Lost Game Notes (Novel)

Chapter 14: Unintentional Leads

  Alex opened his sandy eyes the next morning, disturbed by the sound of clinking metal. The clock above the lavender-colored armchair read 6:05 a.m. For a moment, he wondered why there was a lavender-colored armchair in his room

He turned his head to the side to find Sky wasn't there. The striped sheets were smoothed out and tucked into the corners of the bed.

Alex wished he would have brought a change of clothes and his backpack, but it had never crossed his mind. He began to stretch, but a spear of pain in his side stopped him. He carefully lifted his hoodie to see the bruise was no longer looking like the skin of a zombie's. At least.

He tumbled out of he bed and went to the bathroom, turning on the faucet. Last night's events replayed in his mind like a tape. Kamila, Lawrence, the snapping twig, the eight thousand dollars...

He froze, staring into the pool of water into his cupped hands. Had he told Sky? He splashed his face with the water, and sneezed when it went up his nose.

"You idiot," Alex growled to himself, smothering his face with a good amount of whatever was in the bottle on the sink.

He had told Sky, and he couldn't take it back. Alex watched his chest rise and fall in the spotless mirror. He could see his heart thudding against his ribs.

Stop it, he scolded himself. Sky is your friend. He doesn't want to hurt you. He doesn't care about that eight thousand you don't even have—yet.

By the time Alex was done in the bathroom, his heart hadn't reached the end of its crazy marathon. He had to be more careful what he told...well, anyone.

Alex wiped down the counters and existed the bathroom and went down the stairs. Even though he had gotten a few hours of sleep, he was emotionally spent. The irony. The day has just began, and he was already wishing for it to end. He wished it were Saturday.

Saturday, he thought. The day Dawn comes home. Hopefully.

Alex had actually began to miss his little sister's antics, the telling of her latest detective cases, especially the food she had prepared around the clock. He was truly getting tired of dry cereal.

Alex stopped at the end of the stairs. Sky was in the living room, dressed for school, with his white hair brushed and tied back without a strand out of place. His slender frame was bent over the frail figure of Mrs. Anton, who was propped up on some pillows.

Sky was tipping a spoon into her mouth and saying, "I've already called Dr. Jones today. I haven't heard from dad, though. I'm not sure if he'll send the money. God knows he's hightailed it to a different state."

He turned to set the empty bowl down and froze when Alex. He straightened with snap, his eyes roving Alex's face.

"Good morning," Alex nodded curtly, coming down the last step and entering the living room.

"Is that you, Dominic?" Mrs. Anton squinted her hollow eyes and lifted a shaky finger.

"N—no, Alexander, remember? Sky's friend."

Alex now saw why Sky seemed so desolate. Mrs. Anton's health had deteriorated ever since the last time he had seen her, even. She looked like a bag of bones, and years older than her age. Her skin was a pasty white.

Mrs. Anton's stone-set expression crumbled into a trembling but firm smile. "Oh Dominic, you rat. It's been so long. But I knew you'd come back. I kept faith. I kept faith!" Mrs. Anton's pitch raised, and she let out a cackle of laughter.

Sky bit his lip. When he spoke his voice wavered. "I'll leave your pills on the table. I'm going to school now, but I'll be back by the end of the day. Don't worry about me." He stooped to kiss to the weathered cheek.

Alex swallowed back unwanted emotion. He had lost his mother, too, but not like this. He went to the door, pushed it open and stepped out unto the porch, taking a moment to appreciating the rose-pink sky. A cold breeze still lingered in the air, lifting his hair. He closed his eyes and drank in the chirping of birds, the distant bark of a dog. Even the yelling of a drunk somewhere in the neighborhood. This felt like home. It felt like—

Loud sobs interrupted his peaceful thoughts, and he turned to face Sky, who had stepped through the door and was crying uncontrollably.

Alex had forgotten this was also a place brokenness.

"I'm going to loose her too, Alex. I just know it! It's too late. I'm too late." He fell limp against Alex, sobs racking his body.

Alex stiffened. He wanted to pull away, but...

"I'm going to be an orphan, Alex, I'll be so alo-o-one," Sky wailed even louder, curling his fists Alex's hoodie.

Alex coughed and glanced around. "Shush, Sky. Someone's going to hear. Besides, you've got me, remember?"

Sky struggled to compose himself, drying his eyes with the back of his hands. "S–sorry," he stammered. "Sometimes I just—"

"It's okay," Alex said. "I'm sure she'll get better."

If only I had that eight thousand. A thought began to form in his mind. He began slowly. "Maybe if I told Lawrence, he would—"

"No!" Sky blurted, his cheeks flushing a cherry red at the sudden outburst.

Alex felt foolish for mentioning Lawrence. Of course Sky would be embarrassed. Who would like a well-known lawyer to hear of their poor status?

We're not far off from you, Sky, Alex thought to himself. Then he remembered the eight thousand. Unless we are. I suppose I don't know anymore.


*****


Alex stopped by his house to retrieve his homework, and instructed Sky to go on without him.

"I don't want you to be late," he told him. "If there's someone who's going to get a bad report its me."

Sky protested but obliged after Alex's insisting. Before he went inside, Alex glanced at the bush below the lamplight. Had he really seen a face there last night? Surely nothing was hiding there now.

Alex inched forward and peered into the bush. For a moment he was staring at a pasty white face, paled of any emotion. But just as quick as the image came it left.

Alex backed away, shaking his head. No. No one has been there. It was just him. He spun around and jogged up the stairs two at a time, only pausing to grab his backpack. He stopped by Dawn's bedroom door and pushed it open.

The idea has occurred to him last night. Why had he never thought of looking in Dawn's bedroom?

Dawn's room, unlike his, was impeccably neat, down to the color-coded rows of books in the bookshelves. The flowered sheets on the bed were smoothed, mint curtains drawn, oak desk free of clutter.

A diary.

Maybe Dawn kept a diary.

Alex felt victorious even before he began to search. No doubt all of Dawn's thoughts, plans and ideas were in that diary. Maybe there was a list of where all the notes were—even better, a list of all the secrets she was keeping.

After Alex racked the bookshelves, dresser, desk and even under the bed, he began to feel hopeless. That's how it's supposed to be, he told himself. Diaries are not to be found.

And that was when a memory hit him hard. Dawn was curled up, laughing over something in a book. Alex asked what it was.

"The bed, it came down," she giggled. "Mandie and Celia were having a pillow fight, and the bed broke! Boy, they're going to be in so much trouble when Mrs. Prudence finds out." She paused, eyes racing across the page. "Goodness! A diary. They've found a diary in the wall."

Alex had rolled his eyes then, wondering just how Dawn could get so involved in stories. He could hardly read a line of anything without his eyes going sore.

Alex returned to the present, staring doubtfully at the headboard of the bed, as though he could see through. He didn't think Dawn would... Well, what did he have to loose?

With a grunt, he hefted the bed away from the wall, reminded once again of the bruise in his side. Alex almost laughed in disbelief when he saw the melon-sized hole in the wall. Dawn was really brave to do that. If Lawrence found out...

The irony.

Shaking his head with amusement, he reached into the hole. He hand came back with a sizable journal, plastic covers bulging with content. It was held together by an elastic strap.

Alex's heart quickened its pace as he sat on the edge of Dawn's bed. He cracked open the diary and thumbed through. The pages were not covered in the neat, crooked, glittering pink scrawl he was used to, but sloping italics, words jammed so close Alex's eyes blurred.

His eyes caught what looked like an almost empty page, and he thumbed back to find it.
Two words were penciled on the top of the page, circled in red. The first was Hudson, and the other... Kamila.

A slow smile eased unto Alex's face, and a bubble of laughter came up. He may have just found two, unintentional leads to this complex game. Life was sweet—when is was easy.

A buzz went off in Alex's jeans pocket, and he nearly lost the page. He tugged out his phone and glanced at the caller ID.

Kamila.

Alex picked it up.

"Hello?" Kamila's voice chirped.

"Hi. Alex here," Alex responded.

"Good. I wanted to remind you of our deal. Don't forget to do your part, and I won't fail to do mine." Kamila put it plainly.

"Of course." Alex said. Then he hung up without waiting for more.

He looked back down at the page. The thing was, there was a large question mark scribbled below the names. And there was no questioning a question mark. Dawn was clearly suspicious of the two, and if it had anything to do with all the secrets she was keeping, Alex would quite like to find out more. With Kamila around, with her plans to settle in Juniper Hills—unless that had been a lie—well, that part wouldn't be a problem.

Hudson, whoever that was, might prove harder. In any case, that would come later. Now he had to get to school. As it was, he was already an hour late.