Guessing Games

The child looked familiar, but her features were just different enough to make her unidentifiable. Staring from behind pleading brown eyes, she reached out with both hands, making one last attempt to cling to anything that could keep her in this world, the dark looming figure tossed her into the back of his truck, the engine backfired as it took off. Her screams heard by no one.

Leana Ware’s eyes shot open toward the popcorn ceiling. She forced herself to remain in trance in fear that moving would trigger something more. After lying motionless for several seconds, directed her eyes to the left, confirming that her partner was still in bed beside her; ever so still in a blissfully ignorant sleep. With a swift precision, she slid out from beneath the covers and shuffled silently down the hallway to the living room where she’d left her laptop. It took fumbling around the power button and several trembling-handed attempts to enter her password to log into a messaging application.

The message that she’d sent three days earlier was still left on read.

She leaned forward on her desk and rested her chin on her hands, searching for another tactic. There’d have to be some digging involved, regardless of what privacies were invaded. Attention was turned back to the profile of the user she’d messaged: Her ex-best friend’s husband.

His profile was that of a man flying under the radar. Posts were scant and his most recent picture had been posted five years prior. It took less than ten minutes for her to reach the end, which was punctuated with a photo of him sharing an ice cream cone with a child who looked to be about three or four years old. She studied the picture intently and was drawn to the child’s red shirt. At the bottom of a curly brown pigtail, right over her heart was a golden school emblem, giving her the clue that she needed.

A quick search easily guided her to the school’s website:

East Paces Learning Academy: “An institution of excellence serving students pre-kindergarten through 12^th grade.”

The address of the school was displayed front in center below the school’s slogan. It was only a couple of states away.

She let out an incredulous chuckle thinking of how easy it used to be to get a hold of her best friend when they were teenagers. Now, all searches for “Desiree Michaels” yielded thousands of results, with no successful location of her whereabouts. The most promising lead was a Desiree Michaels working for a medical group in a town a few miles away from where they’d grown up. The number on the website directed her to customer service, where she was rerouted to billing and accounts, then onto new customers, and finally technical support in error.

Leana wavered between options, dancing between the creepy stalker-like feeling that came with searching for a child online and the guilt at what the consequences would be for not speaking up. She clicked back to the tab of the photo: The child looked happy, well cared for, and in the most compelling way, she looked like her mother. It was an easy decision that took little thought; she booked a ticket for the following morning.

“You don’t have to go, Lee. I can tell someone at the department who could find some way to protect her.” Her girlfriend Mara gave her sincerest concerns still laying in the bed while Leana packed a duffel bag. Despite working at the front desk of a police station, there was no way she could pull the kind of strings Leana was needing.

“Even with all the tips I’ve called in gotten that actually turned out to be true, you know a case that’s not even a crime yet wouldn’t get so much as a blink from anyone.” Leanna responded while adding some clothing to the bag and zipping it shut.

Mara was used to Leana chasing an impulse, but flying across the country at a moment’s notice was slightly out of character. Usually, she didn’t have to go through such lengths, but she knew that there was little she could say to change her mind. “At least call me if you need anything.”

“I will.” Leana reassured her with a kiss before she left the bedroom.

While waiting for her flight, she’d mapped out the location of the school, which was about twenty minutes away from the airport. Luckily, it was right next door to a public library, an inconspicuous drop-off location.

The plane ride was turbulent and only added to her feelings of uneasiness; after all, she was operating on several assumptions:

One was that the child was actually a current student at the school and the other was that Desiree would be the one to pick her up. Her self-doubt began to rear its head and she found herself questioning her actions and the urges that led her to this point.

The Uber ride was tense and silent despite the driver’s attempts to make conversation. Leana wasn’t interested. He pulled up to the library and she got out with a quick thank you. Her nerves were beginning to get the best of her, especially when she heard the laughter and shrieks from the children playing on the playground.

A large clock above the library entrance let her know that it was nearly 2 o’clock. School buses were already parked outside of the school and were loading children inside. Trying her best to blend in with the upper-class women who shelled out thousands of dollars to send their children to the school, she walked casually toward the back of the iron gated playground sorting through the various faces as if she was looking for one she recognized.

She felt her heart skip when among them, the same near barely familiar face from her dream stood out: It was as if someone had turned the clock backwards and placed her childhood best friend in front of her eyes. She had the same brown hair and big circular brown eyes that could get her anything she wanted and could certainly get her out of trouble. Leana approached closer and to her surprise, the little girl, who was nearly seven, ran up to her from behind the fence and stared. She tilted her head to one side and squinted her eyes. Suddenly, they widened with interest, and Leana didn’t know what to say except for a soft, “Hi.”

Before the little girl could respond, a woman’s voice called out, “Olivia!” The child turned her head and Leana followed in her direction.

Standing a few feet away outside of a silver SUV was Desiree. She was no taller than the last time she’d seen her; though, something in her eyes had changed. There was a severity that wasn’t there before. “Now, Olivia!” she snapped. Olivia ran across the playground to its entrance over to her mother. Leana swallowed any hesitations and quickly came around from the back of the playground to reach the vehicle.

She called out loudly, “Desi!” The woman turned to find the voice that dared to utter her childhood nickname and quickly zeroed in on Leana with a burning fury. She stood still for a moment, not breaking eye contact with her. As if knowing that her daughter was standing just as bemused as she imagined, she commanded the child to get into the back seat without even looking at her. Leana called out again, this time picking up her pace, but by this time Desiree had already slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine. Leana flung both of her hands onto the hood of the car and shouted, “Desi, you have to let me talk to you!” Desiree threw the car into reverse, nearly hitting a crossing guard near the curb.

They had officially drawn the attention of the other parents; people stopped to stare. “Desiree, please talk to me!” Leana pleaded desperately.

Fearing a confrontation or worse a label as an unruly parent, Desiree then pulled the SUV over into a side parking space. Leana smiled in relief as the driver’s side window began to roll down and she jogged over toward the SUV.

Before she could even offer a greeting, Desiree spoke without so much as a hint of emotion in her voice, “Stay away from me and stay away from my child.” She pressed a button and the window rolled up just as quickly as it was let down. Desiree pulled away from the parking space and drove away, leaving Leana behind in a cloud of cold dust.

As she proceeded on in a silent rage, Desiree could barely keep her attention focused on the road. It wasn’t like her to let emotion affect her anymore, but this was the closest she’d come to infuriation in years.

Even before seeing her, she knew that the voice calling her name was Leana’s. It surprised her at how quickly it exhumed her life’s darkest memory. As she pulled up into the driveway of her house, she handed Olivia the keys and instructed her to go straight up to her room and start her homework.

She unloaded the stack of office work from her backseat. She entered her house and laid the files onto the desk of her large home office.

As if driven by an internal clock, she methodically sorted all of her papers to fit along with the orderly space that she worked in. Only this time, her thoughts weren’t focused on starting dinner or what tasks she had to finish for work. Instead, her thoughts travelled back to their senior year of high school. Though they had been friends since they were children, it was during this year that Leana had finally accepted Desiree’s attempts to release her from the chains of social obscurity and welcome her into her friend group. Among them was her now ex-husband and Olivia’s father, Scott.

It was Scott who first used the word “psychic” to describe Leana after she guessed that he had an uncle named Jimmy Wright. Leana wasn’t a naturally sociable person, but in an attempt to integrate into conversation, her schtick was guessing random facts about people: most notably, names. She could guess someone’s name just from the first letter and, on several occasions, she’d guess the name of person just by simply dropping it into conversation; even if it was part of a joke.

Once while they were in the car to school, Leana absently started singing a song and when Desiree turned on the radio, the band picked up exactly where she left off. With the novelty of her ability combined with her teenaged amusement, Desiree began to grow fonder of her. Finally, people were beginning to see Leana for the caring and friendly person that she was and Desiree encouraged it. “The more you impress people, the more they’ll like you!” the sixteen-year-old exclaimed. Their friend group began to expand by way of Leana’s gift (usually with Desiree’s persuasion). Soon, people were approaching her constantly about test questions, future jobs, romances, and the ever popular “When will I die?”. Leana threw out dates and scenarios, to which she and Desiree laughed at gleefully over lunch.

Still, Leana insisted that she was just guessing and that it was no big deal. She did admit that sometimes things would creep up by way of an odd feeling, but at the end of the day, they were all just lucky guesses. Of these lucky guesses, Leana was right in calling the art teacher’s pregnancy, the class president resignation after accusations of academic dishonesty, and she also joked once that the history teacher’s droning voice was enough to induce and an aneurism. While the history teacher’s voice was dull, none of his students died from an aneurism, but he did. This was the first time that an actual death had ever come of her guesses.

“It’s not like you caused it Lee.” Desiree said dismissively as flipped through a prom dress magazine. Despite Leana’s apprehensions, Desiree still felt nothing but pride at how well her best friend was finally getting on with people other than her. She was exceptionally proud of Leana for securing her date for the prom. A feat overshadowed by the events that unfolded that night.

They’d both gotten ready at Desiree’s house after which her mom insisted on snapping pictures as they headed off into the rented stretch limo. Their excitement was fueled by the sneaking sips of Scott’s best friend’s whiskey filled flask.

Upon entering the ballroom, they were greeted by a gleaming Winter Wonderland, which up until at that point was the fanciest affair that any of them had ever attended.

From the crowded dance floor to the double spiked punch, the crowning of the prom queen, and countless couple’s dances. Desiree was in dreamy teenaged ecstasy, so much so, that she barely noticed when Leana disappeared from the ballroom in hurry. Her date, a pimply faced boy named Kevin, told Leana that she’d had too much to drink. She felt a slightly sadistic pleasure at knowing that her once outcasted best friend like nearly at least a third of the prom-goers, was sick from drinking too much to drink at prom. She smiled and turned her attention back to what was becoming the most magical night of her life. During the final dance, Scott invited her to spend a week that summer with his family at their vacation villa in Florida, to which she sealed her acceptance with a kiss on his lips.

The fairy-tale of a night had fed her and left her satiated for the entire ride back to her house, where she was greeted with a myriad twinkling lights in the distance, that grew brighter, redder, and bluer as they got closer. Everyone turned to look at the scene through the limo’s windows, wherein Leana had an appreciated interest.

There were no sirens; only the hum of the engines from emergency response vehicles.

Jumping from the limo and flying across the lawn, Desiree tore through the yellow tape and managed to dodge the plump police officer who attempted to stop her from entering her house. He shouted something after her that she never recalled hearing. The rest of the prom party was held off by a row of officers who threatened force if they continued to enter. Then there was a single ear-piercing scream that could’ve been heard across the state. Moments later, Desiree emerged vomiting into a female police officer’s hand.

Scott chivalrously demanded that they let him go to her. The plump police officer removed his hat and rubbed his hair. Desiree made eye contact with Scott, pleading for someone or something to give her the night back. The female officer directed her to the back of an ambulance and Scott ran over to her. The sparkle that was in her eyes had vanished. Everyone at the scene had morphed into black blob; everyone except for Leana.

She slowly approached Desiree who was unbothered by the EMT checking her vital signs. Her focus was sharpened directly onto the person who years earlier, had yanked her away from an oncoming car on the day of their first meeting. The one who revealed quietly late one night that she could see things before they happened. The one who just days before had promised her best friend that if she ever saw anything happen, that she would tell her.

In that moment, everything was revealed clearly to her: It was all an act--a lie. That’s why it was never a big deal to Leana, because none of it was real. She was in fact, just a bullshitter. She was a lucky guesser, and that compounded with an inability to make friends on her own, made the lie of being a “psychic” the only way to fit in. She perpetuated lies that suited the interest of the inquirer. Thinking further, the same songs played on the radio multiple times every day; and anyone could guess a name after enough tries. She felt stupid and she felt betrayed, but that only lasted for a few seconds when images of her mother’s throat sliced cleanly from one end to the other kept invading her thoughts. Leana approached her slowly, opening her mouth to say something. Desiree slowly stood up and walked back toward her house, leaving Leana behind to disappear from her life with each step.

A tiny voice broke her from her reverted thoughts:

“Mom!” Olivia appeared in the doorframe. “There’s a truck in the drive way.”

An engine backfired in the distance. Desiree glanced out of the crack in the blinds of her office. A battered green truck had slowly pulled out from the driveway and exited down the street. She frowned at the pollution the truck was probably generating.

“Why aren’t you doing your homework?” she demanded.

“I was going to get a snack.” The little girl said innocently.

Desiree shook her head then turned to Olivia, “Get an apple then go right back upstairs.”

Olivia turned away and exited the room as Desiree turned back to look out the window. A cloud of black smoke lingered for a moment before dissipating into the air. She made a mental note to put her car into the shop the following week.