Brad and Christine look at each other for a moment and then both nod.
I lay in Jaxon’s bed after a long shower trying to wrap my mind around everything. Yesterday seems like years away. Jen was already asleep on the couch when I got out of the shower, I still gave her a kiss on her cheek. We had wished of this. Living together was our alternative reality. In some way this is exactly what this is. It’s a different version of how the world should be. This world is without Sarah and it feels wrong. Jaxon gets into the bed next to me. As always, he doesn't get under the blanket with me. That doesn't prevent me from cuddling up to him. I put my head on his chest and he put his arm around me. Sleep finds me instantly.
I was hoping for a dreamless night but I am not that lucky. I am back in a room with a motionless body laying in front of me and the floor is covered in blood. I crouch next to Sarah ignoring the blood staining my jeans. I touch her cheek with the knuckles of my middle and index finger. Her skin feels like porcelain, hard and cold.
When I pull back my hand her skin cracks where I just touched it. The cracks expand across her face, pieces of porcelain falling away, revealing a softer, pinker skin underneath. She starts moving, sucking in a breath. She is alive. I grab her shoulders shaking her. Trying to free her from the whatever she is covered in. When the last piece falls of her face I realize it is not Sarah I am looking at anymore. It is the other women again and she is gasping for air, holding her chest. I look around the room, maybe for a phone. I need to call for help. Someone needs to help her. When I look toward the window I see some movement. I run up to it and see people pass by. I bang on the window.
“Help! We need Help!”
A man glances up at me but just keeps walking. A couple walks by and ignores me all together. I look back at the women on the floor. She is now heaving, grabbing her chest with both of her hands. There is no blood on her chest or on the floor. Her expression reveals that she must be in agony. I run to the door, I need to get help but the door is locked. I bang on it, I try and turn the knob with all my strength but it doesn't budge.
“Elisa.” The woman is calling my name. She is now laying on her side, her head on the floor. Her arms next to her body. The same position I found her in. She looks like she has given up the fight and is now ready to die again.
“Elisa,” she whispers one more time.
“I’m here,” I tell her. I'm not sure how she knows my name but she seems relieved that I am here. She closes her eyes and her body stills. Her chest stops moving and her skin turns white again.
I wake up with a jerk, breathing heavy.
“What's wrong?” Jaxon says in a sleepy voice, rubbing my arm.
“Just a bad dream.”
♦ ♦ ♦
The next morning, I find Jen Sitting quietly on the couch, staring out the window. She doesn’t move or say anything when I sit next to her. I take her hand into mine and she gives me a little squeeze. When her mom died just a few weeks ago she was sad, heartbroken and she cried for days. This is different, I have never seen her spirit so broke. I have never seen her so quiet. I put my head on her shoulder.
“Jen?”
It takes her another moment but then she started talking.
“My mom chose the life she lived. I’m not naive. I always knew the chances of her dying of an overdose were higher than the chances of her getting clean for good. Not that seeing it coming made it any easier but I feel like she just didn’t have any more fight left. I guess she gave up at the end and I can live with that, but Sarah dying just doesn't make sense. There is not a reason for her to be dead. It’s the unfairness of it I can’t reconcile with.”
I didn’t see Jaxon standing beside us until he talks.
“You are right, she shouldn’t be dead and what happened is more than unfair. Life is never really fair, but I think Sarah knew that better than anyone. That's why she chose her job and that’s why I think she didn’t regret anything she did.”
I glance up at Jaxon, giving him a little smile.
“Brad just texted me, they want to meet us for breakfast at the hotel restaurant.”
We all take turns in the bathroom to get ready and then walk across the street to the hotel. Brad and Christine are already waiting for us at a table when we walk in. Brad has bags under his eyes like he hasn’t slept and Christine doesn't look much better with her eyes red and puffy. She must have been crying this morning. They sit next to each other and Brad has a protective arm around Christine. Before we even get to order Brad starts talking in a shaky voice.
“Elisa, Christine and I have been up all night talking. We know what happen wasn’t your fault. You must know that we do not blame you for anything! We always loved having you with us, but we can’t go back to the way things were. Matter of fact, I don’t know if we can go back to living in our house again at all.” He takes a breath before continuing.
“Christine’s sister is willing to let us stay with her until we can sell our house but she doesn't have a lot of room. We are so sorry.”
I think it is too hard for him to say the actual words, but I don’t blame him. I am not mad at them. That doesn't make the loss and the rejection any less painful.
Jaxon takes my hand under the table and looks at Brad when he says.
“Elisa understands and she isn’t mad at you. Could you please do me and her a favor and not call her case worker today? Can you at least give us until tomorrow night? She and Jen can both stay with me until then.”
Christine answered without looking to her husband.
“Of course, we won’t call her yet, I promise.”
We don’t stay for breakfast, Jaxon says he needs to go back home and make some calls so we take our food to go. Jen and I sit down in his kitchen to eat but Jaxon just grabs a coffee, his phone and laptop, then disappears into the bedroom.
We have been done eating for a while before Jaxon comes back out of the room.
“We got an appointment in half an hour.” He says looking at me and then he turns to Jen.
“I asked Hunter to come over and hang out with you so you are not alone. Also, there is literally no real food at my house and I don’t know how long we will be gone.”
“OK, that’s fine, I don’t mind hanging out with Hunter at all.” She replies in a more upbeat tone.
Jaxon must have noticed as well because he is grinning now. Jen tries to change the subject.
“Where are you guys going anyways?”
I actually would like to know that myself. We both stare at Jaxon, waiting for an answer. He rubs the back of his neck.
“Well, we have an appointment with my lawyer.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Jaxon
The receptionist leads us straight to the conference room of the law firm, where Fredrick who has been my friend and lawyer for the last two years waits for us. He has gotten me out of some bad situations before and has always gave me good advice. More importantly, he is well connected and for the right price he can make things happen fast. He shakes my hand.
“Hey Buddy, good to see you.”
Frederick is only in his late twenties but even though he is young he is good at what he does.
He turns to Elisa, “How are you doing? It's nice to finally meet you.” He gestures to the leather seats neatly arranged around the large table, in the center of the room. Frederick has known about Elisa for a while. I had asked him to look into her options as soon as the thing with Coleman happened and I am now glad that I did, more than ever. This will speed up the whole process exponentially.
She gives him a shy smile, we all take a seat.
I told Elisa on the way over here what this visit was about, but neither one of us knows what Frederick actually going to be able to make happen and how fast he can make it happen. We sit patiently, intertwining our fingers, as Frederick gets out a stack of papers and starts rearranging them. He lays one of them in front of Elisa so we both can read it and while he explains.
“This f
orm is a Petition for the Emancipation of a minor. You would have to fill this out and we have to send it back to the juvenile court, with your birth certificate and some other documents.”
He shovels through the other documents.
“I’ve already got your birth certificate. The other documents we need are character statements from people like your teachers, your caseworker or your doctor. The judge is going to look at those and determine if it is in your best interest to be in charge of your own before the age of eighteen.”
Elisa looks over the paperwork in front of her, looking unsure about all of this.
“You know you don’t have to do this?” I tell her supportively and her head snaps up.
“I want this!” She said urgently. “I just don’t think people will believe that I can do this.”
She discloses more quietly.
“We’ll get a bunch of people to write something and just pick the best ones.” Frederick chimes in. “Also, I believe these are the most important documents.”
He pushes more papers in front of us. “This will tell the court that you are financially independent and that is what they are going to look for the most.”
I didn’t tell her about this part. She starts reading the paper and her mouth falls open as she sucks in a breath of air, her eyes get bigger. She turns to me.
“You can’t!”
“I can and I will.” I tell her unwavering.
“You didn’t even read the whole thing. It says in there that I still get to make most of the decisions. It’s really not that big of a deal.”
I try to downplay it but she isn’t stupid. This is a big deal. I’m making her co-owner of the club. Something I wouldn’t let Colt or Hunter do even though they asked me multiple times and offered me a lot of money with it. I had always given them the same answer. I told them I wanted something that is my own and only mine. Now I made it hers too. I expect Hunter to be mad at me, but he will get over it eventually and Colt, well I couldn’t care less about what he thinks right now. He can rot in jail.
Fredrick keeps explaining about the procedure and documents.
“You don’t have to read over this whole document, part of my job is to explain to you what you are signing and trust me when I say there is no document that is more in your favor than this one. If I didn’t know Jaxon and this situation so well I would never let my client sign this.”
Elisa looks at him, one eyebrow raised.
“This paper pretty much says he is giving you half of the club and asking for nothing in return. You are not even required to work there or do anything.”
Elisa leans back in her chair shaking her head.
“Please, I want to do this.” I assure her. “This will give you total freedom, no more group homes or foster parents. No one will be able to move you around without your consent. You can go and live wherever you want.” I add under my breath. "Of course, I want you to stay with me, but you don't have to.”
I think the last part is actually what reassured her.
“Ok”, she finally agrees.
Frederick sends us home with copies of everything and instructions on what to do next.
“I will let you know as soon as I hear when we need to be in court.”
Elisa gives him a small wave goodbye and we are out the door.
In the car she holds the paperwork tightly in her lap with both hands. She opens the folder and looks through all the documents again, stopping when she gets to her birth certificate.
“Did you know your parents?” She asks.
“I knew my Dad, he has been in prison for most of my life. I have no clue where my mom is, she left when I was a baby. Never heard another word from her again.”
“I just know both of my parents are dead. I never even knew their names until today.”
“What?”
“I have never seen my birth certificate before and no one ever told me.”
I look at her sideways in shock. I never even thought about it. I knew her parents were dead and that she was young enough not to remember them, but I was unaware that she knew so little. I don’t remember my mom but at least I know her name and I have seen a picture of her. I have some memories of my dad, most of it I would rather forget.
“Now that we have their names, we can look into your family if that’s something you want to do?”
She bites her bottom lip like she is thinking about it, then she shakes her head.
I don’t ask her why, because I know the answer. There is a fine line between wanting to know where you came from and not wanting to face the people who abandoned you.
When we open the door and walk into my apartment Hunter and Jen are sitting on the couch together watching a movie. There are Chinese food cartons scattered on the coffee table. Jen and Hunter are sitting on the opposite ends of the couch, not even close to each other but somehow, I feel like we interrupted something personal here. They both look a little nervous and embarrassed. I’m going to be drilling Hunter about his later but I don't want to embarrass Jen even more by saying something now.
We didn’t have to wait long before Fredrick called me back and I am relieved to hear that he pulled some major strings and got us a court date right away.
“We have a hearing tomorrow morning at ten.” I announce in relief.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Elisa
We spend the day driving around gathering documents. When we get back to Jaxon’s apartment I am surprised to find Jen and Hunter gone.
“Where did they go?”
“I sent them shopping,” Jaxon snickers.
“Why is that so amusing?”
“You’ll see when they get back. Hunter texted me saying that Jen went a little overboard. I probably shouldn’t have given her my credit card.”
The thought of Jen at the mall with someone else’s credit card is not funny, that’s scary.
They come back an hour later. Overboard was an understatement. They are carrying so many bags, they barely fit though the apartment door. Jen is literally beaming when she starts spreading out clothes on top of the kitchen table and Hunter falls onto the couch behind us, in exhaustion. He looks like he just ran a marathon.
“Don’t worry, I got a lot on sale.” She says, handing Jaxon a credit card.
Jaxon turns to me.
“Frederick said that it would be good for you to dress business casual in court. Make you look more adult.”
“Well this is the business casual section over here.” Jen waves her hand over half the table while grinning from ear to ear. I’m not even mad, seeing Jen cheered up so much in such a short amount of time makes me more than happy. We spent the rest of the night trying on outfits and deciding what to wear tomorrow. Jen coincidentally bought an outfit that fits her perfectly. By the time we go to bed I feel as exhausted as Hunter looked earlier. We get into our normal spooning position. Before I fall asleep I think about the possibility of this being my life now. I would never feel alone again, never be afraid or uncomfortable in a stranger’s home. The thought gives me hope of a future I never thought possible.
I’m back in the room where an unmoving body lays in front of me. This time I don’t see Sarah at all. It is the woman I don’t know. The woman that looks like me. Her eyes are open and vacant but her mouth is moving like she is trying to tell me something. I can’t hear her so I lean closer to her face. That when I realize it's not her mouth that’s moving it’s something coming out of her mouth. Bugs starts crawling from her lips onto her face and her body. I jump back, scooting backward on the floor until my back hits the wall. More and more bugs crawl out of her mouth and ears. A blanket of bugs is covering the floor moving towards me. I get up trying to get away but there is nowhere to go. The door is gone, the window is gone and the walls are starting to close in on me. Bugs are crawling up my legs, covering my body and I start shaking and screaming.
“Elisa! Wake up!”
My eyes fly open and I stare at Jaxon’s worried
face. He is hovering over me with both of his hands gripping my shoulders. I start crying and he lowers his body onto of mine. Covering me but still leaning on his elbows so he doesn't smother me. I concentrate on matching his breathing until it calms me down.
“I want to know about my mom.” I say when I am composed enough to talk. “Can you get your laptop?”
“Sure.” He gets up and retrieves his computer from the dresser. We sit up next to each other, our backs leaning against the headboard.
The brightness of the screen blinds us both when he flips it open. He opens the browser with a search engine, then slides the laptop over to me.
My hands lay on the keyboard for a few seconds before I can make them move. I type in the name I read for the first time today. Roslyn Marie Parker.
The first thing that pops up is a death announcement with a picture of a young women with a slender face, long blond hair and big blue eyes. I recognize her right away. It's the women from my dream.
“I dreamed about her. I didn’t know who she was in my dream but I remembered her face.”
“Your nightmare was about your mom?” Jaxon asks while rubbing my arm in comfort.
“I think I watched her die.”
Jaxon’s hand stills on my arm before he continues moving gently up and down. I go back to the search results and scroll down when I see the news article. I read the headline and know without a doubt in my mind that this is about my mom.
Three-Year-Old Girl Found with Two Day Old Mother’s Corpse
Monday morning a 24-year-old woman was found dead in her apartment when police received a call from neighbors reporting the woman’s three-year-old daughter had been crying at the window for two days. The woman was identified as Rosalyn Parker, whose husband had passed away just last year in the line of duty, making the daughter an orphan, only a week after her third birthday. The coroner has not yet released an official cause of death but it was confirmed that Mrs. Parker suffered from a rare heart defect that may have caused cardiac arrest.
The Quiet Game Page 10