parents and sister followed.
“She is awake,” mom said breathlessly, like it was too good to be true.
“Of course she’s awake,” dad said impatiently. “The nurse wouldn’t lie to us.”
“Dottie, where have you been? We’ve been looking all over for you!” Emily’s tiny voice filled the room. I smiled weakly at everyone.
“So,” was the first thing I said to them, “What happened, exactly?”
Everyone grew quiet, as if I just ruined their good mood with bad news.
“You mean,” Janaki said. “You don’t remember anything? Not even the kidnapping?”
“O-or us?” Mom stuttered.
But I shook my head quickly. “No! I remember all of that. It’s just…what am I doing here?”
Janaki sucked in a deep breath. “Well,” she started, “A car accident happened around my neighborhood. You were in the car with two other guys and the other car involved occupied an elderly couple. The cars collided.” She said, but I could see in her eyes she was hiding some more information.
My eyes widened. Collision? “What about them? What happened to them?” I asked fiercely, demanding an answer.
Everyone went silent, even little Emily.
“The elderly couple survived, miraculously.” Janaki said. She knew that wasn’t the information I wanted, but it’s always good to hear that old people survived another round of life-threatening situations.
“One of the guys riding with you didn’t survive,” dad said flatly.
Maybe it would be insane to say my eyes got any wider, but they did. “Who, who?” I asked, practically pleading.
Janaki shook her head inexplicitly. “Dottie…” she hesitated, sadness in her voice. “Eric died by the impact.”
I didn’t say anything, I couldn’t feel anything. Maybe I just stopped time or something. Or maybe I ignored it completely. I kept my eyes on my hands in my lap. The only thing running through my head was Eric’s dead, Eric died, Eric’s gone, Eric will never come back.
“Can you guys leave?” I said audibly.
Everyone back to the door quietly, shuffling out. But my mother stayed a second longer, staring at me, like she wanted to ask me something. And then she left.
I sat there, staring blankly at the TV screen. I wasn’t thinking anymore—I refused to. I just let my eyes stay put where they were at before I felt them began to water.
I gawked at Shannon as she explained everything that happened. She came over shortly after my family and Janaki, telling me all the gruesome details. Of course she wasn’t alone. She had Travis and Carter along with her. Seeing them without him made me feel worse.
The first thing Shannon said to me was, “What the hell happened.” Okay, so maybe it was more of a question, but she demanded it, as it was something normal to say. I noticed her eyes were red and puffy, as I also noticed Travis and Carter were more reserved.
“My friend—Janaki—we needed to save her,” was my simple and truthful statement.
Shannon bent down near my head, talking in a low whisper. “Aaron and Macy are in trouble.”
“What do you mean?”
Shannon pushed aside the ‘Get Well Soon’ bear, tugging at it again and again. “Accomplices.” She said, “They might get life-in-prison because they stayed in the house—they knew about you.”
I was confused. “What about you all? Didn’t they suspect you either?”
She shook her head, like she regretted doing something terrible. “Aaron said that we shouldn’t say anything,” she looked hard into my gaze. “I took him up on that offer. I can’t get in any trouble Dottie! You have to understand.” Her eyes got watery. “I know it’s so wrong to just put the blame on them but—”
I nodded. “I get it.” I told her, and that was true.
“We…didn’t turn ourselves in either.” Travis spoke up.
“Yeah,” I said back to them. I guessed that much. But what happened to the truth, the thing that Eric was so demanding of? “I need to save Aaron and Macy,” I said.
“Nah, nah. You’re done saving people!” Travis said, waving his arms about. “Aaron called me that night—about Janaki.”
“Actually she’s right,” Carter said quietly. “She was the kidnapped, after all. She’s got important say in the matter.”
“Come on! Are you serious?” Shannon spoke harshly. “You actually think they’d believe her? They could call her out on Stockholm syndrome. Or maybe they would end up pointing a figure at us, saying we put her up to this!”
“But they can’t waste away in jail—it was Eric that kidnapped her. Not us. Not them.”
“No one would believe her.”
“Whose side are you on?” I yelled.
“Nobody’s,” she replied calmly. “Just think realistically here, Dottie. Aaron’s going to get the punishment, and probably an extensive one if you try to fight for him. People talk, Dottie. People are going to start thinking you’re crazy.”
I crossed my arms. “I don’t care. My family would believe me.”
Shannon nodded. “We’ll see.”
After a beat, I went, “How long have I been here?”
“About three days,” Carter answered. “You’ve been in a short coma. And the doctors were terrified you wouldn’t wake. But you did so good for you.” But he didn’t say this in a happy tone, just a bland statement. Shannon reached something from her bag as soon as he said that, taking out the newspaper.
“For you,” she murmured, pushing it into my hands. I unfolded it and the headline read: “Missing Girl Found in Car Accident.”
“How original,” I commented, putting it down on my lap. I didn’t care to read any further after that.
“I know, right?” Shannon agreed.
“So…people are talking?” I half asked, half stated.
Travis nodded, rolling his eyes. “Of course! This is a small town after all.”
Shannon sniffed and wiped her eyes. “Macy’s planning on doing Eric’s funeral this Friday.” Her voice began to break. “We were just hoping you might come.”
“Macy’s getting out for the funeral?”
“She got leeway. Since it’s her son, she’s free to attend. But Aaron can’t.”
“What? But that’s his cousin.”
“People don’t have a lot of Christmas spirit, Dottie.” That’s right! It’s December, nearly Christmas.
“His funeral’s on Christmas,” I said.
“Macy thought that would be nice.” Shannon sniffed again.
I took all this in, Macy giving Eric a funeral, Aaron not being able to go, me being in this bed, Shannon crying—I couldn’t stand this. Everything was working out fine, and now everything was totally wrong.
“I’m saving them, and you can either help me or get out of the way,” I said.
It was Wednesday and I was finally back at home, with a leg brace, but home nonetheless. The first thing I noticed walking in was the Christmas tree near our living room window. A nice, fake tree, with strings of popcorn and ornaments given by friends and family through past Christmases. Colorful presents slept under the tree.
Mom and Dad were still confused when I explained to them at the hospital that I wanted all charges on Macy and Aaron to be dropped. By the looks on their faces, I knew they thought I went crazy. But I told them and how Aaron couldn’t even go to the funeral and how terrible Macy felt now that her son is gone. The same son that abducted you, their faces read.
But they did what I asked and grudgingly let them free.
When I went to my room, on my bed was all the stuff left at Eric’s house. The clothes, my purse, even my phone that I thought they could never retrieve. I guess it wasn’t hard to look for—I wasn’t trying that hard to look for it.
I picked it up and pressed the power button. It took seconds to reboot and I flipped it open to my keypad and wide screen. A couple of my seconds, and my phone buzzed like crazy. Tons of missed calls, voice messages, and text mess
ages. I skimmed through the missed calls first—most was dominated by Home then Janaki and Kade.
A recent number came up on the missed calls. Some phone number I didn’t recognize. I pressed send on my phone, closing it so it wouldn’t go on speaker.
After two rings, a tired voice answered. “Hello?”
I answered back. “Hi. It’s Dottie. Who’s this?”
The comical reply made me recognized instantly who called. “I don’t think you should call someone and ask them who this is. I mean, isn’t that like my job?”
“Aaron?”
“Don’t wear it out.” He chuckled.
“How’d you get a hold of my number?”
“Eric gave it to me.”
“Oh.”
We were both quiet on the phone for a while, and then Aaron spoke up. “Are you going to the funeral?”
I twirled the end of my bed cover, taking in air slowly. “I want to.”
“But you’re not going?” Aaron pressed.
I sighed, “Aaron. I’m just…” I trailed off, because I didn’t know that answer at all. I did want to go to Eric’s funeral—I really did! But it’s just I couldn’t. Everything was moving too fast—just thinking about Eric being buried. Even imagining a funeral at this moment could break me.
“Why don’t you think about it and get back to me,” he said, his voice indicating impatience. I was about to say something but I heard a click on the other end.
I tossed my phone on my bed. I slid down to the ground on the side and cried. Really cried. The first real cry for Eric Grant.
I stayed in bed the next day, even when I could perfectly see the sun rays bleeding through my blinds. My digital alarm clock informed me it was midday, but why should I