Not An Accident Read online

  I looked over at my Christmas desk and gulped. I hated that thing. The only thing good about it was the skiing poster above it. Well, it used to be a good thing, but now it made me sad. “It’s...” I felt like sobbing, but I didn't want to wake up my parents, “it's complicated."

  "Right,” Kayla said, “I suppose this whole thing is simply a bad omen then, coming back to haunt you... Wouldn’t surprise me.”

  “You know I didn’t ask to get injured.”

  "Of course, you didn't ask. Of course, you wouldn't want it. But I'd thought you'd want some company while you're healing.... sounds like you don't want that either..." She turned around and started to leave the room.

  “Kayla...Wait...”

  She turned it around. “You said it yourself, didn’t you? You don’t want me to wake your parents up?”

  “No.... but.... you need to clean up your mess.”

  "Wouldn't it be easier for you to pretend that you simply knocked them down because you were upset about losing skiing?"

  “Yeah...” But I’m not supposed to leave the bed, “I suppose I could say that.”

  “Good.” Kayla sat down. “Now that that’s covered, I think we should get to the real reason I came over to your house..."

  “You lied to me!”

  Kayla quickly covered my mouth with my hand and told me to shut up. But it was too late.... the door opened, and my Mom entered. Kayla quickly ducked under my bed and I pretended to be fast asleep - but I’d forgotten to turn off the light. For a moment, I lay there as still as I could.... until I heard the light click footsteps leaving. I hoped Kayla was still under the bed- that she wouldn’t jump up to greet. “Coast’s clear,” I whispered, “you can come out now.... but be quiet. And close the door.”

  Kayla’s dark figure darted out from under the bit and slithered to the door, closing, and bolting it shut. “Phew,” She stood up, “that was close.” She reached for my light, but I quickly grabbed her arm, telling her not to touch it. She nodded in agreement.

  “Which reminds me, why did you lie to me?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Why did you tell me you only came to my house to check up on me.... and then you said you had another reason?”

  "I wanted to make sure you were trustworthy enough for me to confide in. I thought you were, but after everybody left and started calling you a dummy... I began doubting you were a true friend."

  “We’re not friends, Kayla,” I said.

  “I still have to be able to trust a comrade, right?”

  Right. However, ... “You damaged my trust in you by lying!”

  “You damaged my trust by leaving the party!”

  I sighed. There was no way I could argue with that. "Say no more,” I said. “Tell me why you came.”

  “I want you to prove that this wasn’t an accident.”

  Chapter 4

  What? Impossible. How could I help her? "I'm not even a lawyer."

  “You don’t have to be a lawyer,” Kayla replied. “And by the way – nothing’s impossible.”

  “Do you have a time machine?”

  “No.”

  I smiled and gave Kayla a look. She blushed. "But that doesn't mean that somebody couldn't create one," she said. "They'd probably wouldn't make it available for public consumption, though.”

  “Why not?”

  "Honestly, Gabby, time's dangerous to mess with... I suppose that scientists could use it to get firsthand experiences of things otherwise a mystery to use... Like how the earth was formed.... or how we came into existence.... evolution or creation? But if the whole population got access to this stuff... "

  The whole world could be destroyed. But weren't their mad scientists out that that'd be able to use a time machine for evil? "Maybe it'd be better if they didn't create it."

  “Honestly, Gabby, if Thomas Edison had that kind of thinking.... he'd never have invented the light bulb. We'd have no late-night shifts.... wouldn’t really have grocery stores or 24-hour places."

  “That guy’s way too ancient.”

  “Course. Compared to Thomas Edison, Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are rookies. But Thomas was special in his time.... and did you ever know how much blue light iPhones emit?"

  No. “Mom got me an Android.”

  “Terrible phones compared to the iPhone.”

  Yeah. Honestly, Androids paled in in comparison to the iPhone. It was almost like they'd been made for older people.... people who didn't really like phones but had to use them for work and school...... "My parents always used Androids," I said.

  "Guess they thought iPhones would be too distracting for you."

  “How do you know that?”

  "That's what people with androids.... typically think.”

  I thought about it a moment. My Mom and Dad both used Androids, mostly just to text, message, and call.

  "I'm not saying that your parents are definitely typical.... but.”

  “This accident is what’s not typical, Kayla.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I can’t even tell how long I’ll be in a cast for, Kayla,” I said, “I wish I could know for myself, but alas... I don’t know.”

  "Do your parents know?"

  “If they did, why would I be telling you all this?”

  “It’s settled,” Kayla said. "this is definitely not an accident. Honestly, I wish the police would believe me.... but it seems they want more than my word. Whatever."

  So, Kayla wanted me to find something.... that proved this wasn’t an accident? Why? Why was this so important to her? Why did she care? “Why are you doing this?”

  “You.”

  “Me?”

  “I want to do this for you, Gabby,” Kayla said.

  “But you don’t know me,” I replied.

  “Maybe not,” Kayla said, “but I do know you need my help. You need help to get past this ordeal, you need my help to survive this.”

  “I thought you said you couldn’t change the past?”

  “Of course not,” Kayla said, “but why do people cry when they’re grieving, even though they know there’s nothing that they can do about it?”

  “It helps them feel better?”

  “No.” Kayla shook her head. “It’s simply because it’s one of the stages of grief” Honestly, Gabby... I'm sad about this too. I really enjoyed having you at the ski lodge. I'll definitely miss having you around to talk to."

  “Don’t talk.”

  "Huh. Sounds like you’re even earlier in the stage then I realized. Oh, well, as soon as you get past the stage of denial, I think you’ll be able to hear me out better."

  In case you didn’t know, Kayla, I'm already past the stage of denial. I just don’t like talking about it. "I don't want to hear another word ‘bout skiing from you."

  “Why not? After all, once you get past grieving, it becomes a memory. A memory that will last forever.”

  “You really think it’d be a good memory?” I said, “All I’ll remember is that I lost my frigging skiing chance! I never got a chance to get that trophy.... never had a frigging chance to prove myself...... God, Kayla...... it’s so NOT FUNNY!”

  “Please, Gabby... Calm down.”

  "I'd love to investigate...... but I can't."

  “Why not?”

  “Because I can’t!”

  Suddenly, I heard a knock on the door. Apparently, Kayla heard it too as she shrieked and ducked under my bed. I quickly turned on my light.... panting and gasping.... trying to make my Mom think I'd woken from a nightmare.

  “Gabby you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, “I just had a nightmare.”

  “Okay.... do you want me to get you some water?”

  Worrying that telling her no would make her more suspicious, I told her yes and then, as I got up to unlock the door, I whispered to Kayla to stay under my bed until Mom came in with the water. I guess I was lucky that Mom.... although she noticed the messed-up bookshelf, didn't even look under my bed
. She simply placed a frozen bottle of water on my bedside table, told me it'd melt throughout the night, and then she left the room.

  Then Kayla came out from under the bed again, and her eyes fell on the list of Stephen’s precautions. She picked them up, scanned the pages, and then crumpled them up and threw them in the trashcan.

  “I know you don’t believe me, Gabby,” Kayla said. “But I’m pretty sure that finding out whoever did this to you will help both of us. Besides, it’ll give you something to do while you recover.”

  I didn’t say anything.”

  “So, are you in? Or not?”

  I sighed. While I knew investigating wouldn’t change anything, aside from the fact wherever it was truly an accident or not, I didn’t want to be alone. “Alright, I’ll investigate. On one condition?”

  “What is it?”

  “Don’t mention skiing.”

  Kayla sighed. But she agreed with the condition, and shortly after telling me that I was a pretty good kid, she left the room.

  ********************

  Somehow, I slept in the next morning, waking up only when I felt unbearable pain in my right arm. Looking at the clock, seeing it was 10:00, I screamed, leaped out of bed, and ran downstairs, finding my mom sitting peacefully at the counter.

  “Mom!” I shouted, “I’m late!”

  “No school today,” Mom countered, yawning, “spent all night trying to find you an aid... I couldn’t find one till today.... and she's not available until tomorrow morning."

  I sighed, and then after eating a quick breakfast, I returned upstairs and tried to fall back asleep.... but in addition to the struggle of trying to sleep with a cast on, I now had the pain to deal with too. It seemed that every time I fell asleep, I’d wake up almost right away.... and I'd look at my clock each time.

  10:20.... 11:20. Why can’t I sleep longer... What the heck? I quickly slapped my face with a pillow and heard Mom coming in. “What did I tell you... No contact sports... Pillow fighting is out of the question... And why the heck is Stephen's precautions in the trash can?"

  I quickly tried to pretend to be asleep.... 11:20... “Lunchtime, Gabby,” Dad gave me a tray of veggies and I whimpered. “Eat up and you can go back to bed.”

  I gagged on the veggies as I gulped them down my throat.... 3:00 PM... “Really Gabby, a mess like this? If you weren’t injured, I’d make you clean this whole place up.”

  5:00 PM Mom “We found you an aid for tomorrow."

  8:00 PM Dad. "Just because you're injured doesn't mean you can't fix this closet! Get up and clean it up!"

  10:00 PM... Mom again. “Why haven’t you eaten anything? You’re gonna starve yourself to death.” Gave me a big milkshake again. I groaned, ate it, and fell back asleep.

  7:00 AM. I jumped out of bed, totally pumped for school. But I shouldn’t have been so excited, as even though Mom had allowed me to wear sweats to school, so I wouldn’t have to worry about unbuttoning them if I had to use the restroom.... my aid met me at the bus stop and spent the whole day following me from place to place.

  Though I complained about her constant presence as I walked from class to class, the teachers didn’t seem to mind. They kept telling me that she was good, that I should learn to cope with her weaknesses.... but I didn’t quite believe them.

  Though she paid enough attention to scribbling her notes while I sat there, she would dart her hand up in the air every time I so much as moved my leg an inch. If I kept fidgeting, the teacher would notice me and ask me to quiet down.... if I stopped, the teacher would scold her for tattling, but everybody would laugh at us. It was embarrassing.

  Lunch was a bother too. My aide spent half the time trying to tie a napkin around my neck. At first, I tried to resist, but then she was dumb enough to call me baby and the classmates started laughing- and I stopped talking. That didn’t stop the words...

  Gym class and recess were also no better.... my aide spent the whole two periods trying to convince my gym teacher and recess aide that it was dangerous for me to be outside or get too much exercise. Her convincing worked so well, she kept me out of the usually mandatory daily gym walk. Well, that just made my day.

  As soon as I got home that evening, I stomped upstairs.... to my room. I heard Mom trying to come after me, but I quickly locked the door, nearly slamming it in her face... I buried my head into the pillow and tried to let out as many tears as I could.... but crying didn’t really make me feel any better.

  Then I noticed Stephen's bird and felt my chest tightening. "Stupid bird,” I muttered, “why are you always so happy.... bout sitting ‘round and doing nothing.”

  The bird didn’t respond. In hindsight I knew it wouldn’t.... it was just a bird after all, but now, I was too angry to care. Spotting my ski poster across the room, I picked it up and threw it. It hit the poster with a resounding plop and I smiled.

  Then the bird fell, shattering into a million pieces as it hit the desk. My smile quickly disappeared, and I quickly stood up, watching bits of glance dance amidst the wooden shards.

  “Gabby? You okay?”

  I stared at the glass shards. This didn’t make any sense. How could a wooden bird shatter like that? “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah,” I watched the glass shards a little bit longer, but unable to figure out how they’d hid behind the wood so long, I quickly gave up and returned to bed, deciding it'd be best to get Mom to back off, "I'm good."

  I heard Mom mutter a soft “Alright” and then heard her footsteps fading away. I quickly lay in my bed, hoping I'd be able to catch some sleep before Kayla arrived.... that is if she did manage to come, and she came.

  She came in around 10:00 PM, bringing along with her an oversized coat, boots that she told me would keep me from falling, snow pants, scarf, and gloves. “Your fingers got to stay warm, Gabby,” she said, helping me into the outfit, “you don’t want to get frostbite, do you?”

  Of course not! Especially not on my casted arm fingers.

  "Ready,” After throwing some pillows and clothes on the bed and arranging the covers so it would look like I'd been sleeping, Kayla tied a scarf around my neck, “let's go!"

  As we headed out the front door, I asked Kayla if she’d brought along a key. She quickly shook her head, saying she’d left the door unlocked, and I asked her what would happen if my Mom and Dad locked it. After all, with a cast on, I couldn't quite hold up a ladder, could I? Never mind climbing it. Kayla quickly told me there was no reason to worry... "After all, there’s secret passageway.”

  “You’re joking!”

  “I’m not kidding,” Kayla said. “there’s really a secret passageway in your basement... it’s how I got in last Sunday.”

  “How come I’ve never seen it?”

  “Have you ever been downstairs?”

  “Not.... often.”

  “There’s your answer, then,” Kayla said. “Come on.... let’s go.... we don’t want your parents to wake up, do we?”

  “No,” I said.

  Kayla took my left hand and we walked.... together.... down the driveway, into the late-night sky. It was darker than I'd remembered it.... mostly because there'd been more streetlights last time... now most of them had been shut off.

  Now the only things that seemed to light the sky were the stars and light moon as well as lights from the surrounding houses. Kayla clenched my fingers and I bit my tongue to keep myself from screaming.... didn’t want to inadvertently wake my parents. "It's dark."

  “Of course, it’s dark,” Kayla said.

  "Remind me why are we meeting at night again?"

  “It’s the only thing that works with my schedule right now,”

  “Oh....” For a moment, I stood there, staring into the darkness.... then I turned around, looking back at my house. Even though I wanted to turn around, go back into my room with its lights and my family... I wanted to hang out with Kayla more. Besides, I’d already come all this way outside.... how much mo
re trouble would I get in for wandering vs simply breaking my curfew? 9:00 Curfew, by the way, “let’s go.”

  “Do you remember the passageway?”

  “Yeah.” I started walking again, and as soon as we arrived at the first intersection, I recalled it. We traveled the path that I remembered, with Kayla ducking us out of streetlights. Even when I told her that she shouldn't need to worry that much.... she told me better safe than sorry and kept ensuring that I remained out of the way of street lamps and headlights...

  Eventually, we arrived at the path I'd lost control of my skis at and I stopped. Looking at the hill - it reminded me of the hills I’d been on at the ski lodge.... though it was not quite as steep as them.... more like a gentle slope. But even that was a bit dangerous.

  “It’s okay Gabby,” Kayla wrapped her arms around me, “I’ll support you.”

  “Yeah, thanks.” I held onto Kayla as best I could while we walked down the hill.... to the end of the road. I looked up and saw the big construction and gulped.

  “So, this is the crime scene?” Kayla said.

  I nodded. “Honestly, I’m not impressed.”

  “What did you expect? Fancy land?”

  “No.... I…” Kayla quietly wandered around, “I just expected.... more than this.” There was no police tape- no signs that the Propety was destroyed- the whole placed simply looked abandoned, like a scene out of a horror movie.

  And it’s only been a few days. “It’s the perfect disguise,”

  Kayla glared at me. “Look... Kayla,” I said, “most mysteries require a lot of work to make it look like nothing more than an accident. But this.... this is something that looks very much like an accident.”

  “But I know it wasn’t’!”

  "You know that's not enough evidence for the police, right?"

  “Of course not,” Kayla said. “That’s why I need your help. You still on, right?”

  “Yeah, I’m on,” I mumbled, still not sure investigating would do any good. For one, everything in the construction site, besides the fact that it appeared abandoned- looked the way a construction site should. Even the trailer.