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Teenage Ghost
“Where’s your mom been hiding out?” Evan asked as the two walked in from baseball practice.
“I don’t know.” Jeff leaned the bat against the couch and walked to the kitchen. “She’s been avoiding me a lot lately.” He opened the fridge and pulled out stuff to make sandwiches. “I try not to take it too personal.”
“It’s starting to be a lot like my home.” Evan remarked as he sat at the table.
“Yeah.” Jeff busied himself with the sandwiches.
Evan looked around at the kitchen, “She sure does keep this place really clean though. I wish my mom would keep our house this clean.”
“Actually,” Jeff put a sandwich in front of his friend. “I do most of the cleaning around here.”
“You think I should do that at my house?” Jeff glanced warily back.
“Couldn’t hurt.” Jeff sat down with his own sandwich, on the opposite side of the table. “Your mom is depressed, you can see it in her eyes. All she does is cry and cry, or sleep.”
Jeff nodded.
“You’re here with me, her only child in the whole world. I don’t know, maybe she feels like you’re leaving her too.”
“What do you mean! I’m not leaving her.” Evan became defensive.
“You aren’t exactly sticking around and helping out either!” Jeff returned the accusation.
Evan made a half grumping noise and took a bite out of the sandwich.
“I’m just sayin’..” Jeff tried to continue.
“Well just say it to someone else,” Evan complained with a mouthful of sandwich. After he swallowed, he had thought better about it. After all he didn’t want to loose the only friend in the world he had. “But I will help out, you know. When I get home, and around the house before I come over here. Maybe a little anyway.”
“Yeah at least.” Jeff agreed with him. “And I can come over anytime you want and help out. If you need me to.”
Evan smiled a little, he was glad he hadn’t had a fight with his friend. And anyway Jeff was probably right about his mom being depressed. Jeff was normally right about a lot of things.
After they had eaten lunch Evan gathered his stuff to head home and see what he could do around the house. He walked outside past Jeff’s front yard and had gotten two houses away, when he heard a strange “Psst” noise. He turned around to see Jeff’s mother hiding behind a large cedar tree.
Evan walked up to her, “Are you okay?”
She put her arm around Evan’s shoulders and began to walk with him in the direction of his house, and away from her own. “Have you noticed Jeff acting strange lately?” she asked.
“Strange?” Evan questioned. “Not really. Why?”
“Has he been sleeping over at your place without telling me?”
“No…”
Rhonda removed her arm from the teenage boy. “Has he been telling you what he does at three in the morning on a weeknight?”
Evan looked at her suspiciously and remained silent.
“You can tell me, I wont tell him you told.” she assured him.
“Then how would you know at all?” Evan replied. “I don’t know that he’s doing anything. At least he hasn’t told me anything. But even if he did, I wouldn’t tell you anything about it.”
“Of course, because he’s your friend.” Rhonda agreed then grabbed Evan’s forearm and forced him to face her. “But if he was doing something that would cause harm to someone else, you would tell me that right? To protect the other person, right?”
Evan screwed up his face and tried to pry his arm free from her tightening grip. What was this mother thinking? “You’re scaring me.” Evan continued feverishly to get loose from her grip.
“You promise me, if you find out he’s going to hurt someone you’re going to tell me first. Before you tell anyone else. Even the police.” She gripped him harder, she was sure he would have a bruise for a few days. But she had to be sure, she had to be sure she could trust him. She had to be sure she was going to be safe.
“I Promise!” Evan shouted at her as he felt tears in his eyes beginning to form.
She released his arm immediately. “Don’t forget that.” she pointed at him and then walked back to her house.
Evan stood there for a few moments shaken over the strange events. Jeff should probably worry more about his own mother, than giving out advice.