Waltzing Matilda (Emma Frost Book 11), Page 4

  He had been in love with her. He had recently told her so when they had met downtown for brunch at Café Mimosa. It was just two weeks ago, on a Sunday. It had been freezing, she remembered, and his nose had been so red it reminded her of Rudolph, and she had giggled at him when he said the words. He had taken it the wrong way and been hurt. She had grabbed his hand in hers and held it tight, then told him she didn't know if she loved him back, but that she liked him. A lot. But the fact was, she felt so confused and broken inside, she didn't even know if she was capable of loving someone. At least not yet.

  It had ended badly. He had run away from her, out of the café, and even though she had texted him every day since then, he hadn't answered. Before his ski trip, he hadn't even looked at her in school. Losing him had made her feel lonely, but somehow, she had always believed they would be friends again at some point. That he would forgive her and they could go back to being best friends again.

  "We have gathered you all here today to bring you some very sad and disturbing news," their principal opened.

  Maya felt more tears approach and sniffled to hold them back. Christina looked at her, then back at the principal, who now told them that they had lost one of their own.

  Maya felt the waves of shock as they rushed through the crowd, but she wasn't listening to the words anymore. She was crying full-blown as the alarmed faces around her turned to look at one another, the principal's words bouncing off the walls of the gym, magnifying them, making them almost screaming at Maya. Gasps and shocked grumbling went through the crowd, from one to another as the realization sunk in.

  "I can't believe it," Christina said and clasped her mouth.

  "Me either," Maya said, crying.

  Her eyes locked with those of Samuel, Asgar's best friend, who was standing not far from her. He and Maya had shared a kiss once at a party three months ago. Maya had enjoyed it, but been filled with such deep guilt since they both knew Asgar was crazy about her. They hadn't spoken about it since and she had promised herself to stay away from him, in order to not hurt Asgar.

  The look in Samuel's eyes was one of complete devastation. He was shaking his head, looking at her, mouthing, How? How did this happen?

  Chapter 12

  I spent most of the day on the phone talking to what felt like everyone in the county who had to do with my son's education or just education in general. No matter who I got a hold of, they all said the same thing.

  He was going to Fishy Pines. It was already arranged, and he would start the coming Monday. It didn't matter how much I fought them or how angry I got or how much I threatened to write a book about them and their tyrannical ways. The decision was made, and it was what was best for Victor.

  I hung up and threw the phone on the couch with a loud cry. I grabbed my coffee cup and walked to the window. I looked out at Victor playing with his trees. He seemed to be so happy when he got to be outside.

  Sophia came up next to me. She had been there most of the day, for moral support, she said.

  "Maybe it's not such a terrible idea," she said and sipped her coffee. "Going to Fishy Pines."

  "What do you mean?"

  She shrugged. "Look at him. He's twelve, Emma. This was fine when he was eight and maybe even when he was ten, but he's about to hit puberty. He'll be a teenager next year. I’m sorry to be the one to tell you but the boy is weird. There, I said it."

  I looked at her, then back at Victor. I sipped some coffee while pondering what she had said. I knew she was right. Deep down, I knew the boy was strange and had known for all his life. He knew it himself too. I just didn't want him to have a label telling him he was sick. I never saw him as being sick. I saw him as being special. Different, but not in a bad way.

  "Maybe they'll know how to open him up a little," Sophia continued. "You know, get him to use his skills, what makes him special. Like numbers. He's amazing with numbers."

  "I fear they might drug him," I said.

  "I don't think they can do that without your consent," she said.

  "True. But I’m afraid I might give it to them. What if they persuade me with all their doctors’ words and all that? I won't be able to say no, especially not if they somehow convince me it might help him. What if it does help him? I can't say no to that."

  Sophia nodded. "I see what you mean. I’m sure it'll be fine. Heck, there are crazy people all over the world doing just fine. Just look at our mayor."

  I laughed. "Lisa Rasmussen. Oh, yeah, that's one cuckoo head that's made it in this world."

  We left Victor to play, and went back into the kitchen and finished our coffee.

  "So, how was Maya this morning?" Sophia said.

  I had told her about what happened, even though it was against Morten's advice. I needed to talk to someone about it and he was too busy. Besides, Sophia was eventually going to hear once the media got a hold of the story of the boy found in the dunes. So far, they had kept it a secret, but I had a feeling it wasn't going to be long before the island was crawling with journalists from the mainland. Asgar was, after all, the son of a very wealthy and well-known family, the Dragstedts. They were the owners of Fanoe Golf, the first golf course in Denmark, established in 1901, ranked fourth best in continental Europe.

  As soon as they realized he had been killed, the media were going to eat the story up. And it wouldn't be long before it went public since I knew Morten was at the high school right now telling them the news, now that the family had been advised and were on their way back from their trip. After that, there would be no turning back.

  Chapter 13

  Maya came home early. Not that I was surprised. I was actually more surprised that she chose to go to school at all after what I had told her, but she said she needed to be there. For her friends.

  She was crushed, and I grabbed her in my arms and held her tight for a very long time. Sophia had already left to go clean up her house. She had put Alma in daycare three days a week. She needed her out of the house to get all the housework done, but other than that, she enjoyed having her around, especially since she was the last one. Sophia had the doctor sterilize her to make sure of that.

  "No more accidents," she said. "They're awfully cute but I simply can't afford them."

  Maya sniffled and pulled out of my hug.

  "Oh, Mom. It was awful. People were crying. They closed the school down for the day."

  "Let me make you some hot chocolate," I said and walked into the kitchen. Maya followed me and sat down. She blew her nose in a tissue and then continued to cry. I heated some chocolate milk, then placed it in front of her and put whipped cream on it. I made one for myself and Victor too, then called for him to come inside.

  "It's not the right time," he said.

  "I don't care. Come in anyway. Your sister needs you."

  He stood in the doorway. "But this is not when we have afternoon tea," he said, stomping his boots, causing snow to fall from them onto the carpet. "We always have afternoon tea with bread and jam at three o'clock. It is only one-thirty. This is not when we have our afternoon tea."

  I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Maya needs us, Victor. Could we bend the rules a little for once? For her sake?"

  "But it's not the right time."

  "No, you're right."

  "It is not right."

  I exhaled. "I know. It's not. And it's not afternoon tea. It's just a cup of hot chocolate that has nothing to do with afternoon tea."

  Victor paused. "So, we'll have afternoon tea at three?"

  "Yes."

  "And you'll bake?"

  "Yes, I'll bake the bread you usually have."

  "And I'll have two pieces of bread with jam on top of it."

  "Yes."

  Victor smiled. It was rare to see him do that. He didn't look at me when he did since he never looked at anyone he spoke to, but I could still see it.

  "Now, can we go have hot chocolate?" I asked and closed the door to the freezing outside.

  He didn't answer but rus
hed to the kitchen and sat down. He started to gulp down the hot chocolate.

  "Whoa," I said, barely making it into the kitchen before he had emptied the cup and licked off the whipped cream from his upper lip.

  "What's the rush?"

  Maya didn't say anything. She sat with a spoon in her hand and twirled the whipped cream around, staring into her cup and sniffling.

  "I have to get back," Victor said.

  "It's not like the trees are going anywhere," Maya said, sounding a little more like herself.

  "No, but Skye might."

  I wrinkled my forehead. Victor stared at the tabletop.

  "Who is Skye?"

  "A girl," he said as he stood up and ran out.

  My eyes met Maya's.

  "A girl?" I asked.

  She shook her head and sipped the hot chocolate. "Probably just one of his imaginary friends."

  I drank from my cup and felt it warm me. It had been especially cold today and the old house had a hard time heating up properly.

  "You're probably right," I said.

  "Can I go to my room now?" Maya said after a few minutes’ silence.

  I looked at her, surprised. I had hoped she would stay and talk a little since there had to be a lot going on in that mind of hers.

  "Sure. I won't keep you, but didn't you want to talk about what happened today? About Asgar? You must be feeling terrible."

  Maya got up and walked to the door, then shrugged. "I'm okay. Maybe we can talk later."

  Chapter 14

  She was trying to do her homework, but couldn't focus. Her mind kept spinning, thinking about Asgar and what had happened to him. Still, she didn't want to talk to her mother about it. It wouldn't make her feel any better.

  Christina had texted from the harbor when driving past it on her bike doing her paper route this afternoon. She said she had seen the massive amounts of reporters exiting the ferry coming from the mainland, invading the island. They all knew it was going to happen, especially since Asgar's family was quite well known in the country. She could only imagine them barricading their estate on the east end of the island and the reporters waiting for someone to come out and make some sort of statement.

  Maya didn't know Asgar's family very well, but she had met both his mom and dad once when Asgar invited her to dinner. They were nice people and seemed kind and very polite, but also very cold towards Asgar. He had often told her how he never felt like he was good enough for them. He never fit properly into their world and who they wanted him to be, he said.

  They had often talked about sending him to boarding school, much to Asgar's concern. He didn't want to leave his friends and knew he wouldn't make it in a boarding school environment. Maya knew he was right. Asgar was way too sweet. He was a sensitive type, and he loved to write. He had written her a poem once that she absolutely loved. He always told Maya how lucky she was to have a famous author for a mother…someone who would understand her desire to express herself, something his parents would never let him do. He was going to take over the family business of running the golf course and that was it. That was going to be his life. His parents’ life was going to be his future. And nothing scared him more. Secretly, Asgar dreamt of becoming a reporter and eventually an author.

  Maya sighed and leaned back in her chair, then she heard a sound outside her window. A small pebble hit the glass. She walked to it and opened it, a breeze of sheer cold hitting her face.

  "Samuel?"

  "I tried to text you. You didn't answer."

  She glanced at her phone on the desk. She had turned it off after texting with Christina. She didn't want to talk to anyone today or be a part of the group chats where they were all speculating about Asgar's death and what happened to him. It had started immediately after the meeting at the gymnasium and already people were spreading rumors and speculations. Some believed Asgar had committed suicide while others wrote they thought he might have been attacked by aliens. It was ridiculous, and Maya didn't want to listen to any of it.

  "Can I come in?" he asked.

  Maya nodded. There was a ladder on the side of the house that he could use. She would ask him to use the front door but didn't want her mom to see him since she would just start to interrogate her about him and who he was and whether he might be her boyfriend, and Maya couldn't deal with all that right now.

  Kenneth II growled as Samuel crawled through the window and Maya shushed him.

  "Kenneth!"

  She was so tired of that dog, but it was hers and she had to take care of him. She had a hard time even looking at the dog after her mom had told her that it had bit into Asgar's dead fingers. She kept imagining it. It was just too much. She sent him into the hallway and closed the door, so he couldn't get back in. He would probably destroy something, and then her mom would yell at her, but she didn't care.

  Samuel sat on the bed. His eyes were red.

  "I didn't want anyone to see me," he said. "That's why I didn't ring the doorbell."

  "It's probably better this way," she said. "People talk around here. Especially my mom and her friend Sophia."

  He nodded with a sniffle. Maya handed him a tissue from the package. She had created a pile of used ones on the desk.

  "So…why are you here?" she asked and sat down next to him on the bed, careful not to touch him.

  "I couldn't stand being at the house, at my home. I used to hang out with Asgar all the time. Everything at my house reminds me of him. Heck, everything in this town reminds me of him. I can't go anywhere without thinking about him and all the things we’ve done together."

  Maya sighed deeply. "I know what you mean. I don't know how to go to school tomorrow, knowing he's not there. Who's gonna make me laugh through Mrs. Holm's boring math class? He always makes these grimaces behind the teacher's back and it makes me laugh so hard." Maya paused. "Or…he did…I mean he used to."

  She pressed back tears. Samuel chuckled at a memory.

  "Or the little notes he would send to someone behind him and get them in trouble?" Samuel said. "That always made me laugh."

  "Me too."

  "And when he would make fun of Camille and the other popular girls by acting like a mime."

  Samuel laughed. "That’s always a good one. Oh, how annoyed she would get at him for walking right behind her as she strode across the cafeteria, him mimicking her every move. That was precious. He is quite the actor." Samuel stopped himself, then looked up at Maya. "I mean…was."

  There was a silence. Samuel broke it.

  "How do you think he died?"

  She shook her head. "I don't know. All I know is he was found in the dunes. It was actually my dog that found him. My mom was walking him when he found the body."

  "Geez," Samuel said.

  "Do you think he was killed?" Maya asked.

  Samuel shrugged. "It kind of sounds like he was, right?"

  "But who would kill him?" Maya asked. "Who on earth would want to see sweet Asgar dead?"

  Samuel bit his lip. "That's actually partly why I’m here. I think his dad might."

  Chapter 15

  She was feeling weak. Susan was having a hard time staying awake. He had been draining her blood. The weird figure with the mask had pumped blood out of her body every day, using his equipment in the room. Susan knew that was why she felt so feeble, but she couldn't do anything about it, no matter how much she struggled, she couldn't move. She had tried to talk to him, to ask him what he wanted from her, why she was there, but she couldn't say anything because of the gag, and she had a feeling that even if she did manage to speak and even if he did hear her, he wouldn't have answered.

  He didn't speak to her while he worked around her; all she heard was him whistling inside the mask.

  Now he was coming back. She could hear his footsteps approaching and see the door handle move.

  Please, don't take any more of my blood, she thought to herself, shivering.

  The man with the peeling skin had something between his han
ds this time. It looked like a tray. He placed the tray on top of her and pushed a button to lift the head of the bed and help her sit up. Soup and bread were on the tray. Susan gasped behind the gag. She was so hungry she felt like she could die. And thirsty. So terribly thirsty.

  The man leaned over and took off her gag, a part of his scaly skin landing on top of her covers. Susan felt sick and wanted to wipe it off, but couldn't move. She moved her jaw as the gag was removed, then let out a loud scream.

  That made the masked man laugh. He sounded like Darth Vader when he spoke and breathed behind the mask.

  "You can scream all you want to, little girl, no one can hear you out here," he said once she ran out of air.

  She groaned in anger and tried to move her hands, but still couldn't. The masked man leaned over and served her some soup on a spoon. Susan refused to open her mouth.

  The man tried again. "You gotta eat, my precious," he said. "Gotta feed those delicious blood cells of yours."

  She stared at him, wondering who was behind that black mask and why he was wearing it. It couldn't be just so she wouldn't see his face. He could have worn any mask for that. This seemed like a special one, designed specifically for some purpose that he needed it for.

  "Eat, girl," he said and urged the spoon forward.

  She took the spoonful, unable to resist it any more.

  "That's my girl," he said, then hurried up and gave her another one. It felt good to get something to eat. Susan looked at the many watches in front of her, looking like they were mocking her, telling her how much time she had spent in captivity. It was almost midnight. Just like the night before when he came to her.

  "That's good," he said and put the tray down when she had finished the soup and bread. He then gave her water to drink and she gulped it down greedily. He approached the hospital equipment and took out another long needle just like the one he had used the night before. It was attached to a tube that fed her blood into bags.