Split (3 page)

I was practicing my moonwalk dance, going from my dresser all the way to the mirror, when Boone knocked on my window.

I climbed on my bed and slid the window open. “Aren’t you grounded?”

He frowned. “Dunno.”

Lene told me Boone gets in so much trouble that Mrs. Lund has a special calendar to keep track of his different punishments so she doesn’t forget any.

Boone took out a little notepad out of his pocket. “I need a plastic bag and some cotton balls, okay?”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

“What fuh-fuh-for?”

“And make sure it doesn’t have any holes in it. Meet me in the school yard, behind the green Dumpster. In five minutes.”

I shouldn’t have gone, but you don’t know Boone, and you haven’t seen him smile. Boone is the only happy person I know. If it weren’t for him, I would have never made it to the fifth grade. At recess, the boys don’t mess with me anymore because they’re scared of Boone, and the ones that aren’t, well, they’re terrified of Nick. Everyone knows about what happened to the boy who tripped Boone last year.

He walked funny for three weeks.

I got a bag out from under the sink, those tiny white ones we use for the kitchen garbage, and some cotton balls from the medicine cabinet. I didn’t know how many he wanted, so I grabbed two handfuls and put those in the bag.

I snuck out from the back door and walked to school. The fence was locked, so I climbed over, being careful not to rip my shorts.

I found Boone and JF crouching behind the Dumpster. “Finally.” said Boone.

“What took you so long, carrothead?” JF added with a smirk.

I hate JF. He hates me too, but he can’t do anything about it. Boone doesn’t let him be mean to me. “Shut up, JF. Besides, O’Reilly’s hair isn’t even orange, you dimwit, it’s red.”

I smiled victoriously and handed Boone the bag full of cotton balls. “What do-do you plan doing with this stu-uff anyway?”

JF giggled.

Boone shoved him in the ribs. “You’ll see.” He had brought his WWF backpack, and when he opened it, I think me and JF held our breaths. Who knew what he would pull out of that bag? There is no limit to what Boone can do. So when he pulled out a small flask with what looked like water in it, our mouths sagged with disappointment.

JF scoffed. “Wow.
Water.
How exciting.”

“It isn’t water, you idiot. Here, Red, smell it and tell this retard it isn’t water.”

Boone handed me the bottle. It looked like a maple syrup bottle, only smaller. On the label, there was a drawing of a woman’s hand. I didn’t really want to smell it, but they were both staring at me with wide, eager eyes. I twisted the cap, and right away, got a good whiff of it. Made me gag. “What is this-this stuff, it smells like your dad’s gaara-a-age.”

Boone grinned. “It’s nail polish remover,” he whispered. “Remember that cop that came to school last year?”

I remembered him. Officer Di Paglio. He had brought his German shepherd dog and a whole bunch of other things. He’d stretched a black cloth over a desk in the gym and laid out all of these things. We weren’t allowed to touch them, but we could all go up and look at them. He had made a sign that read
Drug Paraphernalia
. I didn’t really understand all of it, but I remember Boone’s face that morning.

I had never seen him so focused and attentive.

JF still wasn’t impressed. “So we’re gonna do our nails like a bunch of girlies?”

Boone shot him a mean look. “Weren’t you two paying attention that day? We’re not gonna use it. We’re gonna
sniff
it.”

I should have said something, but I was way over my head already.

JF was quiet all of a sudden. “All right,” he finally said. “What’s the big deal? I mean, what’s gonna happen if we do?”

Boone shrugged. “Dunno. Get high, I guess.”

My hands were beginning to sweat.

“Okay,” said Boone, “this is what’s gonna happen. I’m gonna pour a few drops into the cotton balls and then I’m gonna sniff ’em. Then I’m gonna write down everything I see or hear.”

He was making it sound like a lab experiment. “Why do-do you need to write everything duh-duh-down?”

He looked at me like I was stupid. “So I can compare.”

“With what?”

He winked. “With the other drugs I’m gonna try.”

I knew Boone wasn’t gonna make me sniff anything if I didn’t want to, but JF wasn’t going be so lucky. “After I do it, you do it,” Boone told him.

JF only nodded. He was paler than a pair of my oldest socks.

We watched Boone pour the nail polish remover into the bag. He poured a lot more than I thought he would. Almost half the bottle. I wanted to say something, but I didn’t. I should have said something. I really should have.

When he wrapped the opening of the bag around his mouth and nose, my heart jumped. Boone’s clean blue eyes stared at me from over the bag, and I heard him mumble, “Here goes nothing.” Then he took a deep, long breath through the nose. I watched the bag shrink around his face.

I couldn’t stop staring into his eyes.

They didn’t look normal.

He twitched, and his eyeballs rolled back into his head. He fell back like a rag doll—like he had no bones.

My mouth was open, and my arms were outstretched, but I couldn’t move for a second. I couldn’t even work my legs. They were like two spaghetti noodles.

JF flipped. He screamed and started crying. “Go get Nick! Hurry! Go get Nick!”

And I just ran.

I’m not a fast runner, on account of my asthma you know, but yesterday, I ran so fast, my feet barely touched the ground. I kept thinking of Boone’s blue eyes rolling back into his head, and I wondered if I had just seen my best friend die. What would I do without Boone? What would his parents say? They would hate me. Mrs. Lund would never fix me a ham sandwich again, and Johan would point his finger at me. “You killed my best son.”

When I got to the Lunds’ apartment, my knees were shaking.

Their front door was opened.

I thought I was going to have an asthma attack, and prayed I wouldn’t. I climbed the front steps up to the balcony. “Mrs. Lund?” My voice was shaky. I took a few shy steps into the house. I could see the kitchen. It was empty. I walked in farther. “Mrs. Lund!” This time I yelled.

“She isn’t home.”

I recognized Nick’s voice. He was lying on the couch, but I couldn’t see him, just his huge feet sticking out. My heart raced. There wasn’t any time to lose. If he was going to kill me, then so be it.

Boone needed help.

I took another step inside and tried to make my voice sound lower. “Your brother had an accident.”

“What?” Nick jumped to his feet and into his big black boots “What happened?” He frowned and hissed something under his breath, but I didn’t catch it.

I started running back to the school yard, with Nick hot on my heels.

The whole way there, all I could think was, “I’m alone with Nick Lund and I’m not puking.”

When we got to the school yard, Boone had come around. He was lying on his side, moaning like a kitten. Nick crouched down beside him. “Hey, Bunny boy, what’s going on? Talk to me.” Nick’s voice was soft. I had never heard him speak so quietly. “What happened to your head? Can you sit up?”

Then Nick’s cold blue gaze fell on the plastic bag, and I almost ran off, but I knew he would catch up to me and kill me anyway. Nick picked the bag up, looked inside, and brought it up to his nose. “What the fuck are you guys doing with this shit? Huh? What the fuck is going on here? Tell me you haven’t been sniffing this shit.” Nick’s voice quivered with anger, and his eyes were like blades on our faces. “What’s wrong with you? This is nasty shit. This is dangerous stuff. You guys are stupider than I thought.”

Boone moaned louder. “Nico. It’s not their fault—”

“You shut up. You hear me? You fucking shut your piehole. What am I suppose to do with you now, huh?” Nick slowly shook his head. “You need a doctor, and I can’t drive you the hospital because Dad’s home. We have no choice, I gotta tell him. I gotta tell all your folks—”

“Oh no! Please Nick, please don’t tell my parents,” whined JF with crocodile tears in his eyes. “You don’t know my dad, you don’t know how crazy he can get—”

“Okay. Okay. Stop your bitchin’ and lemme think here, okay? Shut up and lemme think.”

Nick closed his eyes for minute and rubbed his face.

I stood like a glass-eyed doll, watching him. None of us moved until he opened his eyes.

Finally, Nick exhaled a hard breath through the nose and glanced up at JF. “Go home. Get outta here.”

JF gunned down the street as if his undies were on fire.

“All right. I’m gonna send O’Reilly to get Dad. We stay here and wait.”

When Nick looked up at me, my lips pulsed from wanting to say things I’m not even allowed to think.

Nick drew in another deep breath and pointed home. “Go,” he whispered, “but tell ’em you guys were wrestling and Bunny bumped his head against the wall. I’ll take care of the evidence.”

My eyes filled up, and I knew if I blinked, or talked, I would start bawling like a big sissy boy.

“Come on, go,” he said more urgently. “Before I change my mind. But if you two ever pull a stunt like this again, I’ll whup both of your asses, got it?”

I got it all right. I ran back, but this time my feet had trouble carrying me. When I got there, I was really out of breath, and could hardy get a word out without wheezing.

I supposed it made it even more convincing.

You know, that none of it was my fault.

Johan sprang out the door, and I watched him climb into their van and tear down the street. I wanted to go with him but knew Mom wouldn’t let me. So I sat on the porch and stared at the sidewalk for a long time. I sucked on my medicine, that helped a little, and petted the neighbor’s cat. After an hour of that, I couldn’t wait anymore.

I had to know if Boone was all right.

Mom was taking a nap and Dad was watching TV.

I cleared my throat. “Going for-for a bi——”

“Don’t go too far,” Dad grumbled without turning away from the TV screen. He never has the patience to let me finish any of my sentences. “It’s suppertime soon and I’m making your favorite. We’re having sloppy joes.”

I gagged.

I rode my bike to the Verdun hospital. It isn’t very far. Just down the street, then four or five blocks going east. That’s the opposite of where the sun sets.

I left my bike in the parking lot and walked into the emergency room. There were a lot of people in there. Mostly old people. Some kids too. None of them looked like they were dying. I had never been to the hospital. Except once, but that doesn’t really count. I was very small, and I don’t remember why I was there, except that they made me eat a lot of
Jello.

I looked around for the Lunds, but didn’t see them anywhere.

I sat down next to an old man who smelled like mothballs and steamed broccoli.

I watched the nurses and doctors. The doctors were all men and carried clipboards. The nurses were girls and frowned a lot. One of them looked at me from across the room and squinted. She whispered something to another nurse, and then walked right up to me.

“Are you alone here?” Her eyebrows met in the middle and her lips looked like they were on a diet.

I thought I was in trouble. “No ma’am. I ca-came here with Da-Da-Dad.”

People never believe a word I say, on account of my stuttering.

She looked over at the old man snoring in the chair next to me. “Come with me. Come on. Let’s go.”

What now? Why couldn’t she ask the girl chewing on her piggy tails to come with her?

The nurse took me to a smaller room. There was a sign on the door:
Triage.
“Sit down. What’s your name?”

“Derek O’Reilly.”

She squinted again. “How old are you, Derek O’Reilly?”

“Eleven.”

“Why are you here?”

“I’m waiting fuh-for my friend.”

“Who’s your friend?”

“Boone. Boone Lund.”

She tilted her head, and frowned. “You shouldn’t be here alone. The emergency room is a dangerous place.” She picked up the phone. “Lydia, can you tell me what room the Lund boy is in, please?”

I stared at my toes. My shoes are torn at the edges and I need new laces.

“Okay,” she said after she hung up, “I’ll take you to his room. He’s upstairs. Next time, you ask your mom or dad to come with you.”

“Yes ma’am, tha-thank you.”

In the elevator, there was hardly any room to stand. There was a man on a stretcher, and his face was all gray and yellow. There were tubes coming out of his neck and arms. He kept farting out of his mouth.

The nurse pulled me close to her. “Stay close.”

When the doors opened, I hurried out. I was glad to be free of that awful man. The nurse tugged on my T-shirt and pointed ahead. “You go straight. It’s a few doors down. Room two thirty-four.”