Someone walked in behind us and opened the door we ran past him and I turned around. “Do you know where from six eighteen is?” I asked.
“Third floor to the right.” Luke started sprinting to the stairs, he was smart, there was a line for the elevator. “Do you need any help?” I shook my head.
“No, thank you.” I ran after Luke but he was already up to the third floor. I heard a door slam and chased after it. He was running down the hall way, glancing at the door numbers.
Finally he came to a dead stop. He grabbed the door handle and twisted. The door was locked and he didn’t know what to do. I stopped beside him. He pounded on the door. “Ana! Ana!” he yelled and I grabbed the door handle myself.
I would lose energy but I would be able to walk and speak and after Luke got Anastasia it wouldn’t matter if I could do anything else. I felt my powers give into the door and Luke heard the lock snap. He shoved the door open and I stumbled backwards. The room was dark and Luke didn’t turn on the light. “Ana!”
He started opening doors. And then he stopped. “Ana,” he whispered and walked into the room. I stood up and stumbled my way to the open door. Anastasia was sitting in the corner of the room, just like I had seen. Her eyes were open but she didn’t move. Luke knelt down beside her and took her into his arms. He stood up and she leaned her head on his chest. She looked too thin… Well she already looked too thin now she looked almost malnourished. And then she started sobbing. It was weak and strangled but the effect was powerful.
Suddenly there was a loud scream. I turned around and saw Luke’s sister standing in the door way. She screamed again and Anastasia cried out. “No, no, no, no, no…” Anastasia started whispering. “No…”
“What the hell did you do to her?” Luke yelled and set Anastasia back on the floor. I knelt beside her and took her hand. She seemed so delicate. “Scarlett!”
“It’s ruined!”
Luke picked up the phone that was sitting on the small table beside a small folding chair. The room was still dark as Luke dialed nine-one-one. “Yes, I’m in apartment six eighteen, on fifth street. I thinks it’s building seven twenty…”
Scarlett started laughing hysterically. “Try it,” Luke threatened as Scarlett turned around. He took a few steps toward her and grabbed her wrist. “You are never going to get away with this.”
Within seconds we could all hear sirens…
Luke
I sat beside the hospital bed with Ana’s hand in mine. She smiled weakly as the people on TV started screaming at each other in Portuguese. “They’re so funny… They just walk around yelling at each other and expect all their problems to be solved.” She took a deep breath and glanced at the door. Another police officer stuck their head in the room.
“Luke, would you mind answering some more questions?” she asked me and smiled. Her black hair was braided and her uniform was neat, she exhibited perfect order. Something that I wish I had. “It will just take a few minutes.”
Ana gently pulled her hand from mine and I knew it would have been stronger… If she had the strength. I kissed her forehead and she sighed. “Tell me what happens,” I whispered and she nodded. I walked out of the room with the police officer and when I looked back Ana had her eyes closed.
“We just need to ask a few more questions.”
“All right…”
“Did Scarlett ever threaten Anastasia before this?”
I shook my head. “Not that I know of. I mean, she said she didn’t like her a couple of times but she never physically threatened her.”
She nodded and made a note on her pad. “Your parents have hired a lawyer for your sister and your father said something about telling you not to go home. Not that I imagine you will be. I’m going to go and speak with her father. Thank you for your cooperation.”
I nodded and went back into the hospital room. Ana looked over at me and I forced a smile. She was in the hospital because of me… I took her hand again and sat down next to her on the bed. She rested her head on my shoulder and shifted closer. “I love you,” she murmured and I sighed. “And I don’t blame you…”
“We don’t have to talk about this now. What happened?” I asked, gesturing up to the TV.
“I think that he cheated on her so she started yelling in Italian and then the grandmother came in. I don’t know what she said though.”
We sat on that hospital bed for days. She slept and ate and grew stronger. She got cards and letters, from scouts, from teachers, from her mother’s family. Jack stopped by for a few minutes every day and kept us up to date on the court case against Scarlett. “Your sister could be tried as an adult…” he said one time.
“I don’t care,” I said back. Ana was sleeping and we were standing outside the room.
“You do care Luke. She’s still your sister.”
“No, she’s not. Not by blood and not by spirit. My parents are still my parents, they at least tried to love me. But she didn’t. She hated the girl I love, she tried to kill her. I don’t care about what happens to her.”
“All right… Well she’s going on trial in three days. They want you to be there. I was able to convince the court to let Doll opt out. That it would hinder her mental health. That she could be mentally insecure or something like that. But they want you to be there, they want you to go and testify against your family.”
“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, she isn’t my family. I don’t have any problem testifying against her. All right? If anything I’m glad to go and see her again. I want to hear what she has to say about what happened.”
“Do you still blame yourself?” he asked and I turned to look inside the hospital room. Ana was on her side, sleeping. “Do you? You shouldn’t blame yourself for this. None of this is your fault. Luke, listen to me. It was her choice to run away, it was her choice to follow Scarlett. Did Doll tell you what happened?” I shook my head. “She went to the park and took a bus home. She changed and then walked around the mall and then the national park. Scarlett found her and asked her to come and talk to you, told her that you just wanted her to come home, that you weren’t really that worried.
“She got really mad and followed Scarlett to her car. Then Scarlett started to go downtown, not to your house. She freaked out and Scarlett knocked her out. Then she was locked up in the apartment. She had no idea what was going on. She had no idea if it was bad, if she was going to die. And she knows that it isn’t your fault. She made the choice to follow Scarlett out of the park and get into the car with her.”
I leaned my head on the window. “I don’t think that matters… I let her run.”
Jack
I sat with Doll on the day of the trial. “Are you okay?” she asked and I nodded, keeping a close eye on the trial. “What’s happening?” She turned the TV off and waited for me to answer.
“The judge just called everything to order. Your father’s lawyer… Her name is Isabell. Luke’s getting sworn in and now he’s sitting down…” I took a deep breath and laughed. “They asked him if he was testifying for Scarlett. He said no and now they’re talking about what happened.”
I stopped talking and she waited. The trial kept on for about an hour. I didn’t give Doll the play-by-play, she didn’t need that. “Will you tell me what happened now?” she asked when I shook my head.
“Scarlett is going to an all girls detention center until she’s eighteen and then her file will be looked over again. She was tried as a minor. She and Luke did kind of start screaming at each other. What did you do to make her hate you?” I asked and Doll shook her head, her chin quivered and I rested my arm over her shoulders. “You’re going to be all right, it’ll all fade away and none of it will matter.”
Luke
Ana?” I asked and stepped in the studio. When I went to the front desk they told me that she was alone in one of the never used studios. She had her pink headphones in and I knew there wasn’t a chance she would be able to hear me.
She took a deep breath wit
h her back to me and grabbed hold of the point bar. Her feet automatically went to first position and then she fixed them to fourth. I leaned against the doorway and waited. She had to turn around eventually. She went through about ten minutes of warm-ups before she finally turned around and saw me.
“Hey,” she said and pulled the headphones from her ears.
“I thought you were coming over,” I said and she shrugged, looking down at her feet. “What happened?”
“Nothing… It’s just that… Well, your mom is kind of pissed off that Scarlett’s in the detention center and your dad still doesn’t really like me…”
“So?”
“I don’t need to make it any harder for them. They have enough to deal with. And I understand. So I’m just going to try and stay out of it.”
I took one of her hands. “Why do you care what they think?”
“Because they are your parents Luke. You can say they aren’t all you want but they really are. I don’t want them to ban me from you completely.”
She shrugged and tried to pull her hand from mine. I held on tighter. “I think we should go to London and find my parents.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m serious. I’m eighteen and the deal was, when I turn eighteen I get to meet my real parents. Please, come with me. I’m going with or without you but I wish you would just come. Please?”
“I have to talk to my dad about it. He might not want me to go. School is starting again soon and Julliard sent me a letter claiming they need a portfolio. So… I have a ton of work to get done.”
“You can do all of that here or in London or in Paris or New York or anywhere. I don’t want to go by myself, but I will.”
She put her hands on my chin and kissed me. “You are such a liar,” she whispered and kissed me harder. “But I’ve got to talk to my dad. If he says it’s okay then I’ll go.” I smiled and put one of my arms around her waist. She went on her tip toes and kissed me again.
Ana
I sat outside, on the porch step, while Luke screamed at his parents. Obviously he hadn’t told them he was going to London. I took a deep breath and leaned my head against the rail. “You don’t need to find them!” his mother yelled and he just laughed.
“What kind of agreement did you sign mom? You are obligated to tell me where my parents live. And if you don’t tell me then I’ll just go to London and search for them. I know how to use a phone book.”
“Fine! Then go and find them! You don’t care what I want or how I feel about anything!”
“Of course I care. You just don’t care about anything I want. You don’t care that I want to at least see my real parents. You don’t care that I want to have a real family! One that doesn’t hate the girl I love. One that doesn’t care if I play hockey or dance or write or run track or anything else! One that accepts me for me, accepts everything I am. I’ll be home in two weeks, don’t wait up.” He opened the door and slammed it behind him as a final sort of note to end his argument.
I stood up and wrapped my arms around him. “I love you Luke, remember that.”
“Always,” he whispered and kissed my hair.
“Forever and sixteen days,” I said back and he grinned.
The airport was packed, last minute trips to Europe… We were in coach, not wanting to sit with all the first class people. We sat in our seats and I pulled out a word search book, Luke got his video camera and flipped open the LED screen. “Luke,” I said and put my hand over the lens. I laughed and he jerked it free. “Stop!” I said and put the book over my head.
“Too late, I already started recording,” he said, smiling. “I want to save this moment, all right? I just want to be able to show our kids and their kids and forever on what it was like for me to be here with you, on a plane, going to see my real