This Is How It Ends

“Why so quiet, Riley?” Sarah asked. “Whatcha thinking?” Light flickered on her pale skin, fragile and translucent beside Trip’s, still tanned from summer. She reached up to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear, holding my eyes.

My heart hammered at her voice, deep and slightly raspy. “Nothing.”

“As usual,” Trip said.

I shot him a look. “Actually, I was thinking this is probably our last time up here for a while. Won’t be long before it’s snowing.”

“And Nat’s training all the time,” Trip said.

“And Tannis is holed up in her garage,” Nat added.

“And Sarah’s studying all the big books in the library,” Tannis said.

“And Riley’s cleaning toilets for tourists,” Trip said.

Nat snickered. “Sounds like a game show. Toilets for Tourists.”

“I assure you, it’s not,” I told her.

“And Trip?” Tannis turned to him. “What are your plans for this winter?”

He took a long drink, belched softly, and said, “Finding us somewhere else to keep the party going.”

“Hear, hear!” Tannis said. She raised her beer and stepped up on top of her stone. With her feet planted and her arms up, she looked about a hundred feet tall. She cleared her throat loudly. “I pronounce it time for a final game of truth or dare.”

“Yes!” Trip agreed, standing too, his features strong and Nordic like hers. “Let it be so.”

No, I thought. Let it not. “Do we have to?”

Tannis pouted. “Party pooper.”

“Don’t be a wuss, dude,” Trip said.

“Fine.” I threw back the rest of my beer. I’d known there was no escape.

“Just for that, you get to go first,” Tannis said, grinning. “Truth? Or dare?”

Tannis could be a serious pain in the ass. I stacked my empty can on the pyramid. We’d need two more to finish it off.

She tapped her foot impatiently. “What’ll it be . . . loverboy?”

That decided it. “Dare.”

“Exxxxcellent.” Tannis rubbed her hands together and jumped to the ground. “Go into the cave,” she said. “Far enough that we can’t see you.”

“Okay.” My skin crawled as I stood. Dark, spiders, mice, muck. In a closed-in space. I started walking.

“Hold it,” Tannis said. “I’m not done.”

Shit.

“Take Sarah with you.” She smiled wickedly. “And tell her a secret.”

I shook my head, my heart beating triple time as I looked across the circle at Sarah, beside Trip. “You can’t drag someone else into my dare. That’s not fair.”

“Says who?”

“C’mon, Tannis. You—”

“It’s okay, Riley,” Sarah interrupted. “I’ll go.” She was already standing, looking at me. “If you want.”

Her deep voice gave me shivers. “Thanks,” I said. “But you shouldn’t have to.”

“What are you arguing about?” Tannis threw up her hands. “She agreed to go. Get on with it. Unless . . .” She raised an eyebrow. “You’re too chicken.”

I snorted, feeling like I was definitely too chicken to be going into the dark with Sarah. I looked at her, my pulse racing. “You ready?”

“Sure.” That voice again.

I felt sweaty, hoped I didn’t smell. This isn’t a big deal, I told myself. Don’t make it one.

“Be good!” I heard Trip call, laughing, as we walked toward the cave.

***

It was cool and dim inside. Musty, like our basement is now, the smell of late-night benders long gone. The cave’s ceiling was less than a foot above my head, and my chest felt tight. Sarah’s breathing was soft and quick behind me, and I could still hear Tannis outside. I slid forward, biting my lip so I wouldn’t freak out as the dark surrounded us. “I think this is far enough,” I said quickly.

Sarah bumped into me. “Sorry!” She laughed, nervous. Her breath was warm and minty like I remembered from sixth grade at Kelly Lipman’s birthday party. “Yeah, I think it’s fine.” She stepped back, away from me. We were quiet for a second, and I could begin to pick out shapes in the darkness—the rough stone walls, the rise of Sarah’s cheekbones, her full lips. We spoke at the same time.

“So I—”

“You know, you—”

Sarah laughed a little, and I told her, “Go ahead.”

“I was just going to say, you don’t have to tell me a secret,” she said, her hushed voice echoing faintly. “I know this isn’t your thing.”

My pulse quickened with the idea of telling her my real secret. Not that I would. I looked down, kicking at the dirt.

That’s when I saw it.

A straight-line shape among the ragged leaves and rocks. I nudged it with a boot.

“What?” Sarah asked.

“There’s some kind of box down here.” I squatted and ran my hand over the cool leather surface.

Sarah knelt too, her hand brushing mine as she touched the box. I felt the whisper of her breath as she leaned closer, and I thought about how it might feel to kiss her. Not like we had in sixth grade but like we might now. Like she and Trip kissed.

“What’s inside?” she asked. It was rhetorical, of course, but I had a weird sense of déjà vu, like I’d been here, heard these same words before. Like I almost knew the answer. “Let’s take it out to the fire,” she said.

“Yeah,” I agreed, not moving. A dark, unsettling worry crept through me.

I felt Sarah watching. “Riley?” Her voice saying my name in the quiet of the cave sent chills up my spine. “Are you afraid?”

There was gooseflesh on my arms, under layers of clothes, and I realized I was. “No,” I told her. “Of course not.” To prove it I lifted the box, and something inside shifted as I tucked the case under my arm. “Let’s go.”

***

We stepped back into the clearing, the bright fire raging against the shadowy woods. “Did he tell you a secret?” Tannis asked suggestively.

“Lots,” Sarah said.

“We found something,” I said. Everyone crowded around, peering at the box.

“Cool,” Trip said. “Open it up.”

No. It was an immediate and primal response. But I pressed the button anyway, and the latch on the front sprung open with a sharp click. I remember thinking maybe it’d be worth something, whatever was inside. The box was old, hidden for who knows how long. Childhood stories of pirates and treasure jumped to mind, and I felt a sharp disappointment as I lifted the object out. Not gold coins or jewels or important documents.