I am the Skeleton in the Closet

Miss Fix-It

It wasn't long before Erica got her first boyfriend, but as quickly as he came he went. I remember when they broke up. She was devastated, though she would never say it I could tell.

I should grab her a lemon meringue and some sort of bubbly beverage later. I decided while washing the dishes at work. Not like her mom will get it for her. I remembered back to her recipe for cookies, just flour (organic non-GMO of course), a sprinkling of sugar, chia seeds soaked in water instead of egg, and no sugar non-GMO organic chocolate chips. They always came out without flattening to the pan in the same heaping tablespoon of globbed batter you'd thrown them down in. Biting into them the blandness would knock your socks off. If you ate more than one in a sitting you'd have to deal with the backlash her mom had in store because there was just so much sugar in them. If comfort food was up to her she'd have her eating sweet potatoes and kale. I snickered as I dipped the last dish in the sanitizer water. She's always been a good friend to me so I should start trying to put in the effort. I slipped on my coat and headed out the door. "See you guys later!" I hollered with a wave.

I stopped by the local grocery store just up the street from my work and picked her up that pie and a few drinks. Hey, I'm on the way over, which side is your parents room on? The right, right? I clarified as I started the car out of the parking lot.

Wait what? She responded off guard.

Which side is their window on? Are they up?

Right, I don't think they're up. Why? What?

You in the basement right now? I messaged as I parked a few houses down on the block.

Yeah, why?

I got out quickly leaving the car running and headlights off, dipping my hat over my face I ducked down the side of their house. I should have changed or something. Lets hope no one calls the cops. I snickered quietly pressing my back to the brick underbelly of their house. They might be out on the deck. I waited, listening for any conversations on the porch just above me. Sounds like we're all clear. I noted squatting down and ducking under the porch to her window. I love that she moved into the basement, otherwise this would be next to impossible. Seeing her blinds drawn and knowing how good her mom could hear. I just left the bag on the ground right outside the window and booked it back to my car. Alright, mission success. I narrated getting into my car again and pulling out my phone. Look out your window. I texted her as I turned my headlights back on and started driving away.

What? She messaged and I let it sit until I got back home. Did you do this?

Nah, I was gonna but then this sketchy figure dressed all in black did it instead lol I joked, both of us knowing the answer.

The next day at school she had hidden all of the trash in her bag and, upon getting to the lunch table before classes, dumped it all out into the schools trash. I can't blame her. God knows what her mom would do if she found it. I remembered back to the lunches and dinners she would pack for Erica when she'd spend the night at my house.

Soon enough this became a routine, anytime she'd get sad or depressed I'd swing by with a bag of goodies I knew her mom wouldn't get for her. I had always wanted a friend to do that for me so I figured she would want the same. Gotta be real, this is what I want so it must be what she'd want. It's not about the money, or the stuff, it's about genuinely trying to make her feel better, and I think it worked. I watched as the wilted demeanor she had yesterday faded into a sunny bright feeling filled with life.

Gabe was supposed to have been well off into college by the time I reached junior year, but that didn't end up happening. Granted, he did see a couple of weeks though, but then he fell out of a swing in the backyard, I guess that hurt his back too much for classes. To be honest, I'm not sure why he didn't see it coming. The structure dad built was way past its prime. It had a triangle support on one side, holding up the beam that the noose like swings hung from, on the other side was a raised ramshackle platform. That, even though needed rebuilding ages ago, had been recently carpeted. To get up to it you had to master the teetering thin plastic boulder like steps and to get down there was a bright yellow slide. Neither had signed up to support an adult's amount of weight. Every swing would shake the structure and it teetered back and forth with the inertia of the swing flying you up and down like a pendulum as the beams shifted in and out of the deeply dug ditches they had been set in. At one point I went out to see what Gabe was so obsessed with, but I couldn't shake the feeling that the structure could collapse on me at any given moment. One look at the rusted out chains alone screamed DANGER and if you looked further up you couldn't help but notice the rusted open carabiner the swing clung too. It was a pretty frequent occurrence for Gabe to fly off of the swing after a rusted out chain broke. Of course he would never fix it once it broke, and he refused to use either of the other two swings the set offered. Instead he'd try to get Dad to fix it, that usually went over well.