See No Evil by Diane Young

Author:Diane Young
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2006-08-31T16:00:00+00:00

chapter seven

The night is cold. By the time I reach the arena, I’m shivering and out of breath. The windows along the front of the building glow invitingly. Ahead of me, two fathers are lugging equipment bags while their kids trail behind them with their hockey sticks and skates. Ethan comes here to practice with his team. I used to play hockey here myself, before I quit a few years ago.

Inside the bright lobby, I rub my hands together to warm them and look around for Daniel. He’s not here yet, but I’m early. The clock above the entrance reads five to eight. I find a place where I can stand comfortably and watch what’s going on.

I’m worried about leaving Ethan at home alone. He wasn’t happy that I was going out, and I had to bribe him not to tell Dad. I said he could play with his friend on the third floor again tomorrow if he promised to keep quiet. Dad won’t be home until ten or ten-thirty, so everything should be fine.

While I’m waiting, I keep myself busy by looking at the photographs and hockey trophies in the glass cases. After ten minutes or so, I see Daniel pushing through the double doors. As he comes in, he stops for a second to look back outside.

“Hey.” He barely makes eye contact with me before he starts looking around the lobby again.

“Are you okay?” I ask him. He has his hands buried deep in the pockets of his jacket, and he’s rocking back and forth slightly, like he can’t keep still.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m okay. It’s just...I feel like I’m being followed or something.” His dark skin gleams under the fluorescent lights. He has his toque pulled down low over his forehead, like some kind of disguise.

“Is that why you keep looking over your shoulder?” I ask him.

He nods. “When I turned the corner by my house, I noticed this guy standing in the phone booth. Maybe I’m imagining it, but I think he followed me here.” He’s licking his lips.

We both glance toward the wide windows and the parking lot outside. “Can you see him now?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “No. Maybe I’m wrong.”

“Look,” I tell him. “I’ve been thinking about this whole thing. We’ve got to talk to someone about what happened. You know, tell them what we saw.”

A look of complete disbelief crosses his face. “Are you kidding me? You’ve got to be crazy! We can’t tell anyone.”

“No, I think we have to,” I persist. “The guy who got beat up is still in the hospital. We have to tell somebody.”

“Who? The cops? You want to tell the cops? Are you out of your mind?”

Daniel has started to raise his voice, and a man glances at us as he walks by.

“Keep it down,” I warn him.

He moves a little closer to me and lowers his voice a notch. “Did you see who that was on Monday night? Because I did. It was Damien Sykes.”

“I know,” I tell him quietly.

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