Gifts of Stolen Embers A Novel by Kayleigh R. Thiel

Author:Kayleigh R. Thiel [Thiel, Kayleigh R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2022-12-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Before

They whispered in the halls. Blaine’s climactic malefaction was a detonation. Left behind in the wreckage, I bared the brunt of the speculation, the questions and inflated mystery surrounding his disappearance. My textbooks shielding me from their stares, I waded through my gossiping peers. Still, their questions were clouds in my search for the sun.

“Did you see it happen?” Some wondered with giant eyes.

“Did he go to Mexico?” Others pried.

“Are you two involved?”

I ignored them. Beth hid me from the vultures when she could. “Go watch television to get your drama, you vampires.”

The police were no better.

“Had you seen him act this way before?”

“Was this premeditated? Was he looking for a fight?”

“You can talk to us, Sarah. We know you were just a victim in this situation, right?”

“Do we need a lawyer? Or can we go?” My father put a stop to their never-ending interrogations. When they relented, my father pulled us up from our chairs. Their legs screeched silver metal against the tiled floors. “Let’s go, Sarah.”

In the dark space of my room, I cried. Left behind again, I reverted back to the little girl I was the first time he abandoned me. Squeezing my eyes shut against the tears that flooded, I dammed my emotions. During the day, I feigned indifference, and at night I drowned in anguish.

“Have you heard from him?” My father asked each morning, bringing a coffee mug to his lips as I scooped scrambled eggs onto his plate. Each morning, I shook my head and discreetly checked my phone.

Four weeks passed by of this. He missed Thanksgiving. This would be my first Christmas without him if he chose to stay gone. Part of me envisioned him in a jail cell. Part of me envisioned him escaping into Mexico. Part of me wondered if he had been kidnapped. Should we have filed a missing person’s report?

No, he was eighteen. Obviously, he handled himself just fine in a physical altercation.

Surely, he lived. Perfectly fine. Without me.

Besides, full-grown men rarely disappeared like women and children.

Meanwhile, during daylight, I sauntered through my school, pulling away from my organizations, ignoring my peers, and running straight for the finish line. Berkeley congratulated me. Teachers beamed at me with expectation and pride. Exams returned with A’s. I excelled.

Of course I excelled.

“He wouldn’t just leave you like this without good reason,” Beth told me one day. “Something else is happening. Maybe he lost his phone.”

“For four weeks?”

My reply silenced her.

As the weeks progressed, anger over the situation rooted in me. How dare he abandon me like this? I shouldn’t have even missed him – he was the one who had done something wrong. Not me. So why did I worry about him? No. I decided not to worry, not to concoct crazy explanations for his disappearance. If he wanted to reach me, he knew how.

I began leaving my cell phone at home. In case he replied to my messages, I didn’t want to answer too quickly. I told myself I was not eager for his return.

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