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31
Cricket
June 2018
“Stay here,” said Hannah. She’d put on a rain jacket, and had the flashlight in hand.
“What?” said Cricket, taking hold of Hannah’s arm. “No way. You’re not going out there. I mean—why?What are you going to do?”
But she recognized the look on her old friend’s face, a kind of set determination. She’d seen it before, many times.
It was the I’m-going-to-fix-this look.
Hannah had worn it the night she’d had to sneak out, essentially stealing her parents’ car, to pick Mako and Cricket up from a rave they weren’t supposed to be at. She’d worn it when Mako dumped Cricket after prom—I’m leaving in a few months, Cricket. I care about you, but it’s not going to work—and Hannah bailed on her own prom date to comfort her. She’d worn it the night they drove Libby away from the house, the girl weeping in the back seat.
“Bruce and Mako are out there,” Hannah said. “I’m going to check the circuit box and the generator and see if there’s something visibly wrong. Then I’m following that path to the cabin and get them to come back here. It’ll be fine. Storm seems to be letting up.”
“But there’s someone out there.”
“And I need to let them know that.”
“Callthem.”
Hannah rolled her eyes. “You don’t think I tried that?”
“I’ll go with you,” said Cricket. “Safety in numbers.”
Hannah hesitated, then offered a worried frown and they both glanced over at Joshua.
“You should stay with Joshua. He doesn’t look good.”
But it wasn’t just that? Her friend knew, of course, that Cricket was no good in a crisis. Itwouldbe faster if she went alone, even Cricket could admit that.
“What should I do?” Cricket, it had to be said, wasn’t really acaregivereither.
“Just—keep him awake. And maybe keep trying to get a call to go through. I think Joshua needs some medical attention. If you get a signal, call 911. We do have an emergency. We need help.”
Joshua seemed dazed, head in hand. They’d woken him up but they were having a hard time keeping him awake.That wasn’t good, was it?He’d bled through the cloth she had wrapped around the bag of ice. There was a lot of blood on his shirt, too. So much blood from a cut on his head. She reallydidn’twant to leave him alone. She also didn’t want Hannah heading out into the dark.
“Let’s call the host again first,” Cricket suggested. “Then you can go.”
Maybe if she stalled, the guys would come back.
“There’s no service, Crick. I tried.”
Hannah was already moving through the sliding door. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, whispering through the open door. That probably meant that the power would be on soon, maybe the road cleared quickly and they could get out of here, right? Cricket needed to leave, get away from Mako and the noxious affect he had on her life. Joshua needed to go to urgent care at least.
“Lock the door behind me,” said Hannah.
“Why?”
“There’s a stranger on this property. Who knows who it is or what’s going on?”
She tried for a smile but it didn’t take. “Okay, Captain Safety.”
Hannah’s forever nickname—don’t run on the pool deck; don’t go to the bathroom alone; never go back to someone’s hotel room. That last one; Cricket wished she’d taken it. That was the last time she’d had occasion to see that expression on Hannah’s face. A midnight call to her old friend brought Hannah out in the night to a downtown hotel to collect a weeping, sick-drunk Cricket.
I fucked up, Hannah.
