“Yes?”
“Are you afraid of me?” Iris touched Vi’s shoulders, ran her fingers over her neck, pressing gently on her throat.
Vi swallowed. “Should I be?”
“Maybe,” Iris said.
“And maybe,” Vi told her, “you should be afraid of me.”
“Why?” asked Iris.
And Vi hugged her. She held her as tight as she could, pushed her whole body against her, melted into her, until she wasn’t sure where she ended and Iris began.
Lizzy
August 21, 2019
COME IN AND lock the door behind you,” Skink said, his voice cracking a little as he tried to sound like some badass action movie star. He shifted from foot to foot. His eyes were red and bloodshot, like he’d either been crying or hadn’t slept.
“What’s going on, Skink?” I asked in a calm voice as I stepped into the campground office, my eyes on the monster book, the doll, and the gun on the desk.
Had I misjudged this boy?
“That’s just what I want to ask you,” he said, moving around to the chair behind the desk. “Sit.” He nodded at the chair in the corner of the office by the coffeepot. I walked over and lowered myself into it. He put his hand on my gun but didn’t pick it up.
I doubted the kid had ever fired a gun in his life.
“Skink, please be careful. That’s loaded.”
He jerked his hand away as if the gun had shocked him, but said defensively, “You think I don’t know that?”
“Just making sure,” I said in what I hoped was a reassuring tone. “So, you went into my van? Took this stuff?”
He nodded, bit his lip.
“How come?”
“You show up here on the island just after Lauren goes missing, asking about Rattling Jane. I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. I knew you were connected somehow. I just needed proof and now I’ve got it.” He looked very pleased with himself.
Here I was, starting to think that maybe he had something to do with Lauren’s disappearance, and he’d been thinking the same thing about me.
“Did you take the gas out of my van too?” I asked.
“Yeah. I didn’t want you to get away. Not when I had all this evidence.” He reached down, picked up the doll. “This is sick stuff, Lizzy. These are her clothes, her actual clothes, her actual hair! Where is she?”
“I don’t know, Skink.”
He took out his cell phone, held it like a weapon, finger poised over a button. “I’ll call my dad. I probably should have already called him, but I wanted to hear your story first. Maybe it’s better if he and I both hear it together.”
“I’d like the chance to tell you first,” I said, keeping my voice calm, level, friendly. “Then, if you’d like, you can call your dad.”
The dark circles under his eyes were like purple bruises. “So start talking.”
I took in a breath, wondered how little I could get away with saying while still keeping him happy. “I did come here, to the island, to find Lauren. I’m very sure she didn’t run away.”
“She was taken,” Skink said. “But not by Rattling Jane.”
“You’re right,” I said.
“I read the book,” Skink told her.
“This book?” I pointed at the cracked three-ring binder that held The Book of Monsters. A child’s project dragged from a closet.