In Memory of Reed Fray

Seventeen

Skylar paced the old place he used to hang out at. It seemed like ages ago when he last stayed there. And the last time he did, he wasn’t in his best state of mind and he was so emotional. He sighed and ran a hand through his too long hair. The placed looked like dump, with too much graffiti on the wall and the smell of smoke lingering, but besides the beach and cemetery, it was the closest place he had to find some peace in school.

His mind was reeling with so much possibilities and probabilities. He knew he was so close in finding the killer. All he had to do was have a good chat with Mrs. Dornan. He had this biggest feeling that she had some idea about Elena Morgan and maybe he could get some insight from her too.

“Wow, this seems weird.”

Skylar stopped pacing and then looked at who had decided to interrupt him, “David?”

“Seems like ages ago when we last saw each other, huh?” David stated, “I’m surprise you still know my name.”

“Dude,” Skylar started, knowing that David was upset about him completely forgetting that he was with him when Tori asked for help for Toby, “Look I’m sorry if I forgot about you. But you could’ve gone after us.”

David just stared at him, “I couldn’t even understand what Tori meant. And by the time I decided to go after you, both of you were gone.”

Skylar sighed, “We had to rush him to the hospital. Man, it was scary. It felt like Reed all over again.”

He noticed David’s eyes flashed when he mentioned Reed, “Well, he was okay, wasn’t he? So it wasn’t like Reed all over again.”

Skylar stared at his best friend. He couldn’t understand why he seemed irritated all of a sudden, “I said I was sorry. What’s still got your panties in a twist?”

“That you seemed to have forgotten that you have a best friend!” he replied, his voice starting to rise, “Ever since Reed had gotten involved with that Rose girl, he was all you could ever talk about. And then when he died, you still forgot about me!”

Skylar’s eyebrows furrowed, “I’m grieving my brother’s death!”

“But you have time for Tori?!”

“Dude, you’re acting like we’re in some sort of relationship that I need to have time for you,” Skylar pointed out, shaking his head, “I’m sorry if we haven’t been hanging out as much. And Tori’s been helpful to me.”

“I could be helpful too,” he grumbled, “But you’ve been pushing me away ever since Reed died.”

“You told me to go see Mr. Carson,” Skylar said.

“Because you needed to talk to someone! You needed help!” David said in exasperation.

“Did it ever occur to you that you could’ve been that someone too?” Skylar stated calmly. He had thought about this before. Ever since Reed died, David wasn’t acting like a comforting best friend. Instead he kept on telling Skylar to just move on or talk to a counsellor and then he expected that he’d be better right after. Reed and David weren’t exactly friends, and they didn’t like each other but tolerated each other for Skylar’s sake and that much, Skylar knew. But he didn’t really expect David to act so nonchalant about Reed’s death.

“I would’ve listened if you didn’t just push me away,” he muttered.

Skylar laughed without humor, “David, every time I mentioned Reed you tell me that he’s in a better place and to move on. You didn’t want to listen.”

“Well, I’m sorry if I wasn’t the best friend that you wanted me to be. But it’s not like you had been for the past weeks too,” David replied coldly, “Dad left my Mom and she’d been drowning her sorrows with alcohol for the past weeks.”

Skylar didn’t know how to respond. He only met Mr. Carlton a few times but he knew that he had a good relationship with his son. He had always been pushing David to join sports and get girls. Sometimes Skylar envied how he’d let David off the hook every time he saw him with a girl in his room. But Skylar had always noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Carlton weren’t like other married couples. They always fought and Skylar knew that this was because Mr. Carlton was unfaithful. But why Mrs. Carlton hadn’t left him even if she knew that, Skylar didn’t know. I guess there was some romance that was unexplainable.

“Oh,” was all he said, “I’m sorry about that. But why did he leave?”

David hesitated for a moment, “I-I don’t know. I just came home and Mom was sobbing.”

Skylar walked over to him and patted his back, “You want to eat at Nancy’s?”

When either of them was upset and neither knew what to say, they choose to pig out at Nancy’s. David nodded and they chose one of their escape routes at school. They’ve been skipping school so much they knew every exit at the back of their hand. Once they arrived at the diner, they ordered the usual food, burgers, fries and milkshakes.

“So what have you been doing with your Mom?” Skylar asked.

David sighed, “I’ve tried hiding all the alcohol but she knows the house better than I do. Dude, she even hid it under the floor. How she managed to ruin it just to hide the alcohol, I have no idea. I can’t even talk sense to her.”

Skylar nodded, “If it helps, I can ask Mom to.”

“Thanks but I don’t think Mom would listen to her too,” David said with a defeated sigh, “He’s not coming back, Sky. And since he won’t, I don’t think Mom will be ever to pick herself up. She loves him too much.”

Again, Skylar didn’t know what to say. He wanted to comfort his best friend but when he was about to, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Subtly checking it, he saw it was a text from Tori.

Hey. I got information about Mrs. Dornan. She’s at her daughter’s house. Do you want to go pay her a visit?

Sure. Now?

If it’s okay with you, it’s fine with me.

Skylar looked up at his friend who was busy with his food, “Dude?”

David looked up at him and there was something in his expression that said he had an idea what Skylar was gonna say, “Just go to her.”

“How did you..?”

He shrugged, “You weren’t so subtle.”

Something seemed to have shifted in the atmosphere and Skylar could feel the tension seeping in, “Look, we can hang out tomorrow, after school. Does that sound good?”

“You know before, you didn’t have to fit me in your schedule,” David responded with disgust, “And I thought it was bros before hoes.”

And with that, he stood up, left money for his food and left. Skylar wanted to go after him and tell him everything. After all, David was his best friend. But he didn’t want to drag him into this mess too. He already had Tori to think about and not to mention Viola. But Viola didn’t have any threat weighted on her shoulders unlike Tori. Sighing, he left money on the table too and rushed back to his bike.

“Why do you look so upset?”

That was the first thing Tori said when Skylar arrived at her driveway. She was wearing dark jeans and an oversized sweater paired with her boots. She looked shorter when she was wearing boots but she managed to pull it off anyway. Skylar shrugged, “I think David’s mad at me.”

Tori raised an eyebrow and stared at him expectantly, “Why? What did you do?”

“Does it automatically mean I did something wrong?” Skylar snapped and when Tori flinched, he quickly mumbled an apology, “I don’t know why he got so upset all of a sudden. He just noticed I got a text from someone and then he went all mad.”

Tori raised her eyebrows but didn’t say anything. She had always been observing Skylar and David from afar before, Reed too, ever since Skylar humiliated her. And she was friends with some of the girls David hooked up with. She always felt that there was something odd about him, “Hmm. Let’s think about that later. Right now, let’s go pay Mrs. Dornan a visit.”

They got on his motorbike, with Tori giving him instructions by merely pointing where he was supposed to turn next. Once in front of the house and with their helmets taken off, Skylar looked at Tori, impressed, “So you’re a stalker now?”

Tori rolled her eyes, “I babysit Mrs. Dornan’s daughter’s kid.”

Skylar mouthed the words to himself and then nodded, “Oh. Okay. So you didn’t tell me this before?”

The door swung open before Tori could reply or ring the doorbell, “TORI!”

A smile crept on Tori’s face and she immediately knelt to be on the same level as the little boy, “Joey!”

She kissed his forehead and picked him up. Skylar could only stare. The smile on her face was so big and radiant that it would automatically make someone else smile too, “How have you been?”

“Joey? Who’s at the door?” A tall lady with long brown hair appeared on the doorway. She grinned when she saw Tori, “Oh Tori it’s you! It’s so nice to see you again!”

“Hey Heidi!” Tori chirped before setting Joey back down again, “Sorry to drop without giving you a heads up. But my friend, Skylar, here, was hoping he could talk to your Mom? Mrs. Dornan?”

“What do you want with Granny?” Joey asked.

It was Skylar who ruffled his copper brown hair, “We had a conversation cut short. I was hoping I could finish it.”

Joey studied him for a moment and then turned to Tori; he then grabbed Skylar’s hand and dragged him inside, “You’re with Tori. Maybe you’re his boyfriend! So that must mean you’re a good guy. Tori always told me he would never date someone evil.”

Skylar took a quick glance at Tori who had hung her head low and Heidi was following behind her, looking amused at what her son said, “Granny! Tori’s boyfriend wants to talk to you!”

Joey had led them to the backyard where Mrs. Dornan was sitting in a wheelchair and watching two little girls play with a Golden Retriever. She looked up and saw Skylar. Tilting her head to the side, a knowing smile spread to her lips, “I see you wanted to finish our conversation dear?”

Skylar nodded and sat on a patio chair, his gaze focused intently on Mrs. Dornan, “You were gonna tell me about Elliot. Who is he?”

Mrs. Dornan paused for a moment, “Elliot Morgan. He’s Elena’s twin brother.”

Skylar glanced at Tori who seemed to be dumbfounded as he was. Viola swore she had no other living relative. So was Elliot Morgan dead too? “Do you have any idea where he is?”

“Nobody knows where Elliot has gone off to,” it was Heidi who spoke this time. Her eyes looked at her mother wearily, “I don’t know why you’re curious about them. I haven’t heard of that name in years.”

“Is there any reason why no one asks about him?” Tori asked.

“I was a freshman in Benjamin High. Our family just moved here when that incident happened. Nobody talks about it. Not anymore. But right after that incident, I haven’t heard or seen Elliot Morgan,” Heidi said quietly, “It seemed as though he just completely disappeared.”

“Did he die?” Tori asked softly. The background of the kid’s laughter seemed redundant as the tension lay heavily in the atmosphere.

Heidi didn’t answer. It seemed like she couldn’t bring herself to answer the question and so her mother did the honor, “No. At least all of us don’t think so. He was already eighteen by the time the incident happened. It seemed possible that he would just pack his bags and leave the town that scarred him enough to last a lifetime.”

“So he just left? He just left his family just like that?” Tori asked. The surprise in her voice was evident. In her culture, that wasn’t something that people normally do and when her family arrived in Fresley, the folks around this place didn’t seem to be ones to just up and leave their family unless there was a bigger opportunity in other cities.

Heidi sighed, “I don’t think he left just like that. I knew him. He used to tutor me in Algebra. He was a good guy and he loved Elena so much I didn’t think he’d leave her just like that.”

“So are you implying that he’s either dead or someone forced him to leave,” Skylar stated, “Look. You guys said that no one in this town have any contact with Elliot Morgan but what about the others? What happened that night?”

Mrs. Dornan gripped Skylar’s hand suddenly, “There was a fire. In an old shacked up barn. Nobody knew how those kids got there. Nobody really knows what happened that night. All we know was that there was a fire and someone died.”

“The others…have they left?” Skylar asked again, just as Mrs. Dornan let go of his hand.

“They graduated and left town until a few years ago, Barbara Monroe came back,” Heidi said softly. A look crossed Skylar’s face and Heidi was fast and smart enough to know what that look meant, “Why are you suddenly curious about them? Your generation has no idea about what happened in the past and it never has been your business to dig it up.”

Skylar stared at her evenly, “The past contains the answers to the questions that I ask.”

She stepped closer to Skylar and gripped his shoulders tightly. Her eyes were leveled with his, “If this is about your brother, I don’t see how those things connect. But be careful with digging up the past.”

“Why?” Tori asked and Heidi let go of Skylar and she turned to her mother.

Mrs. Dornan looked at the young girl, “What happened that night scarred those people. Somebody died. A fire broke out. But those aren’t the only reasons why folks in this town stopped discussing it.”

“There’s a bigger reason, isn’t there?”

Mrs. Dornan looked at him, “There were series of murder of teenage boys. Their deaths didn’t look the same but they were connected to the same person.”

“Let me guess,” Skylar said evenly, “They were all connected to Elena Morgan.”