Souls in Peril (20 page)

“
Not sure. Some say abused children grow up to be abuser
s
.
”
Sh
e shook her head.
“
That
’
s a cop-
out if you ask me. My mother
’
s father used to beat her and her brother for the littlest things
.
Y
et my mother, like, never laid a hand on me or my three sisters. When I asked her
once
why she didn
’
t follow in her father
’
s footsteps, she told me she could never hurt someone she loves the way her father hurt her. It made no sense. The mere thought of it made her sick.
”

“
She must be pretty amazing,
”
Max said, wondering why some repeated the cycle of abuse while others broke free of it.

Bambi slid the ashtray open and pulled out a stick of gum, offering Max a piece.
“
Like, the way I see it, it
’
s a matter of choice. Some people choose wisely, and some choose poorly
,” she said, lowering her voice, sounding like the Knight in the Indiana Jones movie
The Last Crusade
.
Bambi grinned. “
I was lucky. My mom
chose
wisely
.
Maybe I
’
m oversimplifying it, but that
’
s how I feel.
”

Max wondered if it was really that simple. His paren
ts were great parents, but so w
ere both sets of grandparents. The idea of abuse was foreign to him.

“
So, d
o you feel comfortable enough to share a story next time? We don
’
t, like, bite you know,
”
she offered a playful smile.

“
Yes,
”
Max answered soundly, despite JD
’
s objections. He pointed out his house as they turned onto Valley
D
rive.

“
I
’
m glad you came, JD. You have a lot of talent.
”

“
Thanks.
”

“
Oh, wait. I forgot about your accident. How are you doing? The paper said you were in a coma for
over a week
.
”

Max wondered if she bought into the theory about JD being responsible, but he didn
’
t sense any judgment coming from her, only concern. After spending
just
a few hours with Bambi, Max could see why JD liked her.
“
I
’
m getting stro
nger every day,
”
he assured her. It was true, in s
pite
of
the headaches that still plagued him.

“
I
’
m glad. Stop by the library again. I miss having you around.
”
She waved as she drove away.

Max went straight to the bedroom and gathered up JD
’
s writings and spread them out on the bed. Time to do more research into JD
’
s world.

One notebook was filled with poems. Max hated poems. To be fair, he read through a few pages. The poems were
un
like any he
’
d read before. They weren
’
t mushy
,
girly poems declaring love, but rather
poems of a young man struggling to belong. Max read a depressing cinquain poem JD
’
d written in red.

JD

Lumpy Larry

Avoiding, hiding, running, 

Scared and all alone

Me

The rest of his poems were depressing also. Phrases and lines from several stuck in his mind. Phrases like:

Will no one befriend me, will no one dare
?

Not being is an option that can
’
t be so wrong.

Yelled at and mocked; Defaced and ignored.

Max put the poem book down. Th
o
se depressing thoughts were not what he wanted to dwell
on
or share with the group. He picked up the notebook with a large silver spaceship on the cover.
“
This must be the story Bambi helped him do research for,
”
Max guessed. He read the first several pages, instantly hooked. He found the story entertaining and hilarious. Never would he have guessed JD had such a rich
sense
of humor. The main hero was a bumbling inter-galactic warrior; sort of
a
Johnny English meets Hans Solo. Max laughed out loud several times. As much as Max owned the baseball diamond, JD owned writing. The story went on for abou
t a hundred pages, then stopped
right in the middle of an adventure. He scanned the rest of JD
’
s writings and with each story it was the same thing; halfway through the adventure, the story would end
, as if
he
’
d just given up.

The half
-
written stories were a reflection of JD
’
s life, not that Max blamed him. JD walked a difficult
road
, and Max wondered what he would have been like if he were born into his situation.

“
We need to do some running,
”
Max said, wanting to clear his head. He changed into shorts and his tennis shoes. Almost seven now, if he ran for half an hour, he could be home and get in his upper body workout before
Tim
g
ot
back from the racetrack. Max
hiked
straight to
the
jogging path at Applegate Park and began his run. He and Emma had run on the path too many times to count over the past two years. Memories of their days spent in the park filled him with a longing to see Emma and hold her just one more time. He hadn
’
t realized how fast he
’
d
r
u
n
until the urge to vomit raced up his throat.

“
Sorry,
buddy
. I keep forgetting you
’
re not ready for a
hard
run yet, but we
’
ll get you there.
”
Max could have sworn he heard JD groan. He chuckled as he leaned against a leggy willow tree.

“
JD,
we meet again.
”
Emma. He turned to see her pretty face smiling at him.

“
Hi,
”
he said, wiping the sweat of
f his face onto his shirt
sleeve.

“
Are you here jogging?
”

“
Yes. I want to get in better shape.
”
He playfully patted his belly.

“
I can see you
’
ve already lost weight. My dad said you were in the hospital for almost two weeks.
”
She turned and walked along the pathway as she spoke. Max took it as an invitation to follow.
“
How are you feeling now?
”

“
Not bad. I still have headaches. The doctors said those will fade in time. I
’
m hoping the exercise will help too.
”

“
That
’
s good news,
”
she said brightly.

“
Yes. They
’
re pretty nasty. I
’
ll be glad when they finally stop.
”

“
How
’
s your nose? Jeff told me what happened. I
’
m sorry. He really is a good guy.
”

“
All better.
”
  Max gingerly touched his nose, forcing his face not to react to the pain.
“
How
’
s the knee?
”
He looked down
at her
bandage.

“
Fine. The nurse loves to over
react.
”
She brushed her hand
through
the air.
“
I thought you should know, my dad filed the report. He had a copy sent to the school
as well
. Hopefully things will get better for you now. I
’
m real sorry about the way you
’
ve been treated.
”

“
I
’
m
grateful for all you
’
ve done today. I think Leo would have beaten the crap out of me if you hadn
’
t said something.
”

They came around the south edge of the path. Max
peer
ed up at the oak tree looming in front o
f
them. So did Emma. He glanced over at her as she stopped
and
star
ed
at it. Her blue eyes filled with pain. She remembered.
Of course she
’
d remember.
It was their tree.
He wished he could take her in has arms and kiss her again, like he did that hot
June
day two years ago.

“
Are you alright?
”
he asked gently, knowing the answer.

“
Yes.
”
She stumbled a few steps back.
“
But I really need to get going
. I
’
ll see you tomorrow.
”
Before Max could say anything, she bolted away.
He
watched as she wiped
her
tears from her face.

“
I
’
m sorry, Em,
”
he whispered after her.

Torn between the sorrow that engulfed his heart, and the survivor guilt
-slash-utter confusion that
JD
insisted on
harness
ing
himself with, it was too much.
Max sank down
against their tree, and
dropping his head against the rough bark of the mighty oak, he
let the memories of
Em
take him back in time.

Chapter 1
2

“
Wait! I have the perfect line.
‘
Do you have a Band-Aid? I just scraped my knee falling for you.
’
What do you think?
”
Leo asked.

Max looked at his best friend since kindergarten and rolled his eyes.
“
Anything
’
s better than
‘
My love for you is like diarrhea, I just can
’
t hold it in.
’
But it
’
s still
stupid. Do you actually get dates with pickup lines like that?
”

“
Do you ever see me with a girl on my arm?
”
he replied painfully.

“
Lisa York,
”
Max pointed out. Leo rolled his eyes.
“
She
’
s cute, so what
’
s the problem?
”

“
She
’
s a clinging vine. Every time we go out she hangs all over me. It
’
s smothering. Besides, the only
reason
she
’
s going out with me i
s
to get to you.
”
Leo kicked a discarded plastic water bottle over next to a garbage can.

“
That
’
s not true.
”
Max shook his head and glanced casually over at Emma McKay in her white t-shirt and
blue
jogging shorts. She moved to Port Fare a month ago and Max became immediately enamored with her. He knew that she drove a
cherry red Acura
, that she hated history class, and that she came to the park every other day to run. He knew everything about her, yet he
’
d never spoken a word to her.