I begin sifting through the open cardboard box sitting on the floor in front of the nightstand. Underneath some of my school stuff from middle school, I see the walkie-talkie again and take it out. As I begin to walk toward the window to look over at Janice’s room, I hit the switch on the side of the device to check if it still works. Nope, batteries must be dead.
I turn it over and open the compartment where the batteries are housed to see what size it takes. AAA. Scurrying over to my desk where I sometime store batteries, I open the top left drawer. Sure enough, I find a package of AAAs. After putting in the batteries, I hit the button on the side again and hear that old familiar electronic crackle sound. Oh, how I’ve missed that sound. I’m not sure why I even replaced the batteries. Janice’s walkie-talkie has to be dead by now too.
Just for shits and giggles, I take a chance and talk into it.
“Janice?”
I try to remember the nicknames we used to call each other over this thing. It suddenly comes to me. “Marshmallow, this is Mint Chip. Over.” There’s no reply.
“Well, I guess it was worth a shot,” I say, and toss the walkie on the bed.
The doorbell chimes. My stomach grumbles in anticipation of the pizza waiting for me at the front door, and I hurry down the stairs to meet it. With the delivery guy paid and food in-hand, I run back up to my room to stuff my face. The moment I enter through the doorway, I hear a muffled static noise coming from the bed. I see the walkie-talkie lying there face-down. The noise sounds again and I’m sure it came from the walkie this time.
I put the pizza box on the desk and pick up the hand radio. Pressing the button, I talk into it. “Janice? Is that you?” There’s a moment of silence followed by another static noise. “Janice?”
“Marshmallow here.”
I run over to my window and look out across the way. She’s standing there with her curtain drawn, staring back. A smile lights up her face the moment she sees me.
“Oh my God!” I exclaim. “How’ve you been? It’s been forever since we last talked. I wasn’t sure if your walkie was even still working.”
“Mom told me that you never wanted to talk to me again. That’s why you haven’t heard from me,” she replies.
“Why the hell did she tell you that? I never said anything even remotely close to that.”
“Well, you know how she is. Actually, she’d probably kill me if she knew I was talking to you right now.”
“I’ve been wanting to apologize for how things went down between us. I’ve felt horrible ever since…” I trail off. After a moment, I continue, “You were my best friend, Janice.”
“I know, Mint Chip. You can’t really blame yourself, though. My mom had a huge hand in this too. She’s had me locked up in here for what seems like forever, and to say the least, I think I’m getting cabin fever.”
An idea enters my head the moment the words cabin fever leave her lips. “Hey, I know this is going to sound crazy, but there’s this Halloween party tomorrow night. Want to come?”
“I don’t know, Dani. I’m not sure anyone other than you would want me there.”
“Oh, come on. That’s so not true. It’ll be like old times. We’ll have lots of fun—promise. Kevin will even be there.”
“Kevin? Wow, I haven’t seen him in a while. I’m still not sure, though. The old times weren’t always so great, Dani. That’s why I ended up homeschooled in the first place. And Mom really hates everything about Halloween. Like I said earlier, she’d probably kill me for even talking to you right now. Imagine what she’d do if I snuck out to a party with you.”
“I guess you’re right. Maybe we can start out with something a little lower key than a secret party.”
After a long pause, she says, “Well, I guess I could just tell her I’m going to the library to read. I spend a lot of time there, anyway, so that might actually make for a good alibi.”
I can almost hear the wheels in her head turning as she works out the scheme. “Wow, Janice. I didn’t know you could be such a rebel.”
“Have you not heard what I’ve been saying? My mom is keeping me prisoner here, and I’m starting to go crazy. I’ll