Splintered (19 page)

Emma had meant to return the text with a call, but by the time she broke free, it had been much too late to call a girl who should’ve already been fast asleep. She had settled for a quick text back, telling Maddy she loved the idea of getting together, but that she’d have to call Sunday to see if the timing could work out.

Now it would be too late to watch the five o’clock news together, but once Emma had a chance to decompress, she vowed to call Maddy with other suggestions of things they could do. When Emma finally opened her front door, she found Ben on the couch, reading his tablet.

“How can you read and have the TV on at the same time? Especially this channel,” she said. “Isn’t it distracting?”

“Hello to you too.”

Emma sighed and plopped down on the couch next to him. “Sorry. I’m bushed. Hello. How was your day?”

“Pretty uneventful. Worked out earlier, and now I’m vegging. And no, the TV doesn’t bother me. I like background noise, makes the place feel less empty. So did you get your guy—”

“Holy shit!”

Ben looked up at Emma. Her eyes were firmly focused on the TV. “What’s the matter?”

“Shush! That’s Lily’s house.”

On TV, a reporter stood outside the Eastins’ house. Even though Emma had never gone inside, she’d sat in her car and waited at the curb for Maddy plenty of times. She’d know that faded Pepto-Bismol-pink house anywhere.

The camera panned around the run-down neighborhood, then went in tight on the reporter. “During the early morning hours of Monday, September twenty-first, a fifteen-year-old girl reported that two men sitting in a van near her bus stop attempted to abduct her. She told police one of the men came up behind her, covered her mouth with one hand, and scooped her up around the waist with the other. Quick wit saved the girl. She fought off the attacker by stomping on his foot and running away. Then she frantically waved down her school bus as it turned the corner onto her street. A harrowing tale . . . maybe. Or maybe not.”

Emma sat on the couch, watching in quiet shock. One part of her wanted to turn away from the screen, but she couldn’t quite persuade her muscles to move. Only when she saw Maddy’s shocked face did she finally allow herself to close her eyes. Unfortunately, her ears couldn’t block out the reporter’s rapid-fire questions.

“Hey, Terrance!” Trudy called out from the kitchen. “Wasn’t this your case?”

When he got up off the floor, two toddlers attached themselves to his legs. They squealed in delight as he Frankenstein-walked them into the kitchen.

Trudy stood at the counter, chopping vegetables and staring at a portable TV screen sitting next to the coffee pot. Terrance came up behind her and grabbed a slice of cucumber off the cutting board. She playfully smacked his hand, then turned up the volume on the TV to drown out the pleas of the little ones begging Terrance for another ride.

“A harrowing tale . . . maybe. Or maybe not,” a news reporter said. “It looks like there might be more to this case than originally thought. As it turns out, a neighbor captured the entire incident on video from the security camera mounted on his front porch. Paul Gleason lives in this corner house, right behind the girl’s bus stop.”

Terrance watched the camera pan wide, turning from a shot of the street corner to Gleason’s house.

“The pivotal break in the case came when Gleason came forward with the recording,” the reporter said. “Who could ask for better evidence to help in tracking down these monsters, right? Well . . . you be the judge. Channel 3 News has obtained a copy of the recording from Gleason, and we want you, our viewers, to be the first to see the ‘crime’ as it unfolds.”

“Oh, no.” Terrance rubbed his forehead.

“What?” Trudy asked.

He just shook his head. Trudy bent down and extricated the two kids from his legs, shooing them into the other room. The television screen went dark, and Maddy’s neighborhood glowed green.

As the video ended, the reporter said, “No, folks, you didn’t miss it. The men this girl reported trying to snatch her from the bus stop never showed up in the recording—because there
weren’t
any men. This whole fictitious story was all one big lie. When Channel 3 News asked the Temple Terrace police spokesperson to comment, he had this to say: ‘During the course of this investigation, it was discovered the minor girl fabricated the story of the attempted abduction. The case is considered closed. The State Attorney is still reviewing the possibility of bringing up charges against the girl for filing a false police report.’”

The shot cut back to the reporter walking down the sidewalk toward the Eastins’ house. “Normally, that would be the end of the story,” the reporter said. “The media is required by law not to disclose personal information on minors involved in a crime. However, the girl at the center of this case reached out to Channel 3 News via our website. The kids at her school discovered she was the one who had cried wolf and started cyberbullying her. In a post on our website, she wrote about the bullying. She’s agreed to talk to us on camera to tell her side of the story.”

Wallace cringed, waiting for the ambush. The news channel was known more for its sensationalist journalism rather than their journalistic integrity. He couldn’t understand what would’ve possessed Maddy to willingly let herself be fed to the wolves. Then again, most sheep—especially teenagers—thought fame was the answer to all their problems. He figured in her mind a glowing news segment would be a way to get back into the good graces of her classmates. Even more inexcusable, to his opinion, was Lily Eastin’s role in letting her daughter go through with it.

Wallace watched as a side shot of the reporter and Maddy appeared on the screen. When the camera panned out, it captured their meager furnishings. “Maddy Eastin. It is so good to meet you. I’m glad you reached out to us about your situation. I understand you want to talk about the cyberbullying attack launched against you by the kids at your school, is that right?”

Maddy nodded and then cleared her throat. “Yes, yes I do.”

Maddy sat shell-shocked, watching the news story unfold on the small television set in their living room. She knew what was coming. She’d lived it only twenty-six hours earlier, but somehow watching it on the screen was like experiencing it for the first time. She watched herself walk down the sidewalk to the bus stop, and for a moment she admired the confident stride. She wanted to warn the girl on the screen to keep walking, not to come back to the house, to the ambush that was awaiting her. As the report continued, Maddy finally got her chance to hear what Alex Sanchez had said while filming outside her front door.

“Quick wit saved the girl.”

Maddy liked the sound of that. Everything seemed to be working out fine—until the footage of the security recording from that nosy neighbor’s house played on screen.

Miss Larson didn’t tell me they would show that!

“Uh-oh.” Lily placed a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide with disbelief.

Her mom had been the last person Maddy had wanted to share this with, but that was before the interview. Now that Maddy knew the outcome, she was glad Aunt Emma hadn’t gotten back to her.

I couldn’t have handled sitting beside her, watching her have the same reaction that Mom is having now.

This was the first time she felt relief that both Aunt Emma and her dad had a habit of ignoring her requests.

Maybe they won’t watch the show
.

Maddy turned back to the TV just as her living room filled the screen. She’d been right. No amount of scrubbing could have wiped away the house’s ugliness. She bit the inside of her lip, trying to hold back her emotions.

I can’t lose it now. Mom will turn off the TV and insist we discuss my feelings. I can’t handle one more “pep talk.”

Maddy had already endured three since the taping. She knew she had to hold it together, had to finish watching the interview to see if it would be as bad as she remembered.

“I understand you want to talk about the cyberbullying attack launched against you by the kids at your school, is that right?”

“Yes, yes I do.”

Maddy was shocked at how she looked on the screen. Makeup she’d spent so much time applying looked bright and garish. Pimples she’d thought hidden seemed to scream, “Look at me!” She couldn’t take her eyes off the large one planted on the side of her nose. Then Alex Sanchez’s profile appeared back on the screen, discussing the issue of cyberbullying.

“We’ll definitely get to that, but first I have to ask, what possessed you to make up such a horrendous lie about someone trying to abduct you?”

“What?” Maddy remembered shaking her head in disbelief at the turn the interview had taken.

“The story about two men abducting you. It was all a lie, right? Your neighbor brought video evidence forward that proves you made the entire story up. What would drive you to make a false accusation?”

“I . . . I . . .” Maddy hadn’t been able to remember the words she’d so painstakingly crafted just hours earlier. This was supposed to be
her
moment, her big TV debut.

Why wasn’t I able to pull it together?

“I didn’t mean for it to go as far as it did. I didn’t think—”

“You didn’t think the police would be called? Come on, Maddy. You ran into the street, wildly waving your arms to get your bus to stop and . . . what? You didn’t think the police would get involved? You didn’t think they would try to hunt down the men you described as trying to abduct you from your bus stop? Which part did you not think about?”

“Nooo.” Maddy cringed as she heard the whine in her voice. It made her look like a toddler who wasn’t getting her way. “My dad walked out five months ago. It’s been tough not seeing him every day. I haven’t even talked to him on the phone. I only wanted him to get back. I didn’t think everything would snowball so fast, would blow up into such a big deal. I just thought my dad would get a phone call from my mom about it, and he would come home. You know, to see how I was doing.”

“And did he?”

Maddy watched as her television double clammed up. Her vocal cords had closed off as she tried to stave off the tears. She shook her head, looking away from Alex’s searing gaze.

“Tell me what happened when you found out that the Temple Terrace police discovered you made up the story.”

Maddy watched herself arch an eyebrow. Dead air filled the room.

Alex jumped back in, following up with another question. “Describe the scene when you were told there was video footage of that morning at the bus stop.”

“A detective showed it to me and my mom at City Hall. We’d gone for an update on the case, and that’s when he told us they’d discovered a neighbor had recorded the whole thing.”

“And?” Alex asked.

“And it was tough to watch. Embarrassing.”

“What does your mom have to say about all this?”

Maddy had glanced over at her mom, standing against the wall. On the screen, it seemed like Maddy had just looked away, trying to think of an answer to the reporter’s question. In actuality, she had stared at her mom’s bowed head, feeling like such a disappointment.

“My mom understands.”

Alex seemed visibly annoyed with her short answers.

Good. It serves you right.

Maddy leaned closer to the TV, knowing the next part would shine a better light on her. She had finally been able to get her bearings, remembered what she’d meant to say earlier: “I’m sorry for lying about the two men. I’m sorry that the police wasted their time looking for two fictional guys. I’d take it back if I could. I swear. I would’ve come clean if the police had brought in a suspect. I wouldn’t have let them charge an innocent man with something he didn’t do. Things never got that far though, and now, I guess, I’m asking for forgiveness. I’ve suffered enough at the hands of my classmates. I’ve been teased, taunted, and bullied enough.”

Instead of airing her passionate apology, however, it just cut to Alex asking, “Tell me how the kids at your school found out you were the girl in the attempted abduction case?”

“Wait a minute!” Maddy shouted as she jumped up from the couch. “That’s not what happened next! They cut my whole part out!” She looked at her mom. “Why would they do that?”

Lily sat on the couch next to her, slowly shaking her head. When she didn’t answer, Maddy sank back down beside her.

The Maddy on the screen said, “I confided in a good friend who lives down the street. She was really there for me, very supportive. She told a few people at school, and it eventually got around. But the kids would’ve found out anyway. The ones riding the bus knew something was going on when it stayed at my stop to wait until the police arrived that Monday morning.”

Even though Sabrina had betrayed Maddy’s confidence, she’d answered the question in such a way that she hoped would endear her to Sabrina again, rather than make the girl angrier.

“Admit it, Maddy. Didn’t you enjoy soaking up the attention everyone lathered on you? How is it you think you have the right to cry foul now that your friends are angry about being duped?”

“Wait a minute—”

“Wouldn’t
you
be mad if someone played on your sympathies with a bald-faced lie?”

“No. I mean, yes. Yes, I’d be upset, but I would never bully someone because of it. The kids at school called me nasty names, tripped me in the hallway, and singled me out on the Internet. I’m sure you’ve read all the hateful things they said about me online. Nothing I did deserves that kind of vicious attack.”

“It’s true there were hundreds of comments on our website from people chiming in on this story.” Alex turned to face the camera and gave the viewers the website address so they could read the comments themselves. Then he turned his attention back to Maddy. “That’s why we wanted to talk to you today. To set the story straight.”

Maddy couldn’t understand why they’d cut another of her answers short. After talking about not deserving the vicious attacks, she had gone on to say the reason she’d agreed to the interview in the first place was to help other kids who were being bullied. She said she’d made a mistake by dreaming up the abduction story, but that it’d opened her eyes to the issues of bullying and cyberbullying. She said she’d learned just how nasty kids could be toward one another, especially in an anonymous forum. That had been the best answer she’d given all day, and none of it was shown.