The Suitcase

The first time Danny saw her was on a Friday. 

C. D. Oakes grew up in a small village in the Mojave desert. There wasn’t a lot to do, but there was a decent library, and he consumed books constantly from the time he was able to read. He has been an avid reader of every genre, but particularly appreciates horror and speculative fiction with a gritty cast. C. D. Oakes holds a BA in writing from Southern New Hampshire University, and is currently working through the Mountain View MFA program.

He was late for school. Again. Managing his time when his mom wasn’t around didn’t always go the way it should. He flew down the stairway of their apartment building, barely dodging past an old man smoking a cigarette on the bottom step. The man called out as Danny sped past, but Danny didn’t stop to tell him he didn’t have anything. Hitting the push-bar of the exit door, Danny crashed through and out into the heat of a Los Angeles morning.

Outside, he ran through a cluster of four men that were throwing dice on a strip of greasy cardboard. He nearly tripped trying to avoid a man in a dirty Raiders jersey. The man dropped a bottle he’d been holding and looked at Danny with surprise. The other men stood, one of them spilling beer from a can onto a pile of 1 dollar bills in the middle of the cardboard.

“Got DAMN it!”  Danny heard one of them yell, but he was already past them. Dodging through traffic, he crossed and then leaned against the chain-link fence that cordoned off an empty lot. As he caught his breath, something flashed. He shielded his eyes to get a clearer look. He knew that homeless people hung around the lot, but it wasn’t them. It was a girl. What he’d taken for a flash of reflected sunlight was something different. She was wearing a white dress. The clean brightness of it in the middle of the brown dirt lot drew his eye like a light in a dark room.

He heard yelling and spun around to see the guys from the alley waiting for a gap in traffic. Between the pissed off guys and being late for school, Danny knew he needed to get moving. He turned to run, but paused to glance back at the lot. The girl wasn’t there. The lot was as big as the playground at school, but he couldn’t spot her. 

Horns honked in the street, and he ran for it, backpack whacking him in the back with every step. He didn’t stop until he was safely through the school gate.

When he got home that evening, Danny made sure to use the building’s front door. He understood on some level that Friday nights were awesome and heralded the golden weekend ahead, but he was too young and had too few friends to appreciate it fully. While excited to be done with school for the summer, it felt empty. Danny had no plans and less cash. Maybe he’d read his comic books for the hundredth time. 

He opened the fridge and found nothing but empty shelves. Disappointed, he shuffled back to the window of their fourth-story apartment. He pushed the curtain aside and peered down at the street, looking for his mom who hadn’t been home since the night before last. The difference between day-time and night in this city was marked by blazing yellow sunlight or dim orange streetlight pouring through the window. 

A girl standing across the street caught his eye, wearing what he thought was a white dress. He couldn’t be sure it was white because the streetlight she was standing under stained everything orange. The thing he found most strange was not the sleeveless, old-fashioned dress, but that she was just standing there. Nobody stood around in this neighborhood. Even the guys that hung out at the corner paced around. They were constantly moving.

She had long black hair and the swell of her breasts was small but definite. Danny guessed that she must be in high school. She was staring at his building. He wondered if she could see him in the window, and a tingle passed along his scalp as he she tilted her head and looked up. She was looking in his direction!  Was it the same person he’s seen in the lot this morning?

Danny jumped as the door banged open behind him. Something lurched through the door, and he cried out with a noise that was too low to be a scream. His heart hammered and didn’t slow down even when he realized it was his mom. Not till he saw the grocery bag in her arms did he relax. He dropped the curtain and rushed to see what she’d brought. The world outside the window, and the girl in the white dress, fled his mind. 

Summer was off to a decent start. It was dull, but there was no place Danny had to be. He hadn’t thought about the girl for the better part of a week and when he saw her again, it was for much the same reason as the first time. This time, his mom had been gone four nights. Even though he’d rationed them carefully, the groceries had run out. 

The last time she had only been gone a couple of nights. She told him that she had just been hanging out with some old friends, and Danny had an idea of what that meant. They’d had to move back to the city from Grandma’s house because his mom was hanging out with her friends too often, coming home less and less. It made him anxious when his mom and Grandma fought. They had both said that it wasn’t Danny’s fault, but what was he supposed to think when Grandma yelled things like I’m not here just to raise your god-damned kid! or This isn’t a childcare center, Lorraine!

He went to the window and pushed the curtain aside. The girl was there, leaning against the sagging fence across the street. The skin on his arms prickled. She was looking at him. She raised a hand and waved, and Danny jumped. Who was she? Did he know her from somewhere? 

He didn’t know anyone here. He had run across some kids his age when school was in, but the ones that didn’t call him names ignored him completely. He hadn’t met anyone yet that had waved to him or said hello. Could she be a friend of his mom’s?

As he stared, her hand dropped back to her side. She leaned forward, away from the fence. She raised her hands, palms up. The gesture seemed to be asking What? Why are you ignoring me? 

He closed the curtain, separating him and the apartment from the street below. He couldn’t see her, but he knew she was still down there. He looked around the place. There was a short loveseat with the armrests duct-taped to keep the stuffing inside. They had a small TV that showed only static since they didn’t have cable. He had a stack of comics that he’d read till they had started to fall apart. They were mostly DC titles, which were a little boring compared to the stories in the Marvel books.

The microwave in the tiny kitchenette told him that it was 12:20. Time moved strangely in Los Angeles, and altogether differently during the summer, when he had nowhere to be. 

His shoes lay on the linoleum of the apartment’s tiny entry. He hadn’t put them on since the last day of school. He shoved them onto his feet and pulled a hoodie over his head. Ducking into the apartment’s single, small bathroom, Danny checked his appearance in the mirror. His hair was a solid brown wedge. It looked a little greasy. He crinkled his nose. He grabbed his Dodgers cap and forced his unruly hair into it. Hooking a finger into the neckline of the hoodie, he pulled it down and sniffed. Not great, but not immediately offensive. 

He opened the door and scanned the corridor. Even the neighbors that yelled and fought at night tended to calm down after 10 or 11. Danny made his way to the stairs, then into the night. He pushed the door open a crack, peeked out. The alley was empty. He thrust his hands into the pocket of his sweatshirt and slipped out.

Danny reached the front corner of his building and looked around. There was a guy leaning against the brick wall. He was staring at his phone and didn’t look up as Danny emerged from the alley. She was still there, standing by the fence.

A few blocks away, Alameda Street was still busy. Even at this hour, the traffic was non-stop. Between the headlights and lighted shop windows, you wouldn’t know it was past midnight, but here around the corner it was dark and quiet as Danny crossed the street.

“Hey!” she said, and laughed as Danny stepped onto the sidewalk on the far side of the street.

Her teeth were perfect and flashed brightly, dazzling Danny. He felt dizzy-headed and warm inside. Her dress was white and embroidered in a light blue floral pattern across her chest. The dress’s hem brushed the tops of her feet. She wore simple leather sandals.

“Oh my god! I didn’t think you’d actually come down here,” she said, shining that bright smile on him. 

Danny grinned and nodded. “Do I, um, do I know you from somewhere?”

She shook her head.

“We haven’t met, but I’ve seen you around. I’m Camilla.” 

She had a Spanish accent, and Danny thought it was cool, exotic.

“Hey, I’m Dan,” he said, consciously leaving off the -ny, not wanting her to think he was a kid. “Er, Daniel. Dan for short,” he said, cringing inside.

“Great to meet you, Daniel. You’re new here?” she asked, but it sounded to him like she already knew that.

“Yeah, we just moved down here from Fresno.” 

“Nice! Welcome to the neighborhood.”

“Do you live near here?” he asked her, more interested in keeping the conversation going than where she actually lived.

She turned toward the fence, looking through it and gesturing across the trash-strewn field. “Over there, not far.”

He followed her gaze, but didn’t see any houses or public housing buildings like his. Nothing but the back of a strip mall, a couple blocks away. 

“Over there?”

Camilla gazed through the fence a few seconds, then nodded slowly. She turned on the bright smile again and looked at Danny.

“Hey, I know you don’t know me or anything.”

“I don’t really know anybody here,” Danny said.

“Right. Look, I know we just met, but I was hoping you could help me with something?” the smile faded a little, and she gazed at him earnestly.

He stared at her and didn’t answer at first. Camilla’s smile slipped, turning to concern. Danny didn’t like the dark look her face had taken on. He wanted to see that smile again.

“I mean, sure, of course! What do you need?” he asked.

She smiled again, but the teeth weren’t on full display any longer. It was a shadow of the radiance she’d displayed before.

“It’s nothing too crazy, it’s just that I’m not able to lift it myself,” she offered.

Danny gave a nervous laugh, painfully aware that he was a pretty scrawny specimen, even for an 8th grader.

“I mean, have you seen the gun show lately?” he asked. He flexed an imperceptible bicep, his face deadpan.

There it was, that smile was back at full wattage, and she had a laugh like the tinkle of silver bells. She walked quickly toward the corner of the fenced lot. There was a bounce in her step, like she was about to start skipping. Another cold frisson washed over his scalp. Was it her laughter? He blinked and a shudder coursed through his neck and shoulders, traveled down through his stomach and legs before it passed.

“Lead the way. My muscles are at your service,” he said.

Reaching the end of the fence, she turned briskly to the right, ducking through a hole that was cut into the chain links. Danny went to follow, but it was a tighter fit than he’d expected. His sleeve snagged on cut ends of fence links as he squeezed through. The street light was behind her, silhouetting her figure through the gauzy dress. They were similar in size, and Danny marveled at the way she’d slipped through with such ease. With a start, he realized he was staring, and quickly looked away. Camilla watched, grinning, as he finished disentangling himself from the fence.

Camilla spun on a sandaled heel and moved into the weedy trash-strewn lot. He trotted to keep up as she picked her way around a tumbleweed. There was a shopping cart on its side with some old blankets in it. Classy hood, he thought to himself. She stopped halfway across the field and looked down. He caught up and stood beside her. The orange light lost much of its strength this far from the street. They stood at the edge of a building’s foundation. It was flush with the dirt, with some rebar jutting up around the far edge. There were some cinder blocks still stacked at two of the corners and others scattered around the field. It had been a pretty big building.

There wasn’t much else in the lot besides debris and garbage. The faint breeze was hot, like a weak hair dryer. Even so, Danny shuddered as though he’d caught a chill. What was he doing out here in this field? Who was this chick? He was feeling foolish when he looked over at the girl, and his thought was interrupted.

She was toeing at something with the edge of her sandal. She had her hands clasped behind her back. She looked up at Danny. 

“It’s in here,” she said, her voice quiet.

“What is it?” Danny asked.

She stared at the ground. He bent over and brushed at the loose dirt. His fingertips found the edge of a board. Uncovering more revealed the long side of a sheet of plywood. Once he saw where the board was, his eye was able to spot out the dimensions of the rest of the sheet, partially hidden in the dust.

His heartbeat sped up as his mind turned over some of the possibilities of what could be beneath the board. Drugs? A gun? Something worse?

“It’s just a suitcase,” she told him, voice hushed, “It’s got some of my things in it.”

“Things?”

Her long black hair had fallen partially over her face as she nodded and looked down. She brought a pale hand to her face, pushing it aside and looking at him. He watched her a moment, then slipped his fingers beneath the board and heaved it over, dumping the covering of grey dirt from the top of it. A haze of dust wafted around, diffusing the dim orange light even further.

Danny waved his hands in front of his face in an attempt to keep from breathing in the dirt cloud. It took a couple of minutes to settle, and neither of them said anything. They both stared into the hole he’d uncovered. An old staircase led down. Danny made out the first three steps, but beyond that, nothing.

Camilla stepped down, onto the top stair. She gazed at him, smile all but gone, settled like so much dust.

“It’s just down here,” she said.

He stared at her.

“It’s totally dark in there,” he said.

She nodded, and looked from him back into the dark. Danny threw a glance over his shoulder to the street. What am I doing in this field? He didn’t know this girl. He didn’t owe her anything. Sure, she had a great smile and she seemed nice, but god damn it was dark in there, and the poor judgement of being out here at all was weighing on him.

“Hey, I think there’s a flashlight back at my place,” he said, “We could grab it and come back, or maybe check it out in the morning?”

“I should get outta here, too. It’s way late,” she said.

The look that had come over her wasn’t sadness as much as it was the complete lack of a smile or the sparkle in her brown eyes that Danny had been drawn to. It made his heart hurt. She headed for the fenced edge of the lot opposite of the one on which they’d met, away from the street in front of his public housing building. He watched her and then turned to go.

“Hey, one sec!” she said to him, before he’d gotten more than a few steps.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“I won’t be around tomorrow,” she said, giving him a hopeful look in the dim light, “I was thinking, maybe, if you have time, you could grab my suitcase?”

He didn’t say anything, just stared. He could not mess with this. This girl and her suitcase were nothing but trouble. He had no doubt about it. It had been a while since he’d hung out with anyone, sure, but knew all too well what getting involved with the wrong type of “friends” looked like. His mom would be unhappy, but grandma would be devastated, he knew.

“I need to get it over to Saint Odilia’s, the Catholic church over on 52nd,” she said, “Ask Father Julio, if he’s still around. If not, tell the priest that the suitcase belongs to Camilla Espinoza, Luis Espinoza’s daughter from over on Mettler Street. He’ll either take it from you or at least show you who to give it to.”

She turned and he lost her outline in the dim orange light almost immediately. All he could think of as he trudged home was that he could not get caught up in something like this.

Danny’s mom came home a little while after he had gotten back to the apartment. He was happy to see her, and he hugged her tight until she brushed him away. 

“I’m tired,” she said.

She was a little wild-eyed and her hair was matted. She was looking rough.  Danny was worried, but didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t gotten this bad at Grandma’s, probably because she knew Grandma wouldn’t have it. She fell onto her bed without taking off her shoes. He was careful not to wake her as he undressed and got into bed himself.

When he woke, it was after noon. He sat up, his mind immediately dwelling on the suitcase. He couldn’t help but think that there might be some money in it, or maybe Camilla’s family would give him a reward or something. 

Danny looked in on his mom again. She hadn’t moved at all, and he started to worry. Taking a tentative step into the room, he gazed at his mom’s form in the bed. He relaxed when he saw her back rise and fall. She was breathing, and that was good enough for the time being. He needed a shower, but didn’t want to risk waking his mom. Back in the main room that served as living room, kitchen and breakfast bar, he crossed to the window. He moved the curtain back with his right hand, eyes squeezing shut immediately at the blazing southern California sun he’d allowed entry.

Once his eyes adjusted, he looked down at the street, hoping to see Camilla even though she said she wouldn’t be around. Some cars rolled by on the street. The vacant lot looked washed out, like an overexposed photograph. Movement caught his eye. There were two figures near the concrete foundation he’d been at last night. One was dressed in blue and the other in a light grey shirt with a bright orange hat. Had Camilla asked someone else to get the suitcase? He hadn’t covered the hole before he’d left. Maybe someone else had found it? Danny thought of her smile and realized he wanted to see it again. He couldn’t let someone else get to the suitcase first. He jammed his hat down on his hair, thrust his feet into his shoes and slipped out of the apartment, making sure the door didn’t slam behind him.

He waited for a break in traffic and trotted across the street. He ducked through the hole in the fence, careful not to get snagged on the wire. It was easier when he could see. Straightening, he saw two men sitting in a camp built entirely from refuse. One was sitting on a faded cooler, drinking from a 40-ounce bottle. He crossed to the foundation slab. 

The plywood was where he’d left it, half draped across the forgotten stairwell. Chunks of concrete and dirt had been pushed into the old stairwell, filling it in except for four steps. At the bottom of the hole lay the suitcase. The corners of the green and brown plaid luggage were worn nearly through. It was secured with two thick bands of duct tape running its length and width. 

He stared at it for nearly a minute. It didn’t look all that heavy. He wondered why Camilla couldn’t have taken it home herself. He might have gone on staring longer, but he heard the men talking to each other and shuffling in his direction. Danny knew he’d better get moving. He stepped down, grabbed the handle and lifted the suitcase. Something in it shifted as he climbed out of the hole. The two men had walked over and were staring at Danny as he climbed out again, suitcase in hand.

“What’s in there, man? Is that yours?” the one with the bottle asked.

“It belongs to a friend of mine,” Danny told the man. 

He started back toward the street and the hole in the fence.

“Hey, hold on a second, man. You holding?” the man called after him.

Danny hastened across the lot. When he got to the fence, he looked over his shoulder before ducking through and pulling the suitcase behind him. The men were watching him, but they didn’t follow. He made his way back across the street, and into his building.

“Daniel? Is that you?” his mom called to him as he walked inside the apartment.

He made for his room, not stopping as he passed his mom’s room. He shoved the suitcase against the wall next to his bed and threw a blanket over it. He hustled back through the living room, and leaned into his mom’s doorway.

“Hey Mom!” he said, happy to see her awake. She looked clear-eyed, more or less.

She was out of bed and getting some clothes out of her dresser.

“I went out to see a friend,” Danny said, “But she wasn’t around.”

His mom stopped what she was doing and looked at him.

“A friend? Does this friend of yours have a name?” she eyed him with what felt to Danny like suspicion.

She didn’t give him a chance to respond, immediately launching into a lecture about being careful who he hung around with.

“You don’t want to get mixed up with the wrong crowd, Daniel.” she said.

“I know, Mom,” he answered, resisting the urge to point out the company she kept. He didn’t want a fight.

“And ‘she’ Dan?” she asked him. “Who is this mystery girl?”

“Her name’s Camilla. She lives around the way,” he gestured toward the front of the building and the avenue.

“Oh, Daniel,” she crossed her arms and looked him over, “You’re getting older now. I hope you’re being careful!”

Danny blushed.

“You know what I mean, right? I hope that if you do get mixed up with some girl, you’ll use protection!”

“Mom, it’s not like that!”

“Oh, it never is, trust me. You do not want to become a father at your age. You’re much, much too young!”

He nodded but said nothing. His mom took a handful of clothes, picked up a towel from the bed, and went into the bathroom. Danny heard her turn the shower on. He went back to his room and laid the suitcase on his bed. Someone had used most of a roll of duct tape to make sure it didn’t come open. The zipper had some gravel in it, but looked fine aside from that. It had the letters C. F. scrawled on a corner in black Sharpie. He realized he’d been staring when he heard the shower turn off. His heart beat faster, and he covered the suitcase up again.

Danny’s mom was blow-drying her hair and applying her makeup. 

“Mom, do you know where St. Odilia’s is at? I think it’s a Catholic joint?” he asked.

Her eyes narrowed.

“Is this Camilla Catholic?” she asked. 

“No! I mean, I don’t know. Maybe. I literally just met her yesterday.”

She turned back to the mirror.

“Sorry, no idea,” she said. 

He figured it had been a long shot to begin with. She rummaged in her closet and produced a pair of red heels. 

“Going to meet up with some friends!” her voice bright as she made for the door.

“When will you be back?” he asked. “We need groceries!”

He followed her to the door. She was fished in her purse and produced a clump of money. Her mouth was squeezed in a tight line.

“Here, pick us up something. Don’t waste it!” she said. 

She kissed his cheek and was gone. 

“Bye, mom.” 

He ducked into the kitchen and rummaged in a drawer. He grabbed the scissors and returned to the suitcase. He pushed the blanket aside. Did he want to know what was in there? He set the scissors down. He went to the window in the living room and looked across the street. The sky was transitioning to purple and shadows were deepening on the street below, though the gravel lot was still clear. He didn’t see her down there. The lot was empty. He wondered where Camilla was. What was she mixed up in? Maybe the answer was in his bedroom, lying on his bed.

“Screw it,” he said, picking up the scissors.

He hacked through the tape and unzipped the suitcase. There was a bundle wrapped in heavy black plastic, also bound with duct tape. He cut the tape that bound the black plastic. The scissors hit something hard inside. He pulled the plastic away, revealing gauzy cloth that had once been white but had gone a shade of yellow. 

It had gotten dark outside, and he couldn’t see well. Putting the scissors down on the bed, he stood up from where he’d been kneeling beside the bed and crossed to the light switch next to the doorway. 

“This is not St. Odilia’s,” a quiet voice said.

The white dress was much brighter under the LED light than it had been under the orange street lamp. Danny choked, unable to draw breath. His mouth had gone dry, and his heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest.

“Camilla?” he asked.

Had he left the door open? It always closed and locked automatically. Did someone else let her in?

“Mom?” he called out, his mind racing.

She shook her head, “It’s just you and I. I made sure.”

His mouth was dry. Danny licked his lips and swallowed. He felt like he should be scared, but he was more excited than anything else at that moment.

“I’m so tired, Danny. I just need some rest. Let’s close that up, alright?” her voice was hushed. 

“What’s, what is this? I mean,” he turned and gestured to the suitcase.

“That’s me,” she said, “At least, that’s what’s left.”

Danny’s eyes narrowed as he looked at her. He knelt beside the bed again. Reaching into the open luggage, he spread the hole in the black plastic wide. He saw faded blue embroidery on the old material. He recoiled, drawing his hand back. There were bones inside the dress.

“I trusted someone that I shouldn’t have,” she said. Her head bowed and her black hair spilled over her eyes.

Danny didn’t know much about ghosts, and had never had an opinion on whether or not they existed, but here she was. This couldn’t be a common thing. He didn’t know why she had trusted him, but he couldn’t let her down. Still, maybe she could hang out for a while? He tried to think of something that would make her smile. Something that would take her mind off of St. Odilia’s. Something they could talk about, and maybe hang out for a while. Ghosts were rare. Absolutely they were, he had no doubt. Friends though? People that he could hang out with and talk to? He wondered what she listened to. What music was popular when she had been…well, before.

“Danny,” she said. “Please. I could really use your help.”

He nodded. He knew what it was like to need a friend. Who knew that better than him? He sat on the bed.

“Listen, Camilla. We’ll get this, get you,” he said, “We’ll get you over to St. Odilia’s. But there’s no rush, right?”

He swallowed and watched her face. He really didn’t want to mess this up. He wondered and had to ask. He produced a stack of magazines from his night stand. 

“Do you like comic books?”