Roadside Crosses

bed.
    Didn’t matter that it was cheesy computer graphics, or that she knew there wasn’t any such thing in real life. That was all it took, one TV show. For years afterward, Kelley would lie in bed, sweating, head covered by her blanket, afraid to look for fear of what she’d see. Afraid not to, for fear she’d have no warning of it—whatever it was—climbing through the window.
    Ghosts, zombies, vampires and werewolves didn’t exist, she told herself. But all she’d need to do was read a Stephenie Meyer Twilight book and, bang, the fear would come back.
    And Stephen King? Forget about it.
    Now, older and not putting up with as much of her parents’ weirdness as she used to, she’d gone to Home Depot and bought curtains for her room and installed them herself. Screw her mother’s taste in décor. Kelleykept the curtains drawn at night. But they were open at the moment, it being daytime, with pale light and a cool summer breeze wafting in.
    Then another snap outside. Was it closer?
    That image of the effing creature from the TV show just never went away, and neither did the fear it injected into her veins. The yeti, the Abominable Snowman, at her window, staring, staring. A churning now gripped her in the belly, like the time she’d tried that liquid fast then gone back to solid foods.
    Snap. . . .
    She risked another peek.
    The blank window yawned at her.
    Enough!
    She returned to her computer, reading some comments on the OurWorld social networking site about that poor girl from Stevenson High, Tammy, who’d been attacked last night—Jesus, thrown into a trunk and left to drown. Raped or at least molested, everybody was saying.
    Most of the postings were sympathetic. But some were cruel and those totally pissed Kelley off. She was staring at one now.
    Okay Tammy’s going to be all right and thank God. But I have to say one thing. IMHO, she brought it on herself. she has GOT to learn not to walk around like a slutcat from the eighties with the eyeliner and where does she get those dresses? she KNOWS what the guys are thinking, what did she expect????
    —AnonGurl
    Kelley banged out a response.
    OMG, how can you say that? She was almost killed. And anybody who says a woman ASKS to be raped is a mindless l00ser. u should be ashamed!!!
    —BellaKelley
    She wondered if the original poster would reply, hitting back.
    Leaning toward the computer, Kelley heard yet another noise outside.
    “That’s it,” she said aloud. She rose, but didn’t go to the window. Instead she walked out of her room and into the kitchen, peeking outside. Didn’t see anything . . . or did she? Was there a shadow in the canyon behind the shrubs at the back of the property?
    None of her family was home, her parents working, her brother at practice.
    Laughing uneasily to herself: It was less scary for her to go outside and meet a hulking pervert face-to-face than to see him looking into her window. Kelley glanced at the magnetic knife rack. The blades were totally sharp. Debated. But she left the weapons where they were. Instead she held her iPhone up to her ear and walked outside. “Hi, Ginny, yeah, I heard something outside. I’m just going to go see.”
    The conversation was pretend, but he—or it—wouldn’t know that.
    “No, I’ll keep talking. Just in case there’s some asshole out there.” Talking loud.
    The door opened onto the side yard. She headed toward the back, then, approaching the corner, she slowed. Finally she stepped tentatively into the backyard. Empty. At the end of the property, beyond a thick barrier of plants, the ground dropped awaysteeply into county land—a shallow canyon filled with brush and some jogging trails.
    “So, how’s it going? Yeah . . . yeah? Sweet. Way sweet.”
    Okay. Don’t overdo it, she thought. Your acting sucks.
    Kelley eased to the row of foliage and peered through it into the canyon. She thought she saw someone moving away from the house.
    Then, not too far away, she saw some kid in sweats on a bike, taking one of the trails that was a shortcut between Pacific Grove and Monterey. He turned left and vanished behind a hill.
    Kelley put the phone away. She started to return to the house when she noticed something out of place in the back planting beds. A little dot of color. Red. She walked over to it and picked up the flower petal. A rose. Kelley let the crescent flutter back to the ground.
    She returned to the house.
    A pause, looking back. No one, no animals. Not