Chapter 5

Lilly

Lilly sat on her bed surrounded by unfolded posters of Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Rider Strong ripped from the pages of Seventeen Magazine and a Kurt Cobain Poster Flash had gotten her for her birthday a couple weeks before the world lost him forever. She was reading the October edition of Cosmopolitan. On its cover, next to a sexy picture of Cindy Crawford were titles of articles boasting “7 Ways to Become More Mysterious” and “35 Guaranteed ways to Get Him to Notice You.” Her mom hated that she read these types of magazines and thought them to be smut. Just a bunch of journalists trying to convince people what is attractive, talk about dirty things, and advertise clothing that is way to revealing and expensive for any normal person. At least her magazines had girls wearing clothes, if she only knew how many Penthouse’s and Playboy’s Flash had under his mattress, maybe she would be a little more accepting. The first time she caught Lilly reading one was the night that she gave her “The Talk.”

Truth is that Lilly learned more reading Cosmo once a week then her mom cared to explain while telling her about the birds and the bees. Not to mention it was a little more realistic reading about people’s sex lives then her mother telling her that all boys are like bees trying to poke their little stingers in girls and steal the pollen from their flowers. It was pretty funny when she thought about it though. She liked to picture herself as a cartoon lily, like the living flowers from Alice in Wonderland, floating on a gentle pond when all the sudden a bee flies over swaying to and fro through the air, wings flapping a mile a minute and buzzing a love song. Then lustfully he starts thrusting in and out of her flower with his stinger. How peculiar that would be she always thought, and even more strange that it somewhat turned her on. From what Kelly Lucas told her though it was more like a woodpecker knocking away for a minute or so until it was over, and the first few times it even felt like that.

Lilly wished she’d known. She hated being the only virgin that she knew. Even her brother had hooked up with a girl before, that little drummer girl Josephine with the short choppy hair. He said it was awesome but awkward and terrifying, seeing someone you know so well naked for the first time, feeling as if you’re in one of those dreams where you show up to school naked, and wondering if you’re doing everything right and if she thinks your disfigured or something. She hated beating herself up about it, but it made her feel like if even a grungy girl like Finney could get laid, what was wrong with her.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t pretty, she knew she was. Her hair was long and strait and a perfect shade of red-orange to accompany her lightly complected skin. Her freckles were well placed, and the main cluster of them seemed to be on her cheeks and could catch a person’s eye in the same awe-inspiring way a view of the Milky Way without the perversion of the lights of town might. They gave a beautiful red glow when she would blush and laugh that always made people smile and embarrassed her to death. She was naturally thin with long legs that never seemed to stop growing, and once her body caught up with her height, she was jaw dropping to all the boys at Westminster Falls High. But all the boy’s in school were too immature in her opinion, or maybe she just had unobtainable standards. The only boy that ever even had the balls to ask her out was Ryan Murphy, who obviously just wanted another notch on his headboard because he thought he was Mr. Bigshot linebacker. Just because she was a cheerleader he felt she was his trophy, like the other five girls on the cheer team. He probably just wanted a full set, not to mention, Rhino was a dick, and after all the shit he gave her little brother there was no way she would put out for him.

The phone next to her bed rang. Startling her from her magazine. “Hello, Anderson residence.” She said habitually.

“Anderson residence.” Her mother said having answered the phone in the kitchen moments after Lilly had greeted the caller.

“Hey Lilly. Hey Mrs. A. It’s me Kelly. I was just calling to talk to Lilly.”

“Hi dear, how is your father?” Mrs. Anderson asked.

“He’s doing alright, just busy working his life away.” Kelly laughed.

“I got it mom.”

“Ok, well I’ll leave you girls alone. Tell Paul I say hello.”

“Will do Mrs. A.”

The phone banged letting the girls know that Lilly’s mother was off of the line and they could really talk.

“What’s up slut?” Lilly asked in a non-derogatory way.

“I am not, I just really like boys. You on the other hand need to be a little less prudey and maybe you’d come off a little less uptight.”

“I am not a prude, I just want to find the right guy.”

“Just because you’re a red head doesn’t mean your Molly Ringwald in a John Hughes movie.” Kelly said causing them to both start laughing hard enough that Mrs. Anderson tried to stealthily pick the phone back up downstairs. However, her breath on the other end gave her away and both girls stopped talking.

“Hi, mom.”

“Just wanted in on the joke don’t mind me.”

“It’s nothing Mrs. A. Just girl talk you know?

“Ok. I guess I’m busted, I’ll hang up.” The girls waited to hear the clack of the receiver hitting the plastic rotary phone and it never came.

“Mom we know you’re there still.” Lilly said causing all three girls to laugh. And finally, the third line went dead. “So, what are you up to?”

“Just trying to figure out what to wear tonight, you going?”

Lilly had forgotten all about the bon fire that Rodney Eck was throwing in the back section of his family’s land tonight as a warmup for next weekend’s Fall Homecoming. It was the first big high school party of the year, and even though she hated going to parties, she knew that she didn’t want to leave her friend, that was destined to make bad decisions sober, go and make decisions impaired. How Kelly wasn’t pregnant or deadly sick from one of those STD’s they saw in gym class was beyond Lilly. According to Coach Martin sex kills, and if you have it, you will die. Lilly was kind of grateful to Kelly’s promiscuous ways though for showing her that he truly was full of shit like the entirety of the student body believed, other than the jock heads that idolized him, because none of those pictures seemed worth it. Hell, no one at school had died yet and Lilly was relatively sure that everyone but her had been doing it for years.

“Yeah, I’ll go. Mom falls asleep around 10:00 if you don’t mind swinging buy to get me.”

“Deal. You’re so naughty by the way, sneaking out of the house while Mrs. A sleeps peacefully in her bed.”

“Yeah, I’m the naughty one.” Lilly added, getting the last word and causing the girls to laugh one last time. “Later.”

“Later.”

#

Her digital alarm clock lit up 10:05 PM when she finally went over to the window to check for Kelly’s bright red Ford Ranger. It was sitting inconspicuously in front of the Bernstein’s house cattycorner to Lilly’s home. Kelly must have saw her move the blinds because the headlights flashed, and Lilly could faintly make out Kelly waiving her hands signaling her to hurry up.

She opened the window trying to be as quiet as she possibly could. Her mother’s room was at the end of the hall and most likely none of the noise would progress that far, but Lilly didn’t want to risk it. Her mother was always strict about going out past dark in October. It was the same month their father supposedly left them to fend for themselves, but mom always suggests that he was killed and gets paranoid every time one of the kids shows up even slightly after dusk in October. She wished she’d known the truth about her father though. If he really was killed that would at the very least give her a little closure. All she remembered was that he always smelled like smoke and cologne, that she loved him more than anything, and she seemed to be the light of his life. She hated to picture him dead like her mother suggested but knew that it wouldn’t leave her mind throughout the bonfire with its smoky haze and powerful aroma retrieving his memory. It was however a better alternative believing him dead than to him just disappearing and leaving her behind like she meant nothing to him. The only truth that she knew was that thirteen years ago he never came out of a raging fire and was her first broken heart.

She reached for the lattice beside her window with her foot. This part always made her heart almost jump from her chest until her foot grabbed ahold of the wooden checkerboard. She wasn’t afraid of heights but falling and breaking her back or waking her mother scared the shit out of her. She slowly descended, trying her best not to prick herself or catch her clothes on any of the thorns of the roses climbing up the side of the house. When her foot hit solid ground, she began to run toward Kelly’s truck.

“Where might you be going sis?”

She had only gotten four or five strides before she heard her brother’s voice from over near the garage that stopped her in her tracks. “Uh, nowhere special.”

“Don’t fret, I’m not going to rat you out. If you haven’t realized, I’m not in there either.” Flash smirked as she finally started to realize that he was right.

“Where are you going? It’s late, and I assume you’re not going to Rodney’s party. Not your scene right Rockstar.” She said trying to get him back for making her look like an idiot for not noticing he too was breaking their mothers’ rule.

“Just over to Frankie’s garage to play some Resident Evil on his PlayStation and chill out, it doesn’t really do the game justice to play in the daytime. Then probably help Jerry figure some stuff out, so we can hopefully get a whole campaign in tomorrow. Your welcome to stop by after the party or for a pretty sick adventure tomorrow, Jerry says it’s going to be legit.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, you know I’m like a holy roller, right? I kick ass at D&D.” Lilly said before thinking how nerdy that would make her look and hoping that Kelly wasn’t overhearing their conversation. “Don’t you dare tell anyone I said that by the way.” She smiled.

“Secret’s safe with me Lilliana the Elven Princess.” he said referring to the name she preferred to go by while role playing Dungeons and Dragons. “Invite your friend Kinky Kelly if you’d like.” He winked.

“In your dreams perv.” She hit him in the shoulder jokingly causing him to wince. “Geeze stop making me feel like Conan the Barbarian. I work out, but I didn’t think I was that strong. You ok?”

“Just took a charge from a Rhino the other day, that’s all, still a little tender. You should see the other guy.”

“That prick, you actually hit him?” she asked surprised that her brother may have stood up again and only got away with a few bruises this time.

“No, not a scratch on him, and yet he still resembles a slice of Gambino’s pepperoni pizza from all the juice he takes, who’s the real loser there?”

She hated how all the guys at school picked on Flash but loved that at the end of the day he could still be his same smart-ass self and laugh about it. That’s what she loved the most about him. If only she could take criticism as well as he did maybe she wouldn’t have to pretend she liked country music like everyone else or that she didn’t secretly love role playing games and pretending she’s and elven princess like Arwen from the Tolkien novels.

“Please don’t tell mom I’m out if you get caught.” She knew he wouldn’t but felt she had to say it anyway.

Flash nodded and threw his leg over his bike and began to peddle. She watched him blow a kiss toward Kelly as he rode past and Kelly raised an eyebrow and looked Lilly’s direction as if looking for an explanation. Lilly shook her head slightly laughing at her brother’s goofy behavior and finished her jog to Kelly’s vehicle.

“Nice chat?”

“Yeah, he’s just a dork.”

“I think he’s kind of cute in a Kurt Cobain kind of way. I mean, not dead, but like a dirty bad boy kind of way you know? He’s in that band The Losers, right?”

“Woah, too soon, you know I don’t like to bring up Kurt. Plus, ew, please don’t tell me my brother is hot, and you realize he is like the polar opposite of a bad boy, right? He’s a sweetheart, and once again ew. Plus, his band is called the Freaks, and for the record, and I mean this when I say it,ew!”

Kelly laughed at the reaction she had gotten out of her friend. “Just saying, I would.”

“Kelly, you would rub that thing up against a cactus in the desert if it gave you a flower and said you had beautiful eyes.”

“He said I have beautiful eyes?” Kelly asked fluttering her eyelashes and pretending to act smitten.

“Oh my god, you really are a slut.”

“Just a lady squirrel trying to get a nut.” Kelly said biting her lower lip to push her front teeth out and scrunching her nose to mimic a squirrel.

#

Kelly stopped the truck in front of the gate to the northeast corner of the Eck property. Lilly got out of the truck and walked toward the gate that was closed but had a chain with an open lock dangling on one of the metal slats. The glow from the bonfire illuminated the night sky toward the rear center of the field and the faint sound of Hank Williams Jr. music seemed to be carried by the breeze. When they finally reached the fire only five people remained by its warmth sipping Rodney’s “Summer Brew” concoction that consisted of Bud Light, cheap vodka, pink lemonade, and a few shots of tequila. It was both a shitty drink and a delicious drink. Shitty in the sense that a few cups and you might as well find a pillow to pass out on but tasted good enough that people kind of said bring on the hangover. Lilly always called it Bad News Berry flavored juice and preferred whiskey with a mixer.

“Quite the party huh?” Kelly said to Meagan Williams and Pete Mitchel who were sitting on the back of Pete’s tailgate facing the fire and milking their fruity concoction.

“Yeah, everyone else is pretty trashed already and decided to go play hide and seek in the woods on the other side of the fence line. But I’m pretty comfortable here.” Pete said smiling at Meagan and laying the charm on as thick as he possibly could. Good for you, Lilly thought smiling back.

“What about you three? You boy’s getting ready to cuddle up and get cozy too?” Kelly asked Rhino and the Jacobs twins Brant and Adam.

“Only if you ladies care to join us?” Rhino said sarcastically.

“Two girls and three guys huh? How do you suppose we work that out?” Kelly said rolling her eyes.

“Well Lilly I would love to keep you comfortable if you know what I mean, and Adam can keep you company Kelly, unless you’re into the two-guy stuff. If you’re not, I suggest for Brantley, a human sacrifice by bon fire seeing as he’s a virgin and all.”

Lilly’s stomach turned at the offer. “I think I would rather jump into the fire with Brant then accept that offer.” Lilly said standing up for herself and Brant. She found it amazing that he still considered Ryan a friend after treating him like crap all the time, and she felt like the virgin shaming applied to her as well even if no one other than Kelly knew.

“Come on babe, don’t fight it. You can’t win a fight against a Rhino.”

“I kind of hope you gag on a spoon, you know that?” Kelly said perturbed by the demeaning comments toward her and Lilly.

“I seem to remember you gagging on somethin little miss Kelly.” Rhino said with a piercing sadistic smile meant to hurt and show dominance over her. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like both guys?”

Kelly looked down at her shoes in defeat. She was too hurt by the comment to even fire back with her quick wit. Lilly could not believe it. Never before had she seen her friend as disheveled by the snide remarks of some hard-headed jock. She didn’t even know if it was true. Kelly usually told her of her exploits, and Ryan had never been the center of any of their discussions. Perhaps that was what had finally gotten the best of her promiscuous friend, the inability to recall whether the jab at her character and past behavior was a myth made to hurt, or the regret of a dark moment that she wished to forget. Whatever it was, the warm and safe glow of the bonfire supplied by old limbs and cornstalks wasn’t enough to hold Lilly in its embrace if it meant staying near Ryan. There was not enough room for the girls and his ego to occupy the same space.

Kelly seemed to be set on a b-line for the back fence of the Eck property. Lilly had no words to say to the three boys, it seemed as if anger and disappointment had overloaded her mental capacity to verbalize. All she could muster up was an unamused grimace as her head shook in disapproval of Ryan’s incapability of having a humane conversation and his cronies’ inability to show backbone and tell him he was wrong.

Lilly ran to accompany her friend. She put an arm around her and brought her in an embrace as Kelly began to fail at holding back tears from the emotional beating she had just received. “Screw those guys Kel. Your better than that, don’t let him tear you apart.”

“Am I? I don’t even know if it’s true. I mean maybe something did happen with that asshole.” She no longer tried to hold the tears and they flowed freely. “I …don’t… know…anymore.” Her eyes seemed helpless and lost trying to reminisce an encounter she had no recollection of.

Lilly grabbed her friend by the shoulders and looked her in the eye’s. “What do you say we go find this game of hide and seek. Nothing solves problems better then hiding from them, right?”

Kelly let out a laugh through her sobs, running a hand and forearm across her eyes and nose. “That sounds logical.”

The two girls stared at the forest behind the farm. It had obviously existed as long as the town, because its trees had height and girth of trees that had seen unknown decades if not centuries, but Lilly couldn’t recall ever actually going into the wood. She couldn’t recall anyone for that matter having mentioned going into it, or even mentioning it in passing. It just simply was there, a part of the landscape that seemed to go by completely unnoticed by the outside world.

To Lilly, stepping into the forest was like diving into cold water. Her body chilled, and she felt alien to its atmosphere. Something felt wrong and out of place. The oak trees didn’t seem as those she had known from town. These were ominous and seemed to not only be more alive than other trees, but to be breathing in the uncomfortableness and fear she felt toward this new place. She wanted to be strong and let go of these feelings, starve out the forest, but trying to feel otherwise only increased her dread.

“Come on.” Kelly insisted. “I’m sure we’ll see their glowsticks soon enough.”

They continued through the trees struggling to see with only partial light being able to shine through the canopy. It seemed amazing that a canopy even existed considering the bright crimson ground beneath their feet. The entire surface seemed to be littered in blood red leaves piled high and giving the impression that they never decayed and returned to the earth after falling, only spread. But there is no way that could be true, the pile would be deeper from centuries of falling.

Kelly pulled out a flashlight from the inside pocket of her jean jacket and let its light shine forth. The light from the flashlight seemed to draw from all other light. The girls squinted to see what was lying before them. They were no more than two hundred yards within the forest and already the darkness was encompassing. There was no noise, only silence filled the space as they slowly crept on in search of the missing party focusing on the steam of light before them.

They jumped as something sprinted in front of their beam. Kelly tried to follow it to curb their curiosity as to what it might have been. It had to be one of their hide and seek playing peers, a deer at the most. Whatever it was ran through the only light to be seen within the trees as a moth to the fire. It wanted to be seen.

Suddenly something dropped on Lilly’s nose. And began to continue sporadically like the beginning of a storm, only it wasn’t cold. It was a brisk October night and the rain should have been cold and biting.

“Is it raining?” Kelly asked, apparently as confused by the occurrence as Lilly was. The smell of iron and alcohol filled the area as she shined the light on Lilly and froze momentarily eyes wide and emotionless. The light dropped and crunched the leaves beneath it as it hit the forest floor. Lilly could hear the cracking of leaves and branches amongst the pounding of feet rapidly hitting the ground as Kelly ran away.

As she reached for the light she noticed a deep red bead of liquid fall on her hand. Her stomach wretched as she became aware of what Kelly had discovered. It was not an abnormally warm rain. The forest seemed to be raining blood. As she remained squatted, frozen in fear at her new discovery, she began to hear the rustling of leaves all around her. A limb snapped as she grabbed the flashlight that lay illuminating the crimson ground. She ran as fast as she ever remembered running before, until suddenly upon collision she was knocked to the ground.

Lilly thought she was escaping her attackers and was caught unaware by the assailant that stood before her. She shined the light to see who had assaulted her and saw a pair of Wrangler jeaned legs and brown leather boots suspended in the air. She followed the levitating lower half up to see Rodney Eck hanging from the branches of one of the tall oaks. His eye’s bulged at the pressure of the rope around his neck, it was both elongated and misshapen, and cuts to his abdomen that looked to be the clawing of a bear or mountain lion. Fuck. She made a sweep of the upper portion of the forest with her light trying to reveal her way out, only to reveal the same gruesome sight within every tree within view rocking back and forth and riddling the trees with green, orange, and purple glow sticks. There was no hiding from the dead she thought, but she could still outrun her seekers.

With no clear path to escape she closed her eyes and ran as fast as she could with little regard to the trees or the bodies that hung or those chasing her. She was a juggernaut of fear containing both fight and flight instincts. She flew through the hanging corpses so fierce and powerfully that everything within her path was overcome by her. A gauntlet of people she once knew and refused to identify in this moment of complete terror.

She heard two loud cracks that sounded as if a large branch had been broken. It was followed by shrieks and yells from behind her and suddenly the pursuers seemed to be traveling in the opposite direction. Her eyes remained closed and she continued to sprint through her exhaustion. Sweat poured down her face burning through her tightly clamped eyelids. She tried to keep her mouth sealed to prevent the bitter metallic taste of the blood of her peers, but the smell was overpowering enough to interact with her taste buds, causing her to gag and swallow in some of the crimson liquid.

She could see the light of the fire burning red through her tightly closed eye’s and could feel its warmth inviting her to come and feel safe. Her hands touched the wood of the fence line and helped to brace her collision only slightly. She jumped the fence and stumbled three steps before falling. As soon as her body lay parallel with the ground it had collapsed from the exhaustion of pushing her body to its physical limits and the incredible stress of the last fifteen minutes that lasted longer than her whole life to that point.

She lay motionless just within the glow of the bonfire.

Next Chapter: Chapter Six: The Fear and the Fireman