Spokane WA 1976

Granite Elementary School

It was chilly after school let out when Janey and Billy missed their bus home. Janey blamed Billy because of his weak bladder. But it wasn’t his fault. He had filled up on water to ignore how hungry he was. They both hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before.

Their mom had to work two jobs after dad left them. But it didn’t help as much as when their dad was still with them. He may have been an absent father but he brought home the bacon. Their mom missed him and Janey heard her crying late at night.

With dad gone it only affected how often they saw their mom, or had food in the house. Other than that it didn’t really affect the two siblings that he was gone. Their memories of him was that he was always somewhere else. Out of town doing construction for work or at the bar when he was home. It only bothered them that their mom was always busy and tired.

Walking home would have been an option before, when they lived two blocks away from school. Then they moved to the Marlboro apartments to save money. If Janey was alone she might have walked it but not with Billy. It was just too far. And there were those kids who had gone missing from her school. The police said they were runaways but Janey didn’t think so. The last kid that went missing was Billy’s age. Kids that young still needed their hands held to cross the street.

Janey watched her brother stomp circles into the snow before she grew tired of it, “Come on we're going to the office to call mom,” she said.

“I don’t wanna,” Billy said as he stopped his pacing.

Snow began to fall around the siblings as they had their stare off. Both had their arms crossed over their chests. Each one trying to keep warm. Their breath wispy plumes that they sometimes pretended were cigarette smoke..

Janey stared daggers at her little brother trying to get him to listen to her. Billy stood there staring back at his sister. A smug look on his face knowing that she wasn’t strong enough to make him. She hated that smug look. It made Billy look as pigheaded as their dad when he stumbled home drunk. She hated that. But learned how to deal with it from watching her mom.

“They might have candy canes,” she said, holding back her own smug smile.

Billy always had a sweet tooth and Janey knew it. She had caught his sneaking frosting from her birthday cake last month. His candy from Halloween barely lasted three days after trick or treating. He was a certifiable fiend for candy and she used that knowledge to get her way.

Billy’s smug look slackened as his shoulders relaxed while thinking of the sweet minty goodness candy canes offered. But this was school. Why would they give kids candy canes if they wouldn’t feed kids who “forgot” their lunches.

“How do you know they have candy,” Billy said. His smug grin returned. He knew his sister still had candy left from Halloween. Its been over a month and his sister was still hoarding candy like Scrooge McDuck. He thought about sneaking some occasionally but she counted every piece before bed. Janey would only eat a single piece before hiding it back away.

Squinting her eyes Janey thought on that, “If they don’t I will give you a piece of MY candy,” she said drawing out the word my.

“I choose then,” Billy said mimicking the way his sister spoke.

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Janey thought about the candy she had left. Most of it was hard candy old people liked to give. She had few pieces she really liked but those were hidden in a different stash Billy didn’t know about.

“Okay,” she said, trying to seem annoyed at letting him choose.

Billy beamed with pride thinking he one upped his sister. She mimicked her mother and kept her arms crossed, her face stoic, and let Billy think he won. She let him gloat a little. When he started doing his annoying happy dance she put a kibosh on it. Grabbing him by his arm, the frog marched him up to the school door.

The front doors were locked. That didn’t stop Billy from getting in. He started by shaking them hard enough that the chain holding them shut jingled like the chains of a ghost.

“They’re locked, dummy,” Janey said.

Billy didn’t let up. He was working himself up into a mini meltdown. Kicking the door, shaking it, and pulling on it until he was panting.

“It's OK Billy. You can have some of my candy when we get home,” she said, placing her hand on his shoulder.

Breathing hard, Billy took a shuddering breath. Trying to hide that he was on the verge of tears he wiped his face and turned to his sister.

“I really need to use the bathroom,” he said, his cheeks the color of apples.

Janey thought he was lying, “let's go around the building to see if a side door is open.”

“Ok,” he said as he sheepishly reached out for his sister's hand.

Grabbing it she led Billy down the stairs and around the building. They didn’t speak as they walked. Holding hands was enough. Each door she checked was locked and chained on the inside. The lights were off in all the rooms they passed.

At the back of the building their noses crinkled from the dumpsters. They smelled sickly sweet and fetid. Flies swarmed while it snowed, the rotting garbage creating its own heat. Passing the dumpsters they found a door propped open with an old coffee can. The smell of baking cookies and warm spices wafted from the door. Janey pulled the door open a little further to peak in. Billy didn’t wait and barged in.

“HELLO,” he screamed in the dark hallway.

“Don’t yell,” Janey said as she followed Billy.

The door behind them slammed shut making them both jump. Spinning around Janey went to open the door. The door knob wouldn’t turn no matter how much she wrenched on it.

“Give me a hand,” she said.

No one answered. Spinning around Billy was gone. She didn’t hear him walk or run away. He was there and then gone. Mom was going to kill her if she lost her brother.

She went into the darkness that smelled of cookies and spices in search of her brother.

Spokane WA 2022

Granite Elementary School

“Billy crawled out of the front doors of the school. His stomach distended, his hands covered in chocolate and blood, his mouth riddled with cavities. They said he was crying for his sister.” JJ said.

“Then who found him?” Sam asked.

“The janitor did after he unlocked the doors,” JJ said, his tail swishing back and forth. “They had to call an ambulance and rush him to the hospital. He fell into a sugar coma shortly after crawling out of the school.”

“Sugar comas are real?” Sam said as he rubbed his freshly shaved head. His calloused hands searched for any spots he missed.

“Yeah but it's usually only for diabetes. This kid didn’t have diabetes before he went missing,” JJ said as he watched kids begin to file out of the school. The bell still ringing as they rushed to their parents' cars in a mad race to get home. The ones moseying around had their noses buried in their phones.

“That’s crazy,” Sam said. “How much candy did he eat?”

“That’s where it gets weird,” JJ said. “He had zero food in his stomach during the autopsy, but he was severely dehydrated. Combine that with the janitor’s report about him being covered in chocolate, well you know my guess.”

“Sugar coma,” they both said in unison.

“And you think it's happening again?” Sam asked, his finger tapping the steering wheel of his truck.

“I don’t know but Miss Theo thinks so,” JJ said.

“Lets go talk to their mom before we go barging in there,” Sam said as he started his truck.