Shepherd's Crook - 14. Chapter 14

Rushing home after school, Gibby hurried around the house looking for Tanner. He scratched his head, walking from room to empty room. Jonathan was still at work and Gibby had expected the teenager to be there waiting for him. A sheepish grin passed over his face at how naive he was, believing that Tanner had nothing better to do, except to sit around waiting for him; just as the thought passed through his mind, Gibby felt an icy blast from behind him.

He almost fell when he whirled around to see Tanner sitting on the staircase, watching him through the spindles in the banister.

“Are you looking for someone in particular, handsome?” The sexy grin that crossed Tanner’s face made Gibby blush.

Gibby shook his head and approached the stairs, “Nope, I was just waiting for any random ghost to pop into my house,” he playfully raised an eyebrow as he ascended the wooden steps, but before he could slip past Tanner, the boy stood up blocking his path.

“Not so fast,” Tanner said, catching him by the arm.

Disappointment fell over Gibby. He fully intended to show Tanner the effects that his spectral essence had on his hot-blooded human body. Several times during the afternoon, Gibby’s cock had hardened just from the memory of Tanner’s ghostly touch.

“I need you to do something for me,” Tanner’s face was suddenly very serious. Gibby chewed on his lower lip waiting for him to continue.

“You have to go to my house. There’s something that I need you to get for me.”

“Your h–h-house?” Gibby stuttered.

Tanner grinned at Gibby’s nervousness.

“Yes, my house. Don’t tell me that you’re scared of my family.” Tanner teased.

“No, it’s not that,” Gibby rolled his eyes at him, “How am I going to explain how we know each other. It’s not like we were friends before… the accident.”

Closing the space between them, Gibby’s skin tingled from the electric shocks from standing this close to Tanner.

“It’s okay, I have it all worked out. Just hop that cute little ass of yours onto your bike and leave the rest up to me.” With a wink, Tanner disappeared.

“Hey!” Gibby spun around looking for him. Spotting him near the front door brought laughter from deep within Tanner’s chest. It felt good to hear the happiness in his voice and Gibby would do anything to keep it that way.

***

To anyone passing them on the street, Gibby appeared to be a normal teenage boy out for an afterschool bike ride. Nobody else saw Tanner keeping pace beside Gibby’s bicycle.

“Make a left here,” Tanner directed Gibby.

Tanner suddenly stopped in front of a two-story, brick house without warning. Gibby pedaled a few more yards before looping back around to where Tanner was frozen in place.

“Are you okay?” Gibby softly asked. “We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

Unshed tears laced Tanner’s blue eyes. He shook his head as he stared at the house that once was his home. The exterior lights were on even though the afternoon sun was still bright in the sky. It felt like life had stopped for everyone inside the house the night Tanner died.

Gibby watched him take a hesitant step forward followed by another. When Tanner reached the porch, Gibby parked his bike beside the garage before joining Tanner on the steps. The whitewashed floorboards of the porch creaked under Gibby’s feet. Reaching out to knock on the door, both of them jumped when the door suddenly swung open. Without warning, Tanner disappeared, leaving Gibby standing there on the porch, all alone.

“What are you doing here?” Shelby’s blue eyes were really red and her face was puffy. It wasn’t until Gibby saw the sun reflecting off the soft blond locks framing her pretty face that he saw the family resemblance.

“Shelby,” Gibby stammered for the right words to express why he was here at her house. Tanner had told him earlier what to say, but the shock of seeing the young girl standing in the doorway sent the words tumbling right out of his head. “I’m really sorry,” was all Gibby could think to say, but thankfully his muttered condolence was good enough.

“Thank you, Gibby.” A weak smile broke through her tears.

“Shelby honey, who’s at the door?” Mr. Mitchell appeared at the door behind his daughter. His sad blue eyes glanced over Gibby before glassing over.

“Hello, Mr. Mitchell,” Gibby quickly offered the man his hand. “I’m Gibson Robinson and I was Tanner’s lab partner. We were working on a science project together and I lent him…” Gibby noticed that Mr. Mitchell stopped listening after he introduced himself.

When Gibby had finished, he stood on the porch waiting, but the man simply turned and shuffled away. “Show the boy to Tanner’s bedroom so he can collect his belongings,” The man’s voice cracked when he said his son’s name.

“Come on,” Shelby pulled Gibby inside before shutting the door behind him.

The Mitchell’s home was very nice. Dozens of school photos lined the wall behind the staircase. Gibby wanted to comment how adorable Tanner was, but he kept his mouth shut. There were two doors at the top of the steps, Shelby opened the door to the right, then stepped back to let Gibby enter before her.

“Sooo, what is it that you’re looking for?”

Gibby froze as soon as he saw the graphic artwork covering every inch of all four walls in Tanner’s bedroom. His mouth hung open in awe at the unbelievable sight.

“A purple notebook,” Tanner hissed. Gibby hadn’t noticed him standing there, just inside the bedroom door. He was still too amazed at the amount of artwork covering every wall.

Gibby mimicked Tanner’s words a second after he spoke them.

Shelby giggled, “I know how you feel. Most people are dumbstruck when they see Tanner’s art for the first time.”

The doodles that Tanner sketched in school were nothing compared to the complex murals decorating his bedroom.

“Wow!” The look of pride had Tanner puffing his chest out as he watched Gibby admire his work. Each piece morphed seamlessly into the next. Cars grew out of trees, animal-like buildings danced, there were moons of various stages, but in the center of it all was a scene that Gibby couldn’t pull his eyes away from.

Flames licked the wall above Tanner’s headboard. Red, orange and gold, twisted vines of fire reached for a beautiful boy standing in the center. His auburn hair was almost as fiery as the flames inching closer to him, but icy blue wings sprouted from his back, lifting him up towards the night sky.

“That looks like…” Gibby words trailed off before he could finish his thought.

Shelby smiled, “Yeah, I thought so too.”

Tanner stepped closer to the painting and reached out to trace his fingers over the angelic boy’s face. Gibby watched Tanner touch the figure that perfectly represented him.

“I painted it over the summer.”

“He painted that over the summer.”

Shelby and Tanner’s voices harmonized as they spoke in sync.

Gibby gasped. “It was painted before I even moved to Shepherd’s Crook? How did you know?”

Shelby though his questions were directed towards her. She shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know, but somehow Tanner knew you were coming.” Her eyes focused on a much happier part of the mural that depicted her lounging in a wide rope hammock with her legs lazily draped over the edge.

“Pssst, get your ass over here, Robinson.” Tanner growled from beside his desk. Gibby jumped at him suddenly using his last name. While Shelby was preoccupied with a childhood painting of herself, Tanner pointed to the top drawer of his desk. “There’s a small tin with baseball cards inside. All of Amanda’s cheat sheets are under the cards.”

Gibby glanced back at Shelby. There was no way that he could rummage around Tanner’s desk without her becoming suspicious. The tears that she had been holding back until now, spilled down her cheeks. Letting out a broken sob, she tried to excuse herself before dashing out of the bedroom.

“Hurry up before she comes back.” Tanner’s eyes were sad, watching his little sister cry over him. “This is our only chance to prove that Amanda’s the evil bitch that we both know she can be.”

Without the sheets, they would never be able to prove that Amanda had a reason to hurt Tanner. Picking up the purple notebook, Gibby held it in front of him, blocking the view just in case Shelby came back in before he collected all of the answer slips.

“Is there anything else you want me to dispose of while I’m here?” Gibby waggled an eyebrow bringing Tanner’s gorgeous smile back to his face.

Tanner looked confused. “Like what?”

“You know… porn, magazines…a dildo.” A big playful wink from Gibby had Tanner gulping down his own embarrassment.

“No, jeez, get your mind out of the gutter and just hurry up.”

There were a lot more papers then Gibby had expected. His eyes shot over to Tanner, who simply shrugged his shoulders looking very guilty. “I told you she’d been supplying us with test answers for years.” He helplessly tried to explain.

Gibby just shook his head before cramming all of the papers into his pocket.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Shelby startled both of them. Gibby let out a frightened yelp, but Tanner’s husky laughter was warm and soothing. It obviously wasn’t the first time his younger sister had snuck up on Tanner.

Tanner smiled, “I miss you already, Shell.” He spoke softly, even though he knew that she wouldn’t be able to hear him. Gibby watched the tender moment between siblings. Tanner glanced up, giving Gibby a lopsided grin before disappearing into a shimmery white mist.

Holding up the notebook, “Yep, I found it,” Gibby said as he quickly backed away from Tanner’s desk. “I have everything I need,” He told Shelby when he slipped past her into the hallway. She looked disappointed that Gibby was leaving so soon, but she forced a smile to her face and showed him to the front door.

“I’m really sorry about your brother.” Gibby lowered his voice as he expressed his condolences before heading back outside into the bright sunshine.

***

“Shepherd’s Crook Police Department,” the polite female voice said over the telephone, “how may I help you?”

Gibby nervously paced around his bedroom, “Yes, I’d like to speak to Officer Blackfeather, please.”

There was silence on the other end of the line when the woman placed him on hold. The sound of someone picking up the line and fumbling with the telephone had Gibby holding his breath until the woman returned to the phone to tell Gibby that he had just missed him. “Can I take a message for him or transfer you to someone else?”

Contemplating if he should talk to someone else or wait for the officer to return, Gibby asked her, “When will he be back?”

“Not until tomorrow…” She waited for Gibby to tell her what he would like to do.

He shifted his weigh from foot to foot, “I’ll call back tomorrow, thank you.” Gibby quickly said goodbye before hanging up the phone.

The house was eerily quiet. His dad wasn’t home yet when he got back from Tanner’s house; now he stood in the middle of his bedroom wondering what to do next. Tanner looked at peace when he vanished into a bright white mist.

Pulling the notebook out of his satchel, Gibby traced his fingers over the doodles sketched on the cover. “I didn’t think it would happen so soon. I thought there would have been harps and angels, or at least Tanner would have wings when he went to heaven.” Gibby sadly whispered to the empty room.

“Yeah, me too!” Tanner’s sexy voice washed over him.

Gibby whirled around, his eyes wide, clutching the notebook to his chest, he was astonished to find Tanner standing behind him.

“B-b-but you were gone!” Gibby stuttered.

Tanner laughed and shook his head. “Not yet.”

The sun had already reached the horizon, casting the last rays of sunshine across the room. They stood there staring at each other through the growing shadows. Gibby inched closer to him. “I thought that I lost you…”

Tanner reached out and traced his fingers along Gibby’s jaw, “I guess you can’t get rid of me that easy.”

Tossing the notebook onto the dresser, a folded piece of paper slipped from between the pages and fluttered to the floor. They both bent to pick it up at the same time. Gibby reached it first.

“What’s this?” Gibby asked unfolding it.

Tanner’s face paled when he saw the note in Gibby’s hands. He reached out to grab it, but his fingers passed through the paper, unable to stop Gibby from opening the note.

“Gibby, please don’t,” Tanner’s voice trembled.

The creases in the crisp paper crinkled as it was unfolded. Gibby’s eyes glanced over the list of a dozen guy’s names that he recognized from school. Each name was neatly written in the left column. It was definitely a girl’s handwriting. The categories ranged from, ‘eyes and lips,’ to ‘chest and butt.’ The votes were cast anonymously with hearts, stars, check marks and even smiley faces as each girl judged the different guys on the list.

Gibby’s face flushed red when he saw his name among the other boys. Under his name someone had scrawled, ‘crispy critter.’ Somehow he knew that it was Amanda Grady, but that didn’t bother him.

“I-I-I can explain…” Tanner whispered.

The last row was labeled, ‘other.’ The comment beside one of the boys said, ‘size 13 shoes,’ and another one said, ‘sexy voice.’

“What does ‘fubwedu’ mean?” Gibby asked, staring at the word beside his name.

“Look, Gib, it’s stupid. It doesn’t mean anything--”

“I’ve heard that word at school before--”

Tanner stepped closer to Gibby who suddenly backed away from him, pulling the note with him.

“The girls were passing that stupid note around school the other day. I saw it fall out of Bethany’s locker and picked it up…”

Gibby glanced back to the list and notice the little red flames in each column beside his name. They were identical to the paintings on Tanner’s bedroom wall. Gasping, Gibby realized that Tanner had cast his anonymous vote along with the girls.

“You too?” Pain pushed tears towards Gibby’s eyes. “How could you?”

“I’m sorry, Gibby, but it was before I knew you and nobody was supposed to ever find out…” Tanner closed his eyes to hide his embarrassment.

“Tell me what, ‘fubwedu,’ means!” Gibby demanded.

Tanner grimaced. “Fubwedu is kind of like slang. It’s when someone would fuck you, but won’t ever date you.” He trembled as he told Gibby the truth.

“Get out!”

“But Gibby--” Tanner begged him.

“No!” Shredding the paper into tiny bits, Gibby pushed past Tanner, trying to get as much space between them as he can. “Get out, and don’t ever come back.”

Tanner’s lip quivered. He bit it to hold back his tears.

“Now,” Gibby hissed, seconds before Tanner disappeared into a shimmery mist.