“You know,” she said, “I blame myself. I let him out all alone and I never do that. It was just cold and I…”
“Ellie, it’s not your fault. Somebody else did this to him. You would never hurt Bentley.”
“I know, but if I had gone out with him, he wouldn’t have run off like that.”
“I think whoever did this, would have gotten to him no matter what. I think they were waiting for the right moment.”
She turned to him. “Why do you say that?”
“I don’t know. Just a feeling, I guess. You said it was like he just disappeared. Somebody had to make it look like he vanished without a trace.”
She didn’t look convinced. “So some dog stalker is out there stealing dogs and-and doing stuff to them?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know-maybe. Some sicko is out there. Why else would his head be missing?”
Her mouth dropped open and then she made a small cry as her hand went to her lips. She stood abruptly and ran into the house. Luke tried to think of something to say to stop her but he just sat there kicking himself and wondering why he was so stupid. He went to the door and knocked, but no one answered. He was turning to go when the door opened and Mrs. Pemberton said, “Hello, Lucas.”
“Hello Mrs. Pemberton. I think I upset Ellie. I wanted to tell her sorry.”
She looked back behind her and up the stairs. “I’ll tell her for you. I’m sure she’ll be ok in a bit.”
“Sorry about Bentley,” he offered. She nodded once and shut the door.
Luke climbed the steep driveway to his three story house and concentrated on keeping his footing in the new fallen snow. In the short walk from Ellie’s house, the snowfall had intensified and a few inches had already accumulated on everything. The older, brown, dirty snow was covered completely and the world had a new, white, clean sheen that made Luke feel better despite the fact he had botched it with Ellie.
He pushed the front door open just as his older sister Deana pulled from the inside. He stumbled off balance and fell into her.
“Watch it, loser!” she grinned, and pushed her way past out into the whiteness. Apparently she was in a hurry. Her boyfriend’s beat up Ford F-150 was just pulling up. Luke’s mom yelled from the kitchen, “You tell that boy to drive careful in this,” but Deana was already gone.
“She didn’t hear you, Mom,” Luke said.
She peered around the kitchen door and said, “Where have you been? It’s already 4 o‘clock.”
“I stopped and talked to Ellie.”
“How is she?”
“Worse now. I’m an idiot.”
His mom smiled and shook her head. “I’m sure that’s not true. You two have been friends for a long time. What did you say?”
Luke and his mom were close. He was still at an age where he would let her help him if he needed it and right now he needed it. He relayed the conversation to her and she laughed.
“You men really have a way with words,” she said.
“Thanks Mom-I feel so much better now. I told you I was an idiot.”
“She’ll be fine. She would have found out eventually anyway. I think you just shocked her. Apologize when you see her again and give her one of these.” She held up one of her famous chocolate chip cookies and Luke knew Ellie would smile at that. All the kids in the neighborhood knew of his mom’s chocolate chip cookies.
Luke smiled. “Could you put some in one of those awesome girlie bags you have?”
“Of course.” She turned and started sorting through a drawer looking for the bags. “So, how was school?”
“Stupid.”
She stopped and stood up straight. “Are you talking about the school system itself or maybe the student.”
“Both.”
“I know the student, and he is definitely not stupid.”
“I just hate school. Ninth grade seems like such a waste.”
“We’ve had this conversation before and you know what I’m going to say.”
“I know. I can’t see the forest for the trees right now, blah, blah, blah…”
She put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. “Do I need to be worrying about you?” she said.
“No. I’ll be fine.” He grabbed a cookie and took a bite. The warm chocolate was heaven.
“Don’t spoil your appetite. We’ll be eating in an hour. Any homework?”
“No,” Luke lied. “I did it at lunch.”
“Alright, I know you don’t want to hear this but you’re going to be a wonderful man some day.”
Luke blushed but said nothing.
“Until that time, though, your father wants you to shovel the walk.”
He felt duped. Sometimes he wished his mother would stop being his mother for five minutes. He shook his head, said “Alright,” and headed for his room.
As he climbed the stairs, he could hear his little brother Christopher and his younger sister Katy laughing at something in Katy’s room. He stopped at her doorway and looked inside. Katy, a year younger than himself, held six year old Christopher hanging by his feet and was tickling him while he laughed hysterically. Luke couldn’t help but smile at the two.
“You’re going to make him puke,” Luke said.
As if on cue, Christopher threw up all over the floor. She almost dropped him. Christopher looked shocked for a second and then started laughing again. She put him down and said, “Aw Christopher! Gross!”
“I’m not cleaning that up,” Luke said and shuffled down the hall to his room. Katy was yelling for their mom as he closed the door.
Luke turned his computer and cell phone on and waited for both to boot up. He carried the cell with him but wasn’t allowed to have it on at school. Sometimes he forgot to turn it on until he got home. His mother reminded him periodically that she wasn’t paying for the phone for his enjoyment. It was supposed to be for security and a way to get in touch with him. If he didn’t answer it or turn it on, then that was defeating its purpose. This usually came after she had been trying to get a hold of him and couldn’t.
The cell phone didn’t have any messages, but when he logged onto Facebook, he had a new friend request. He didn’t recognize the name and the avatar was just some cartoonish dog, but he figured it was someone from school, so he hit ‘accept.’ A message sat waiting from the new friend whose name was William Smith. He navigated to the message page and clicked on it bringing up the note ‘Hi!’ with a link embedded in the page. He clicked on it and the web browser went blank for a second, navigating to another page.
When the page came up he froze and a small squeak came from his mouth. Right in front of him, bigger than life, was a picture of Bentley’s head. His tongue hung out, whitish and stiff, and his open eyes were grey and glazed over. Matted, dried blood dotted his fur and Luke could see raw flesh where his head had been separated from the body. He gagged a little but kept everything down.
He tried to look away, but the picture was so obscene his eyes stayed glued to it despite his effort. The caption read, ‘This is what happens when you get lazy.’ The emoticon for a frown followed the word ‘lazy.’
After the shock wore off, the only thing he could think of was what if Ellie was looking at this too? He dialed her number in a panic. Her mom answered on the third ring.
“Hello.”
“Mrs. Pemberton? This is Lucas Harrison. Can I speak with Ellie?”
“She’s lying down right now, Lucas. I’ll tell her you called.”
“It’s pretty important, can I please talk with her. I promise I’ll be quick.”
“Lucas, you already upset her earlier. I gave her your message, now I think it’s best if you let her be for a while. Don’t you?”
Luke didn’t know what to do. If Ellie saw the same picture, she would freak out.
“Alright. Just tell her to call me as soon as she can. And tell her not to get on Facebook until she talks to me.”
“What’s going on Lucas?”
