We decide to go over at Sara's, since it was best to cheer her after what had happened. Dustin said that Sara was much closer to the place where the bodies were, since the police had pushed him away.
"How's she coping with this?" I asked, but rephrase my question because it isn't Sara who I should worry about is it? "How's....Mrs. Tremblay?"
Wasn't the man found dead his brother?
Dustin pressed his lips, not sure how to answer that. And I leave it at that too.
I knock at Sara's door, Dustin shifting beside me.
"She's not answering her phone." He says, redialing her number.
"Maybe she's not home." I offer, knocking harder at the door. More urgently, because we both know how impossible that is. When she's not with us, she's home.
The weather was still bright. Bright like a fake smile. Showing that all is right even when it wasn't. Not matching our moods at all.
"Both of her cars are gone." Dustin suggests, "So maybe she went out with her family?"
"If she went out, wouldn't they go together is one car?" I mumble, unsure. "Besides, her parents are always out working."
Dustin whistles at the thought, "Maybe."
Exasperated by the situation, I raise my aching fist to hit the door one last time when a kid opens the door, looking at us innocently.
I crack out a convincing smile, nudging Dustin to do the same.
It's Noah. Sara's younger brother.
"Hey, Noah!" I gleam, "How are you?"
The sic year old blinks at me, turning to frown at Dustin suspiciously.
"What?" Dustin blinks back.
Noah shakes his head. He's a quiet kid. Doesn't speak at all unless he feels like it. Sara says he's a piano- prodigy, so whenever the two of us came over, he'd always be in his room playing beautiful melodies. Which is probably why he doesn't recognize us.
"Is...you sister here?" I ask, looking over his shoulder, "We want to talk to her."
He raises his glasses, on his small nose, looking at me questioningly, as if asking 'what for?'
Dustin puts on his best friendly face, though anyone could notice his eye twitching with impatience if they looked closer.
"Look, kid." He says, "This is really important. Can't we come in?"
Bluntly, he shakes his head.
And that was the last straw for Dustin, "Alright that's enough. This isn't a joke anymore." Taking a huge breath, he shouts, "Sara! Charlie and I are waiting for you here! Get the hell out of you room and HURRY UP!"
"Dustin..." I smack my head at his stupidity as Noah's eyes widen, moving to close the door but before he could another voice calls from behind.
"Noah, let them in."
Reluctantly, Noah steps aside, glaring at Dustin who eyed him the same way. It almost looked like they were trying hard not to smile.
Sara stands on the stairs, tugging at her sleeves, a thing she did when she was nervous, and trust me, she was rarely ever that.
"Come in." She says, quickly heading to her room, not even giving us another glancing.
************************************
"So it really is them?" I scowl, covering myself with a blanket. "Aren't the police gonna check or something? Are they even sure that it's a car accident?"
Sara grabs the edge of her bed so hard that her knuckles go white. "Yeah, the whole town is talking about it right now. They keep saying that they probably got lost on the way here and they crashed."
"Speaking of which," Dustin swings his chair, away from the computer screen, "Check this out, the town's local site is literally buzzing with the incident."
I stand up and walk towards the screen, horrified to see all the rumors were spreading without even the people bothering to ask Mr. Tremblay and his wife about the real story. I suppose no one has the guts to. Me included.
"This...this is horrible." I muster, walking to a beanbag and letting myself sink into it.
"I know." Sara says, grimly, holding an old stuffed bear, "Nothing this...violent ever happening in our town. This is going to be marked in our town's history. Never forgotten."
I repeat these words in my mind.
Never forgotten.
It's amazing how this phrase can be used both negative and positively. And in our case, it leans more into the bad side.
"More importantly, think about what they're going through." I hide my face with my hands, wanting to crawl in a place where I could avoid all this, "Just the thought of it makes me shiver."
"To think that something happens like this to your family..." Dustin lets the words settle in, long enough to make him uneasy and go down to get a soda.
We sit there in silence, not sure what to say or do.
Is it like that because of our fight or because of the situation we are in right now?
Sara chews at her nail, looking more worried than the rest of us. A part of me feels confuse because of that.
"Hey-" I start but Sara gets up, giving me a thin smile.
"I have to make a call." She says, "Is that ok?"
I manage to crack a smile as weak as hers, "Yeah...actually I'll head out now."
Sara frowns, "That soon?"
"I was thinking to meet...well you know who." I get up, head pounding. "Maybe Dustin will come with me and you too?"
"I'm busy today." She replies quickly. "How about tomorrow?"
She nods. "Sounds good."
I give her a light wave, "Bye, then."
Dustin decides to head out home to, in hopes to catch some sleep though I doubt he'll be able to do that. I'm not sure a lot of people will.
When I reach home, I take a deep breath before entering the front door. But the whole atmosphere is already distant. Emma looking shaky and red in the face while Dad sitting on his chair, was visibly somber.
"We heard what happened to Alan." Dad says, clearing his throat. "Quite a sorrowful incident."
I nod, barely listening, hanging up my jacket.
Emma walks up to me and reaches for my hand, "Are you ok?"
"I'm not the one you should be asking that." My tone stable but emotionless.
"I'm going to pay him a visit." I add after a long pause. "Tomorrow."
"Alright." Dad says.
I gulp an urge to cry, walking towards my room when I notice something. A sort of silence. A type that made you realize something is incomplete. Better yet, someone.
"Where's Jason?" I ask, gripping the railings on the stairs.
"Outside." Dad grabs his reading glasses and his week-old newspaper.
"With Joey." Emma completes, getting a stern look from Dad but ignoring it.
"What!" I exclaim, "Why?"
"Well..." Dad clears his throat again, and I'm starting to think that whenever he does that, it won't exactly be good news.
"Well, what?"
"Jason's ...teaching him how to do some work."
By teaching he meant 'forcefully turning him into a slave'.