Page 36 of Them Bones

It was Thursday morning, and Dustin needed to get to the bakery. He’d been hoping Shane would be back to drive him – Shane always drove him, now that he had a truck – because it was cold and, honestly, his leg still hurt when he had to walk up the big, long hill. He felt guilty, and selfish, for thinking about aride when something might have happened to his friend. But his gut told him Shane was fine, he just wasn’there.

He quietly opened the door to Laney’s room to check on her.

She was curled into a tiny ball, facing the wall, her arms wrapped around herself like she was trying to keep her guts from spilling out all over the bed. But she was asleep, and Dustin knew she wasn’t sleeping much these days. He decided not to ask her about Shane, to leave her be, just for a little while longer. They could talk later.

He turned to leave, and that’s when he noticed his drawing. The one he’d given Shane, who had apparently given it to Laney. The one of the two of them together. The one that made his stomach feel weird.

He untacked it, quietly, and slipped it under her bed.Safe.

As he walked to work in the dark, he tried to shake off the feeling that he should have burned it.

HOLLY

“He’s crazy, I’m telling you!” Holly said emphatically, flopping down on her mattress and staring up at the pink and white canopy. “He’s like… a total psycho!”

Her friends nodded in agreement.

The whole school was talking about it – the weird older guy who had hit on Holly and then punched a window when she rejected him.

“I can’t believe he busted that glass,” Marianne murmured. “My boyfriend was playing hockey in the pit one day? And they accidentally sent a slapshot at it? Didn’t evendentit.”

Holly’s nostrils flared. Today wasn’t about Marianne and her stupid boyfriend. Today was aboutHolly.It washertrauma.

“Did you see his hand?” Chelsea shrieked, screwing up her face. “So much blood. Like, everywhere!”

“What did he want?” Sabrina asked, looking intently at Holly. She hadn’t been there; she always stacked her lunch and free periods in the mornings so that she could work at the shitty bakery up the road.

“What do you mean?” Holly sniffed, still annoyed with Marianne.If I had a nickel for every time she said ‘my boyfriend’…

“Well, if he isn’t a student, he was there for something, right? Was he looking for you? Is he, like, stalking you or something?”

A stalker.That would be agoodstory. But before Holly could speak Marianne piped up.

“Oh, he was looking for Laney Hawton,” she said.

Holly glared at her.Stupid bitch, can’t let anyone else have one goddamn second of attention…

“Hawton?” Sabrina asked, sitting up with interest.

“Yeah, you know, that really pretty blonde girl in ninth… the short one.”

“She has a brother, right?” Sabrina asked.

Holly could feel the room slipping away from her.

“Yes,” Chelsea said. “I’ve seen them together sometimes after school. He’s in elementary school, though.”

Sabrina started giggling and doubled over, laughing so hard she was almost crying.

“Whatexactlyis so funny?” Holly asked, a sharp edge to her tone. “Thisprickwasthreateningme!”

“Oh, save it,” Sabrina choked out, wiping her eyes. “I didn’t even need to be there to know he was blowing you off.”

“You bitch!” Holly roared, but Sabrina kept laughing.

“His name is Shane Mathers,” she said. There was a whooshing noise as Chelsea and Marianne both sucked in their breath, delighted by this new development – that Sabrinaknewhim.

“And how could you possibly know that?” Holly sniffed.

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