He went straight to his room once he got home, the need for isolation stronger than his need to play a video game, and forget about everything. After his cat, Spice, started to use his chest as a pillow, Jude picked up his cellphone to vent all his frustrations to his best friend. Hoping for someone who agreed with his less-than-ideal circumstances.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait – they think you did what?”
“I think I made myself pretty clear the first time, Henry. They think I’m the one who set the library on fire,” Jude replied, barely holding back his anger.
“Holy crackers! What’re they gonna do about it? Send you to jail or something? It’s a pretty big deal when someone accuses you of being something of an arsonist. I mean, you like fire, but I wouldn’t exactly nail you down as a pyromaniac.”
Jude sighed, “This is where it gets real freaking shabby. So, as I said, they accused me of the fire and had us watch the whole security video but there was something weird about it. I know the fire started on the window sill, not below it! But the video had it below the sill… It’s a long story, but Henry, I definitely wasn’t the one who set that fire. And-”
“You’re getting side-tracked Blake, get to the forking point.”
Jude huffed, “Right. Anyway, my Mom and Dad apparently doubt I’m the one but agree that the fact that I am even a suspect is problematic so-”
“-I had a feeling-”
“- so they’re sending me to ‘Komodo Hall for Troubled Kids’ or something. A disciplinary school. Mollow said it’s on an island? I mean, cool for a beach vacation, but it won’t be much of a vacation if people are yelling at me to be a ‘model citizen’ or whatever. Anyway…” Jude narrowed his eyes, “Uh… Henry… are you… laughing at me?”
Henry’s snickers died down a bit, “No, no. Not at you, but at the situation.”
“You son of a-”
“Oh, c’mon Jude! You can’t say you didn’t see this one coming! And it’s the one time you didn’t do anything!” Henry burst out laughing, and Jude just scowled.
“You’re seriously making fun of me!? Seriously? This is not a joke!” “It’s kinda funny! Jude’s last strike! You didn’t even do anything!”
“That’s the crazy part. Don’t laugh at me! I really don’t know what you find so darn funny!”
“I’m sorry,” Henry snickered, “I don’t know why I’m laughing, really. It blows man.” Henry said, his tone still amused, “Sorry for laughing. It’s just a little ironic. I am sure you can see that?”
“Still, you’re a jerk,” Jude complained.
“Call me what you want, man. So, what else do you know about Komodo?”
“Not a lot at this point. My Mom and Dad have to send an email to them,” Jude said. The line was quiet for a while, long enough for Jude to wonder if the connection cut out. Then Henry spoke, “Sorry, Jude, my grandma called me. Lunch is ready or something. I’ll catch you later. Good luck with your family.”
Jude sighed, trying to ignore the slight disappointment he felt, “Yeah, thanks.”
“We’ll have a long talk about the thing in the lab too. Promise. Goodbye.”
The line cut out, and Jude carefully placed the cellphone on his bedside desk, trying not to disturb the sleeping cat. He dropped his head on his pillow and let out a, what some might call an over dramatic sigh. Only it wasn’t, it wasn’t overdramatic. He had every reason to be upset about his circumstances, right? He’d been doing better – he hadn’t snuck into any forbidden areas and he didn’t cause as much trouble in general. It wasn’t him! He didn’t plant anything – the principal was being paranoid.
Spice shifted on his chest and blinked her large golden eyes at him. He stroked her soft, ginger fur and she purred. She usually wasn’t such a cuddle cat. Jude wondered if she somehow knew he wasn’t feeling his best. She always laid with him when he was sick or sad.
“Who’s gonna give you treats when I’m gone?” Jude asked her, “Roger forgets to shake it first and Mom always says you’re gonna get fat. Dad’s at work most of the day.”
She stared at him, the rays of the late afternoon sunshine glinting in her eyes. She was just a cat, but Jude felt like she understood him more than people did sometimes. He scratched her behind her ear, her eyes closing in contentment.
The sound of a taxi’s horn sounded outside, startling both Jude and Spice. Taxis usually weren’t around in this neighborhood – what excuse did they have to start making noise here? Jude remembered the ongoing honking sounds from the downtown markets and grimaced. He sat up, hoping Spice didn’t move and looked out the window.
Oh. Roger was home.
Spice leaped off the bed and padded out the room, Jude following close behind. By the time Jude reached the front porch, his mother was already unlocking the front gate. The white taxi sped away, honking as it went, and on the other side of the fence stood Jude’s seventeen-year-old brother. Jude walked over and could see that the class camping trip had taken a toll on his brother. His brown hair was a mess, sticking up at awkward angles and slightly damp from who-knows-what. His hoodie, that was once white, had dirt stains all over and the same could be said for every other article of clothing.
Their Mom opened the gate and quickly let him in, “It’s so good to see you again. I would have given you a hug, but not like this. Didn’t I tell you not to bring anything white with you?”
Roger rubbed at his neck nervously but said nothing. He grinned when he saw Jude, “Hey, buddy! How was the weekend?” Jude shrugged, “Normal.” Then he scrunched up his face, “You stink.”
Roger huffed out a laugh, “Showers broke last night and we just came back from hiking in the mountains. We saw a family of deer! The little ones were adorable. This girl in my class – Adah - she tried to start a petition for the class to adopt one. It was a joke, of course.”
Roger didn’t stop talking about his camping trip all the way to the second floor, Jude following him into his bedroom as he dumped his backpack and duffle bag on the floor and began to sort things into ‘clean’ and ‘in need of a wash immediately’ piles. Jude commented every now and again but was honestly not listening much. Not that he didn’t want to – Roger’s class’ antics were always pretty funny – but he couldn’t stop wondering if this ‘Komodo’ place would be anything like this camp his brother was describing. For some reason, he sincerely doubted it.
At some point Spice had come to lay at the door frame, looking kinda like a cat loaf. When Jude pointed it out, Roger’s attention turned to the cat. “Hey girl – you been okay since I was gone?” Spice blinked. “Did you catch anything? You didn’t leave it here, right?”
Jude finally stopped playing with the hem of his hoodie and looked up at his brother, “She almost caught a bird yesterday but it got away.” Roger laughed, “Good for the bird then!” Jude nodded, “Yeah, guess so.” Jude started fiddling with his hoodie again. Should he just tell Roger now? He might have a different perspective on this situation – maybe he would even back him up, talk some sense into their parents. Roger usually had his back, even after a bad argument.
He looked up again at Roger and considered it. Before he could make up his mind, Roger shut his closet door, locked it, and turned to Jude.
“I’m gonna go take a shower.”
Jude nodded, getting up maybe a little too fast, “Good,” He said, letting a smirk creep onto his face, “Your smell is killing me.”
“Hey! You can leave whenever you want, you are the one that chose to stay!” Roger objected, but Jude knew his brother wasn’t serious. He snorted.
“Good riddance. I think we still have tomato sauce in the fridge, just in case you need it.” He left the room after that, Roger sputtering indignantly after him. Jude paused at the top of the stairs, considering again whether to tell his brother. He really didn’t want to face his mother or father alone right now. He turned around and headed back to his room, ignoring the curious look Roger gave him as he passed by him in the hall.
“You’re doing what?” Roger asked, staring at their parents as if they grew five extra heads and started to do the macarena. Jude had been disappointed, but not surprised when he discovered that hiding in his room couldn’t be a permanent thing. His father had also already sent the email and was expecting a reply tomorrow afternoon at the latest. He lowered his eyes to the living room’s brown carpet, letting the conversation between his family wash over him.
“We’re sending Jude away to a disciplinary camp,” Hannah repeated her earlier statement, “He’ll be going there at the start of May. We won’t see him until the first of June.”
“June?” Roger whispered to himself.
“It’s called Komodo Camp for Criminal Kids,” Alan said, sitting up a little straighter on the couch, “It’s pretty far away, but they promise a good out-”
“Wait, what!!?” Roger shouted the last word, “You-you can’t do that! Have you not heard the rumors about that place!? A kid in my class said that someone was murdered there a couple of years ago!” Jude’s head shot up, his eyes locking onto his older brother. His brother was now standing, his fists clenched, his face ashen. Roger ran a hand through his hair, jaw clenched, mumbling to himself, “This isn’t a good sign,”
“Is this another one of your ‘omens’?” Hannah asked.
Roger’s steely grey eyes met hers, “No! This is different! It just so happens that we were talking about the guy who was killed there during camp and now you are telling me-” He gestured towards Jude, almost smacking him in the face, “-he is going there? Don’t you see that maybe this isn’t a good omen?”
“That’s enough,” Alan said, getting up from the couch. Now Jude was right in the middle of his Dad and brother’s stare-down with no escape in sight… great.
“First, nobody was murdered. Somehow a student got out in the middle of the night and walked off into the forest. What exactly happened to the boy is unclear, but there was no murder. Things have also improved a lot since then. Your mother and I won’t send Jude anywhere that we don’t consider trustworthy.”
“Where did the stab wound come from then?” Roger narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
Alan sighed, “It’s just a conspiracy, Roger. You need to stop being so naïve.”
“Well, excuse me for being a bit worried. It’s my little brother you’re sending away!”
Jude got up from the couch, pushing his father and brother aside and striding out of the room.
“Jude!” His mother called after him, “Where-”
“Outside. I’m going outside, Mom” Jude growled, turning to face the room at large, “I’m going to take a walk and no, I’m not gonna steal anything, expect me back before dark. Hopefully, by then people will make a lot more sense!” Then he turned away, grabbing the spare key on the way out. Thankfully, nobody stopped him and he left the yard in silence.
The sun was slowly setting, bathing the little suburban area in a golden hue. The sky was awash in orange and pink clouds, and the chilly winter night air seeped right through Jude’s turquoise hoodie. The longer he walked, following the familiar maze of sidewalks, trees, and houses, the more he felt the tension leave his body. The first real peace he has experienced since this entire debacle at the library started. He allowed himself to enjoy it.
But it was difficult to focus on it for too long. He tried not to let it get to him, but what Roger had said had actually freaked him out a bit. He knew Roger had a love for omens and conspiracies, but usually those things were kept at ‘this is fun’. This whole ‘murder’ thing was not fun. It’s just a conspiracy theory, Jude told himself, the guy probably got bitten by a snake or something. All I gotta do is watch out for snakes and I’ll be fine.
A dog barked nearby – a familiar yipping sound – and Jude looked up to see his feet had carried him to Henry’s house. The family Boston Terrier, Bells, was wagging her tail, yipping away at the fence. The faint barks that followed meant that her buddy was on her way too. He waved at Bells, as he walked closer to the house. Their silver car had been pulled out of the garage, which probably meant someone was on their way somewhere.
That’s when two hands clapped over his eyes, and a loud “Ra!” came from behind him. Jude barely held himself back from judo-flipping his friend right then and there, a pathetic yelp escaping him. Henry laughed, and took his hands away, jumping in front of Jude.
“I was just about to drop by at yours!” He laughed, “Did I scare you?”
Jude, whose heart was trying to escape out of his ribcage, shook his head, “No. You couldn’t scare a scaredy-cat.”
Henry barked out another laugh, “What are you then?”
Bells yipped louder, jumping up and down. “Bells!” Henry turned to her, “Ball!” Bells’ ears perked up before she shot away like a bullet. Henry shook his head, “She’s got a lot of energy.”
Jude nodded, smiling a bit. “Are you guys on your way somewhere?” He asked, gesturing to the car. Henry nodded.
“Yeah, Oupa thought it would be nice to take us out for dinner. I think he’s trying to make me feel better about the chaos that happened at school today. He sounds pretty upset about it. We’re going to that place with the awesome milkshakes.” His smile faltered a bit, his hand coming up to rub at his arm, “Uh, how are you doing after… the thing at school?”
Jude felt the peace from earlier completely seep away - not that much of it remained after Henry tried to give him a heart attack. “You thought it was pretty funny when I told you the first time.”
Jude wasn’t looking at Henry, but he could still see the grimace on his friend’s face. “Yeah… about that… I’m really sorry… I, uh, wasn’t… uh…” Henry let out a loud sigh, “I was being stupid and insensitive, I guess. I mean, not ‘I guess’, I totally was being a… uh.”
“A jerk?” Jude suggested.
Henry chuckled, “Yup. A big one – biggest of them all. King of the Jerks, if I do say so my-” “Shut up!” Jude laughed, shoving Henry, “Don’t let it get to your head, your majesty.”
“Is this the part where we hug? Cry a bit and then I cancel my night with my grandparents so we can watch Star Wars all night long and eat popcorn before we read each other letters of devotion and love-”
“Stop it, King of the Jerks!”
Jude tried to shove him again, but Henry dodged it this time. Bells barked again, having returned with her ball. Henry looked towards the front gate, “Wanna play with her a bit before I leave? We can talk about that Komodo dragon zoo your parents are so sending you too.”
Jude grinned, “Sure thing, your majesty.”
Jude didn’t realize until he saw the car drive down the road how much he needed that talk with Henry. Henry’s grandparents had given him a lift back home before they went on their way to their dinner. They offered to bring Jude along, but he was way too tired. Anyway, no way his parents would have allowed that anyway. The pink hue of the clouds had slowly disappeared, leaving a dark blue gradient above a dark orange sunset.
He unlocked the gate and made his way to the front porch. He waited a while before finally gathering the willpower to open the door and step into the foyer. He could hear the sound of dishes being washed in the kitchen, but other than that the house was silent. He snuck over to the staircase, avoiding those that made the most noise. Once on the second floor, Jude froze at the sight of his Dad having just left his bedroom. Jude looked down quickly and made his way his own room.
He closed the door behind him, switched on his light, and went to draw his curtains closed. He was almost finished with a new book, and he might as well spend the night reading through the final chapters. It was the perfect excuse to stay away from everyone else. Before he closed his curtains, something on the sidewalk across his house caught his attention. He squinted, leaning closer to the window.
A familiar creature, scales shining gold in the remaining sun, disappeared into a storm drain.