Take Your Turn, Teddy Read online

  The bull’s eyes zeroed in on Pete, and it began to charge.

  It was happening all over again. Teddy didn’t think he could take seeing the bull batter anyone else he loved. His eyes swelled with tears. He mustered up as much of a shout as he could with the tears and said, “Stop! Please, no!”

  Teddy tried to swing his limbs and rise from his seat, but it was no use. He whimpered in fear and frustration.

  Teddy. Teddy. You’re okay.

  The bull pushed past home plate and dove into the vacant stands. The rest of the crowd had already fled. Or did he forget to put them there in the first place?

  The bull zoomed up the steps, past Teddy, and to Pete.

  “Stop! Stop!”

  The bull forced Pete to the steps and stomped across his back. It turned at the top of the steps and huffed a heavy breath as Pete struggled to regain any muscle strength. A hunger for power, power through pain, sparked in the bull’s eyes.

  Put me there, Teddy. In front of Pete. Do it!

  Tears rolled down Teddy’s cheeks. “Don’t hurt him!”

  Teddy, you have to do it now.

  Teddy squeezed his eyes tighter and imagined the shadow figure. At that moment, Teddy realized he had never seen the shadow aside from its hand and glowing eyes. So, Teddy imagined a hooded being that looked like Death with glowing eyes. The shadow stood before Pete, who was coughing, spewing the steps with blood and bile.

  The bull charged the shadow. “Shadow! Look out! Look out!”

  The shadow raised its skeletal hand at the beast. Just before it nearly passed through the shadow and into Teddy’s friend, the bull detonated. Chunks of its hide, limbs, and blood soaked the cement. Teddy wiped the blood from his eyes and held his jersey in front of him, drenched with thick crimson wetness and that smelt of copper. It fell from his forehead, down the bridge of his nose, and into his mouth. Teddy’s mouth opened as he gagged.

  Feet pounded up the steps outside of Teddy’s vision. His bedroom door swung open. “Teddy! What’s the matter?”

  Teddy opened his eyes and saw his mother in the doorway, holding a dripping paint roller. Oddly enough, Teddy’s mother was painting the kitchen brick red. The paint spotted Teddy’s floor like drops of blood. He felt his face and was alarmed at the moisture. But when he held his hand out, the liquid was clear. They were tears.

  Teddy turned in a full circle. He was in his dull room in the new house. There were no animal organs or pools of blood nearby. Blood. The smell.

  Before Teddy could finish his thought, Teddy’s mother said, “Teddy? Did you do this to the walls? What happened up here? And why were you shouting? You scared the hell out of me.”

  He hadn’t realized how many games of tic-tac-toe he played with the shadow. The walls were covered. Even the posts that held the mattress on his bed were marked with lines of tic-tac-toe and homemade scoreboards, showing Teddy as the reigning champ, undefeated.

  But that wasn’t what she meant. She traced her red paint-covered hands over the cracks in the wall. At the center read the first message from the shadow—well, the first to catch Teddy’s attention. The one that said, Hello.

  “I—uh.”

  It was there when you moved in. You were shouting because you were playing, the shadow whispered in Teddy’s mind.

  Without thinking, Teddy repeated, “It was there when we moved in. I was shouting because I was playing.”

  Teddy’s mother looked at him, her eyes weighed by concern. They danced around each corner of the room, noticing all the marks. The scorecards said, “T & S.”

  Teddy’s mother didn’t ask about those, but she brought her hands to her face and sighed. His mother’s face was still discolored from his father’s hands. “I haven’t asked. I’m sorry. We should’ve talked more about this. How are you doing, Teddy Bear?”

  If his mother was hiding her pain, was he supposed to too?

  Teddy shrugged his shoulders. “Fine. I miss Pete and Dad.”

  Teddy felt as though he had just used a curse word. The thought just popped up and rolled off his tongue. He bit his lip and looked at his mother, waiting for a big upset, maybe tears, but she only nodded.

  “I’m sure, Teddy. It was a big change fast.”

  Her hands were shaking, and the paint roller she held to her side teased her pant leg, brushing against it just a bit at a time. She wasn’t ready to talk about it. Teddy knew if he pressed her further about his dad, if he asked questions, she would comfort him. But maybe he needed to do more to comfort her, so he let it go.

  Teddy lifted the camera and said, “Look what I found in—”

  He hesitated. Teddy didn’t want his mother to find the shadow. He thought she would be afraid of it and maybe get rid of it, or lock the basement door and throw away the key. After all, the yellow eyes scared him at first too.

  His mother’s face lit up with excitement. “Oh, wow! And it’s in great condition. It looks almost brand new!”

  That made Teddy feel a little guilty. “Oh, you’re right. Do you think the last family left it by accident? Can Grandpa get ahold of them and ask? We can mail it back.”

  Teddy’s mother set the roller on the ground, neglecting to notice the mess she left on the hardwood floor. She sat beside Teddy, ran her fingers through his hair, around his cheek, and down to his chin. Her usually soft hands were dry with days of labor, but the gesture still made Teddy’s mind feel at ease.

  “You keep it. Finders keepers.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Things will start to feel more like normal, Teddy. I promise. Now, let me see your pictures.”

  Before Teddy could say anything, his mother flipped through them, and the worry lines on her forehead became prominent, followed by a deep frown.

  “The lines, Teddy. There’s more and more in each picture.” She lowered the pictures to her lap. “Are you playing up here by yourself?”

  Teddy didn’t answer.

  His mother rose from the floor with the prints in hand and flipped through the rest of them.

  “Look through them, Mom. I’ve got some good ones of the stars, baseball fields, a snowman.”

  She shuffled the pictures and then flipped faster and faster as panic took over her face.

  Teddy’s mother went to the bookcase and spread the photos on top of it. Teddy stood beside her.

  Teddy saw the old house and wondered if that was bothering his mother. But she leaned on the shelf and looked back at him and said, “Honey, these are just pictures of the walls.”

  The two of them stood together in silence. Teddy’s mother looked at him, waiting for an explanation. Her eyes were wide with worry.

  The front door creaked open, and Teddy’s mother nodded as if to say, “Well, then.”

  She ran her fingers through Teddy’s hair and handed him back the pictures.

  “Hello? Mrs. Blackwood?” a voice called from downstairs.

  His mother’s shoulders rose. “Ope. That will be Mr. Abraham. Your grandfather sent him to help fix the locks and the washing machine.”

  She smiled at Teddy and said, “Why don’t you come paint with me?”

  “That’s okay.” He picked up the camera. “I want to explore outside a bit more.”

  His mother went down the stairs, and Teddy turned to the wall in his room. He cleared his head and thought of Benji’s Ice Cream Parlor back home with the bright green summer leaves hanging above.

  Teddy raised the Polaroid to the wall, and out popped a photograph of the old ice cream shop in Oakhaven. He could taste the vanilla bean on his tongue.

  11

  “I just think he misses it back home,” Teddy’s mother said.

  Teddy sat at the top of the steps, prepared to make a run for his room if his mother came up. Mr. Abraham had set the kitchen up with a phone, and Teddy’s mother spoke to his grandparents daily.

  Teddy, looking
dead on, said, “She’s worried about me.”

  The hissing whisper interrupted Teddy’s train of thought and answered back, She doesn’t understand. She doesn’t have to.

  Teddy shrugged. Part of him wanted his mother to know he wasn’t as alone as she thought he was. The shadow kept him company. If she knew, she wouldn’t worry.

  “We could try to tell her? Maybe together?”

  No! We can’t.

  The quickness of the shadow’s words startled Teddy. It seemed as though it spat them, causing his shoulders to rise in tension.

  I’m sorry. The last friend I had, Teddy, he told. He told them about me, and then we couldn’t be friends anymore.

  The shadow said “he.” Teddy thought maybe the shadow’s old friend wasn’t the little girl who owned the scary doll after all.

  “What was your old friend like?”

  It doesn’t matter, Teddy. You’re my friend now.

  Teddy smiled and nodded. “I am.”

  Teddy heard his mother drag her wicker sandals across the kitchen floor as she spoke into the phone.

  “No. No. We can’t. We just settled here. I can’t uproot Teddy again and take him another fifteen hours.” Teddy’s mother sighed and said, “Dad, I know. Okay, I know, and I appreciate that, but this is what’s best for us.”

  She was quiet, and then with grit in her voice, Teddy’s mother said, “I haven’t heard from Arthur. Now I have to go.”

  That did it. It reeled Teddy in. Usually, he would listen and think over what his mother had said on the phone to try and make sense of it on his own. But this time, she mentioned Teddy’s father.

  Teddy rose from the steps, and they answered with a creak. Teddy dropped one foot to the step below him. As if it built an invisible wall, the shadow tiptoed into Teddy’s head, and he stopped.

  Teddy, let it go. It won’t help you.

  “She hasn’t talked about my dad since we left.”

  Teddy was about halfway down the steps when the horn of Mr. Abraham’s Chevy truck sounded. Dust lifted from the house as the eleven o’clock train began to rumble by too.

  It was enough to shake some sense into Teddy. He was aware of her tone. She didn’t want to talk about his father—not with Teddy’s grandparents and not with Teddy. Teddy decided against going downstairs and turned back to his room.

  When the front door opened, he picked up the pace. Mr. Abraham seemed nice, but it was still too much for Teddy. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about Mr. Abraham popping in and out set Teddy on edge, like being hit with a pitch at a baseball game. Intentional or not, the pain made him angry.

  When he opened his door, the skeletal limbs of the trees outside annoyed him too. They should be full of green. It was summer.

  Teddy grabbed a baseball and rolled it across the floor, hard enough that it came right back. He did it again, harder, and the ball shot back as the wall’s trim separated and fell to the floor. A cluster of frazzled bugs scrambled out.

  “Ugh!”

  Stomp on them, Teddy.

  Teddy scrambled away from the multi-legged pests, frightened.

  They scared you. Now, you kill them. Do it, Teddy.

  Teddy crawled to his closet and grabbed his white Converse, slid his hand inside, and pounded on the bugs below.

  A wave of anger came over him as he pounded again and again into the floor, whether there were still bugs under his might didn’t matter.

  You got them, Teddy.

  Teddy swallowed hard as he tossed the shoe to the side and backed away from the bugs.

  Feel better?

  “Yes. Better.”

  You’re angry, Teddy. Not just about the bugs. Tell me why.

  Teddy’s eyes fell to the floor, and he pulled his knees to his chest.

  It’s alright, Teddy. I’m your friend.

  “I miss him, but I’m mad at him.”

  He hurt you, Teddy.

  “And my mom. He hurt her bad.”

  Come see me, Teddy. We can take more pictures. I can make it better.

  Teddy wiped a tear sliding down his cheekbone. “Okay. I was going to show you the pizza place me and Pete used to go to.”

  There was a creak in the hall. Teddy turned and yelled, and a higher pitch squeal answered.

  It was the blonde girl he had seen on the swing at the house they passed on the other side of the woods.

  Mr. Abraham’s voice came from the living room below, “Ali? Are you alright?”

  With her pale blue eyes locked on Teddy, the girl yelled back, “Yes, Daddy!”

  As if they had met hundreds of times, Ali shook off the shock and sat on the floor beside Teddy. With a sweet smile, she said, “Who were you talking to?”

  Teddy waited for the shadow’s instructions, but they didn’t come. His mind was full only of his own confusion and the scare this girl had given him.

  Before Teddy could answer, Ali had already moved on. She pointed to the fracture in the wall. “Whoa! How did that happen?”

  Again, Teddy’s head was silent. Ali stared at Teddy, waiting for his response.

  “Oh, uhm—I don’t know. It was like that when we got here.”

  Twice. Teddy had lied about the wall twice now.

  Ali cocked her head to the side like a confused terrier. “It wasn’t like this last time I was in here.”

  That ignited a flame of curiosity in Teddy. Maybe she knew the shadow’s last friend.

  “You mean you’ve been in my room before?”

  Ali paused, lowered her voice, and said, “Well, not your room. It used to belong to one of the Warren girls.”

  Girls. Teddy wondered if it was possible that one of the Warren girls knew the shadow, even if they weren’t the friend he spoke of. Still, Teddy heard the shadow say, “My last friend, he told.”

  A group of footsteps beat into the creaking steps. Under Mr. Abraham’s work boots, they sounded hollow.

  With an aging version of his daughter’s hair color and a fair amount of scruff on his chin, Mr. Abraham poked his head around the door.

  “Hiya, Teddy. I see you’ve met Ali.”

  Ali went and stood in front of her father. He wrapped his arms around her as she faced Teddy. Mr. Abraham looked at the marks at the wall and then back to Teddy as if he were looking at a circus freak.

  With a concerned tone, Mr. Abraham tried to move forward for the time being. “I was telling your mom, Teddy, I believe this fall, you and Ali will be in the same class.”

  Teddy hadn’t thought too much about school in Indiana. It made him nervous. He’d be sure to bring it up with the shadow later. Maybe Teddy would even ask the shadow to create a picture of his old lunch table where he and Pete sat. He could carry it in his backpack on his first day.

  “The swings are pretty good too,” Ali said, rocking back and forth on her heels. “I can get higher at school than I can at home.”

  Teddy only gave a shy smile. He was relieved when his mother stepped into the room. She turned to Mr. Abraham.

  “Checked the office too. AC is running in every room. Thank you again. I found that old book you were looking for too. Doesn’t look to be in very good shape.”

  Mr. Abraham grabbed the worn, leatherbound book from Teddy’s mother. Teddy couldn’t help noticing that Ali’s eyes flare with… what was it? Excitement? Alarm? Teddy couldn’t quite tell.

  Mr. Abraham nodded, cleared his throat, and said, “Thank you very much. Mr. Warren was a friend.”

  Mr. Abraham shook his head and motioned to the kids, “Lila, I was just telling Teddy about his new school.”

  Teddy’s mother looked at him on the floor and smiled. “It will be so nice for you to have a friend when school starts. Won’t it, Teddy?”

  Teddy was quiet.

  “Mr. Abraham says school here is on a different schedule than back home. They get out two w
eeks earlier and go back two weeks earlier. I think that will be nice,” his mother said.

  Teddy wasn’t sure which part he was supposed to find appealing, but he faked a reassuring smile. He wondered where the school or even other people from the town were. All he could see was woods and corn.

  As if Ali could comb her way into Teddy’s thoughts like the shadow could, she groaned, “We’re so far out from everyone else.” Then, her icy blue eyes zipped to Teddy, who was just realizing he was still on the floor, “At least now I’ll have someone to play with.”

  Teddy could hear the shadow’s whisper. Friends play games. It slithered from his ear, over his shoulder, and down his spine. Teddy felt himself shiver.

  Ali noticed. “Since Daddy fixed the air, it probably does feel chilly to you now. Come on. Let’s go outside and play. It’s hot out there.”

  Teddy looked at his mom, who nodded her head forward, as if to say, “Go on.”

  Ali grabbed Teddy’s hand and ran for the stairs before stopping and nearly tripping Teddy. “Mrs. Blackwood, is it okay if we play in the creek?”

  Mr. Abraham chimed in. “It’s not too far into the woods there. Just back a little. If we’re outside, we can hear them. I can always hear Miss Ali giggling as she splashes around in there.

  Teddy’s mother folded her lips in as she considered it. “Teddy’s not a very strong swimmer.”

  Teddy felt himself blush. “I’m not that bad.”

  He was.

  “Ali, you know where the drop-off is. Don’t go out any farther. Not even on your tippy-toes. Feet have to be flat on the bottom, and no water over your shoulders. Got it?”

  Ali nodded and giggled.

  Teddy’s mother made her way through the group and went down the steps; they followed. “We have some old t-shirts in one of these boxes.”

  Teddy’s mother crouched onto the floor and the knee that her distressed jeans left bare swiped across the dusty floor. She opened one and kicked it away. Then she found the one she was looking for, peeked inside the flaps to be sure, and slid the box to Ali and Teddy. “Grab one. Both of you. You can wear these to the creek.”