Early Bird | ✓

42 | pheasant

           "Do you know his last name?" the receptionist asked.

            JJ faltered, realizing that he didn't know much about Lizzy's friends.  "I have no idea."

           "Well, luckily, we have someone named Reece here in Greenwick hotels.  I'll connect you to him right away."

           JJ thanked her and waited.  Reece's voice emerged from the static, "Hello?  Who is this?"

           "JJ Hale."

           "Oh.  Hi, JJ.  What's up?"

           "Have you heard the news?"

           Reece grew excited on the other end of the telephone.  "What news?  They found her?"

           JJ hated to squash his hopes.  "No.  But they heard her voice."

           "What do you mean?"

           "The police station got a call from a burner phone with Lizzy on the other end.  She was screaming for help."

           "How do they know it's her?" Reece asked skeptically.

           JJ frowned.  He pressed the phone into his shoulder and shouted at his mom who was no doubt cleaning somewhere in the house.  "Hey, Mom!  How did they know it was Lizzy?"

           "Every phone call is recorded at the police station.  They played it back for her mother and she recognized her voice."  His mother popped her head into his bedroom with concern.  "Why?"

           "I'm just telling her friends about it," JJ answered before explaining the situation to Reece.

           "Oh, god, that's not good, is it?" Reece said, a tremor causing his voice to fluctuate.

           "At least she's alive."

           "But alive and tortured."

           "You have to admit, it's better than being dead," JJ pointed out.  "She could've been dead all this time, but she's not.  There's still hope."  The words rang in his quiet bedroom like bells.  He said them for Reece—and for himself.  He tried to believe in them with all his willpower but that stubborn voice in his head wasn't convinced.

           Reece didn't sound too convinced either.  "Okay.  Well, thanks for telling me, JJ.  I'll let Teagan and Mateo know."

           Before Reece could disconnect, JJ quickly said one last thing: "Tell Teagan that I'll never forgive myself—I won't ever forget."

           The line finally went dead, and JJ stared out the window longingly, his eyes finding the rose bush.  Its pink buds looked as though they were girls' cheeks dashed with blush.

❁

           He turned away, his thoughts drifting to the worst, when his mother shouted to him from downstairs, "Get down here, Jordan Joseph Hale!"

           Her tone told him that he was in trouble, but he couldn't for the life of him think what he had done.  When he reached the end of the stairs, he saw his mother standing by the door, her purse in one hand, car keys in another.  "We're going to your brother's basketball game," she announced before marching to the car in the driveway.  JJ noticed his dad and brother already in it.

           The day had slipped away from his grasp but now he noticed that it was evening, a sleepy daze covering his family's front yard.  Golden colors splashed on the dry grass.  Trees and flowers, normally lively this time of year, were withered and melancholy, their leaves dipping as thought they had run out of strength and willpower to survive.

           JJ climbed into the backseat and allowed his family to whisk him away.

           They arrived at what was called "The Courthouse," which was basically four basketball courts lined up in a gigantic warehouse.  A concession stand joined the courts along with a workout space upstairs.  Around JJ were squeaky noises from basketball sneakers, shouts of instructions from coaches, fans cheering and clapping with excitement or booing with contempt at a ref's call.  The sounds wrapped around him like a warm blanket and he breathed in the pleasant and familiar scents.  Parties had never been his scene, but this?  This was what he lived, breathed, loved: basketball.

           He sat next to his mom and dad on the fourth court at the far end of The Courthouse, the bleacher metal cool and solid.  For a few moments he was content watching Asher warm up with his teammates, layups and jump shots and sprints up and down the court.  But then he started feeling antsy, his butt aching from the uncomfortable bleachers.

           "I'm gonna get some popcorn," he told his parents.  "Do you want anything?"

           His parents knew how much he hated sitting on the sideline, so they shooed him away with orders of nachos and Skittles.  He walked toward the concession stand, silently observing some sweaty players huddled up for halftime, little siblings or cousins or friends laughing and prancing behind the bleachers, parents talking with one another about their children and basketball.

           As he approached the concession stand, something caught his eye.  He focused in on the strands of hair—frizzy and brown.  His breathing quickened, and he jogged after Lizzy.  He narrowly avoided a collision with a mom trying to coral her children including a young, glistening girl in a basketball uniform.  He bumped into a man trying to slurp on a blue Gatorade, the bright blue liquid splashing onto his white T-shirt.  JJ ignored his "Hey!" and continued onward.

           I have to reach her.  I have to save her, he said to himself over and over again.  The frizzy-haired color bobbed in the hordes of people crowding around the concession stand, shouting their orders and waiting for their food.  He wanted to yell her name, but he didn't think he'd be heard above the noise.

           Lizzy.  Elizabeth Conner.  Her name was on the edge of his lips, ready to spill, when the girl finally stopped.  JJ stopped too and watched her speak with some man covered in tattoos with a small child in his arms.  Her kidnapper.  Anger flared, his eyes narrowing.  Just as he was about to holler her name and snatch her away, the man noticed JJ staring at them.  He nudged the girl and pointed.  She turned to him and tilted her head in confusion.

           "Whatcha lookin' at, boy?  What do ya want?" she asked, arms crossed.

           Realization finally registered and JJ blinked, the news sinking.  It wasn't Lizzy; it was some stranger who had similar hair.  "N-Nothing," he stammered.  "You just reminded me of someone."

           He couldn't stand to look at the woman anymore, so he turned away and trudged back defeatedly to the fourth court.  His mom and dad watched him climb back to his seat, forlorn and drained.  They didn't bother to ask where their food was.  His mother, instead, silently patted him on his knee.  JJ was glad they weren't pressing him for an explanation.

           JJ tried to muster interest in Asher's basketball game but failed.  He felt as though someone had ran him over with a monster truck.  He didn't want to move his broken body and mind, and he most certainly didn't want to see the damage the truck had caused.

           Asher smiled at his family, especially his older brother, when he scored a three-pointer.  JJ grinned but it felt forced and unnatural on his face.  He stared at the clock on the opposite end of the court, its red numbers slowly blinking toward zero.  Never in his life had he hated basketball until this very moment.  Now, all the baskets scored and the basketballs chased after seemed meaningless, menial.  He shook his head at the thought.

           With Lizzy gone, everything was meaningless even the sport he loved most.

❁
A/N:
Sorry for the super late update!! I've been busy with school and other extracurricular activities and college, but I found a little time to finally post this chapter! The rest of the chapters will be posted before the end of 2018! I also won Nano (yay!!!!) in November and hopefully I can finish that book for y'all to read next!! (It's called Night Owl and it's a companion novel to Early Bird!)  Be sure to keep your eyes open for upcoming works!  During Christmas break, I'm hoping to work on more stories--maybe even a few short ones in the mix along with novels.

- Payton