Haunting Cries #2
Shoulders drooped, Seb grabbed the broom and set about sweeping up the rest, including attempting to gather the scattered pieces Finn had spread as he walked through it, but he missed half of it. “Yeah.”
“Hey, look to your left,” I directed.
“Oh.” He swept again, not quite reaching all of it.
That was when I noticed how he squinted. “Seb?”
He glanced my way. “D-d-did I m-miss more?”
I reached for the broom as he sighed. “You can’t see what you’re trying to sweep, can you?”
After a long pause, he surrendered, shaking his head.
How did we all miss the fact that he had vision problems and probably needed glasses? “We should tell Harmony. I think you might need an eye doctor appointment.”
Seb scratched the back of his neck. “H-harmony n-needs to believe I’m j-just c-c-c-clumsy.”
“I don’t think so, man,” Ethan interjected as he joined us in the dining room. “Johnny’s right. You knock over shit all the time and bump into furniture. I don’t think you’re a klutz. It has to be your eyes.”
“T-too expe-pensive—”
“Oh!” Harmony gasped as she walked through the arch and found us gathered beside the mess. Her gaze swept over the broom and the dustpan filled with broken shards of stoneware. “Seb?”
I urged, “Tell her, man.”
Puzzled, Harmony asked, “Tell me what?”
When Seb growled no, I ‘spilt the beans’. “For real. The kid is blind.”
“What?” our foster mom shrieked in terror.
Ethan backhanded my chest, then tried to calm Harmony. “Just in need of glasses.”
She blinked at Sebastian. “Are they right? Do you have trouble seeing things?”
Seb sighed, then reluctantly answered, “Y-yeah.”
Out of the blue, Blue’s soft, hesitant voice spoke up. She was lingering beneath the arched entrance to the kitchen. “I wear glasses too.” She suddenly winced. “Or did before, umm, he broke them.”
I will kill that fucker someday—wait.
Blue wasn’t wearing glasses when she arrived, so it made sense that none of us realized she needed them. What also now made sense was the tiny cuts she had around her eyes. She must’ve been wearing them when ‘he’ hurt her.
Since Blue wasn’t stumbling into things or knocking them over like Seb, it wasn’t as obvious that she needed another pair. I had to bite back a snarl. My list for revenge was starting to grow at an alarming rate.
Harmony tilted her head, staring at Blue for a couple of heartbeats before she nodded. “I’ll get you both an appointment.”
“T-too expen—”
Harmony’s hand stopped Seb. “We are assisted in aid to help with all your needs.” As she marched off, she mumbled that every kid in this house would still have all needs met if she had to pay every dime herself.
Deep inhale… Someday I’ll find a way to repay this woman.
Seb moved closer to Blue and held out his hand. She stared at it.
Most young men would’ve taken the rejection strike straight to the ego, but not him. Hand still extended, he just… waited.
As if caving to a last piece of cake, Blue took it, tucking her palm inside his. A timid and bewildered smile hovered on her lips.
I wondered if this was a victory for her. It might seem silly to others, but not in this house. We all came to understand that every time we had the chance to stand up for what we needed or how we felt, it was a reason to celebrate. In Blue’s case, that seemed exceptionally true.
Just eight days later, Seb and Blue walked into the house wearing new glasses.
Blue’s were a light shade of purple. Seb announced that black glasses made him look geeky, so he settled on a rockin’ shade of blue.
That earned a few smiles since each of us guys understood the need to not appear weak.
Plus, it was easy to see how much the color blue already meant to him.
My first real conversation with Blue happened a few days later when I had another restless night, tossing and turning until I shoved off the blanket and headed downstairs.
The hot cocoa didn’t appeal to me, and I found my way outside, stepping off the porch toward the detached two-car garage connected by a cobblestone pathway.
To the left, the path veered off and ended in a gazebo in which Harmony often retreated in the early evenings.
She’d strung up strands of twinkling white lights that lined the upper interior along with vines of ivy.
It reminded me of something my Noma would have liked since there were several potted, and flowering plants resting in window boxes. Her jungle.
My hand lifted to rub my sternum as a phantom echo flashed through my chest. I only took a few more steps, intending to enter the garage ahead of me, when I saw movement.
Someone was seated inside the gazebo.1
My heart stampeded in fear, as did my feet. I suddenly wished I had Dad’s knife on me so I could protect my friends until I got closer. My feet stopped at the edge of the path when I saw Blue.
“Sorry,” her tiny voice whispered as she got up. “I’ll go.”
Just then, I noticed a figure in the shadows behind her. It was Seb, madly motioning for me to get Blue to stay.
Quickly, I held up a hand to stop her. “Why?”
I was truly talking to Sebastian, but Blue’s sapphire eyes nervously shifted to the left then right, making it clear how lost and sad she was. Staring at her bare feet, she whispered, “I don’t know.”
Seb put his palms together, begging me to do something. Why he chose me to get her to talk, I may never understand, but… I couldn’t deny his pleas. So, I asked Blue, “Then, uh… will you stay?”
After a pause, she sat back down, shoulders hunched.
Her petite legs swung under the wooden bench, confirming Seb was correct.
This tiny girl may have big things to share.
It didn’t take a genius to observe something was wrong.
She was the same age as Sarah—about to enter the eighth grade—yet light-years away from Sarah’s old soul ways.
“Thanks.” I stepped inside and took a seat on the bench opposite her.
Behind her, Seb waved a hand, demanding I get to business.
What the fuck do I say? “Er… You’re up late.”
Seb’s head bobbled as though my comment wasn’t with the depth he was hoping for but that it would do.
Sucking her bottom lip into a nervous mouth, Blue nodded.
Talk about pulling teeth for a conversation.
As if reading my mind, Sebastian gave me a good-ol’-mean mug.
Fine! I cleared my throat while chanting in my head, Girl talk. Girl talk. “Did, uh, a brush get stuck in your hair, or something—” My next words kind of died in my mouth as Seb winced as if I had just insulted every female on earth. “—and woke, uh, you up?”
Confused with my idiocy, Blue examined a lock of her hair as if looking for a brush. “Umm, no.” Dropping the hair she sighed. “A nightmare.”
Trying to sound feminine and casual, I sighed while crossing my legs to rest my arms on them. “Me, too.” As soon as I felt my balls scream a protest from between my thighs, I uncrossed them, my hands flailing, and I mumbled, “Fucking hell.”
Seb’s jaw hung as if finally realizing he hired the wrong guy for the job.
What? It hurt!
Jaw locked, Seb’s finger pointed at Blue for me to focus.
Geez! Who knew the sweet kid could be so pushy? I set my shoulders back. Girl talk. “Uh. Yeah. Nightmares suck.” I even rolled my eyes, hoping it made me more girlie.
Seb covered his face as if this train wreck was too awful to watch.
Fucker.
“You have them too?” asked Blue with a hue of shame for having them in the first place.
My heart pinged, but I kept up the charade. “Pfft.” Oh, that’s good. Girls pfft all the time. “Oh yeah.”
The connection, even though it was a sad one, seemed to make Blue’s body ease. “Sometimes I just try to stay up all night to avoid them.”
Seb’s fingers split to see me. The smooth, clear surface of his glasses caught a reflection of the hanging lights and my full attention. That was the most I ever heard Blue say at one time, and it spoke a truth similar to my own.
Quietly, I admitted, “I get it.”
Seb’s hand slowly dropped.
As I wondered if I truly wanted to know what gave this tiny sweetheart nightmares, we stayed in silence, listening to the crickets and watching the fireflies blinking above the lawn.
The warm August air kept the night from becoming chilly.
I was thankful. Blue was only wearing a plain pajama dress that looked like it came from a Catholic store—
Suddenly, I remembered Noma telling me, “Some religions are ways to hide the devil.”
My stomach soured. “I like your PJs.”
Proudly, Blue smoothed the white cotton covering her legs. “Harmony got them for me.”2
This wasn’t about me. Talking is what Blue needed. I heard Seb loud and clear now.
Watching myself tug on a string on my own PJ pants, I softly said, “Harmony is very kind. Do you… have other kind people in your life?” My eyes lifted to observe her reaction. She was in a foster home. Showed up beaten. How far down did her rabbit hole go?
She stared off into a darker part of the backyard.
When she didn’t answer, I added, “Noma was one of the kindest to me.”
Blue looked at me. “Who is Noma?”
“Was.” I exhaled. “She was my grandmother.”
Her legs stopped swinging. As if distant in thought, Blue told me, “I had a grandmother, too, but… she was not like Harmony.”
Hesitant, I replied, “Oh yeah?” Then dared, “What is she like?”
There was a pause before she told me, “What the pastor says God wants.” Her little legs curled up to her chest. She rested a cheek on her knees to stare into the backyard. Her toes gripped the wood she was sitting on. A scared whisper escaped her. “That’s why it was my fault.”
My breath got caught on a hitch. “What was your fault?”
She switched cheeks to knees to see me. Under the glowing lights, Blue appeared like an innocent angel, yet claimed, “Me being here.”
Due to Blue’s condition when arriving, being with the Weathers’ felt like the best place for her. “You believe the person who hurt you was in the right?”
A delicate finger pushed glasses back up her nose as she continued to rest on her knees. “He knows what’s best for me.”
Swallowing dread, I asked, “The pastor?”