“Skim-Milky-Blue,” Twin Peaks Week, Part 3/8
Setting: Thea’s standing at the bus stop, early morning, May, 2009. (Continued from The Giant Tells, 1 & 2.)
It was a Monday—it was the Monday morning after the night I slept over at Melody’s house. For some reason, it was just me and twin, standing at the bus stop. It’d been raining all night, and the sky was still gray, and there were all these worms on the road. They used to bother me a lot more, but then I thought they were kind of funny, because they’d always freaked Cam out.
The first time we saw them we were at the store. Mom called and asked me to pick up some toilet paper on my way home, this list of things we needed, didn’t matter. I was with Cam, and as long as we got to spend more time together, I didn’t care what she needed me to do.
Anyhow, the place is huge, you know, and we were just walking around, trying to find the paper products aisle, and we turned the corner, and Cam almost screamed. Not like I scream, but like a guy screams, because the twins were just standing there, in the middle of the aisle, like they’d been waiting for us or something. Lucy and Lucas, that’s their names. They didn’t say anything, either. They just stared at us, and I pulled Cam away, turning back down the aisle.
Thee, he said: did you see that? Did you see those kids, the way they were just standing there?
Yeah, they ride my bus, i said. Freaky, right? Like that skin, they have that skim-milky-blue skin. And they never talk, either. They just stare at you, I said, opening my eyes, staring at him like the twins stare.
It was like The Shining, only Walmart, he said, shuddering.
I smiled, seeing them at the bus stop, staring at the worms on the road. When they heard me, they turned and stared, just like always, except I couldn’t take it anymore.
Why do you always stare at me? I said, and I waited, but they didn’t say anything. Finally, I was just like, Speak! What is it, already?
We know, they said. They talked, like their voices had this slightly metallic sound to it, and they spoke in unison, too. It was the first time I think I’d ever heard their voices, and it was so weird, jsut hearing them, it took me a minute before I understood what they’d just said.
You know what? I said.
Lots of things, they said. Not smartass, more kind of . . . I don’t know, sing-song.
Like what? What things? I said.
Things about the boy.
What boy? I said, even though I knew.
The boy who’s missing. Your friend, they said.
What do you know?
We saw him.
When? When did you see him? I said, and my heart started pounding so loud, i swear they must have heard.
That day. The day he disappeared, he said.
What did you see?
We saw him get in his car and drive away, they said.
How do you know?
We were playing outside. In our yard, they said.
Did you tell ayone?
No, they said, nodding.
No one?
No, they said.
Not even your Mom?
No.
Good. Don’t. Ever. It’s not safe, you understand?
Yes, they said, nodding yes.
Did he come back?
No.
Are you sure?
Yes.
How can you be sure?
We’d know, because we don’t like him, they said. He drove off, and then the car came back.
The car? He drove back?
No, just the car, not the boy.
When? When did the car come back?
Later, they said.
An hour, two hours?
In the night, they said.
Don’t lie to me.
it’s true. We woke up, and we saw his car, but it wasn’t him, they said. It wasn’t the boy. There was a man driving. He got out. He waited, and another car came. It was black. With black windows. The man got in and they drove away.
What time was it?
Told you: it was late.
What were you doing out of bed?
We had a bad dream.
I wanted to ask what it was, and I’d heard the bus coming, and I almost asked, but then the bus stopped. I was just about to ask, when Mason opened the bus’s sliding door, and said: Morning, kids!