You Could Be My Compass

Alex sped the entire way back home.

To be fair, he spent most of his driving time speeding, so that wasn’t saying much. But he was going fast even for him, flying through red lights and stop signs, ignoring Jack’s cries of “You’re going to fucking kill us!” and not taking his foot off the gas until he jerkily pulled into his driveway.

But then he didn’t get out of the car. “Okay, wait a sec,” Jack said, shooting him a sarcastic and confused look. “You nearly get us killed going almost a hundred miles an hour the whole way here, and now you’re just casually chilling in your car.”

Alex shook his head. “Just mentally preparing myself for what’s about to come,” he muttered distractedly. It was true. Not that he’d tell Jack this—no use making him even more worried about riding with Alex—but his mind had been elsewhere during the drive. He’d run through all the possible scenarios. (Well, a few of them.)

The last time his mom had used that shrill, panicked voice was right after Jack was kidnapped. But Jack was here with him, so that obviously wasn’t it. One of his other friends, then? No, because A) she wouldn’t be as concerned; Jack was like a second child to her, and B) their parents hadn’t pissed off any cocaine dealers, that he knew of. (Actually, Zack’s may have, but that was beside the point.) So maybe something was wrong with his dad. A heart attack? No, he’d had a screening recently and his heart was really healthy. (Alex ignored the fact that all the added stress could have caused his blood pressure to spike.) If it was one of his grandparents, it wouldn’t be such a emergency because they rarely talked to them anyway, it would’ve been a hey, come home when you can, we’ve got some bad news. So what the hell was it?

Jack squeezed his hand, bringing him back to earth. “I’m sure whatever it is will be okay, Lex,” he said reassuringly. “But you’re never gonna relax about this until you actually get out and go in there.”

Alex slowly turned his head to face him. “I know,” he sighed. “Let’s get it over with, I guess.” He gave Jack a quick kiss before finally getting out of his car.

He opened the door to meet his mother’s frantic face. “In. Now!”

“Mom, what’s going on?” Alex demanded.

She ignored him, grabbing Jack’s arm and dragging him in front of the TV. A blonde woman was on the screen. “Do you recognize her?” she demanded.

“Holy. Fucking. Shit!” Jack shouted.

Alex expected his mom to chastise him about swearing, but she just nodded, like that was confirming something for her, like the fact that he reacted that way was a sign of some sort. “Who is she?” she asked him sharply.

“That’s Anne! The, the one that gave me food and books and helped me escape. Oh my god, why’s she on the news?”

Just then, the picture vanished and instead, the anchor was saying, “One of the bodies found on the coast of Georgia has been identified as Anne Wallace. The other has yet to be identified.”

Alex sort of remembered reading something about bodies washing up on the coast, just a little flash of news at the bottom of the video about Jack’s return. And now it turned out that it was Anne. Jack was standing in front of the TV, mouth hanging open and his eyes wide.

He whirled to face his mom. “What happened?”

Before she could answer, the news report continued, “Both victims appear to have died from a gunshot to the head. They were handcuffed together by the wrists.”

“Do you think the other body is her boyfriend?” Jack mused, looking to both Alex and his mother for an answer.

“Adam Perkins, Anne’s boyfriend and the primary suspect, was unable to be reached.” Why was he the ‘primary suspect?’ (Besides the whole drug dealer thing. But that didn’t equal murderer. Not necessarily.) They didn’t go into more details on that one.

“Damn it!” Jack shouted. “Who do they think the other one is, then?”

Alex saw the look on his mom’s face, the way she bit her lip and sympathy flashed in her eyes. She knew something. She knew something and she wasn’t spilling. “They don’t know yet, sweetie.” She only busted out the ‘sweetie’ usage when she felt really sorry for someone.

“Mom. Kitchen. Now,” Alex commanded.

Sighing, she followed him, leaving Jack still staring at the television in disbelief. “What?” she asked gently.

“You know something!” he accused. “Who’s the other one?”

“They haven’t said anything definite,” she started slowly. “But…”

Alex’s dad burst into the room. “No!”

“No what?” they both asked, eyeing the state he was in. He looked so frazzled, not the polished and put together appearance he normally displayed.

“Do. Not. Tell. Him. Anything.”

“Why? What’s wrong?” She went into worried mode again.

“If you tell him, he’ll want to tell Jack, and he can’t tell Jack.” His eyes were wild as he looked at Alex. “Can you promise us that you won’t tell him?”

He almost said yes. But then he thought about it. The only arguments they’d had all centered around Alex keeping stuff from Jack. And whatever this was, it seemed pretty damn serious, like something he sure as hell couldn’t keep a secret. So he just shook his head. “Sorry…we’re trying not to do that anymore. Uh, I can just go…you guys can talk it out.”

Alex went back and sat next to Jack on the couch. He’d turned off the news and had his eyes fixed on the black screen. “So what’s going on?” he asked.

Alex shrugged. “No idea. They wouldn’t tell me.”

Jack gave him a funny look. “For real?”

“Yep.” He rested his chin on Jack’s shoulder. “Apparently it’s super secret and not even I can know.”

They both jumped at the sound of Alex’s parents’ bedroom door slamming. “Ow, you fucker!” Alex yelped, rubbing his jaw where Jack’s shoulder had rammed into it. “I swear to god, you’ve got the boniest shoulders of anybody I’ve ever met.”

Jack rolled his eyes and kissed Alex’s jaw. “Shh. Listen.”

Alex heard it then, the shouting coming from his parents’ room. They never argued, and certainly never yelled at each other. But he could hear them loud and clear.

“What? So you want me to just keep my mouth shut and not tell him?” his mother screeched.

“That’s exactly what I want! We don’t know for sure—”

“Oh, quit with that shit. We both know it’s true.”

Alex squeezed his eyes shut, trying not to hear them. Jack grabbed his wrist and pulled him off the couch. “Come on, let’s get out of here,” he suggested.

He nodded appreciatively and followed him out the door. “Where do you want to go?” It was Jack’s idea to leave, after all.

“Library?” He remembered Alex saying it was a good, quiet place to go and think without other people.

“You are literally the best person in the universe. You know that, right?” So for the second time that day, Alex set off for the middle school library.

Halfway there, Jack noticed something. “Not only are you going slightly below the speed limit, but you haven’t swerved once,” he said, astonished.

“Not in the mood to scare you to death, I guess,” he said. And he wasn’t. He didn’t like that his parents were fighting and weren’t telling him something because they didn’t want Jack to know. He hated not knowing what was happening.

Jack looked over at him sadly when he carefully eased into the parking spot instead of just barely making it into one.

“So, Jacky, wanna learn how to pick a lock?” Alex tried to sound enthusiastic about it, but he couldn’t do it.

“Maybe some other time.” But he did pay attention to how Alex did it. Was there actually a technique to it?

When they were in, Alex didn’t really know what to do. He wandered over to the window, staring out at the sunset. “I don’t wanna go home,” he said, mostly to himself.

“I have an idea!” Jack exclaimed, grinning broadly.