In Memory of Reed Fray

Eighteen

All Skylar could do was stare blankly into space after their visit with Mrs. Dornan. And to think that Mrs. Dornan was supposed to give him the answers to his questions. All the visit did was make him ask more questions. Who was Elliot Morgan? Is he the killer? Where was he now? How come Viola never mentioned her uncle? Was it possible that she no idea she had an uncle? That her mother had a twin who disappeared right after that incident?

At the mention of an incident, his mind sunk back into a memory that kept tugging to get out of the surface the moment he had climbed his bike. His parents had mentioned an incident happening when they were young. He closed his eyes and tried to think about whatever his parents had mentioned, hoping that it would somehow give him answers despite it being so little.

“I bumped into Barbie Monroe,” Barry said as she took out the groceries from the bag. Skylar and Reed were playing with Austin’s cards in the living room but they could hear the conversation of their parents in the kitchen.

“Oh? How is she now? I heard she moved back here a year ago,” Oliver asked, “All I heard is that she got pregnant her freshman year in college and then called a shotgun wedding.”

“Yea. Her kid’s two year’s older than Austin. She’s going by Barbara Rose now.”

His father was quiet for a moment, “Why do you think she’d decide to go back in this town? After what happened to her and her friends?”

Barry was silent for a moment and then nervously took a glance at Reed and Skylar who seemed oblivious to their conversation, “I don’t know. But she didn’t seem like the Barbie Monroe everyone else knew. The incident scarred her enough.”

“But not enough to stay away from this place?” Oliver said shaking his head, “Elena and Paul did. So did Elliot. He was the first one to leave.”

“And no one heard of him since,” Barry whispered. She turned to look at her husband, “That psychopath is no longer here, Ollie. And he won’t hurt anyone anymore. Especially if Elena’s no longer here.”

His parents knew Elena Morgan. But how come they never mentioned her when they saw Viola? But have they actually met Viola? Reed had talked about her a lot but not once did he bring her over for dinner even if he had promised that he would. And on Sundays, Viola didn’t go with the Rose’s for church. And at Reed’s wake, they were all too busy with the guests that he wasn’t even sure that Viola was there.

“You’re thinking too much.”

Skylar sat straight up from his position on the bed and his eyes quickly darted to the window. Tori Garcia was perched on her windowsill, dressed in pajamas and a basketball jersey that was obviously not hers judging by the size. Skylar walked over to his windowsill and looked at Tori. Her black hair was tied in a messy bun and her eyes were wide awake.

“You can’t sleep either?”

She shook her head and flashed him a small smile, “With everything Heidi and Mrs. Dornan said, it’s hard to close your eyes and ask your brain to shut off.”

He chuckled and perched himself on the windowsill, taking a position that was opposite to hers so they would be face to face, “I think my parents might have an idea about the incident.”

“Will you ask them?”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, “But wouldn’t they ask me why I’m prying? Which would lead them to believe that I’m figuring out who killed Reed. As much as they want justice for him, I don’t think they’ll be willing to sacrifice another son.”

Tori looked at him with furrowed eyebrows, “Don’t you think they would’ve connected Reed’s death to the series of murder that happened then?”

Skylar shook his head, “Elena Morgan is long gone from this town. And they haven’t met Viola to see that they look so much alike. Elliot Morgan disappeared. It’s only Barbara who stayed here. To them, Reed’s murder is a whole different story entirely.”

Tori sighed and was quiet for a moment. When Skylar turned to study her, it was only then that he realized she was playing with one of her knives. She was carving on her wooden windowsill. He squinted his eyes to see what she was engraving on it but realized she was just playing a game of tic-tac-toe.

“Does that help you sleep?”

“It helps me take my mind off things,” she said with a shrug. She stopped and then suddenly threw the knife in her room and Skylar could hear a faint thud and he watched Tori smile in satisfaction.

“Ever considered taking archery? You seem to have good aim,” Skylar commented.

Tori shook her head, “Once. When I was eight. When I realized I actually had good aim after all the training Mom put me through. But the moment I had my hands on a bow and arrow, I realized they weren’t for me. I wasn’t cut out to be Katniss Everdeen.”

Skylar smiled slightly, that crooked smile, “But you’re certainly the Clove of District 2.”

Tori stared at him amused, “I never pegged you as one who had watched or read the Hunger Games.”

“Read,” Skylar said guiltily, “And haven’t you been babysitting Sophia? Haven’t you seen my books lying around the house?”

Tori shook her head in disbelief, “I thought they were Willow’s or Reed’s.”

Skylar looked playfully offended, “Is it so hard to believe that Skylar Fray is actually a literary geek?”

Tori laughed at him and shook her head. She then turned her attention to the sky. Skylar wanted to turn and see what she was looking at but he liked his view already. He studied her face. She was so small compared to everyone else and her tan skin was so natural, unlike the other girls who had to go and burn their skin under the sun to get that tan-kissed skin. She was so pretty too and she didn’t even wear make-up that much.

“Why are you helping me?” he asked softly and when her eyes turned to meet his, it softened and she flashed him a small smile.

“Reed was a good person. The moment you mentioned you wanted to know who killed him, I was already thinking of joining you but you mentioned Viola too and I knew that I was already in it.”

“You’ve wanted to get close to Viola even at the beginning,” he said and then looked at her, “Why?”

Tori sighed, “She reminded me so much of someone I used to know. Back at the Philippines, before we migrated here.”

“An old friend?”

Skylar watched as her eyes turned glassy and she kept staring off at the distance. And then he noticed that it was brimming with tears and he reached out to her and nudged her lightly on the shoulder, “Hey. I didn’t mean to make you cry.”

“I’m sorry about that,” she said and then laughed without humor, “There are things that even if you’ve managed to move passed on, they still somehow hurt. It’s like a game of what could’ve been or what you could’ve done to change that one thing so everything could be different but you didn’t so you’ll have to live with that floating what if. Yung walang hiyang regret na tinatawag.”

“If you don’t like the person that Viola reminds you of, shouldn’t you’ve kept your distance to her?” Skylar asked.

“I saw Viola as a second chance to correct all the mistakes I’ve made to that person. I wanted to redeem myself,” she said softly and sighed, “Viola was so much like her. That was why I was so hell-bent on breaking into her walls so that I could take care of her.”

“But Reed beat you to it,” Skylar said quietly.

She nodded, smiling sadly, “And I never got the chance to redeem myself.”

“Did you ever think of just apologizing to the person you’ve wronged?” Skylar asked, staring at Tori.

When she shook her head and smiled sadly again, he felt his heart break for her, “It’s not that easy. I tried; I swear to you that I did. But you can hurt the person so much to the point that forgiving is no longer an option, nor is second chances. And when you’ve said I’m sorry too many times, it just eventually loses its meaning.”

Skylar watched as a tear rolled down her left cheek and she hastily wiped it away. She turned to him and smiled anyway, “But it’s okay. I learned a very valuable lesson. And though I never got the chance to redeem myself and prove to myself I can be a good friend to someone, I can always do that to someone else.”

Skylar studied her for a moment and then exhaled loudly, “You already had.”

Furrowing her eyebrows, she stared at him confused, “Maybe I’m not as broken as Viola or I’m not the exact same person as that person you’ve been talking about. But even if we fight so much each time we’re together, moments like this, you prove to me that you’re a good friend. One that’s always willing to listen. One that stayed even if I’ve been a jerk to you so many times. And to me, that’s all there is to being a good friend. And person.”

Tori smiled and this time, it wasn’t sad. It was so genuine and happy that it made Skylar’s heart skip a beat, “Thanks Skylar that made me feel better. And here I always thought that you were incapable of saying something comforting to someone.”

He smiled slightly, “I’m not good at it. Reed was though.”

“I know.”

He looked at her, this time he was the one with furrowed eyebrows, “When I babysit Sophia sometimes Reed was there. We’d talk. We became friends. There are times at school when I can’t pull it together, when I start thinking that I’m a bad person because I hurt my best friend. He’d be the one to comfort me.”

“That does sound like Reed,” Skylar commented with a light laugh, “But you never told him how you wanted to befriend Viola to help her?”

“When I saw how persistent he was in wanting to be friends with her, I stopped my persistence,” she said with a shrug, “There was something about the way Reed looked at Viola that told me that he was the better option. Even when he’s gone now, you can see how he’s changed Viola or how he helped her be the person that she once was again.”

“How do you think he did that?”

Tori only stared at him, “Love can do wonders.”

“And it can kill,” he said after a moment. They both looked at each other, “Do you think the killer is really in love with Elena Morgan? Or if he’s just infatuated with her?”

Tori only shrugged, “I honestly don’t know. Because I still can’t see the picture clearly or how the killer sees it. But I think it’s safe to say we’re dealing with a psychopath.”

They were quiet again and the cold breeze of the wind caused both of them to shiver. Skylar watched as Tori wrapped her arms around herself and continued to stare at the night sky, “How are we gonna ask around about the incident?”

Skylar shook his head and shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe we can dig up some old newspapers. Mrs. Dornan and Heidi did say that no one knows the true story.”

“Or maybe we can just look for Barbara Monroe.”

Skylar’s world seemed to stop just for a moment and then he turned to look at Tori slowly, “I think I might know where Barbara Monroe is.”

Tori raised her eyebrows and stared at Skylar intently, “Who?”

“I think my parents once mentioned her. That when she came back here she’s not going as Barbie Monroe now, but as Barbara Rose.”

“Rose,” Tori whispered and then her eyes widened, “Oh my god, Viola’s living with her! She was part of that incident.”

Skylar nodded, “Look. We can talk about this tomorrow. I think we might need to rest for now and then we’ll talk about it tomorrow with Viola.”

She nodded and then yawned and pulled herself off the windowsill, “Well. I guess we should go to sleep. Thanks for the late night talk, Skylar.”

But Skylar felt the need to say one more thing first, before he let her crawl up to her bed and snuggle under her covers and dream about him. Well, maybe she wouldn’t be dreaming about him but it was still worth it to hope that she would. His question seemed to be important though, he deems it as important because it was. Her answer would change their situation completely, at least, it would change how he sees it.

“Aren’t you scared?”

She pursed her lips, “If you’re asking me to back out, I won’t. I told you my reasons. I’m already in this too deep, Skylar. And yes I am scared but fear is not enough. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” he whispered when her window was closed. And when his head hit his pillow, he knew that it wasn’t just about Reed anymore or saving Viola, it was about protecting Tori Garcia too.