by Kai Juniper
"Call him up."
As I'm getting my phone out, a woman walks out, wearing her coat and holding a stack of folders.
"Excuse me," I say, stopping her. "We need to talk to a student. Do we need to go check in at the office?"
"The office is closed," she says. "The students have all gone home. It was an early out day."
"When did they leave?" Dean asks.
"About a half hour ago," the woman says, continuing on to her car.
Danny walks back to me. "He must've gone home. Try calling his phone."
I call his number.
"You hear that?" Danny asks, going over to the bushes that line the parking lot.
"His phone went to voicemail."
"Call him again."
"I'll text him. He's more likely to answer a text."
"Just call him," Danny says, walking through the bushes.
"What are you doing over there?" I ask as I call Jake's phone again.
"Listen," he says, looking around at the ground. "That song you hear? It's Jake's ringtone." He reaches down and picks up a phone. It has a black skull case that looks just like the one on Jake's phone.
I stare at the phone, realizing what this means.
"Joe was here," Danny says, walking back to me. "He took Jake."
"Oh my God." I look up at Danny. "What are we going to do?"
"Call the cops. Give me the guy's card. I'll do it."
I give Danny the card. He calls the officer and explains what happened, or what we think happened. There's no other explanation. Jake wouldn't leave his phone behind. Joe took it from him and tossed it in the bushes so Jake couldn't call for help.
"Let's go," Danny says, taking my hand and practically dragging me back to the truck.
I can't believe this is happening. When I woke up this morning, everything was perfect. I couldn't have been happier. And now, Dean's in the hospital fighting for his life and Jake's been taken by his dad, a convicted felon.
"Why would he take him?" I ask Danny as he speeds out of the parking lot.
"Because he can. Or he thinks he can. Joe doesn't like shit being taken from him. Dean never told him he took custody of Jake but I'm sure Joe figured it out when he heard Dean's mom took off."
"How does he find this stuff out from prison?"
"Larry probably told him, or one of his other friends. Those guys talk. I don't know how, but shit gets back to them."
"Larry's the guy Dean said called him about his dad's parole hearing. It sounded like Dean and that guy were friends."
"Larry was like an uncle to Dean growing up, but he's not a friend. You can't trust guys like Larry. They do what's best for them, not anyone else. If Joe slipped him some cash, drugs, booze, whatever...Larry would tell him whatever he wants to know."
"How could he do that from prison?"
Dean shrugs. "It happens. I don't know how. I could ask my uncle. He was in prison in his twenties. Stole shit from a gas station and got locked up for a year."
This is a whole different world that I only know from movies, and I'm pretty sure the movie version of prison life isn't very accurate.
"Where are you going?" I ask Danny, noticing we're back in Dean's neighborhood.
"I want to check the house. I want to make sure Jake isn't there."
He pulls in the driveway, slams on the brakes, and puts the truck in park, leaving the engine running. Before I'm even out of the truck, Danny's at the house, banging on the door. "Jake! Are you in there?"
A dog barks, and when I look over I see the neighbor girl with her dog.
"Hi!" she says, waving at me from the sidewalk.
"Hi." I wave back, hoping she'll go away. She's adorable and very sweet but I don't have time to talk to her.
"I don't think he's here," Danny says. "I'm going to check around back."
"I'll go with you."
"No. Wait there. I'll be right back."
"Want to pet Sprinkles?" the little girl says, walking towards me, holding her dog.
"Um, not today." I smile at her. "I'm kind of in a hurry."
She frowns, petting the dog's furry coat. "What's wrong?"
"A friend of mine was hurt. We need to go see him in the hospital."
"My mommy's in the hospital. That's why I'm staying with Grandma today."
"Is your mommy sick?"
She shakes her head. "She's having a baby. Daddy's there too."
"That's exciting," I say, trying to sound happy for her.
"He's not there," Danny says, coming around the side of the house. "They boarded up the back door. He must've broke it getting in." Danny heads to the truck. "Let's go back to the hospital."
"We have to go," I say to the little girl.
"That man yelled at Sprinkles." She pouts as she pets the dog.
"What man?"
"The man in the truck. Sprinkles went outside to potty and when he barked the man yelled at him."
"Brook, come on," Danny yells from inside the truck. "Let's go!"
I open the passenger side door. "Just a minute." I turn back to the little girl. "Did this happen this morning?"
She nods.
"Was the man here? At this house?"
She nods again.
"Did you see him go inside?"
"He went to the back. He yelled at Sprinkles so I went and got Grandma and she made Sprinkles come inside."
"Did your grandma see the man?"
"No. She doesn't like going outside. She gets cold."
"Tammy!" a woman yells. "Where'd you go?"
"Here, Grammy!" the girl yells.
I look up and see the old lady standing in the doorway.
"Get back here right now! I told you not to leave the yard!"
"I'm coming!" She runs off.
"Wait!" I catch up to her. "What did the man look like?"
She shrugs. "Like a man."
"Do you know how tall he was?"
"He was big. He looked like the other man."
"What other man?"
"The one that was with you last time I saw you."
She's saying the man looked like Dean. It had to be his dad.
"What did the truck look like? Do you remember?"
"It was black."
"Like a pick-up? Open in the back?"
She nods.
"Did it look new?"
She shakes her head.
"Tammy, get inside!" her grandma yells. "Right now!"
"I have to go." She runs off, then turns back, smiling. "It had a Barbie sticker on the window!"
Barbie sticker? What is she talking about?
"Brook, what the hell?" Danny yells, getting out of the truck. "Let's go!"
I race back to the truck and get inside.
Danny takes off. "Why were you talking to that kid?"
"She saw Dean's dad here this morning. She said he was driving a pickup. We have to tell the cops."
"How does she know it was him? She's never met him."
"She said she saw a man who looked like Dean. Do Dean and his dad look alike?"
"Yeah. His dad's just an older version of Dean."
"Then it had to be him the little girl saw."
"She said he had a pickup?"
"Yeah, a black one. Sounds like she's the only one who saw it. Her grandma was in the house."
"Did she say anything else?"
"Just something about a sticker. I don't know what she meant."
"What kind of sticker?"
"A Barbie sticker. She must've made it up. I doubt there was a Barbie sticker on the truck."
"Maybe it was one of those naked lady stickers. You know the kind you see on mud flaps?"
"Huh. Maybe." I pause to think. "But they don't really look like a Barbie."
"They kind of do, especially to a kid. The long legs and big boobs? It's like a Barbie."
"If that's what she meant, that would help the cops find the car. There can't be that many black pickups with one of those stickers on the window."
"Call the cop back and tell him."
I get out my phone and call him, telling him what I found out. I finish just as Danny pulls up to the hospital.
As I'm putting my phone away, it starts ringing and I see my mom's number on the screen.
"Shit."
"What?" Danny asks, opening his door.
"It's my mom."
"Go ahead and answer it. I'll go inside."
"I can't. She doesn't know what's going on."
"So tell her."
"If I do, she'll freak out. She already doesn't like Dean, and if she finds out all this stuff about his dad, she'll try to keep me away from him."
The phone continues to ring.
"Does she know you're dating him?"
"She thinks we're just friends."
The phone stops ringing for just a moment, then starts up again.
"She's going to keep calling," I say. "I bet the school called her and told her I'm not there."
"Just tell her what's going on. You don't want her freaking out because she can't find you. I'll be inside." He takes off.
I answer the phone. "Hi, Mom."
"Honey, where are you? I was worried sick! The school said you didn't show up for your afternoon classes."
I'm surprised the school even noticed. Someone must've reported me. Eve wouldn't do it. It must've been one of my teachers. They're always calling on me in class. One of them must've noticed I was gone and told the office.
"Mom, I need to tell you something but I don't want you to freak out."
"Honey, what's wrong? Did something happen? Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine. I'm not hurt. But I am at the hospital."
"The hospital? Why?"
"Someone attacked Dean at his house this morning. He was hurt really bad." My voice cracks. "He's in intensive care."
"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. Is he going to be okay?"
"I don't know." I wipe the tears from my eyes. "The nurse won't tell me anything. All I know is he had surgery and he hasn't woken up since they brought him here."
"How did he get there?"
"A neighbor heard some noise and called the police. When they got there, they found the back door broken open and Dean unconscious on the floor."
"Do they know what happened? Was it a burglary?"
"They aren't sure," I say, not ready to tell her about Dean's dad. "But that's why I left school. When Dean didn't show up this morning, I got worried so I went to his house at lunch. His friend, Danny, came with me. The police were there and that's how we found out Dean was in the hospital."
"Which hospital? I'll come meet you there."
"Mom, you don't have to do that. I'm just going to wait here until I can see him."
"I don't want you waiting there alone. I'll wrap up what I'm doing and be there within the hour."
"Mom, really, you don't have to come. Danny is here. I'm not alone." I pause, tears running down my face. "I'm just scared. I'm so scared he won't be okay."
"I'm coming," she says in her determined mom voice that means she won't take no for an answer. "Just tell me what hospital."
I give her the info, then go back to the ICU and meet up with Danny.
"Any update?" I ask.
"No." He leans back in his chair. "Same story we got last time. You can't see him until he wakes up."
"My mom's coming."
"Here?" he asks, sounding surprised.
"I told her not to, but she wouldn't listen."
"Why is she coming? I thought you said she didn't like Dean."
"She doesn't, but she knows how much he means to me and she doesn't want me going through this alone."
Danny points to himself. "What am I? Invisible?"
"I told her you were here. She still wanted to come. It's a mom thing."
He nods. "I get it. My mom's coming too, but not until later, after she gets off work."
"Where does she work?"
"She's a nurse at an old people home."
"A nursing home?"
"Yeah. Dean's like a son to her. He spent a lot of time at our house growing up to get away from his shithead parents."
"What was Dean's mom like?"
"A drunk. Abusive. Not as bad as his dad, but almost."
"He never told me about her. I guess now I know why."
"He doesn't like talking about either one of them." Danny's phone rings. "It's Coach. I gotta answer this."
He gets up and goes down the hall.
I feel so helpless sitting here. I feel like I should be doing something but there's nothing I can do but sit here and wait. I hope the police find that truck. I don't want to have to tell Dean that his brother is missing. I know it's not my fault but I still feel somewhat responsible for what happened to Jake. I knew his dad was out of prison. I knew he might try to take Jake. Knowing all that, I should've picked him up right away, before we went to the hospital. At the very least, I should've told him what was going on when I talked to him on the phone. That way he would've known his dad might show up at school.
Dean said Jake didn't think their dad was bad so maybe he willingly got in the truck with him. Maybe he wasn't forced and didn't know what was happening. I wonder if he's figured it out or if his dad made up some story to explain why he showed up at school.
The cops said it'd be hard to find the truck, especially if it left the state. They have an alert out to the surrounding states but it'll be hard to find the truck without a license number. The cop said he'd be going back to talk to the little girl to see if she remembered anything else. He was also going to check with the other neighbors to see if they saw the truck.
A half hour goes by and Danny goes to the cafeteria to get something to eat.
"Brook."
I look up and see my mom rushing toward me, her arms out. As I get up, she brings me into a hug. "Honey, I'm so sorry."
I didn't think I wanted her here but now I'm happy she came. Sometimes you really need your mom, and now is one of those times.
"Is there anything I can do?" she asks as we sit down.
"The nurse said we just have to wait. I don't know how long. They won't tell me anything."
"Wait here." She gets up and goes over to the nurses' station. I can't hear what she's saying but the nurse is smiling and nodding, which is more than I got from her. She wouldn't even talk to me. My mom has a talent for making friends with strangers. She smiles a lot and gets the person to talk, and within minutes she forms some kind of connection with them that makes them like her. I keep telling her she should go into sales. She'd make a lot more money than she does filing paperwork at a law firm.
"You should be able to see him in a couple hours," she says, sitting beside me.
"Did she tell you anything?"
"Yes." My mom lowers her voice. "I think she assumed I was a relative. She referred to you as his sister?" Her brows rise.
"I told her that so I could see him. Only immediate family can go in there."
She sighs. "Brook, you shouldn't lie to them like that. They could easily find out the truth."
"I didn't know what else to do. I need to see him and he doesn't have any other family."'
"His parents don't know?"
"I told you they took off."
"Yes, but surely there's a way to reach them."
"There's not. And even if there was, he wouldn't want to see them. They're not good parents."
"What about his brother? The one you've been tutoring. Why isn't he here?"
"Um, that's kind of a long story."
"We have plenty of time." Her eyes search my face, like she knows I'm not telling her something. Usually she can't tell, but today she seems to know I'm hiding something from her, and she's going to keep asking until I tell her.
Chapter Four
Brook
"Hey." Danny returns with two cups in his hand. "Got you a coffee." He hands it to me. "Do you even drink coffee? I guess I should've asked."
"I do. Thanks."
> My mom stands up. "I'm Karla Turner, Brook's mother."
"Good to meet you," Danny says, shaking her hand. He holds up his coffee. "Sorry, I should've got you one too."
"It's fine. I try to avoid caffeine this late in the day."
"I could get you something else."
She smiles. "Thank you, but I don't need anything."
"My mom just talked to the nurse," I say to Danny.
"What'd she say?" he asks.
My mom glances at me. "We can talk about it later. So Danny, are you on the football team? I assume that's how you know Dean."
"I've known Dean forever, way before we ever played football. He lived down the street from me when we were kids."
"Mom, what did the nurse say?" I ask, knowing she's purposely avoiding telling me, which means whatever she knows isn't good.
Danny looks between my mom and me. "What's going on?"
"She knows but she doesn't want to tell us," I say, my eyes going to my mom. "Please. Just tell us. We're going to find out eventually."
She nods. "Let's sit down."
Danny sits next to me and I sit next to my mom.
"The nurse said he was brought in with severe head wounds and a dislocated shoulder. She mentioned something about his knee but it was a medical term and I'm not sure what she meant."
"He busted his knee?" Danny blows a breath. "His football career is over."
"Who cares about that?" I say, annoyed he'd even bring it up. "His health is more important than football."
"Football is his future," Dean says, like I'm stupid for not realizing that. "Without it, he's not going to college. He'll end up working some shitty job, barely making minimum wage."
"He can do more than that. He can—"
"Okay, that's enough," my mom says in the tone she would use when my sister and I used to fight. "Should I continue or would you two like to keep arguing?"
"Go ahead," I mutter.
"He has a partial fracture in his rib and a lot of swelling and bruising around his ribcage. And his neck..." She looks down.
"What about it?" I ask.
"There was a knife in his neck."
"A knife?" I put my hand over my chest, my heart aching at the thought of what he must've gone through. His own father attacking him, putting a knife through his neck. "He could've died."
"Yes," my mom says. "The nurse said he was very lucky it didn't hit a major artery. If it had, he wouldn't have made it."