Better to Trust

by Frimmer, Heather

  “Yeah, cool,” Piper said, as if she used the word all the time.

  A family filed into the row in front of them: a mother, father, and two middle school aged kids. They sat down next to a group of college students wearing Boston University baseball hats and sweatshirts.

  “It’s filling up,” Emma said.

  “Yeah,” Sadie said.

  Piper pressed the button on the armrest to make the chair recline. “Let’s make ourselves comfortable.”

  Sadie and Emma followed her lead. As her legs lifted and her head tilted backwards, Sadie felt her head start to spin. Whether the feeling was because of the pot or she’d just reclined too fast, she wasn’t sure. She tried to relax and let it pass. This was supposed to be a great show and she should try to enjoy herself.

  “I hope they play the songs from Trolls,” Emma said. “‘Can’t stop the Feeling’ is one of his best songs!” Sadie couldn’t believe Emma was talking about a cartoon.

  “Yeah, trolls. I know a few of those,” Piper said loudly in Brian’s direction. “They’re sitting right over there.”

  “Shut up, Piper,” Brian said. He turned to Sadie. “The curse of having a sister.”

  “I wouldn’t know,” Sadie said. “I’m an only child.”

  “Sounds so peaceful,” he said.

  “Or lonely.”

  “I could deal with lonely once in a while.” His breath smelled funky. She wondered if smoking marijuana gave you bad breath. “She’s always in my business.”

  Sadie noticed that Brian didn’t mention anything about their mother. She wanted to ask him whether she was really in prison, but she knew she couldn’t. They’d known each other less than an hour, so that would definitely cross a line.

  “Sometimes I wish my house wasn’t so quiet,” she said. “My dad’s always at work and my mom … I don’t know what the fuck she’s doing half the time.” She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to swear. Even though she found Brian faintly repulsive, for some reason she still wanted to impress him. “I’ve always wanted a big sister. Someone to show me the way.”

  “Don’t follow my sister. She’ll definitely lead you in the wrong direction.”

  The lights dimmed, and Sadie reclined her chair even farther so she was looking straight up at the domed planetarium ceiling. The catchy beat of “Rock Your Body” came through the oversized speakers lining the walls, and Sadie couldn’t help but get excited. She reached over to grab Emma’s hand to make sure she was doing okay. As streaks of color strobed across the ceiling, and purple and green bubbles floated upwards, Sadie didn’t know where to look first. With every beat of the music, there were new colors and dazzling effects. Just when she got used to a pattern, it changed to something completely new, the streak and bubbles morphing into a pulsating checkerboard and then into haphazard diagonals of shooting stars. Glancing over at Brian and Axel, she saw their eyes were also fixed on the ceiling.

  The song switched to a quiet one and Sadie heard a rattling sound coming from Emma’s direction. When she turned she saw Piper taking a pill bottle out of her pocket, the one she’d stolen from Sadie’s dad’s nightstand a few months ago.

  “What the hell?” Sadie whispered across Emma.

  Piper twisted off the safety cap and spilled a few pills into her hand. “Emma has a headache,” Piper said. She offered two pills to Emma.

  “What is it?” Emma asked.

  “It’s a pain pill,” Piper said. “For your head.”

  Sadie tried to grab the pills, but Piper closed her fist. “No, no,” Piper said. “Emma’s head hurts, not yours.”

  Piper opened her palm again.

  “Okay,” Emma said, popping the pills into her mouth.

  “She doesn’t do drugs,” Sadie said. When Piper had taken the bottle from her dad’s drawer, Sadie had freaked out, but her fear was that her father would notice the bottle was missing and she would get in trouble. She hadn’t really thought about when Piper would take them, and whether she would share them with anyone else. Now she wanted to kick herself for being so stupid. Sadie watched Emma wash the pills down with a sip from her water bottle.

  “This isn’t a good idea,” Sadie said.

  “If we only did what you thought was a good idea, life would be pretty boring,” Piper said, putting two pills into her mouth and handing the bottle of pills across her to Brian.

  When the speakers started blasting a louder song, it became impossible to talk, and Sadie couldn’t think of what to say anyway. A very small part of her wanted to stand up to Piper—to tell her she was being pushy and obnoxious and inappropriate—but she knew she would never have the nerve to do that.

  The lights from the show projected onto Emma’s face, tinting her skin red, then blue and green. Emma didn’t turn back to look at her. She seemed peaceful and relaxed, the black light giving Emma’s white t-shirt an otherworldly glow against the black leather seat. Sadie wished it would all stop: the loud music and the colored lights and the sound of Brian and his friend laughing about some stupid joke. Closing her eyes, she hoped her sense of uneasiness would pass before the show ended.

  After several more songs that seemed much longer than they did on the radio, the show finally ended, and the lights came on. Sadie opened her eyes and looked around. In the light, she felt much more in control. There was no need for panic. Everything would be fine.

  Brian and Axel stood up and started walking toward the exit and Sadie followed.

  “Wake up,” Sadie heard Piper say.

  She looked back and saw Emma lying back in the chair, her eyes closed. Piper was sitting next to her and shaking her by the arm. How had she fallen asleep with all of that noise? Sadie walked back and sat down next to Emma.

  “Em,” Sadie said. “It’s time to go.”

  When Emma didn’t respond, Sadie leaned over and started patting her on the cheeks, hoping to startle her awake. “Wake up, Emma,” she said in a louder voice.

  “This is just what I need,” Piper said.

  “Let me sleep,” Emma moaned. When she spoke, her face looked slack, not at all like the normal Emma. “Leave me alone.”

  “We can’t stay here. The show is over,” Sadie said.

  The mom from the family in the next row stood up to leave. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “Fine,” Piper said.

  The woman walked to the aisle and came into their row. “I’m a nurse,” she said. She took Emma’s wrist in her hand for a moment. “She’s got a nice strong pulse.”

  “Great,” Sadie said. “Thank you.” She knew this woman was well meaning, but she just wanted her to go away. With her father’s hospital a few blocks from the museum, this nurse probably knew him.

  “She seems a bit sedated,” the nurse said. “Was she drinking?”

  “Not at all,” Sadie said.

  “Did she take anything?”

  “No,” Piper said. “I think she’s just tired.”

  “It’s been a long week at school,” Sadie added. “Mid-terms.”

  “Right, well, let’s see if we can get her up.” The nurse motioned for Piper to stand up so she could sit down next to Emma. She draped one of Emma’s arms around her neck and placed her arm on Emma’s back. “Let’s go, sweetheart,” she said, using her strength to get Emma to stand. She must have had a lot of practice doing this with her patients.

  “Where … we going?” Emma leaned on the chair in front of her to keep from falling.

  “Home,” Sadie said. “Before our parents start to worry.” When she said this, she really meant Emma’s mom, since her own parents barely noticed she existed these days, their focus only on Aunt Alison.

  “Do you want me to call an ambulance?” the nurse asked.

  “No, thank you.” That was the last thing Sadie needed. Her parents had enough going on right now without her adding more stress.

  “Mom, how much longer?” one of the nurse’s kids asked from the aisle.

  “I’m fine,” Emma spoke
up, her voice stronger. “Really.”

  The nurse held up a wait-one-minute finger to her family and looked back to Emma. “How do you feel?” she asked.

  “Much better.”

  “Your color is coming back,” she said. “Take her home and put her to bed,” she said before rejoining her family.

  Sadie was relieved that Emma had pulled herself together enough to stop the nurse from calling 911, but her relief soon changed to fear. She wasn’t sure how they’d get Emma home in this state.

  Sadie coaxed Emma into the aisle and tried to drape her arm around her shoulder like the nurse had done, but it kept flopping off. “Come on, Emma. Help me out here.”

  “What help?” Emma said, leaning her entire body weight on Sadie. If Emma wasn’t so tiny, they would have no chance to get her home tonight.

  “Try to walk,” Sadie said.

  “I’m trying,” Emma said.

  “She only had two,” Piper said. “Such a lightweight.”

  “I tried to tell you this wasn’t a good idea. It was too much for her.” Sadie wanted to focus on Emma, but she also felt like Piper deserved a piece of her mind.

  “This is all your fault,” she said. It was the closest she could get to telling Piper off.

  Sadie gave up trying to keep Emma’s arm on her shoulder and tried to support her under her arm, motioning Piper to do the same on the other side.

  “My fault?” Piper said. “You’re the one who decided to bring her. I’m doing you a favor here.”

  “A favor?”

  “I never signed on to take care of your lame friend.”

  “Are you kidding?” Sadie said angrily, a few drops of spit escaping with her words.

  They finally reached the now empty lobby where the guys were waiting for them.

  “What took you so long?” Brian asked and then noticed Emma. “Whoa, she’s not looking so good.”

  “Not feeling good,” Emma said and wobbled a few steps into the lobby, where she bent forward and retched. After depositing the entire contents of her stomach onto the red carpeting, she wiped her mouth with her hand and sat down.

  “Let’s get her out of here before anyone sees that,” Axel said, turning to go.

  “Wait a minute,” Brian said. “We can’t leave her there like this.” He helped Emma up and draped her arm around his neck, securing it with his hand. He made it look so easy. Sadie went to Emma’s other side, holding Emma’s arm for support.

  “Let’s go,” Piper said.

  “Shut up, Piper,” Brian said.

  Piper rolled her eyes and followed behind with Axel. They managed to make it to the street and moved slowly in the direction of the T-station. Holding Emma’s free arm seemed unnecessary, but Sadie felt like she had to do something to help. She also needed something to distract her from Piper who was whispering to Axel, something about Sadie being lame and a prude.

  When they were almost at the train station, Emma walked to the railing along the side of the bridge and vomited again into the river. When she turned back to the group, she took a few tottering steps and then tripped on the uneven sidewalk, her ankle twisting as she pitched forward. Brian’s attempt to catch her failed, and she ended up in a heap in the street. Sadie stepped behind her into the traffic lane and waved her arms at an oncoming bus, the driver honking as he careened into the adjacent lane.

  “Oh, come on. I’ve really lost interest in the dramatics,” Piper said. “Let’s go.”

  “I think she’s hurt,” Brian said. He bent down to help Emma up. “Ax, we need to carry her. Her ankle’s busted.”

  He motioned for Axel to help him lift Emma off the pavement. The guys formed a chair with their arms and started carrying her down the sidewalk. Emma’s right foot hung at an unnatural angle and her lower leg was noticeably swollen.

  “It hurts,” Emma screamed. “Owwww.” Sadie froze in horror, unsure what she could do to help. This night just kept getting worse

  “We have to bring her to the hospital,” Brian said. “She can’t go home like this.”

  “We should go there.” Axel pointed to the towering building a few blocks ahead, just on the other side of the bridge. “It’s not too far.”

  The group made it back to the sidewalk and moved in the direction of the hospital, Sadie and Piper falling in line behind the boys and Emma.

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” Sadie said. “My father works there.”

  “Then your father can look out for her,” Piper said.

  “He’s already exhausted by everything going on with my aunt. This won’t make him happy.”

  Piper unzipped her bag and took out the bottle of pills. “Thanks for these by the way,” she said, slipping the bottle into Sadie’s jacket pocket.

  Sadie took it out and tried to hand it back to Piper. “What do you mean? I don’t want this.”

  “They’re yours,” Piper said, walking ahead. “I’m done with them.”

  Sadie sighed and put the bottle back into her pocket. She couldn’t allow Piper to prevent her from making sure Emma was okay.

  CHAPTER TWENTY - SIX

  Grant

  March 23, 2019

  THE SOUND OF HIS CELL PHONE woke Grant from a nightmare, the same one he’d had several times this week while attempting to sleep in a chair at Alison’s bedside. Blood cascaded from the operating table onto the floor, a raging torrent of red rushing out the door and down the hallway. The other times he’d had this recurring dream, he’d been swept away in the river, only waking up as he was being pulled under by the current, struggling to keep his head from going under.

  He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to blink away the color red. He could feel the effects of the Oxy tablets he’d taken a few hours ago to help him sleep in this god-forsaken place, his thoughts still pleasantly blurry. Taking his phone from his pocket, he saw Sadie’s name on the screen. She should have been fast asleep at Emma’s house. Why would she be calling him at one in the morning?

  “Sadie, is everything okay?”

  “I’m fine, Dad,” she said. “But I’m in the ER. Emma fell and broke her ankle.”

  “Broke her ankle? How’d that happen?” He didn’t have the energy to deal with this right now. At least it wasn’t Sadie who’d fallen. That would really put him over the edge. “Where are you?”

  “At your hospital,” she said.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “We went to see a show at the Museum of Science. Mom said it was okay, remember?” No, Grant didn’t remember. Taking care of himself was proving enough of a challenge this week without trying to keep track of Sadie as well.

  “You’re downstairs?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she said. Grant could hear a note of hesitation in her voice.

  “Stay where you are. I’ll be down in a minute.”

  Grant stood up and twisted from side to side to try to loosen up the muscles in his lower back. Sleeping here for almost a week wasn’t doing his body any favors, he and Cynthia taking turns going home to shower and put on new clothes. He’d had Wendy put all his surgeries and appointments on hold.

  He looked over at Cynthia, snoring away in the other chair, and decided to let her rest.

  When he arrived in the ER, he found Sadie and Emma in a private room, Emma lying on the gurney with her swollen leg elevated on a bed of pillows.

  “Dad, I’m so glad you’re here,” Sadie said, throwing her arms around him “I didn’t know what to do.”

  He closed his arms around Sadie. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m here now.” He felt badly his daughter was going through this, but it also felt good to be needed for once. “Are Emma’s parents on the way?”

  “Her dad should be here soon,” Sadie said.

  “What happened?”

  “We were walking back to the T from the museum and Emma just tripped.”

  “The sidewalk was … weird,” Emma said. Sadie shot Emma a look. It seemed like Sadie was trying to tell Emma to shut up,
but Grant wasn’t sure why.

  “And before I knew it, she was on the ground,” Sadie said. “Her ankle blew up. I knew it was bad.”

  “How did you get here?” Grant asked.

  “We were with other friends,” Sadie said. “They helped carry her.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “They left once Emma got checked in.” Sadie refused to look at him, making Grant think Piper must have been involved. After the tattoo debacle, Sadie knew he wasn’t her biggest fan. He was about to ask more questions about who exactly these so-called friends were and why they took off so quickly, but before he could say anything else, he heard a knock on the doorframe.

  Grant turned and saw Vanessa Hidalgo, one of the ER doctors. “Dr. Kaplan, could I have a word with you outside for a moment?” Vanessa had consulted him about countless neurosurgical emergencies over the years, so he wasn’t sure why she chose to address him so formally tonight. Also, whatever she had to say, she could say it in front of the girls. A broken ankle didn’t seem like sensitive subject matter.

  “Sure,” he said. “Girls, give me minute to speak with the doctor.”

  He followed Vanessa through the packed emergency room. They’d always had a good working relationship in the past and he’d even done her some favors. When her younger daughter had fallen off the balance beam a few years ago during a gymnastics competition, cracking her skull on the way down, Grant had left Cynthia and Sadie at the movie theater on a Sunday afternoon to see her. When they reached a quiet alcove in the corner of the ER, Vanessa stopped and turned around.

  “Is Emma going to need internal fixation to stabilize the fracture?” Grant asked. “Troy Womack is the best guy for foot and ankle. He fixed my cousin’s compound ankle fracture last year with great results.” Maybe if he talked enough, the serious look on Vanessa’s face would soften.

  She crossed her arms over her chest. “I wouldn’t normally share any information with you since Emma is not your daughter, but this isn’t a straightforward case.”

  “No fracture is too complicated to fix. It’s not brain surgery.” He hoped the joke would bring a smile to her face.