The Mason List by S.D. Hendrickson

fun havin’ someone else ‘round here,” his eyebrows furrowed
together as he laughed in a way that meant only one thing.
    “Hey, you
can’t get me in trouble anymore,” I bumped him with my shoulder.  A smile
formed on the corner of my lips just thinking of being here with him.
    “Nah…no
trouble,” he laughed quietly. “We just can’t get caught.  By the way, the
hardware store is haunted.”
    “What?”
    “It is. 
I promise.  I heard it from Gunther talkin’ at the feed store when I was there
with Uncle Frank.  You’ll be fine.  Just don’t be there at night.  Might see an
ax go flyin’ through the air.”
    “That’s
not true.”
    “I guess
you can stay there one night and find out.” He gave me a wink.  I rolled my
eyes and then a faint glow caught my attention.
    “What was
that?”  I craned my neck, peering out in the darkness.
    “A
shootin’ star.  You ain’t never see one before?”
    “No. 
Like one of those just fell from the sky?”
    “Sort
of.  You have to make a wish now,” he grinned back at me. 
    I focused
off in the distance, trying to conjure up something that would make me feel
better.
    “Now tell
me what it is,” his syrupy voice pleaded.
    “I don’t
think wishes work that way.”
    “Oh, come
on.  Please ….Alex.”
    “Tell me
yours first.”
    “I didn’t
make a wish.”
    “You did
too.  I saw your eyes closed.  Must have been a big wish.” 
    I
startled him.  Jess blinked back at me for a moment with a rare loss of words,
“I…um, can’t tell ya.”
    “Will you
tell me if it comes true?”
    “Yeah, I
promise,” he grinned.  “There’s pictures up there, you know.  I’ll teach you to
find ‘em.”
    “Pictures?”
    “Yeah. 
Like that one’s the Big Dipper,” he said pointing above us.  “It’s a big ice
cream scoop.” 
    I looked
across the Texas sky, listening to Jess tell me about his pictures.  In all my
nights in Dallas, I’d never seen so many sparkling dots winking back at me.  It
was beautiful and mysterious, a never ending blanket wrapping the world up
tight and cozy for the night.   
    “Hey
Jess, why don’t you have other people over to the ranch?” I asked casually. 
I’d pondered the thought for some time. 
    “You
really wanna know?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Most
people want to be around us because they think we’re rich,” Jess answered with
a flat tone.
    “You are
rich.”
    “I know. 
It’s just not always fun havin’ everyone tryin’ to be your friend because of
it.”  Jess looked serious with the thought.  “You don’t know what it’s like
bein’ here in Arlis.  But you’re goin’ to find out real soon.”
    “I’m sure
you know about us.  Your parents have paid for everything for my dad and me.” I
didn’t intend the sneer in my tone, yet that’s what happened when I finally
said those words out loud.  It was a truth that haunted me for weeks.
    “I
know.”  He looked right at me with his blue eyes.  “Actually, I knew that first
day we met.  My family pays for the hospice ward too.  That’s why ya’ll moved
to Arlis.  Because of us.” 
    He caught
me off-guard.  I remembered my father’s revelation of being accepted into the
hospice ward in Arlis.   The life-saving moment , according to him.  I
didn’t realize it was also funded by the Masons.  In reality, I should have put
that piece of the puzzle together before tonight.  My stomach tightened up, and
I looked back at Jess with wide eyes, hatred burning on my lips.  I despised
their stupid charity.
    “And
that’s why, Alex.  I know you’re different than the others.  I knew it from the
first day in the hallway.  You hate the fact my family’s rich,” he smiled back
smugly.

 
     
    Chapter 10
     
     
    Today,
9:37 p.m.
    It takes
everything in my body to fight to the surface.  Every time I try, the warmth of
invisibility pulls me back down into the comfort of the past.  It feels good
there; deep in the meadow