by Erin Wright
No, Brooklyn was definitely not running away to her mother’s house.
“Elijah, what’s your ex-wife’s number?” the fire chief asked as he dug his cell phone out of his pocket.
Elijah rattled the number off without blinking an eyelash, while Hannah silently counting her lucky stars that she wasn’t the one calling Sarah. She needed to stop being such a wimp, she knew she did, but still…
She couldn’t help being grateful that she wasn’t having to tell the hateful drunk that her daughter was missing.
“Sarah Morland?” the fire chief said when Sarah answered. “This is Fire Chief Anderson here in Sawyer. I’m afraid I have bad news. A fire alarm has gone off here at the elementary school and in the chaos afterwards, no one has been able to locate your daughter. Have you seen or heard from Brooklyn since she left for school this morning?”
“I’m ssoooorrrryyyyyyy…” Patrick wailed. “He made me swear that I wouldn’t tell nobody.”
Hannah jerked her gaze away from the fire chief to look down at her student, completely perplexed. “Patrick, what are you talking about?” she yelled over the fire alarm that was still. going. off. and. was. never. going. to. stop. and. was. going. to. drive. her. absolutely. insane. in. about ten. seconds. or. so.
“Are you being serious right now?” the fire chief demanded, sounding pissed. Hannah jerked her head back up to look at him. Why was he so angry?
“Dayton made me make a blood oath I wouldn’t tell!” Patrick sobbed, yanking her attention back towards him. She felt a little nauseous, like she’d been plopped smack down in the middle of a tennis match.
“I’m going to be contacting the police chief over this,” the fire chief shouted into the phone. “Your reckless actions could very well have led to one of my men getting hurt, or these children getting ill from standing out in this weather.” He shoved his phone back into his pocket, looking livid. “Sarah picked Brooklyn up from school,” he said disgustedly. “Claims she forgot to check her out of the office. They’re on their way to Boise to go grocery shopping.” He seemed incredulous at the idea of a student missing school to go grocery shopping, but Hannah wasn’t surprised. Parents routinely took their kids out of school for the skimpiest of reasons. “She sounds sauced. Is she a drinker?” he demanded of Elijah.
Elijah nodded, the panic stamped all over his face melting away a bit at the news that at least his daughter hadn’t been kidnapped by some sicko.
Although being in a vehicle with a drunk and nasty mother isn’t much better.
Hannah really wasn’t sure what to feel about this news.
“He’s going to be mad at me,” Patrick announced as he tugged on her coat sleeve. “But I had to tell.”
Hannah looked back down at her student, still struggling to keep up with everything happening around her. Brooklyn had been kidnapped by her drunk mother, the fire alarm from Hades was still going off, she was freezing to death in a blizzard that only penguins in Antarctica could appreciate, and Patrick was…
What was Patrick talking about?
“Who’s going to be mad at you?” she shouted over the noise as Chief Anderson left to tell the principal that the search was off for Brooklyn, at least. He was radioing it out to his guys as he hurried through the whipping snow.
“Dayton!” Patrick shouted impatiently. “He’s the one who pulled the fire alarm. He didn’t want to take the spelling test this afternoon. He’s hiding in the boy’s bathroom now. I can’t get him to come out. He’s gonna be real mad at me for telling you.”
Hannah wasn’t sure if she should laugh or cry or drop into a heap on the frozen ground and beat it with her fists. Teachers deserve hazard pay. Truly, I don’t think live enemy fire could be worse than this.
A part of her felt guilty for not noticing his absence earlier, but he’d come into class as lunch was ending, and in the craziness of it all, she hadn’t thought to check for him a second time. After she’d discovered Brooklyn was missing, everything else flew straight out of her brain.
She looked up at Elijah. “Tell the principal that it was Dayton who pulled the fire alarm,” she said calmly, “and that there is no fire. Patrick, you come with me. Mrs. Damerell,” she called out to the elderly librarian, “I need you to take my class back inside when the alarm stops and the principal gives us the all clear.” She was one of the few adults around who didn’t have classes of their own that they were responsible for, so Hannah didn’t feel bad about dumping her class off onto the elderly woman’s shoulders. She turned to her class and shouted, “You guys listen to Mrs. Damerell and be good when you get back into the classroom. I’ll be there in a minute.”
Her hand clamped down on Patrick’s shoulder and she started heading towards the warmth of the school, dragging him along with her. “Which bathroom is he in?” she hollered over the alarm. Mr. Zeller was no doubt on his way to turn the thing off, and Hannah could only mentally beg him to hurry. “The one closest to us or the one on the other end?”
Blessed silence descended over the school as Hannah opened the front doors, dragging an unhappy Patrick along behind her. It was almost painful not to have the fire alarm going off; it was still ringing faintly in her ears. She wanted to weep from happiness anyway. If she never heard another fire alarm in her life, it would be too soon.
“This end,” Patrick said glumly, clearly not happy about being included in this expedition to find Dayton. “He’s gonna be real mad at me for tellin’,” he said mournfully. “Do I have to come with you?”
Hannah made a beeline for the boy’s bathroom, her hand clamped on his shoulder, not giving an inch. “Patrick, they have video cameras trained on every single fire alarm in the school. If Dayton pulled the alarm, the principal has it on videotape. Dayton isn’t getting into trouble because of you. He was going to be in trouble no matter what. I’m just able to find him faster because of you.”
“Oh.”
Hannah wanted to shake his thin, bony shoulders. Ten-year-old boys were sure idiotic sometimes.
She paused at the doorway of the bathroom. “Dayton, are you in here?” she called out. She heard some shuffling noises but no response. “Dayton, I know you pulled the fire alarm. You need to come out now.”
One of the stalls burst open and Dayton came tumbling out. “How did you know I—” He spotted Patrick and jerked to a stop. “You told her!” he yelled accusingly. Patrick shrunk down behind his teacher, using her body as a defensive shield against his friend. “I’m gonna whoop your ass—”
“Dayton Meier!” Hannah hollered, and Dayton shut up and looked at her, defiantly scared to death. “As I was just explaining to Patrick here,” she said in her best icy, you-are-in-deep-trouble-mister voice, “there are video cameras trained on every single fire alarm in the school. There’s no way you could pull one without it being caught on tape. So, don’t get upset with Patrick; he was worried that your classmates were all going to freeze to death in the blizzard you sent them out into, and wanted them to be able to come back inside.”
Patrick hadn’t technically told her that, but she was sure that was his reasoning. And if it wasn’t, well, it should’ve been.
“A blizzard?” Dayton repeated, even quieter this time. He’d veered firmly into Terrified Land as he realized the full extent of what he’d done.
“Yeah, a full-blown blizzard. Started while all of your classmates were standing out in it, trying to be safe from a fire that does not exist,” she said sarcastically, wanting to shake some sense into him. “Not everyone had time to grab their jacket and gloves before heading outside. You probably caused more than a few of the students in this school to get very, very sick from being out in that without the proper clothing on. This is as serious as it gets, Dayton, and all because you didn’t want to take a test.” She shook her head in dismay. “C’mon, you and Patrick are heading down to the principal’s office. He’ll take care of you from there.”
As she directed the dejected pair towards the front office, t
he thought she’d had back at the beginning of the school year, all those months ago, popped into her mind: If Dayton was anything like his older brother, this would be an interesting school year.
Well, she certainly got that part right.
Chapter 31
Elijah
April, 2019
“Your Honor,” Elijah said pleadingly, “I know she ain’t never taken a blood alcohol test that she’s failed. But there have been multiple times when I’ve called her and she were flat-out drunk in the middle of the afternoon. She was always a drinker when we was married, but she’s gotten a whole lot worse since then—”
“Mr. Morland,” Judge Schmidt said crisply, “last time I checked, your ears were not a valid alcohol testing device recognized by the State of Idaho, and even if they were, there is no law against someone drinking in the confines of their own home.”
“But—” Elijah jumped in, and the judge held up his hand, snapping, “Mr. Morland!” Elijah shut up. “You claim that she was drinking when she drove Brooklyn to Boise to go shopping. Again, your ears are not a valid alcohol testing device! She was properly repentant about causing worry and alarm that day when she forgot to check Brooklyn out of school; I am not about to take a daughter away from her mother for one simple, minor mistake. Children should be with their mothers whenever possible; it is best for the health of the child. Now, do not come before this court again and waste my time unless you have something to actually report next time. Good day!” He banged his gavel down with all his might, clearly wishing he could bring it down on Elijah’s head instead. “Bailiff, who’s next?” he snapped.
Sarah stood up, the most smug smile he’d ever seen on the face of a human being plastered all over her as she drug Brooksy down the middle aisle after her and outta the courthouse. Her three lawyers in their fancy suits followed, not lookin’ at him at all as they went past.
Mechanically, Elijah stood up, no lawyer on his side to follow him outta the courthouse. Lawyers cost money, and that were somethin’ he just didn’t have enough of.
He stumbled out into the weak spring sunshine, the mountains makin’ a valiant effort to beat back the snow, and forced back the urge to beat somethin’ of his own with his fists. Sarah’s brand-new Escalade, maybe, or the smugness off her face, or the side of the courthouse building. Hell, maybe he could punch and beat and kick it until justice actually came outta it. He’d never liked Judge Schmidt much, but after hearin’ Hannah’s story ‘bout his son, Eli found it hard to even look the man in the eye.
Do you know what kind of monster you raised?
And the judge’s belief that children should always be with their mommas unless they was proven criminals sure as shit didn’t make him love the man any more.
My money is good enough for Sarah to spend on my daughter; sure seems like I oughta be good enough to see my daughter more than once ever’ two weeks.
Well, of course he saw her more than that, but that was only ‘cause he were willin’ to clean up puddles of piss and throw-up and scrub windows ‘til they shined. The court wasn’t no help in making it happen, that were for damn sure.
He drove over to Hannah’s house, carefully parkin’ in back so ain’t no one could see him go in, and slipped inside. He hated doin’ it that way – he hated not bein’ able to walk through the front door like any other person could, like he weren’t good enough for Hannah neither. It’d been rubbin’ on him for months now, but after the trouncin’ he’d just received in court…
He was all twisted up with anger. He could feel it bouncin’ around inside of him, pushin’ at him, makin’ him wanna swing out and hit somethin’ to let some of it out.
“How did it…” Hannah came out of the kitchen and caught sight of his face, and stopped mid-sentence. “That bad?” she asked softly, hurryin’ to his side so she could run her hand up and down his arm.
He felt the tiniest bit of anger disappear at her touch. Just a little, but still…Being around her was good for a soul, that was for damn sure.
He shook his head in disgust. “Judge Schmidt is a low-down snake. I ain’t worth a bucket of warm spit ‘cause I’m a guy, but boy howdy, my money sure is good enough for Sarah.” He wanted to rip at the world – stomp it into pieces like his world was stomped into pieces. Was he ever gonna win against his ex? It sure didn’t feel like he would. It made it hard for him to want to keep tryin’. What were the point?
Hannah wrapped her arms around him and snuggled up against his chest. “I know Judge Schmidt doesn’t see it,” her voice caught just a bit on the name ‘Schmidt’ but she kept goin’ and he only knew it’d happened ‘cause he knew her well enough to hear the little things, “but everyone who knows you and Sarah both, also knows that you are by far the better parent. I’ve never met a father who loved his child as much as you do, and I’m an elementary school teacher. I’ve met a lot of fathers.”
He laughed a little at that. Leave it up to Hannah to make him smile even when he was angry enough to spit nails. She had a true talent.
His smile quickly faded away, though, as reality seeped back in. “I’m just frustrated ‘cause I’m goin’ in circles. I’m 31 years old, and I have no career. No schoolin’ past high school. My marriage were a disaster, and all she does now is work hard to keep me from seein’ my own daughter and seein’ how drunk she can get before noon each day. I hafta wipe up yellow piss off the floor as a job. I’m renting this piece-of-shit house that looks like more than a few drug deals were done in it, and what do I have to show for all of this? I’m barely scrapin’ by each month. I ain’t good enough for you, Hannah. If I were a better man, I’d walk away. I already tried that once, though, and it turns out I ain’t got the self control to stay away.”
He was snugglin’ her against him, running his hands up and down her back and through the prettiest hair he ever did see, glinting a golden red in the spring sunlight comin’ through the windows.
“I’m sorry I ain’t a better man,” he murmured. “I don’t wanna walk away. I wanna marry you.” He felt her stiffen just a bit in his arms, her breath disappearin’ as she stood there carefully, almost like she were afraid that if she moved, he’d change his mind. He laughed sadly. “Hannah, I ain’t never met a sweeter, smarter, or prettier woman than you. If I didn’t wanna marry you, you should check to make sure I ain’t braindead or somethin’. But you deserve so much more than me—”
“Elijah Morland,” she scolded him, pulling back just a little out of his arms so she could glare up at him, “if I’m so amazingly smart, then don’t you think I should know for myself if I want to marry you or not? You’re saying I’m too smart for you, and that I’m too stupid to know that I’m too smart for you. I think that’s a real trick.”
He gaped down at her. “Shit,” he groaned, “I didn’t mean it that way. I just…haven’t you heard the way I talk? And I never even went to community college, let alone got a real degree like you. I worked at Mr. Petrol’s for years and years as their night manager ‘cause then I could watch Brooksy during the day while Sarah went to work, but you know why else I worked there? ‘Cause I couldn’t find nothin’ else. I divorced Sarah just about a year before I started at the school. I searched for a job high and low for that whole year, and found nothin’ until the janitor job came up. Turns out, all I’m good for is to scrub up some pee, and then give almost every last penny I make to my money-hungry bitch of an ex-wife. Excuse my French,” he said quickly, feeling terrible for sayin’ such a word around Hannah. It were the most accurate way to describe Sarah, but that didn’t mean Hannah should be hearin’ that language.
Hannah narrowed her eyes at him. “We’re not going to get sidetracked into your swearing habits,” she announced. “Tell me, if you could pick any job in the world to do, what would it be?”
He shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably. This seemed suspiciously like she were thinkin’ he were capable of doin’ any job in the world, and that just weren’t true. How was it that they’d been dat
ing all these months, and she was still this ignorant about him? Maybe that’s why she hadn’t broken up with him yet – she were too sweet and naïve to see the real him. What if he finally made her realize the truth, and so she walked away?
The thought made his heart hurt.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking about,” Hannah broke in, “but I want you to forget all of that for a minute. Forget me, forget Sarah, forget Brooklyn, forget where you live or what your parents think about you. What do you want to do as a job? What do you like to do?”
He shut his eyes tightly, tryin’ to focus on what she were askin’. Maybe if he weren’t lookin’ at her while he thought, he could think clearer. “I like to do things with my hands,” he said slowly. “I like figurin’ things out. Things make a certain sense to me, whereas words…I don’t know how to say ‘em or spell ‘em or what they mean—”
“We’re focusing on what you’re good at,” she told him bluntly. “Forget all of that. Now, you like to figure things out because they make sense to you – what kind of things?”
“Carpentry, vehicles, light fixtures – things. Where I can see it and move it around with my hands, not on some computer or somethin’.”
“Hmmm…Maybe we ought to have you go to an employment center where you can be tested for your various aptitudes,” she said seriously, as if that were supposed to mean a damn thing to him. At his blank stare, she clarified, “Where they help you figure out what you’re good at.”
He almost said, “Not vocabulary, obviously,” but didn’t. Some things were too true to be funny.
“We’ll figure it out,” she said softly. “Together, we’ll figure it out.”
We.
It was turning out to be his favorite word of all. Short, simple – even he knew how to spell it and say it – and most of all, it meant him and Hannah together.
Yup, that was a vocabulary word he liked.