Page 11 of Locke 2

“Thanks, I’ll—”

But she was already gone, the scent of alcohol clinging in the air.

I couldn’t stop thinking about her that evening. She hadn’t read that damn book to her son. She didn’t even know what it was. The damn book was called The Fire Station, and it was about, you guessed it, a freaking fire station and fighting fires and all sorts of things about fire stuff and safety. You don’t forget a fifteen-page animated book about firefighters fighting fire.

I had such a bad feeling about her. Something felt all wrong. The way she ushered him out without even touching him. The way he just followed; his eyes trapped to the floor. His eyes had gone distant. He might have been following her, but in his head, he had escaped.

I was annoyed because I didn’t think there was anything I could do for Lenny. Patsy would put a stop to it, anyway. She didn’t want to care. She just wasn’t that kind of teacher, or maybe it’d been burned out of her after years of these kids blowing in and out of her class. Did that make a teacher desensitised? How much did you have to see before you got that way? The question I feared to ask myself was: how much would be enough for me before I learned to stop prodding?

I’d heard many times the teachers talk amongst themselves. They said never to bring work home. At the time, I thought they meant schoolwork, but now I was beginning to suspect it was more than that.

“How’d your trip to the doctor go?” Hal asked later when I was getting ready for bed. He’d just come home. Lately he wasn’t coming home at all. I was sure he was getting pretty serious with one of the coworkers. Selfishly, I hoped he wouldn't moveout because I couldn’t cover the rent, and I didn’t want to get to know a roommate all over again.

“I got something to help with the anxiety,” I said.

“Which doctor did you go to again?”

“Nick Abbott. Know him?”

“Oh, nice. He’s a good one.”

“He is.”

“Easy on the eyes, too.”

“Definitely no complaints here.”

He laughed. “Well, he’s freshly single, so you might want to scoop him up.”

The laugh I returned sounded choked and awkward.

I thought of the doctor for a few moments, trying to feel any heat in my chest, but it was just little butterflies in my stomach. Oh well. Dude fished and camped around the mountain. He didn’t hunt predators down and throw their corpses in the trunk. The doctor was adventurous and capable, but he wasn’t dangerous and filthy.

I slid into bed and lay awake for a long time, tossing and turning. Aurora skipped around the room all the while, keeping me company. I was suddenly grateful for her presence because I thought I’d lost her on the sidewalk today.

“You want him to be hiding in the corner,” she chirped excitedly. “That would be scary. You like scary, right?”

I didn’t respond, but my eyes found the corner of the room. It was so dark, he could very well be standing in it, feet from where I was, and I wouldn’t know. My heart raced at the thought. Excitement made my heart jump and my lower half throb. I ran a frustrated hand down my face and tried to focus on my breathing.

“You wish you could stop thinking about him, but you’re always thinking about him.” She continued to torment me. “And that makes you so mad because you know he’s not thinking about you. If he was, he’d be here. He’d be in this very corner.”

Man, Aurora was savage.

Dahlia rummaged in her bed beside mine, and when I clicked my fingers for her to come, she refused. She wasn’t a cuddler at night. She buried herself under the covers instead and fell asleep.

Aurora continued to skip around the room as the hours ticked by.

No one was in the corner.

No one was hiding.

“I will always find you.”

Pain spread through my chest.

Liar.

The House

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