Phone Calls > jariana (COMPLETED)

eighteen

May 19, 6:42 a.m.

Justin: Ariana, I just got your message from last night. I had my phone turned off. I'm ready to talk to you, too. I'm sorry to hear about Kathryn. Ariana, I'm not as mad as I was. I'm ready for you to explain things to me. I think I know who you are.

May 19, 8:12 p.m.

Ariana: I'm scared to talk to you.

Justin: Don't be.

Ariana: But we haven't talked in a really long time and now things feel so weird.

Justin: You haven't changed at all. It's only been a couple of weeks and things don't feel that weird.

Ariana: Okay. Um, do you want me to tell you how I know Jason?

Justin: You told me. He dated CeCe and he wrote you a letter.

Ariana: He and Cecil only went out once. In a group. And he wasn't supposed to be at the party in Waterbury. He crashed it. And he ended up getting kicked out. No other college kids were there.

Justin: I don't blame CeCe for what Jason did. I got over that before I even knew that Cecil was CeCe.

Ariana: Do you want me to tell you the whole story?

Justin: Only tell me what you want to.

Ariana: Okay. There's not even a tiny piece of it that's happy.

Justin: Say it.

Ariana: I'm trying to figure out where to start.

Justin: Ariana, I'm your friend. Tell me.

Ariana: Here goes. My sister Kathryn, if she were here, she would be twenty-one. Almost twenty-two. She's been missing for eight years. I was with her when she was taken. Or disappeared. Or whatever happened. I mean, I was sort of with her. She packed a picnic lunch for us. We were at Rosemary Park in Burlington. When all this happened, my family still lived in Burlington. We hadn't moved yet. That happened after Kathryn went missing. After all the reporters on the lawn. The hundreds of volunteers. The attention was painful. I hated it. It was like a circus. All these people wanting to watch us and ask us questions. Some because they wanted to help. But others just to sell papers and magazines. It was sick. Okay. I'm skipping around. Back to the picnic. After we finished eating, Kathryn went to use the bathroom. I closed my eyes. I can remember the sun. It was warm and I was so tired. Kathryn had made brownies for dessert. I'd eaten two. My mouth felt sweet. Every time I eat chocolate now, I think of this moment. Okay. I don't remember falling asleep. And I don't know how long I slept. When I woke up, the sky was cloudy and dark. It was about to rain. I called out for Kathryn. But she didn't come. I went to the bathrooms. She wasn't there. I was eight years old when it happened. I should have gone to somebody's house and told them to call 911. But I was so sure that she would come back. I went and sat and waited for her. The clouds broke open and rain poured down. Our neighbor, Mrs. Wong, drove by and saw me and tried to get me to get inside her car. But I wouldn't. Because if I went, I was sure Kathryn would come back and she'd think I'd left her. I didn't want her to think that. I couldn't just abandon her. It had been my idea to go to the park in the first place. It was so awful. I thought they'd find her. I thought maybe she had hurt herself and fallen into something she couldn't get out of. Or maybe she'd hit her head. Or maybe somebody was holding her hostage and she was trying to escape. For a long time, every time the phone rang, I was so sure it would be her. It's hard to believe that a person can just disappear like that. But she did. She's gone.