The Half That You See by Rebecca Rowland (the two towers ebook .TXT) 📗

going to fix this problem.” He sighed. “I’ve decided it’s best to give August a two-week suspension. To start.”

“Two weeks? Are you kidding me? All he did was show a little entrepreneurial spirit.”

“My decision is final. It’ll give him time to think about the wrong he’s caused, and perhaps give the shenanigans he has perpetuated time to subside. You may not be his parent, Miss Strawbridge, but I encourage you to treat this with the seriousness it deserves. I will be talking to his mother and father at the end of the two weeks about how we move forward from this. August is a disturbed young man. Another school may be better equipped to handle his… imagination.”

Julie unfolded herself from the torturous chair. Her back cracked loud as fireworks. “I have never heard anything so outrageous. I get that selling imaginary friends is wrong, but the rest of it? How can he be blamed for that? He’s just a kid.”

“My decision is final,” Principal Boden repeated. The lights in his office flared again—once, twice, three times. He sighed. “Final.”

Julie shoved the handles of her purse up over her shoulder. With one last withering glance at the Principal, she whipped open the door to his office and found Augie sitting outside, his hands clenched on his lap. He looked up at her with wide hazel eyes. His lashes were dark and wet, but his cheeks were dry.

“Am I in big trouble?” he asked quietly.

She nodded but smiled. “Yeah, but not with me, okay, buddy? Let’s get out of here. I’ll buy you some ice cream.”

The receptionist leaned forward, like she didn’t want to miss a word. Julie frowned at her, but the lady sat as though petrified, her tight gray curls like stone.

“Okay, but can I stop at home first? I want my pillow.” Augie hopped off the chair and slung his plaid backpack over his shoulder. He was a solid little presence, close as her shadow and just as silent, all the way to the car.

He was quiet on the drive, too. He sat and stared out the window at the gloomy day, and Julie’s mind gravitated back to Mona. She’d probably blamed things on her imaginary friend just as these other little first grade kids had. That had to be just as typical as having a make-believe friend in the first place.

Kids grow out of believing in things that aren’t there. Santa. The Easter Bunny. The tooth fairy. All of it. Julie didn’t remember the day she stopped seeing Mona and her razor fingers and her red curly hair, but it was easy to recall sitting in her room after bedtime, telling Mona about her day—and Mona being her friend. The one she went on adventures with, like the time Mona convinced her to run away from home after getting in trouble for finger painting. She’d never told anyone about Mona. Not her parents and not her sister. She was something secret, all for Julie. Her secret friend.

She shook her head to clear it. God, it had been forever since she even thought of any of that. She glanced over at Augie, still engrossed in the trees and houses whizzing by the window.

“So,” she said at the back of his head, “what’s up with conning the kids at school out of their lunch money, Augie? Do you need to buy something? You could have asked me for whatever it is, you know.”

He shook his head. “What does conning mean?”

“It’s when you lie to someone to get what you want, the way you lied to your friends in class that you were selling them an imaginary friend. Like that.”

“Oh. I didn’t lie. Mommy says lying is bad.”

“Well, she’s right. Lying is bad. So maybe let’s just tell the truth from now on. What did you do with the money?”

“Nothing,” Augie said to the window. “I didn’t even want it, but there’s this kid in my class, Kyle. His dad is real mean, and he needed help. So I told Leonardo to go and help, and then Kyle gave me a dollar and told everybody.” He paused. “A lot of kids have mean mommies and daddies.”

“Who’s Leonardo?”

“Leonardo is my friend.”

“Your imaginary friend.”

“No adults can see him.” He turned his face toward her, and his eyes narrowed a bit. “Maybe you can. I don’t know yet.”

Her sister’s house curved into sight around the bend. The white saltbox looked forlorn and dark under an overcast sky. The windows were black as the Principal’s eyes, and it felt like the house was staring at her just as hard. She pulled into the narrow driveway.

“You don’t have to come with me, Aunt Julie,” Augie said. “I’ll be real quick. Mommy taught me how to unlock the door by myself.”

“Don’t be silly. Of course I’m coming in.”

He met her at the front of the car and slid his small, soft hand into hers. He nodded, and she let him lead her to the door. The gold key was solid and bright in his stubby fingers. He glanced up at her from under his long bangs. A thin, crooked smile spread slowly across his face.

Julie’s stomach inexplicably twisted.

Just above his head, the curtain that hung in the door’s window twitched. For one moment, she was sure she saw a red curl.

Augie twisted the key in the lock and pushed open the door. Something metallic, like knives, flashed in the gap between the door and the jamb. “Mona says hello. All my friends say hello. See, you can see them!”

Boogeyman

Susie Schwartz

Part 1

It doesn’t matter if the sun is shining or if the moon is sitting in the sky. It still comes for me.

I’ve heard of the boogeyman before. My friends in kindergarten talk about It sometimes. I don’t know if I am ‘llowed to call It that, since my daddy hates nonsense talk. But when my friends chatter about It, it sounds just like what happens in my own house so I guess that’s