The Answers Are In The Forest Page 6

  “No, I just know it’s usually empty most the day. So, what’s up?”

  I bit my lip. I was almost hesitant to tell him. “I did what your brother said.”

  Rusck squinted at me.

  “Listened to the rabbits,” I said, refreshing his memory.

  “Really?” he asked, sitting himself atop one of the desks.

  “Uh, yeah.” I pinched my nose and started slowly with a question I wanted to ask him before I went on. “So, your brother?”

  “Yeah?” Rusck more asked then said.

  “Have you always believed him?”

  Rusck looked at the ground before he answered. “Are you trying to say he’s a liar?”

  “Uh-uh,” I stuttered. That damn rabbit had a gift for making me lose my words, even when she wasn’t around. “The rabbit was back.”

  “And?” Rusck asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

  I stood in front of him, biting my fingernail. “Well, I listened to her.”

  “Her?”

  “Yeah, her. Technically, not a rabbit.”

  “I’m confused.”

  “I still might be, but hear me out.” I gave him an overview of everything that happened the night before. The bell rang during my story, and we both ignored it, Rusck nodding along here and there as I carried on. He didn’t stop me or tell me I was making shit up. He just listened. When I finished, I bounced on my toes and waited for a response.

  “Um,” Rusck said, “maybe taking you to talk to my brother wasn’t the best idea. I let you because I wanted to believe there was something to what he’s been talking about, but I don’t know, it just sounds so farfetched.” He rubbed the back of his neck and looked at the ground.

  “You don’t believe me?”

  Rusck looked up at me with his lips pressed together. “Maybe it was just the power of suggestion or something? Since he was found, I didn’t think for one moment that he was talking about possessed rabbits. I just thought it was a clue. Find the rabbits and find out what happened.”

  “It’s not the power of suggestion. It’s a clue, a huge one. There was a fricking talking rabbit corpse in my basement. I didn’t make it all up. It was the scariest thing, and I was going to run screaming, but I stayed and listened to the rabbit because Creed wanted me to. I have a feeling he met the same rabbit I did, and I want to help Creed and the rabbits.”

  Rusck sighed and rubbed his hands over his face.

  “Come to my house tonight. You can see for yourself.”

  “I have work tonight.”

  “Come over after work. She doesn’t show up until late. Please, once you see the rabbit, you’ll know it’s all true, and then maybe we can help your brother.”

  “Okay, fine,” Rusck said with a shrug. “Your mom won’t be there again, will she?”

  I laughed. “No.”

  A girl with large, saucer-like eyes burst into the classroom. “Oh, damn, Bunny Boy,” she said. As quick as she came in, she was out, snapping her fingers and giggling to herself.

  “What was that?” I asked, pointing over my shoulder.

  “The one-woman rumor mill.”

  “Oh, I can see where this is going.”

  “By lunch, I bet everybody says we were making out, and by the end of the day, I bet we were having sex in the middle of the classroom.”

  I could feel my cheeks flush. “Oh, geesh, stupid teenagers.”

  “Uh, don’t forget, you’re a teenager,” Rusck said with a smile.

  “Yeah, doesn’t mean I have to like other teenagers.”

  “You’re just a bucket of fun, aren’t you?”

  I stuck my tongue out at him. “See you tonight.”

  Rusck waved, and we went our separate ways.

  ***

  I walked into my history class. I was almost the last one to arrive. Everybody else was busy pulling notebooks out of their bags and looking out the window and chatting about whatever. Mrs. Hardwick stood over her desk looking down at a grade book, wearing a coordinating red knit set that made her look like a large tomato. I walked back to the desk I took to sitting in and plopped down. As soon as my butt hit the chair, Olive bounded into the classroom with a smile from ear to ear. She had on a t-shirt with an otter and wore a headband complete with attached cat ears.

  “You were making out with Bunny Boy,” she said, taking her seat next to me.

  “No.”

  “That’s the word in the hall.” She leaned over her desk toward me.

  I turned and looked her in the eyes. They were a beautiful honey brown. “We were just talking.”

  “Worst excuse ever. There’s only one reason people sneak into the detention room.”

  “And that is?” I asked, reaching into my backpack to grab my notebook.

  “To make out and get all hot and heavy and stuff.”

  “Oh, he failed to mention that.”

  “That’s probably because he was hoping you’d make out with him.” Olive gave me a nod and smiled. “I can see it, you and Bunny Boy. It works.”

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Oh my gosh, it all started that night at the bowling alley, didn’t it? You have me to thank for your newfound relationship. You can thank me now or buy me something later.”

  “Cool down. We’re just friends, I guess. I don’t even know if he and I have gotten to the friend level.” I could feel my face turning pink. Okay, so maybe I did kind of like him, but with rabbit corpses and dead children, it wasn’t the best time to be getting with someone.

  “You are so blushing. You so like him, the new girl and Bunny Boy. Everybody is talking about it. Rumors spread like wildfire around here.”

  “Yeah, I can tell. It’s been, like, a minute. Isn’t everybody else in class?”

  Mrs. Hardwick cleared her throat, signaling us to shut up. Olive shoved me in the shoulder and laughed.

  ***

  When I got home from school, my mom was there.

  “You working tonight?” I yelled to her in the kitchen, throwing my bag on the living room floor.

  “Yeah, gotta leave in about an hour. I won’t be back until the morning.”

  “All right.” Exactly what I wanted to hear.

  I sat in my room and did homework until my mom left. Then I started thinking about what the little ghost rabbit thing told me the night before, about how she had been watching me. My stomach began doing flips, the hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I didn’t want to be alone with the spirit of a murdered little girl hanging about. What if she showed up early?

  I got up, grabbed my jacket, and headed out the front door to my bike. Pedaling away from my house, a brisk breeze slapped me in the cheeks, leaving a sting. I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going at first, but after a couple of blocks, I started riding in the direction of the bowling alley. After passing a strip mall, gas station, and elementary school, I made it there. The parking lot was brimming with cars, and some teens lurked about in front of the building, which had large blowup bowling pins waving around atop it. I locked my bike to a light pole and walked inside. If I knew how to whistle, I would’ve, just to give a bit more of a casual vibe to my arrival.

  It was busier than it was the other night. It sounded like instruments were being tuned, and I heard somebody say, “Check one, check two,” somewhere in the background. I saw Rusck behind the counter where you paid and got your shoes. He finished ringing up a customer when I sauntered up to him.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey,” he said back. “You know I don’t get off for hours.”

  “Yeah.” I leaned forward on the counter, looking around at a flow of people heading into a back lounge. “I didn’t want to hang around my house all alone, and I don’t know that many people, so here I am.”

  “You came on a good night. Well, as far as bowling alleys go, at least.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah, live band karaoke.”

  “Oh. That’s a good thing?” I asked.

&
nbsp; Rusck shrugged. “Okay, it’s pretty dorky, but it can be fun. A lot of people from school show up.”

  “Do you ever karaoke? Go on over there and belt it out?”

  “That’s a big no, and I work here, so even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.”

  “Too bad. That’d be fun to see.”

  “Gabby!” I heard in a shrill voice from behind me. I turned to see Olive and her posse from the other night heading toward me.

  “Do you guys ever go anywhere else?” I asked Olive, noticing she had on an extra coating of eyeliner.

  She rubbed her chin as if thinking. “No, not really. Nowhere else to go, and besides, it’s live band karaoke night, baby. Sorry, I…uh, er…kinda forgot to invite you.”

  “That is okay.”

  Olive looked over my shoulder at Rusck. He pretended to be preoccupied with wiping down the counter. “Hey,” she called at him with a wave and a mischievous grin. “Ah, you came to be with your boyfriend. So cute,” Olive said, poking me in the ribs.

  “Boyfriend?” Ryan asked, stepping closer. He was sporting some tight jeans and a tie.

  “You didn’t hear at school? Bunny Boy and Gabby are a thing now, were caught making out in the detention room,” Olive informed him like it was the truth.

  “Really?” Ryan asked, giving me a sly grin.

  “Little Miss Gabby here is now spoken for,” Olive said.

  “Whatever. Believe what you will. We are just friends. Why are you all made up?” I asked.

  “Oh, we have this whole thing we do,” Olive said, pointing from her to Ryan to Sarah.

  I let out a laugh. I couldn’t help it.

  “Hey, people around here take this stuff seriously,” Sarah said. “They say it’s for fun, but between some of us, it’s more like a competition.”

  Sarah was right on the more like a competition thing. Those people took live band karaoke extremely seriously. Everybody who sang had some level of talent and was dressed up like they were performing at their own concert, complete with choreography, coordinating outfits, and fans in the audience. The band was actually good and seemed to know every song in the book. All in all, live band karaoke was pretty entertaining to watch.

  Chapter Ten

  Rusck pulled his car into the drive. “You sure your mom won’t come home?” he asked for about the five hundredth time.

  “Yeah, I even double checked this afternoon. It’s cool. What about you? Your mom and dad, they’re not going to wonder where you are?”

  “My mom’s usually asleep by the time I get home from work, and my dad gets so engrossed in watching his lawyer dramas at night a bomb could go off, and he probably wouldn’t notice.”

  “All righty, then,” I said, opening the car door and getting out. I walked around the car with gravel crunching under my feet. Rusck went to the trunk, pulled out my bike, and then a bat.

  “Uh?” I pointed at the bat.

  “I don’t know what to expect from zombie rabbits. I would like to be prepared, just in case.”

  “Fair enough. Should we have had Creed come with us?” I asked, hugging my arms around myself as a breeze blew.

  “I mentioned what we were doing tonight, and he didn’t know what I was talking about. After reminding him a couple of times, he might’ve remembered, but I think he said he did just to shut me up.”

  “How did he not remember?”

  “He has a problem with that ever since his head injury. He’s pretty forgetful, and he can’t pay attention to, like, anything, so I think he honestly forgot. But I said we were going to help him and asked if he wanted to come with, and he pretty much withdrew into himself, shaking his head, saying no. I think Creed knows something. About the rabbits, who took him, something, but it’s buried deep because he still has that fear.”

  “We have to figure this out.”

  Rusck nodded, and we walked to the front door together. I let us into an eerie quiet. Flipping on the lights helped alleviate my creeps some. Rusck followed me in, and I locked the door behind us. He stood in the middle of the sparsely furnished living room with one hand in his back pocket, the bat in the other, and raised an eyebrow, looking at me.

  I pulled off my jacket and threw it on a lawn chair. “We have to go to sleep first, if that’s what you’re wondering. Tired?”

  Rusck crinkled up his nose at me.

  “Are you disgusted by having to sleep with me?” I paused, and I could feel my face starting to burn.

  Rusck laughed. It lit up his whole face. He looked cute laughing, his eyes wrinkled at the corners.

  “Uh,” I said, “I mean, you know, sleep over.”

  “I know what you mean. You just look kinda cute all flustered.”

  I didn’t know how to respond, so I asked, “Want anything to eat before we call it a night?”

  “No. I don’t think my stomach can handle anything right now. This is a little nerve-wracking.”

  “All right. I’m going to get ready for bed as usual, and then we’ll go to sleep because it seems you have to be sleeping, or maybe it just has to be late, but either way, I’ll be back in a sec.”

  Rusck nodded. I went to change. I was sure I could’ve stayed in my regular clothes, but to be honest, I lived for my pajamas. Pajamas or not, it was going to be an interesting evening.

  Ten minutes later, the two of us stood in my room, Rusck with his bat in hand.

  “I could sleep on the floor if you want, and you can take the bed,” I said.

  Rusck vigorously shook his head. “Oh no, no.”

  “We’re not even going to be sleeping that long.”

  “I’m just scared your mom will come and find me in here.”

  “She won’t,” I said.

  “I’ll sleep in the closet.”

  “Are you serious?”

  Rusck nodded.

  I pointed at him. “You’ve been busted for something like this before, haven’t you?”

  Rusck slightly nodded and shrugged.

  “Well, go ahead, then.” I waved him off to the closet.

  He opened the door then took off his hoodie-blazer combo.

  “You can hang it up while you’re in there,” I said. “Oh, my closet is also kinda creepy.”

  “And waiting for a rabbit carcass possessed by the spirit of a murdered little girl isn’t?”

  “Touché.”

  I climbed in my bed and snuggled into my covers, my hands already shaking. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Rusck propped up in the corner of the closet with his bat leaning on his shoulder.

  “Gabby,” he said.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m not going to be able to fall asleep. I’m scared shitless. I can’t even close your closet door.”

  “That’s because you don’t even have to be in there. Don’t worry about my mom. Come up here,” I said, patting my bed.

  Rusck opened his mouth a bit and squinted at me through the darkness.

  “I’m serious. I’m kinda scared too. At least we can feel comforted as we wait, and maybe we’ll even squeeze in some sleep.”

  Rusck closed his mouth and bit his lip.

  “I’ll leave a space between us.”

  “I’m, uh, not—”

  I cut him off. “If you get a boner, just turn in the opposite direction.”

  “That’s not what—”

  “Just c’mon.”

  Rusck sighed and stood, making sure to grab his bat. He hesitantly climbed into bed with me.

  “See, less scary, isn’t it?”

  He swallowed and took a deep breath. I only had a twin bed, so when I turned on my side to face him, we were pretty much nose to nose. Holy crap, he smelled good. Not like the peppermint from earlier, but a musky smell and laundry detergent. “Now, go to sleep,” I told him.

  Rusck sighed and closed his eyes. They were open again about a second later. “You sleep. I’ll keep watch or something.”

  “Too scared?”

  He nodded and forced a smile.r />
  “Okay, we’ll just lay here and talk, then.” I tucked my left arm under my pillow and studied his face highlighted by the moonlight that seeped in between my curtain panels. We were so close together in my bed, I could feel the warmth of his body and see the definition of his chest because his t-shirt was being pulled kind of taut from the way he lay.

  “So,” Rusck said, propping his head up with his hand.

  “Yeah, what to talk about while waiting for a ghost to appear,” I said. “Tell me more things about you.”

  Rusck sighed.

  “I’m sure there’s more to you than what you told me the other day.”

  “I kinda want to go back to my old life. When I had friends and a life, we never did anything exciting. Just hang out and drink coffee. Go to Barnes & Noble. But with Creed and what happened, it feels like a disrespect to him to act like nothing happened, and I feel if I resume my old life, that’s what I’d be doing, and I don’t know. He’s dealing with so much.” Rusck closed his eyes and took in a deep breath.

  “Life can really suck.”

  “Yeah. My mom tries to act like—”

  Rusck was cut off by footsteps running down the hall. It sounded like more than one person; one set of footsteps sounded lighter and the other heavier. Donna and maybe Kevin.

  Rusck shot straight up to sitting. “Somebody’s in the house.” He gripped his bat.

  My heart beat fast, pounding against my chest. I took a deep breath and slowly let it out. It seemed hard to get used to creepy sounds and ghosts in the night.

  Rusck looked at me with his eyes wide and once again said, “Somebody’s in the house.”

  I sat up next to him with my whole body trembling, not quite knowing what to expect. The spirit of one dead child, I dealt with it, but two…I put my hands on Rusck’s shoulder. “It’s them.”

  Rusck shook his head. “That sounded like real live people.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed, stood, and slowly crept across the room. He opened my door, which made a loud creaking sound just to add to the moment, and stuck his head out into the hall. We both heard the footsteps bounding down the basement stairs. I got up, slipped on some flip-flops, and stood behind Rusck. He looked over his shoulder at me.