Page 78 of Five Survive

And maybe Reyna was the most natural leader here after all, standing up to Oliver, unblinking. What could they possibly have done? Something bad enough that a man with a rifle would trap them here to get it out of them. Two men.There are two of us.What was bad enough for that? Red could only think of one thing.

“Oliver,” Maddy said, shakily. “What is it? What did you do?”

Maddy must be thinking the same thing.

“I didn’tdoanything,” Oliver said, and then, suddenly: “Fucking mosquito,” slapping his hand against his sweat-slick neck. He stopped, looking back at the rest of them, all eyes on him. He might be Oliver Lavoy but it was five against one here. He paused on Maddy, and Red saw the shift, the moment he gave in, hand sweeping his hair back, stepping forward to drop into the booth. He held his head. “It was an accident,” he said, staring back, daring the others to not believe him.

“Whatwas an accident?” Maddy pressed, gently, coming to sit down across from her brother.

“It was in January,” Reyna said, burying her hands inside her sleeves. “When we went back to college for the semester. We—”

“—I’ll tell the story,” Oliver cut her off. “You won’t tell it right. You won’t…I’ll do it.”

He shifted in his seat, the material creaking as he did, or was that the sound of his bones? “Keep going, Red.”

“Huh?” she said.

“The channels. Keep going.”

Right. Red glanced down at the walkie-talkie, pressing the + button, spooling up, the static flickering out every time she clicked.

Oliver waited, until Red was past channel eleven and still going. Then he cleared his throat and began.

“We went to a bar one afternoon. Near school. Just me and Reyna. We were watching the game, Eagles versus Cowboys. Reyna’s not from Philly, you know, but she gets it. Can’t miss a game.” Oliver sniffed. “We drank a couple of beers, watching the game. I was driving, though, so only two. And as we’re watching, I notice this random guy who works there, he keeps looking at Reyna. I don’t think Reyna noticed, but I did.”

Reyna shifted, fingers fiddling inside her sleeves.

“And that’s fine, you know, she’s a beautiful girl, people are allowed to notice.”

A twitch by Reyna’s mouth, pulling at the smooth skin of her cheek.

“Anyway, we watch the game, and stay for a couple of hours after. I’ve forgotten about the guy by this point. But it’s getting later and we’re thinking about dinner, so we decide to leave. We walk out into the parking lot, toward my car. There’s no one else around. And then I realize I’ve left my scarf inside. So I leave Reyna in the parking lot and run back inside to find the scarf.”

Reyna sucked in a breath, wet through her teeth, loud enough for Red to hear. What was coming? What did they do?

Simon sat down on the sofa behind, watching the story play out, gaze flicking between Reyna and Oliver.

“It takes me a few minutes to find the scarf,” Oliver continued. “It’s not at the table we were sitting at because someone had already handed it in at the bar as lost property. So it takes a few minutes. And by the time I get outside again, I see Reyna standing by the car. And there’s that guy, the one who worked in the bar.”

Oliver paused, fingers tapping at the table in an irregular pattern, beating out of time with Red’s heart.

“And he’s bothering Reyna,” he said. “He’s up in her face, talking to her. He’s even holding her by the arms. And Reyna’s trying to break free, push him away.”

A silent tear fell down Reyna’s face, pooling at the crack in her lips.

“So, of course, I run over and tell this random guy to get lost, to stop bothering my girlfriend. And then this guy, he turns to Reyna and he says, ‘Am I bothering you?’ So Reyna, of course, says that yes heis.”

Red was watching Reyna, and maybe she was wrong, but she thought she saw the slightest movement in Reyna’s head, moving side to side. Reyna stopped when she noticed Red’s eyes.

“So I pull Reyna away from the guy and I tell him to leave her alone,” Oliver said. “And then this guy loses it. He shoves me and I’m asking him what his problem is. And then he hits me, punches me right in the face.” He paused, sharpening his focus on Maddy. “He hit me first, that’s very important. He hit me first. So I did what any other guy in the situation would do: I hit him back. And maybe it was too hard, I don’t know. But I think the guy gets knocked out. He falls back on the pavement and, you know, he’s breathing heavy like he’s unconscious. He’s not bleeding or anything. Just out.”

Oliver’s fingers flexed and balled again, like he could still feel the guy’s face imprinted against his fist. Reyna was crying now, tears racing and crisscrossing each other’s tails.

“And we talked about calling an ambulance, or going back inside the bar and telling someone,” he said. “But it was only a few seconds, and then his eyes are opening and he’s awake again. He seems a bit dazed, but he was fine, started to sit up. So Reyna and I decided to leave before he got up and tried to attack either of us again. We got in the car and drove away and the guy was fine. He was walking away. We saw him. He was fine. He was fine.”

Oliver repeated it, like if he said it enough times he could change the past and make it true. Because the guy wasn’t fine, that must be why Oliver kept saying it.

Oliver cleared his throat. “So, we go to dinner, we don’t think about it again.”

---