The Lost Causes of Bleak Creek(42)

Alicia had just finished participating in a class activity, a sort of deprogramming during which students would share a hobby or interest and their classmates would list all the ways that particular passion could corrupt them. After she’d mentioned that Cheers was one of her favorite TV shows, the class had somehow managed to make a case that continuing to watch it would set her on a surefire course toward alcoholism.

This had been immediately followed by a deeply unsettling slideshow of people who’d fallen victim to various worldly vices: mangled bodies in drunk driving accidents, blue-faced overdosers, and half-naked murder victims. Alicia had involuntarily looked away from the stomach-turning images.

Candidati were not allowed to look away.

Her experience in the Roll was again horrendous, but a hair less this time, both because she’d been through it before and because it provided her with so many undisturbed hours to think about her new friend. In Josefina, there was hope.

When Alicia was released from the Roll a day or so later, a new kink in her neck and her beige onesie freshly soiled with urine, she was far from broken. After she was given clean clothes, she was delighted to realize it was already dinnertime, which meant, yes, she could put food in her brutally deprived stomach, but also that she might be able to make it to the bedroom behind the beige curtain to see Josefina.

That night, once dinner ended, she again walked to the bathroom, hid in a stall for a few minutes, peeked into the hall to make sure no helper was patrolling, and made a beeline for the secret bedroom. She knew what she was doing was reckless, that to be taken back to the Roll now would be devastating, but she had no choice. She needed to see Josefina again.

And sure enough, Josefina was already there when Alicia walked in. She was sitting in that same desk chair, holding close the blue stuffed frog from the bed.

“Hey,” Alicia said, feeling buoyant even as she gripped her sore neck.

“Oh no,” Josefina said, standing up and dropping the frog, maybe a little embarrassed. “They sent you to the Roll again, didn’t they?”

“Yeah. But it’s okay.”

“The Roll is the worst,” Josefina said. “I’ve only been there once and that was enough for me.”

“You’re missing out. It’s so much better the second time,” Alicia said.

Josefina released a small heh sound, which Alicia echoed. She’d forgotten how good it felt to laugh.

“So what else have you learned sneaking around here?” asked Alicia.

“This is gonna blow your mind,” Josefina answered, “but this whole place used to be a resort.”

“A resort?”

“Yep. I found some old brochures in a storage closet. People would come to that mineral spring outside so it could, like, heal them. And then some of the water would get pumped to those private bath houses.”

“The Thinking Sheds.”

“Exactly.”

“Hard to believe anyone could have a good time in there,” Alicia said.

“For real,” said Josefina.

“So, how long have you been here?”

“At Whitewood? I don’t even know.” Josefina sat back down in the chair. “It has to be at least six months, but hard to say.”

Alicia nodded and sat down gently on the bed, suddenly wanting to learn as much as she could as quickly as possible. “Why did your parents send you?”

“I killed my sister,” Josefina said, staring at Alicia without blinking.

It wasn’t what Alicia was expecting. She tried to get this new information to add up, to process that her only ally in the building was a murderer. “Wow,” she said. “That’s—”

“I’m joking,” Josefina said, breaking into a smile. “I don’t even have a sister. Sorry. I’ve always been bad at jokes.”

Alicia exhaled. “Oh. Well. It would have been okay if you had. Done that.”

“Really?”

“I don’t know. Maybe not.”

Josefina laughed. So did Alicia.

“Honestly,” Josefina said, “it wasn’t one thing that got me sent here. I mean, I’ve put my mom through a lot.”

“Yeah?”

“My dad left when I was little, and she raised me by herself. And we fight. A lot. Like, full-on shouting matches. I think she just needed a break. And she had no idea this place was as nuts as it is.”

“That sucks,” Alicia said. “I’m sorry.”

Josefina shrugged. “Thanks, but I’m looking forward to making her feel pretty guilty about it when I get home.”

Alicia laughed again before getting sad thinking about her own parents and needing to change the subject. “Really, though, what is this room?” She stood up and looked at one of the framed photos on the wall. “Who is this girl? Ruby.”

“I don’t know, but we should go,” Josefina said. “Lights out is in five minutes.”

“Yeah,” Alicia said, transfixed by the little girl’s long blond hair and slightly crooked smile, thinking she recognized her from somewhere.



* * *



—

“YOU KNOW, I’M pretty sure a kid escaped from here,” Josefina said the next night at their third meet-up. “Like, from the school, I mean.”