Resthaven by Erik Therme

Author:Erik Therme [Therme, Erik]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-04-12T06:00:00+00:00

1 week

LATER

“We don’t have to do this,” Anna said again.

“I know,” I said. I was grateful she and Sidney had come along, but I would have come alone if needed. I only wished Wren was with us. She would have understood why I needed to do this. No one had seen or talked to her after her release from the hospital, and every time we tried to call, her father would just hang up the phone. I guess he thought we were a bad influence or something.

“Are we sure this is the right address?” Sidney asked.

I nodded; my mother had located the apartment building through her real estate connections. There was no way to know which actual apartment was his, but the building had only two floors, so it couldn’t be that hard to find. Hopefully we wouldn’t get murdered as soon as we stepped inside. The building looked as sketchy and miserable as the old man. The brick was discolored and overgrown with ivy, and the lawn was nothing more than a mix of dirt and dandelions. A red swing set with rusty chains sat off to one side, and I could picture the boy swinging and staring into the distance, waiting for something or someone to come along.

My cell phone chirped and I dug it from my back pocket. My mother’s first order of business (after what we now simply referred to as “the incident”) was to get me a new cell phone. I still couldn’t believe she had let me out of her sight to come here today. I also couldn’t believe how well she and my father were getting along again. Apparently having your only child in the hospital overnight for observation gave parents a lot to think about. I didn’t want to get up my hopes that they were getting back together, but it was hard not to. If they did, my mother and I would probably move back to Shellsburg, which meant I would lose my new friends. It was a no-win situation.

“It’s Jamie again,” I said, scanning the text.

“I don’t know why she keeps texting you,” Anna said sullenly. “It’s not like you guys are really friends or anything.”

It was another thing Anna would never understand. As crazy as it sounded, I didn’t blame Jamie for what happened. What was done was done. And that wasn’t one of my mother’s clichés; it was one of my own. Unfortunately, Jamie didn’t feel the same way, and the only reason she kept texting was to make me feel guilty, as if I had somehow caused Ethan to fall out of the tree.

“What did Jamie say?” Sidney asked.

“Ethan’s getting out of the hospital tomorrow,” I read. “He’ll be in a neck brace for a few weeks and won’t be able to do much. The doctors said he could have been paralyzed. He was lucky.”

Anna shuddered. “God, I can’t even imagine that. I’m just glad he’s going to be OK.”

I didn’t bother sharing the rest of the message, which made it clear that this was far from over and I had better watch my back.

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