****
Leavers’ Ball Night
Stevie smoothed the dress down over her curves and added a little more gloss to her lips. It was ten minutes past the time Jason was supposed to pick her up. He was never late. She paced the hallway, getting more and more annoyed as the minutes ticked by.
“Have you tried his mobile?” Dana asked as Stevie became increasingly upset.
She narrowed her eyes and put her hands on her hips. “Oooh, do you know I never thought of that!” she snapped, immediately regretting her harsh tone. She sighed heavily. “Sorry, Mum…there was no need for that… It’s just so not like him. I don’t get it.”
Thankfully, Dana didn’t get upset easily. “Well, what did his mum say?”
“Nothing. She wasn’t in. No one was in. Dillon has no idea either. Jason wasn’t home when he got back from school.” She chewed on a painted nail. Her other hand clung to the silver coloured heart shaped pendant around her neck that Jason had made for her in his metal work class. He had engraved her favourite words on the reverse. My soul mate.
Dana stopped her daughter in her tracks and pulled her hand away from her mouth. “Keep doing that and we’ll have to redo your nails, sweetie. He’ll be here. Please try to stop worrying.”
An hour later—and after several phone calls aiming to discover the whereabouts of her boyfriend—the mystery was no nearer to being solved. Dana was doing her best to comfort her daughter, who was distraught with worry.
The house phone rang and Stevie leapt to grab it. “Jason?” she gasped into the phone, desperately hoping she was right.
“Stevie? No love… It’s Shirley.” Jason’s mother sounded like she was crying. Stevie lowered herself to the sofa, dreading what she was about to hear.
“Shirley, what’s going on? Where’s Jason? I’m really worried.” Her words came out in a rush.
“Sweetheart…he’s…he’s gone…Jason’s gone.”
Her heart plummeted like a stone in a deep pond and her skin became cold and clammy as dread washed over her. “What? What do you mean he’s gone? Gone where?” Suddenly Shirley’s words hit her and something resembling a sob and a scream left her body. “No!”
Dana flung an arm around her daughter as the phone slipped out of her hands.
With a rapid movement Dana caught the falling handset and fumbling a little with her daughter encircled in one arm, she manoeuvred the phone to her ear. “Shirley? Oh my God, Shirley, what’s happened?”
Stevie was light headed and faint. The room spun and echoed. She felt as though she was disappearing, receding down a long tunnel as the room retreated from view. Her mum shouted her name before everything went black.
****
The light hurt Stevie’s eyes as she slowly fluttered her eyelids open to find Dana hovering over her. “She’s coming round, Shirley.”
“Oh, Stevie, sweetheart, you gave us a fright,” Shirley said as she stroked her hand. Stevie pulled herself upright and couldn’t quite understand why Jason’s mother was
a) in her living room and
b) not hysterical at the news that her son was somehow…dead.
Thinking the thought again made her lip quiver, her heart ache, and her stomach roll.
“I’m going to throw up,” she informed the two wide-eyed women before she retched. Luckily, her stomach was empty thanks to her lack of appetite that evening and the dry heaves turned to sobs once again.
“Stevie…don’t cry, darling. Listen to what Shirley has to say, okay?” She nodded, looking from one woman to the other and feeling very confused.
Shirley inhaled and squeezed her hand. “You’ve misunderstood me, darling. I’m pretty sure Jason is fine. I’m so sorry for scaring you. It wasn’t my intention. I was just shocked. I mean, I’m sure he’s alive…he…he just…left.”
Stevie took a moment for the words to sink in. Something wasn’t quite right. This wasn’t right. “What do you mean he left? He can’t have just left. Where would he go? Why would he go?”
Shirley squeezed her hand again. “We have no idea. He just cleared his closet out and took his savings. But he left his mobile phone behind. Wherever he’s gone, he doesn’t want to be contacted.”
Stevie shook her head in disbelief. “There must be some mistake. He wouldn’t do that… It was the Leavers’ Ball… He was supposed to take me… He loves me…and there’s Oxford… He loves me… I don’t…”
Shirley put an arm around her shoulder. “I think perhaps he just needed to get away for a while. He’s been under lots of pressure with the exams and his application to Oxford. I’m sure he’ll come home when he’s had a few days away. Let’s try not to worry, eh?”
Flooded with relief Stevie nodded and inhaled a deep, shaking breath through pursed lips. “Yes…yes you’re probably right. He’ll be back… He has been stressed, I do know that…and a little quiet…but I know him and he wouldn’t just leave like that…not for good… He loves me. I know he really loves me…”
The two women hugged her and held her hand as her eyes darted back and forth between them. “He loves me. I know he does. He’ll come back.”
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