Running Through Darkness j4n6e

ISBN: 9781626759619

For my wonderful family and friends

Chapter 1

It was quiet and dark in the streets as I walked home from my job on Saturday night. I lived in a small city and worked every night until twelve. The alleys were dark and the gas stations were abandoned. No cars were on the street, everything was still. I walked past the rundown grocery store I ed every night. The guy who worked the night shift sat at the counter, half asleep, knowing that no customers except maybe myself would come. I decided to drop in and get a coke, like I did almost every night. I still had a ways to walk before I got home. The doorbell chimes made noise as I walked in, faintly echoing around the store. It was a small store with just a few things and one counter. The street outside was black and I could see the traffic light changing for no one, its light the only thing making anything visible. The highway ran overhead and the half-used apartments across the road were the only signs of life. Some were boarded up, some broken into, but others had a faint light glowing from between the broken blinds. I shoved my hands into my pockets and started in search of the one caffeine-free diet coke they might have in the store. I gave a nod to the cashier, Ralph, and he grunted in reply. I was the only customer that ever came in after nine, so Ralph and I had gotten acquainted, seeing as how he was the only night person and worked from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. every day. It was the best job most could get, and one of the few in the neighborhood so he was lucky to have it. Just as I was reaching in to grab the diet coke I’d found, I heard a noise. I jerked my head around and out of the corner of my eye I could see Ralph had done the same.

A beat up green Suburban drove past on the street. Ralph and I shared a quizzical glance. Nobody drove around or was out in our side of town past nine o’clock besides me. It wasn’t safe. I grabbed the coke and paid. “I’ll call you,” I said. We all had an understanding in our neighborhood. If something happened, we called each other. You had to know what was going on, for the safety of yourself and those around you. “Thanks, man,” Ralph said. I walked out, with the doorbell chimes sending an empty, hollow sound through the store. The people in our area of town protected each other. If any other neighborhood tried to hurt us or fight against us then it was an all-out war. That was why I was following this car. To make sure my family, blood or not, was safe. At first I was walking but the car kept getting faster. Finally, I was running to keep up with it. The Suburban turned a sharp corner. I was surprised. It had turned down a street with a dead end and the only thing on the street that wasn’t out of business and boarded up was a drug store. This drugstore wasn’t a medicine shop. It actually sold drugs. Our police didn’t shut it down because they bought from there, too. I walked toward the end of the street, trying not to be seen. Ralph should be calling people about now to alert them and they’d be waiting to hear what happened. I saw a flash of light and shortly after, the door of the Suburban opened. Two big men in suits stepped out and then disappeared into the shadows looming off of the walls. I heard a woman’s voice and then a man’s. They were whispering, but I couldn’t make out their words. I caught a glimpse of blond hair reflected in the moon’s light. I sucked in a sharp breath and then immediately regretted it, hoping they hadn’t heard me. I knew that hair well. That was my ex-girlfriend, Nicole. She was a good girl, though, one of the few of us in this neighborhood who didn’t do drugs, so what was she doing with outsiders? She could get in big trouble for something like this.

I saw her shake her head. My eyes had gotten used to the dark by now and I could make out vague shapes. Nicole pressed her body up closer to the wall as the guys in suits neared her. Apparently she was refusing to give them what they wanted. One of the men grabbed her arm and started shaking her, pushing her and shoving her. She started screaming and I could tell blood was flowing freely from her nose and her mouth was swollen. I clenched my jaw in anger. Who were these people? What did they want so bad that they’d come into our neighborhood and hurt a young woman to get it? Slowly I pulled out the gun from inside my pocket. The metal was cold against my fingers. I carried it with me at all times in case I needed it. Everyone in our neighborhood carried a gun, except Nicole. She thought it was wrong. But now I definitely needed it, and was glad I had it. The second guy had gotten involved in the abuse. I’d had enough. They couldn’t do this. I raised my gun and fired a shot. I could see the men freeze. Nicole wasn’t moving though. I ran towards her and grabbed her arm, not caring if I hurt her or not, just knowing we had to get out of there. I guess she got the idea because she started running beside me. As we neared the convenience store I could hear a car door slam farther away and knew the men must be coming after us. We didn’t have much time and we couldn’t let them see us. I started sprinting and Nicole sped up to match my pace. We had both done track in high school and trained together, so we knew what the slightest change in our muscles meant. I was glad for this now. My first priority was to get us safely hidden. Then we could talk. We rounded the corner to the store and banged through the doors. For the first time ever, Ralph was awake and ready. I told him we needed to hide. He gave a quick nod. I knew he’d heard the gun shot, and gun shots meant no

questions asked. He took us into the break room and shoved us into a small closet which he then locked. It was a small closet with no room to move. My back was shoved against the farthest wall and Nicole’s hands were on my chest with her back against the door. This was awkward. Sure we’d talked since we’d broken up and acknowledged each other as friends but had never really hung out. Now we were squished close with our faces an inch a part, Nicole being just a bit smaller than me. “Th-,” she started out, but realizing her voice was too loud whispered, “Thanks for saving me. They probably would have killed me if it weren’t for you.” The sound of her voice stunned me. We broke up after high school because she thought she was going to college. She didn’t but we didn’t get back together, either. We were going our separate ways. She was going to be successful and I didn’t want to slow her down. Then I ed why we were here and I had a few questions for her, more than a few. “Who were those men and what did they want?” seemed like the most important, and were the ones that came out of my mouth first. She let out a sigh and glanced down. I took her chin and tilted her face towards mine. “I need to know,” was all I said. She nodded and sighed. She wrapped her arms around my waist. I nodded to let her know I was here for her. “They were clients of my fathers, they pay him good for lesser quality but they know he has the good stuff. Lately, they’ve been making me pay for my safety, sometimes a kiss, sometimes my jewelry, but lately their demands have been more extreme. I finally said no. They’re from The Break,” she said. I nodded. Her dad sold drugs and usually made her give them out to people if he couldn’t do it, but if the people saw her first and became a regular, he kept sending her. The Break was a fancier neighborhood across the bridge. They had money to spare but were much more violent than our neighborhood.

I stroked her hair and she buried her face in my chest to muffle the sound of her crying. I gave her a hug. “I’ll help you through this,” I said. She lifted her gaze and stared, as if reading my soul. We moved closer to each other. I bent down to kiss her when suddenly the chimes went off. We froze. We could hear the gruff voices of the men and Ralph’s voice. He was trying to act stoned and clueless, which made me smile. He was doing well. I knew he wouldn’t give us away. Slowly I maneuvered my body so that I was facing the door and Nicole was behind me. She still had her arms wrapped around my waist and now I had my hands wrapped around her back. The men were searching the store. Ralph was following them around, telling them not to touch this or be careful with that. Then the men entered the break room. Nicole and I didn’t even breathe. We could hear them rustling around with Ralph’s footsteps behind them, his sneakers different than the click-clack of the men’s dress shoes. “Come on, John, they aren’t here,” we finally heard one of them mutter. We heard a faint click as the door closed, and the sound of the men’s shoes faded. We still didn’t dare come out. After about five minutes, but what seemed like a year, Ralph came to get us. He waved us out of the closet but I refused to leave the break room. They might still be waiting to see what happened, or if anyone came out. Ralph sat down at one of the two four-person tables in the room. We sat down, too. Ralph didn’t say anything, just waited. After a few minutes Nicole took a deep breath and started her story. She left out the part about her having to pay. She just told Ralph that her dad messed up and they’d taken it out on her. This wasn’t a lie. Her dad did mess up by involving Nicole in his dirty work. She wanted no part of it. Ralph nodded his head, pushed his chair back, and left the room. Nicole and I sat there. She was thinking so I kept my mouth shut. I hadn’t seen

her in so long. I missed seeing her smooth, shiny hair and her flawless skin. She never wore much makeup; she didn’t need it. She was perfect. She looked at me. I attempted a smile. I failed; I knew it and could see it in her eyes. No matter how hard I tried to make her feel better, we both knew this was bad. “I’m sorry about all this. I promise if there’s anything I can do I will. I’ve missed you Nicole,” I said. Her face lit up in a big smile. It was one of the many great things about her. Anything could be happening but she’d still find a way to put a smile on her face and carry on. She leaned over and gave me a hug. When she stood up she touched her lip. I forgot that it had gotten hurt when she was in the alley. My face scrunched into an angry scowl. We had to do something about this. I was tired of living this way. I wanted a safe neighborhood where I didn’t have to carry a gun everywhere. I wanted a future for myself and any children I might have some day. I walked out the door of the break room, the paint on it peeling from the frame, and into the store. I was pretty sure the men were gone by now, but even so, I was careful. Ralph was at the counter. I glanced at the old clock above his head that sometimes ran fast or slow, but it was good enough. It was somewhere around two thirty in the morning. He was talking on his beat up phone, telling people what happened. At the moment he was assuring someone that the gun shot didn’t kill anyone. Now that I thought about it, our whole neighborhood probably went into red alert. People probably woke up their kids and dragged them into the designated “safe place.” We all had one. I felt bad that I might have ruined somebody’s rare happy dream. Nicole slipped her hand into mine and gave it a squeeze. I smiled down at her, thankful that we knew each other so well we didn’t need to talk.

We stood beside the counter, out of sight of the dirty windows until Ralph got done. He slipped his phone back into his deep pockets and looked up at us. He told us that the neighborhood was aware of what had happened. Our neighborhood had a sort of “safety” time. This was where everyone was extra careful. If anyone knocked on your door in trouble, you let them in, even if they were your worst enemy. It was just the way things worked. You kept other people safe to keep yourself safe. Our “safety” time would probably last a month or so because of the gunshot. Gunshots always cranked up the time, they meant it was serious, not just a pointless fight that could be solved in a day or so. I placed my elbows on the counter and put my head in my hands. Nicole patted my back, reassuring me as best she could. “It’s ok, dude. We’re here to help. We’ll get through this. We’ve gotten through worse,” Ralph said. I looked up at him in shock. That was the most I’d heard him say, ever. It just goes to show how much our neighborhood would help each other when we needed it, even if it’s just a few words of encouragement. I gave him a weak smile, “Thanks.” I turned to Nicole. She looked like she was going to cry again at any moment. Her eyes were red and tears filled her eyes. Was she thinking about going back to her dad tonight, to his hatred and his pain? He would know what happened by now and he wouldn’t be happy. “You can crash at my place tonight, Nicole. It might be safer than yours. I’m warning you though, it’s kind of falling apart,” I said. She gave me a thankful smile. “All our places are falling apart.” I shrugged, she had a good point. I thanked Ralph and Nicole and I walked out of the store, giving each other strength just by being together. We walked across the road and under the over that was hardly used anymore. We stayed in the shadows, near the wall, just in case the men were still out looking for us.

A foot crunched a leaf behind us. I spun around, shoving Nicole behind me. I had my gun pointed at whoever it would be. He had his gun drawn, too. I lowered mine as I recognized my roommate, Tom. His wavy black hair was falling in his eyes and he was looking down the barrel of his gun. “Tom, it’s me, Garrett,” I said gruffly. He still didn’t put his gun down. I gave him a look, telling him I meant business. “Don’t put all of us in danger like that again,” he said. He turned quickly on his heel and started walking off in the direction of our house. “Tom, it wasn’t my fault. It wasn’t Nicole’s fault either; it was the men who were hurting her. I stood up for her and saved her, like anyone who belongs in this neighborhood would have,” I said to his back. I saw him give a slight nod and keep on walking. I grabbed Nicole’s hand and dragged her behind me so that we could catch up with Tom. “That okay with you, man?” I asked. He just mumbled, “Whatever.” I figured he’d better get over it because I had a feeling Nicole would be staying with us for a while. I let go of Nicole and clenched my fists in anger. I didn’t know what Tom’s problem was, but I was tempted to hit him. We might need his help later though. We kept walking toward our house in the darkened streets with Tom ahead. A dim street lamp shining on us with its flashing light every now and then was the only light. Finally we got to our rundown apartment. Tom unlocked the rusting door completely by memory, since it was too dark to see, and slammed the door in our face. I was about to go in there and give him a piece of my mind, but Nicole stuck out her arm and turned me to face her. “Maybe I shouldn’t stay here. I don’t want to upset Tom. This is his house,” she whispered.

I shook my head. I couldn’t believe she was offering to find a different place to stay, which meant walking into the street to find it. “No, I own more of this place than he does and I’ve put up with him bringing people home. He needs to grow up and let you stay, especially because you need to right now,” I said as I turned the knob on the door. I opened the door and the hallway was flooded with a dim, yellow light. The door to Tom’s room was shut. We wouldn’t be seeing him the rest of the night. Nicole went and sat on the couch. I was embarrassed; the couch had stuffing coming out of it, and stains on it from the people who’d had it before us. I walked into the kitchen to get us a beer. I couldn’t believe anyone would want to harm Nicole. I walked back in the room and she gave me a heart-melting smile. I sat sit in the ratty armchair across from her, drinks completely forgotten. I smiled at her but we had more important matters to discuss before we could just relax together. “What are we going to do, Nicole? We’ve gotten ourselves into a whole lot of trouble. You know those men won’t stop until they get us, right? Us being here puts this whole neighborhood in danger,” I said. She put her head down and nodded, her hair brushed against the table. I walked around the coffee table and sat next to her, my hand on her back. “I know you feel like this is your fault, but it isn’t, it’s your dad’s,” I said. Tears ran down her cheeks. “We have to leave this neighborhood for good. It’s a horrible place to live and it’s getting us in trouble. I don’t want to live my life on the run, always afraid about my safety, and the safety of those I love,” she said, her voice choking up. “I know,” I said, “I’ve felt the same way for a while now. I guess I was just waiting for someone to come with me. We can’t leave though, until we’ve put a stop to these men. If we don’t they’ll follow us no matter where we go.” She nodded her head. “I know, but how?” she said, “The police won’t help and if

they won’t, who will?” I could hear the despair in her voice. I shoved myself off the couch and started pacing the room, wearing down the already tattered rug. What could we do to stop them? It seemed impossible to find an answer to that question. If we did anything to them, it would just make more people angry. We had to stop it from the center. Suddenly I had an answer to that question. “I know what to do. We have to talk to their boss. You’ll go in alone to talk to him, but some friends and I will be waiting, and then we’ll go in and force him to negotiate for peace. I promise you won’t be hurt.” She nodded her head and wrapped her arms around me and I leaned my head against hers. We sunk lower into the couch, embraced in it and each other’s arms. We fell asleep like that, as peaceful as we’d be for a long time.

Chapter 2

I woke up the next morning half way off the couch with Nicole laying on me, breathing quietly. We’d shifted in the night and were lying beside each other. The sun streamed in through a window with its tattered curtains, casting a beautiful light on her. She was astonishing; no matter the awful condition of my apartment. I couldn’t believe anyone would try to hurt her. I couldn’t believe her father would put her in danger. My jaw tightened and I clenched my fists. I gently got up, moving Nicole’s head down to the couch. I was careful not to wake her up. I headed into the kitchen to make us some toast before we started the day, and started our plan. I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be bothered by Tom this morning. He always went to the high school’s old basketball court to get his exercise before heading to his job at McDonald’s. As I was reaching into our pantry, which had shelves that were about to break, I felt a pair of arms circle around my waist. I tensed up at first, always my first reaction, and then I slowly relaxed knowing it was Nicole. She laid her head down on the back of my shoulder and started to hum. Then as she got into the song she started to sing quietly. Her voice tinkled like wind chimes on a windy day, making sweet music in my ear. I wrapped my arms behind me, holding her to me and started to sway. I imagined this was what it would be like one day, when we got away from here. I got caught up in the fantasy and listened to her singing. She was singing our song. It was a slow song that we’d heard one time in the car on the way to the movies one night. We both liked it and it related to us. She had started singing it whenever she saw me after that, and I hummed it to her when she was falling asleep at night. It just became our song. I kissed her on her forehead and then finished our toast. We headed into the dining room, which was really only a small room with a two-

person table and a dirty old window above it by the door. I placed our toast onto the table and sat down with Nicole seated across from me. I couldn’t believe that she was here with me. The situation we were in I could handle, stuff like this happened a lot in our neighborhood. But being with the girl of my dreams? That was amazing and I was still astounded by my good luck, even if I didn’t know if she still liked me or not. Not many people would leave this town, as much as they wanted to they wouldn’t. So they wouldn’t be able to find their love, they would just have to settle for less. They’d go for that person they’d known as a child, the things they were comfortable with, though not what they necessarily loved. Sure all of our neighborhood loved each other and looked out for one another but it was a different kind of love. I pitied them for not being able to find the kind of love Nicole and I had had because they were too scared to leave or change anything. At the same time, the people in this neighborhood would do anything for one another, except apparently, Tom. I had no idea what his problem was. Usually he would do anything for people. When we were kids he would help the little girls in the neighborhood and was always the nicest person at school. One time he’d even missed one of his basketball games because one of his friends needed help with his homework to be able to . Maybe he was just getting too caught up in protecting himself this time. Not a good thing, because people would that when you went to them for help later. It just didn’t work that way and by trying to save his own life, Tom was just endangering it more. That was the hard part about the balance of getting out of this town. You had to make sure you didn’t hurt any of the people around you in the process. She reached out and placed her hand on my arm. “What are you thinking Garrett?” Nicole said. I looked up at her and smiled. “I just can’t believe Tom would act like this,” I say, “It’s not going to do anything good for him. People are going to know he threatened us and they aren’t going to help him, but more than anything, he was rude to you. And I can’t stand that. He had no reason, for anything. Why was he even out?”

I was getting mad then and I could tell she didn’t like it, so I took a few breaths and tried to calm myself down. “Listen, it’s ok. We’re here now, together. We just need to figure out what exactly we are going to do. Forget about Tom, he’s not important to me. Don’t let him get to you,” she said. I nodded and got out of my chair, looking out the window. Our rundown town wasn’t much, and it wasn’t pretty, but it was home. I had no more family. They had gotten killed in a car crash, but still everyone I cared about was here. It was still home, with people I cared about, and where I felt most comfortable. It was where my heart was. I put my hands up on my head and sighed. I knew I had to leave this town though. I knew it wasn’t right for me. Seeing Nicole look up at me, I knew she felt exactly how I did. The dad she had wasn’t much. We had nothing to stay here for but the memories; this was the place we grew up. It scared me to leave, because it would mean leaving behind everything I knew. I promised myself a long time ago in elementary school that I would not live this life. I would become something more. Yet here I was. I wouldn’t live like this though. I would go to college, and my family would have a better life. Nicole would be part of that life, but for now, I had to focus on helping her so that we could get out and start something else. I gave her a big hug and led her back out to the couch. I went to get a notebook and pencil and we started to plan. “How can you those men?” I asked her. She looked up at me with a startled look in her eyes. “Garrett, I really want to fix this, but I’m scared. I can’t talk to them alone. I really can’t,” she said. Inwardly I cursed myself for my stupidity. Of course she wouldn’t talk to them alone, just her and them. I had never imagined she could, but had forgotten to tell her how I would work this out. “No, Nicole. I would never put you with those men by yourself. I’ll be with you, and I’ll have two or three people watching us from a predetermined spot. You will be protected. I promise. We need you there though. It would probably work

better if you talked to them and I just acted as protection, but if you can’t I will talk. We’ll need you there no matter what though,” I explained to her. I felt horrible about her having to be there, but to make sure those men thought it would be easy, she had to be. She was the one who had dealt with them and really knew the situation best. She nodded and then said, “My father has their information. I can go home and sneak into his office to get that. Then I will leave. I really can’t have my father knowing what is going on. He would stop it at whatever cost, he can’t give them up as customers, it doesn’t matter what’s at stake.” I ground my teeth in anger. I knew her dad and used to think he was a good man a few years ago. He wasn’t always like this. He owned a bookstore with his wife when I was dating Nicole in high school. Her mom ed away though in a shooting, for an accident that hadn’t involved her. Nicole’s dad gave up the bookstore and got into dirty work, selling drugs and doing whatever it took to Nicole. Eventually though it was all about the business, and no longer about Nicole. Now Nicole was in danger and her dad couldn’t do anything to stop it because he was so blinded by his selfishness and depression that had dragged on since his wife’s death. I took Nicole’s shoulders and looked her in the eye. “We will need you to go in to your house and get the information. Not today, but soon. I’m sorry, but we have to have it. I’ll figure out a way for us to communicate so that if anything goes wrong you can tell me and I’ll be in that house in an instant.” I wrapped her in a hug and rocked her back and forth. With everything she’d been through this was a lot to ask of her. I knew it was scaring her and I felt awful, but she was strong and I was counting on her to get through it. “I’m going to go for a walk, ok?” I said. She nodded her head and moved so I could get up. “There are books in my room, the one on the right, if you want to read. I’ll be back in a little bit. I just need to think,” I said. I grabbed my jacket from the unbalanced coat rack by the door and slung it over my shoulder as I walked out the door. I dug the keys out of my pocket and

locked the door. The stairs squeaked and moaned as I walked down them. I’d learned where to step so that I made the least amount of noise but it still wasn’t enough to make up for the old and crumbling condition of the building. I nodded to the man behind the desk as I walked out. John is one of the better men in town, and sometimes the closest thing I had to a friend. He worked in return for being able to live in the apartment along with giving payment from his other job. I think that if you’re going to work that hard for a place to stay, it should be a nicer place than where he lived, but then again there weren’t many better places in the neighborhood. They were all about the same, if not worse. He was dressed in his suit that was too tight on him. He was behind the bulletproof glass at the front counter. His brown hair flopped in front of his eyes as he gave me a nod. “Have a good day, Garrett,” he said as I pushed on the door to try and open it. It got stuck closed sometimes and you had to work hard to get it open. I grunted at him in answer as I pushed against the door. It finally gave and opened out. “Bye, man,” I said and walked out into the street. Cars were out on the street this morning. I checked my watch for the time. It was about 6:30 so I thought I’d have enough time to go around town to make sure everyone was okay before heading back to bring Nicole to her job. At first I was walking slow, checking everything around me and saying hi to anyone who waved. The shops were just opening up and I saw a lot of people I knew out on the street just walking around. People were stopping and talking to each other. Some were making deals or looking at papers together. I needed to run though, I had to get out the frustration and just think. I turned in the direction of the park thinking I could take a few laps around it. I headed down an alleyway, taking a shortcut straight to the park. Crack, my back was against the brick wall behind me and a fist was in my face. I was confused. Who was it and how had I not seen them? Then I ed the

doorway in this alley that I found with Tom one day when we were wandering around in junior high. I thought only Tom and I knew about it though. It made sense then. I realized Tom was the one hitting me. I threw a punch to his face then backed him up against the opposite wall. We hadn’t ever fought like this before. We’d gotten mad at each other but neither of us had ever actually hit each other. It was strange. We had always been close friends. Since elementary we’d always gotten along and been there for each other. No matter if we were mad, if someone else messed with either of us we had protected each other. That was the kind of relationship we’d had forever and now it was gone. I didn’t understand. How could helping someone possibly make him this mad? There had to be something else that was bothering him about this. Blood was dripping on my hand, probably from my nose, but I ignored it. “What is your damn problem, man?” I yelled at him. He looked at me as though he was bored. “I don’t know what you mean.” I tightened my hold on him and re-slammed him into the wall. “Yes you do. That crap last night, and then just now. Why are you mad and what are you doing?” He sighed as if this was all such an annoyance and gave me a push to make me get off of him. I moved back and he stepped away from the wall. “Honestly, I’m pissed you brought trouble in our town and I don’t trust you anymore, someone else has me now,” he said, and then he was gone, running from the way I’d come. A cat skittered out from behind a trash can and took off around the corner. Tom had just left me with more questions, but the biggest one was I didn’t know how he’d known I’d be walking by in the first place. I brushed off my clothes, getting rid of any extra dirt, and wiped my nose, which had stopped bleeding. I still needed that run, now more than ever. My body throbbed from all the places Tom had hit me but the run still felt good. The wind whipped against my face and burned my throat but it distracted me and that was what I wanted. I lapped the people walking and some other runners a few times while I was running. A little girl kept staring at me as I ran past her. She was

licking her lollipop but no one else was sitting with her. I kept running until I saw the little girl’s parents come up to her. They’d been running as well, so she hadn’t been alone. They took her hands and started their walk home. Now that I knew she wasn’t alone I felt I could leave. After running, my head was much clearer. I headed to the store that Ralph works at. He wasn’t there now but I didn’t go for the company. The girl at the desk, Jesse, gave me a flirtatious smile. She’d had a crush on me for a while and we’d kissed once or twice after Nicole and I had broken up, but nothing serious. I just waved and walked past. I could feel her glare at my back. I rolled my eyes as I walked towards the poor excuse of an electronics section. I was looking for a go phone so I could make sure Nicole was okay when she sneaked back into her dad’s house. I grabbed the cheapest pair I saw and headed back toward the counter. I picked up a set of double A batteries on my way since those things never just come with them. As Jesse rang up my stuff she flipped her hair over her shoulder and glanced up at me through her eyelashes. I guess she was trying to be cute but she just wasn’t attractive to me. I couldn’t understand why girls did that. “Anything else for you today? I’ve got plenty more,” she said. I realized I’d been staring. I shook my head, “No thanks, I think I have everything else I need at home.” She let out a humph and slouched back on her stool. As I left I looked back at the store and recalled the events from last night. I clenched my teeth and started off for home, my determination to fix everything for Nicole renewed.

Chapter 3

Back at the apartment Nicole had gone back to sleep in my bed. I couldn’t blame her since the couch hadn’t been very comfortable. I set the grocery bag down on my nightstand then sat down on the bed, rubbing Nicole’s back to wake her up. She rolled over and rubbed her eyes. She smiled at me as she sat up. “What’s going on?” she asked. “I wanted to let you know I got some go phones for us. That way if you need help you can just let me know. I told you I’d find a way to make sure you’re okay.” “Ya, but you’re not okay! What happened to you? Why is your face all bloody?” she said. She had crawled out from under the covers and was on her knees checking my face. The light from the window was making a line across the bed and had gone across my face, showing her the dried blood. The rest of the room was dim leaving an awkward lighting that hit just her and me. “Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing, I just fell,” I said as I shoved myself off the bed. I walked out of the room and across the hall to the bathroom. I splashed water on my face and tried to rub of the blood that had dried. “Garrett, tell me what happened to you,” Nicole said. Her voice was stern and she stood in the doorway with her arms crossed. “Don’t worry about it!” I slammed my hand onto the counter and she jerked out of the room. “I’m so sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I can handle it though. Don’t worry about it.” “It’s because of me, isn’t it? Was it Tom?” She still hadn’t come back into the room; she just stood out in the hallway with her head down. I walked over to her. “Look at me. I’m okay now. It was Tom, but I promise you he’s nothing I can’t handle.” Then she was in my arms, sobbing. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how

to comfort her. I couldn’t promise her it was going to be okay because so many things could go wrong. I could die, or worse she could die. If the plan went wrong and they got ahold of any of us, then it would be over. I wrapped my arms around her and held her. I couldn’t do anything else for her then. “I’m so sorry I brought this into your life. I can’t let you get hurt because of me.” She choked out. “We can’t keep apologizing to each other. It isn’t your fault your dad puts you in these situations, but now I’ve chosen to be a part of this, I chose it from the beginning when I went into that alley. We can’t be sorry anymore, whatever happens happens and we can only do the best we can.” I let her go, walked into the living room, and plopped onto the couch. She came and sat down beside me, farther away than normal, like she was uncomfortable with me now. “I’m going to the store. You guys have no food in this house,” she said. She started walking to the door but I got up and blocked her way. “No! You can’t. If you go out there and someone working for those men finds you or knows they’ll get something out of giving you to them, you could get really hurt. Tell me what you need and I will go out and get it for you,” I said. “Look who’s talking!” she said as she slammed the door in my face. I slammed my fist into the wall beside the door, the pale, ugly neutral color of everything else. The walls shook and I heard my neighbor shout to calm down. I didn’t care what my neighbor wanted, if Nicole was stupid enough to go out by herself then I was going to follow her. I was tired of living in this dump day in and day out, and Nicole deserved better. I was going to make a change happen for both of us, first by making sure she could leave without any consequences. We needed to get to the man in charge, the one giving the orders to the men that were hurting her to get the drugs. We needed to get in to her dad’s house tomorrow, it was the soonest we could, but I needed some people to back us up.

I punched in the number to call my best friend. “Hey Dave, it’s me Garrett. I need to ask a favor. Tomorrow I need you to be at my apartment. I won’t be here but if I call you and need your help it would be great if you were close by. So if you can help out tonight, bring some of the guys by, you can stay at my place. As long as everything goes good I won’t need you guys to actually do anything. All right man, bye,” I hung up, hoping he’d get the message soon before his phone was cut off, if it wasn’t already. I grabbed my keys off the counter and rushed out into the street, hoping my car would last long enough to make sure Nicole was all right. She didn’t have a cell phone for me to call and check on her with. The engine stuttered as I started it, but eventually started all the way. My tires squealed as I peeled out of the lot. Hopefully the police officer on patrol was one that liked me, because I wasn’t planning on stopping for anyone until I found Nicole. It took me a few minutes, but I found her. I parked the car and locked it as I ran up to her. “I’m coming with you.” “Fine but stay out of my way, I can go to the store and buy groceries by myself. It’s never been a problem before,” she said. “Don’t turn this into how independent you are. This isn’t about that, it’s about keeping you safe.” She let out a sigh and continued walking, crossing her arms over her chest. I let her get a little bit ahead of me so that she would feel more alone. Apparently that’s what she wanted. Why couldn’t she just understand how much she meant to me? All I was doing was trying to help her. That shopping trip was probably the most awkward thing I’d ever done. I followed Nicole around while she ignored me and then told her to get in the car. She got in and didn’t talk. When we got up to my apartment she slammed the door in my face. “Nicole, stop. Please, I just want to help,” I said as I rested my head against the door. “It’s your house, just open the door,” she said. I walked in and she was sitting on the couch watching TV. “I guess I’ll put the groceries away,” I said and slammed the door to the kitchen.

I took a breath and tried to calm myself down. The few groceries she’d gotten I put away, trying to focus on something else but my mind kept running in circles. I sat down at the table and took a napkin and pen that had been left on the table and started planning how Nicole was going to get in and out of her house. Her dad’s office was in the back of their house so Nicole would have to go through the front door because you couldn’t get in through the back, and try and sneak through the house. We’d try and do it at a time when her dad wasn’t in the house but we had to be sure he didn’t know she’d been there when he got home. “Nicole come in here, we need to plan this. You need to be ready.” She trudged into the room and plopped herself on the counter. “I don’t want to do this,” she said. “I’m sorry but you have to if you want to be left alone. Stop whining,” I said. I realized I probably shouldn’t have said that, but I was so tired of listening to her. “Look, if we are going to do this tomorrow you have to pay attention, it’s scary, but you need to do it. Dave is going to be here with some guys while we go, I’ll be hidden, and you’ll go in the house, get the information we need and get out. Does your dad have a time he is out of the house every day?” Nicole hopped off the counter and leaned over my shoulder, looking at what I’d scribbled on the napkin. “That’s wrong,” she said, pointing at the sketch I’d made of her house, “The kitchen is on the other side, you need to switch it with the living room. It changes how the house is laid out, because there’s a wall there, and the hallway to my dad’s room is connected to the living room, so that hall isn’t there.” She took the pen out of my hand and made adjustments to the drawing. “If we’re going to do this, I need to feel like you know exactly how to get to me,” she said as she slid down in the seat on the other side of the table. “And my dad is gone from 2 until 5. He always goes out to check on things, and meets this girl at Libby’s diner. He thinks I don’t know about her,” she said with a sharp laugh, “I’m not stupid, of course I know about her.” “Ok, tomorrow at 3 should be a good time then. That way we won’t be in danger of him coming home early or coming back because he forgot something. I’ll have Dave here by 2:30 so we can get over there and I can find a place to be. Do you have a key?”

She took a key out of her pocket and showed it to me. “I’ll need to get some more clothes, too.” She gestured at her jeans and Beatles t-shirt. We jumped as the door slammed open. I shoved Nicole toward the corner of the kitchen away from the door and went to see who it was. The door to our apartment was flung open and a glass of water that someone had left on the table was tipped over. The light was on in Tom’s room, but I didn’t think he would have come back. I grabbed a book off a side table as I went into the hallway with the doors to our rooms. The person in Tom’s room was in jeans and a hoodie, and I couldn’t see his face. “What do you think you’re doing?” I said to him as I entered the room with the book held up, ready to hit him if he tried anything. “Tom has something we need. Don’t worry, pretty boy, he gave us permission to get it,” he said. He sounded like he was intentionally making his voice low. He grabbed something from under Tom’s dresser and then shoved past me and was out the door. He’d left Tom’s room a mess, but I just turned the light off and shut the door. I walked back out into the living room and saw Nicole poking her head around the door frame. “He’s gone. It’s fine,” I said. She came out with a paper towel and cleaned up the water as I shut and locked the door. “I think you’re gonna need to get a new lock for the door,” she said. I’d been thinking the same thing but I didn’t really think that would be fair, since it was still Tom’s apartment too. I shrugged and went into my room and closed the door. I needed some time to myself. It was dark because I had my curtains covering my window, so I turned on the lamp next to my bed. I picked up the clothes from off the floor and put them in the hamper I had in the corner next to my dresser. Sometimes I sat in bed and stared at the dresser, my arms around my knees and thought of what it would be like if I could escape in it. If I could still go in there like I did when I was little and pretend it was a different world, or my secret fort. My mom would let me stay in there for hours, sometimes she’d let me sleep in there. It was in her room, but she didn’t seem to mind. I’d heard her tell my dad one time that I needed something magical, a place to escape from this life, and she didn’t mind her wardrobe being that place.

I sat down on my bed, my back to the window and looked around my room, at the drawings my sister had made for me when she was little, before she’d died in a car crash with my dad two years ago. I’d kept all of them, and when she’d come over she’d made me put them up. The next day she was gone and now I wouldn’t take them down. I started crying then. Silent tears rolled down my face. I tried to hold them back but I couldn’t. I missed my family. More than that, I missed having someone I could truly trust. I had friends now, but nothing like family. Everyone needs family, someone to turn to whenever they need someone. Feeling loved is so important. Nicole didn’t really have any family left either. Her dad wasn’t the same person who’d loved her and who she’d loved. I was so confused. I didn’t want to think about all this but sometimes it just hit me and I couldn’t stop. I sat there long enough, sitting there thinking about nothing and everything, that when Nicole knocked on my door my room was almost completely dark. The little sunlight that had filtered into my room earlier was gone with the sun. “Garrett, you need to eat something,” Nicole said as she opened the door to my room. She had one of those instant macaroni’s in her hands that you just add water to. She held it out to me, not coming too close. “Thanks.” I took the macaroni from her and went to sit at my desk to eat. She opened my curtains and sat down on my bed. “My dad finally noticed I was gone, I just saw his car slowly driving around the streets. I was probably supposed to make a delivery, and he had to,” she said. She curled up on her side, facing me. She did look really pretty. “Nicole, I still like you.” The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. She jerked her head up at me. She had a stunned expression on her face. “Oh don’t act surprised, you had to have known that, right?” I had just made a fool of myself, I knew it then. She sat up and started fidgeting with the necklace she was wearing. “Garrett, you can’t. I can’t,” she said. That sent a jolt of pain through my body. I couldn’t think of why I shouldn’t like her. I pushed my chair away from my desk and stood up, crossing my arms over my body to try and hide the pain I was feeling inside because of her.

“Why can’t you? Is there someone else out there? I know we broke up, but I hadn’t heard about you being with anyone else.” I said quietly. She looked up at me with her big green eyes tearing up. “There’s never been anyone else. I just can’t let you. I don’t want to feel that way about you. We aren’t the best for each other.” I didn’t take my eyes off her as she got up and walked out the door, gently shutting my door as she went. I couldn’t be in the apartment with her anymore. I pulled on warmer clothes and opened my window. I climbed out that way so that she wouldn’t see or hear me. There was a hush over the brown streets strewn with dirt and trash with the moon shining down on it. I ran my hands over the chain link fence as I ed the basketball court. I was finally in front of Nicole’s house and started searching for a good spot to sit and watch the house for tomorrow. A light was on in the upstairs window, where her dad’s study was. I quickly crouched down in the bushes across the street from her house. I hoped it was late enough that the people whose house I was hiding in front of were asleep, but with my luck they would have a teenager who came home late and catch me. The bushes started poking me but I stayed there. I needed to watch her dad so I would know where I could see Nicole in the house. I also just needed to think away from her. I didn’t understand why she had to be so complicated. She certainly hadn’t been giving off just friend signals, but whatever. I had to try and let it go and focus on helping her get safe. That was the most important thing, and when we were out of this town then I could either try and be with her or find someone else. Her dad flipped off the study light and I saw his shadow on the steps, and then a light turn on in the front hallway. He stood in the window beside his door and stared out at the street. I ducked further into the bushes so I was completely hidden and then stayed still. I hoped he couldn’t see me. I stayed that way for the longest time, then I heard a door creak open. All of a sudden a dog barked right behind me and I nearly jumped out of my skin. I whirled around and relaxed a little when I realized there was a fence in between us. Someone had to have let the dog out, which meant someone was awake, and so I scampered down the street, and only when I was sure I was far

enough away from the house did I turn to look back at Nicole’s house. Her dad was still standing in the window, but he hadn’t moved. He just stared into nothing, without blinking or moving. I ran home under the flickering lights of broken street lamps. I collapsed on the couch and went to sleep when I got home, because Nicole had taken my bed again. That night I had an awful dream. I was walking down the alley where the men were hurting Nicole. The light in the drug store was flickering casting an eerie light around them. “Stop! What are you doing to her?” I yell down the alley. I start running and my foot stumbles on a rock. My ankle twists and gives out from under me. I collapse to the ground and grab my ankle in pain. The men have Nicole’s head in their arms like they’re about to break her neck. She is giving me this horrible look, saying save her. I try to get up and run towards her but fall down halfway there. I land hard on my knees but keep crawling towards her. My ankle and knees are sending fire up my leg as I crawl across the rough gravel. The alley smells like a sewer and smoke. The less muscular of the two, the one not holding on to Nicole, starts walking towards me. His dress shoes make noise against the gravel. I look up so I can see his whole body. I watch him reach into his suit jacket pocket and pull out a gun. He aims it at my head and keeps walking until he is only a few feet away from me. He looks me right in the eye and then pulls the trigger. I scream in agony as the bullet hits me in the arm. The man had jerked the gun at the last minute. Nicole had gotten loose of the other guy and jumped on the one who was shooting me. He turned around and hit her in the head with his gun. Blood started coming out quickly from her head and she dropped to the ground. We were right across from each other not able to do anything except stare at each other in pain. I could vaguely hear the men laughing in the background as a ringing sound took over. My eyes closed no matter how hard I tried to keep them open. I managed to get them open every once in a while and watched as the men beat Nicole. Then

everything went black. I opened my eyes one last time and saw her dead beside me. I woke up with a start and ran to make sure she was okay. Once I’d checked on her I went back out to the couch and sat there until I was too tired to keep myself awake.

Chapter 4

I woke up to something licking my hand. I jerked my hand away and grabbed at what was licking it. There was a yelp and I heard Nicole yell from across the room. “Garrett, stop it! Don’t hurt him!” I opened my eyes up enough to see I had a hold of a dog. A little beagle was frozen, staring up at me out of its big brown eyes. Its tail thumped against the couch. “What the hell is this doing here?” I said as I rolled off the couch. Nicole was leaning against the bookshelf in the corner of the room with her arms crossed glaring at me. “That is my dog, Charlie. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and went home and got him. Good thing, too, my dad hadn’t been feeding him,” she said. “What are you talking about? You went back home while your dad was still there, inside the house? Are you crazy?” I said as I stormed across the room to her. Charlie followed me, wagging his tail as he trotted behind me. Apparently he wasn’t the smartest dog. He reached his head up and licked my fingers. I swiped my hand away and shot him a look. Nicole shoved her way past me with a hurt look in her eyes. “Yes, I did. I couldn’t leave him there a moment longer. He was in the backyard anyway so it’s not like I went in the house. I doubt my dad will even notice he’s gone. I’m not stupid, Garrett, I know it was a risk.” “Obviously you are. You really couldn’t have waited just a little while longer? I mean for goodness sakes we’re going back tonight. You could have been seriously hurt. And if you haven’t figured it out yet, that’s what we’re trying to avoid even though you seem to enjoy putting yourself into as much danger as you can,” I said as I grabbed her elbows and got her to look at me. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to be more careful,” she said, “I made some toast.”

“That’s not good enough. I know you’re worried about this dog, but you can’t just put yourself at risk like that. Promise you won’t do anything like that again,” I said. I followed her into the kitchen. I sat down at the table where she had already put the bread. Charlie promptly plopped his butt on my foot and put his head on his paws, completely comfortable and oblivious to the trouble he caused. “I promise. Next time I’ll tell you so you can help me.” That was the best I was going to get out of her. She never apologized for doing something for someone or something she loved. After I was done I hung up the napkin I had written our plan on over the kitchen sink with a tack. Nicole came to stand beside me and we studied it together. “It’ll work,” I said, “You go in, get the information on those guys and come out. Make sure to lock the door on the way out and not to mess anything up.” She nodded her head and then sat down on the kitchen floor and started petting her dog. I put our plates in the trash and her glass in the dishwasher. The house was a mess and now it would be even worse with dog hair floating around. I scratched Charlie’s ear as I walked out into the living room. I started picking up all our trash and cleaning. I found so many things from when Tom and I had been too lazy to get up. As I was straightening the cushions on the couch I found a sheet of paper with scribbled writing on it. I walked over to turn the light on to read it better. All that was on it though was the name “Elaine Crossfair.” I brought it in to Nicole and asked if she knew who that was. “It sounds a little familiar but it’s no one I know well. I can’t where I’ve heard that name before. I’ll let you know if I do,” she said. I brought it into my room and put it on my desk. I’d have to go to the library later and see if I could get on a computer to look up who that was. I couldn’t afford a computer of my own, I could hardly afford my apartment. As it was our rent was due tomorrow and if Tom didn’t pay his part I was going to see about getting his name off of the lease. I’d probably end up paying the rent on my own this month and it would cut my money down a lot, but I had enough saved up that I could afford to pay the rent on my own for a couple months. I would need to look for a new roommate if Tom didn’t show up though. I couldn’t afford it by

myself forever, even if it wasn’t a very great place to live. At 2:30 that afternoon Dave knocked on the door. I had been in my room getting all of our stuff together. Nicole let him in. When I walked out, Dave, and our friends Kevin, Bryant, and Josh were sitting on the couch. “Hey, guys. Okay, so I’m going to go with Nicole. I’ll call you if I need anything, be ready if I do. We are heading over to her house, and should be back by 5. There’s food in the pantry and beer in the fridge, help yourselves to whatever is there,” I said as I pulled my jacket on. I went and grabbed the bag with the go phones, flashlights, and checked my pockets for my gun and phone. I looked at Nicole to make sure she was ready. She threw her jacket over her arm, grabbed the keys and nodded at me as she started walking out the door. “Goodbye guys. See y’all in a little bit hopefully.” I followed her out and shut the door behind us. We creaked our way down the stairs, pressing against the wall as my old neighbor made her way up the stairs. “You two love birds have fun now!” she said as we ed her. I felt my face turn red at that but pretended like I hadn’t heard and kept walking, pulling Nicole along behind me. We got in the car and as I cranked the engine over I heard a dog whining. I looked out my window and saw Charlie looking up at me from beside the car. I got out of the car and ran him back upstairs. “You guys are so good at this,” I said sarcastically. They looked up from their beers and card game and gave me an apologetic look as I closed the door, this time making sure Charlie didn’t follow. As Nicole and I rolled out of the parking lot I crossed my fingers that they would do what I needed them to and that they’d be ready to come if I needed them. We rumbled down the street on the way to her house. I parked two streets over and turned off the engine. We quietly got out of the car and started walking towards her house. I handed her the phone and had her test it out. She clipped it onto the belt buckle on her jeans and tucked a flashlight into her pocket, just in case. I showed her the spot I was going to be sitting in, and told her I may have to walk up and down the street if anyone saw me, but that I’d always be watching

the house and would let her know if I saw her dad coming. She gave me a quick hug and then jogged across the street to her house. I saw her unlock the door and disappear into the house, and I sat down and got comfortable. I figured it would take a while for her to find the paper we needed in all the files her dad had at his desk. I watched a light flicker on in the hallway upstairs. I watched her shadow walk down the hall, running her hands over the pictures in the hallway. She stopped in front of one and stood there. “Keep moving, Nicole. We have to get this done,” I said into the go phone. She spun around to look out the window, and I could imagine the look she was giving me, but she kept moving. Then I waited. I couldn’t see her anymore, but I trusted her to get this done as quickly as possible. I was looking through the binoculars at the window to her dad’s study. Even though there were blinds on it I was hoping to see how she was doing. As I pulled the binoculars down I saw the front door closing. “Nicole, get out of there right now! I think your dad is home. You have to make up an excuse about why you were there.” I stood up and started walking toward the house and flipped my hood over my head to hide my face. I couldn’t let him hurt her, but it would be worse if he saw who I was, because he’d be able to find where she was staying. I pushed open the door and looked up to see Nicole yelling at her dad on the bridge from the stairs to the rooms upstairs. It had rails on the sides, like when you go up the stairs, but that wasn’t enough to stop her from falling over the edge if he wanted to hurt her. “What are you doing here? You either live here or you don’t, Nicki. You can’t go back and forth. Choose,” her dad was yelling at her. He had a white undershirt that fit snugly around his muscles. His jeans were loose. Everything on him looked put together except for his hair. It was frazzled and all over the place. It made me wonder about what he’d been doing before he had come back home. “I came back to get my stuff, the stuff I’ve paid for because you stopped helping me years ago! I’m leaving and don’t worry this time I won’t be coming back,” she said as she pushed the bag she had further onto her shoulder. It looked full, but I didn’t know if she’d had time to get the information, or put his desk back in

order. “You can’t leave. I won’t let you. I need you here, and I am your dad,” he said. He stepped in front of her and seemed to expand himself to take up the room on the bridge so Nicole couldn’t get by. “Dad, I am 18 years old and I will not let you keep me here! I am so tired of doing all your work and being hurt and abused, but you don’t even care. I come home and all you do is take the money. This isn’t about helping me anymore. This is about forgetting Mom!” He shoved her up against the wall. I rushed up the stairs and struggled to shove him off her. I finally got him off of her and cornered him. I lowered my voice so he wouldn’t recognize it and said, “You will not hurt her anymore.” I pushed her in front of me and we walked out of the house. After we were out we started running back to the car. She was starting to breathe hard and so I took the bag off her shoulder and crossed it over my body and kept running. “Did you get what we needed?” “I did, and I had just closed the door to his study when you told me he was coming. So I ran to my room grabbed a random bag and shoved some of my clothes in there. Just whatever I could grab out of the drawers first,” she said. I nodded to her and we slammed the door to the car and I tried to drive calmly back to the apartment so no extra attention would be drawn to us. She sat in the enger seat shaking. I put my hand on her knee, “What’s wrong?” I asked. “I’ve never stood up to my dad like that before. And we haven’t talked about my mom in a long time. He hates talking about her. I probably just made him really mad, even more than just leaving. Now he has to do a lot himself, which he isn’t used to,” she said. I rubbed her knee and then put my hand back on my side of the car. I’d gotten the message when she told me she didn’t like me and I wasn’t going to make it weird between us. On the short ride home she calmed down a little but was still shook slightly as we walked up the stairs, and so I had my hand on her back, guiding her up the stairs. We could have used the elevator, but it was so old, and broken most of the time, that no one did.

When we walked into the apartment we found the guys just as we’d left them, with a beer in their hand and playing cards. Most were 21 or older, so they could drink; the ones who couldn’t did it anyway. I told Nicole she could go in my room to calm down a little and she rushed into it and shut the door. “So are you guys spending the night here?” I asked. It was only about 4:30, but I think they’d thought I’d meant for them to stay longer. “Ya, man, we are having a party,” Kevin said. I nodded my head at him and went to grab a water out of the fridge and ed them at the coffee table. “Your girl living with you now?” Josh said and nudged me with his elbow. “No.” He didn’t believe me and gave the guys around the table that “ya, right” look. They started chuckling. “Seriously, guys, no. She just needs a place to stay.” “Well, get on it, man, you’ve either just been majorly friend zoned or she likes you.” They laughed and then the door to my room opened and Nicole came out. I jumped out of my chair and went to her. I stood in front of her blocking the guys’ view and whispered, “Are you okay?” She nodded and started walking around me. “Guys, this is Nicole Hayes. Nicole, this is Dave, Kevin, Bryant, and Josh.” She gave a wave and went to sit on the couch. “Come on, guys, I can’t be the only girl here. You guys must have girlfriends, invite them over and we can have a real party,” she giggled. I shot her a look she didn’t see. She was just acting off of adrenaline now. It didn’t really want a full blown party but I didn’t want to say no now. Her face was still puffy from crying, but she’d put on more makeup to hide it. It looked like she was just trying to have a good time. I went to the kitchen and got her a beer. She thanked me and went to turn on some music. About a half hour later my apartment was full and more people just kept coming. The lights were off, except for some lamps. Couples were making out on the couch, and in the corners and everyone else was standing around dancing with a beer in their hands. Music was booming so loud you had to be really close to someone to talk to them at all. I looked around for Nicole but couldn’t find her. I

had to keep an eye on her; I didn’t think this was safe for everyone to see her and be so close to her, but I couldn’t stop it now. All I could do was make sure she was okay. As I was squeezing in between people someone got in my way. I looked up and stared into the deep brown eyes of a stunning girl with wavy brown hair. “Oh, hey,” I said awkwardly. “Hey there,” she said as she scooted closer to me, “is there something you’re looking for?” She stared up at me through her eyelashes. I caught a glimpse of Nicole’s hair in the crowd of dancers and figured she was okay. After that I just let myself think of the beautiful girl in front of me. Nicole didn’t care but this girl seemed to. “I think I found it,” I said. If Nicole was done with me, then I wasn’t going to waste time on her. The girl giggled into her hand and placed it on my chest as she got even closer to me to let someone behind her. Her red dress was cut really low and showed off her body. “I don’t think I caught your name,” I said. “I’m Cora. And who might you be?” “Garrett, I’m Garrett Scott,” I managed to get out. She was gorgeous. “That suits you. It’s a strong name, for a strong and handsome guy,” she giggled. I pulled her in closer to me and put my hands on her waist. “Do you want to dance?” She nodded and I took the drink from her hands and placed it on the table closest to us. I led her to the area where most people were dancing. She was a good dancer, and she just kept looking at me with those eyes, like we were sharing our own secret. She looked right into my eyes, and then kissed me, like it was a dare, but then she pulled away and looked down. She was good, and intrigued me. I turned her face towards mine and kissed her back a long time. After a while she pushed me away and started looking around, I had felt someone staring too and turned to look for who it was. Nicole was standing in the middle of the dancers, right where she could see us. Her cup was on the ground and the drink had spilled onto the carpet. Her hand was still held out for the cup that was no longer there. She spun around and started pushing her way back to my room through all the people. I went to go

after her but Cora caught my wrist and stopped me. “Where are you going?” she asked. “I really need to check on her. She’s had a rough day.” She stuck out her bottom lip in a pout and scooted in closer to me. “You aren’t with her, are you? I kind of got the impression you were single. Don’t you want to stay with me?” Right then she didn’t look so pretty to me anymore. Her eyes were still gorgeous, but she was wearing too much make up and her clothes were too trashy. “Look I’m sure we could get along great sometime, but I really need to go check on her.” “Fine, but let me write my number down for you,” she said. She got a pen and started writing her number on my arm. I wanted to leave her there but she kept a hold on me. When she was done she looked up at me, smiled, and then started kissing me again. I pushed her away and kept her firmly at arm’s length, and then I left her standing there. Nicole had ordered whoever had been in my room to get out and was crying on the bed when I walked in. I shut the door behind me and turned the lock. “Why are you so upset? I thought you said you didn’t like me?” I said. She flung a pillow at me. “I never said I didn’t like you! I said I didn’t want to like you, that we couldn’t feel like this.” She buried her head deeper into the covers. “What is the difference?” I struggled to keep my voice calm. “You are such a stupid boy. It means I do like you, but I don’t think we should get involved,” she said as she turned her face towards me. Her face was tearstained and more were coming from her eyes. I wish I could say she was an ugly crier, but she wasn’t. “Why shouldn’t we?” I sat down on the bed next to her, hoping she wouldn’t push me off. “Because I don’t want to hold you down. I’m already doing it by letting you help

me. I won’t let myself do that to you forever.” I laughed and started rubbing her back. “That’s funny because that’s why I didn’t ever try to see you anymore. I was trying to do what was best for you, but if we are both thinking the same thing can’t we just be together and help each other get what we want?” She nodded and smiled. “We can try.” I wiped the tears out from under her eyes and then scooted in beside her and she cuddled up underneath my arm. She fell asleep as I stroked her hair and I just watched her sleep for a while. Light glinted off the tears still left on her eyelashes. There was still noise from the party but I figured everyone would leave or fall asleep sometime soon. The ones that did fall asleep could just find their way home in the morning, they always did. I was just glad my neighbor’s hearing was too bad to be disturbed by our noise. Eventually I fell asleep too, with my head resting on Nicole’s. I was happy; I’d gotten her back, something I thought I’d never be able to.

Chapter 5

I woke up with Nicole in my arms the next morning and a completely quiet apartment. I slowly slipped my arm out from under her head, trying not to wake her up. She stirred a little, but turned on her side and settled back to sleep. I walked out to inspect the damage but there was none. Someone had stacked all the cups up and cleaned up all the food and spills. There was a sticky note on the table that I walked over to read. It was a note from Cora saying she’d stayed until everyone was gone and then cleaned up the mess. She was sorry for last night and wished me all the happiness with “that blond girl.” She’d also left her number again saying to call her anytime. That was weird, I hadn’t known the girl more than an hour maybe and she had cleaned my house. I hoped I hadn’t just kissed a crazy stalker. She had seemed nice so maybe she was just trying to do a favor. Maybe she felt bad she’d kissed me again as I’d been trying to leave her. I took the bag Nicole had packed from her house off of the kitchen counter and sat down on the couch to look at it. I pulled out some of her clothes she had stuffed in there and folded them for her in a stack on the table. When I looked into the bag after I’d folded all the clothes all I saw were papers. I started pulling some out and looking through them trying to find the information that we had gone there to get. The first thing I pulled out was a picture. On the back in Nicole’s bubbly handwriting were a heart and the words “I love him.” My fingers started trembling as I turned it over. I hoped it was me in that picture and not some other guy. She was staring out at me from the picture with her arms wrapped around my neck. She was riding on my back and giving me a kiss on the cheek. I was smiling at the camera. It was a gorgeous day in the picture. I ed that day. We had been at the park with some of our friends in our junior year of high school. We had all been goofing around and having a good time. It made me smile as I looked at the picture, but I set it aside and kept going through the papers. There were a few more pictures of the two of us, and some of her friends before they had gotten too involved in their boyfriends’ gangs.

She looked happy in all of them. She must have kept them all in one place because she hadn’t had enough time to go and find each one before her dad saw her. At the bottom were the papers with the information of some of her dad’s customers, with names, phone numbers, and addresses. It probably wasn’t where they lived, but just a place where you could find them. Nicole came out of my room rubbing her eyes. She smiled as she saw me and waved as she went into the bathroom. I jumped as I heard a groan come from the side of the couch closest to the wall. I got up and peeked over the side to see who was there. It was some guy, with a 5 o’ clock shadow, frazzled hair, and beer on his breath. I assumed he was left over from the party last night. “Hey man, you gotta go home now,” I said as I nudged him with my foot. His hand darted out and grabbed my foot. I kept very still, hoping he’d wake up enough not to try and hurt me. He turned on his side and looked up at me, squinting at me with one eye open. “What?” he grunted. I offered him my hand. He took it and started standing up, rubbing his head. “I crashed here, didn’t I?” I nodded. “Sorry man, I’ll go,” he said and walked out the door. I walked around and checked to see if anybody else had ended up spending the night. I didn’t see anybody else so went back to the couch. I picked up a tattered book from the coffee table and started reading it. It was “Sense and Sensibility.” My mom had given it to me before she died and made me read it. She told me I needed to appreciate literature and that girls would love me. I was staring at the cover and running my finger over the message she’d written when Nicole walked into the room. “Hey,” she said. “Good morning. Did you sleep well last night?” I said She smiled, “Very.” She walked over to the couch and curled up beside me. “What do we do now?” “We need to try and talk to their boss,” I said. She sighed and looked over at me, “You’re going to stay with me, won’t you?”

“Always,” I said. She leaned over and gave me a quick kiss and sat up. “I’m going to eat breakfast with my friend today. Do you want to come?” She lowered her hand and I held onto it. We walked out of the apartment hand in hand; I wasn’t going to let her go now. We walked to the one Pancake House in the neighborhood and got a table. She pulled out her phone and started texting her friend. Finally she put her phone away and looked at the door expectantly. Then the door opened and Cora walked in. “Cora?” I said as I stood up out of the booth. As she got up I realized it wasn’t Cora, but someone who looked exactly like her. The girl giggled, she had Cora’s laugh. “No, I’m her sister, Cameron,” she said and stuck out her hand for me to shake. “Garrett,” I said. I shook her hand and then put it in my pocket because they were shaking so badly. Nicole took my other hand, “Garrett, I’d like you to meet my best friend.” She smiled at me. She tugged on my pants to make me sit down. I leaned over and whispered to her, “Last night, you didn’t think it was Cameron did you?” She shook her head at me. “No, I knew it was Cora. It’s ok though, it was my fault. I’m not mad at her or you.” We ordered our food and I sat back and waited while they talked about girl things like Cameron’s boyfriend, their friends, and school. Cameron was the same age as Nicole and I, and her sister was a senior in high school. She sure acted much older than that. “So Garrett, how long have you known Nicole?” Cameron asked. “Since we were kids. Our parents used to force us to play together because they were friends and somewhere along the way, we started liking each other, too.” Cameron shot a look at Nicole and continued, “Oh, that’s good. So are y’all, like, together?”

“You’d have to ask Nicole. It’s up to her,” I turned to Nicole and waited. They must have talked about this before and been waiting to ask me. “I’d say we are,” Nicole said. She smiled and kissed my cheek. Cameron laughed, “Aw, look he’s blushing!” They giggled together and talked for a little while longer and then Cameron stood up and dug a twenty out of her purse and dropped it on the table. “I have to go. I’ve got a big presentation at school. Tell the waiter they can keep the change,” she said and then she was gone and the bells tinkled behind her. “She’s not from around here is she?” I asked. Just then a Camaro ed in the road in front of the restaurant. “Definitely not. Her daddy’s rich and she’s in college. She was raised in a town about thirty minutes away. We met when she and her sister snuck out one night to see what the bad part of town was like. Cora moved in with her boyfriend over here and Cameron comes to visit her, mostly to try and convince her to move back home.” “Cora has a boyfriend?” “Well, not anymore. They broke up two days ago, but they still live in the same house,” Nicole said. I nodded, “Look I’m sorry about last night. I don’t like her. I did that to bother you. I don’t really care about her, I just wanted to make sure she didn’t have a boyfriend who was going to try and beat me up.” Nicole laughed and it rang throughout the restaurant. People turned and smiled at her. “It’s ok really. I shouldn’t have shut you out like that.” After we paid we went out and started walking back to the apartment. Nicole took my hand and dragged me to the one grassy “park” that we had. We stood at one end of the field and she turned to me with that look in her eyes. “Race you to the end,” she said and took off. I ran after her and grabbed her by the waist and spun her around. She laughed and struggled away and kept running. Right before we got to the other side I grabbed her arm and tried to keep her back, but she jumped on my back and we

finished together. She jumped off my back, “Ha!” she said. I couldn’t help laughing, she looked so cute. It was the first real laugh I’d had in a while, and it felt so good. We played around until later that afternoon when we started heading back to the apartment. “It was good to hear you laugh again. I missed that,” she said. “Me too, thank you,” I said. She beamed up at me. She was so short, probably only 5’4” compared to my 6’1” frame, but that just made her feel right when I held onto her. I felt like I could protect her, if only that were true all the time. She slipped her hand around my waist and we walked up the building to our apartment. When we got up to our floor I saw someone standing in the entrance. Tom was leaning on his elbow in the door frame. He pushed himself off and started walking towards us. “Hey there, I saw you guys coming in through the window in my room.” “Are you staying here again, Tom?” I asked. He laughed. “No, not until she’s gone. I just needed some stuff.” He walked back into the apartment and grabbed a bag that must have been sitting by the door. I reached out and stopped him as he was walking past me. “Who are you working for, Tom? And did you know some people came and tore up your room looking for something? What’s going on?” He shook my hand off and frowned at me. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine, you need to worry about yourself,” he said and kept walking. “You, sweet cheeks, are causing a lot of trouble.” He stroked her cheek and then softly slapped it. I ran down the hall after him. I wouldn’t let him get away with doing that to her. Nicole grabbed me around the waist as I rushed past her. “Garrett, stop! You can’t go after him. Just stay, I’m okay.” I stopped struggling against her and went into the apartment and slammed my fist into the counter. “What in the world is going on? I can’t make sense of anything he says anymore!”

Nicole came and stood beside me. “He’s trying to do this to you. He knows how to get you worked up and worry you and that’s what he is doing. Look at me. I trust you and we will get through this. Believe me,” she said in a soothing voice. I dropped my head into my hands. I had to stop worrying about him. He could do what he wanted. We had to deal with keeping Nicole safe first. She went into the kitchen and sat down at the table. “Let’s figure out what we’re going to do first,” she said. I went over to get the papers she had brought back and froze. What if Tom had seen them? He might tell someone. He could cause a lot of problems. I ran over to the coffee table, my heart pounding. I took some deep breaths and tried to calm myself down. I had set my book on top of it and everything was the same as I’d left it. He either hadn’t seen it or hadn’t thought anything of it. I grabbed the papers and brought them to Nicole. She spread them out over the table so she could see them all and I pulled out the chair opposite her and sat down. “So we are going to talk to him. How do you want to do that?” she said. “Stick to the same plan. I think you need to see him in person. We’ll set up an appointment and you can go in to see him. I’ll be there with you, waiting with some other guys. We’ll go in a little after you do. Hopefully we can talk him into getting his guys to leave you alone. After that you’re free. You can go wherever you want. But how do we even know their boss has anything to do with it? Do you think they might just want it themselves?” She shook her head, “No, it’s definitely not for them. They’ve said before it’s for him. Now I don’t know if he knows what they’re doing to me, but maybe he can stop them.” She bent over the papers and tucked her hair behind her ear. She grabbed a pen out of the mug under the window that I kept there with pencils and highlighters and started circling things on the paper. When she was done she shoved the papers over to me and waited for me to read them. She’d circled the address of the men and of the office where they all worked. She’d also circled the telephone hours and the times they were open. “Okay good. Look I have to go to work tonight. I’ve missed as many days as I can. I don’t have any more sick days left.” I pulled a twenty out of my wallet, “How about you go out and get a prepaid phone while I’m gone and call them to set up an appointment. They can’t track you through that phone. I’ll be back in

the morning and we can go from there. Be careful going to get it. But how have you been?” I reached across the table and held her hand. “Good. Since we graduated I’ve just been helping my dad. He wouldn’t let me go to college or get a job. He said I had to help him until he could afford for me to leave. He’s insistent that he will pay for college. I don’t think he understands that he’s holding me down. I’m going to miss my chance to start my own life if he doesn’t let me go soon. I don’t know, I think he’s really just trying to help.” She fidgeted with her arm as she said this. She loved her dad still, even after what he’d done to her. I just didn’t believe that he was trying to help her anymore. I think he was using raising money for her as an excuse to get more money for himself. He’d stopped truly caring about her a long time ago. “You know that once this is figured out that if you want to leave, you’re just going to have to go. Your dad isn’t going to let you. You are going to have to be the one to walk out that door, maybe without a good bye,” I said. I rubbed my thumb across her hand trying to give her a little bit of comfort. I didn’t want to tell her this, but she knew. I just needed to be sure she understood that she would have to do it to move on. She nodded and a tear dropped onto the table. She reached up and wiped her eyes. “I don’t want to leave him though. I don’t know if he’ll be able to take care of himself.” “He will. He’s not stupid. He’s just consumed in this business, it’s hard to get out of. Once we set up a better life we can come back and help him. Maybe we can get him to move away, or help him set up a better business. But you have to get out and help yourself first,” I said. “I know. Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing, just helping him. What have you done?” she said. I rubbed my forehead and thought about how to tell her I wasn’t good enough to go to the college I’d wanted. “I got a job. I’ve lived by myself off the minimum I can. I’m trying to save up enough money to go to college. I couldn’t afford the one I got into because they didn’t give a big enough scholarship, and I couldn’t pay for the move even if I did get a loan. I hope I can go soon. I share this apartment with Tom, it’s pretty cheap and we don’t buy very much. I’ve got a good bit saved up and I’m almost ready to go. I’ll need to apply again, but

hopefully things will start moving along. My parents didn’t leave any money when they were gone. Of course most of the money was spent on my mom’s medical bills, not that any doctor helped her get better.” I heard footsteps and turned my head to the door only to see Charlie wagging his tail all the way across the apartment as he walked to the kitchen. He sat down on Nicole’s feet and tilted his head backwards to look at her. His tongue was hanging sideways out of his mouth as he waited for her to pet him. She laughed and bent down to pet him. “I guess things haven’t been great for either one of us,” she said. “What made you get a dog?” I asked. She didn’t look at me as she said simply, “I needed somebody to love me.” “Oh I’m sure you had tons of guys after you,” I said. I felt so bad, I had just left her. I thought it was for her own good but maybe I’d just ended up hurting her instead. She laughed, “Sometimes, but none of them were you. They didn’t really care for me the way you did. I didn’t even have friends to care for me like family, or like my mom used to.” I went over to her side of the table and got down on both knees. I took both of her hands in mine and said, “I will never let you go again. I promise I will always be right by your side. We will get through this and then be together.” I paused and took a deep breath, “I love you, Nicole.” She dropped out of the chair and put both arms around my neck and kissed me. Tears were streaming down her face, but I didn’t care. I felt something licking my face and Nicole laughing in my arms. Charlie had decided to the party. Nicole sat down and invited him into her lap. He sat on her and leaned forward and licked me while she was petting him. This felt great, this was my family. “I need to start getting ready to leave now,” I said and pushed myself off of the floor. I helped Nicole up and went back into my room to change. I worked at the warehouse down the road that stacking boxes and getting them ready to other places. It wasn’t exactly the best job in the world, but it paid well and I got along with the people that worked there. I’d made some new friends. It

was actually where I’d gotten to know Dave and the guys. I put on my black shirt and pants that we were required to wear and tucked my gun into my pocket. I gave Nicole a quick kiss before I left and then was out the door. On the walk there I couldn’t help but worry about Nicole. I didn’t really want to leave her at home by herself all day. I was worried that Tom would come back and hurt her. I really needed to go to my job though. If I didn’t I wouldn’t be able to afford the apartment, and then we wouldn’t have a place to live, and that was even more dangerous. It didn’t look like Tom was going to be helping with his part of the rent this month either, so it was all on me. When I got to work I clocked in and then went to my position. I had my orders for the day of where things were supposed to go and I was in the middle of stacking the boxes when Kelly walked up beside me. She was one of the people I had gotten to know pretty well and she had helped me a lot over the past two years. The only person who had helped me more was Nicole. But the last few months she hadn’t been around and Kelly was there. I didn’t have feelings for Kelly like I did for Nicole, but she was important to me. I caught her up on what had been going on. I trusted her. I knew she wouldn’t tell anyone. She patted my shoulder. “You’ll be fine, Garrett. You always work out something.” I smiled, “Thanks, Kelly. Hey do you want to come back to my apartment tomorrow and have lunch before work? I think you and Nicole would get along really well. I want you guys to meet each other.” She turned back to me with the box she’d been about to move. “I’d love to. I’ll meet you after work and we can work out the details,” she said. Kelly was the same age as Nicole and me, and she was a great friend, but she was so motherly sometimes. It felt good to have someone like that. We’d only recently gotten close enough for me to say that about her. Sometimes I was afraid she had feelings for me, but she knew I loved Nicole and I didn’t think she would ever try to interfere with that or make a move on me as long as she believed that I really did love Nicole. Other guys greeted me as I went about my job that night. I was friendly to all of them but I wasn’t really in the mood to talk to too many people I wasn’t really close with.

I trudged through my boring job the rest of the night. I chatted on and off with Kelly as we ed each other. She had to stop me before I put some stuff in the wrong box because I was worried about Nicole. Finally the bell rang for the end of our shift. I went outside and waited for Kelly’s taxi to come like I did every night after work. She lived a few minutes away. It was better than where I lived but not the ideal home. “So what time do you want me at your place tomorrow? Oh and I don’t know where you live either,” Kelly said. “Really? I thought you’d been there before,” I said. She pulled a notepad and pen out of her purse and I wrote down my address. “It’s not the best place and we’ll probably only have some eggs and toast. I hope that’s okay. Ten would probably be good.” “Of course it’s okay. I’m just happy to spend time with people. I don’t get to spend a lot of time with my family since I work the late shift,” she said. “Oh dang, that sucks,” I said. Just then her cab pulled up and she waved at me and got in. I waited until the car turned the corner and then started the walk home. I waved at Ralph as I ed his store. I didn’t have time to stop for a coke tonight. I just needed to get home and check on Nicole. I started running home. I had this horrible feeling something had happened to her. I was so scared. I hadn’t felt like this since I’d left my dad and sister. I couldn’t lose Nicole, not after I’d just found her again. I was breathing heavy by the time I got up to my floor. I threw open the door to my apartment and tip toed back to my room. Charlie poked his head up off my bed from between Nicole’s legs. I bent down with my hands on my knees to try and catch my breath. “Some guard dog you are,” I breathed out. Charlie just put his head down and went back to sleep. I went into the kitchen and got a glass of water and then got ready for bed. I didn’t want to wake up Nicole so I got a pillow and blanket and set up a bed on the couch. I shifted the pillow around a few times until I was comfortable and tried to drift off to sleep.

Chapter 6

The next morning I woke up to a knock on the door. Nicole walked in from the kitchen and answered it. I eased myself up, rubbed my eyes and checked the clock. It was ten in the morning. “Dang!” I said and jumped off the couch. I grabbed the blanket and pillow and ran them into my room and shoved them in a chest. I pulled on some jeans and walked back into the living room. Both girls were standing there laughing at me. “I am so sorry. So, umm, Nicole, this is Kelly. Kelly, this is Nicole,” I said. I looked nervously at Nicole. I hadn’t woken up in time to let her know to expect a guest for breakfast. Heck, I hadn’t even had pants on when Kelly walked in. “Don’t worry, Garrett. We introduced ourselves,” Kelly said. I smiled and walked into the kitchen. Kelly and Nicole followed. I told them both to sit down and I’d make breakfast for them. As I was cooking I tried to get a conversation going. “So Kelly is from my work. She’s a good friend of mine. Kelly, you know about Nicole,” I said. I was mentally hitting myself. I was awful at this. But then Charlie walked into the room. “Oh my goodness, he is adorable!” Kelly squealed. She got of the chair and bent down to pet him. “That’s my dog, Charlie,” Nicole said. “He’s a 20-month-old beagle.” I was starting to love that dog. “I used to have a beagle. I have a lab now. My mom worked at the pound, so I was pretty much raised around all sorts of dogs. I love them so much,” Kelly said. “Charlie is my first dog, but I love him. I was thinking about getting another one if Garrett would agree to it.” I turned around in the middle of scrambling the eggs. This was the first I’d heard

of this. “No,” I said, and turned back around. She might want a dog, but what in the world made her think that was a good idea. We couldn’t take care of another dog. We could barely take care of ourselves, and if we were about to move then we didn’t need to spend our money on another dog. That meant a collar, shots, food, dog bowls. I hoped Nicole had been kidding. After Charlie broke the ice Nicole and Kelly just talked away. They talked about all sorts of stuff. I finished the eggs and the toast and put it in front of them. I propped myself up on the counter with my own plate and dug in. I was so hungry. We didn’t get food breaks at work, and we worked through dinner time. I usually ate when I got home but last night I was just trying to be quiet and not wake Nicole up. I felt them staring at me and looked up. “You can slow down. There’s plenty of food. We’ll let you get the seconds if you’re so worried about it,” Nicole said and she and Kelly laughed. I swallowed the food I had in my mouth and gave them a sheepish smile. “I’m just starving,” I said. “Did you forget to eat again last night?” Kelly asked. I nodded at her and she rolled her eyes. “You know that’s not exactly good for you. I know it’s not great to eat that late anyway, but you still do need to eat.” “I know, I will,” I said and continued shoveling food into my mouth. I dropped a lot of crumbs while I was trying to hold my food over my plate. Charlie just came and licked them up off the tile floor. “Did you feed him yet?” Nicole looked up from the table, “No, would you do that for me?” “Sure,” I said. I put my plate in the sink and then got the dog food out of the pantry and scooped some into Charlie’s bowl. “I better get going,” Kelly said and brought her plate over to the sink. “Thanks so much for having me over. The food was delicious, Garrett. It was nice meeting you, Nicole.”

Nicole waved to her and I walked out of the kitchen with Kelly. “I’ll see you at work tonight. I hope you have a good day,” I said. “Thanks, I will,” Kelly said. She gave me a hug and walked out the door. I walked back into the kitchen. “I am so sorry I didn’t wake up soon enough to tell you she was coming. I was trying not to wake you last night.” Nicole cut me off, “Garrett, it’s fine. She was very nice. Just tell me next time, it’s not that big of a deal, though.” “Okay. Did you call the guys last night?” I asked. She brought her plate over to the sink and started to do the dishes. “Ya, I did. They asked who I was, I gave them my name and they scheduled me in for next Tuesday.” I got out a towel and walked over to help her do the dishes. “You didn’t have any trouble getting the phone did you?” “Garrett, it was fine. It was the middle of the day. Don’t worry so much.” I turned toward her and waited until she looked at me. “What?” she asked. “I didn’t stop worrying about you for one second at work last night. I was afraid Tom had come back to the apartment and hurt you. Or that someone had bothered you while you went to the store. Don’t tell me not to worry about you, because until people stop wanting something from you I won’t.” She slammed the dish she was holding into the soapy water and then grimaced when it banged. She checked to make sure she hadn’t broken it and then said, “I am not weak, Garrett. I really appreciate you helping me that night, and I love you, but it’s not like that for me all the time. You are being ridiculous. I can walk to the store and back without someone trying to kill me. I honestly don’t believe Tom would do anything to hurt me either. He may not like me but he’s not stupid. Come on Charlie,” she said and walked out of the room. I finished up the dishes. I had to think of some way to stop upsetting her. I also didn’t think it was all my fault either. She shouldn’t get mad at me for worrying about her. I didn’t want her to stay mad at me either.

“I’ll be back in a little bit,” I yelled to her as I grabbed my jacket and shoes and walked out the door. I went down to the little dollar store on the corner of the street. I ed boarded up buildings with graffiti on them. The sun beat down on me and the sidewalk on that chilly day and reflected off the glass and worn down road. My shoes scuffed against the sidewalk. There weren’t many other people out on the street. A homeless guy shot me a look from under the awning of an abandoned building. Most of the shops were abandoned. We had a gas station, a dollar store, a grocery store, a Wal-Mart, and a McDonalds. All the other cool shops we used to have had shut down about the same time the neighborhood started going downhill. Sometimes I thought that somebody had to buy the shops someday. All of us young people would be gone someday, dead, or old and maybe then better people would buy our houses. Then the town could start improving itself. By the time I’d confused myself and made up a whole future for my town I’d arrived in front of the dollar store. The sign was old and faded, and I worried it would fall down on top of somebody if they slammed the door too hard on their way out. I walked in and closed the door gently behind me. I gave a nod to the cashier working at the counter. I recognized his face but couldn’t quite his name. I walked toward the back to the candles. It was about time Nicole and I had a real date. I didn’t have enough money to go out anywhere so I hoped she was one of those people who believed it was the thought that mattered. I bought the candles that smelled least like a grandma and then bought some spaghetti and bread and walked up to the counter. On the way to the counter I spotted a windup cartoonish mouse. Nicole loved those things so I threw it in the pile of stuff I was buying. “Are you the one that’s causing all the trouble around here?” the cashier said as he rang up my stuff. “No. I’m the one who’s solving it,” I said. I paid for my stuff and then took it and walked out. I guess word had gotten around that I was involved in what was going on. That wasn’t good. That meant people would be coming around my apartment or be curious about it. I had to get Nicole to a safer place. She wouldn’t be too happy about that.

Maybe she could live with Kelly. Kelly lived in a relatively safe spot. People certainly wouldn’t be searching for anyone in her neighborhood. Maybe she’d have a good idea about how to convince Nicole to go, too. Feeling satisfied with my stuff I started walking home. I was going to cook Nicole a romantic lunch and that night I would ask Kelly about letting Nicole live with her. We had a plan for how we were going to fix the problem with those guys and make Nicole safe. I was optimistic that I’d be able to fix things and be able to move out soon. I’d start a better life. That was my whole plan. I needed to do something with my life. I just wasn’t one of the many guys in my neighborhood that had convinced themselves that this life was all they’d be able to accomplish and so they didn’t try. If Kelly let Nicole move in with her then maybe Tom could move back in. That way I would be able to drive my car around more often because all of my money wouldn’t have to be saved towards paying the rent. I might be able to smooth things over with him, too. I could get him out of whatever he had gotten himself into. Back at the apartment I started making the lunch for Nicole. I got the spaghetti sauce out of the pantry and started cooking the noodles. I heated up the bread and sauce and buttered and sliced the bread. I set up the candles on the table. I put up a sheer cloth over the window which made the room have a nice glow. I lit the candles and then placed everything just how I wanted it for when I brought Nicole in. I hadn’t seen her since I’d gotten home but I went to my room and looked for her. She wasn’t in my room and neither was Charlie. I walked a little ways down the hall and saw Charlie sprawled out in front of the bathroom door. He rolled over when he saw me coming and I stooped down and gave his belly a quick rub as I knocked on the door. “Yes?” I heard Nicole say. “Can I come in?” I asked. She opened the door but blocked the way in with her body. She was wearing a short black skirt and a low cut pink shirt. I looked up at her face. She’d curled her hair and made it really big. She also had lots of black stuff around her eyes. I’d never seen her dress like this before.

“Nicole, where are you going? And why are you dressed like that?” She stuck out her bottom lip. “Don’t you like it?” she said. I hesitated to answer. It wasn’t that I didn’t like it, it’s just that it wasn’t her, and I liked her. “I do, it’s just, where are you going wearing that?” “I was going to go out. I want to have some fun,” she said and then mumbled something under her breath. I moved in closer to her. “What was that?” I said. “I said and to show you I can take care of myself,” she said and looked up at me with her big brown eyes. I placed my hands on her waist. “Nicole, I know you can take care of yourself and I’m sorry if I made you think I believed anything else. I’m sorry but I made a nice meal for us. Will you please stay here and eat with me?” I said. “Oh my goodness, yes. Hold on and I’ll be right there,” she said and turned to the sink and started scrubbing the makeup off her face. “Go on, I’ll be there in a second.” I walked back into the living room and waited by the door to the kitchen so I could hold it open for her when she walked in. She walked out after a few minutes and I was stunned. She looked so much better than she had a few minutes ago. She had a pretty blue dress and had made her hair less big. It curled around her face, framing her like an angel. She wore some gold shoes that reminded me of a fairy. She stopped in front of me. “Well, what do you think?” she said and twirled around in a circle. “I think I like this much better,” I said and pulled her in for a kiss. I opened the door to the kitchen and waited for her to go in. She stopped when she saw the kitchen. “Did you do all this for me, Garrett?” “No, Santa had his elves come do it for you,” I said sarcastically, “Of course I

did it. You deserved it, and I’m sorry.” She turned around and flung her arms around me. “I love you so much.” “I love you, too. Come on, your lunch awaits,” I said and went to pull out her chair for her. She daintily sat down and I pushed in the chair behind her and then went to my side and sat down. Charlie came and curled himself up under the table between our feet. “What are you going to do tonight while I’m at work?” I asked her. “I’ll probably just read a book. Do you think I should start looking for a job? I want to help you pay the bills,” she said. I twirled some more noodles around my spoon. “I think that would be a good idea, especially if you want to go to college. I don’t know how much money your dad is going to let you take from what he’s saved up for you if you aren’t going to let him pay for the whole thing,” I said. A noodle fell off my spoon and onto the floor where Charlie scrambled to lick it up. Nicole laughed at me, “Yes, I guess that’s true. So where are you thinking of going to college?” “Well, I’m going to try and get back into University of Texas. Hopefully they’ll accept me again. Where are you thinking of going?” This question made me nervous. I just hoped she wanted to go somewhere around the same area. I would follow her wherever she went but it would be hard if I had to give up my dreams. She paused for a little bit and then answered. “I don’t really know. I haven’t really thought about it. I guess I would like to be a teacher. I know they don’t make the best living but they make enough to live comfortably. So I guess that means I could go wherever I wanted to really.” My heart beat a little faster. “Would you be willing to come to Texas with me?” I had put my fork and spoon on my plate and was just looking at her. “I think I would. I mean it’s a long way from Los Angeles but I would love to go. It would be a fun adventure,” she said. That made me laugh. “We don’t need any more adventures. Honestly I’m set for

life here. I’ve had my fill.” “Oh come on, old man. If you’re going to keep up with me you’re going to need to be a little more excited about life than that!” She reached over the table and poked me in my side. “I guess I could do that,” I said. She smiled at me and we kept eating. We made small talk and just had a good time. It may have been a cheap date but it was the best one I’d been on in a long time. We talked about nothing and everything. We debated on whether Charlie should wear a sweater for Christmas and about which type of cereal was the best. It was little things, but those little things made up Nicole and I wanted to know everything about her. It hadn’t even been a year since we’d stopped dating but it felt like so much had changed. I could still talk to her the same way and was so comfortable with her, but there were little things that I felt I didn’t know any more like what her favorite color was, or her favorite cereal. Those were all important to me though. I was seriously thinking about spending the rest of my life with her. I already knew we got along and loved each other but it would take more than that to be together for the rest of our lives. I would never stop loving her, but there were times in every relationship when love wasn’t enough to weather the everyday ups and downs. I hoped she never stopped loving me, and more than anything I hope she’d seen enough in me the past few days that she felt like she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me, too. After Nicole was done eating she put her plate on the floor and let Charlie lick it. “Do you really think that’s good for him?” I asked. “I mean look at him, he’s already chunkier than he should be.” “You’re probably right, but he’s such a good boy. Spaghetti sauce is his favorite too,” she said. “Ok whatever,” I said. “I’m going to go get ready for work.”

“Wait, Garrett, thank you so much for this. I really loved it,” she said and kissed me. “You’re welcome. I love you.” I went to put my clothes on and thought about how I was going to ask Kelly about having someone move in with her. I hoped she and Nicole had gotten along well enough the night before that Kelly would let her stay. I was afraid she’d say yes anyway but I really didn’t want her to be mad at me or be unhappy. I had to be sure to tell her that when I asked her. I pulled on my black leather jacket and walked out, closing the door to my room behind me. “Have fun tonight. I’ll be back later. I promise not to invite anybody over for breakfast this time,” I said. “All right. You stay safe, too,” Nicole said from the couch. Charlie was curled up in her lap. We’d tried not letting him up on the couch but he wasn’t taking no for an answer. I was pretty sure Nicole secretly wanted him up there with her anyway. The walk to work was uneventful. I went into the dark warehouse. The rusty doors slammed closed behind me and I went to clock in. Kelly was at her locker putting her stuff away and straightening out her papers for the night. “Hey, Garret,” she said as I walked in. “Thanks for having me over. Nicole is wonderful.” I sure hoped she thought that once I asked her to let Nicole live with her for a little while. “Ya, about that. I need to talk to you. How much time do we have before work starts?” She looked over my head at the plain clock on the bare wall. “It looks like twenty minutes. Why? What’s up?” I sat down on the bench under her locker and she sat down beside me. “So, you know Nicole is kind of in trouble and you saw my house last night. I don’t exactly live in the safest place, especially since it’s in the same neighborhood where all that stuff happened in.” She nodded as I talked. “Yes, I saw all that. Did something happen?” I clasped my hands in my lap and looked at the ceiling. “No, but I’m afraid

something will happen. I hate to ask this of you, but would you mind letting Nicole live with you until all this gets sorted out?” She looked taken aback. “I mean, I guess so. She seems very nice. As long as she helps with some of the bills I wouldn’t have a problem I guess. Is she okay with this?” She had turned herself toward me. “Well, no. I haven’t exactly told her about this yet. I wanted to make sure it was okay with you and see if you had a way to get her to want to come over. I want to give her the least amount of excuses possible before I say anything to her.” Kelly propped her head in her hand. “Well, what about if you tell her I want her to? Tell her I’m worried about her living in an apartment with two guys. I don’t live with anyone else and have plenty of room. Tell her it’s just until you guys leave. I mean, when you have all this sorted out you guys will be leaving so that’s the truth.” “That’s awesome. Thank you so much, Kelly. I knew I could count on you.” The bell rang for the shifts to start. I stood up and gave Kelly a hug and then went to go do the same thing as the night before. Tyler caught up with me as everyone was walking out. He punched my arm lightly to get my attention. “Hey man, how’s it going? I haven’t seen you much lately.” “Oh hey, man. Sorry I’ve been kind of busy.” “What’s been going on?” he asked. I knew I wasn’t going to get rid of him unless I gave him a reason. Tyler was my friend but I didn’t trust him enough to tell him about everything. “Just a girl. We got pretty close these last few days. I’ve just been spending time with her.” “Awesome, man!” He fist bumped me and trotted off to his side of the warehouse. I kept to myself that night during work just thinking. Now that I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to ask Kelly anymore I was worried about how I was going to tell Nicole. She wasn’t going to be happy either way and she wasn’t stupid. She was going to see through whatever I told her, but if I

presented it well enough then she might not be as mad. I walked back to the locker room after my shift with a clear idea of what I was going to say but not a good idea of how I was going to say it. I walked by the gas station that night and stopped in. “How is everything going?” Ralph said as I walked in. “It’s great. Thank you so much for helping us that night. I don’t know how I can thank you for doing that,” I said. I put my elbows on his counter and propped myself up. “Do you guys have flowers here?” He looked confused, “Flowers? Ya we do, follow me. What do you need flowers for?” I followed him through the store. I probably could have found what I was looking for in any other store but nothing was really in a certain order in this one. That wasn’t Ralph’s fault. The person who worked the day shift kept it like that. They thought they were in charge and so wouldn’t let Ralph do anything but ring people up. He stopped in front of the flowers and I gave him a pat on the back. “Thanks, I have to get some for Nicole. I’m about to tell her something she probably won’t like very much.” “Oh that’s tough. Girls are weird. The flowers should help. Let me know when you’re ready to check out,” he said. I must have broken down one of Ralph’s walls that night because that was the most I’d heard him talk ever, not including that night. It was nice though. He was a cool guy. I turned to inspect the flowers and groaned. They weren’t bad flowers, they were probably the best I’d be able to find. I just didn’t know what she liked. I grabbed the roses. I figured girls always liked roses. I grabbed a chocolate bar also. Chocolate and flowers were good. Ralph gave a grunt of laughter as he checked me out. “Thanks, have a good night, Ralph,” I said as I walked out the door. I heard the door chimes tinkling as I walked down the street. I could see pretty well tonight. The moon was full and more streetlights were working than usual. I walked on the street as I went back home.

The buildings were tall, probably five stories most of them but it felt like they were crowding the streets. The sidewalks were barely big enough for one person to walk normally and the two-lane street felt just as squeezed in. It was like as the buildings deteriorated they folded in on themselves and everything around them cowered as well. I couldn’t this neighborhood being nice. It was bad when I was born and had been just okay in the pictures my parents had of themselves. I thought it could be nice though. If people worked in the buildings and they weren’t boarded up it would lighten up the area. This neighborhood could be really nice. It could be like one of those quaint and unique downtowns that some of the nicer areas had. It would never as modern though, but it could be cool. My brain flooded with ideas of how the city could look in the future. I hurried faster to get home. I needed to see Nicole, to know that kind of happiness was possible. I wasn’t going to wait around in this town for it though. I was going to bring Nicole with me and we were going to find it. I was out of breath by the time I’d jogged the way home and up the stairs to my apartment. Nicole had the lamp beside the couch on and it cast a soft glow on her face. She’d fallen asleep reading a book and Charlie was curled up on her feet. I kneeled down in front of the couch. “Nicole, wake up. I need to talk to you.” I rubbed her back to try and wake her up. Slowly she woke up and rubbed her eyes until they would open all the way. She smiled when she saw me. “How was work?” she asked. “It was good. I have some good news.” I said. She sat all the way up and I scooted onto the couch “What is it?” she asked. “Well Kelly was talking to me at work today and she had this really good idea. She said she didn’t want you staying here with me alone. She offered to let you stay with her. It’s a better place to stay and you’d be with another girl, not living with a guy and no one else.” I waited anxiously to see how she’d respond. She studied my face and then burst out laughing. “You’ve got to be joking. I’m a grown woman, it’s okay for me to live with you for a little while,” she said.

I looked at her trying to think of what to say. “Oh, you weren’t joking.” I grabbed her hands, entwined my fingers with her, and placed them in her lap. “I know that you’re okay with that, and that we will probably be living together once we leave here, but I think it would hurt Kelly’s feelings if you refused. It was really nice of her to offer. I think you guys would have a lot of fun too. You did have fun with her didn’t you?” I’d asked Kelly if she liked Nicole, but I’d forgotten to ask Nicole. I hoped she wasn’t jealous. I didn’t care for Kelly the way I did for Nicole and never would. I did feel bad that Kelly felt that way but I hoped she’d get over it. Charlie had woken up and had his head turned to look at us. I was looking at Nicole waiting for her answer and she was staring into my eyes. We stayed that way for a few moment and then Nicole flicked her eyes down to her hands. “I’ll go, but next time you don’t want me with you just tell me.” She flung the blanket off of her and walked into my room. She called Charlie’s name and he lazily jumped off the couch and trotted after her. I heard the click of the door as she locked it. I let out a sigh. I guessed I was sleeping on the couch tonight. “I don’t want you to go, Nicole! I know you can take care of yourself, but do it for me!” I yelled in the direction of my door. I smashed my fist into the pillow to make it comfortable. I bent over and picked the blanket off the floor. I flicked off the lamp and tried to get myself to go to sleep. That conversation had not gone the way I’d wanted it to, but the way I had suspected it would. Nicole was too smart to fall for such a thinly veiled excuse to get her to leave. I’d known it but tried it anyway. I wanted to think there was an easy way to protect her, but I knew there wasn’t.

Chapter 7

Nicole wouldn’t talk to me the next morning. She ate her cereal in silence and didn’t answer any attempt at conversation I tried to make. I ate my cereal across the table from her but when I reached my hand over to try to at least get her to acknowledge me she jerked her hand away and took her bowl over to the sink. She threw her bowl in the sink and went back to my room, slamming the door behind her. I finished my cereal, cleaned up the dishes and went to sit on the couch to wait for her to calm down or decide to do something. She came out of my room about a half hour later lugging some bags behind her. I stood up and turned to her. She brushed past me and set the bags down by the door. “What is all that?” I asked her. “It’s all my stuff.” She went into the kitchen and came out with some granola bars and other snacks and stuffed them into one of her bags. There was a suitcase, a big hobo bag, and a smaller purse thing. “That’s way more than you brought with you from your house,” I said. “I’m not stealing from you,” she sneered at me, “It’s my stuff that I brought, Charlie’s food, and whatever was left in your room that was still mine from a long time ago. Now when and where should I meet Kelly?” I walked up to her and grabbed her arm. She tried to shake me off but I gently held onto her until she gave up and looked at me. “Nicole, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this to turn into a fight. You will be safer with Kelly. I don’t want you to leave here mad at me. We still need to work together, and I’m not losing you. Since when did we start fighting so much?” She started crying. “I just want you to trust that I can do things for myself. I don’t want to leave you, but it seems like you are pushing me away. I know I’ll be safer with her. I just want all this to be over so we can leave this whole mess behind.”

I pulled her in close to me and hugged her. I stroked her hair and buried my face in her hair. “I do trust you. I know you can do things for yourself but you need to see that sometimes you can’t always take care of yourself better than other people can.” “How do you know?” she said. “Because everyone is like that. You are strong and I’m sure you’d be fine without me, but I am helping you. I am just doing all I can to protect you and make sure you don’t get hurt. Do you understand now? Will you accept my help?” “No! I can do this!” she said and leaned back. “Please stop trying to do all this on your own and appreciate the help being offered to you.” A tear rolled down my cheek but I wiped it off before Nicole pulled away and saw me crying. “Okay, I understand. I’m sorry for being such a pain, Garrett. This is just very stressful and I blame myself.” I kept my arms around her and she reached up to wipe the tears off her face. “Don’t,” I said and leaned down to kiss her. “Now I think you should come with me tonight to work and you can take the taxi home with Kelly. What all is in those bags?” She gave me a sheepish smile and then knelt down on the floor. She unzipped the suitcase and took out my jacket and the pictures I’d had in my room of her and me. “I wanted to take some of you with me,” she said and shrugged. I knelt down beside her and took the jacket from her hands. I placed it around her shoulders and then we went through the rest of the stuff she’d taken from my room. A lot of it was her stuff that I’d never gotten back to her after we’d broken up. Some of it was mine though. Pictures I’d had of her, or us, and some of my clothes, and my journal. “Why did you want this?” I asked her. “Your drawings. They are really good,” she said. She took it out of the suitcase and placed it in my hands.

“I shouldn’t have tried to take that. There will be plenty of time after this is over for me to see your drawings,” she said. I was flattered that she thought my drawings were good, but angry that she’d even thought about taking some of this stuff without me knowing. “Don’t ever do this again. You can’t just take my stuff. I would have let you take it with you if only you had asked. You aren’t a thief,” I said and went into the kitchen. I sat down at the table and looked out the window. Nicole had changed. I knew I had changed also, but I had to think about whether we had both changed in a way that we could be together. I needed to ask myself if I liked the Nicole in front of me now, or if I was still in love with the memory I had of her. She used to be so strong and vibrant. Everyone wanted to be around her and she was kind to everyone. If she had a problem she fixed it, and she hid her pain from the world. She made great grades, was the top runner at our school, and always laughed. I was seeing something totally different know. She whined all the time and never thought before she acted. She wasn’t thinking about anyone but herself, and certainly wasn’t happy. When I thought about how I’d changed I hoped I had changed for the better. I felt like I’d become more of a man, and not a cocky teenager. I was only trying to do what was right for anyone and I was trying to be responsible. She was making it hard to do that though. I knew the good qualities were still inside her. I glimpsed them sometimes when she wasn’t worrying, but it wasn’t often. I didn’t want to be with the negative Nicole once this was over. I wanted the happy her. I wasn’t going to break my promise to her though. We would get out of this and then I would decide what I was going to do about being with her. If she was happy and not this sneaky and pig headed I would stand by her forever. Nicole cleared her throat. I jumped and turned around to see her leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed. “I plan to enjoy the last few hours I have here with you for a while,” she said. “What would you like to do?” I asked.

“Pretend like none of this is happening and play a game. Do you still have Candy Land?” she asked. I nodded my head and went to get it out of the linen closet where we kept towels, games, medicine and sheets. As I was walking back into the living room, I promised myself I would have fun and not worry about what I was going to do until after all this mess was over. I set the game on the coffee table and she grabbed the box and started setting up the game. “I call blue!” she said. “Okay, I’ll be green,” I said and placed my piece on start. She frowned. “Since when do you like green?” she said. “Since you took the blue!” I said and reached over to tickle her. She collapsed on the ground and laughed. She tried to shove my fingers away but she couldn’t. She had always been really ticklish. It was good to see that hadn’t changed. When she started having a hard time breathing I took mercy on her and let her sit up. She sat back on her knees and caught her breath. I turned back to the game and started shuffling the cards and getting it set up. Nicole pushed me down and sat on me, trapping me so I couldn’t get up. She started tickling me and wouldn’t stop. I couldn’t help but laugh and she had a look of joy in her eyes I hadn’t seen since we’d gone out before. She stopped tickling me and bent down to kiss me. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her in close to me. We played the game with pauses in between to just have fun. We talked and laughed. I lost track of time and when I looked up at the clock it was fifteen minutes until my shift was starting. We hurriedly put up the game and I threw on my work clothes. I grabbed the keys off the counter and carried her stuff down to the car. We would have to drive if I was going to get to work on time. Nicole stayed close behind me and helped put her stuff in the car. We both got in the car and I pulled out as she buckled up. “What about Charlie?” she asked. “I’ll get him to you. He’ll be fine with me for the night. I’ll ask Kelly for her

address and bring him to you tomorrow. That way I’ll get to see you also.” When we got to my work I helped Nicole out of the car and brought her up to the locker room with me. Only two people were still in there. The bell must have already rung to start the shift. “You can stay here until our shift is done. Did you bring something to do?” She pulled out a book and smiled at me. She walked over to one of the comfier chairs. I didn’t wait a minute longer. I clocked in and got to work. About half way through the shift I saw Kelly. “Is everything okay?” she asked. She had a funny look in her eyes. I didn’t want to tell her about the fight Nicole and I had. It wasn’t her business and it was over now. “Ya, everything is great. Nicole is in the locker room and her stuff is in my car. She’ll be able to ride back with you tonight right?” I said. Kelly nodded at me. Someone came around the corner and Kelly waved at them and then kept on with her work. I didn’t talk to her the rest of the night. We saw each other a few more times but she kept her head down and didn’t stop to talk. I chatted with some of the guys as we worked and found a few excuses to go back to the locker room and check on Nicole. Each time I found her still in that chair reading her book. She looked up at me and gave me a smile when I came in and then went back to reading her book. I would come and rub her back, do what I told everyone I was going to do and go back out to work. A few guys gave me funny looks. They must think I was having some stomach problems but I didn’t mind very much. The shift went by fast and the bell was ringing for it to be done before I knew it. I hurried back into the locker room and was one of the first one’s in there. I ran over to Nicole and gave her my jacket, pulling the hood up over her face, the less people who recognized her here the better. Kelly and I lingered until it was only us and Nicole left in the room. Nicole pushed the hood back and got up. “Hey, Kelly, thanks so much for asking me to stay with you. I think I was starting to smell like Garrett.” She waved her hand in front of her nose in a teasing way and Kelly and I laughed with her. We walked out of the warehouse together and I made sure Nicole’s hood was up when we walked into the parking lot. I went and got her stuff out of my car and

went over to where Kelly waited for her cab every day. I placed Nicole’s stuff down and grabbed her hand. She leaned against me and we waited. Kelly stood a little ways away and looked down the street. The taxi finally pulled up and I helped put Nicole’s stuff into the back. I opened the door and Kelly slid into the far side. Nicole stopped before she slid in and gave me a kiss. “Be careful please,” I said. “I will. You be careful too,” she said and slid into the seat. I closed the door behind them and watched as they drove away. Nicole waved at me from the back window until they turned the corner and I waved back. I headed back to my car. The streets felt eerie that night. I was glad I’d brought my car so I could get home sooner. The light in front of the gas station was stuck on red and I drove past it. Nothing moved on the streets. There wasn’t even a breeze to rustle the leaves around. I was glad when I got back to my apartment and had the door locked securely behind me. Charlie came to greet me with his tail wagging. I bent down to pet him and he slobbered over my face. Then I ed I’d forgotten to ask Kelly what her address was. I didn’t even have her phone number to call her. I’d have to ask her at work the next day and hope Nicole understood. “I’m sorry,” I whispered into the dark, empty apartment. I went into my room and put on some pajamas. I crawled into bed and let out a breath. It almost felt like none of this had happened. If Charlie hadn’t been curled up at my feet and if music had been coming from Tom’s room, I would have believed that it hadn’t. Too much had changed for me to even pretend though. I went to bed that night having realized that my life would never go back to the way it had been, even if that night was the closest to normal I’d been in a few days. I woke up the next morning and went about my business. I ate, cleaned the house up, and fed Charlie. It felt so weird though. I was used to someone always being in the house with me, and now that neither Tom nor Nicole was with me I didn’t know what to do. I went into my room with Charlie trotting behind me. I probably should have gone out and spent time with my friends but I didn’t. I sat

in my room that day and drew. I drew Nicole’s face, and the faces of the men who had tried to hurt her. I drew a picture of us when all this was over in front of a nice house, with Charlie at our feet. Sometimes I pulled a book off my book shelf and read it in my bed, but mostly I drew. My room was small, but that was fine with me. It made me feel good. I started with drawing Nicole as she used to be. I drew the faces of the men, and I drew us running through the streets. I drew us arguing and then I drew us tickling each other yesterday. Then I walked around my room for a little bit to stretch and opened the curtains over my window and let light stream into my room. I sat down and drew my future how I wanted it to be, how I would make it be. I wasn’t the greatest sketch artist, but seeing those pencil drawings of Nicole, Charlie, and me was beautiful. I guess it was the hope I put into it, but I loved it. Around lunch time I called Kevin and asked if I could come over. I made some macaroni for myself, ate it, and then walked over to his house. He had a T.V. and an X-Box. He lived with his mom and dad and so they’d bought them over the years. It wasn’t great that he lived with his parents but he did live nicer than most of us so we didn’t blame him for staying with them. He wasn’t totally useless there anyway. He watched out for his two little sisters. He’d done a pretty good job too. Neither of them had gotten involved with anything bad. His parents had saved up enough money that they might be able to send one of them to college. Kevin had already given that up; he was happy staying here and writing from his room. Not many people knew he did that, but he got paid okay for it and enjoyed it so his parents let him stay. I knocked on their door. His mom hurried to open it. “Hello, Garrett, it’s so nice to see you again,” she said. She fluttered around me and then welcomed me into the house. “It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Smith. Your hair looks wonderful. How have you been?” I said. I always made sure to give her a compliment. She was selfconscious about her weight, but she was still a lovely woman and I felt like she should know that. She blushed and went into her kitchen as I waited in the hallway. She brought

out a plate of cookies and set them down in front of me. She wiped her hands on her apron and said, “I am doing magnificent. Kevin is in his room, you can just go on back there whenever you like. It would be wonderful if you would take him a cookie also. He’ll get jealous if he hears you had a cookie and he didn’t.” And with that she fluttered back into the kitchen. I grabbed two cookies off the plate and then grabbed another for Kevin. As I was walking back towards his room I saw a little face peeking from around a doorway. It was his little sister Sharon. I bent down on one knee and offered her the cookie. “Do you want one?” I asked her. She nodded at me and took the cookie. She disappeared back into her room and I went back to get another cookie. I was leaning down to pick up another one when I felt a little pair of arms circle my legs and hug me. I laughed and turned around to pick Sharon up. She was sweet. She didn’t say much for a 6-year-old but she was smart and very nice. I always tried to make her laugh whenever I came over. She buried her face in my shoulder and gave me a big hug. I set her back down on the floor and she ran back to her room. I walked back to Kevin’s room and I heard a muffled thanks as I ed Sharon’s room and a forced bored voice that said, “Hey, Garrett,” as I ed by Ellie’s room. Kevin was in his chair with his head phones on playing his X-Box when I walked into the room and he didn’t see or hear me come in. I walked up beside him and put the cookie in his mouth. He pushed me away and then took his head phones off, wiping his mouth. “Hey man, what’s up?” he said. “Nothing much, I needed some guy time,” I said. He nodded solemnly and tossed me a controller. We sat there and played games like that the rest of the afternoon. Sharon came and sat on my lap for a few minutes but soon got bored and left. Ellie walked by the room a few times sighing and popping her gum trying to get my attention. I knew she had a crush on me, and I was usually nice enough to her even if she pretended uninterested but I wasn’t putting up with it today. I wasn’t thinking about girls, I was focused on killing the bad guys, and that’s all I wanted to worry about. At five I stopped the game. “Thanks for letting me come over man. I have to go,

I’ll see you later.” He waved at me. “All right man, be safe,” he said and turned back to his game. I went into Sharon’s room and gave her a hug before I left. “Goodbye, Ellie,” I said as I ed her room. She tightened up her shoulders and tilted her head but didn’t answer me. I saw her shoulders relax and her head slowly turn back as though she was trying to not let me see she’d moved at all. I laughed and went out to the kitchen. “Goodbye, Mrs. Smith. Thank you for the cookies,” I said. She came over and gave me a big hug and patted me on the back. She was too short to reach my head without standing on her tiptoes. “Be good!” she said as I left. I walked back to my house, changed into my uniform and then went to work. There was a feeling of excitement at work that day. I have no idea why, but everyone was happier and friendlier. It was nice, but kind of weird. We all knew and liked each other but we never talked very much. Today everyone was greeting everyone and talking. I met up with Kelly in the locker room a few minutes before our shift started. “What’s gotten into everybody?” I asked her. She shrugged. “We are getting a new restaurant in that old building to the left of the gas station.” I just stared at her. “What?” she said. “We haven’t gotten a new restaurant in over twenty years and now we are. How can you just shrug? That is great news! I mean sure it’s almost not in our city, but it is. It’s in our city. Maybe this means things are turning around, that everyone is taking a chance on us again.” She looked at me. “Garrett, we all know it will go out of business in less than six months, nobody can afford it.” She tried to step around me but I stepped in front of her. “What’s gotten into you? Are you all right? You and Nicole didn’t get in a fight

did you?” I asked. She sighed. “No, everything with Nicole and me is fine. I just don’t feel good,” she said and walked past me. She was obviously lying but I wasn’t going to be able to get her to tell me the truth. “Okay, but hey, I need your address so I can bring Charlie over tomorrow.” I said. She turned to look at me with an incredulous look. “I never said I would keep that dog. What were you thinking? Since when have you become so insensitive?” she yelled at me. I took a few steps back. I felt awful, I hadn’t asked her if Nicole could bring her dog. I’d just assumed it would be okay. Kelly had always told me how she’d wanted a dog. “I’m so sorry. I thought you wanted one and I didn’t even think to ask you,” I said. She gave a laugh that had no humor in it. “That’s your problem. You don’t think anymore. It’s fine. I can’t say no now. Meet me in the locker room after work and I’ll write down my address.” With that she stormed out of the room and started working. I tried to get her to talk to me a few times but she wouldn’t. She ignored me the whole night while everyone else was doing the opposite. They all wanted to talk to me, to make sure I was okay. It was the first time I’d gotten so many questions about that night. I did my best to answer them without giving anything away about Nicole. They were all talking more than they ever had in one day to me. Usually everyone went about their business and did their job as best they could. They were lucky to have that job and didn’t want to risk losing it. Today everyone’s hope for the city was making them happy. The lights in the warehouse didn’t seem to cast such a harsh fluorescent glow, but a sunny one tonight. There wasn’t much that was colorful, just a bunch of brown on silver metal everywhere but it lit up everyone’s faces. The light was being gentle tonight and made everyone brighter instead of sicklier tonight.

I was torn between being excited for the city and being able to see Nicole tomorrow, and worried about Kelly. I really never thought about her or appreciated her as much as I should. She was still my friend and very important to me, even if I was back with Nicole. Of course I’d thought about liking Kelly at some point but I never actually had. I just didn’t, and it was awful because I knew she liked me. I’d tried to get her to go on a date with one of the guys but she always refused. At the end of the shift everyone bustled back into the locker room and packed up their stuff to leave. They left in pairs that night, to celebrate I guess. I probably would have gone with some of them if I wasn’t waiting for Kelly. After she had her jacket on and her purse flung over her shoulder she turned to me. She grabbed my arm, pushed my sleeve up, and wrote her address on my arm. She capped her pen and quickly turned to leave. “Kelly wait, I’m sorry. Let me take you for a coffee. I’ll pay,” I said. I said the words before I thought about them. Hopefully she would know this wasn’t a date. I had a girlfriend and she knew it, but this was the first thing I could think of to make up my thoughtlessness to her. “Thank you, but no. I’m going home,” she said and walked out the door, leaving me alone in the locker room. I sighed and started my walk home. I’d done what I could and now just had to wait until tomorrow when I could see Nicole again. I’d be seeing Kelly again too, but that was okay. I would try and make things up to her, to make her happy again. That night I walked into Ralph’s and started my plan. I needed as many people as we could get to be outside the man’s office when Nicole went in to talk to him. I didn’t want anyone getting hurt, and the more people we had there the less likely it was they would hurt one of us. I just hoped the neighborhood trusted each other to take this risk. I was going to go around to all the people I knew and ask them to meet me there, and to be ready to fight if it came to that. I would go in with Nicole, but we may need more than that. Who knows how many men would be there for or against us. Ralph looked up from his book as I walked into the store. “Hey, how is everything?” he said.

I walked up to the counter and said, “It’s good. Look can we go into the break room? I need to talk to you.” He gave me a look and then nodded. He took the keys off the counter by the cash and led me back to the room. He pulled out a chair and motioned for me to sit in the opposite one. “I’ll listen to you, but I don’t have too long. I don’t want anyone to see I’m not behind the counter,” he said. I understood, but it never used to be a problem. Now everyone was worried they would do something wrong, or for something to look suspicious just in case they were watching. “Okay, so Nicole and I are going to go talk to those men next week. We’re going to try to make a deal with them, forget them to agree to leave her and the rest of the neighborhood alone. I’m worried they are going to have more people than us and that they’ll just end up hurting or killing us. I thought if we showed up with enough people they wouldn’t try anything. Would you be there with us?” I sat and waited. Ralph was thinking, and thinking hard. He didn’t really have much of a family to go back too, like me, so I thought he would be a good place to start because he’d be more willing than most to help. After a few minutes he nodded. “All right man, I’m in. I’ll help you. Somebody deserves to get out of this place. It might as well be you and her, you guys would be able to do the most,” he said. I let out a sigh of relief and smiled. “Do you know anyone else who’d be willing to help?” There was another pause while he thought. The lights above us flickered on the cheap tables and chairs and cast a dismal light on everything, making it feel like we were in a prison. “I’ll talk to some people. Whoever you ask should help. I know everybody wants this to end and for them to leave us alone just as much as you’ve always been striving to get out of here. It’s that dang Hayes man. He’s screwed everybody over with his dang drugs,” he said. I blushed, I didn’t realize I’d been that obvious with my wish to get out of here. “Thanks so much, Ralph. It really means a lot,” I said. I pushed out my chair and stood up, holding my hand out for him to shake. He stood up too. “No problem, man,” he said. He walked back out to his counter and watched me

as I left. Nobody else was likely to come see him that night, but it still felt as if someone was watching us, waiting for the right moment to attack. I couldn’t sleep that night, even with Charlie on the bed keeping me warm. He was snoring at the end of my bed and I envied him. He didn’t have to worry, not like I did. I eased myself out of bed, careful not to disturb him. I was going to miss him once I dropped him off with Nicole, it would be much lonelier here. I crept over to my desk and switched on my lamp. I sat there for hours, brainstorming who I could talk to. I could ask people at work, and all the guys. If I asked them to also talk to people then I could probably spread the word to almost everyone in the neighborhood. I wouldn’t know how many people would be showing up, but I could only hope for the best. Hopefully enough people would show up. I would ask Nicole tomorrow the name of the man and the address so that people would know where to go. I’d also have to let Ralph know that on the way home tomorrow. I sat there at my desk until the sun came up planning and re-planning what I was going to do. I didn’t sleep at all that night but when the clock struck nine I was wide awake and ready to go see Nicole. Being away from her even for this short amount of time had made me realize that I didn’t want to be without her again. I grabbed a banana and shoved it in as I hauled Charlie’s dog food and bowls out to my car and then hooked him onto his leash. He wagged his tail, banging it against my leg as we got ready to leave. He hopped up into the enger seat of my car and stuck his head out the window as I started up the car. On the way there he went back and forth between the front window and the back ones and when he got tired he crawled into the front seat and laid his head in my lap and went to sleep. About twenty minutes after we left my apartment we pulled up to the address Kelly had given me. It was in a neighborhood with well-groomed yards. The houses weren’t big, and they weren’t new, but they were nice. They were old, but not so old that they cost a lot of money. It was much better than my neighborhood and I was glad Nicole was here and not in my apartment. I doubted that the men would find her here. I opened my door and went around to let Charlie out, grabbing onto his leash as

he bounded out of my car. He pulled me up to the door and sat down as I knocked and waited for someone to answer. Nicole flung open the door and jumped onto me with her legs around my waist. I grabbed onto her and held her up as she hugged me. She hopped down and kissed me and then bent down to give Charlie a hug. He licked her face as she embraced him, but Nicole didn’t seem to mind. She grabbed Charlie’s leash in one hand and my hand with the other and dragged us into the house. The furniture was sparse but the wood floor was beautiful and the furniture that was there was pretty. It wasn’t girly but it was nice and definitely Kelly’s home. Nicole led me into the kitchen where Kelly was at the stove scrambling eggs in her pajamas. She gave me a weak smile and turned back to the stove. Nicole climbed onto one of the barstools that faced the kitchen. I sat down in the one next to her and she grabbed my hand and faced towards me. “How have you been?” she asked, “I’ve really missed you.” I laughed. “I’ve been good. I’ve missed you too. The house has been much quieter without you. Charlie had resorted to sleeping with me.” She giggled and then looked at me and said seriously, “It will be over soon, right?” I pulled her closer to me and rubbed my thumb along the back of her hand. “It will. I promise I will fix this. That reminds me. What is the name of the guy those men were working for and where is his office?” She told me the man’s name was Mr. Morgenstern and gave me the address. She didn’t say anything after that and the only sound was Kelly cooking. “So how have things been with you two? Have you had some good girl time?” I said. I knew that was an awful question but I was just grasping for something to say to make it less awkward. Nicole’s face lit up. “Oh yes, it’s been amazing. I never had anything like this. We’ve watched movies and I got to paint my nails,” she wiggled her fingers in my face to show me her red nails.

I was glad she was so happy. I turned to Kelly to see what she thought but she just shot me a look, tensed up her shoulders and kept cooking. She put the eggs on a plate and then set the plates down on the table. “Food’s ready,” she said. Nicole and I walked over there. “Thank you so much. You didn’t have to make me anything,” I said. “I had extra,” Kelly said and sat down across from me with her plate. We ate our food while Nicole chattered away. I looked around the house some more. It was very cozy, there were lots of windows letting in the sunlight. Some of the furniture looked like it had been Kelly’s grandmother’s, but everything worked together. She didn’t have many pictures up though. There was one of her family on the mantle, and some more of her brothers and sisters scattered around, and then there was one of her and me together. I ed taking that picture, it had been at a party someone from work had set up. We’d been having a great time together. I felt Kelly staring at me and when I looked at her she had turned her head to see what I’d been looking at. She bent her head down over her food. I could tell that she was blushing. Nicole didn’t notice any of this, she just kept talking. She was happy, and she wasn’t scared, and that brought out the side in her that I’d missed. After we were done eating we all helped clean up and then Nicole brought me into her room. “How long can you stay?” she asked. “Until three, I dressed in my work clothes this morning so that I could just head straight to work. I wanted to spend as much time with you as possible,” I said. “It’s not like I’m that far away. You can come and see me. That doesn’t mean I want you to leave! I’m just saying, don’t talk like we can’t see each other,” she said. Her hands were resting on my chest. I kissed them and held them between us. “I know, and I’m glad you are so close and happy, but I can’t come every day. I don’t want to impose on Kelly.” She nodded and then stood on her tiptoes to kiss me. We sat down on her bed and just talked. I loved listening to Nicole’s voice then, she was happy and I

could hear it when she talked. Her voice tinkled throughout the room. Her bed had a nice feminine comforter and she had a big window in her room. The room was big, with a nice rug in the middle, a bookshelf, and a nightstand. It was simple and laying on the bed with Nicole I saw what our life would be like. I loved it. We all went out to lunch, including Kelly, and I paid for all of us. It was nice and Kelly seemed to ease up a little and become a little happier. She and Nicole chatted and I ed in every now and then. I could tell Kelly and Nicole got along well, and I was sure that was part of why Nicole was so happy. After lunch we went back to Kelly’s house and watched TV for a little bit. At 2:30 I stood up and started getting ready to go. “Do you want a ride, Kelly? I can bring you home if you want also,” I said. “Yes, that’d be great,” she said and ran to get changed. Nicole walked us to the door and gave me a kiss. “Thanks for bringing Charlie, I’ll see you soon,” she said and then shut and locked the door as Kelly and I got into my car. Kelly had her arms crossed and was staring out her window as I we drove out of her neighborhood. “Thanks so much for letting Nicole stay with you. She is happy,” I said. Kelly shrugged, “It’s no problem. She’s really nice. We’ve been getting along really well.” “Are you all right?” I asked. I didn’t actually want to talk about emotions, but I wanted her to be mad at me even less. “I’m fine, Garrett. I’m happy to be helping you,” she said. We didn’t talk the rest of the way there and I turned on the radio to drown out the silence. I couldn’t think of anything else to say to her. It was weird then because she used to be my best friend, and we could talk about anything together. When we got there I asked, “Am I giving you a ride home tonight?” She turned back around to me and said, “Do you really want to give me a ride

home or do you just want to see Nicole? She is probably going to be asleep when we get back just so you know.” “Kelly stop it! Yes I want to see Nicole, she is my girlfriend, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to give you a ride home. I really appreciate you helping us but just stop being so rude to me. I know you like me, and I’m sorry I don’t feel the same way about you. You’re a great friend, but that’s all,” I said. Kelly had an astonished look on her face and she stomped over to me and stopped in front of me, toe to toe. She kept staring into my eyes and then she reached up and slapped me. “I was there for you when she wasn’t. You don’t appreciate that. You don’t understand how much I care for you, so don’t act like you do. I won’t ever try and get in the way of you and Nicole, but respect me and the friendship we had enough to not shove your relationship in my face. Show some thought for me too, okay?” She clenched her teeth together and stood there staring at me with that same angry expression in her eyes. And then she started crying. Her expression didn’t change but tears starting rolling down her face from her beautiful brown eyes. Kelly was gorgeous, but she was right. I hadn’t appreciated her, or realized what she’d done but that didn’t change the fact that I loved Nicole, not her. “I’m sorry,” I said and then walked into work, leaving Kelly standing outside staring at my back. Before work I told some of the people I was closest to about Morgenstern and how Nicole and I were going to try and talk to him. I asked them to spread the word. Most of them agreed to help us out and said they’d meet us there. The ones who refused all had families that they had to care for, and were probably scared they’d make a target of their families if they went. I hoped I’d told enough people so the word would spread. I’d call the guys tonight and tell them. Now we just had to see how many turned up. When Kelly came in the locker room right before the shift started she looked as though nothing had happened. Her eyes didn’t show any signs that she’d been crying and she greeted everyone with a smile and a few kind words. I didn’t love her. I couldn’t make myself, and I was too wrapped up in Nicole. Kelly didn’t talk to me during work again that day. It was something I was getting used to and it didn’t bother me today. I talked with other people and did

my job. I wasn’t so worried today. I had a plan and it was going along smoothly, Nicole was happy and I knew she was safe. Tom hadn’t showed up lately, and everyone was ing me. Things were going good. I only hoped my luck would hold out. Just a week more and everything would be over. I’d either be leaving with Nicole or be in some kind of trouble. Either way this was the change and I hoped it worked but if it didn’t I was done trying. I’d stay here and make a life for myself somehow. After work Kelly was waiting by my car. We didn’t speak until I was parked in her driveway. “Do you want to come in and see if Nicole is awake?” she asked. I nodded and walked up to the front door with her, locking my car before I shut the door behind me. It was dark in the house now and Kelly started flipping on all the lights. “I don’t like it being dark in here, I even keep the kitchen light on while I sleep,” she said. I walked back to Nicole’s room and found her asleep on her bed. She wasn’t under the covers and the book she’d been reading had fallen down and was open on her stomach. I picked it up and put a book mark in the page it was open to. I set it down on her nightstand and then pulled down her sheets, trying to cover her up. She woke up enough to see me and reached out her hand and tugged me to sit down beside her. “Stay here,” she mumbled. “For a little bit,” I said. I propped myself up on her pillows and covered her up. She rested her head on my chest and I ran my fingers through her hair, trying to get her to go to sleep. I was starting to nod off when Kelly stuck her head into the room. “You can’t stay here all night, it’s time for you to go,” she said and walked away. I gently slid myself out from under Nicole. She mumbled something and then turned on her side, hugging her pillow. Charlie lifted his head up, watched me and then went back to sleep. Kelly was waiting by the front door as I was walking out of the house. I held out my arms. “Come here,” I said. She cautiously walked forward and settled into my hug. We stood that way for a while and then she backed away. “Goodbye, Garrett. I’ll see you at work tomorrow,” she said and opened the door for me.

By the time I was almost home I realized I needed to go by the gas station so I could give Ralph the rest of the information. I turned around and headed back to the store. Ralph gave me a half smile as I entered. “Hey, man you never told me,” “I know dude, I’m sorry,” I said. “That’s why I came by, to tell you the guy’s name and where to meet.” He nodded at me, “All right man, cool. Hey would you mind staying for a drink? I’ll pay for it, but it gets kind of lonely here sometimes.” “Sure, what do you want? I’ll go get it,” I said. I went and got a diet Coke for me and a strawberry Fanta for him. He rang them up and paid for them and we walked back into the break room. We sat and talked while we drank. Ralph had turned on a lamp that was in the corner so the room wasn’t so sterile looking. I did most of the talking, but Ralph was still much more talkative than he was when I’d first met him. He was nice and I had a good time but when our drinks were gone I got up. I needed to head home and try to get some sleep. Ralph walked me out. “’Night man, see you later,” he said in his low, quiet voice. I gave him a wave and walked out to where I parked my car. It wasn’t there. I walked around the whole store, thinking I might have parked it in a different spot but it wasn’t anywhere. Someone had stolen my car. I wouldn’t be able to afford another one for a while. I ran back into the store. “Someone stole my car, man!” I said. Ralph looked up at me startled. “Did they really? Wouldn’t we have heard them?” I slammed my hands down on the counter and Ralph jumped. “I guess not. Do you know who did it? Were you trying to distract me?” I was furious. I didn’t think it was a coincidence that Ralph had offered to have a drink with me and then my car was gone.

Ralph put his hands in the air. “No, I swear. I’m sorry. I’ll try and help figure out what happened to your car, but I didn’t do it,” he said. “Fine, but if I find out you had a hand in this you’re done for,” I said and ran out the door all the way back to my apartment. I wouldn’t ever actually kill him, but I wanted to scare him, maybe I’d get my car back if he thought I’d hurt him. When I got to my apartment building I stopped. My car was there, in front of the building. I ran to it and hopped in, nothing was different on the outside. A note was taped to my steering wheel. It said:

We know your car We know where you live We know where you work We know where your girlfriend is Don’t try and stop us She owes us We’ll get it when she comes to talk to us I slammed my fist against the dashboard. How could I have been so stupid? They’d found where I lived and then I’d made myself so easy to track. I’d used my own car and put Nicole back in danger by driving to see her. We couldn’t just leave, they would follow us wherever we went. We had to fix this with them before we did. I drove my car to where I normally parked and slammed the door. I ran up to my apartment. I couldn’t save anyone, I was too stupid, too weak to do any good. I couldn’t help Nicole, I don’t know why I thought I ever could. I slept hard that night, but had horrible nightmares. I woke up in a cold sweat.

The words “four more days” pounded in my head.

Chapter 8

I woke up the next morning with too many questions. Most of all I was worried I’d accused Ralph falsely. I slid out of bed and pulled on my pajama pants and walked out to the kitchen. I was thankful for the quiet in the apartment today because I needed time to think. “Hello, Garrett,” a voice said as I walked into the kitchen. I jumped and looked up. Tom was sitting at our kitchen table. “What are you doing here, Tom?” I said. I was trying to act like it didn’t bother me he was here so I walked casually over and started to make myself a cup of coffee. “I heard your girlfriend wasn’t in the neighborhood anymore. No one has seen her lately. I figure I’d pop in and see if I was able to move back into my home again,” he said. He sat at the table with his feet propped up on the chair across from him and his hands behind his head. I hadn’t seen it before but he was slimy. I couldn’t believe I used to trust him enough to share an apartment with me. “You know she isn’t here anymore, but I don’t think I want you living here anymore,” I said. “What kind of crap is that, Garrett? I pay to live here, too. You can’t kick me out.” I turned to face him and said, “Actually, I can. Your name isn’t on the papers, mine is. You don’t pay for that much anyway. I can take care of the bills myself and I don’t like the way you treated Nicole. I don’t like the way you’re treating me either. You’re acting weird, Tom, and I’m done with it.” He pushed the table away from him and stood up. “Fine. I’ll pack my stuff and leave, but Garrett, you have no clue what you’re getting into, no clue what you’re doing, and someone is going to get hurt.” “Let’s hope it’s not you,” I snapped at him.

He gave a twisted grin before he left the kitchen. “No, let’s hope it’s not your girlfriend’s pretty face,” he said. My fingers dug into my skin as I clenched my fists to keep from hitting him. I propped open the door to the kitchen and sat at the table to drink my coffee, keeping an eye on Tom as he slowly packed his stuff and set it next to the front door. I wouldn’t go to work if he was still here. I would wait until he was all the way packed and gone, and then I would go get a new lock for the door. Tom knew I was watching him; he kept shooting me looks as he packed his things. I got up to get some bread for lunch and then took it to Tom’s room. I leaned against his doorframe and ate as I watched him back. When Tom was done he stood up and crossed his arms. “You bought the bed and other furniture in that room. It’s all yours. I’ve got all my stuff so I guess this is goodbye,” he said. He offered his hand but I ignored it and watched the door and until he’d left. Once he had moved all his stuff down to his car I frantically looked around the apartment to make sure he hadn’t taken anything of mine. As I was looking through all my stuff I found a hair clip Nicole had forgotten. It was silver with blue jewels in it. I vaguely ed her saying it was her grandmother’s. She would probably be missing it. I gently placed it in my top dresser drawer. I would give it to her when we had settled this. It was too fragile for me to feel comfortable ing it to Kelly to give to her. I wanted to give it to her in person anyway. From what I could tell Tom hadn’t taken anything of importance of mine. I sighed and sat down on the couch with the phone to call the guys. I hadn’t had a chance to last night and I needed to do it soon. “Dave, I have another favor,” I said when he picked up. “All right let’s hear it.” I asked him to round up all the other guys and put the phone on speaker. “Is everyone here?” I asked. There was a unanimous yes, and I started my story. I told them from the beginning all that had happened, including everything with Ralph and Tom. Maybe they could see something I couldn’t in it. Then I asked

them for their help. “I think my mom is able to watch my sisters that night. I’ll be there, man. Anything to help,” Kevin said. All the other guys were in, no problem. They didn’t live with their families. Most of them lived together in a rundown house off of Main Street. I was thankful they were all able to be there. They would be a big help and I knew they’d be watching out for me specifically and not just be there as extra hands in a fight. “Hey, Garrett, listen to me. You can do this and we are going to be there to help you. Nicole will be fine ‘cause you are going to make sure she is. Everyone always knew the two of you would get out,” Dave said. “I really hope so.” We all said our goodbyes and I got off the phone. It was time for me to go to work. I was tired of this. It was the best paying job around but I couldn’t wait to have something I really enjoyed doing. Maybe I could draw, or be an art teacher. I’d have to go to college first though. As I was leaving the phone rang. I rushed to pick it up. “Hello?” I said. “Hey Garrett, it’s me,” Nicole’s voice said through the phone. I let out a breath of relief and sat down on the couch. “Hey Nicole,” I said. “I know you’re about to go to work but I just wanted to call and make sure you were doing okay.” “Thanks. I’m doing as good as I can. Just stay safe,” I said. “I will, but just calm down. You can do this. I promise we are going to be okay,” she said. “Okay, thanks so much for calling. I needed to hear you. I love you,” I said. “Love you too. Goodbye,” she said and hung up the phone. Feeling calmer I walked out of the house and went on my way to work. Work

was uneventful that night and I walked home without any surprises. I didn’t stop in to see Ralph, I still didn’t know if he had helped them take my car or not. I crashed when I got home. I needed the rest but couldn’t escape the words “Two more days” pounding in my head. The sound of the front door opening woke me up. I’d forgotten to change the lock yesterday. I shot out of bed and peered around the hallway wall. A woman was standing in the dark in the living room. The silhouette fumbled around by the wall, searching for the light. I crept forward, hoping she didn’t see me. I was almost close enough to see who it was when the lights flicked on. The girl yelped and threw her hands up over her mouth. “Garrett, what are you doing?” she said. I straightened up and said, “Well I’m sorry I was a little worried that a woman was sneaking into my apartment in the morning without telling me she was coming.” “Ha, very funny,” Kelly said, “But Garrett, you need to come with me right now. Someone slipped a note under the front door this morning and it really freaked Nicole out.” “Did you bring it with you?” I asked. She nodded and held it out to me. It was the same type of note that had been in my car. Time’s running out Princess We’ll get what you owe us Don’t back out though We’re looking forward to your little visit “How did you get here? I’m coming back with you. They know my car. They left me a note just like this. I didn’t tell either of you because I didn’t want to scare Nicole,” I said. I grabbed my jacket and gun and put them on. Kelly backed out into the hallway and I turned off the lights and shut the door. “I took a cab here. It’s waiting outside,” she said as we rushed down the stairs.

We hurried into the cab. The driver turned around and smiled at us. “Where to?” he said. His mustache curled up at the ends like something out of a cheesy cartoon against his tan skin. “What happened to the guy who drove me here?” Kelly asked. “It doesn’t matter, sweetheart. He went on his break,” the guy said. “Okay, let’s just drive. We can worry about the cab guy later,” I said. Kelly nodded and gave the guy her address and he sped away from the curb. Her cheeks were flushed with color from running around and the cold. “Did you leave Nicole by herself?” I asked. “I had to. She wanted you and I tried to call but you didn’t answer. Charlie stayed with her,” Kelly said. She gave me an apologetic look. I turned away from her and looked out the car window and watched the ugly neighborhood go by. I willed the car to go faster, so I could hurry and be with Nicole. I didn’t want her to be by herself. I couldn’t believe they were sending notes to her. She was already scared. I was scared she would back out if anything else happened to frighten her. The cab stopped in front of Kelly’s house and I didn’t waste any time hurrying up to the door and banging on it. I left Kelly to pay the cab driver. Nicole opened the door carefully. I rushed in and hugged her when I saw her. “Are you okay?” I asked. She broke down and started crying. “I can’t do this. I can’t.” I rubbed her back and tried to calm her down, as well as myself. “You have to do this. I promised I wouldn’t let them do anything to you, and I will keep that promise. I will be with you the whole time. I’ve talked to a bunch of people and they are going to be there with us too. We aren’t going to be alone. We will be safe. They won’t have enough guys to stop us,” I said. Nicole froze and stepped away from me. She stared at something behind me and then ran into her room. I turned around to see Kelly walking in the door with the cab driver smiling stupidly. “He just wanted a water. I told him to come in while

I got something for him,” she explained. She hurried to get him a water and then ushered him out. He sat at the curb for a little bit and then drove away. “I’m staying here until Monday when we go to settle this. I don’t want you or her getting hurt,” I said and brushed past her to get to Nicole’s room. She was lying on her bed holding onto Charlie when I walked in. I sat down on the bed beside her and rubbed her back. She didn’t look up, just let me calm her. Kelly walked in after a little while and pulled out the stool by the vanity. “I’m sorry,” she said. “What for?” I asked. I stopped rubbing Nicole’s back and she sat up against the headboard clutching her pillow against her. “For letting him in, for leaving Nicole here alone. I bet I was the one who let them know where she was, too,” she said. I dropped my head into my hands. “No, that was me,” I said, “They knew my car and followed me here. I guess it was the day I dropped off Charlie. Then they took my car one night while I was talking to Ralph and it was at the apartment when I got back there. It had a note similar to this in it.” The light blue walls bounced the sunlight around that was coming in from the big windows. The white furniture grabbed it and illuminated the room even more. It was soothing, being in this room. It felt like nothing could hurt us here. “Are you sure there are going to be enough people there Monday?” Nicole asked. “I know there will be,” I lied. She snuggled under my arm and we sat that way most of the day talking about nothing. Later that afternoon I hooked Charlie to his leash. “I’m going to talk to Tony about getting a new lock for my door. I’m going to take Charlie. He could use the exercise.” Nicole gave me a hug and Kelley waved me goodbye. I jogged all the way to

Tony’s house. He was an acquaintance of mine I’d known for a while. He dropped out of high school and worked in his garage doing odd jobs for people and who knows what else. He had tattoos all over his arms, but overall he was a nice guy. I knocked on the side of his garage before I entered. “Come in,” he called. I walked in and he rolled his chair away from his desk and over to me. “I like the haircut man,” I said. He rubbed his hand over his bald shiny head, “It’s so much easier dude. So what can I do for you?” “I need a new lock and two keys,” I said, “Something that can’t be broken into.” “I can do that real fast. Just wait right there for a few minutes,” he said and got to work. Charlie sniffed around the garage as far as his leash would reach as we waited. Tony was done quickly and walked over to hand me the lock. “All you need’s a screwdriver. Use the same screws that are in yours now, and pop it on. It’s not too hard.” “Thanks. How much do I owe you?” I asked and reached into my back pocket to pull out my wallet. “A hundred dollars.” I stared at him. He had to be joking. “Are you serious?” “Yes sir. You’re paying for me to custom make that, and no one else can pick that,” he said with his arms crossed over his chest. I grumbled out an okay and handed over the money. He held it up to the light to make sure it was real and then said his goodbye. I walked Charlie back to the apartment and let him run around while I installed the lock. It was dark by the time we were walking back to Kelly’s house. We walked past the warehouse and past the grocery store. As we were walking past the gas station Ralph was pulling up to start his shift. He saw me and ran over to me.

“Look, Garrett, I’m sorry about your car. I didn’t do it. I really just wanted a drink with you. What can I do to get you to believe me?” he said. He looked honest and I wanted to believe him, but I just couldn’t yet. “Be there Monday and help us,” I said. I tugged Charlie away from sniffing Ralph and kept walking down the sidewalk. It got darker as we walked away from the lights of the gas station and soon my eyes adjusted to the near darkness of the streets. An hour later I was back at Kelly’s house. Her porch light was on and I could see her and Nicole sitting at the dining room table laughing and eating their supper together. I saw Nicole look out the window and see me. She walked over and opened the door for me and then set me a place at the table. Kelly had made the food. It was good and the first supper I’d had that I hadn’t cooked for myself in a long time. We forced ourselves to ignore the problem. We didn’t talk about it at the table but it pressed in the back of our minds constantly. Kelly didn’t have another room but she offered me the couch. I accepted and we set up pillows and blankets. She pulled out a scratchy red blanket from a closet and an old worn pillow. It looked like something she might have gotten ed down from her grandma. It was squishy and well loved. I gently took it and set it up on the couch. We stayed up and drank some wine and watched TV and the girls were finally tired enough to head to their rooms. I laid down on the couch and pulled out a book from my bag to try and distract myself enough to be able to go to sleep when Nicole walked back out. She sat down on the end of the couch and placed her hand on my feet. “What’s up?” I said. “Just come sleep with me, please,” she said. So I gathered up my stuff and followed her back to her room. We crawled under the covers together and she wrapped her arms around me and went to sleep. I didn’t need to read my book anymore that night, she was comforting enough to make me go to sleep. Charlie was at the foot of the bed and for that night I was happy. The next day I got up before the girls did and went out into the street to try and find Tom. I needed to figure out what he was up to. I had to be sure he wasn’t

going to be a threat to us or get in our way. I didn’t know where to start so I just started walking the streets. I ed all the boarded up shops and got to the one clothing store we had. I ed a Chinese restaurant that no one went to. Too many people had gotten food poisoning there; it was bound to go out of business soon. No one went there anymore. I saw Tom’s head in the crowd and started running to catch up with him. My arm bumped into a guy and knocked the papers out of his arms. “What the hell?” the guy said. “I am so sorry.” I bent down to help him. He had boring papers about work and bills. It was normal things, that I would gladly trade for what I had. He was scooting the papers into a pile and I was picking up the ones that had scattered further. I saw one that had blown further up the street and went to go get it. It was a drawing that looked like it was done by a little girl. I carried it over to him. “Did your daughter do this, sir?” I asked. He looked up at me like he was astonished I would ask about anything personal. “Yes,” he said cautiously, “She’s 4 and drew that for me in school.” He took the paper out of my hands and tucked it into the middle of his stack. “That was very nice. I’m sorry I bumped into you.” He gave me a strange look. “Okay, have a nice day,” he said as he quickly walked away from me. I looked up and cursed when I realized I’d lost Tom. I kept wandering the streets and was going down an alley when he walked out of the shadows and stood in front of me. “Why are you following me?” he asked. “I need to talk to you.” He crossed his arms and looked at me, waiting for me to say something. “What are you doing?” I asked. “It’s none of your business,” he said gruffly.

I stepped up closer to him. “It is though. If you hurt Nicole, Kelly, or me we will have problems.” He laughed at me, a laugh devoid of happiness. “I’m not trying to hurt anyone, Garrett. I’m trying to stay alive.” “Could you take your problems somewhere else and leave Nicole and me alone?” He shoved me up against the wall and got where I couldn’t shove him off of me. “Listen to me closely. I am in a position I can’t change. I will do my best to leave you two and Kelley alone, but I’m not promising anything. Stay out of my way and stop causing trouble,” he said. “Trouble with who?” I choked out. “You know, with what you’re planning to do. Stop, just lay low and it’ll solve itself.” I finally got him off. A thin streak of light from the street had escaped into the alley even past the two tall buildings squeezing us in close. “I can’t do that,” I said. “Then I can’t help you, you’re only hurting yourselves now.” He shoved me away and walked out of the alley way into the sun. I waited a little bit until I had calmed down and then walked back out into the street. The sun blinded my eyes and I stayed still until I got used to it again. I saw Cora walking towards me on the street giving me a smile that scared me. She was wearing her hair up. In the daytime she didn’t look as good as I ed. I was afraid she was going to go crazy with trying to kiss me again so I ducked into the Chinese restaurant I’d ed earlier. The drugged out teen at the counter looked surprised when I walked in. I gestured to him to keep quiet and ignore me. I ran into their bathroom, not caring where I was as long as I was away from Cora. I had finally settled things with Nicole and wasn’t going to mess it up now by having her hear that someone had seen me with Cora. I locked the bathroom door behind me and switched on the light. I was disgusted

by what I saw. The toilet was yellow and bugs were all over the place. I looked at my watch and told myself I would stay in there for five minutes and then head home. I gagged all the way through those five minutes, but I managed. Once I ran out of the bathroom I took in a deep breath of air. I just held my breath again. I was still in the Chinese shop. I waved at the workers as I ran out into the street where I got a real breath of air. I looked around but didn’t see Cora or anyone else I knew. I started strolling up the street back towards my apartment. It was a lonely walk back but it gave me a lot of time to think. That night Kelly wouldn’t let me sleep with Nicole. She insisted Nicole needed her rest. None of us got any sleep that night, all of us waiting for what tomorrow would bring.

Chapter 9

We got up the next morning when the sun started peeking in the window. I let Charlie into the backyard and made breakfast while Nicole took a shower and got dressed. I started packing the bag of stuff we would need for the day. I put in the go phones, some food for the guys, and I placed my gun on the stack of clothes I would put on after I showered. I got cleaned up and came out to find Nicole still doing her makeup. “You look pretty without it,” I said. She turned toward me. “I need to look perfect. I can’t let them see anything wrong with me.” “There isn’t,” I said and went back to packing. I almost ran into Kelly a few times in the hallway. “Are you coming?” I asked. “I wouldn’t let you go without me.” I shook my head. “Be careful, stay towards the back and let the others be first to barge in if we need you.” She nodded and we continued getting ready. My stomach was churning and Nicole was a nervous wreck who kept checking to make sure everything was perfect. We were ready earlier than we planned, but decided to go ahead and leave anyway. It was a quiet ride to the office where we were meeting. We had told everyone to meet across the street. There were already some people waiting when we arrived. They all wore jeans, a shirt and some kind of jacket; the standard outfit of the neighborhood. They all had their guns with them, tucked away where you couldn’t see them. Dave was standing at the front, keeping everyone in order. Kevin was walking up behind the group as we crossed the street to meet them. “How are you feeling?” he asked as he gave me a pat on the back.

“Um, I’m all right,” I said. Nicole was staying beside me and Kelly had moved to stand with the rest of the group. More people gradually trickled in. By the time twelve o’clock came around we had a pretty good sized group, but Ralph hadn’t shown up. I figured I had better say some words and make sure they knew what the plan was. “Okay, if I could get everyone’s attention that would be great,” I said and they quieted down, “I appreciate all of you coming out here to help Nicole and me today, it really means a lot. Now I’m going to go in there with Nicole and we are going to try and talk to the guy. If there is any trouble Dave will have a phone and I will let him know. If so, I’ll need you all to come in and make sure they don’t hurt Nicole. We need to get them to agree to leave Nicole alone, and our neighborhood. We will have them outnumbered, but we are at a place where they are comfortable so please be careful. I don’t expect any trouble, but be ready. Thanks again, you guys.” I backed off and went and stood by Nicole and everyone started talking. Dave walked over and I handed him the phone. He took it and walked back over to the group to make sure everyone behaved. I was about to go in with Nicole when I saw a figure running up the street. “I’m sorry I’m late,” the person was yelling. It was Ralph, he had come. I gave him a quick smile and a nod. Nicole found my hand and grabbed it, she was squeezing harder than I think she knew. She took a deep breath and then we walked across the street. The building was large. It was probably about ten stories high and very wide. It was cement, and it hadn’t been painted, but it was in good shape, much better than anything in our neighborhood. We were in The Break and everything was fancier. The windows were clean and didn’t have bars on them. It was big, imposing, and in your face, much like the personalities of the people. There was no sign on the front of the building but it had a covered entrance like something a hotel might have. We walked through the glass revolving door and into a lobby with shiny tiled floor and plush red carpet all around.. There was no place to sit but there was a big desk was at the end of the room. It was tall and made of white marble. A man that looked somewhat like a ferret sat behind the desk and was staring at us

expectantly. We crossed the room hand in hand and walked up to his desk. Our feet sank into the soft carpet with every step, making no noise. There wasn’t any sound at all in the room, it was just quiet. All I heard was Nicole breathing beside me. I gave her hand a reassuring squeeze as we reached the desk. I waited for her to speak up. I didn’t think he would listen to anyone but Nicole. She cleared her throat and squeaked out, “I have an appointment with Mr. Morgenstern.” He raised his eyebrows and looked over his glasses perched at the end of his nose. “And what would the name be?” he asked. “Nicole,” she said. “Ah, yes the lovely Nicole. We’ve been waiting for you. If you would just stand over there for a moment I’ll get you in,” he said in his nasally voice. We stepped over to the right and waited. Nicole’s hand had started shaking and I gave her a quick hug. I looked out the glass doors and saw our friends waiting on the other side of the street. It reassured me to see them all there. I looked around the room some more. I was surprised to see the ceiling was high, and went all the way to the top of the building. Anyone above us could come out of their office and see whoever was here. There was a big golden chandelier at the top and windows at the top of the building that let in the sun. Everything was too much, and it looked overdone. It was all too expensive and fancy for the office of this man. After a few moments the ferret secretary called out for us. “Ms. Nicole, Mr. Morgenstern will see you now. You can take your boy with you. Go up the stairs to the fourth floor. His office will be the last one on your right.” He gestured to his left at the stairs. They were covered in fake gold metal. Nicole and I started the walk up the stairs and stopped when we reached the door of the office. “Are you ready?” I asked Nicole. She gave me a nod. I opened the door for her and followed her in.

She drew in a breath when we entered. It was similar to the lobby but there were no windows. It was all white walls, white tile floor, and a big brown desk at the end of the room. There were columns on the sides of the room making it feel like a ballroom even though they were only there for decoration. The chair behind the desk was spilling over with a particularly fat man. He had a big, ruddy face and was balding. He smiled when he saw us. “Oh good, you are finally here,” he said. His low voice boomed and bounced around the room. He placed his massive paws on top of the desk and motioned for us to come forward. “Hello, sir,” Nicole stuttered, “Thank you for seeing us.” He chuckled. “It’s no problem. You have done me many favors. What can I help you with today?” Nicole stepped forward, straightened her shoulders, and lifted her head. “I am no longer in my father’s service and I would like to be left alone. Your men are taking advantage of me and so I’m done. I don’t want to be in any danger, or have anyone close to me in danger.” He laughed. “Oh dear, you don’t understand do you? I give the men the money, they bring back your father’s goods to me. Whatever they do with you is none of my concern.” “Oh that’s bull shit! You could stop them if you really wanted too,” I burst out. I realized what I’d said and clamped my mouth shut. I had to let Nicole handle this, he would respond much better to her. “You’re feisty aren’t you? Okay, yes I could stop them if I really wanted to, but what fun would that be? Honestly, dearie, just do as they ask and there will be no problem,” he said. He met her gaze and challenged her with his eyes. “I cannot do that. Please, Mr. Morgenstern, just let me be. I have never done anything with your drugs. I’ve always delivered them and I have put up with a lot. They started hurting me and I don’t want to do this anymore. I just want to know that I can leave and not have to worry about anything,” she pleaded with him. “That just isn’t possible. In fact, I think we’ll keep you here. You could be

useful,” he said and snapped his fingers. A man dressed all in black, his face covered with a mask, stepped out from behind a pillar. Another came from the opposite side of the room and started walking towards Nicole. I recognized the first man. His dark hair curled out from his mask and into his eyes. “Tom, is that you?” I asked. The men kept walking towards us. “Tom, I know that’s you. What are you doing working for him?” He kept walking forward but under his breath he said, “It’s safer.” “Seriously, this is who you’re working for? Nothing would have happened if you had just stayed out of it!” I said. “Stop talking to me,” he muttered. I pulled out my gun. “Stay where you are. I will shoot,” I said. The men kept walking. I pulled out my phone. “Dave come in now, bring everyone with you.” I heard my voice come from the other side of the room on Morgenstern’s desk. He boomed out another laugh. “You can’t trick me, boy. I knew about your scheme. I brought in a lot of extra men today to help me out.” As he said that more men dressed in black walked in holding everyone who had been across the street. I started for him, aiming my gun at his head. I wouldn’t let this happen. More men rushed out and grabbed hold of me. They hit my gun out of my hand and held onto my arms. They pushed me down to my knees and I watched as the others grabbed hold of Nicole. She struggled against them but there were too many, they just kept coming. “I’m sorry, Garrett! Stop touching me, you bastard,” I heard come from Dave. The others were shouting and struggling too. Above it all I heard Nicole screaming for me. “Garrett, please stop them. Help me, somebody help me, please. You promised!” I tried to push against the men holding me down but more came and kept me down. I watched Nicole get dragged out of the room through a side door that I

hadn’t seen before. It looked like a on the wall. The others were taken out of the room and I was left with the men holding me down and Morgenstern watching it all from the top of the room. I tried again to get free, but failed. “Who told you?” I shouted to him. He heaved himself out of his chair and walked out from behind his desk. His body shook as he walked towards me. He stopped right in front of me and bent down onto one knee and stared into my face. “You were too careless, boy. That really is all you are, a boy. I heard from your friend, Tom, who you let get way too close to you, even after he showed himself as disliking you. My man was the cab driver the night you were driving home. And my daughter was probably the biggest source of information for me.” He turned to one of his men. “Bring her in please.” The same door that they had taken Nicole through opened and Kelly walked out. She didn’t look at me, she kept her eyes on the ground and walked forward to stand next to her dad. “I’d like to reintroduce you to my daughter, Kelley Morgenstern. She was more than happy to give me information about Nicole. She was smart enough to know if she got rid of her, you would focus on her,” Morgenstern said. “That’s not true, Father!” she said. She knelt down beside me and whispered earnestly, “Garrett, I am so sorry. He said no one would get hurt. He said he wouldn’t take you guys. He threatened to kill you if I didn’t tell him what he wanted to know. I can’t even tell you,” she said. Her dad yanked her up. “Stop it, Kelly. You are not weak, don’t let your silly feelings for this boy get in your way,” he spat out. Kelly started crying and he motioned to his men to take her out. “I’m sorry! Father, don’t hurt him!” she screamed as they dragged her out. “Silly brat,” he said, “Now boy, you are far too dangerous to let out so I will be keeping you here with me, along with your little girl friend. Now don’t worry, I am going to be kind enough to let your pathetic backup up group go. Of course I will be watching them, but they will be free. Maybe in a few years or so I’ll let you out, whenever your girlfriend starts to bore me. In the meantime, my

beautiful daughter will be visiting you in your quarters. Do be nice to her; I would hate to have to destroy your face because you were mean to my Kelly. I’m sure that your face is all that the girls are attracted to anyway, so you wouldn’t want to lose that.” He patted my face and then pushed himself off of his knee and walked back to sit behind his desk. The floor shook as he sat down. “Take him to the rooms I’ve had prepared for him,” he said and waved the men away. I tried to dig my heels in and keep myself there, but the floor was too slippery. The men shoved me in the back but I still tried to get them off of me. Then I felt a hard bang to my head and everything went dark.

Chapter 10

I woke up in a four poster bed. I sat up, pushing away from the warm blankets and pillows piled on the bed, and looked around. I was in a room that looked like a lady’s room from the 18th century. There was a wooden wardrobe across from me and a desk under the window. An intricate rug was spread at the end of the bed and filled up most of the room. There was an entryway at the opposite end of the room. I walked over and found a waiting room. There was a table for cards and some chairs along with a few couches and a piano. Thick red drapes covered the window. I went over and opened them and looked out the window. Bars covered the window and I was looking out into what seemed like a courtyard. It seemed about mid-day. I must have been asleep for at least a day. The building must have been even bigger than it had looked from the outside. I turned and ran to the big oaken doors and tugged against the doorknob. It was locked. I banged against the door trying to find a way to get out. I had to find Nicole and make sure she was okay. I was just about to try to break down the door when it opened. Kelly walked in carrying a tray with soup, water, and bread on it. I punched her in the face before I thought about what I was doing. She collapsed on the floor and my food went everywhere. I was about to sprint out of the room when she called my name. “Garrett, don’t do that.” “Why not?” “You’ll get in trouble. Please, let me help.” Once I had seated her on one of the couches and confronted her. “Why didn’t you say anything?” I said. She looked up at me and then burst out crying. “I’m so sorry. I tried to just be normal, to get away, but I couldn’t. He didn’t want anything until that night you rescued Nicole. After that he wanted to know everything. Who you were, who she was, what his men were really doing, all of it. Once he heard who Nicole

was he wanted her. I couldn’t do anything.” “There must have been something you could have done. Please leave me unless there is something you can do to help me,” I said and walked back into the bedroom area and sat down on the bed. I heard her get up and walk to the door and then stop. “He’s going to make me come back. I’ll be bringing you all your food. He will force me on you, I’m sorry,” she said and then walked out. I heard the door lock behind her. I slammed my fist against the bed and then threw the lamp beside my bed against the wall. It shattered and fell to the ground and I crumpled with it. I sat on the floor, leaning against the side of my bed for a long time and cried. A few hours later, when the sun was setting, I got up. I picked up the pieces of lamp and set it on a table. I tried to clean up the stain from where I’d spilled my soup with water from the bowl I had by my bed. If I was going to be stuck here I wanted it to at least be nice and not be trashed. I could think better if everything was clean, too. I heard a knock at my door and then Kelly walked in. She set the tray down on the table and was walking back out. “Wait,” I said. “Yes?” she said and turned around. “Stay, please. I have some questions,” I said. I walked into the waiting room. Kelly backed as far away from me as she could. “I’ll answer what I’m allowed to,” she said and bowed her head. That’s when I noticed the outfit she was wearing. She was in a maid’s clothes, black dress, white apron and all. “What is this twisted place? Why is it decorated like this? Why are you dressed like that? Where is Nicole?” A flood of question started pouring from my mouth and Kelley cut me off. “Slow down. I’ll answer what I can. You need to ask one thing at a time.” She tentatively came forward and sat down on the couch. I slowly repeated all my questions.

“My dad is crazy. He designed all this. It was expensive but he has the money from doing who knows what. None of it’s real though. The gold metal is just paint and nothing in this room is actually antique. He decorated every room to look extravagant though. He’s dressed me like this because he thinks it’s feminine and is attractive to men. A sign of subservience or something like that. He’s trying to get me what he thinks I want, you, and this is how he’s doing that,” she explained. “And where is Nicole?” I asked. “I can’t tell you that,” she said. I wasn’t going to push it. If I just talked with her maybe something would slip out later. “Kelly, I don’t like you that way. I never will,” I said. “I know that. I figured it out a while ago. My dad is trying to force us to be together; but it would never work; you’re too much in love with Nicole. I understand,” she said. Her voice was soft, and very calm. I hadn’t ever seen her like this, so afraid and unsure of herself. This was so different from the independent person I had worked with. I walked over and sat down beside her. “Has your dad always been like this?” She nodded her head. “Yes, but when he actually had the money to do something about it it got worse. My mom couldn’t stop him. He threatened to take me away if she interfered.” That got my attention. “Is your mom still alive?” I asked. Kelly stood up and walked to the window. “Yes,” she said quietly, “She is here somewhere. I haven’t seen her since I was 6. Sometimes I thought I heard her singing and I know I’ve heard her playing the piano. Sometimes I thought I would catch glimpses of her in one of those windows on the other side of the building while I was cleaning.” She ran her hands over the window and stared at the part of the building in shadow. The sun had gone down to where it shone in her eyes making them look like they were on fire. “You talk like you haven’t been here in a while.” “I haven’t. Since we graduated my dad gave me my house. He hasn’t brought me

back until now. I thought I was free.” A tear rolled down her face and burned orange in the sunlight. It went on like that for a few weeks. Kelly would come in to bring me food and spend the amount of time her father expected her to be with me. I comforted her until she trusted me and was comfortable around me again. She gradually gave me more and more information about the building the more we talked. I found the longer she stayed in my room, the better the food got as a reward. One night I was getting ready to get in bed and go to sleep. I had changed into the fancy pajamas they had in the wardrobe and had washed my face in the basin. I heard a strange noise and stopped what I was doing to try and hear it better. It sounded almost like a bird calling. I crept closer to the door to see if I could hear it any better. The noise slowly became louder until I could hear what it was. Nicole was screaming somewhere in the building. It was awful, the sound of someone being hurt so deep they wouldn’t forget it. I’d never heard anyone scream like that and it was the worst thing I’d ever felt. I banged my fists against the door. “What are you doing to her? Let her go! Nicole, I love you. Be strong,” I yelled into the door. Some men opened the door, knocking me backwards. They stabbed a needle in my neck and I woke up the next morning to silence. I heard Nicole many times after that, but I learned not to yell. I would normally just sit by the door and cry, wishing there was something I could do. As nice as my room was it was still a prison, and I hated every second of it. On the worst nights, when Nicole was in so much pain that her screams would cause pain to anyone hearing to it I would yell on purpose. The men would come and knock me out and I wouldn’t have to listen to her. Sometimes I couldn’t do it. Listening to her yell like that was my torture but I knew it wasn’t half as bad as what they were making her go through. Other times I heard a piano playing frantically late at night. It was Kelly’s mom. That sound sent shivers down my back. I was scared Nicole would become like that. The worst nights were when the two sounds mixed together. The piano and the screams together were horrible and those nights I didn’t wait to be sedated. I

tried to get out when the men came. I almost succeeded a few times, but each time they stopped me and I woke up the next morning to the sun falling on my face through the window. I was sitting in my bed a few weeks later between lunch and supper, waiting for Kelly to bring me food and maybe play a game of cards. There hadn’t been any noises in the night for a while so I was in a better mood than normal. I had arranged the cards on the table and was waiting when the door to my room banged opened and Kelly came running in, out of breath. I jumped off of my bed and went over to her. “What is it? Did your dad do something?” I asked. I placed my hand on her back and tried to help her stand up straight while she caught her breath. “Kind of. My dad wants you to follow me right now,” she said and shook my hand off. She started walking out to the hallway and when she realized I wasn’t following her she stopped and looked back. She placed one hand on her hip and gestured for me to hurry and come with her. I started following her and she took off. It was the first time I’d been outside my room since they knocked me out to bring me here. My room led into a narrow, bare white hallway. Kelly made her way through the maze of hallways and I lost track of where I’d come from and which direction we were going no matter how hard I tried to map out the building in my head. Finally she stopped in front of a big wooden door and turned toward me with her hand on the knob. “Please mind your manners. Things could go really bad if you do anything to mess this up,” she said. I tried to ask what she meant but she just shook her head and opened the door, allowing me to go in before her. I walked into a room similar to the one in which Nicole and I had first met Morgenstern. It was smaller and instead of white the tiles and walls were black. Nicole sat in a chair in the room. Her arms and legs were bound and she was tied to the chair with a gag in her mouth. Her hair was frazzled and had lost its luster. It stood out all over the place. Wherever they had been keeping her hadn’t had a window. She was very pale and had big dark circles under her eyes. This was the worst I’d ever seen her look, and I hadn’t thought I’d ever see it at all.

When she saw me come in the room she started rocking the chair, trying to get out of her bindings. Her eyes got big and she tried to say something to me but I couldn’t understand her. I ran forward and started undoing her ties. Kelly came up behind me and held me back. Her touch reminded me that I needed to behave and do what Morgenstern wanted, and maybe then Nicole could leave. I stood up and gave Nicole an apologetic look. She dropped her head down and I saw tears fall into her lap. Then the doors banged open and Mr. Morgenstern came in. He walked slowly up to his desk with a smile on his face and a confident air about him. I watched him all the way to his desk. Kelly reached for my hand after he had ed us. I jerked it away but she shot me a look that told me this is what he wanted. Once he’d seated himself at the desk he turned and examined the situation. I stood right next to Nicole but was holding Kelly’s hand. “Now Garret, you can’t have both of them. You need to pick one, preferably my daughter so I can keep the other one,” he said and smirked at me. I was disgusted but tried not to show it. “Please, sir,” I gritted out, “what is it that you want from me?” He leaned forward onto his desk and looked into my eyes. “I want you to marry my daughter and stop causing trouble for me. I figured you’d had enough time to think about your decisions,” he said. He shrugged and leaned back into his chair. I wouldn’t leave Nicole here, but I hadn’t figured out how to get both of us out yet. “What have you done to Nicole?” I stalled for time. “It’s none of your concern. I’ve just been trying to teach her how to respect her elder’s wishes and do what she’s told.” He was cut off by a young brown haired lady running into the room. Her heels clicked on the floor and her brown ponytail swung as she ran up to his desk. She slowed down right before she got to him and smoothed out her suit. “I’m sorry sir, but someone is here to see you. It’s urgent,” she said. I watched as his face turned a deep red and he clenched and unclenched his fists.

“I told you not to interrupt me today! This is very important. You know that. What makes you think anything else is important enough to disturb me?” he yelled out. The girl backed up a few steps. “I’m very sorry but you told us to bring this man to you immediately if he came in, no matter what you were doing,” she said. His eyes widened immensely at that and he let out a boyish giggle. “Bring him in, then,” he said. The girl bobbed her head and clicked her way out of the room again. We stood in silence until she came back. Kelly and I didn’t talk and Morgenstern was too consumed by his thoughts to pay us any attention now. I was curious to see what had gotten him so worked up. The girl came back in followed by a hunched over man. His hair was greying and his figure was slimmer than I ed but I still recognized Nicole’s father. He wore baggy clothes and looked like he’d been living on the street for the past year. He didn’t meet my angry gaze but he couldn’t keep his eyes from darting between Nicole and Morgenstern as he cautiously walked into the room. He seemed dwarfed by his surroundings and as feeble as I had ever seen him. “Mr. Hayes, I was expecting to be seeing you soon. What can I help you with today?” Morgenstern said. Even though Mr. Hayes looked fragile his voice came out strong. “You know damn well why I’m here today. You sent me those notes, and that picture of my daughter looking just like this. Of course I’m going to come,” he said. Mr. Morgenstern shook his head and said reproachfully, “Jerry, don’t be so argumentative. I am willing to make a deal here.” Nicole raised her head at her dad’s voice and was staring intently at him. Her dad walked over and kneeled down beside her chair. He took her hands and held them in his own. He was talking to Morgenstern but his words were for Nicole. “Tell me what you want. I will do anything for my daughter. I got her into this mess when I thought I was doing what was best for her. I got so blinded by my own success I didn’t see the pain I was causing my beautiful daughter even when she stood right in front of me with bruises on her face and tears running down her cheeks. Your men went too far, but I’m willing to pay the price if you let her

go,” he said. This was a much different man than the one who had yelled at Nicole when she was packing her stuff. He had come back to himself and was like the man I ed him being before his wife died. He reached up and took the gag out of Nicole’s mouth. “Daddy.” “I’m so sorry, honey. I’m so sorry,” he said. He rested his head against hers and I watched as they cried together. Nicole had forgiven him already, I could tell. Mr. Morgenstern’s voice cut in from across the room. “This is very sweet, but I’m afraid I’m going to need to break this up. Now Jerry, I will let your daughter go but only if you agree to stay here with me.” Mr. Hayes stood up and faced Morgenstern. “What on earth could you want with me? I’m not in the drug business, I’m stopping,” he said defiantly. “Well that’s a shame,” Morgenstern said, “But I’m afraid I still need you. You seem to have a way with people and with business. I want you to help me spread my business and I want you to fix my wife.” Kelly let out a gasp beside me and then clasped her hands over her mouth. “Anyone can do that for you. I know you have enough money, just hire someone,” Nicole’s dad said. “See I would have done that, but your daughter here had to go and interrupt everything. Now you owe me a favor.” “How could I have messed everything up? All I did was refuse to let your men take advantage of me,” Nicole said. Her voice rasped out from her throat as if she’d been screaming too much and hurt it. I unwound my fingers from Kelly’s and went and kneeled to the side of Nicole’s chair. I wasn’t going to pretend to be with Kelly when Nicole needed me. “Yes, that is all you did. But then my men quit, and your boyfriend here attracted attention to me. I don’t want people coming in here and snooping around. You

should know why, dearie,” Morgenstern said. I looked at Nicole for an answer. “He’s experimenting on people. That’s why his wife has gone crazy,” Nicole said quietly. Kelly backed up against a wall and sunk to the ground. She started crying big, awful tears and then she started screaming. “How could you? You ruin everything. You’re crazy, a lunatic. I hate you!” Some of his men came in and dragged Kelly out. I couldn’t tell when I stopped actually hearing her screams because they kept echoing in my head. “Did you hurt Nicole?” I said. I stepped towards his desk but her dad came forward and pushed me back. “I did,” he answered simply. I ran forward, I couldn’t keep myself from hurting him any longer. Nicole’s dad pushed me back once again. “Take me. I will stay here and heal your wife. I’ll try and undo whatever damage you’ve done,” he said. Nicole started crying harder and screaming out for him to not to do it. “Sounds like a deal,” Morgenstern said. He held out his hand and waited for Mr. Hayes to shake it. Then he walked out of the room. “Daddy, you can’t do this, he’s going to hurt you,” Nicole said, “How do you know he’s not going to do tests on you, too?” He undid her bindings and she stood up and wrapped him in a hug. “I deserve it, I was awful to you. You are big now and Garrett will be there to help you. You have your whole life ahead of you and I want you to live it right. Go home and get the money, go to college, have a family.” “I just got you back,” she sobbed. He pushed her away and held her at arm’s length. “ I will always love you,” he said. Mr. Morgenstern came back into the room then followed by some of his men dressed in black. He looked at me and said, “I will let you go, but if you cause

any trouble for me or hurt my daughter you will be right back here.” I nodded to him and grabbed Nicole’s hand. I started dragging her out of the room but she wouldn’t budge. “How long are you going to keep him?” she asked. “As long as I would like,” Morgenstern answered. “Promise me we will be able to write letters to each other.” He pondered that for a few moments and then said, “Yes, I guess that would be acceptable. But about my daughter; we still need to reach an agreement. She is in love with you, and I always want to give her what she wants,” “I don’t know what to do, sir.” I said. I was trying to control my nerves, hoping respect would help us. I didn’t let go of Nicole, we were so close to freedom. Kelly came back composed and glared at her dad, daring him to kick her out again. One of the men stepped out from the shadows, Tom. “May I speak?” he asked. Morgenstern nodded at him. Tom walked over to Kelly and took her hands. “If you would accept me, I would love to be the one to care for you. I have watched you, and I slowly fell in love with you the times I saw you with Garrett. I know you may not love me now, but I think you could. And if you don’t that’s fine, we can just be friends,” he said. This surprised me. He had never said anything before about caring for Kelly. Kelly looked at me and I saw the pain in her eyes, she didn’t like Tom. She sucked in a deep breath. “That sounds great. Daddy, can Tom take Garrett’s place?” she said. I tried to get her attention but she wouldn’t look at me now. She was doing this for me. I knew it, because she felt bad for making the situation worse than it had been before. Morgenstern stroked his chin with its stubble and then said, “Yes, if that is what you wish then I have no problem letting Garrett leave. Now get out of here all of you before I change my mind.” I started walking again and this time Nicole followed me. She kept twisting back

to look at her dad and right before the doors closed she screamed out, “I love you, Daddy.” The men Morgenstern brought with him prodded us in the back. One stood in front and led us out. We stopped before Kelly and Tom went in a different direction. “How did you get in with him? And who is Elaine?” I asked. “She’d emailed me a while ago and when things started going down hill I tried to get in with her. Morgenstern’s men answered and then I didn’t have much of a choice except to help him,” he said. “Elaine is my mom’s name, she worked in protection, pretty much exactly against what my dad was doing. When my dad started messing with her she fired her employees before he could do anything to them. She made it untraceable, or at least it was supposed to be,” Kelly said. “Okay, well thanks for helping us in the end, Tom,” I said. He nodded at me and said, “Always in the end, I’ll be there for you. But this was mostly for Kelley.” They started to walk away then. Before they turned the corner I watched as Tom reached out and held Kelly’s hand. She didn’t push him away. I really hoped they’d be happy together. I think eventually they would even if Kelly didn’t exactly like him as much as she could right now. The men prodded us out to the lobby of the building. Nicole squinted her eyes and brought her hands up to shield her face when the sunlight hit her. She’d been in the absolute dark for so long that the sun was painful to her. The weasel was still at the front desk and he forced a smile. I grabbed on to Nicole and guided her out of the building. “Thank you for your stay,” I heard the weasel say right before we walked out. I held onto Nicole’s arm and kept walking. I had no idea where I was or where I was going. I found a nice park and sat us down on a bench under a shady tree. Nicole was rubbing her eyes, trying to be able to see again. “What are we going to do? We can’t just leave him there,” she said to me. “I didn’t know. We need to go home and think. We can’t do anything right now. We’ll go to Kelly’s house and get Charlie and your stuff. We’ll have to stay there for a little bit. I don’t think I have an apartment anymore,” I said.

Kelly had told me she was able to get out sometimes. She’d go home and feed Charlie on her free time. I was still mad at her, but I felt sorry for her. I hadn’t known anything about her even though I thought she’d been one of my closest friends. We went into the nearest store and asked for directions back toward Kelley’s neighborhood. It had disoriented us being in that building for so long with no windows outside to the street. When we got back to her house Nicole dug the spare key out of the flower bed and unlocked the door. Charlie came bounding towards her and jumped on her. He almost knocked her over but I pushed him down and helped her stand up. Nicole got down on her knees to pet Charlie. She got him in a big hug and wouldn’t let him go. Charlie didn’t mind, he sat on the ground and wagged his tail. I went into the room Nicole had been staying in and started packing her stuff. I didn’t want to stay in Kelly’s house too long. I didn’t feel comfortable in it anymore. The brightness of her house just reminded me of the way her father decorated now and wasn’t relaxing at all.

Chapter 11

I tried to comfort Nicole the next few weeks. We stayed in the house and I only went out to get us food and groceries with the money Nicole’s dad had left her. I woke up to her screaming in the middle of the night and I rushed across the hall to what used to be Tom’s room. “Are you okay?” I asked her. I went over and sat on her bed, holding her. “Ya, just a bad dream,” she said. She turned over on her side and pulled the covers back over, blocking me out. I kissed her head and went back into my room. The next morning I was waiting for her on the couch when she got up. “What?” she asked as she walked toward the kitchen. I stood up and followed her. “Are you going to tell me what that dream was about? You were screaming so bad. You scared me,” I said. I tried to get her to stop and look at me but she shook me off and opened the cabinet to look for a bowl. I went and got it out for her. “It was nothing, really I don’t want to talk about it,” she said. “Well you’re going to have to eventually.” She slammed things around as she got her cereal. “That day won’t be today.” She walked out of the kitchen and brought her cereal into her room. I slouched down onto the couch and petted Charlie, at least he was still acting normal. I didn’t grab a book or anything, I just sat there and thought. Nicole was a nervous wreck. I didn’t know what they’d done to her in there and I knew worrying about her dad wasn’t helping her either. I wished that her dad was here, but I also felt like he deserved it. He’d been absent for a lot of her life and he’d made a mess of things. I felt like it was up to him to clean it up, but I just wished it hadn’t been this bad at all.

Kevin tried to visit a few times, but he never stayed long. Nobody did once they saw Nicole. She was still a wreck and she started screaming and holding her head without warning. Kevin told me that everyone had gotten out okay and that nobody really talked about it much. They didn’t want to be brought back there. It bothered me that they hadn’t even tried to come back and get us, but I didn’t really blame them. They had offered to help, but things had gone too far. I wouldn’t have come back for any of them. I got information in short bursts from different people. Dave came by to visit and Ralph did too. I apologized for accusing him of helping them steal my car. He accepted my apology. He was probably the best friend we had during that time. Sometimes he would pick up food for us and bring it back so I didn’t have to leave Nicole. He sat with me and gave me someone to talk to. One day Nicole came to sit with us at the table. She hadn’t done that before. I think she hadn’t recognized Ralph and was scared of him, but she’d seen him enough times that she’d decided to trust him. Ralph reached across the table and slowly lowered his hand onto hers. She was staring at the wall and not acknowledging us. She flinched at his touch, but left her hand there and allowed him to touch her. “Are you okay?” Ralph asked in his quiet voice. She stared at the wall and didn’t turn to look at him. She stayed quiet for a few minutes but then said, “No. I left my dad with him and there isn’t a way for me to get him back. They tortured me. Showed me awful things. Scary pictures, dead people, pretty girls, and they forced me to play the piano. They wouldn’t let me stop.” She let out a scream and clutched her head. Ralph didn’t let go of her hand and I went around and took her other hand off of her head and held it in between my own. “They recorded my face while I looked at the pictures. He was testing my reaction. I’m not quite sure why, but it doesn’t matter. He tested me because I was there. The men would have done so much less worse to me that night, Garrett. I should have let them,” she said. She was still staring at the wall, not moving her eyes. “No, I’m glad you didn’t let them, but I am so sorry I didn’t stop this from happening to you,” I said.

She took her hand out of mine and reached up to hold my face gently. “It’s not your fault,” she said. I couldn’t stay with her anymore. It was getting harder and harder for me to be around her. I felt awful and I couldn’t do anything to help her. She talked to Ralph more than she did to me. I’d lost her love and her trust. I tried so many things to bring her back but nothing worked. I started looking for houses in other places. I thought if we moved and she wasn’t in this place she’d go back to normal. I didn’t have any money though. I couldn’t work because I had to watch Nicole and so I couldn’t afford to move. I applied to a few colleges and gotten accepted with a big enough scholarship that I could go, but I didn’t have a place for Nicole to be. I’d used some of her old applications to send some out to other schools. With the scholarships they were offering, and the money her dad had left her, she had enough money to go to college also. We’d even gotten into the same one, but she couldn’t go if she couldn’t function normally. I’d expressed my worries to Ralph but he just kept telling me that if I gave it time Nicole would come back. I tried to believe him but time was running out and I had to confirm our acceptances soon to get in to the next school year. We’d have to start doing things and get ready. Nicole wouldn’t be able to do it. She couldn’t even sleep at night without waking up screaming. The apartment was dark. We had to keep all the blinds closed on the windows so that the light didn’t hurt Nicole. Ralph walked into the kitchen after me and leaned against the counter, waiting for me to tell him what was wrong. “You love her, don’t you?” I said. He nodded his head. “She loves you too. She doesn’t look at me like that anymore,” I said. “No, she loves you. She just doesn’t associate me with that building and so she talks to me. I think you remind her of her dad and that place.” I leaned my head back until it hit the closed kitchen door. “I don’t know how to fix that. I have no idea how to help her or to bring her back to who she was.” “You need to convince her to leave. This neighborhood, this place, is all bad for

her. She needs to get out,” he said. I knew that, but I didn’t know how. She wasn’t going to want to leave her dad even if there was no way to help him. I started looking around again for houses in better neighborhoods. It didn’t have to be great or expensive, it just needed to be in a nicer place. Finally I found a house that I could afford. It was about an hour away and it was perfect. I started getting Nicole ready to leave. I opened the curtains and let some of the light in to let her get used to it and I broke the lamp she’d been getting her vitamin D from. Then I made her walk down to the store with me. She was starting to look better and the autumn leaves that swirled around her face almost made her look pretty again. She was still staring at the world with her hollow eyes though. The night after I found the house I was sitting in bed with Nicole. She was reading her book and petting Charlie. I cleared my throat to get her attention. “I found a house somewhere else that I want us to move to,” I said. She dropped her book on her lap and propped herself up where she was looking right at me. “I’m not leaving, I can’t.” “I know you don’t want to leave your dad but there is really nothing we can do. I’ve run through every scenario in my head, Nicole, and I have thought of nothing. You haven’t either. If you or I think of anything I promise we can always come back to try and get him out. But your dad didn’t do this so that you could ruin your life. He did this to give you opportunities, and chances. You are wasting all that. I’m here to make sure you don’t,” I told her. I saw a spark in her eye when I said that. “I am not leaving him,” she said. “You already have! You can’t be with him. Why are you doing this to yourself? You don’t even know if they are doing anything except keeping him there and having him try and help Kelly’s mom get better.” “I do know. They won’t be able to help themselves, that’s how I know they are hurting him.” I didn’t know what else to say to her, I was desperate. “Kelly survived her mom going through this, and you will too.”

She got out of bed and walked halfway to the door. “If you love her so much just go be with her. And to remind you, Kelly didn’t have to go through it herself first. I am not leaving.” “I already bought the house. And you can’t stay here by yourself,” I said to her back. A loud noise filled the air and my face stung. She’d just slapped me and then she’d left the room. Charlie started whining on the bed and then jumped off and settled down in the doorway where he could see both of us. I flopped onto my side and pulled the covers up around me. I couldn’t do anything right with her anymore. There was no screaming that woke me up that night so I knew Nicole hadn’t gone to sleep. The next morning I got up and started packing all our stuff away. I’d bought the house the night I’d found it but I had wanted to break the news to her before I did anything else. Now that she knew I had no problem hurrying things along, she had to come with me and the sooner we left the sooner she could get better. She casually started throwing things in boxes and putting her clothes in suitcases. She wasn’t working very hard. She was slow and what she did had no plan or reason to it, she just kind of did it. As we were eating supper that night there was a knock on the door. “I’ll get it,” she said and jumped out of her chair. She walked back in with Ralph behind her. “Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked. He scratched his head and looked around. “Nicole asked me to come over before I went to work tonight,” he said, “What did you need?” Nicole walked forward and sat down daintily in her chair. She’d gained back some of her spirit and personality. I think it was from the walks and getting out. “I have thought of a solution to my problem.” I rolled my eyes and leaned back in my chair. She was referring to having to move. I waited for her to say what she had to say. “I’m going to move in with Ralph,” she stated. I hadn’t expected that. Honestly

I’d expected some crazy idea that would never work and I could have thought of many solutions to. That was how she’d been talking, like a crazy person. “What? No, you can’t do that. Ralph works at night. He isn’t with you enough, you wouldn’t be safe. And I’m not letting you go,” I said. “You’re just as bad as Morgenstern, keeping me here, not letting me do anything. Besides, it really isn’t up to you. Ralph, what do you think?” she said. He looked at me and then back at her. “I can’t let you do that. I really believe you’d be better off with Garrett. That wouldn’t be right either, he’s your boyfriend.” She looked at him with shock. “He doesn’t act like my boyfriend. I don’t get what you two don’t understand. I need to be here, I need to help my dad.” “I do all this because I love you, Nicole. You seem to forget that,” I said. Nicole stared at me. She had a look in her eyes that reminded me of what I loved about her. “If you loved me you would let me go.” “In this case, that’s not what’s best for you.” Ralph walked out of the room while we were talking and I heard the apartment door click shut. “Fine. I’ll come with you, but don’t expect me to care about you. You’re ruining so much, and you aren’t even trying to listen to me anymore.” She got up from the table and went back into our room. She started really packing after that and with her help we had everything packed within a few days. She didn’t talk to me the whole time we were working. The next Saturday we were loading everything into a truck we’d rented to help move. Nicole was waiting in the truck and pulling and organizing whatever I brought out. Ralph and Kevin were there helping me carry things out of the apartment. Some of the furniture was a tight fit down the stairs but we managed to get everything out. Ralph and Kevin told us goodbye and went. “You want to come up with me one last time and make sure we got everything?” I asked. She didn’t answer me but hopped out of the truck and started walking. I followed

her up and opened the door. The apartment had an eerie feel to it with no furniture. You could see every bad detail about it that much clearer. You could see the mold on the ceiling in the hallway and the places where some of the doors didn’t fit quite right on their frames. We walked around and checked in all the rooms, closets, and drawers. When we were sure we hadn’t left anything we walked back out to the truck. The door on the back was shut and a piece of paper flapping in the wind caught my eye. Nicole went up and took it off the back of the truck. She read it and tears started coming. She dropped to the ground all curled up, clutching the note against her heart. “What is it? Let me see it,” I said. She shook her head no and shoved me away. “This is mine, you aren’t going to read it ever.” “At least tell me what’s wrong,” I said. She looked up at me with hatred in her eyes. “My dad is dead. That’s what the note says. He wanted to let me know my dad is dead,” she said. I sat down beside her but didn’t dare to touch her. She looked at me after a while. “Let’s go, there’s nothing left here,” she said. She stood up and hoisted her bag onto her shoulder. I don’t know what that note said but she was alive again. I could tell. I didn’t know how, but she was. I tried the whole way there to get her to let me see the letter but she refused. She kept her hand on her pocket the whole drive and wouldn’t let me touch her. “Are you blaming me for this?” I asked her after fifteen minutes of silence. “A little. Mostly I blame myself, my dad, and Morgenstern. I could have done so many things. I shouldn’t have let him take my place, I shouldn’t have caused a fuss, and I should have refused to work for my dad in the first place. Any of those would have stopped this. Or my dad could have stayed with me, even after mom died. Morgenstern shouldn’t exist and then there wouldn’t be a problem. So many things, and you are only a small part. So I guess maybe I don’t blame you. I’m not sure yet,” she said as she stared out the window. The buildings and houses were getting nicer as we drove. I could only hope that

this move would actually have been worth all the fighting to get here. “Are you going to be able to live with me?” I asked. That was what I was most scared of, that I’d done all of this for nothing and that Nicole would leave me. “I still love you. That has never changed. I just think things are going to be different between us now. We can’t go through all that and not change,” she said. She placed her hand on my knee and we drove like that until we got to our new house. Finally we pulled onto the street. It was gorgeous. The homes were small, but nice, and the trees that lined the streets were losing their leaves. It looked like something off of a post card. Orchid Lane was the prettiest thing I’d seen in a while. I didn’t have to look at the address on the house to know which one was ours. It had weeds in the yard and was the most run down house on the street. It was still so much better than where we’d come from. There was no graffiti anywhere and no litter on the street. A few houses down some kids were outside kicking a ball around and playing tag. I turned to Nicole and saw a smile on her face. It was gorgeous. I couldn’t believe I was here, that I’d gotten free. We got out of the truck and stood together taking it all in. I reached into my pocket and felt the sharp edges of the key. I took it out and showed Nicole. She smiled and reached up to take it from me. She walked up to the door and I followed her. Her hair was shiny again and she had a bounce to her step. She inserted the key into the lock and opened the door. Once the door opened she reached for my hand and intertwined our fingers together. We walked into the house together. It was nice, everything was clean and it was like a house I’d only seen in movies. It was great, and I knew our life was going to be great. It would take time, but I think eventually Nicole would be able to move past her dad, and live her life the way he would have wanted her to. I was going to be there to help her. I was never going to leave her. We toured the house together. We decided which rooms would be what, we even had an extra room to have a library and study in. I couldn’t believe that this house had been in my price range, it was even better than I thought it would be.

I was standing in the living room, just looking around at the house when Nicole came in.“We should probably start unloading the stuff so we can sleep tonight,” she said. I nodded and we walked out into the crisp air together. We started unloading and were working fairly quickly. Nicole had lifted a night stand and was carrying it inside. The wind started blowing hard and a piece of paper flew out of her pocket and onto the sidewalk. I walked over to pick it up. I bent down and was about to call out her name when I saw it was from Morgenstern. It looked exactly like the notes we had gotten before. I watched Nicole go into the house, humming her favorite song, and then I unfolded it to read it. You have both cooperated well Ms. Nicole, you will get better, I’ve seen it in you You have that strength I regret to inform you that your dad ed away last night He’d been sick for a while, it was not my fault I will keep watching you, just don’t cause any trouble DEBT REPAID.

Epilogue

“Hey, Garrett, hurry up! We’re going to be late to class!” Nicole said from the open door. She was leaning against the front doorway with her brown leather jacket and purse over her shoulder waiting for me to get ready to go. I went and grabbed my keys and jacket off the marble counter and rushed to the door. Nicole grabbed me and pulled me into a hug before we walked out the door. She held onto my hand and we walked out to our long driveway. We got in the car and Nicole looked over at me. “I’m so excited. I can’t believe we did it. We are going to our first day of college,” she said. I could see the happiness and excitement in her eyes. She squeezed my hand and I started up the car. We rolled out of the driveway into the street. Spring time flowers were popping up and shooting the landscape with beautiful dashes of color at every house. The sun was shining down on us and the air was cool. We were on our way to our first day of college. As we drove through patches of sun Nicole’s hair glinted in the sunlight. The shine had come back in her hair since she’d been at Morgenstern’s. She was beautiful. She had rolled down the windows and had turned up the radio. She looked over at me and started laughing. I started laughing and then we were just smiling for no reason. We kept driving down the road for the other fifteen minutes left of the drive to the college. We didn’t need to say a word, we just sat quietly soaking up the moment. We valued them no matter how often we got them now. The cars glinted in the sunlight and I drove around a little bit until I found a parking spot at the college. We got out and I walked over to Nicole’s side of the car. She had her head down and arms crossed. “Hey, look at me. You’re going to be fine,” I said, “This is what you’ve always wanted to do.” “I know. I’m just thinking about my dad. He always wanted me to do this and I wish he was here to see it,” she said. “He’s in your heart. It’s ok, just go and do your thing. If you need anything just

let me know, I won’t be that far away. I’ll come if you need me, always,” I said. She took a deep breath and nodded at me. “I’m ready.” She still got like this sometimes, worried, nervous, and scared. I tried my best to cheer her up and sometimes she did the same for me, too. She had gradually gotten better. After she’d learned her dad had died she’d been intent on being strong and living how she thought he would want her to. At first I could tell she was faking her confidence but gradually it got better. Now she was herself again. We had grown up fast during those few weeks, and our relationship changed. We were ive of each other. We each did our own thing and had our own interests. When we were together we weren’t as all over each other as we used to be. We loved each other, and it was understood. We still showed it, but not in the same way. It was in the little things we did for each other and that was what we appreciated the most. I’d clean the house for her, or she’d take Charlie on a walk. We would fix things or make something the way we knew the other liked even if it wasn’t our favorite. It was nice, and it felt like a real life. We were planning on getting married next November. Our house had two extra rooms. We had one set up as a guest room and were gradually buying things for the other room when we had enough extra money. We were turning it into a nursery. After we got married Nicole wanted to go ahead and have kids since we’d been living together for a while. I was still trying to convince her to wait a little bit. I wanted to make sure that she and I were still okay after what had happened and that she wasn’t going to start acting strange again. I walked her across campus to her class and kissed her goodbye. She walked in with her head held high and the attitude of the Nicole from high school. The doors closed with a click behind her. I stood outside her room for a little bit and watched people come in and out. I think she’d be happy in this class. I peeked in the window before I left and saw her sitting and talking with a girl I didn’t know. That comforted me, I knew she’d make a lot of friends, she always did. The brick hallway was small, but the campus was gorgeous, and it was supposed to be a good school. It was expensive but we were paying for it. I had my job and Nicole was working also. The money her dad had saved had really helped

us. Our life was going well and I think soon we were going to have a lot more money than we ever had. We were steadily getting to where we wanted to be. I walked across the grass to the other side of campus. I ed people walking their dogs, sitting on benches, and holding hands. The campus was beautiful and it was only twenty minutes away from the house we’d bought. I went to my psychology class and then met Nicole at the car. We went to lunch at a nice pizza place to celebrate our first day and then headed home. Nicole had been working on our garden and the flowers were in bloom, it made our home like the one we’d imagined. We walked through the door that had a coat of fresh blue paint and Nicole’s shoes clicked on the new wood floor. We’d done a lot to our house, and it was great. The neighborhood was too. Our house didn’t stick out in our neighborhood anymore. We blended in and our house was just as nice as other. We didn’t have any of the problems that our old neighborhood had. We hadn’t seen any drugs, except at some of the parties we’d been to but Nicole and I had stayed far away from that. It was amazing, and we were just getting started. We hadn’t heard or seen anything from Morgenstern or his men, and we’d moved on. We were having a good time and I was so excited for the life that was ahead of us.

Emily Sharp is a 16 year old junior in high school. This is her first published work. She is also on the newspaper and in theater at her school.