The Death of Colleen Rivers

Chapter 23: Colleen

Acting blind really wasn't that difficult. I could even smack people with the walking stick on purpose but of course they didn't say anything to a blind person. That would just be plain rude.

Sometimes I would hit people on the ankles and I could hear them scream out in pain. Once I passed them, I would smile and Baylor would nudge me on the arm.

"Colleen!" he whispered one time. "That's not nice!"

"Well, Jake isn't a nice guy!" I had retorted.

Sometimes he would even quietly laugh along with me, but most of the time he would grab ahold of my shoulder and point me into the right direction, apologizing to the person that I just smacked.

At the end of the day, a lot of people were limping around. Sorry not sorry, I guess. Many people were whispering about me so I made sure to hit those particular people extra hard.

"Did you hear about Colleen?"

"Yeah! Apparently she rose from the grave."

"Her life is ruined though, she's going to be in a lab if they ever find her."

"Oh yes. Well, no one liked her anyways."

Baylor didn't even yell at me for hitting those types of people.

~~~

We parked the car outside his house and I ripped off the glasses, tears streaming down my face. I didn't want to cry, but I was holding so much in at that moment. I lost my family again, no one even cares where I am, and I can't even be myself anymore. So much was built up that the floodgates couldn't hold anymore.

Baylor knew — thank God he knew — what was wrong and didn't question me. He simply turned to me and wiped each year away from my eyes as they appeared on my face, brushing my hair out of my face. It was so short now that whenever I bent forward, it would fall straight into my line of vision. He tucked it behind my ears and kissed me on the cheek.

"It's going to be okay, Colleen," he said, "I'm going to make sure it's okay."

And just like that we were back inside his house, in his room.

~~~

Christmas and New Years came and went and I still couldn't go see my family. But at least no one knew where I was. A few local news stations came by but Baylor's father shooed them all off. No one else came after that.

My mother called a couple of times, giving me updates and where they thought I was, and how the family was doing, and say how much they missed me and loved me, then she would hang up. I don't blame her though. I would start to tear up every time she called me.

Everything was silent and peaceful until one afternoon we heard a violent knock on the door.

Baylor and I were in his basement playing billiards when it happened. His basement isn't an actual basement. It's underground, but it's just as nice let decorated and elegant as the rest of the house. We quietly snuck up the stairs and put our ears to the basement door so we could hear what was happening.

"May I help you gentlemen?" Baylor's dad said.

"Um, yes," one of them replied. His voice was dark and raspy. His tone was serious and determined. I could tell his accent wasn't American, but I couldn't pinpoint which accent it was. It sounded Hispanic but also British. "We have sources telling us that you know where Colleen Rivers is. We would like this information very much."

His dad chuckled. "And what if I don't want to give it to you?"

The same man replied, "Then this one gets a bullet to the knee."