Shadows 02 Girl in the Shadows (25 page)

wanted to shout at her what she had said to me. "The writing's on the wall." Her days were numbered, reduced to hours, not mine.
But then
I
thought about what Mrs. Westington had said to me in the hospital. Of course, she was right.
I
did have to start thinking of myself and my future. Brenda would surely be calling me any day now and we'd meet and talk about our lives together, her future and mine. Despite all that had happened since we had last seen each other and what had happened immediately before
I
left.
I
was anxious to reunite with her. After all, we were still sisters and as Trevor was fond of saying, blood was telling and strong. We couldn't deny who we were to each other. The truth was
I
actually missed her, even missed her criticisms of me as much as anything.
I
was a changed person. She would see that immediately. Beside becoming more mature.
I
was more determined to stop neglecting myself.
I'd
lose these pounds and gradually gain more
self-respect. Brenda would appreciate that. I was sure we would get along better than we ever had.
These thoughts filled my aching heart with renewed hope. Mrs. Westin ton was right about the necessity of being optimistic. If you saw only the dark side of everything, you'd be blinded by the light of any promise and your savings account of expectations would be bankrupt. I can get us through all this. I thought, as I turned on my side and cuddled up with the blanket I had taken from Mrs. Westington's linen closet. It had the scent of lilac and it made me feel good.
I can survive it all and I can help both Echo and Trevor get through it as well. Well be fine. The morning would bring light and no matter what Rhona said or whatever tantrum she pulled. I would be strong and ignore it. She'd get frustrated and give up on terrorizing me, too. Mrs. Westington was right. Rhona didn't have the attention span for it.
I welcomed sleep. I needed sleep so I could restore myself my strength and my wit, as Mrs. Westington would call it. I wanted to be as confident and as trusting in the future as the birds who were sleeping in the darkness out there. We'll be fine. I sang to myself as I would a lullaby. We'll be fine and safe again.
I did fall asleep quickly, much more quickly than I had expected, because it was only minutes later that
I
woke when the mattress dipped beside me and the blanket was lifted away. The smell of whiskey curled under my nostrils before any other odor. My body froze: my throat tightened. I was terrified of turning around. It was as if I was trying to get out of a nightmare and if I turned. I would fall deeper into it.
I felt something wet and warm on my neck and realized it was a tongue licking me.
"Hi, April," Skeeter whispered.
He shoved his left hand under my left side and brought his right hand over my waist, lifting the nightgown up, his palms moving across my breasts. Then he pulled the nightgown so hard, it brought my arms up and he slipped it off me. I cried out, but he put his hand over my mouth and brought his lips next to my ear.
"Nobody who wants to hear you can hear you," he whispered. "Don't waste your breath."
"Stop," I moaned.
"Naw, you don't mean that," he said, his hands moving down over my hips and between my legs.
I tried wresting myself out of his grasp, but he was too strong. The shock of feeling his hard sex moving between my thighs froze me for a moment.
"Hey, you like that?" he asked.
"No, please, let me go."
"You fascinate me. April. You're the youngest bisexual girl I know. Rhona thinks you just haven't had a real man yet. That Chinese bay is a wimp. I think she's right. You'll thank me for this. I'll help you make up your mind."
I squirmed and tried pushing him away, but he put his weight against me and I was barely able to move.
"You don't want to keep fighting me like this. April. It takes away from the experience, the pleasure."
"Get off me!"
"Hey if I get off you, I'll have to go elsewhere and Rhona is asleep," he said. "Where do you think I might go? Huh?"
It had the effect of a knife made of ice cutting toward my heart. Was he saying he would go into Echo's room?
"All the young women here need the experience, don't you agree?"
"No."
"Sure you do. Who's it going to be first?"
"You're horrible."
"You don't know that yet. April. I might be very, very good. You saw how I was with Rhona. Don't tell me you didn't think about it. want it. too. Rhona said you were standing there and watching us for quite a while.'
"I was not! And I don't want you. You're disgusting," I said. He laughed.
"Stop!" I cried, trying to elbow him away.
"Take it easy. You're about to have the experience of your life and if you're a good girl. I'll help you with Rhona and keep her from driving you out of here, but you have to be a good girl," he said. "Hymn, lots here to grab onto. That's nice," he continued, his hand all over my sides, my stomach, working on turning me around. I tried to fight it, but he was too strong and he threw his leg over me as he turned me, pushing me down until I was on my back, looking up at him. He sat on my legs and in the starlight coming through the window. I could see his tormenting smile.
I swung at him and he grabbed my right wrist and twisted it hard.
"You're hurting me!" I cried.
"Makes it more exciting," he said, and didn't let up on his grip. "Rhona likes that. too. Now what we're going to do here is be very cooperative. I don't like forcing myself on a girl. I like feeling I'm wanted.'
"Well, you're not. Get off me,"
He twisted my wrist again and I cried out in pain. "I can break your wrist in half, you know."
"I thought you don't like forcing yourself on someone."
"I don't, so don't make me do it. I want you to pull your legs apart slowly, see, and then I want you to put your feet flat on the bed and lift your bottom a bit so I have no trouble fitting in neatly. Got it?"
He slipped off me, but held onto my wrist. I tried pulling it free, but he was far too strong. In the process, my left hand hit Destiny's control and I remembered it was there. He hadn't noticed her sitting across from us, facing the bed. Somewhere in the deepest, darkest places in my mind. I realized that she wouldn't like this and that she would help me. Where I found the power. I do not know, but it came back to me: all the skill Uncle Palaver had taught me returned.
"What do you think you're doing?" Destiny asked in her deeper
Skeeter stopped moving but held on to my wrist. "What?" he
muttered, looking at me.
"If you don't get off her this instant. I'll call the police."
I saw he couldn't understand how I could speak and not move my lips.
"Get off her! Get off her this minute!"
Very confused now, he turned ever so slowly and looked at Destiny. Just then I pressed the control and had her lift her right arm, turning her hand so that her forefinger pointed right at him. It took him by total surprise.
"Who the hell are you?" he screamed, and twisting back, fell off the bed. He scampered quickly to his feet.
"Get out of here! Now!" Destiny cried, nodding her head. "or we'll call the police."
He backed up, looked at me. "Who is that?"
"I'll tell you who I am. I'm your worst nightmare if you're not out of here in a split second." she told him. I turned her torso in his direction. His eyes widened and he sputtered and then turned and left the room.
I leaped off the bed and shut the door the moment he was out of the room. Then I brought a chair to it and wedged it under
the handle so it couldn't be opened. My heart was pounding so hard, it sounded like there was a drummer in the room. I pressed my ear to the door to listen for him.
Out in the hall, he gathered his wits about him and turned back to my room. I heard his footsteps and I moaned. He hit the door with his fist so hard, it bounced against my temple. I stepped back and watched him try to open the door against the chair.
"What the hell is that? Who is that? Open this door!" he screamed,
"What's going on. Skeeter?" I heard Rhona ask in a sleepy voice, probably from her bedroom. "What are you doing?"
"She's got someone in there with her, some black woman," he said.
"What?"
"There's someone in the room."
"Who?"
"I don't know. It looked like a black woman."
"A black woman? You're crazy and you're drunk," she said.
"I'm telling you..."
"What are you doing in there. anyway, Skeeter? God, you're pathetic."
"I was just... having some fun,"
"Fun? You call that fun. Come on back to bed. We have a lot to do tomorrow. You know you have to talk to Billy and Lester. That five thousand isn't going to make them happy.'
"But... I'm telling you someone is in her room."
"Now? This time of night she has a black woman visiting her? You're drunk and you're seeing things,"
"I'm not drunk. I heard her and I saw her sitting there. Go look for yourself."
I listened hard, my heart still pounding. Rhona came to the door and tried it.
"What is this'? Open this door immediately. April. Do you hear me?"
"He tried to rape me!" I cried.
"Is there someone in the room with you?" "Yes," I said.
"Who is it?"
"Destiny and she saw it all. She'll tell the police if you don't leave me alone." I said,
"Destiny? What the... open this door." she demanded, and shook it hard. "Do you want me to have Skeeter break it down? He can do that and you'll have to explain it to my mother,"
"Leave me alone. I'm calling Trevor if you don't go away," I said. They didn't know his mother had died and he was gone.
She stopped shaking the door.
"I'm telling you she has someone in there," Skeeter insisted, his voice high and frantic.
"Good for her. I'm going back to bed. Skeeter. I'm not in the mood to start dealing with Trevor and all this in the middle of the night. Who cares about her?"
"Will you stop. I'm tired. dammit."
I held my breath and listened. I heard Rhona walk away and then I saw Skeeter's face in the cracked opening.
"Tell your friend I'll be waiting for her in the morning," he said. He pulled back and returned to their bedroom. I closed the door completely, but left the chair there. I stood waiting for a while to be sure he wasn't coming back. I could hear them arguing in their room. Rhona was mad at him for going into my bedroom. He kept saying it wasn't a big deal. Finally, they were quiet.
How fortunate for Echo that she couldn't hear what went on tonight. What a frightening experience it would have been for her, too. I thought, and returned to my bed. I was still shaking so hard, my teeth were clicking like an old typewriter. I had held my breath so long, my chest ached. I looked at Destiny.
"Thank you," I said, and put on my nightgown again. I sat there for a moment just catching my breath and then I realized that in the morning Skeeter would be charging in here looking for her. Who knew what he would do when he discovered he had been frightened by a trick mannequin? In a rage he might damage or destroy her, I thought. Fear of that kept me awake. I had to think of something.
A good half hour or so later. I got out of bed as quietly as I could and took the chair away from the door. I opened it slowly, inches at a time, to keep the squeaking of the hinges down to a minimum. Then I lifted Destiny from the chair and, moving almost in slow motion, carried her out and into Echo's room.
She was fast asleep and of course wouldn't hear anything. I went to her closet and, first putting Destiny down softly on the floor, opened the sliding door, Then I pulled the clothes forward to make some room and as carefully and surgically perfect as I could, inserted her in the corner of the closet.
"Just for a little while," I whispered, and slid the clothing back to cover her.
I closed the closet door and tiptoed over the floor. It creaked. and I stopped often to listen and be sure neither Rhona nor Skeeter heard. They were in a dead sleep finally, thankfully. so I made my way back to my room. I got into bed. I was so exhausted, nervous, and frightened that I couldn't fall asleep for the longest time. I did just before morning and I was in a dead sleep, dead to the world. Echo had to shake me hard to get me to open my eyes.
Her first question was, "Will Grandma be coming home today?"
I told her I didn't know, that we'd see when we got to the hospital.
She told me she was hungry and she would start breakfast for us. I nodded. groggy and achy. My eyelids wouldn't stay open. She shook me again to tell me she would bring up a cup of coffee for me. I smiled at her, but closed my eyes again and in an instant. fell back asleep.
The next time she shook me, she had a cup of coffee in hand. I thanked her and pulled myself up to a sitting position. She wanted to know if I wanted scrambled eggs. She liked making them. I said yes, even though eating anything was the furthest thing from my thoughts. She turned excitedly and hurried out and down to the kitchen. I sipped some coffee and sat there with my eyes closed.
"Where the hell is she?" I heard next and woke up again. I had fallen asleep sitting up. I looked at Skeeter. He was in his underwear, his hair falling around his face, his eyes bloodshot.
"Huh?"
"Where's who?" I said.
"Very funny." He looked around the room and went directly to the closet, shoving the door open. "Where'd she go? Is she still in the house?
Downstairs?"
"No," I said. "No one else is here."
"Skeeter!" we heard Rhona shout. "Get the bitch to bring me a cup of coffee."
He stared at me. "Who was she? Is she related to Trevor, a sister or a girlfriend? I'm going to go ask him."
"I wouldn't tell Trevor that you came into my room last night," I said. "That might not go over so well for you."
Where I found the courage. I do not know, but I did know I had to put on a good act or I would be at his mercy. He pointed his right forefinger at me, but he didn't say anything for a moment. Then he nodded and smiled.
"Too bad. She ruined a good time for you. I could have drilled you into ecstasy."
"I'd rather have root canal work," I muttered, and his smile slid off his face.
"You heard her. Get her a cup of coffee." he said, glanced around the room again, his eyes full of confusion, and then turned and left.
I rose and got dressed as fast as I could. Echo had my scrambled eggs ready. I told her I had to bring her mother a cup of coffee and she insisted on doing it so my eggs wouldn't get cold. I didn't see how I could stop her. so I let her go up. but