your

number? I’ll call you tonight and we’ll figure something out.”

Minion’s phone is in her lap and she’s furiously typing. I’m sure Emma is getting a real-time play-by-play.

S—

“Call me at Pearl’s. I’m there every day from four to eight.” I’m N—

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sure this is gonna bite me in the ass somehow, but I don’t know what Emma expects us to do.

The bell rings and the announcements play. I put my head down

on my desk and resist the urge to cover my face with my hoodie.

This is going to be a long day.

It took both Ethan and Catherine to convince me to cut out with them for lunch. I know they must think I’m some freak—I mean,

who puts up a fight to stay at school—but they finally talked me into it. We pull up to Subway and everyone piles out and I’m expecting Agent Thomas to jump out from behind the bushes at any moment.

The only people in the group I halfway know besides Ethan are

Catherine and Julie. Although, I don’t think Julie and I have actually spoken to each other yet. The guys with us, Trey and Will, I recognize from the Frisbee game by the river.

I’m standing in line to order when Catherine asks, “What’s with the bag?”

No one else brought anything with them inside, but of course I have the go-bag on my back. “Just my stuff.”

Catherine tests the weight by picking it up slightly off my back.

“That’s a lot of stuff.”

Ethan nudges Catherine and says, “I’ve seen that monster bag

you carry around. No telling how much junk you have in there.”

Catherine spins and begins justifying the contents of her purse.

She’s forgotten all about my bag.

Thankfully, the girl behind the counter asks what I want, so I move down the line picking toppings for my sandwich.

—S

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We take the two biggest tables in the back.

“So where are you from, Meg?” Will asks.

All eyes on me. “Arkansas.”

“Really, what part?” Trey asks.

This was a bad idea coming to lunch. “Uh, Lewisville.”

Will’s head pops up. “Really? I have cousins who live up there.

You probably went to school with them. Jack and James Horton?”

What the . . . why couldn’t he at least ask me about the Fouke Monster? Those questions I could answer now. I scrunch up my

brow, like I’m thinking about it. “Um, that sounds kinda familiar.”

“I’m sure you know them. That school’s not that big. They both play football.” Will says before taking a huge bite of his sandwich.

Ethan pops a chip in his mouth and asks, “What position do

they play?”

“Jack is the quarterback and James is a running back.” Will

launches into their greatest plays including which college scouts have already come to watch them.

No one’s worried about whether or not I know them. For the

second time, Ethan has saved my ass.

Catherine and I stop in the bathroom before we head back to

school.

I hesitate whether to ask this, but I’m dying to know. “So, what’s the deal between Ethan and Ben?”

Catherine rolls her eyes. “Boys are so stupid. They used to be best friends and their dads were partners—the farm, the cows, all of it, but they split ways a few years ago and Ethan’s dad is now partS—