Dear Blue Sky by Mary Sullivan

Author:Mary Sullivan
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2012-07-16T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

WALKING INTO WALLS

I WOKE IN the dark. There was a loud bang and then the sound of shattering glass downstairs. I thought it was whoever beat up Jack. I jumped out of bed.

Dad said, “What’s the matter with you, Van?”

“Nothing.”

“Something is. What have you been doing?”

“Nothing.”

“Are you drunk?”

“No.”

“Were you drinking?”

“No.” She giggled.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing, I’m just really tired.”

“Where were you?”

“Finn’s.”

“Go upstairs. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

Van stumbled into our room, unzipped her high black boots, and let them clunk to the floor. Then she got into bed in her clothes and pulled the covers over her head. Van, who had always done everything right, was high on something again and walking into walls and tables and then hiding in the dark. We were all hiding from each other.

I took my blue stone from under my pillow. It smelled like salt. I waited for a sign that Sef was close by. But there was nothing. I stared at Van sleeping. I had told Sef I’d keep an eye on her, and I hadn’t.

I woke in the middle of the night and tiptoed down the hallway to the bathroom. Jack was patting Van’s back as she knelt beside the toilet.

• • •

The next morning everything outside was covered in white. The lamp on the end table in the living room was gone. Van was standing in sweats and a T-shirt in front of the mirror in the bathroom holding her toothbrush like a cigarette. Her dark eyes were half closed, and her head was tilted back so her wet hair fell straight down her back. She rocked back slightly, her free hand gripping on to the white porcelain edge of the sink. Her weight shifted from one leg to the other.

“Thanks for getting up last night when I was sick,” she said in a small voice.

Jack’s face gleamed. He held out the purple heart I’d cut from cardboard and tied with a purple ribbon the night before. When I gave it to him, I said, “Because you’re so brave. Like Sef.” Now he wanted to give his purple heart to Van.

Her eyes lifted a little. But there was no light in there. Where did it go? I took a step back. Jack lifted the purple heart closer to Van.

“Van,” I said, “Jack has something for you.”

She dropped her toothbrush into the sink and spun around, those lightless eyes searching us. “What?”

“Actually, you can’t give it to someone else, Jack,” I said, pulling him away from Van. “It’s yours.”

The air buzzed as Van started to blow her hair dry, cutting us off.

“Van?” I said.

“Van?”

Buzzzzz.

“Just wanted you to know, if you ever want to talk, you can talk to me,” I said to her.

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