by Keary Taylor
Both Mom and Dad’s eyes turned on me at the same time. I felt everything in me go cold.
Trying to keep my hands from shaking, I grabbed my notebook and pen again.
Sam moved around a lot, I wrote. She’d work in trade for places to stay.
Lie. Lie. Lie.
As soon as I wrote the words I knew I’d made a mistake. It would be too easy for them to ask around and find out I’d made it up. This was too small of an island for them not to figure that out.
“Do you know where she is now?” Officer Bennett asked, twirling his pen in his hand.
We’ve been broken up for a while now, like I said. Haven’t seen her since Friday morning.
No one said anything for what felt like forever, as both the officers stared me down.
“Jacob,” Officer Blizen finally spoke again. “I am curious as to why you seem so unconcerned that your… former… girlfriend has gone missing. While you may be broken up, I would think you would still be concerned about her.”
Mom and Dad’s eyes jumped to my face as if to say, yeah, why aren’t you more concerned?
Just trying to put on a brave face, I wrote. Trust me, I’m freaking out myself.
Crap. Crap. Crap.
“Uh huh,” he said, scribbling something down on another of those yellow notepads. “Samantha’s father would like to speak to you sometime. Would you be willing to come down to the station this afternoon and meet with him?”
Do I have a choice? I thought.
But I looked over at Mom and Dad, knowing it was really up to them.
“We’ll come down right after school’s over,” Mom said, trying to compose herself. “No reason for Jake to miss more school.”
“Fine,” the officer said. “Here’s my card. We’ll expect you at four.”
Without another word, the both of them left.
“Seriously, Tony,” Mom started in on Principal Hill. “How could you let them question him without us here?”
The two of them started wandering back toward his office, Mom chewing his ear off as they walked.
“Want to talk about this?” Dad asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
I just shook my head, my eyes glued to the ground.
“Okay,” Dad said, giving a nod. “Have a good day at school then.”
I just nodded again and Dad went to catch up with Mom, leaving me alone in the empty classroom.
Holy crap! Sam, I am totally freaking out here. The cops came to school to question me! They want me to come down to the police station to meet with your dad later today. I don’t know what to do Sam. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this scared. I don’t want to blow this, but I’m afraid I’m going to say something wrong and they’re going to figure out where you are.
I think I just might go crazy if they take you away. I think it’s been you that’s kept my head on straight through this crazy year. You didn’t let me wallow in my self-pity. I needed you this year. There are a lot of dark places for someone like me, and I’m afraid I might slip into them if you’re gone.
I can’t let them take you away.
I sat there staring at the page I had just filled in our red notebook. The letters spilled out so fast I hadn’t even thought about a single word I’d written.
I ripped the page out and stuffed it into my pocket.
Those were terrified words. Those were freaked-out words.
I had to hold it together right now. And I couldn’t let Sam read how seriously scared I was about the very real possibility of her being taken away from me.
The entire school couldn’t stop talking about Sam the rest of the day. And they couldn’t seem to leave me alone. Except for Norah strangely. I kept finding her eyes on me the whole day, watching me, like she was waiting for me to lose it.
I worked out by myself during weight-training. All the guys were watching me, just as the whole island would be by the end of the day. I just bench pressed, and stared blankly up at the ceiling.
With a dead knot in my stomach, I knew how this was all going to end. And I didn’t think I could stop it.
6 weeks ‘til Sam’s birthday
I had never actually been to the police station before. It was hard to even call it that. From the outside it looked like nothing more than a small house. There wasn’t much more than a waiting area, a few small rooms, and a kitchen area in the whole building.
Officer Blizen ushered my parents and me into one of the rooms. It had a large table in it with half a dozen chairs surrounding it. We sat down at one end, Officer Blizen sat down at the other end. I wondered where Bennett was.
None of us said much of anything as we stared at one another. Our eyes kept flickering to the clock on the wall, watching the second hands work their way past the four. We watched the door, waiting for someone to come through it.
“You said four o’clock, right?” Mom asked. I could tell she was trying to keep her voice patient.
“Yes, Mrs. Hayes,” Blizen said, lazy and annoyed. “I am sure Mr. Garren will be here soon.”
And the clock continued to tick away.
Samantha’s dad wasn’t going to show. I could feel it.
He really was as unreliable as Sam had said.
“Okay,” Dad said, resting his elbows on the table, leaning forward. “We’ve been very patient. We’ve just been sitting here for over a half hour. We’ve got four other kids at home waiting for us, I’ve taken an hour off of work, and now had my time wasted. Can we go?”
Blizen turned cold, narrow eyes on Dad.
Where did this guy come from? He couldn’t be less of an islander.
Blizen’s eyes suddenly flicked to my face, almost making me jump. “Of course you’re free to go. But you need to understand, Jacob, that this is a desperate, bad situation. There is a girl out there, underage, who isn’t old enough to take care of herself. And her family is here to take care of her. If you know where she is, you need to tell us.”
Feeling everything in me harden against this man, I just sat there with my lips pressed together.
No one could keep a secret quite like me now.
“We’re going to go now,” Mom said, grabbing my upper arm and pulling me to my feet. She was a lot stronger than she looked.
“That guy’s got a lot of nerve, to just not show up like this,” Mom fumed as we walked out toward our cars. “Do you know anything about the man, Jake? I’ve got a bad feeling about all of this.”
I just shook my head. I really didn’t know much about him, just that he wasn’t a great guy and there was no way Sam wanted to leave the island with him.
Pulling her cell phone out of her purse, Mom checked a text message.
“Great,” she said with a sigh, texting back. “Joshua just puked all over the bathroom. He said he wasn’t feeling good this morning but seemed fine after school.”
Just one more reason I was glad I wasn’t Mom.
“Jake, honey, could you run and get a few things for me at The Market for dinner tonight?” she asked. She was already digging an old receipt and a pen out of her bag. I just nodded. It was the least I could do after everything I was putting my parents through.
“See you in an hour,” Dad said, pressing a kiss to the side of Mom’s head. “I’ve got to go back to work for a bit.”
“’K,” she said, kissing him back. “Dinner should be done around seven.”
Dad left and Mom gave me her list and hurried off for barf duty.
I debated going over to Sam’s then, to drop off her homework and tell her about the events of the day, but ended up chickening out. Blizen was watching me now. I couldn’t risk leading him right to Sam’s motorhome.
I saw the look in people’s eyes as I gathered things for Mom at the Market. They wanted to come up and question me about the Sam situation, but they also saw those scars on my throat and wondered how I was going to answer. I made sure I held my head high so everyone could see them. I didn’t want to have to lie any more than I already had.<
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I was just taking the two bags of groceries out to my car when I spotted someone stumbling through the parking lot to go into The Market. I set the bags down on the passenger seat, and took a closer look.
The guy looked like he was in his mid-forties. He had thick brown hair, looks that would probably be considered attractive if he’d taken care of himself.
Even from where I stood, I could tell he was drunk.
The Lower Tavern backed up to the parking lot of The Market, and that was the general direction the man had stumbled from.
As he came closer to me, headed for the doors of the store, he tripped and landed flat on his face just a few feet from me. Reacting on instinct, I lurched for him, but was nowhere near fast enough to stop his fall.
The man groaned as he started picking himself up, my hands under his arms to help him. He let out a string of cuss words and I could already smell the alcohol on his breath.
Suddenly, he looked up at me. His eyes seemed unfocused at first, but they slowly narrowed on my face.
“You’re that kid from the accident,” he said, his words slightly slurred. “The one who can’t talk that everyone’s been chattering about these last few days. You’re my daughter’s boyfriend.”
My insides went cold as familiar facial features suddenly stood out. He had the same exact jawline as Sam, had the same brow and cheekbones. It seemed obvious now.
“Everyone’s been sayin’ you’re hiding her from me,” he said, his eyes growing hard. “But she needs to come home with me. You’re a bad boy for keeping her from her family.”
Mr. Garren finally pulled himself to his feet, swaying where he stood. He had this mean look on his face that I had seen people get when they’d had too much to drink.
There were a lot of things I wanted to say to that man right then.
“Don’t know what she’d want to hang out on this island for,” he said, looking around like he could see and judge our whole island right there from the parking lot. “Couldn’t possibly be for a scrawny, broken kid like you.”
My jaw tightened and my fingers curled into fists.
“Never should have knocked that girl up all those years ago,” he murmured to himself. “Now look what it’s gotten me. Stuck with a sad little rat.”
My fist exploded in pain as it connected with Mr. Garren’s jaw. I knocked him clean off his feet, flat on his back.
Don’t you ever talk about Sam like that again!
Spitting on the ground right next to me, I held his cold eyes while he rubbed his jaw.
“I will find her,” Mr. Garren said, his voice just daring me to take another swing. “And I will take her with me.”
Instead of doing something stupid like kicking the man while he was down, I turned to climb into my car. I froze solid when I saw Norah by the front doors, paper bag in hand, watching our confrontation. Everything in me hardening all the more, I looked away from her and slid into the driver’s seat. Not even caring to check and make sure Mr. Garren was out of the way, I pulled out of the parking lot.
I rapped on Sam’s door five times, letting her know it was me. I stormed passed her as soon as she opened it, pacing the tiny space, and cradling my throbbing hand.
“Jake,” Sam said, her voice alarmed. “What happened?”
Meeting her eyes, I made the sign for dad. When she didn’t seem to understand, I pointed at her once and again made the sign for dad.
“You punched Mike?!” she half yelled, finally understanding why I was cradling my hand. “Are you okay?” She opened her tiny freezer and pulled out an ice cube tray and wrapped a handful of them in a towel.
I nodded, letting her doctor my hand.
“He doesn’t know where I am?” she asked. “Right?”
I shook my head, reaching for the notebook. Don’t think so. Cops showed up at school today and questioned me. Was supposed to meet your dad down at the station at 4, but apparently he was too busy at The Lower to show up.
Sam swore under her breath as she continued to hold the ice to my hand.
I think maybe we should move you tomorrow, just to be safe. I can come over after school.
“’K,” Sam said in a small voice with a nod.
There were unspoken words between us. We both knew what was going to happen and it was going to happen soon. Sam couldn’t hide for forever.
6 weeks ‘til Sam’s birthday…
There was a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach the next day. The kind that causes your hands shake and makes you feel like you’re going to hurl. Something felt wrong.
I went to school as I normally would have. Eyes still followed me like I was some kind of criminal, whispers slipped out as I walked by. Despite their best efforts, my teachers looked at me differently.
But what scared me most, was the smug look that Norah gave me at lunch.
After school, I headed for the motorhome. That sick feeling bubbled up in my stomach and I nearly had a panic attack when I saw two cars parked next to the small cabin. One of them was a police car.
I parked and ran toward the motorhome.
Sam!
The door to the motorhome was wide open and I could see two men moving around inside. I burst in to see Mr. Garren gathering Sam’s things, the policeman filling out some kind of form.
As soon as Sam saw me, she leapt at me from the dining seat, throwing her arms around my neck.
“They say I have to go Jake,” she immediately started sobbing. “I don’t know how they found me but they showed up an hour ago and he’s taking me on the next ferry. I don’t want to go, Jake, I don’t want to go.”
I ran a hand down Sam’s hair, my eyes meeting Mr. Garren’s as he stopped and looked at me. He had a smug smile on his face, one that practically screamed I told you so.
Turning to the officer, I searched his face for any sympathy.
“Sorry, Jake,” he said. I was thankful it wasn’t Blizen. Unfortunately it wasn’t Bennett though, who would have been a little more understanding. “She’s still a minor, she has to go.”
Sam kept muttering “I don’t want to go, I don’t want to go,” over and over into my neck.
I wanted to rage. I wanted to punch the lights out of Mr. Garren. I wanted to stuff Sam in my car and just drive away from all of this. I wanted to turn back time twelve hours so I could hide Sam better. If only we’d moved the motorhome yesterday.
But all I could do was hold Sam and watch as her father gathered her things up and took them out to his car.
Had I still been able to talk, this entire scene would go down a lot different. I would have been yelling, screaming, fighting against Mr. Garren and the officer with everything I had in me.
I felt weak for not being able to fight for Sam.
It felt like she was already becoming less and less solid in my arms.
“It’s time to go,” Mr. Garren finally said, backed up by the police officer.
Sam placed her hands on either side of my face, her eyes locking with mine. “I will be back,” she said, her voice shaking. “As soon as I’m eighteen. I’m moving back the second I turn eighteen. It’s just a few weeks away.”
And a few weeks away felt like eternity.
I love you, I thought for the millionth time.
Sam pressed her lips to mine, tears rolling down her face. I kissed her with urgency. Would I ever taste her mango flavored lips again?
“Take care of this while I’m gone, okay?” Sam said as she pressed a set of keys into my hand. She wiped her tears on the back of her hand. “Help me find a new place to put it when I get back?”
I could only nod. A single tear leaked out onto my cheek.
“Come on,” Mr. Garren said, his voice impatient.
Not so gently, he directed Sam out of the motorhome, and toward his rust-bucket of a car. Without even giving us the chance to say good-bye, he sat Sam in the passenger seat and closed the door. She pressed a palm against the window, her eyes locking on mine. And just a few seconds l
ater they rolled down the driveway.
The police officer started typing something into the laptop in his car. I ducked back into the motorhome and grabbed a notebook and a pen.
Who told you? I wrote. Walking back out to the police car, I pressed it against his window. The officer looked startled at first, and then he rolled the window down.
“We got a tip from someone at your high school who said she had seen where Miss Shay was staying.”
Norah.
She’d seen the fight yesterday and followed me right to Sam’s.
And then she’d told the cops.
Did you guys ever stop to wonder why she went missing as soon as her father showed up on the island? I wrote and flashed to him again.
“Sorry, kid,” he said, which only pissed me off more. “I know this can’t be easy.”
Without another word, I turned and got in my car and drove off.
I didn’t even remember the drive back to my house. Suddenly I was just at home, slamming the front door behind me, my hands pulling at my hair.
“Hey!” Mom shouted at me from the kitchen. “You trying to break our house?”
Mom then walked out of the kitchen and saw my break down.
“Jake?” she said, her voice filling with panic. “What’s wrong?”
A few more tears leaked out onto my cheek. I signed Sam’s name.
“Oh no,” she breathed, her expression hardening. She steered me into a seat. “What happened?”
Grabbing a notebook, I explained.
By the time I had finished my long, detailed description of what had happened, including where Sam had actually been living, half the family had come into the living room. And then Dad walked in just as everyone else finished reading my explanation.
“I can’t believe she’s gone,” Jordan said, her voice breathy. “How can they just make her leave like that?”
“She doesn’t have a choice,” Mom said, her hands shaking. “The system is set up so it’s either him or a foster home. I’m not sure which would be worse.”
“Come on, Jake,” Dad said, grabbing the keys to his truck. “Let’s go get her motorhome.”