When September Ends

9. The Truth Is Out There

August 28th

Isabella was up half the night. She still felt guilty about the whole rift between Skyla and Michael. Plus, she could hear Skyla crying all night long. If she hadn't said anything, maybe they would still be talking. She got out of bed early the next morning and got ready for school. Then she went downstairs and made Pop-Tarts for herself for breakfast. She let them cool a little bit before placing them on a napkin in her hand. She scribbled a note to let her mom and Skyla know she'd gone to school already and headed out the door. Isabella had got them into this mess and she was going to get them out of it.

Isabella made it to school in fifteen short minutes. She went straight to the school library. There was something she had to do and she had to do it quickly. No one could see her. She was going to give Skyla answers if it was the last thing she ever did.

The library was dark when she went inside, but she felt her way over to the light switch and flipped it on. The computers were already ready to be used, so she sat down at the one farthest from the door and logged onto her email account. She had taken Criminal Justice this year and had learned about an anonymous website where people go and get information that was already public record emailed to them for school papers and things. She typed the address in the search bar and hit Enter. The website came up immediately. She clicked on it and the page loaded right away.

"Bingo," she said to herself.

Isabella kept an eye on the clock to make sure she wasn't losing time and she sent an email to get the records she wanted. She sat there and waited for confirmation for fifteen minutes, playing games and reading interesting articles. Finally, when she checked her email again, she had a new message. She opened it in a hurry. She read the message quickly and then closed out of it. Every document they had on file with Michael as the first name of the subject would be copied and left for her at the clerk's desk at the county courthouse. Isabella gathered her stuff and shut the light back off in the library as she found it. She would have to go first thing in the morning and get the documents without anybody knowing. How was she going to pull it off? She didn't know, but she had to find some way.

***

Michael stretched his arms as far as they would go. He'd fallen asleep about three in the morning watching for any sign of the Angel of Death. He didn't know what he thought he could do about it if Death wanted to take Skyla, but he was prepared to fight. He knew she was dying, but he didn't know when. It couldn't be right now though. It just couldn't. He got to his feet and brushed his jeans off. The ground was cold, but it wasn't wet, which was a good thing for Michael. He closed his eyes and materialized into his light form. He reappeared inside Skyla's room right at the foot of her bed.

Skyla was still sleeping soundly. The clock on her bedside table said it was a little past six in the morning. She looked so peaceful sleeping. Michael frowned. He thought she was supposed to be up already. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. Michael's hands immediately went over his mouth as he gasped. The noise had startled him. Skyla didn't budge though. The knock was louder this time. Michael decided to hide in the closet. He ducked inside just in time. Skyla's bedroom door opened and in came her mother Pauline.

She walked over to the bed and gently shook her daughter until she opened her eyes.

"Skyla, honey, you have school today," she whispered.

"I know," Skyla groaned. "I'm already ready. I just laid back down for a minute to rest my eyes. I guess I dozed back off."

Pauline smoothed the back of her daughter's hair down. "Fix your hair and meet me downstairs, okay?"