Karolina Waclawiak - The Invaders

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At the house, Cheryl was sitting on the sofa looking so out of it. She eyed me suspiciously and I thought she might have heard the sirens or something.

“Are there police outside?” she asked. I told her they were swarming and she ran to the window to look.

“They’re not coming for you, Cheryl. You can open the curtains. Jesus.”

She was not fucking amused.

“I’m not hiding,” she said.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked.

“Where are they?”

“There’re like five cars in front of the Cronins’ house.”

She looked at me like she really wanted to tell me something. All she said, though, was: “Steven, oh.”

I wanted to say, Spit it out, Cheryl. Why are you so fucking weird?

“Are you going out?” she asked.

I told her I had just been out. I was tired and going upstairs. She literally stuck her hand out and I raised my eyebrows like “What?” until she had to let me go.

“Stick around,” she said. “At least until your father gets home.”

“I said I was tired,” I snapped at her.

CHERYL

I DIDN’T WANT TEDDY to leave me alone, but I didn’t know how to ask him to stay. I called my mother three more times while I waited for him to come downstairs, but she never answered. I wanted to tell someone what I had done. If she’d had a machine I would have confessed to it. I would have said, “I hurt someone terribly.” But no machine picked up, so I kept my mouth shut. I stared out at the ocean and saw that the sun was moving lower in the sky. Where was Jeffrey? I tried his phone again. This time it went straight to voice mail. He was somewhere that he shouldn’t be while I was “leaving myself open.”

There was a commotion outside and I ran to see what was happening. I peered out through my front window and saw police cruisers. I felt like vomiting. They knew, Steven had told them. I was going to tell the police about him, about what he was going to do, and they’d realize I was the victim here. People were coming out of their houses to see. Where was Jeffrey? Everyone would see, everyone would know. Things would be said about me and I wasn’t even sure that Jeffrey would defend me. If Steven had thought I wanted it, would other people think that, too?

I opened the door, tired of waiting. I would go to them and simply explain that I had been too scared to call the police.

“I didn’t do anything!” a man yelled.

I was startled when I saw two police officers push a man down on the ground and straddle him, fishing poles flying.

I backed away, like the rest of them. No one knew why the police were apprehending him, but I had an idea. He was not in this much trouble for illegal fishing. I knew then that I was a terrible person because I wouldn’t come forward. This man was saving me from everything and I was letting him.

“What’s going on?”

Teddy was standing behind me, wrapped in a towel, wet hair dripping on the rug.

“You should get dressed,” I said.

“What are they doing to that guy?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” I lied.

“Maybe it’s because of whatever was going on at Steven’s,” Teddy said.

I shook my head, thinking about what a bad job Steven’s mother had done of bringing him up. That boy used to do terrible things. Now, nearly an adult, his evil had accelerated. His mother was always protecting him— Not my son, he would never. I did the world a favor.

“Is he dead?” I asked, nearly hopeful thinking about it.

“What?” Teddy asked.

He eyed the man on the ground. “No, he’s still moving,” he said.

“Not him,” I heard myself saying.

Teddy looked at me like he knew something about what I was talking about.

“What’s all this now?” Jeffrey said, striding up to the house. He looked perturbed, inconvenienced.

Teddy and I stood side by side and glared at him.

“I had to park in the club parking lot. I couldn’t even get into my own driveway,” he said.

“Where were you?” I asked.

He set his briefcase down and went to see what was going on, ignoring me. The policemen were still straddling the fisherman on the ground. When were they going to let him up? I noticed a teenage girl standing and looking at the man on the ground. They could have been related. Jeffrey noticed her, too. He was eyeing her in a strange way. She was saying something in Spanish that I couldn’t understand and she wouldn’t stop crying. He started to go over to her and then thought better of it and turned his attention back to the man on the ground, but not before locking eyes with her.

Everyone was watching the display and Jeffrey walked up to the policemen like they weren’t even busy.

“What do you think he’ll do?” I asked.

“Probably tell them they’re creating an eyesore,” Teddy answered.

We stared as the man tried to wriggle free and then at the cop who was trying to calm down Jeffrey, who was pointing and acting animated. We were too far away to hear what he was saying and I considered stepping closer, but I didn’t want the policemen to get a good look at me. My guilt was overwhelming, but I could not move. I would not help that poor man. Jeffrey came back in a huff.

“What did they say?” I asked.

“There’s been an attack,” Jeffrey said.

I covered my mouth and realized my hands still stunk of bleach. I quickly shoved them in my pockets and decided to re-check them for blood when I was alone.

“Who was attacked?” Jeffrey looked back at the police and I quickly glanced at Teddy, who was looking at me.

“We don’t even know the whole story,” Jeffrey said.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions then,” I said.

“Do you want to identify him?”

“What?” I asked.

“The man from yesterday. Is it him?” Jeffrey pointed to the man on the ground. His arms were being zip-tied.

“No, of course not,” I said.

“You didn’t even look,” Teddy said.

“Will you both leave me alone? I hardly saw him,” I said.

“Damn, Cheryl. Chill—”

I could hardly hear the last part because I was rushing into the bathroom.

“Are you okay?” Jeffrey asked.

“Fine. Fine.” I got my bearings straight and walked out of the bathroom. My nostrils were still burning from the bleach, but there was no more blood anywhere on me.

“You’ve been really off lately,” Jeffrey said, like an accusation.

“Something terrible happened today,” I started.

“I wish that you could possibly understand what kind of day I had. I can’t listen to your outrage about vagrants right now,” he said.

Right then, I realized I couldn’t tell him anything. He was not going to be compassionate. He was the you-left-yourself-open kind of blamer.

“I hope you remember we’re going to Elaine’s house tonight,” he said.

“I think I have to call her and tell her I don’t feel well,” I said.

“It was your idea and she’s your friend. It’s too late to cancel.”

“Where were you all day, anyway? I called you more than once,” I said.

He looked at me as he walked up the stairs and didn’t say a word, like he didn’t need to answer to me. I overheard him telling Teddy that he had gotten him a spot in Richard Shepard’s office. He would have to interview, but it was just a formality. Teddy said something like he wasn’t sure he wanted to work there and Jeffrey got loud.

I went to the window and saw the police cars driving off. The fisherman was gone and the area where they had thrown him down was just dirt and stray gravel from the Magrees’ house.

“Do I have to go, too?” Teddy asked behind me, his voice like a small child’s.