He Started It(60)

It happened so fast.

One day, Nikki was driving and we were going to ride roller coasters.

The next day, Grandpa was back in the driver’s seat and Nikki didn’t have anything to blackmail him into staying quiet. While I was up front talking to Nikki, Eddie found the second disposable camera—the one with the so-called vile pictures on it. That’s all he needed to take control.

I can still see him holding it up, smiling.

Grandpa was right there, smiling right along with him, and he looked a lot more lucid. He turned to Nikki and said, “This was always my road trip.”

Nikki screamed. It was one of those top-of-the-lungs, ear-piercing, horror-movie screams and I thought she was going to break all the windows in the van. When the screaming was over, the cursing began. It continued until Eddie threatened to gag her.

She shut up.

I hated Eddie more than I ever had, maybe more than Grandpa. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that Eddie would do such a thing. Not once.

But if it had crossed my mind, I wouldn’t have told him about the camera. He didn’t know anything about it until I opened my big mouth. It happened the night before, after Nikki was asleep. Eddie and I were the only ones up, and we were talking about the trip and the pictures we took, and I mentioned the second camera.

I thought he already knew about it. The look of surprise on his face told me he didn’t.

So yes, the whole thing was my fault. The one time I shared Nikki’s secret, I ruined everything.

I asked Eddie why he did it, why he couldn’t just let Nikki be in charge. Everything was going okay, we were on our way to the roller coasters, so why did he have to help Grandpa take control?

“Nikki’s lying,” he said. “Grandpa told me he never hit Grandma.”

“He did hit her. Why else would Nikki do all of this?”

“Because she’s a psycho.”

Not true. Nikki had told me everything about Grandpa, all the details, and I knew it was true. If Nikki had been lying, she would have told me she was. Just like she did about the pictures of Portia that didn’t exist.

“No,” I said to Eddie. “That can’t be why you did it.”

He looked at me, almost surprised that I was arguing with him. “You don’t believe me?”

“No.”

He smiled and shrugged.

I should’ve known what he’d say.

“Because I could.”





Now here we are again, the same place, the same long drive, and Eddie is ordering people around like he’s in control of everything. That’s how it sounds, especially when he pulls up to the Appaloosa Inn. The motel looks as bad as it sounds, right down to the burnt-out lights in the sign and the misspelling of “Cabel” TV.

“I have to make some calls tonight,” Eddie says. “You guys can all stay in the same room.”

Before anyone can say a word, he gets out and goes into the motel office.

“Such. An. Asshole.” Portia emphasizes that with a scoff. “Is he going to take us somewhere to eat?”

I glance around the street, spotting a twenty-four-hour diner. Amazing how many of them are actually left in the country, and they’re all located near motels like the Appaloosa. “There,” I say.

“Oh perfect. This is just like last time. Another shitshow.” She gets out of the car and slams the door behind her.

Felix looks to me.

“I’ll explain everything,” I say.

I know I have to. I have to explain to Felix why it was a shitshow last time we were here. Why we all rushed outside last night when that van drove by. There’s probably more, but those are the biggest ones.

Our first moment alone is after eating club sandwiches at the diner. Eddie didn’t come with us, Portia left to get some sleep, so it was just Felix and me, drinking weak coffee and sharing a piece of apple pie.

“Last time we were here, we all got sick from eating something at one of these diners,” I say. “That’s why Portia said it was a shitshow. Except it was more like a vomit show.”

Lie.

Felix puts down his fork. “What happened last night?”

I’ve given this one a lot of thought. Had all day to come up with a creative story, but the truth is easier. Mostly the truth.

“It was the song that freaked us out. Did you hear it?” I say.

He thinks for a minute, shakes his head.

“Doesn’t matter. Point is, we heard it a thousand times on the first trip. If we had a theme song, that was it.” I stop and take a deep breath. “So when that song woke me up, I ran outside. It wasn’t like I gave it a lot of thought, I just did it. And I guess Portia did the same thing.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?”

“It was the middle of the night. I was confused . . . I don’t know. It just seemed difficult to explain at one in the morning.”

“I feel like you aren’t telling me everything,” he said.

“Well, you’re wrong. There’s nothing more to tell.”

No, Felix, I’m not going to ever tell you about Nikki or her secrets. I’ve already learned that lesson.



* * *



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I almost let Felix believe we’re going to the theme park. It was the whole reason we originally drove so many hours in one day. Nikki said we had to get a good night’s sleep so we could spend the whole next day at Silverwood. But Nikki was no longer in control, and the only time we saw roller coasters was through the car window as Grandpa drove by.