Don't Forget to Breathe Read online

  Then one day at school, the local druggies, Skip and Dave had noticed I was a hurting puppy and hooked me up with something to forget all my problems. Skipper said, “What you need is a little Zen.” The acid took me on some wild rollercoaster rides. I preferred cocaine to ecstasy, but beggars can’t be choosy. School played second fiddle to my becoming a recluse. Hibernating in my bedroom for days didn’t bode well with dad, like he’d been in any shape to criticize. When my savings ran dry, Dave put the kibosh on freebies.

  I don’t know if I’d be alive today if it hadn’t for Nona’s profound cajoling. Her ceaseless, uplifting prayers to the point of clinging to my heaving body as I puked, cried, screamed, and pulled my hair out. I’d been struggling to stay somewhat clean. I never constituted weed as a hard hitting drug, but Nona’s not pleased when I indulge. Perhaps that’s her logic for disliking Henry, his tangy odor of hemp.

  After practice most guys took to the showers and Nona and I lingered next to Reggie’s car, waiting. My body felt wilted like my scraggly ponytail. It wasn’t long before Reggie swaggered from school and to my daunting bewilderment, Becket Kane sidled beside him.

  I swerved to face Nona and complained, “Did you set me up?”

  “Chill, Leo. I did not set you up.” Her bottom lip bulged. “I have no idea why Becket is deliciously sauntering over here with my Reggie.”

  “I look like puke.” I played with the little stands of hair that escaped my ponytail, retwisting them into my hair tie.

  Nona etched a fake smile on her face and whispered out of the side of her mouth, “He knows you saw him. Turn around and be cool, be nice.”

  “Oh God—”

  “That’s right, hun, you pray.”

  I revolved toward the boys heading our way and tensed. With great effort of acting badass and not candyass, I leaned onto Reggie’s car, crossed my ankles and hooked my thumbs into my belt loops.

  Nona was accurate with her analysis, Becket didn’t just walk—he prowled with graceful intent. Clad in delectable tight jeans that hugged in all the right places and a black T-shirt stretching across his chest. His lengthy pale hair looked like he’d just roughed a towel over his head. Damp golden strands caught a breeze exposing his flawless facial features. Chiseled, with a strong jaw, full mouth, and as they neared his eyes weren’t dark like I’d imagined. Flashing in my direction were eyes the color of periwinkle blue, taking my breath away.

  Becket gazed with a critical eye. I felt naked and vulnerable under his weighty check-out. Unlinking my thumbs from my belt loops, I crossed my arms over my skimpy chest. In stocking feet, I topped the charts at five-feet-six inches, my ankle boots added two inches, and I had to crane my neck to look up at him.

  Following his thorough scrutiny, those starry eyes delved into mine. The corner of his mouth quirked up like I passed inspection and I replied with one of my own.

  “Hello, Leocadia.” His arm rose, lean fingers pointed my way.

  He said my full name. So frickin’ awe-some. Feeling numb, I reached forward and smoothed my palm into his. Warm, though callused, his touch jettisoned a current up my arm. Then like a dorkatron I corrected him, “Leo.” I liked the way he said my name.

  Grinning, he said, “Leo.”

  His smile threw me over the edge. Heat stole into my face, and when he released my hand, I felt chilled.

  My nitwit brain collapsed when Becket strode within a yard of me and I hadn’t noticed Reggie and Nona sucking face. Not until a slurpy noise turned me in their direction. Gross.

  Becket teased, “Get a room.”

  A single lip smacking peck and Nona said, “Of course it’s alright, Reg. I don’t mind do you, Leo?”

  “Huh?”

  “Becket’s car is at the mechanics on Rigley Street. Reggie’s going to give him a ride over there before taking you home. Is that alright?”

  “Sure, yes, fine.” I sounded pathetic.

  We climbed into the back seat of Reggie’s compact car. With long-legged Becket sitting beside me, there was minor personal space. He had to part his legs around the front seat to fit and his left knee rode high over the middle hump. When his leg swerved and touched mine, I wrestled with wanting to touch him. Over the years, I’d conjured all kinds of daydreams with the boy, and now, I tried making myself as little as possible. I could talk to Henry, no prob, but Becket, no way.

  Reggie and Nona chatted up a storm while Becket and I remained mum. I averted my eyes toward the window, playing it cool, but Becket’s scent festooned around me like an enchanting lariat. He smelled like soap and I whiffed in appreciation.

  I caught Nona’s turn of head, throwing me an awry brow. Her eyeballs giving me juvenile twitches to speak to the boy.

  Smith’s Garage came into view, delayed in traffic, Reggie then implemented a right hand turn through the intersection. “Leo,” Becket’s voice was assertive, eliciting my neck to kink in his direction. “Reggie said you live on Westgate, that’s in my direction. I’ll drive you home.”

  Even if I had a rebuttal, he elbowed the door and stepped out before I had a chance to answer. I’d heard he was a domineering quarterback and the team obeyed his every command.

  My head whipped to Nona. I must’ve looked like a deer in headlights, cause she encouraged, “Go, girl. Call me later.” Her eyebrows jumped to her forehead tendering a go-get- ‘em smile.

  Outside the mechanic’s garage, I waved to a departing Reggie and Nona and tried steeling myself against a happy dance performance. The pitter-patter of my heart kept beat to a conga-line.

  With keys juggling in his hand, Becket ambled from the garage to his car. In a gentlemen fashion he held the passenger door open and looked for me. Still standing by the garage entrance, I felt like a ditz, and scraped some dignity to walk with him watching.

  Once stationed behind the steering wheel, he turned to me with impassive eyes. “I’m an excellent driver. But you might want to put on your seatbelt.”

  I was also a doofus, and buckled up.

  “You live at eighty-six Westgate, right?”

  I nodded and wondered if Reggie told him my address.

  “You’re quiet, for a girl.” His message was clear; girls talk too much. I fiddled with the hem of my sleeve as my tongue glued itself to the roof of my mouth.

  “Well if you’re not going to speak, mind if I put on some tunes?”

  I initiated a simple shrug. He then provided me with a smile, enhancing his features to the tenth degree. I read a book recently where the protagonist swooned in her lover’s arms, and I’d snickered, yet, I think I just swooned.

  I hadn’t expected his choice of music as he leveled the radio’s volume. I had him pegged as a head-banger, wild boy, but a baroque style of strings floated through the speakers.

  My body relaxed, drawing in a peaceful breath.

  “There, that’s better.” He watched me. “You’re a pretty uptight girl.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  “Ah-h, she speaks,” he said, awarding me another mind-blowing smile. “The next street is Westgate, right?”

  Disheartened with the short drive, I nodded.

  “Did I say something wrong?”

  Baffled, I glanced at him. “No, why?”

  “You were just opening up, getting all talkative. I could hardly get a word in edgewise.”

  I offered a tight-lipped smile.

  We coasted along Westgate and I indicated where I lived. “That’s my house on the right. The one with the green trim.” Pulling into the driveway, he let the car idle. “Thanks for the ride.” I snapped the door open.

  “Leo.” I swiveled on the car seat, looking at him over my shoulder. “Would you like to go for a cup of coffee some day?”

  I blinked a yes, and again, nodded an affirmative.

  “Great, nice chatting with you.” I liked his suggestive grin.

  I waltzed into the house and found Dad in the living room watching the World News.

  “Hey, Leo. Who was that
?”

  “Who was what?”

  Frowning, he repeated, “Who brought you home. It wasn’t that Henry kid.”

  “Were you spying on me through the curtains?” I wasn’t angry, it struck me as silly.

  “That’s my job, kiddo.”

  “Becket Kane drove me home after practice.”

  “A kid from school, I assume.”

  I sighed. “Yes.”

  His mouth gathered to the side.

  I plopped onto the couch and pillowed an arm beneath my head.

  Dad fractured my effervescent mood. “The local news is teeming with allegations about that dead body found on Tarpon Hill. They said it was badly mutilated.”

  “Did they say who it was yet?”

  “Yeah, a guy that graduated from Star Hallow last year. Skipper Townsend. Do you remember him?”

  My chest caved, of course I knew Skipper. He was Star Hallows’s renowned drug dealer. “I…I kind of remember seeing him around school.”

  “And they found a second body in Hallow Saints Cemetery. He went by the name of David Galbraith, did you know him too?”

  In shock, I mumbled, “Ah-huh.”

  “Police are investigating. The news is presuming it’s a drug related crime. They interviewed Detective Dyl.” Dad’s voice sounded scratchy. “You…you remember him?”

  I laid there like a corpse.

  Dad went on, “He said they had an anonymous tip. A garbled 911 call leading them to the cemetery. The Detective is asking for anyone with information to…to please step forward.”

  After a tenuous pause, Dad cried, “I’m reliving it all over again, Leo.”

  Chapter 5

  “It’s not the same,” I retorted, rolling off the couch. “Mom was an innocent victim.”

  Through his whimpering, Dad said, “So are those boys, so young.”

  “You can’t take every murder to heart. It’s not healthy.”

  “Leo, how many murders have occurred in Star Hallow in the last year?”

  Feeling ill. His question caught me off guard. “I…I don’t know.”

  “Only one—Lily, your mother. Now two more.” He hiccupped as drool dribbled from his mouth. “This is a sleepy little town. Murders don’t happen in the Hallows.”

  “Dad, you’re talking ridiculous.” I couldn’t stand looking at his crushed face as my stomach pitched. I scurried to the bathroom and barfed the paltry scraps I’d eaten that day.

  While trying to ignore his wallowing sobs, I hobbled to my room like an old lady. Just as I flipped the lock the telephone rang. Dad wasn’t in any shape to answer so I raced into the kitchen.

  “Where have you been?” Nona’s voice blared through the receiver. “I’ve been calling your cell for over an hour.”

  “I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you. I lost my cell.”

  “Where’d you lose it?”

  Hesitant to explain the incident in the cemetery I felt the need to keep it secret, at least for now. “I don’t know.”

  “Will your dad fork out money to get you a new one?”

  “I hope so.”

  She burst with impatience. “You know why I called, right?”

  Nona knew nothing of my funk and I tried to absorb her gusto. My whole psyche flip-flopped as I relayed, “He asked me to go for coffee.” I had to hold the phone away from my ear as she screeched like a banshee.

  “I told you so.” She pealed a redundant squeal. “Becket’s been eyeing you for a while now.”

  “What did Reggie tell you?”

  “He’s closed mouthed. Won’t nark on a friend.” She sounded flippant. “All I know is that Becket actually did need a ride to get his car. It was fate, Leo, plain and simple.”

  “Hah, that’s what you call it? I call it a coincidence.”

  “I don’t believe in coincidences.” She was getting dramatic. “It was fate.”

  “Okay, fate then.” I paused, thinking. “Becket asked me to go for coffee, but he never said when. And he never asked for my phone number.”

  “You mean he didn’t make an actual date?”

  “No.”

  “Don’t worry, girl. If he’s interested, nothing will stop that boy.”

  “Maybe he said that to be nice.”

  Nona countered, “Then why’d he want to drive you home if he wasn’t interested?”

  “Probably to repay Reggie for giving him a lift to his car.”

  “Leo, you’re reading too much into this. Stop dissecting every little thing.”

  I didn’t want to get my hopes up, yet, gambled a tiny squeal.

  ***

  An hour later, while lying on my bed finishing my math homework, I heard a tap on the window. Not again. I raised the blinds to see Henry leaning with both hands on the house.

  I drew up the window. “Hey, Henry. This is getting to be a habit.”

  “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. Are you ignoring my calls?” I detected a trace of spite in his tone.

  “No.” I had an idea. “You want to go for a walk?”

  His mouth curved. “Sure.”

  “I’ll meet you out front.” He nodded and pushed away from the house.

  I left my bedroom and noticed the interior of the house had darkened. Dad was nowhere in sight, he must’ve gone to bed early. I scrawled a note and placed it in the middle of the kitchen table. Snagging my hoodie and slipping a flashlight in the pocket, I went to meet Henry.

  Clouds had obstructed the moon sheathing the avenue in darkness. “It feels like rain,” I said and glanced to the menacing sky.

  “It gets dark so early, but this time of year rocks,” Henry said while following my lead. “Halloween is the best. What do people do in the Hallows?”

  “What’d you mean, do?” I crossed the street and stalled on the sidewalk in front of Henry’s house where I discovered my phone was missing. I kept my eyes lowered toward the ground ready to retrace my footsteps from last night.

  “New York’s a virtual nightmare around Halloween. Every year there’s kick-assing parties and the clubs are insane. We hit one of those haunted mansions or something.” He unzipped his jacket and winged the sides like he was too hot. “It’s even better when you’re flying high. I’m going to miss that.”

  “Star Hallow has haunted everything. People like to say their houses or farms are haunted and charge admission to scare the pants off you.”

  “Sweet. We’re going right?”

  “Umm…I never liked Halloween,” I lied, and kept my eyes to the ground.

  “You’re shitting me, right? We’re definitely doing something. I’ll bag us some good stuff so we can get really freaked-out. I’ll show you how we party in the city.”

  I had no intention of disclosing to the new boy that I essentially lived a nightmare the whole year. It had been right before Halloween when I found her. Even now, I see her body. I shuffled the memory away the best I could.

  Not that I participated last year, but Nona and the girls frequently had a master plan for celebrating Halloween. Besides, I didn’t want to commit to Henry. Especially since Becket finally knew I existed. As an alternative, I explained, “There’s this one decrepit place on Lucien Court. It’s haunted and… ”

  Henry broke in, “Are you looking for something?”

  Towing my head upward, I looked at his inquisitive eyes. “Yes, I lost my cell phone last night.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve looked for it earlier when it was light out.”

  “I didn’t get home from practice until almost seven.”

  “I never had to wait that long for you. Why so late?”

  “I missed the late bus so Nona and Reggie gave me a ride.” I answered with another petty fib. “I had to stay and watch the boy’s football.”

  His lips drew into an apologetic bumpy line. “I was so tired I raced home and zonked-out or I would’ve given you a ride. Sorry.”

  “It’s not your job to chauffer me around.” I returned my sights to th
e ground, and added, “I really appreciate it though.” The intermittent streetlamps helped in my search, showering the neighborhood until we reached Tarpon Hill. Vandals and kids liked to rock the lamps as a game, and over the years Star Hallow seemed to give up on replacing them. The one surviving streetlamp I’d been standing under the night before had been snuffed out.

  Henry kept my snail’s pace, and he also hunted for the cell. As we walked, he brushed the blades of grass on either side of the concrete sidewalks with his sneakers. He looked up when I stopped to read the street sign.

  He asked, “Why do you always take the long route on Tarpon when Lucien Court would be faster?”

  “You’ve cut through the Court?”

  “When we first moved here I didn’t have anything to do.” The cold must’ve gotten to him as he zippered his gray jacket. “I came down this road a couple of times and crossed over the tracks into the cemetery and had a radical idea of hanging out there. No body to bother us.” He snorted. “Get it? No body?” I must’ve had a funny look on face since he said, “Is it because of that haunted house?” His arms lifted and wiggled his fingers making fun of me. “Ooooo…are you afraid?”

  “That’s part of the reason.”

  Henry hooked my arm and yanked me to the crossroads of Lucien and Tarpon. “I want to see this haunted house. C’mon.”

  Overshadowed with a wave of dread, I dug my heels into the ground. “No, Henry. I’m not going down that street.” I yanked my arm from his hold. “I’m looking for my phone. And it’s not on Lucien Court.”

  “C’mon, Leo. We’ll come back and look for your phone. I want to see this house.” He faced me with a wayward leer. “Do people live there?”

  “It has a macabre reputation.” I looked toward the street which gave out valid murky vibes. “Been vacant for years. I think realtors have given up trying to unload it.” My hands rubbed over my long sleeved hoodie for warmth. “Last I heard the Hallow was thinking of demolishing it.”

  “Crap, what a waste. Let’s go before I miss all the fun.” He dashed ahead.

  “No, Henry—” My voice dissipated in the wind. I watched him trot down the dismal street. He wheeled around, beckoning me. With an overstressed shake of my head I mouthed—“No. Way!”