What We Saw by Mary Downing Hahn

Author:Mary Downing Hahn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2022-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

8

While Skylar and I pick at the breakfast Mom fixed for us, an update from the police interrupts the morning weather report. A man with a serious face leans across the news desk and stares into the camera. “In a meeting with the press this morning,” he says, “the police chief has provided more details about the murder of Kristina Sullivan, a twenty-two-year-old art teacher at Everett Stone Middle School. Ms. Sullivan was assaulted and killed in the woods near Marie Drive. A thirteen-year-old boy found her body under a pile of branches and trash near the train tracks. So far the police have no suspects. They’re imploring persons with information about Kristina Sullivan or her car to contact the police at this number.”

I look at the phone number. I want to call and tell the police what we know, but I can’t do it. It’s too big, too scary. Maybe I should tell Mom everything. She’d call the police. She’d take Skylar and me to the police station.

Skylar catches my eye and shakes her head. She knows I’m about to break down and tell Mom about the SUV, the argument, Ms. Sullivan running into the woods. I take a deep breath and close my mind tightly around our secret. We’ll talk to Mr. Boyce. That’s what we agreed to do.

“Will you be all right by yourself today?” Mom asks me. “If you need me, I can call in sick.”

“Skylar’s here.” I sniffle. “I’ll be okay.”

“Are you sure?”

I nod and try to smile, but my mouth wobbles.

Mom is clearly worried. “Maybe you and Skylar should stay with her mom today.”

“Mom, I’m fine. Honest.”

“I hate to see you go through this.” She hugs me so tight I can hardly breathe. “I know how much you liked Ms. Sullivan. I was so impressed with her at PTA. A lovely woman. And a very talented artist.” She kisses the tears on my cheeks and steps back to look at me.

“If you change your mind, call me. I’ll come straight home.” She goes to the door. “Please stay close to home today. I’ll be worried until the killer’s in jail.”

After the door closes behind Mom, the house is so quiet I can hear the tick of the mantel clock in the living room. I slump on the couch and stare at the wall. There’s nowhere I want to go, nothing I want to do. All I can think of is Ms. Sullivan walking across the field, wearing her pretty dress, her silly straw hat, her dark glasses. My teacher, my teacher. I start crying again.

Skylar sits beside me and puts her arms around me. I rest my head on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “I just can’t stop crying. I liked her so much.”

“Even though she wasn’t my teacher and I didn’t know her like you did, I’m really sad too,” Skylar says. “She was so nice at the mall. She even remembered me in Bye Bye Birdie.”

We hug each other and sit together until I stop crying.

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