The Haunting of Gabriel Ashe (7 page)

IN THE DAYS FOLLOWING THAT WEEKEND, Gabe kept himself busy. Homework. Chores. Watching Miri while the adults were occupied. When he saw Seth on the bus or in the hallways between classes, Seth chattered on about a variety of topics ranging from the promising new movies coming out that fall, to the best types of feed for elderly horses, to the precarious state of the comic book industry—everything but the confrontation in the woods.

Gabe assumed Seth was filling up with noise what would have otherwise been awkward silence. In the moment when Seth had denied rebuilding the altar, Gabe felt their friendship change. There was no going back.

He was happy to have found a lunch table filled with kids who were welcoming, who were intrigued by stories about the big creepy house where he lived, who hadn’t once judged him or tried to trick him. And he found Mazzy to be more and more interesting. During gym class, she’d discovered a hula hoop in the supply closet and impressed everyone by keeping it going for the entire period. Forty whole minutes. It had been awesome. Even better, Mazzy came to the bus at the end of each school day to say good-bye. She really seemed to like him. And he felt the same. Every time he saw Mazzy smile, Gabe pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming—it hurt, but it was worth it.

Then, on the third Thursday of the school year, disaster struck.

That day, Gabe decided to splurge on the school pizza, which everyone promised was too good to pass up. So after math class, instead of stopping by his locker to pick up his paper-bag lunch,
Gabe went straight to the cafeteria, arriving earlier than usual. When he came through the double doors, he found that someone had usurped his group’s regular table. Seth turned toward him, smiled, and waved. Gabe didn’t wave back. Looking around, he saw none of his other friends. He rushed to the table. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Oh, well, I realized that if I switched my quiet-study period, I could eat lunch with you guys,” Seth said. He took a sip from an open carton of chocolate milk, then scooted over and pointedly brushed at the seat beside him.

“You have to go.”

Seth tilted his head. He’d expected this reaction. “You don’t want me to sit here?”

“
I
don’t mind,” said Gabe, “but the others won’t be happy that someone else took the table.”

“Then come with me to a different one. We can sneak off to Slayhool.” He whispered in the voice of Wraithen, “My sources say that the Hunter is currently watching us.”

Gabe felt an unexpected anger burning beneath his skin. Was this supposed to be a test? Of what? Loyalty? Before he could respond, he heard a familiar voice behind him. “What’s going on here?” Gabe turned to find Felicia, arms crossed, looking tickled.

“We were just leaving,” said Seth, rising from the bench. He grabbed the chocolate milk carton. “Come on, Gabe.”

“Gabe?” said Felicia, hiding a hint of laughter. “Really?”

“Seth switched lunch periods,” Gabe answered, feeling his lameness ooze from his skin.

“I can see that,” she answered. Malcolm and Ingrid appeared through the crowd and approached cautiously.

“Yeah,” said Seth, his voice dripping with false sweetness, “so
if it’s okay with you, Felicia, Gabe’s gonna sit with me. We’re obviously not welcome at
your
table.”

“Gabe can do whatever he likes,” said Felicia. “If he wants to sit here, he can, and if he wants to leave us…well, that’s his decision.” Her voice had an edge to it, which spoke silently of serious repercussions.

Gabe felt his chest begin to constrict. He struggled to catch his breath. “No,” he heard himself say. He slid onto the bench. “I want to sit with you guys.”

Felicia parked herself opposite him and grinned up at Seth. “I guess Gabe’s made his decision.”

Gabe lowered his eyes and stared at his lap. He pressed his fingers into his palms, feeling as though he were holding on to the planet for dear life. In the silence that followed, he could only imagine Seth’s face, purple with rage. Ingrid and Malcolm sat down too, unable to hide their discomfort. They glanced at each other, then purposely looked in opposite directions.

“Evil witch,” Seth whispered to himself, as if Felicia were a character in the game, a creature who needed to be vanquished.

Before Gabe knew what was happening, Felicia screamed. She scrambled rapidly out from the booth. The entire room went silent. Time seemed to slow. As she stood, Gabe saw an opaque brownish substance drip from her hair, down her face, and dribble onto her shirt. Chocolate milk. He turned toward Seth, unable to think, unable to speak.

Seth dropped the now empty carton. It hit the floor with a resounding hollowness. He backed away, then knocked into several students on his way toward the cafeteria doors. People grabbed at his shirt, shouting for him to stop, but he didn’t appear to hear them. Either that, or he didn’t care.

GABE, FELICIA, MALCOLM, AND INGRID were all called into the principal’s office to give their version of the events. No one was in trouble apparently, except for Seth, but he had disappeared from the school grounds shortly after the chocolate milk incident. They all had to call home and tell their parents what had happened. Gabe went from class to class worrying that his new friends would hate him now. He had brought the monster into their midst. But moments after the last bell, Gabe found the group gathered at his locker.

Mazzy was there too. “Everyone’s talking about what happened,” she said. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, totally,” Gabe lied. He felt his throat closing up as the group appeared to study his face. “I feel horrible for Felicia,” he said quietly, barely able to look at her. Felicia had changed her clothes and rinsed her hair. She wore a Slade School Spirit T-shirt that Mrs. Closkey, the school secretary, had given her. Malcolm had lent her his Red Sox cap. Felicia had tied the shirt at the waist so it bloused out. Despite the baggy fit and boyish quality of the outfit, it still looked cute.

Felicia stared at Gabe for a moment, then laughed. “You can’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Relief flooded Gabe’s lungs. “I thought you’d hate me now.”

Felicia nudged his shoulder. “Everyone makes mistakes. Especially when you’re new. Now you know better,” she said. “We’re all about to head over to my house to hang out. You should totally come.”

Gabe smiled. He could think of nothing else he’d rather do. “Sure. I just have to call my parents.”

Later, after the sun had dipped below the western hills, Dolores picked Gabe up from Felicia’s house. In the car, when she asked him about his day, he told her that everything was fine now. She squeezed his arm.

Dinner was waiting, as was his homework. His father and grandmother had already eaten and were together in the living room, watching a sitcom on the television Glen had recently purchased. Dolores carried Miri down the hall to join them. Gabe set himself up at the kitchen table, biting into a turkey sandwich and flipping through his textbook at the same time. He was deep into a reading about the American Revolution when the doorbell rang. He heard his grandmother get up and make her way down the hall. She called out, “Gabriel! You have a visitor!”

Gabe’s skin went prickly. He knew who it was even before he came upon Seth on the front stoop. Seth was dressed in a light jacket. He’d shoved his hands awkwardly into the pockets of his jeans and shivered in the chilly air. Barefoot but for fuzzy slipper-socks, Gabe stepped outside.

“I tried calling,” said Seth, “but your dad said you weren’t home. I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t lying.”

“He wasn’t
lying
,” said Gabe. He reached behind himself, closing the door almost all the way. “I just got home a little while ago.”

“What, I can’t come in?” said Seth.

“Not a good idea,” said Gabe quietly.

“Are you nervous that I’m going to throw milk at your grandmother?” Seth laughed. Gabe didn’t respond, and Seth’s smile
dropped away. “Look, I’m sorry about today. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“You think?”

“I didn’t mean to get you involved.”

Gabe knew that was exactly what Seth had meant. “You’re in a lot of trouble. More than you know.”

Seth shrugged. “Yeah, the school left a whole bunch of messages on our answering machine, but I deleted them before my mom could listen. I’m not too worried. I’ve had detention before.”

“And that hasn’t stopped you from doing stuff like this?”

“Uh, no?” Seth bit his lip. “But it also hasn’t stopped Felicia and all them from being nasty jerks either.”

“You’re the one who threw milk all over her!”

“And she deserved it!” He took a deep breath. “
Gabe can make his own decisions
,” he mimicked in a singsong voice that sounded nothing like Felicia. “What a bunch of baloney.”

“So then you’re
not
sorry.”

Seth sighed. “I’m only sorry that I put you in this spot. I know you like them for some strange reason. But…” He cleared his throat. “I don’t want them to take you away.” He quickly shook his head. “I didn’t mean…that came out wrong.”

“They didn’t
take
me away, Seth. I went on my own.”

Seth’s forehead crinkled. Gabe felt like he was standing on the edge of a precipice. And if he stepped forward…

“I mean—” Gabe began. But the words felt like beestings. His tongue was suddenly thick, his mouth dry. “I’m not playing the Hunter’s game anymore.” Seth kept his face still, revealing nothing. Gabe thought of what the pastor had said after the fire, the bible quote, about putting away childish things. “I think it’s time we both, like, grow up, you know?”

“That’s fine,” Seth said. He crossed his arms tightly, a deflector shield. “We can do something else when we hang out.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Not a good idea?” Seth’s voice echoed out into the darkness of the yard. “What, we’re not friends anymore?”

“I-I guess not.” Gabe glanced at the sky so he wouldn’t have to face Seth. “Not right now anyway.”

“Then when? In a month?” Gabe couldn’t tell if Seth was being serious, so he didn’t respond. Seth dropped his arms to his sides. He seemed to examine the stone stoop. Then, with a calm smile, Seth glanced up. “You’re going to be sorry about this.” His voice was flat. “The Hunter will come for you.” A breeze came upon the house from the nearby woods, rustling Seth’s hair in front of his face.

“The Hunter will…come for me?” Gabe wasn’t sure if he’d heard correctly.

“You and your new friends.” Seth nodded, as if he’d planned this speech all along. It almost sounded silly. Like the wicked witch threatening Dorothy in that old movie.

Gabe chuckled out of nervousness. “You need help, Seth,” he said.

Seth’s face turned red. He stared with an intensity Gabe had never seen before. “You’re the one who’s going to need help. Trust me.”

Gabe felt for the door behind him, in case he needed to put it between them. “Really, Seth, I think you should talk to the guidance counselor or something. You’ve been through a lot. Your parents. Your brother—”

“Don’t talk to me about my brother! You don’t know anything about him!”

“You’ve never told me!” Gabe shouted back. Seth bit his lip, which had begun to tremble. “I-I’m sorry. But you can’t go around treating people like this.”

“People can’t go around treating
me
like this! It’s
not fair. It’s the opposite of fair. Felicia gets to live in a huge house with a pool and parents who give her whatever she wants. Mazzy shows up at school with her blonde hair and little pixie-dust smile and everyone just falls in love with her. And you! You say your family lost everything in that fire, but you end up living in a mansion with your famous grandmother. You all get whatever you want. Whatever you need. I
have
to be the way I am. No one is coming to save me. No one is going to fix everything! Don’t you get it?”

The thing was, Gabe
did
get it.

Seth hitched another breath, then added, “I thought we were friends.”

The front door rattled open, but Gabe was so startled by Seth’s outburst that he didn’t turn around. He felt frozen, as if by magic—a spell he was no longer willing to believe in.

“You boys all right out here?” It was Elyse. Gabe felt her thin fingers touch his shoulders, and he glanced briefly at her.

Seth transformed. He stood up straight, wiped his eyes, then sniffed and smiled. “I-I was just leaving,” he said. “Nice to see you, Mrs. Ashe. Good night.” Before either of them could respond, Seth descended the front steps and sprinted off alone into the night.