I was a little relieved to hear that my dad was talking to Aaron outside when I came down the stairs with my mother. There was just something about the intensity of his eyes that made me uncomfortable. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but their voices seemed lighter than they had a few minutes ago when the stranger had first arrived.
My mom led me into the living room, and I followed as if I’d never been to this particular part of our home before, each step feeling a bit like a death sentence. Dr. Sanderson unfolded himself from my mother’s recliner as we approached, and I had a hard time taking in how someone so large could occupy the same space as my dainty mother.
“Cassidy, honey, this is Dr. Sanderson.”
He extended his large hand to me, and I let it envelop mine. There was something hauntingly familiar about his green eyes. It was like I’d seen them before, frequently, and while I was certain I would remember meeting him, I couldn’t place him. I smiled, though, finally feeling comfortable.
“Hey, there, kid,” he said, his voice even more of a boom than my father’s. “You can call me Elliott.” His smile was friendly, and I was instantly put at ease.
“Why don’t you have a seat, honey? I’ve got to go check on the turkey.” My mom patted my arm reassuringly, but I was perfectly fine sitting here with this man I’d just met, though if she’d said she was leaving me alone with Aaron, I might’ve latched on to her like a joey and refused to budge.
“How are you?” he asked as we both sat. He reclaimed Mom’s chair, and I sat adjacent to him on the couch. “Been a hectic day, huh?”
“I guess you could say that.” I had no problem whatsoever staring contently into his eyes as we spoke.
“Well, I’m here to let you know that your sister, Cadence, is perfectly fine. She’s a little upset right now, but she’ll be better soon. There’s no reason to worry about your sister, Cadence.”
Each word was calm and carefully measured, and there was just something about his tone that set me at ease completely. A flood of relief washed over me, and I found myself repeating what he’d just said. “Cadence is perfectly fine. There’s no reason to worry about my sister, Cadence.”
“That’s right,” he nodded. “And I wanted to tell you about the accident with Drew as well. I was at the hospital when she came in. I am a doctor, so it’s perfectly acceptable that I would be there. Drew fell while rock climbing, and she cut her neck on a rock. Drew died. It’s very sad that she died, and we will miss her. But these things happen.”
I listened intently to every word that he said and nodded along. “Drew died. It’s sad, but these things happen.” A wave of tranquility spread throughout my mind, filling up every space, and spreading through my body.
“That’s right.” Elliott nodded, that small, reassuring smile still on his face. “There’s no reason for you to continue to ask questions about what happened with your sister or Drew. You understand everything now. You understand that your sister will have a new job and new work associates, and that’s perfectly acceptable. There’s no reason to ask any more questions about your sister or her new job.”
My head bobbed up and down like a cork floating on rough seas. “My sister has a new job. There’s no reason to ask any more questions.”
Elliott sat back in his chair, exhaling deeply, a satisfied smile on his face. I smiled, too. Everything was back to normal, and it was Thanksgiving. “Thank you,” I said, and I’m sure if I could see my face, I’d be embarrassed at the sappiness of my expression.
“No problem, lil girl,” he said. He leaned forward and patted me on the knee, and I felt like we were long lost BFFs. It didn’t matter that he was a grown adult man with hands bigger than my head or that I had no idea where he’d come from. Nor did it matter that my parents were keeping information from me and my sister was gone. Elliott had made everything clear.
I didn’t hear my mom enter the room until she started talking. “All done?” she asked.
Normally, I would’ve jumped at the sudden sound of an unexpected voice behind me, but I felt pretty mellow. I just smiled as Elliott pulled himself from the chair. “All done.” His smile had somehow morphed into something a little more mischievous, but I felt perfectly content not asking him what that look was supposed to mean. After all, he was looking at my mom, not me.
“I think I’ll be heading out,” he said, and my mom beamed at him like she might if he’d just stopped by to drop off the cure to cancer—if she happened to have cancer.
“Okay,” my mom said, walking alongside him to the door. “It was lovely to finally meet you.”
“You, too,” he said, shaking her hand, and I wondered how long ago my mom had heard about him but hadn’t met him, and from whom, but then I remembered that it didn’t matter and there was no need to ask questions.
Elliott stepped outside, and a few minutes later, my dad opened the door, calling, “Have a safe trip!”
I wanted to rush to the door to tell Elliott to have a safe trip, too, but I didn’t know where he was going, and I had no idea why I felt compelled to go and tell him to be careful, so I sat on the couch, smiling like an idiot.
“You okay, Cass?” my dad asked.
I looked up at him, still grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I’m fine, Dad.”
“Hmmm,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. He looked at my mom, and she shrugged, too. “I wonder if the football game is on yet.” He stepped over to his recliner and picked up the remote. My mom headed back toward the kitchen, and the scent of baking turkey wafted through the air. I could go help her, but I didn’t really feel like bothering. I could also go call Lucy and tell her what I’d just found out. Turns out she was right—Drew really did fall and cut her neck open. It really was too bad, but these things happen.
I continued to stare at the wall as my dad muttered something about the game not being on yet. I was happy to finally have some answers. There was no reason to continue to worry about my sister. In fact, I felt silly for ever worrying about her in the first place. Shaking my head, I grabbed a throw pillow and made myself comfortable on the couch, pulling my stockinged feet up and tucking them behind me as I closed my eyes and drifted into oblivion.
Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, even though it was so odd to me that my sister wasn’t there. I really wished she could’ve been, but I understood that Cadence needed to rest. I wanted to know more about her new job, but I also realized there was no reason to ask about it. Everything was just fine.After I helped my mom clear the table and put the dishes in the dishwasher, I decided to head upstairs. I doubted Lucy or Em would have called since I’d already talked to one and the other would be busy trying to avoid her family. Emma really hated crowds of any kind, even if they were related to her, and I was pretty sure the meal this year was supposed to be at her house. I did think maybe Milo or Wes would’ve called, though. They both lived just down the street from Jack Cook, and it was possible they might’ve seen him. They might want to know what was going on, and I’d be happy to explain to them that it was an accident and nothing to worry
A knock at the door interrupted what would’ve been a pretty good buck-toothed rabbit face my dad was constructing on a short stack. “I’ll get it,” my mom said, pulling herself away from blueberry eyes. I could tell by the way she looked at my dad that she was reluctant to see who had come calling. They exchanged nervous glances.Something twisted inside of me, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Have you ever had something really terrible going on in your life, and for a few moments you lose track of it, like it’s not consciously on your mind, but then it starts to creep in, and before it even registers in your brain, your stomach starts to hurt, like a sharp knife has been plummeted in from the side, a sneak attack? It was like that. I looked at my dad and he offered a small smile before he, too, pushed back his chair. “Go ahead and eat, Cass. We’ll be back in a few minutes.”I nodded, and he exited the dinin
My parents seemed to buy my routine. My mom looked at my dad and gave him that reassuring smile she makes when she’s certain her children are the most precious creatures in the world. My dad did his complimentary, “I concur,” smile.I took another, much smaller, bite of my pancakes and chewed it slowly. After trying to eat nearly a quarter of them in one bite, they were less appealing than they had been when my dad and I had initially made them.My mom cleared her throat the way she does when something important needs to be said, but she is not sure if she should say it or if my dad should. They were looking at each other making small shrugging motions. Finally, my mom said, “Cassidy, you should probably know that your sister has decided not to go back to school right now.”My fork clattered out of my hand onto my plate. “What?” I asked. I had heard some unusual things recently, I guess—maybe they weren’t tha
I’m not sure what they were talking about when I came back into the room, but their voices got all hushed. I did hear a few words, which didn’t make sense to me. I hurried upstairs to make sure it was okay with Luce if I came over for a while, wondering who Aaron had said probably went “back to Europe.”Upstairs, I sent Lucy a text. “Can I come over in a few?”She answered almost immediately. “Sure! Just about to text. And Em, too.”“Cool. My dad’s driving me, so, maybe ten minutes?”“Whenever. My mom’s shopping and my dad’s at the golf course.”For some reason, I was glad her parents wouldn’t be there. It seemed like there was something important I needed to tell her, though I didn’t know what it was. “What about Daniel?”“Are you kidding? It’s not even 10:00 yet. He’ll be asleep for another hour or two.”
“Hi, Lucy,” I said with a friendly smile. She narrowed one eye at me. “What’s up?”“Cassidy Elizabeth Findley, get in here.” She stepped out of the way and I entered into a foyer with floors made of marble and a grand staircase with ornate moldings cascaded from the second story behind my diminutive friend.Emma came bounding in from the adjoining living room, straightening her glasses. Her short brown hair was a little frizzy, and I thought about asking her if she remembered to use her conditioning spray this morning. Lucy and I have been trying to get her to understand different products we use, not because we care so much what she looks like but because we feel it is our duty as her friend to explain the purposes behind the things that we do that Emma doesn’t get or doesn’t care about. I pushed the thoughts aside and said, “Hi, Em.”Without looking at my face, she said, “Hi.”
Lucy cocked her head to the side, and Emma said, “Hmmm.” Then they looked at each other.“Seriously. Like, I found it, and I don’t know when I wrote it.” I was beginning to panic a little on the inside. What if I started to forget other things, too, like my friends or the days of the week?“Well,” Emma said, straightening her glasses as she got up and moved back to her chair, “I guess that means you don’t remember any of those things actually happening either?”It was a good question, and the short answer was no, I didn’t. But then, I’d just discovered this page before I’d come over, and I hadn’t really thought about trying to remember.“This is so bizarre,” Lucy said. “What would make you write something down and then forget it? Were you sleeping when you wrote it?”“I don’t know. I don’t remember writing it.”
My mom came to pick me up a few hours later. By then, I had gotten over the initial shock of realizing my parents had allowed some strange man to come into my house and brainwash me into thinking the death of my sister’s friend was no big deal, but I was still miffed. And confused. Why in the world would my parents want me to think that Drew’s death was just a blip in my existence and not something to worry about?Something very strange was going on, and I had no idea who I could talk to about it. If my parents were part of the conspiracy, then I couldn’t trust them. My grandmother also allegedly knew these people, though I wasn’t sure I could trust that either. As hard as it was, I decided to wait it out. My sister was supposed to return the next day. Maybe when she came home, she’d spew out some acceptable explanation for all of this weirdness and life would go back to normal.I wasn’t holding my breath.Saturday night, I tr
My mom shook her head. “That’s terrible. Cassidy, why don’t you….”I interrupted. I had no choice. “Poor Jack,” I said loudly, so that my mother sending me back to the car would be drowned out. “He’s probably having bad dreams, too. Has he said anything about that?” I wanted to add “or people walking on the roof” but didn’t want to be too obvious.“He has,” Steve said, looking at the ground. “But when he wakes up, he says he can’t remember what happened.”“It’s just awful. The whole thing.” Tears started to careen down Alice’s face again. “I’ve heard the other girls aren’t doing well either.” I assumed she was talking about Sidney and Taylor.“Who ever would’ve thought someone could lose their life rock climbing around here?” I wasn’t sure if Steve asked the question in such a