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EVE KNOX
Friday, December 22, 1995
12:30 p.m.
Eve didn’t want to have to march past Nick and his friends so she decided to just keep walking in the opposite direction. The wind was picking up and moved her along with an icy push.
Eve passed by the police station where Maggie’s dad worked and up Juniper Street past Grotto Gifts. Nick’s mother spotted Eve through the window and waved happily but Eve turned her head and kept on going. She passed by the pharmacy and the Maid-Rite. So familiar, but Eve felt oddly out of place. A funny thought to Eve. Of the three of them in the family, Eve was the one who seemed to have found her place in their hometown.
Eve never really understood how her mother ended up in Grotto. Her mother’s job, she guessed. But why she chose a place with few single men and no social scene to speak of never made sense to Eve. Her mother used to be pretty. Beautiful actually, and at least in a larger town her mom would have had the chance to meet a nice guy—any guy for that matter—and could have had a life beyond her daughters. But the longer they lived here, the more worn down, faded her mother became.
Eve thought Nola would have benefited from living in a larger, more diverse town. A city where there were more kids like her, more opportunities to learn and explore. But as she got older, Eve realized that there weren’t a whole lot of people like Nola. No matter where she lived, Nola would be scary.
Out of the corner of her eye, Eve saw a flash of the pale moon yellow of Nola’s hair but just as quickly it disappeared. She knew it was Nola, across the street but lagging a bit behind Eve, ducking into doorways whenever Eve glanced her way. Nola had taken the quick route from the caves.
“I see you!” Eve hollered but kept walking. Something bounced against her coat and fell to the ground. “Go home!” Eve shouted, sensing that Nola had crossed the street and was walking directly behind her. “Real mature!” Eve called out and picked up her pace. “Go home!” Her job was done. Their mother told her to find Nola and that’s what she did.
Eve heard the pounding of feet against the sidewalk. “You probably thought it was hilarious,” Nola said coming up behind her. “Those assholes making fun of me.”
Eve swung around and was flabbergasted at the hurt expression on Nola’s face. Eve could always tell when Nola’s feelings were hurt. She bit down so hard on the inside of her cheek that a rarely seen dimple formed. Her voice shook and lost the haughtiness that everyone was used to.
“I tried to help you,” Eve cried. “I was trying to get them to leave you alone and you went after me. What the hell is wrong with you, Nola?”
“The only thing wrong is that I’m stuck in this town and forced to go to school with idiots,” Nola shot back.
“Yeah, well, if you weren’t so crazy maybe people would leave you alone,” Eve snapped.
“Well, maybe if you didn’t spend so much time with Nick you wouldn’t be such an asshole,” Nola barked back.
“Nick and I broke up,” Eve said, pausing to look both ways before crossing the street.
This announcement seemed to take Nola by surprise. She was quiet for a moment. The only sound was their breathing. The sky was heavy with snow and for a second Eve’s heart gave a little childlike leap. Eve may be over fifteen but she wasn’t too old to be enchanted by a Christmas snowfall. Normally they had piles of snow by this time of the year.
“Good,” Nola finally said. “Maybe you won’t be such a bitch anymore.”
Eve stopped short while Nola kept walking. Eve was aware of other people on the street carrying on with their normal, everyday activities. A man digging into his pocket for coins to feed the parking meter. A woman carrying bags of groceries. A group of middle school boys huddled together laughing and talking excitedly about winter break.
“I may be a bitch,” Eve said, “but at least I have friends.” Her voice was low and singsong sweet. “Unlike some people I know. Maybe if you weren’t such a freak show you’d have some friends.”
Nola went stock-still and though Eve hated to admit it, she felt exhilaration in finally saying those words. Eve couldn’t stop herself.
“Maybe if you didn’t read books about string theory and dissecting small animals—if you didn’t dissect animals—you wouldn’t be alone all the time.”
Nola slowly turned around. Her face was stripped of emotion as if Eve’s cruel words meant nothing, but the stony glint in her eyes told Eve that her words had hit the mark.
“And I saw you. I saw what you did,” Eve hissed. “Did you really kill that dog, Nola?”
Seeing the rage on her sister’s face, all the confidence and righteous anger that Eve felt disappeared and was replaced with a fist of dread and all she could think about was getting home. Eve turned to leave.
She only made it a few steps when she felt the blow. It was sudden and knocked the breath from her chest. Eve stumbled to the ground, her jeans snagging against the coarse sidewalk, taking a layer of skin from her knee with it. Eve looked up and Nola was standing above her, arms on her hips, her mouth pinched in anger, her hand in her pocket. Fingering her knife, Eve was certain.
The nearby group of boys stopped their playful shoving and laughter to watch and the woman with the grocery bags changed course and crossed the street. Nick’s mom stepped outside the shop and was joined by two others to look on.
“You ruined my jeans,” Eve said, shifting to a seated position. She felt the cold concrete through the seat of her pants. “I only have one other pair. You’re going to buy me new ones,” Eve said, examining the bloodstained rip. When she looked back up to demand an apology she could tell by the look on Nola’s face that she wasn’t going to get one.
A thousand responses ran through Eve’s head but she remained silent and hastily got to her feet. “Nola, what is wrong with you?” she whispered, well aware of all the eyes on them.
Nola didn’t answer, only walked away as if nothing had happened. The boys went back to jostling each other and Nick’s mom walked toward Eve, a worried look on her face.
“Eve,” she called. “Are you all right?”
“Just messing around. I’m fine,” Eve said, waving her off. Mrs. Brady said something more but what, Eve couldn’t hear. She limped quickly away, turning down a side street and out of sight.
Nola and Eve had arguments before, loud, wall-shaking ones. They even had ones that involved hair pulling and pinches. Nola held a mean grudge but they didn’t seem to last for too long. At least not toward Eve.
Usually all she would need to do is give Nola some time to cool off and then things would go back to normal. But what did that even mean? There was nothing normal about Nola. Eve knew she would have to talk to Nola about the dog. It was going to be an awful conversation but something had to be done. Nola was out of control. Eve was scared of her sister.
