Connor and I walked home after school. It was a chilly October day and Connor had the hood of his red jacket pulled over his head. He was going on about how they had read a story about a monkey getting lost in the jungle, and then was found by his mother. I only half listened, because I was still brooding on how embarrassing my talk with Mallory had been that day.
We passed by a few shops, the smell of coffee drifting from one of them, when I spotted the train tracks ahead. I stared at them for a moment before I grabbed Connor by the shoulder. “Come on,” I said.
“Wait, where are we going?” he asked.
“I just want to see something. Come on.”
We headed over to the tracks. We clattered over the rocks and onto the rails. I looked around. There didn’t seem to be anything special about them. They were ordinary.
“Wesley…” Connor said from behind me. His voice sounded odd. “Look at these.”
I turned around and walked over to him. He was staring down at something. At first I thought they were really pale sticks, but when I looked closer, I realized they were bones. I stooped down and picked one up.
“Don’t do that!” Connor said.
“Why not?” I said.
“Just…isn’t it slimy?” he asked.
I scowled at him. “Why would it be slimy?”
“I always thought bones were slimy because they had all that blood and meat and stuff on them. I thought if they came out they would be covered in slime.”
I traced my finger along the edge of the bone. “Nope, dry as sand.” I twirled it around like a baton.
“It is a human bone?” Connor asked. His eyes were wide.
I honestly didn’t know, but I didn’t tell him that. “Of course not, why would human bones be out here? It was probably a dog or something that got hit by the train and rotted away on the tracks.” I looked at the other bones and gave them a small kick. They sounded like hollow dice as they skittered down the tracks.
“Why are here again?” Connor asked.
“You know that girl who went missing? The one they keep talking about? They say this is where she disappeared.”
Connor’s eyes grew wide. “What if she got hit by the train? What if those are her bones?”
The possibility flashed through my mind and I dropped the bone I was holding. Then I shook my head. “No, don’t be stupid. They would have found her body.”
Connor made a little “O” with his mouth. “Do you think someone on a train kidnapped her?”
I thought back to the drawing Mallory had in her notebook. I bit my lip. “I don’t know, Connor.” I looked at him and imagined what it would be like if someone took him. Yeah, he got on my nerves a lot, but he was still my baby brother. I couldn’t imagine what Mallory was going through, losing her sister like that.
I shook my head. “Let’s go ahead and go home,” I said.
We headed down the tracks in the direction of our house, but not before I cast another glance back at the bones. Something made me feel uneasy about them.