CHAPTER 47
BENJI
Not long after Mr. Green pulled Molly out of the gym, I saw Mom run in and start weaving through the crowd. She spotted me and ran over, clutching her beaded black purse to her chest.
“Benji, we have to go now, sweetie,” she said.
“Why? Where’s Dad?”
“He’s waiting in the car.”
“In the car? Already?”
“Please, sweetie, we have to go. Where’s Molly?”
“She just left with her father. What’s going on, Mom?”
She paused, looking around the gym before turning back to me.
“Everything’s fine, sweetheart, we just need to leave. Your father isn’t feeling well.”
“Oh,” I said, nodding. “Okay, then.”
Dad was waiting in the car, just like she’d said, but he was nervous and jittery, his hands tapping on the steering wheel impatiently as he waited for us to get in. Mom leaned over and whispered something to him as I put my seat belt on and he nodded and pursed his lips, driving home without uttering a word while he ignored Mom’s nervous glances.
When we got to the house, he rushed in without us and ran straight to his office and closed the door. I stood looking at the closed door, the hair on the back of my head standing up.
Something was terribly wrong, I just knew it.
“Mom,” I said, turning to her. Her pale face looked down at me and she shook her head, putting a finger to her lips.
“Dad needs some time, sweetheart. We just need to talk. You go on up to your room. Hang up your suit.”
In a daze, she walked into his office without knocking and closed the door behind her, leaving me alone in the hallway. I stood there for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on.
The murmuring of their voices grew louder by the second and in moments, they were speaking so loudly, the door could no longer contain their words.
“Will, you must have misheard him!”
“I didn’t, Katie, he was clear as day!”
“Well, this can’t be true. This is just horrible.”
I inched closer to the door, straining to hear more.
“It all makes sense now,” Dad said. “I’d always wondered why Bryce was alone that night, even for a little while. They covered for each other, and kept each other out of trouble usually. Those two were inseparable, and yet there was Bryce, all alone long enough to cause some serious damage because Bodhi wasn’t there to stop him. To think, Katie! Bodhi wasn’t there because he was raping Jane! I can’t believe how horrible that is. And then, once Bryce started pummeling Ross, he wouldn’t stop. I just…I just snapped. I was tired of him bullying us all the time. I was tired of relying on Bodhi to keep him at bay.”
Bryce, I wondered? I’d heard a few stories of a guy who went missing a long time ago, but I had no idea my father was involved. I shook my head, listening more.
“You had no choice, Will. It’s not your fault.”
“I know that now,” Dad said. “I don’t regret killing Bryce.”
I sank to my knees. Dad killed someone? My stomach churned and I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from crying out.
“But I never should have let Bodhi cover it up. I never should have let myself live in the lies he created. I did it all wrong and now we’re all going to pay for it!”
“Everything’s going to be okay, Will,” Mom said.
“No, Katie, it’s not,” he said. “I’m calling the FBI. I already told Bodhi I’m doing it. I’m telling them everything, I’m telling them about Bryce, I’m telling them that Bodhi raped Jane. I can’t just let him get away with this.”
“There’s no proof,” Mom said. “It’s your word against his.”
Dad fell silent and the sound of my own heavy breathing took me by surprise. This was all so much to take in at once.
I waited for them to continue, the clock in the living room ticking loudly behind me. Molly’s face flashed in my mind, followed by Mr. Green’s face as he angrily escorted her from the gym tonight. I’d not seen any sign of Molly’s mother tonight.
“He was furious,” Dad said. “But really drunk.”
“What do you think he’s going to do?” Mom asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried to kill me.”
I jumped up from my spot, springing away from the door.
If Mr. Green was mad enough to kill my father, I could only imagine what he was going to do to Molly.
I’d told everyone how dangerous he was.
I’d told my parents, Ms. Canterbury at school, I’d even called Grace. And yet nobody was doing anything to help Molly, at least not as far as I could see.
If the adults weren’t going to do anything to stop Mr. Green, then I only had one choice.
I had to stop him myself.
I bolted down the hallway and ran out the back door, sprinting through our backyard and into the woods that separated our property. Darkness surrounded me immediately and I froze in my tracks.
I took a deep breath, determined to do this right.
It was cold. I was all alone. And it was pitch black.
If I was going to save Molly, I’d need supplies.
I turned back to my house and ran back in, mentally listing the items I’d need in my head the whole way.
With any luck, Mr. Green would never hurt anyone I loved ever again.