I tighten my grip around the white box in my lap and nod again.
“I’m glad I found you.”
He leans down, placing a soft kiss on the top of my head, and a tear rolls down my cheek. He did the one thing I still haven’t been able to do; he found his sister.
“Thank you.”
“Bye for now,” he says as he scuffs his sneaker against the bottom stair then turns to walk away.
I wipe the tear off my cheek and stand up quickly, the box almost falling out of my hand.
“Jack.”
He turns so quickly that he stumbles slightly but looks relieved that I’ve said his name again.
“Come inside.”
“Are you sure?” he asks, taking a step back toward me.
Karolina, why would you do that?
“Because I didn’t tell him who Charlie is.”
Jack rubs the back of his neck uneasily as I blink rapidly a few times. I turn around and walk toward the door, knowing that there’s no way he’ll follow me into the darkness now. But when I hear his footsteps climbing the porch steps, I let out a sigh.
Don’t hurt him.
“I won’t.”
Chapter Eight
Once Jack is inside, I hand him the white box then reach for the door and push it back into place.
“It’s kind of dark in here,” he says nervously.
“Follow me. I know where everything is,” I tell him in a banal tone. “Nothing in the dark can hurt you; I won’t let it.”
He’s going to run.
“Leave me alone,” I hiss under my breath.
“Oh. Um, okay,” Jack says, and I turn to glance at him in confusion.
“I wasn’t talking to you, Jack. I was talking to her.”
He clears his throat but doesn’t say anything else. More importantly, he doesn’t try to leave either.
“Put your hands on my shoulders and I’ll help you around,” I offer as bravely as I can, taking the box from him.
I don’t like to be touched, it’s something that I only ever allowed Grace to do and any time she did it was almost always for hugs or fixing each other’s scrapes and bruises.
“Lead the way,” he says nervously, and I do as he asks. I lick my lips as I lead him toward my small bedroom and once inside, I walk us to my dresser. I put the box on top of it like the treasure that it is because no one has ever made a point of continuously giving me gifts before, then reach up for his hands.
“Wait here,” I say to him, placing his hands on the old, rotten wood.
“Where are you going?” he asks me as his feet shuffle toward the dresser.
“To get some light.”
I can hear his breathing becoming heavy as my shoes scrape along the wooden floor. It only takes three steps to reach the table and then I’ll just need to flick my wrist to turn the key for illumination.
“I want to tell you who Charlie is,” I begin as I lean against the table. It creaks slightly under the weight of my body, and I can only hope that it won’t break before I’m done telling him what he needs to know.
“Okay, Karolina. Go ahead.”
“Charlie is Reade’s brother. Reade was a boy who loved Grace; at least I think he did. I’m sure she tried to love him too, but her mind had already become muddled by then. She did what she could, but he was mean to her.” I pause to take a deep breath, remembering the last time I saw Grace on camera.
You’ve gotten this far, keep going.
“I saw what he did to her. Grace had a show on the computer, and I found it one day by accident. Reade was a bad man, but Grace was always stronger than I could ever hope to be. The last time I saw her, she showed him the error of his ways. Ever since that night, I’ve stared at the computer screen hoping to see her again, but I never did, you know? I found out that Reade had a brother by accident too. They just looked so much alike that it was the only thing that made sense to me. But he wouldn’t tell me where Grace was. He ran from me every time he saw me. Every fucking time,” I seethe, my body beginning to tremble slightly.
“Take a deep breath,” Jack says into the darkness and I do as he suggests. It helps; something as simple as slowing down and trying again actually makes sense.
“The last time I saw him, I was able to convince him to come see me here. I told him that if we could just talk, then I’d leave him alone forever.”
“Did he?”
I take a deep breath, then let it out slowly as I place my hand on the key of the lantern and begin to slowly turn it.
“Yes,” I say when the room is bright enough for Jack to see.
He blinks a couple of times, smiling when his eyes come into focus as they land on me. But it’s not me he needs to see, it’s what’s behind me.
The reason I haven’t slept on my bed in months.
The reason why Charlie won’t tell me where Grace is.
“Holy shit,” he finally says when his eyes drift behind me.
A smile creeps across my lips.
I don’t have to turn to see what has Jack’s full attention because I already know what’s there.
“Karolina, is he …”
“When he refused to tell me, I chewed on his tongue until it fell out of his mouth and nailed him to the mattress.”
My words are rushed, and my breathing is becoming labored, but I’ve never felt prouder in my life.
The only thing that will eclipse this feeling will be seeing Grace in person again.
Jack begins to shuffle forward slowly. I’m not sure what I’m expecting him to do but maybe he is an Albertine after all because he doesn’t seem to
