Hide and Seek

Raylein was about to explode. She had been standing behind a 1990 Dodge Caravan for an hour and a half. Everyone else had been caught, and Jax had started to yell throughout the scrapyard, pleading for her to quit. But Raylein never quit. Hide and seek had become Raylein’s specialty. She found herself day-dreaming about it constantly. Hiding was a comfort to the 13 year old. It was the only time of day she felt safe. She couldn’t hide from her stepdad in his 15 by 72 foot trailer home. There, she was constantly found. In the scrapyard, Raylein found comfort in the nooks and cranny’s of discarded junk. The moldy trunk beds of 30 year old Toyotas cradled her like a warm nest. The feeling of a tractors’ rusty metal against her back was as soothing as a soft blanket. She was a hider, never a seeker. Disappearing was something she usually prided herself on, though now her skill for hiding was a nuisance not only to the other neighborhood kids, but herself.

Raylein had never had to pee so badly in her life. Shifting back and forth with her legs crossed, she started to look around for a stealthy spot to relieve herself. She knew Jax had just thoroughly searched the vacant school bus, and that he wouldn’t be going back any time soon. He hated that school bus. Then again, so did she. Covered in red graffiti and bullet holes, the vacant vehicle gave the junkyard an unsettling, haunted feel. They called it the blood bus. But if Raylein was going to hold onto her title of Hide and Seek champion, her fears would simply have to suck it up. In a hushed whisper, she said to herself, “One… two…. three.” Raylein sprinted to the side and immediately pulled down her pants and exhaled. She stared at the bullet holes and messy red slurs covering the ghostly vehicle. The thing looked like it had been to prison. She pulled up her pants and turned to face the wooded area of the lot. It was then that she saw the man.

He was dressed in all black, glancing suspiciously from side to side. She watched in frozen fear as he headed in her direction. In a state of panic, Raylein slid herself under the abandoned bus, positioning her small body behind a flattened wheel. Her terror rose as he grew closer and closer, eventually no further than 2 feet from her trembling body. He paused there for what felt like hours, before eventually rounding the corner of the bus. It took everything in her adolescent body to not audibly sigh in relief. That relief however, was cut short when she felt the skeleton of the blood bus start to creak and shake. Footsteps were immediately heard directly above her head, the floor of the automobile practically pinning her to the muddy ground. Raylein shut her eyes and began singing, “This Little Light of Mine”, silently in her head. It was a tactic she had adopted when her and her mother, Amber, first moved in with her stepfather, Lee. Every time Lee came home drunk, Amber would hide Raylein in the bathroom and tell her to sing through the lyrics until there was quiet. It almost drowned out the sounds of Lee’s rage. Not enough, however, to pretend she didn’t know what was happening.

Raylein silently mouthed the lyrics when she suddenly heard a cellular tone followed by the man’s deep voice from above. “It’s here.” Raylein covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming. Was she “it”? She checked her surroundings, looking for a place to hide, but there was nowhere she could run that would hide her from the man’s sight. She began to quietly whimper as she whispered, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine. This little light of mine”— Without warning, she heard the harsh, but familiar twang of Jax’s voice ring out. “Raylein, come on!! It’s gettin' dark out!” She saw Jax’s feet a mere 20 yards away, facing the bus. He was standing, frozen. A quick searing pain shot through her skull as the school bus dipped down and smacked her on the forehead. The man’s footsteps rang loud above her as he sprinted out of the bus and back into the woods. She watched as Jax’s feet ran in the opposite direction. She looked back in the direction the man was headed, when something caught her eye on the soft soil. She waited until he had been swallowed up by the trees before finally emerging from the metal underbelly of the beast. She approached the item with caution, looking in both directions anxiously before snatching it up. It was a notebook, deep black in color, smooth to the touch. It was nothing like the cheap, looseleaf notebooks she used at school. She caressed the book, and noticed a large bump in the middle. Something had been wedged between the pages. She slowly removed the black elastic strap from around the book, and opened it to reveal an unsealed white envelope. Her tiny fingers gingerly opened the envelopes lid to reveal a thick stack of cash. Raylein gasped. She didn’t know how much money it was but she knew it was enough to get her in trouble. She needed to hide. Looking up at the blood bus, Raylein swallowed her fear, and headed inside for the very first time.

The worn seats were torn and covered in dust. There was a dried, brown, liquid coating most of them. Raylein found herself transfixed by the copious amounts of writing on the walls and ceiling. She looked upon a pentagram with the caption “Hail Satan”, underneath it. Another note read, “Samantha Adina is a cheater”. There were multiple numbers left that began with “for a good time call”. She had never understood what that meant. There were empty beer cans, and plastic liquor bottles. The kind that Lee had at home. She positioned herself on the floor of the bus and removed the envelope from the small black books’ pages. She noticed writing on the page from which she removed the cash. “the 1st half”. She slowly took the money out, and began to count. They were all 100 dollar bills. She wasn’t a bright math student, and had a hard time keeping track. After 30 minutes of constant recounts, Raylein arrived on the number $20,000. She felt frozen in time. That was the biggest amount of money she had ever seen. Her mother would come home from work with multiple 1’s and 5’s, but Lee would always demand it be handed over. She thought again of her mother. Maybe they could take the money and get a nicer trailer without Lee. Lee. It hit her like a punch to the gut in slow motion. He wouldn’t let them have the money.

Raylein sat on the ground of that bus until the sun had completely left the sky. She looked to the graffitied walls again, and became transfixed with one large, purple sentence. “i was an atheist until i realized i was a god”. Raylein stood up, placed the cash and little black book in her pocket, and headed for the rickety door. She stopped herself before leaving, and looked back. She wasn’t scared of it anymore. In fact, she quite admired it. How many people had been there before her? She walked down the steps and solemnly headed home. She arrived outside of Lee’s trailer, and looked in. The faint sounds of Lee shouting were heard from inside. Raylein felt a tear roll down her cheek. She wasn’t there for longer than 30 seconds before she headed west towards the train. She wasn’t sure where she was going. She wasn’t sure what she was seeking. She just knew she was ready to.