Robb's Chapter, Page Seven

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Robb was on break when his phone rang. He fumbled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. When he saw Susan’s name he hesitated before answering it. “Hello?”

“Robb? You called last night?” She asked, with no lack of background noise, “I was busy.”

“You sound like you’re still busy,” Robb said.

“I have a minute,” she said, “I’m on break.”

“Me too,” Robb said.

“I know,” she said, “Your lunch break on Tuesdays is at noon.”

“Uh,” Robb said, “I called, ah, because, I needed someone to talk to. And, you said you still wanted to be friends, so, I figured I’d call a friend…”

“That’s cool,” she said, “As long as you’re not going to talk about… us.”

“I’m not,” Robb said, “I actually wanted to talk to you, uh, about my mom.”

“Did something happen?” Susan asked, “Did she turn up?”

“Uh, no,” Robb said, adding quickly, “I found something of her’s.”

“What was it?” She asked.

“Like, a pendant. Necklace kind of thing.”

“I know what a pendant is,” she said, “What was weird about it?”

“I don’t remember her having any jewelry,” Robb said, “And I don’t remember her ever wearing the pendant. And I found it in a box I didn’t know I have.”

“Well, just because you don’t remember a box, that doesn’t mean it’s anything special,” she said, “But are you sure she never wore any jewelry? None at all?”

“I remember that, definitely, she never wore anything like that,” he said, “But she did wear make up.”

“Kind of irrelevant.”

“If you’re busy, we don’t have to talk,” Robb said.

“I’m just irritated with work,” she said.

“Right,” Robb said. He felt stupid. Susan was always irritated when she was at work.

“What else about it? Did it make you think of anything?”

“Well,” Robb said, “I took it to that one guy, Ed, to see if he’d know anything about it. Because I think he’s dealt with a lot of… like, jewelry. And he said it was proof of membership into some kind of a gang.”

“Oh,” she said, “That’s interesting.”

“Yeah,” Robb said, “And some kid nearby saw it and came over and started threatening me. He said only members of his gang are supposed to have stuff like the pendant I had. I explained it was my mom’s, though, and he said something about me being a failure… Like a failed member of their gang. Like it was a hereditary thing whether or not you were a member and I failed some test I didn’t even know was happening.”

“Sounds like an asshole,” Susan said.

“Well, yeah, he does, doesn’t he,” Robb said, “I asked him if there was a way to test whether or not I was actually a failure. Because he said my mom was a member. And he said that she went missing a while ago, the same time she…”

“Yeah,” Susan said.

“Uh, so I asked if there was a way to test me,” Robb said, “And he said he’d find out. I gave him my phone number. And, when I was on my way home, I started thinking about how after my dad died, my mom would vanish for nights at a time. And she’d always say she was going somewhere to relax, but she always came back looking worse than she did when she left. I told my friend about it, and he just said that she must be going out drinking somewhere.”

“Huh,” Susan said, “You’re thinking she was going to this gang?”

“Yeah,” Robb said, “Is that weird?”

“Well,” she said, “It’s worth looking into, the way you’re doing. I don’t know why you’re talking to me, though. You seem to have the whole thing figured out.”

“I’m talking to you, uh, because all of this is making me feel really shitty. Because, Susan, they never found my mom’s body. And now I’m afraid she’s still alive.”

“You’re afraid she’s going to come back?” Susan asked, “Why would you be afraid?”

“I never told you,” Robb said, “How cruel she was.”

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