Shannon Malone was going to attend Briargate. It had been decided mere weeks before the school year was to begin. All reservations Shannon had had to be pushed to the side. The matter was settled.
The summer dwindled with furtive glances cast from neighbor to neighbor and veiled accusations hidden in everyday conversation. Investigation into Sarah Benadine's murder had not gone far, only making it more prevalent in the townspeople's minds. Answers were wanted that nobody had. Nearly everyone had their own opinion, their own two cents to give, but there was no evidence to any of it. Merely finger-pointing and paranoia at large.
Faye's birthday was the last hurrah every summer for the Malone sisters. Falling near the end of August, it was never a big party affair, but rather an excuse for Faye and her friends to go to Winkie's, the ice cream parlor on Main, and indulge in the free three scoop hot fudge sundae anyone could get on their birthday. Shannon tagged along nearly every year, as did Toni in recent years, never wanting to be the one to miss out on ice cream. That year she'd dragged Robbie Edwards with her, for no real reason other than to be able to spend the entire time getting on his nerves. Faye didn't mind; she liked Toniâmost of the timeâand she liked Robbie even more.
Faye and her friends snatched one of the booths in the corner, but Toni had insisted on the stools at the counter. The tops swiveled, and Shannon would assert that nothing entertained Toni more than seeing how fast she could get the things spinning before Mr. Walker, the shop owner, told her to stop before she broke something. That never interested Shannon much; she always started to feel sick long before she could be chastised.
"I wonder if you'll have to wear a snooty uniform," Toni said as the three of them ate. "My cousin goes to a private Catholic school, and he has to wear a tie."
"Mickey Wilson wears a tie," Robbie pointed out. Toni shook her head.
"Yeah, but he doesn't have to. And I don't think my cousin's school would let him wear a tie with goldfish on it."
"Someone would probably show him how to tie it properly, too," Shannon said.
"Exactly," Toni said, adding regretfully, "All those knots the Boy Scouts taught him and the Windsor wasn't one of them."
"It doesn't matter anyway," Shannon said. "Briargate doesn't have uniforms."
Toni's shoulders sagged. "But you'd look so good in a goldfish tie."
"I thought we agreed that she wouldn't be wearing a goldfish tie," Robbie said with a snicker. Toni gave a half-shrug, taking a large, messy bite of her banana split.
"I just hope," Toni said around bits of whipped cream, "that when you're at your fancy new school, you won't forget who got you this far, Shannon, my dear."
"You mean you?" Shannon asked.
"Of course," Toni replied. "Who else?"
Shannon and Robbie laughed. Shannon reached over and put her hand on Toni's shoulder, saying, "I'm sure it will take a lot more than just a different school to forget about you, Toni."
When Shannon retracted her arm, she scooped up a bit of Toni's whipped cream with her finger.
"Ack!" Toni cried. "Were you raised in a barn?"
"In the stall right next to yours," Shannon said with a toothy grin. Toni rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips twitched. Robbie laughed unabashedly.
"Are you looking forward to it?" Robbie asked. "Briargate, I mean."
Shannon shrugged. "I guess. Mostly nervous, though; I'll probably be the dumbest person there."
"Aw, you're all wrong," Toni said, or something to that effect; it was muffled by banana and ice cream. She had the decency to swallow before she continued. "You're the smartest person I know. Probably show 'em all up."
"Yeah," Robbie agreed. "And anyway, at least you'll get away from Toni."
"Oh, look at that," Toni said. "Robbie can tell jokes."
"It's interesting that you think I'm joking," Robbie said. Toni grinned and gave him the finger.
"Oh, quit it," Shannon admonished with a laugh, "before Mr. Walker kicks you out. Again."
"He's not even looking over here," Toni said dismissively. "And besides, he'd be on my side."
"Right," Robbie said slowly. He shook his head and looked to Shannon. "Why do you think Mr. Sheffield didn't recommend you last year?"
Despite the way it sounded, Robbie didn't mean anything by it. Many times they'd been over it since Shannon had told them the news. They'd known, in a vague sense, that fifth grade was the crucial year; so had Shannon. It was never explicitly stated or discussed, but it was easy for the Clearwater school kids to pick up on the one or two students who disappeared from the fifth grade class every few years. Everyone Shannon, Toni, and Robbie could remember going to Briargate had been in fifth grade their first year.
At that time, Shannon hadn't been able to reason out the foreboding feeling she got whenever she thought about anything Briargate related, but she'd remember, someday after that first year, that it had been there long before she walked into the school for the first time. Perhaps it had just as much to do with her late start as anything else.
"I don't know." Shannon shrugged, stirring her ice cream into a thick mush. "Guess he didn't think I was ready last year."
She didn't have the words to tell them what she was really thinking. She didn't know how to say that she thought her recommendation to attend Briargate had less to do with her academic achievement than it had to do with something else. Something she'd seen in Mr. Sheffield's face at Sarah Benadine's memorial and again when he was at her house. She couldn't say what she was thinking when so much of it was still a mystery to her. They'd never understand.
"Maybe you were just too smart," Toni said. "Mr. Sheffield was afraid you'd embarrass everyone there."
"I don't think so," Shannon replied.
"Fine, you're an idiot," Toni said with an unconcerned wave of her hand.
"Ugh, Toni," Robbie groaned. "You'll have to forgive her; she's part ape."
"Oh, go to hell, Edwards."
Shannon rolled her eyes and turned her attention to her melted ice cream as Robbie and Toni bickered. The two of them spent more time arguing than anything else; Toni hadn't yet much of a grasp on tact, and Robbie found himself acting as her censor most of the time.
Shannon glanced to the corner booth, where Faye and her friends were. There was a prickly feeling on her scalp, the feeling of someone's eyes on her. Cassie Austin ducked her head when Shannon looked over, before mumbling something to the group and sliding out of the booth. She kept her eyes on the ground as she came over to the counter next to Shannon, Toni, and Robbie, the latter two still exchanging snide comments as quickly as they could come up with them.
"Hi Shannon," she said quietly, hopping up on the red vinyl stool. Shannon greeted the girl with a half-smile. "Mind if I talk to you for a minute?"
"Go ahead," Shannon replied. Toni and Robbie stopped their arguing long enough to acknowledge Cassie, and then Toni launched into a tirade about Robbie's clothes.
"Are they all right?" Cassie asked uncertainly, nodding at the pair.
"Maybe," Shannon said. "I wouldn't worry."
Cassie cocked a brow. "If you say so." She looked away. "Listen, I hear you're gonna start at Briargate this year."
Shannon nodded, twisting her spoon in her sundae. Cassie chewed on the inside of her lip, watching Shannon intently.
"That's cool," she said after a pause. "It's a good school. You'll like it there. I think you will, at least."
There was something she wasn't saying, Shannon could tell. Her eyes were intense. Shannon shifted uncomfortably, working her ice cream into a thick soup. Behind her, Toni and Robbie had deteriorated into childish, one-word insults.
"I didn't knowâwell I suppose I wouldn't..." Cassie trailed off. Shannon furrowed her brow.
"What?"
Cassie looked at Shannon a long, hard moment before answering. "Never mind. Can't talk about it. But you know that."
Shannon blinked. "Talk about what?"
Cassie smiled slowly, just barely, the tiniest of curves on her lips. "Yeah. Yeah, right." She tossed a furtive look in Toni and Robbie's direction. "Well, anyway, if you ever need any help or advice or anything, you can always ask me. It's...a bit strange at first. But you'll get used to it."
Shannon nodded slowly, unsure what to say. "Okay. Thanks, Cassie. That's awfully nice of you."
Cassie waved her hand. She leaned in a bit closer to Shannon, like she had a great secret. "It was hard my first year too. It's not so bad once you get to know the other students and the teachers. They all...well, they all understand, you know?"
"Uh-huh," Shannon said, though she did not. She had a funny feeling Cassie wasn't going to be any more forthcoming with her than that. For a time Cassie didn't say anything, just beheld Shannon like there was something more she'd like to make known. Some burning question that was a little too embarrassing or a little too private to actually ask.
"I bet you'll fit right in," she finally settled on, but it was obviously not what she truly wanted to say.
"Maybe," Shannon said noncommittally.
"Are you nervous?"
"A little."
Shannon's apprehension was not, however, caused by what Cassie thought it was. She did not wish to get into it.
"I was too, my first year," Cassie said. A reassuring half-smile graced her face. "You'll do fine."
Shannon smiled back, half-hearted and unconvincing. There was much she was still concerned about. Perhaps even more so now.
"Well, mostly I just wanted you to know I'll help you out if you need anything this year," Cassie said. "But it'll be a cinch for you, I bet."
Shannon, bizarrely, felt an urge to laugh. She pushed it down and said, "I really appreciate it, Cassie."
"Least I can do," Cassie said, hopping down off her stool. She made to go back to the corner booth, back to Faye and the rest of their friends, rejoin the merry birthday celebrations. She paused for a second just past Shannon, and then turned back, saying, "Don't worry about it; everything will go fine."
She left Shannon there then and returned to her friends.
Cassie Austin, as it would turn out, was wrong. It was no fault of her own; she couldn't have known how things were going to go. In that late August, as the days before school started up dwindled on, no one quite anticipated what was to come.
***
It was late in the afternoon when Shannon and Faye walked home. The late month had cooled from the extreme temperatures mid-August had brought, a preface of the coming fall. It was still warm, but enjoyably so; Shannon and Faye walked leisurely, lollygagging.
"Do you think Mom made a cake?" Faye asked.
Shannon laughed. "What kind of question is that? Of course she made a cake. She'd make a cake for anything."
Faye shrugged. "She likes cakes."
"Exactly."
Faye kicked a stone across the pavement. From a few doors behind them they could hear Benny Kline calling for his dog.
"What did you and Cassie talk about?" Faye asked conversationally, though she knew as well as Shannon did what was discussed.
"Briargate," Shannon said simply, giving another rock a kick of her own.
"Boy, I can't get her to say two words to me about that place," Faye said regretfully. "And here she is going out of her way to talk to you about it."
"Well, you have to be a student there," Shannon teased. "You wouldn't understand."
Faye rolled her eyes, but she was smiling.
"I wouldn't feel too bad," Shannon said, more serious now. "I didn't really understand most of what she said anyway. It was sort of like we had a secret between us but I don't know what it was."
"Oh yeah?" Faye asked.
"Yeah. And she brought something up and then said she couldn't talk about it. She said I'd know why, but..."
She trailed off, shrugging her shoulders. Faye frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe there's some kind of initiation that she can't tell you about. You know, something you have to figure out by yourself."
"Great, an initiation," Shannon sighed. "Just what I need."
"It's just an idea."
Shannon didn't respond. They neared Dyer's Park then, and Shannon hugged herself as a slight chill went down her spine. Kids she recognized from school were tossing a flying disc around. She felt cold.
"Faye?" Shannon ventured cautiously, ready to retreat at any moment. Faye barely acknowledged her, only raising her eyebrows and making a low noise of recognition in her throat. "Do you...do you believe in...supernatural creatures?"
Faye glanced up towards the sky like her answer could be found there. "Like unicorns? Anne Corden believes very much in unicorns. She says they're out there, but their existence is being covered up. Like some government conspiracy."
Shannon blinked. "Does Anne Corden spend a lot of time with Mary Dent, by any chance?"
"Hmm?"
"Never mind." Shannon shook her head. "And I don't mean unicorns necessarily. Or not just unicorns, I guess. Just...well anything, I guess. Stuff they talk about in books."
Faye hummed, gazing towards the horizon. "I think it's possible. There could be all kinds of things out there that we don't know about, I suppose." She met Shannon's eyes. "Why?"
Shannon had known Faye would ask, but she'd wished she wouldn't. She didn't know what she was doing; she didn't know if she was about to tell Faye about the night of Sarah's memorial or not. She wanted to tell her; she wanted to tell someone. But the sensationalism of her tale...it wasn't believable. She barely believed it herself.
"IâI was just wondering," Shannon said. She took a deep breath, steeling herself. "I thinkâI think maybeâ"
"Faye Malone! Happy birthday!" A voice rose from inside the trees of Dyer's Park, loud, shrill, and jovial. All of Shannon's confidence disappeared like a puff of smoke.
"Speak of the devil," Faye mumbled under her breath, then called cheerily, "Thanks, Anne." A rosy-cheeked brunette gave a thumbs up before getting knocked in the face by the flying disc. An angry curse flew through the air. Faye winced.
"Sorry, you were saying?" Faye said, casting apologetic eyes back at Shannon. Shannon did her best to smile.
"Never mind," she said. "It's not important."
She scampered ahead, their house near enough that it was excusable. Faye watched her, eyes narrow and thoughtful. A strange feeling possessed her, but she pushed it off, filing it away for later. Later. She'd ask later.
Una Malone was busy at work in the kitchen when Shannon entered her house, Faye still a bit behind her. A chocolate cake and a bowl of impossibly thick chocolate frosting sat on the counter in front of her.
"Told you she'd make a cake," Shannon muttered to her sister when she came through the door.
"Hello, girls," Una said, smoothing icing over the cake. "Did you have a good time?"
"Yeah," Faye said, zipping forward to stick her finger in the frosting bowl. Una batted her hand away before she could get any of it.
"Oh, for pity's sake, Faye Ciara, you just had ice cream." Una often liked to use Faye's middle name when she was exasperated; it gave her more syllables to chew on. "Wait 'til after dinner."
Faye was appropriately apologetic to her mother, but she shot Shannon a smile, the mischievous one that was becoming more and more uncommon as Faye got older. It pulled a grin out of Shannon herself.
"Now shoo, both of you," Una said, something sparkling behind her eyes. "I can't have you behaving this way in my kitchen. I have things to do."
Faye left the kitchen and took to the stairs immediately as Shannon trailed behind, headed for the living room. Faye pressed one foot to the bottom step before stilling, as if held by some invisible hand. She half-turned to face Shannon, debating speaking. Shannon paused herself, feeling Faye's eyes on her and so looking at her sister expectantly.
"You know," Faye said, "you've had a strange black mark on your hand for something like two or three weeks now. Don't know if you've noticed."
Don't know what it is. Don't know where it came from.
Faye ascended the steps without another word.
***
It turned out not to matter much that Faye hadn't snitched any frosting that afternoon; she got plenty with the overly large piece of cake she'd wheedled her mother into giving her. The familyâmother, father, two sons, and one of two daughtersâhad given Faye their presents after dinner and before cake. Aiden had gotten a great surge of amusement in asserting three year old Connor had gone shopping himself for a gift. Neither Faye nor Shannon said a word about the mark on Shannon's hand, but it made Shannon inexplicably anxious to know that Faye had known about it all this time.
Don't know what it is.
Shannon, Faye, and Aiden kept themselves busy with a game of Sorry! after all the dishes at the table had been cleared away, and Connor entertained himself with the yellow pawns no one was using. Both Shannon and Faye knew it was only a matter of time before Aiden got upset and quit, unless, by chance, everything went his way. Una was usually the good sport who'd take his place; Liam, like his son, never had much patience for the game.
"Geez, Faye, you're killin' me," Shannon groaned as Faye sent one of her pawns back homeâfor the third time.
"Sorry," Faye intoned in a nasally voice. Aiden snickered. Shannon stuck her tongue out at him, resigning herself to rampant immaturity. She'd get them both, if she could get any of her pieces going again.
An incessant knocking at the front door broke out as Aiden took his turn. Shannon could hear her mother speaking in low tonesâ"Who could that be?"âas Liam shuffled to the door. For some reason neither of them could explain even years laterâperhaps it was the late hour, perhaps it was the aggravation of the knocking, or perhaps it was something that always hangs in the air before something important happens, announcing its arrivalâShannon and Faye stopped their playing, sharing a short glance, and then gazed in the direction of the front door.
They couldn't see the door from where they were; it opened to the kitchen on the right and the living room straight on, but the dining room was blocked by a wall. They could hear perfectly well, though; the door creaked a bit as it was pulled open.
"Gavin," they heard Liam say in surprise. Shannon and Faye looked at each other once more.
"Mr. Kline?" Faye said, barely a whisper. Una had joined Liam at the door by then, and she greeted the man as well.
"Hey, are you gonna move?" Aiden asked Shannon impatiently. Faye shushed him. Connor giggled, enthralled in a game of his own.
"Liam, Una," Gavin Kline said. "I'm sorry, I hate to disturb you like this. The kids are in a right state, though. They've been all over town causing an almighty ruckus."
"What's the trouble, Gavin?" Liam asked.
Mr. Kline sounded embarrassed as he continued. "It's the dog, you see. It must've run off; haven't seen it since this morning. It's got the kids pretty worked up; they've been begging me to ask around since practically the moment they saw it wasn't in the yard. Or they was gonna do it themselves, they said. I'm sure the blame thing just ran off, you know, around somewhere, but I couldn't have my kids banging on every door from here to Timbuktu."
"It's all right, Gavin," Liam said. "But I'm sorry to say we haven't seen your dog around here; have you, Una?"
"No," Una said. "Of course, I've been inside most of the day, preparing for Faye's birthday."
"Oh, it's Faye's birthday, is it?" Mr. Kline said lightly. "Well, I hate to break up the festivities. I best be off."
"It's quite all right," Liam said. "And we'll keep an eye out. You've the German shepherd, don't you?"
"That's the one," Mr. Kline replied. "I'm sure it just saw a squirrel or some damn thingâoh, pardon me, Missus Maloneâ"
Una never got the chance to reply because a shriek, high and terrible, cut through the air. The game of Sorry! was forgotten in a second, Shannon, Faye and Aiden rising from the table nearly in unison, and then freezing, uncertain of what to do. Connor dropped his yellow pieces on the table, looking up at Faye with wide, uncomprehending eyes. Cautiously, Faye began to pad her way to the front hall, Shannon and Aiden at her heels.
The screams hadn't stopped, but merely broken off into shorter, terrified cries. Una stood in the open doorway, peering out into the night. Liam and Mr. Kline were nowhere to be seen.
"Mom, what's going on?" Faye asked urgently.
Una did not turn around as she said, "I'm not sure."
Aiden snaked his hand into Shannon's. She did not acknowledge it; she knew he'd be mortified if she did. The shrieking had finally stopped, but it left in its wake a silence that was almost worse. Connor toddled into the hall to join them, looking pale and scared. The silence stretched in awful suffocation; it prickled at Shannon's scalp and set her bones on edge. Just when she thought she could stand it no longer, Liam appeared in the doorway in front of his wife.
"Liam, what's the matter?" Una asked lowly, taking his arm. Liam looked past her to the kids.
"Aiden, take your brother upstairs," he said sternly. Aiden yanked his hand out of his sister's.
"Aww, but Dad," Aiden whined, dragging the final word out for all it was worth. Liam looked at him sharply.
"Aiden, this minute," Liam said, not angry or frustrated, but with a deadly seriousness that even Aiden, only seven, picked up on. He took Connor's arm without another word and went upstairs. Liam rounded impatiently into the kitchen, pulling open drawers and rifling through them as fast as he could.
"Christ, Una, which one of these has the flashlight?" he asked. "I always forget."
Faye and Shannon stared at each other, eyes wide as saucers in amazement and apprehension. They'd never heard their father take the Lord's name in vain, nor the Lord's son, for that matter.
"The third one," Una said patiently.
Liam scoffed. "I justâ" he pulled the drawer open and produced a flashlight, hidden under a couple old phonebooks. "Well, I'll be damned."
"Liam, what's going on?" Una asked, her voice thin.
"They found the dog," Liam said, like it was the punch line to some terrible joke. "Thing's been cut to ribbons. The girlâJanetâshe found it...Lord, she's only eight. The whole business gives me a sick feeling...wouldn't normally, but after what's happened..."
Liam continued to speak in fractured sentences. Shannon got the feeling he was talking to himself.
"Are you going back out?" Una asked, glancing toward the flashlight. Liam's shoulders sagged.
"Have to," he said. "Have to move it. Do something with it. It's in Mrs. Johnson's begonias; she's raising hell. Mean old woman."
"Mrs. Johnson's begonias?" Shannon repeated almost robotically. The Malone's house was sandwiched between Lance Benadine's and Mrs. Carla Johnson's. She was about the nastiest old widow anyone would ever want to meet, and she didn't do much besides tend to her flowers. It came as no surprise to Shannonâor anyone who, in the coming days, would hearâthat she was in a fury.
"Now I don't want you girls to breathe a word of this to anyone, you hear me?" Liam said wiggling his forefinger in their direction. "God knows it's going to get around fast enough without you two talking about it." He groaned. "Oh, I'm sure there will be embellishments."
"We won't say anything, Dad," Faye said. Liam nodded, satisfied.
"Lord almighty, what do you do with a dead dog in that condition?" Liam asked the sky as he ventured back out into the night. Una closed the door behind him and, Shannon couldn't help but notice, locked it. Una stood with her back to the door for a moment, palms pressed to the wood, gaze sliding past the girls. Una Malone always had a thousand thoughts whirling in her mind, and her face never betrayed anything more than what she would allow a person to see. Finally, she smiled stiffly.
"Why don't you girls take your game upstairs? I'm sure Aiden would like to finish it."
The three of them gazed at each other, some abstract kind of understanding passing through the air between them, and then Faye and Shannon went to the dining room.
"Remember where all the pieces were," Faye said, gathering up the yellows to satisfy Connor.
"We could always start over," Shannon suggested. Her voice sounded strangely hollow to her own ears.
"You would like that; you were losing."
Shannon's answering chuckle was a grand lie. She folded the board and tucked it under her arm, then followed Faye to the stairs. Una was still standing at the door, watching them go. She was holding herself as if she was cold. Shannon, out of place as it was, thought about her father, what he'd told them. Not to breathe a word. Faye assuring him they wouldn't.
It was a promise Faye would keep, but Shannon would not.
Don't know where it came from.
***I have most but not all of this story finished and about half of it edited, and I keep telling myself not to post too much too fast and get ahead of myself, but the gremlin part of me is like, "Post it all. Now." So here we are. Thanks again to everyone who commented and voted :)***