Broken Toys

Chapter 29

"Am I really seeing this?" Billy widened his eyes and pretended to be shocked at the sight of Zeke unpacking.

Casey was leaning against the closet doorframe, hanging up Zeke's shirts. He looked over at Billy and grinned. "Get the latest from Snuffy?"

Billy groaned and flopped down onto his stomach on the nearest bed. "Do me a favor, Casey. The next time Snuffy starts talking about birds, do not let him anywhere near me. I think I'm traumatized for life. I'll never go near another birdbath."

"Hey, I saved you from the radioactive dinner plates theory on Monday."

Billy buried his head in the pillow and groaned again.

"Everything's hung up, Zeke. Want me to start on that box?" Casey'd gotten really good at navigating around the room without his crutches. He hopped over to the box and started digging through it, fishing out the items that had obviously been packed in a hurry.

"Here's the other sock, oh and that tie you didn't want to bring. I used it as wrapping for this." Casey carefully unwound the plain blue tie, revealing a small picture frame. He placed the framed photo carefully on Zeke's desk. "I saw that on your dresser and thought it might be important. I didn't want it to get forgotten."

Zeke picked it up and stared at it intently, almost as if he'd forgotten who the young woman was.

"Who is she?" Billy asked, remembering this as the only photograph in Zeke's room. She was obviously someone important. "Is she your mother?"

"No," Zeke almost laughed at that. "My mother would never wear shorts and a t-shirt or let anyone photograph her unless it was a professional at a photo shoot." Zeke touched the glass softly, his fingertips barely making contact.

"Her name is Sarah. She was my last nanny." Zeke looked up at Casey and there was a hint of anguish in those eyes. He looked down at the picture, his body tensing. Without looking up he said, "I used to be like you, Case. Small, skinny, got picked on a lot."

Casey reached out and laid a hand on Zeke's arm, he finally looked up, their gazes locking as they shared old pain.

"In second grade, there was this stupid parents day thing..." He shrugged and tried to make light of it but his voice betrayed him. "All I wanted was for one of my parents to go with me... just once. Sarah tried her best to make them understand, but they didn't come."

Billy got off the bed, reaching out, his hand on Zeke's other arm, completing the circle of support and encouragement.

"Sarah... she offered to go but I... It wouldn't have been the same. I wasn't very nice to her." Zeke's hands tightened on the frame.

"At school... the teacher said I couldn't participate... I'd have to spend the day inside with the other kids without parents."

Tears glittered in Zeke's eyes but he kept talking, the weight of the memory pressing down hard.

"I snuck out. Hid out for a while. When I got home, Sarah was packing. My parents had fired her because she'd told them off for not coming to school with me that day." He shuddered at the memory. "This big security guard came and dragged her away... treated her like a criminal."

Zeke leaned into Casey, pressing his head against the smaller boy's shoulder. "I ran after her... crying and everything... but I fell and when I got up she was gone. Nobody came for two days..."

Billy moved around Zeke, rubbing his back as the older boy struggled to tell the rest of the story. "It was housekeepers after that... Some nice, most just didn't want me around."

He was struggling so hard against the painful memories that Billy and Casey could feel it. They enclosed him in their warmth.

"Learned to do things for myself. Got pretty good at defending myself." Zeke managed a feeble grin. "Don't take any shit. Don't depend on anyone. Take advantage of people's weaknesses. Rules to live by."

Zeke touched Casey's face carefully, as if he were porcelain. "Had it all figured out till you came along."

"No you didn't, Zeke. You just knew how to pretend." Casey kissed Zeke tenderly. "You can't pretend forever."

"I wanted this... what we have now... So much..."

"You were scared," Billy whispered. Zeke nodded.

"I had to push you away, Case. You were dangerous, you could get past the act. Couldn't let that happen. So I picked Miss Burke - knew you'd hate that, and I joined the football team 'cause you'd hate that too. But I couldn't stand the team so I quit and Miss Burke... "

"What did she do to you, Zeke?" Casey asked, concerned. He'd never seen such raw fear in Zeke's eyes. Not even when fighting the alien.

Zeke reached up with a shaking hand and touched Casey's face. "She wanted... she was so jealous and ... She wanted to hurt you. Told your parents about the bus station. Even... she came to Regis and took all the magazines and stuff with you in'em. She didn't want you to exist anymore." Zeke choked off a sob, but forced himself to continue. "She said I had to stay with her or she'd hurt you, Case. She followed me everywhere... called me at all hours... sat outside my house watching... One day she just... All I wanted was for her to leave me alone. But when she did..." Zeke broke off, unable to continue.

Casey wrapped Zeke up tight in his embrace and Billy held them both, supporting them as Zeke broke down completely, sobbing.

*****

"Can't sleep?" Casey whispered softly, his arms wrapping around the older boy, holding him as they both looked out the window into the pre-dawn gloom.

Billy shook his head, then asked: "You either?"

"No, too wound up, I guess. Zeke's still out, though. He's exhausted. I didn't realize how hard all this has been on him."

"He's been holding us together, Casey. Now it's our turn to help him." Billy turned, taking up the last of the boxes he'd been emptying into Zeke's dresser. "Here, help me unpack this and then we can slide one of the beds over and all get back to sleep."

"You know he'll redo everything, don't you?"

"Doesn't matter. I just want these boxes out of the way. There, that's it." Billy shoved the box down sideways into the one below it and pushed the whole stack off in a corner.

"Got that end?" he asked as he and Casey moved the bed as quietly as they could.

"Much better," Casey decided, climbing in and settling down against the curve of Zeke's body. Billy slid in on the other side, shivering a little at the chill of the blankets and inched closer to Zeke.

Zeke shifted in his sleep and threw an arm over Billy, drawing him closer. It was a short but restful slumber for all of them.

*****

"We could stop and ask someone," Casey suggested. Billy responded with silence. Zeke made a face at Casey in the rear view mirror and kept driving.

"Oh, come on, don't give me that 'guys never ask directions' nonsense. Here, pull into that convenience store and I'll go ask."

Zeke pressed down on the accelerator and grinned. "Can't let you do it, Case. You'd ruin your rep forever."

Billy snickered, then pointed and said, "There. Route 319. Follow that sign." He turned and looked over his shoulder at Casey. "See? Knew we could find it."

"We're not there yet," Casey grumped, leaning back against the car seat and crossing his arms.

Zeke looked in the mirror again and smiled at Casey, who tried not to smile back, but failed, a little, half-smile curving his lips.

It was almost noon and they were on a mission to find his house. Some of the pain of Zeke's breakdown the previous night had been soothed by a lazy, pleasurable morning. Casey knew it was far from being all better but Zeke seemed a little more relaxed, some of the tension gone, so it could wait, at least for a while.

Casey was glad that Billy was riding shotgun and helping Zeke with directions. He was busy trying to conceal the flutters of nervousness that filled his stomach. As they got closer to the house, the flutters increased and he had a funny ice cold feeling in his throat.

When his mother had told him about the house, he'd been thrilled - it meant security and possibly a place where he could be together with Zeke and Billy. But now... he wondered what kind of family ghosts lingered there.

He had no memory of his grandfather and only vaguely remembered his grandmother. He had been 7 or 8 the last time he'd seen her, and his father had gotten angry and driven off, leaving Casey and his mother with no way of getting home. Casey remembered sitting on his grandmother's lap as she rocked him and sang a song to soothe his frightened tears. She sang in Welsh and although he never heard the song nor saw his grandmother again, if he closed his eyes and concentrated he could remember that moment so clearly...

"Case?" Zeke's voice was soft with concern and Casey could feel his gaze through the mirror even without looking.

"Visiting ghosts," Casey said softly, opening his eyes and managing a smile.

"No more ghosts, Case. They've had their turn."

Casey and Billy both nodded their agreement. Billy turned up the radio and they let the music divert them as they made the final turn and started up the unpaved road.

Trees lined the way and a haze of dust followed them. It felt closed in but comfortable, not claustrophobic, with the trees all around them and the sunlight slipping through in pools of light against the dark green foliage. The road curved randomly and each gentle turn yielded surprises - an open patch of green, an ancient tree, a deer grazing. The final turn and there, on a slight rise, sat the house.

Zeke pulled the car into the flat graveled area and stopped but none of them hurried to get out. They stared up at the structure, not quite knowing what to think.

Zeke turned to look at Casey, reaching out to him over the seat. "Ready?"

Casey nodded, his hand patting the familiar shape of the heavy metal door key in his jeans pocket. He took a deep breath and opened the car door.

Zeke and Billy stood on either side of him as they all looked up at the house. It was huge, with a peaked roof and a large porch that ran across the front and wrapped around both sides. There were long narrow windows framed by dark shutters, contrasting nicely against the eggshell white of the house.

Zeke turned to Casey, smiling softly. "Home," he said placing a hand on Casey's shoulder. "Your home, Case."

Casey pulled Zeke and Billy close, giving them a fierce hug before letting go. "Our home," he said with determination. Taking the key from his pocket he led them up the steps to the door of their house.

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