Just two more days like this. Two more days, and school would be out for the next two weeks.
I forced myself to stand and groggily shuffled to my door, pushing it open as I stepped into the hallway. It was cold and empty, as it always was when I first woke up. Everyone was still asleep—everyone but me. Blindly, I found the bathroom at the end of the hall and turned on the light; and instantly, I had to blink away the spots that riddled my vision. I shed my Oklahoma City Thunder T-shirt and left it on the floor, and goosebumps erupted all over my skin.
Winter was almost here; but in some ways, it seemed like it already was.
I hesitated as I turned the knob in the shower, knowing that it would be freezing, and let the water fall from the showerhead and into my hand. I waited quietly as it warmed and pulled back the curtain to climb inside. The goosebumps melted away as the water rolled down my neck and onto my back; and for a moment, I closed my eyes, just to feel it falling all around me.
But then, there was another scream—one that didn’t sound like Heather at all; and I knew that it was I who was drowning. I cried out, horrified as I began to sink into the murky water; but just as every time before, nobody was coming. I flailed my arms, lungs burning when I gasped for air and found none; and as I fought for myself, I knew that I was going to lose.
“Melissa?” My mother’s distant voice pulled me out of the darkness; and I found myself on my knees, clutching the knob with fingers white with terror.
“Yeah?” I answered hoarsely.
“I heard you scream. Did you fall? Are you okay?” She asked from the hallway.
“Yeah, Mom. I’m all right.” I knew she wouldn’t believe me. I didn’t believe myself.
“Okay, sweetheart.” She paused. “I’ll be downstairs making breakfast.”
But it didn’t stop her from pretending that she did.
The sound of creaking floorboards faded away as she left the hallway, and I was alone again. It was only after she was gone that I realized that the water had stopped, and I unclenched my hands from the knob and swept the hair from my eyes.
“What?” I blinked, unsure of what I was seeing. I hadn’t moved it at all. I turned it back and forth, wondering if somehow the water had frozen in the pipes; but I knew it wasn’t likely. Rising to my feet, I sighed; and suddenly, all at once, a million droplets of water plummeted to my feet. I turned my head sharply in alarm, looking for an explanation.
But there was none.
“Hey, there.” My mother called to me from the kitchen. I finished the last few steps of the staircase and stopped in the living room.
“Where’s Dad?” I asked her, a little confused.
“He went to check on the horses early.”
That’s strange.
He didn’t do that very often.
“Why?” I wanted to know, hurrying into the kitchen for my answer. She stole a quick glance at me before returning her attention to the stove. Bacon sizzled in the pan before her, and the waffle iron’s presence on the counter made me smile. Those were reserved for a special occasion. “It’s not…” My voice trailed away; and when she grinned in return, I sprinted to the front door. Excitedly, I pulled it open; and immediately, a ball of white spiraled towards me, hitting me square in the chest. It disintegrated on impact; and as I gathered my senses, Connor’s and Matthew’s laughs echoed in my ears. “How long were you two standing there?” I brushed the snow from my shirt as I spoke.
“About an hour.” He shrugged and hurled another at my shoulder. “It gave us time to make a couple dozen.”
“I’m gonna kill you!” I hurried down the steps and into the snow and grabbed a fistful up from the ground.
“Wait! Wait!” He held up his hands in surrender. “I have a concussion, remember?” He exclaimed, and I slowed on my way to greet them.
“You can’t hit a guy with a concussion.” Matthew shrugged, grinning slightly. Connor let his arms fall to his sides, and I flashed him a clever smile.
“That was a week ago.” I watched his face twist into a look of surprise when I smashed the snow into his hair; and I turned, heading towards the door as Matthew’s chuckles filled the background. “C’mon. My mom’s making waffles.”
“Seriously?” Connor sprinted after me and paused for Matthew at the door. “You coming, Matt?”
“Sorry.” He called to him from the front lawn. “Heather’s grandma saw me on the way here and asked me to join them.”
“Okay.” Connor nodded. “Catch you later.” He waved goodbye before closing the door behind him.
“Hey, Connor.” My mother acknowledged him as she started to set the table. The both of us wandered through the kitchen and into the dining room, where she was waiting with a platter of waffles. “Come sit down.”
“This looks great, Mrs. Moonwater.” He commented, pulling up a seat.
“You know how the first snow day is.” She replied as she lowered the plate of bacon onto the table. “How’s your mom?”
“Had to leave early for work, today—said it was some kind of emergency.” He answered as he reached for the maple syrup, uncapping it to drown his waffles.
There was something about the quietness that unnerved me, and I stood in the living room by myself as I sought to identify it. The television—my father would have been watching it right now.
“Melissa, come and have some breakfast.” My mother said, beckoning for me to join them.
“I just thought I’d turn the news on.” I looked at her from over my shoulder when I responded and clicked the power button on the remote.
“And we should be expecting a few inches of snow moving into the holiday season.”
The weatherman pointed to the map displayed behind him.
More snow. That’d be nice.
My mother stuck her head out of the kitchen once more to rein me in.
“Anything exciting?” I shook my head at her words and followed her. “So, since it’s a snow day, do you two have anything in mind?” She asked us as I sat down at the table. Connor and I stared at each other, not entirely certain about the answer.
“Um…we might hang out, watch a movie, and play some board games?” It was more of a question than anything else; but when I looked at him, he didn’t object.
“Sounds like fun.” He interjected, taking another bite out of a piece of bacon.
“And we’re back to Mayes County Medical Center with an update on that long-running missing persons case.”
I lifted my head from my plate to listen.
“Mom, could you turn that up, please?” I requested; and she nodded, moving out of the kitchen and into the living room to pick the remote up from its place.
“Now, we’re not sure whom the police found in Kellyville late last night; but we do know that she was evacuated by helicopter and brought here to be evaluated, mostly likely to be closer to her immediate family.”
Connor and I locked eyes one more time; but this time, it was with absolute certainty.
Why they built a hospital right next to the cemetery is beyond me. Beyond the white walls of the medical center stood a garden of stones, silent and still in the distance. It scared me—terrified me even—almost to the point where I couldn’t set foot in Pryor for any reason. The air of death was inescapable. In every corner—every street—I felt it. Waiting for me…just like it waited for everyone else.
It was only when I was older that I realized what it really was: not the result of unfortunate design, but an emblem of life—a combination of the two places our lives will always revolve around—a place we’d always come back to.
And here we were again.
Lights flashed outside the windows of Connor’s Oldsmobile as we cruised past the front of the hospital and into the parking lot. A crowd had started to gather amongst the reporters that blocked the entrance; and I knew that like the two of us, the parents of the missing had come to see who had been found. I unfastened my seatbelt before he took the key out of the ignition and lun
ged for the handle.
“Wait.” He set his hand on my shoulder. “How are we getting in?” I uncurled my fingers from around the handle and sat back in the seat, sighing deeply.
I didn’t think of that.
But then, he smiled.
“What?” I stared at him, oblivious to what he might have been thinking.
“It’s a hospital.”
“No word yet on the identity of the victim brought here from Kellyville last night, but we are receiving news that she is in stable condition and has not sustained any life-threatening injuries.”
“We’ve been told that the young woman brought to this hospital is indeed a resident of one of the cities from which the eleven girls have gone missing. The medical center has not yet released her name in respect for the family’s privacy.”
“The authorities in Kellyville have given little to no information on just where this victim was found. All we know is that she is being treated for knife wounds in this hospital behind us.”
“So you know what to do?” Connor asked me as we forced our way through the thickening crowd. I nodded my head, immediately realizing that he wouldn’t have heard that.
“Yeah, I’ve got it.” I replied, not far behind. I held onto the sleeve of his coat, determined to not get swallowed up in the masses that swarmed the front of the medical center.
It was all too much—I couldn’t handle it. It was almost as if Pryor in its entirety had come, just to welcome one of its daughters home.
We broke through the crowd and into the open space of the lobby; and to my relief, it was quiet. My own footsteps echoed in my ears as I approached the front desk, and I could have sworn I heard Connor’s heart beating beside me.
“Hello.” A woman in pink and white floral scrubs looked up at me from her computer.
“How can I help you?” She inquired with a smile.
“We were thinking about applying for an internship that we could do after school.” I gestured to Connor as I spoke. “He’s planning on majoring in biochemistry in college, and I’d like to learn more about your rehabilitation services.”
“Oh,” she grinned, “okay. We’d love to have you.” She rolled her chair back to reach underneath the desk, pulling out a thin packet of papers. “You’ll have to fill out these before you get started. It’s just a formality, really. We want to know what exactly you’re interested in and that your parents are onboard. In the meantime, we can give you a tour of the hospital. Pierre?” A young man with a head of curly hair stopped just short of the exit, turning at the sound of his name.
“Yes?”
“I know you were just leaving, but do you think you could show these two around a little bit before you go? They’re considering applying for an internship.” She asked apologetically. He shrugged, not really seeming to mind.
“Sure.” He walked back through the lobby and passed us, pausing in the middle of the hallway when he noticed that we weren’t following him. “You guys coming?” Sheepishly, I looked to Connor; but he was already ahead of me.
“Let’s go.” He said, and I hurried to catch up with him. “So, what do you do here?” Connor wondered aloud.
In his black buttoned shirt and jeans, he clearly wasn’t a doctor.
“I volunteer in the children’s ward.” He started to explain, and I caught the hint of an accent in his voice. “With all they go through, a little laughter goes a long way.” He added, stealing a glance at us from over his shoulder. “What made you want to take a look into medicine?” I opened my mouth to speak, but no explanation came out.
“My dad was a paramedic.” For a minute, I stared at him, surprised at what he’d said.
It wasn’t something he liked to talk about.
“What about you?” Pierre turned his attention on me, waiting for an answer. “Does it run in your family?” I shook my head as we passed by the doors leading into the emergency room.
“No.” I responded. “Just horses.”
“What’s working in the pediatric ward like?” Connor questioned him as we strolled around the corner, and I looked up at the sign hovering over the corridor: Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.
“Well, you can see for yourself.” He remarked; and a little girl came running down the hall when she caught sight of him, her dark brown hair flying behind her. “Hey, Danielle!” He exclaimed and bent down to embrace her.
“Did you forget something?” She stared at him with wide brown eyes.
“No. I just thought my friends would like to meet you.” He explained to her; and she smiled broadly, revealing an incomplete set of teeth.
“Hi, Danielle.” She gazed at me when I spoke her name. “I’m Melissa, and this is Connor.”
“Nice to meet you.” Connor said as he reached down to shake her hand.
“Do you like my hair?” She asked us eagerly, and I nodded my head with a grin. “I just got it yesterday.”
“Dani, sweetheart, it’s time for lunch.” I lifted my eyes from her face to see a red-headed nurse standing at the end of the hallway.
“I have to go now.” She whispered, and I watched her sadly as she bounded away.
“How sick is she?” I was almost afraid to ask.
“She’s not—” He paused, continuing once I furrowed my brow in confusion. “Not anymore—we’ve been seeing quite a few cases of the H1N1 virus here. But the doctors have been able to tackle it in time.”
“What about…” I reached to touch my own hair, and he seemed to understand.
“Alopecia.” He answered, unconcerned. “Nothing serious.” I drew in a deep breath, and a wave of relief flooded through my veins.
Suddenly, Connor tapped my arm with the back of his hand, his eyes fixed on something to his right. I turned my head in the same direction just as a police officer shut the door of a hospital room and walked past us.
“Pierre, do you know who’s staying in there?” I pointed to the third door down the corridor.
“Not a clue. I’m not allowed to go near it. But, whoever it is was brought in early this morning.” He buried his hands in his pockets and shrugged. “Listen,” he raised the silver watch on his wrist to his eyes, “I’m running late for something.” He looked up at me. “Would you mind if I took off?”
“No. Go ahead.” Connor encouraged him. “We’ll find a way back.”
“Great. Thanks.” He waved goodbye before sprinting around the corner and out of sight. And then it was just the both of us.
“Do you think we should?” Connor didn’t need to say anything to let me know what his answer was. I forced a breath of air into my lungs. “Here goes.” Slowly, I stepped towards the door, stealing a glance behind me just to make sure that I wasn’t alone. My hand trembled when I reached for the handle and turned it, and I had to stifle a gasp when it opened from the other side. A pair of weary eyes met me from the doorway. I recognized them—just barely, but I remembered them.
“I—I’m sorry.” He stuttered. “She isn’t taking any visitors, right now.”
“Daddy…it’s okay. Let them in.” The raspy whisper sounded far away, as if only her body had escaped and left her soul behind. Hesitating, he opened the door and stepped aside.
“You need to be resting.” He insisted, but she wouldn’t have it.
“Please?” With that word, I knew he couldn’t deny her.
“I’ll be waiting outside.” He told her and slipped past us and into the hallway.
“Melissa?” She was sitting on the bed when I saw her, fading into the white blanket draped over her shoulders. The color in her hair was gone, and it shrouded her pallid face like a moldering veil. There was an eerie kind of silence as she stared at me with her broken blue eyes, and she whispered my name again through cracked lips. “Melissa?”
“Adrienne…” I rushed to the bed to wrap my arms around her, careful not to squeeze her too tightly. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” I let her go, desperate for answers. “What happened?” She rubbed her arms hidden underne
ath her blanket and gazed down at her sheets, murmuring so softly, I strained to hear her words.
“I was out on the balcony—and then, I wasn’t. It was warm—like summer; but inside, it was cold and dark. I couldn’t see anything…but I could hear—I could hear them screaming when he cut into their arms…and their backs…and their legs.”
“How do you know what he was doing?” I think Connor already knew the answer to his question.
“He did it to me, too.” Her eyes started to fill with tears as she pushed back the blanket to reveal the marks that covered her body; and I was horrified when I realized that they were letters scrawled roughly into her flesh. “He said that we weren’t good enough, but he wanted us to try.”
“Melissa…” Connor breathed, his eyes wide. “Look at the letters.” I did what he asked and immediately saw what had frightened him.
They were broken up and jagged, but I could still make them out for what they were.
“Lyn…” I whispered to myself; and at once, a light flickered on in the maze inside my head. “Adrienne, how did you end up in Kellyville?” She closed her eyes as she ran her fingers through her hair.
“Um…I don’t know. I got out, and I just kept running. I wanted to stay and help the others, but I was just so scared.” The tears streamed down her cheeks, and she clutched her arms once more. “And then, I was on the island—and then, I was at the bridge.”
“What island? What bridge?” Connor took a step closer.
“The one in the lake,” she stared at him as if he should have already known, “and the bridge that no one uses anymore—the one they say is haunted.”
“You were on Cedar Crest Island?” I needed to hear it again.
“Let’s go there—all of us.”
I couldn’t help but shudder when I thought of Heather’s words.
“How did you get from Cedar Crest Island to Crybaby Bridge? They’re tens of miles away from each other.” Connor had to ask. I wondered the same thing. But she shook her head, unable to answer.
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