Nathan’s P.O.V.
Why wouldn’t she respond? My inbox hadn’t had an unread message in it in ages and I was yearning to see her email address pop up. The growing need to know if Emma was all right had me twisting and turning in my sleep…well, the sleep that I could get. Being an insomniac seemed like a curse.
“Nathan!” my mom’s panicked cry echoed across the house. “Nathan, where is Trevor?!”
I cringed, my hands balling into fists at the mention of my brother’s name. Over these past few months, it seemed like Mom’s disease was just getting worse and worse as time passed. Alzheimer’s had claimed her mind about a year ago, but only now were the effects really showing through. It used to be she’d forget where her car keys were or what her telephone number was, but now she would sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and not know who my father was. And only month ago did she start asking where Trevor was.
Suddenly, she was at my door, a horrid look painted across her face. She had broken out into a sweat and her apron was hanging haphazardly from her body.
“I can’t find Trevor,” she exclaimed.
“Mom,” I started slowly. “Trevor is dead. He was killed in a car crash about seven years ago.”
I never thought that I’d be explaining my brother’s death daily, but it seemed like everyday she’d be asking once more about where he was or why he hadn’t come home from soccer practice. It felt like being sliced by a knife each time I had to break my mother’s heart. I could see the absolute horror play in her eyes and then she’d droop over in sadness.
Dad had tried to persuade me to make up some lie to tell her that Trevor had gone off to boarding school or something softer, but I couldn’t bring myself to lie to my own mom. She was so helpless in her state and it just didn’t feel right.
So I stuck to the truth.
“Oh God,” she murmured, covering her mouth.
I looked away then, not wanting to see her reaction once more. Instead, I pulled on my headphones and turned my music up all the way so I wouldn’t have to hear her cries.
Sometimes I liked to think about how I thought I could actually make it out of here. I had the grades, I had the perfect résumé, and I had the perfect smile to win someone over. I was going to go far, and that was only proven by the piles of acceptance letters to colleges that arrived at my doorstep. I’d already mapped out the rest of my life: I’d attend Yale, graduate with flying colors, then head out into the world and start my own business. Maybe I’d even find a wife and settle down. Or maybe I’d just come back to town to woo Emma with my college degree and money and she’d come rushing into my arms, my ring already around her finger.
But would Emma even still be around? It’d been five years since I’d seen that rosy-cheeked, blue-eyed face of hers. How was she doing? Was she still able to get by? Had she found someone else by now?
“It doesn’t matter, anyway,” I muttered to myself. “I’m never going to get out of here.”
I was forced to stay and take care of my mother. She was in no condition to fend for herself. Dad was never around, so I couldn’t rely on him. I had to stand up and be the man of the house. And that flushed my dreams of going to college right down the drain. Instead, I was filing papers at the local police station.
Over my music, I heard the soft rumble of thunder outside. I wondered idly if it was raining where Emma was…
The harsh shrill of the doorbell made me jump.
Who could be at the door? Maybe it was one of the nurses from the retirement home coming to try and persuade us to shut Mom up in one of their facilities. They seemed to be coming more and more often now.
I waited patiently for Mom to answer, but when the second chime whistled through the house, I knew she wouldn’t be answering the door.
With a sigh, I switched off my music and headed down the hall and to the door. When I was halfway down the stairs, the doorbell rang again, this time sounding more urgent. I swiftly jogged the rest of the way there.
I opened the door and was greeted by two unexpected visitors.
“Hello?” it came out sounding more like a question than a greeting. “Can I help you two ladies?”
They looked extremely familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on their names. Two different girls stood on my doorstep, shivering from the cold rain that drizzled from the sky. One girl, the more attractive one of the two, had a determined look in her snake-green eyes. Her blonde, curly hair resembled a lion’s mane the way it draped around her oval shaped face. The other one, the shorter one, wouldn’t meet my eyes. Instead she looked at her shoes. Her hair was a sleek black color and it barely touched her shoulders. A pink color bloomed across her cheeks. She vaguely reminded me of Emma.
“Nathan, we need to talk!” the blonde blurted out, her voice a notch too loud.
I gaped at her, astounded on how she’d said my name like she’d known me my whole life.
“I-I’m sorry? Do I know you?” I asked.
Instead of a reply, she barged inside, dragging her friend by the hand. I followed after, trying to grasp my mind around what these two strangers were doing inside my house.
“I smell cookies!” the blonde sang, heading toward the kitchen.
I darted past them just in time to block the entrance to the kitchen. The blonde girl marched right up to me and gave me a hard glare.
“Excuse you,” she spat. “You’re in my way.”
“No, I think you’re in my way, missy!” I shot back, amazed at my assertiveness.
She backed off.
“Uh,” the other one perked up. “Don’t mind Hailey. She can be a bit…feisty sometimes.”
“Wait,” I suddenly matched their faces with names. “Hailey? Maggie?”
“That’s us!” Hailey exclaimed, and before I had time to react, she ducked underneath my arm and made a beeline for the fresh-baked cookies Mom had just pulled out of oven.
Maggie stood frozen next to me, letting out an embarrassed giggle.
I instantly remembered these two. I felt a bit guilty that I hadn’t immediately recognized them; they always seemed to be at Emma’s side. Blurry imagines of the trio together played in my mind: eating together at lunch, riding in the car together, slapping congratulatory high fives after Emma had pulled off that prank on Ricky.
“Mm! These cookies are good!” she munched, and I swiveled around to watch Hailey gobble down about half of the cookies on the plate. Afterwards, she opened my fridge, took a swig of milk out of the cartoon, burped, and plopped down in one of the dining room chairs.
Maggie scampered over and took the seat next to her. I ambled over, a bit numb that they were still here.
“Thanks for inviting us in,” Hailey smirked.
“If my mom finds you here, she’ll have a panic attack,” I said.
“Will your mom be so shocked to see actual girls in your house?” Hailey laughed.
I shrugged it off.
“So, would you like to know why we’re here?” Maggie started after the ruckus had died down.
A low roll of thunder growled from outside.
“Uh, yeah.”
“It’s for Emma,” Maggie said, her face growing solemn.
“Yeah. We miss her like crazy. We feel incomplete without her. And I’m a bit worried something’s happened to her since I haven’t heard from her in months,” Hailey added, her hyper attitude dying out.
“You haven’t heard from her either?” I asked, suddenly engrossed in the conversation. “So it’s not just me?”
We all exchanged a look and understood at once this might be more critical than we thought. If Emma wasn’t talking to me, I could comprehend that. But if she hadn’t kept up with her closest girlfriends, there had to be something seriously wrong.
“D-do you think she…?” Maggie trailed off, afraid to finish her sentence.
“No,” I said firmly. “There’s no way Emma would do that.”
A tight, thick feeling grasped my throat and I struggled to swallow. I was suddenly pulled into my own memories…memories of a darker time in my life. I’d been so lost without Trevor; I’d actually tried to kill myself. It was unbearable to think of life without him. And with all of those suicidal thoughts swirling in my brain, it seemed like the only logical answer.
Was Emma feeling like that? Did she think that suicide was the only way out?
“Maggie’s not saying she did!” Hailey interjected. “But we haven’t made contact since school started.”
“Thus, Hailey and I thought up a plan to try and reach her,” Maggie said.
Hailey gave a big smile. I turned to stare at the blushing girl.
“Do tell,” I motioned for her to continue. I was all in for a plan to get my Emma back home.
“We’re going to gather up all her friends, including you, and fly down to Florida to find out what she’s been doing. We’d all pitch in a certain amount of money, but we need some key players for this to actually work. We all know how stubborn that girl is, so it’s going to take a lot. That’s why Hailey and I figured that we couldn’t do it alone; otherwise we’d already be down there. So, we need you and Ricky to help us.”
Maggie stopped and sucked in a deep breath.
“That sounds like a good plan, but…” I paused. “Do we really need Ricky?”
I couldn’t believe I’d actually said it, but the words were already floating around the three of us at the table. A very awkward silence stretched out across us. I glanced at Hailey, who was giving me an are-you-an-idiot look and Maggie just fiddled with her thumbs.
“Yes, we do really need Ricky!” Hailey cried out. “Are you insane? Ricky is the key el-e-ment!”
She dragged out the last word and I cringed.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because, he’s her brother. And Maggie and I have done our calculations and we’re 99% positive their madly in love with each other,” Hailey wore a smug smile. I wanted to slap it off her.
“Emma doesn’t love Ricky,” I argued. “They’re related. They’re basically forced to get along. That doesn’t prove they ‘love’ each other.”
“Correction,” Maggie butted in. “Yes. It does.”
Who did these girls think they were? Emma didn’t love Ricky. In fact, she hated him! Her (now dead) blog had dozens of entries proving them wrong. She would always rant about how he was a horrible brother and that he was a huge dick and blah-blah-blah. How could see now love him?! And Ricky had a new girl each week. There was no time for an actual relationship with that guy.
“You don’t know anything,” I muttered.
“Excuse me? We’re her best friends!” Hailey’s voice rose. “We know everything about that girl!”
“Then why don’t you know what she’s doing?!” I shouted, standing up. “Why isn’t Emma here with us?!”
Thunder boomed outside and I heard the soft stomp of my mother’s footsteps coming down the hallway.
“Natey? Are you okay?” her timid voice asked as she came into the kitchen.
Her eyes landed on the two girls and she took a step back.
“Nathan, who are they?” she pointed at them.
“They’re…” I trailed off, racking my brain for a good explanation as to why there were two college girls in my kitchen.
“We’re Nate’s friends, but we’re leaving now,” Hailey stood up, taking Maggie by the hand and leading her to the front door.
I trailed behind, leaving my mother standing dumbstruck.
When they were halfway out the door, I shouted, “Wait!”
They both turned to look at me. The sky had darkened to a low gray and the rain was now coming down in buckets. I could barely hear anything over the loud thumping of water hitting the ground.
“Are you really going to go to Ricky about this?” I had to nearly scream over the rain. “Don’t you think he’s probably forgotten about Emma by now?”
Hailey and Maggie exchanged a look.
“He’s our last option. And by the looks of it, he’s our only option,” Hailey responded. “Are you in on our plan or not?”
I dodged her question by asking another. “When are you going to him?”
“Tomorrow,” Maggie replied.
“So, what’s the deal? In or out?” Hailey shouted.
I could feel the attention turn to me and the seconds soon felt like minutes. I wanted ever so badly to find out what Emma was up to. I wanted to hop on the next plane to Florida, drive straight to her college, take her out of class, and give her a big hug. What could she be doing? Had she really done what I feared most…suicide?
I knew I couldn’t leave Mom. Not now, at least. And having to compete with Ricky for Emma’s attention would be a losing battle. I knew I held a place in her heart, but he seemed to hold a higher place. And if what Hailey and Maggie were saying, than I was straight out of luck. Emma had already turned me down once; it wouldn’t take much for her to do it again.
“I’m…out,” I finally said.
“Whatever. But if you change your mind, call me,” Hailey said, followed by her reciting her phone number out to me. I mentally scribbled it down on a piece of paper and tucked it into the back of my mind.
“Bye, then.”
And with that, they took off running into the rain, holding their arms above their heads in a feeble attempt to keep the water off them. I watched from the door until they were safely inside their car and speeding down the wet road.
“Nate,” my mother’s voice sounded from behind me. “Who were those nice girls?”
I didn’t turn around. I kept looking out into the stormy world.
“My only chance out of here.”