riven, maggie morris [great book club books .txt] 📗

and pulled onto the road. Claire said nothing, knowing I needed a bit of peace. Finally, in my head, I decided how to handle our problem.

“Claire, we’re going to have to tell everyone that Bryce died. It’s the only way for us not to end up in a mental hospital.” Just the thought of it brought tears to my eyes.

“But we can convince the-” Claire tried to say, but I interrupted.

“No,” I said, keeping my eyes on the road, locked in a glare. Claire stopped talking. “I already don’t have a great social life. What really matters is that we know Bryce is alive.”

“But how did he die?” Claire questioned.

“He didn’t die, Claire! Don’t say that!” I slammed on the brakes and started crying. Luckily, we were on a road that was rarely used, and no one was around to rear-end us. Still, the airbags went off, and the snot produced from my tears smeared everywhere.

“Calm down, Alice. I know he didn’t die. I’m just asking what the story is that we are going tell people about how he ‘died’,” she explained.

“Good. I guess we can tell them that...he ran out of the theater while the movie was playing and jumped off the Bay Bridge, hitting his head on a rock. We can say his body was washed away by the river.” The story made me cry even harder.

“I guess that works. Now I feel bad about throwing a fit about you dating him, because I can see how much you need and care for him. I’m sorry, Alice.” She gave me a hug, and I gave a watery smile.

I started the car again and drove to Bryce’s house. I checked the time and saw that it was 6:30. We were late. Very late.

“Act like you’ve seen a ghost and cry a lot,” Claire instructed.

“I don’t even need to act,” I replied truthfully. Bryce’s parents ran out the front door, and I let the sadness I was feeling seep into my appearance. Bryce’s mom took one look at my face and asked where he was.

It was then that the seriousness of the situation swept over me. Spots floated in front of my eyes, and I collapsed.

 

* * * * *

 

I awoke to the sound of heavy crying. I opened my eyes and saw Bryce’s mom sobbing into his dad’s shoulder. I was laying on their living room couch, and ice pack on my head and my feet raised on a pillow.

I guess Claire told them. Bryce was gone. Not dead, but gone. Without a word, I grabbed Claire by the arm and led her out the door, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Manchester in peace to mourn their son. I really hoped they didn’t blame me.

Claire herself was wiping her eyes on her sleeve. I couldn’t tell if she was faking or actually crying. She opened the door for me just as it began to rain. I hurried into the truck when the rain turned acidic, stinging the few cuts that hadn’t healed from the accident.

The rain only reminded me more of the apocalypse. The world was ending, and I wouldn’t be with Bryce for the last few days of my life.

Tears started rolling down my face, similar to the steaming black rain rolling off Bryce’s Chevy. I had been such an emotional wreck lately. It was just that, with Bryce and Claire, I thought I had finally found happiness. But, of course, I can’t be happy.

I focused on the road, pushing away my feelings, though tears blurred my sight. I turned on the headlights so I could see through the rain. It was then that I saw the deer. Claire screamed, soon followed my me. A loud thud sounded and the truck slid off the slick and steaming road. My head smacked against the dashboard.

I heard another scream, but I couldn’t tell if it was me or Claire. I shuddered when we finally came to a stop in the ditch on the side of the road. That made two times today that we almost killed ourselves.

I looked over at Claire to make sure that she was alright, and I immediately saw that she was unconscious and had a huge chunk of glass from the windshield stuck in her forehead.

My first thought was, No! Not you, too! But then, I drew in a  long shaky breath and unbuckled her seatbelt. I got out of the car and, moving as fast as I could, took two broken posts from the fence beside me, pulled a blanket out of the bed of Bryce’s truck, and laid it halfway on the roof of the car, halfway on the the two fence posts.

Now that I had a makeshift shelter, I brought Claire out of the car and gently laid her on the ground, grunting despite her light weight. The blanket mostly protected her from the rain that was still coming down hard.

Again, I took a deep breath. This wasn’t pretend. I had to be a real doctor here, or else Claire would suffer. First, I rubbed my hands off with a napkin I found in the glovebox. I was far away from being sterilized, but it would have to do. I smoothed Claire’s hair back, careful to avoid her cut.

Next, I used an opened water bottle I found rolling around on the floorboards to rinse the blood off her face. Not wanting her to get hurt anymore, I decided to remove only the big piece of glass, none of the little shards.

However, I did not have any proper equipment, so I had to settle with my hand. Trying not to squeeze my eyes shut, I reached down and grasped the the piece of glass. I fought to keep my hand from shaking, and luckily, the glass slid right out. Claire’s face visibly relaxed, though she stayed unconscious.

Blood was still trickling out of her forehead, but it was coming a lot slower now. I sighed and gave her forehead one last cleansing. Then, I lifted Claire back into the truck and buckled her up.

I then got in on the driver’s side and turned on the radio. I drove to the nearest emergency room.

When I walked up to the help desk alone, the secretary scanned me for injuries and asked how she could help me.

“We hit a deer on Bluestear Lane. My friend, who is in the car right now, hit the windshield and took some glass to the head. I removed what I could then decided I should have a professional help me,” I explained. She looked shocked.

“Why didn’t you call an ambulance?”

“I didn’t think it was that serious,” I told her.

“Well, you go get her and I will set up a room for her. Do you know her parents’ phone numbers?” Knowing that the lady would probably ask this, I had brought Claire’s phone with me. I handed it over to her.
“You’ll be able to find her parents’ numbers, and I also took some pictures of the immediate damage and sent them to her.” The lady beamed.

“Thank you! That was very smart of you!” I smiled back, but inside I was still really worried for Claire. The secretary hurried off to a room, and I took that as my cue to go get Claire.

When I reached the car, she was still sound asleep. But, when I opened the door, she woke with a start.

“What happened? My head hurts,” she groaned, only half-awake.

“Come with me,” I directed her. She groggily got out of the car and walked with me back inside. The lady was standing there waiting, only this time she was pale.

“Those...pictures,” she gasped. I grimaced.

“I know.” She shook her shoulders and sweetly ushered Claire into the emergency room. Surprisingly, there was no one else there, and a doctor immediately came to bring us to her room.

The doctor assured me that Claire’s parents had been called, and then she pushed me out of the room and shut the door in my face.

I don’t know why, but I panicked. Claire was trapped in there-and she was hurt-with a doctor who had lots of sharp tools with her. I felt like something fishy was going on. So, I went with my instincts; which told me to pound on the door with my fists.

The hairs on my arms rose when I heard a scream coming from inside. After that, I didn’t remember much.

I recalled grabbing a chair and ramming the door, and the thin wooden door broke under the pressure. I also remembered that when I came into the room, Claire wasn’t there. Another person was in the room with the doctor instead.

The last thing that I remembered was a black bag being tossed over my head.

 

V

When I came to, a pair of large brown eyes were peering over me. At first, I thought; Bryce. But then it all came back to me. So instead, my arm shot up and knocked the person in the chin-hard.

“Ow! What was that for?” The boy in front of me clutched his chin, yelling things that would have earned me a severe punishment. He looked about my age, and had hair similar to my own. Shorter, but it came below his shoulders.

“Where’s Claire!?” I shouted, trying to stand up. It was then that I realized that my legs we strapped down to a dental chair, along with my waist. “And where am I? What are you doing to me? Who are-”

“Calm down, sweetie,” he said, interrupting me.

“Answer my questions, or I’ll hit you again!” I spat in his face.

“Now, sweetie, all you questions will be answered in time. But you gotta be patient.”

“Do not call me that, you...you…” I trailed off.

“What? What am I?”

“You kidnapper!” I sat back and smiled, pleased with my work.

He looked shocked. “Me? A kidnapper? Ha!” He stepped aside, revealing a much larger man. “This is the man who took you. And he will be the one to answer your questions. Introducing, Dr. Melkins!” The boy left the room after ushering the man-Dr. Melkins-forward.

I turned my attention toward him as he pulled up a stool and sat down beside me.

“You are comfortable, yes?” The doctor had a thick French accent, but his English was very good.

“Yes, thank you.” I would be nice to this man if he treated me kindly.

“So you are, ah, wondering where this place is?” His “t’s” sounded more like “z’s”, and his “i’s” were stressed so much that they sounded like the letter “e”. Still, I could understand him. He continued, not waiting for a response. “We are in Los Angeles. L.A., as you might call it.”

“But-but,” I stammered, “that’s so far away from Missouri! How did you get me here so fast?”

“Well, you were unconscious for a very long time, you see. I brought you here, with the help of the boy you just met, Adam. We are waiting for the cue to go into the next stage.”

“The next stage? What am I, some kind of science experiment?”

“You must understand, Miz Alicia. I can explain things in time.”

“How do you know my name? And you want to talk about time? How about we discuss how much time the world has left to live, and how much of my remaining time you’ve wasted?” I shouted. But it