Untrustworthy-Chapter 14/The Turning Point
The breaking point for the school and for Elysa...
That night was the carcrash. The weather had warmed up enough to turn slushy and wet, and then it turned so cold all those puddles froze over into black ice. Melanie's car wasn't the only one to slide, but it was the only one with fatalities. Melanie and her younger sister were gone in an instant. Max, the one responsible for the car crash took longer to die. The police found drugs under the driver's seat, the only part of the car not totally crumpled in. He died early the next morning, in the ICU. Police termed erratic driving due to alcohol and drug use as the cause.
The whole school found out about it Monday morning, when the principal called a conference. We sat in stunned silence as he laid out the details of what happened and even showed a picture of the obliterated car. Max had gone to pick up Melanie and her sister from a school event that night, but had left several hours early. No one knew where he went, but police assume it was to buy drugs and alcohol and they were looking for the sellers.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jacob sitting alone on the bleachers outside of everyone else. His hoodie was pulled down over his eyes and he sat hunched over. I saw several kids sitting like that, their heads bent down into their chests. Not crying or showing any emotion, as if they could disappear if they just drew far enough into themselves.
"If anyone has any information, please, please, please go to any of your teachers. Or me. Or the school officer." The principal was saying. "You can arrange a meeting in secret. This. Has got. To stop!" We were dismissed and a silent, shell shocked, white-faced student body dissipated and went to class.
There was more than one empty seat in class that day. Close friends of the dead were excused to go home. I didn't see Jacob for the rest of the day either. The teachers were either solemn or teary eyed, and kept asking us if anyone had any information. No one said anything, but I saw Micaela in one of my classes looking like she was about to throw up. After sitting through my third lecture on drugs, I couldn't take it anymore. When the lunch bell rang I went to find Elysa and we skipped class for the first time.
"I can't believe this is happening." She whispered. "I can't believe it. We have to go to the police."
"Arden will kill you." We both looked around, and I saw Micaela coming towards us with a familiar face. I was shocked to see Andrew striding around the school building.
"What are you doing here?" I hissed.
"He's dating Micaela." Elysa whispered. "He got her to do drugs."
"We came to find you guys, and saw you sneaking out." Andrew said. He had grown taller since I last saw him and the softness of his face had given way to rough lines around his eyes and jaws.
"I need you to give this to your cousin." He mumbled, and shoved a wad of bills at Elysa. "I got a call from someone living over there that said they were coming to get me if I didn't pay up. I owe 'em a lot of money. That should cover half of it."
Elysa looked down at the fat wad of twenties in her hands. I could see her throat working as she struggled to control her emotions. Finally she looked up, her one eye burning with anger.
"Deliver it yourself." She spat and flung the packet of money down to the ground. She took off suddenly, running towards the woods. I was pretty fast, but she was running hard and we were in the woods behind our school before I overtook her.
"I can't believe this." She panted, her voice cracking. "Melanie is dead. And this shit is still going on like nothing is happening." She stopped to catch a breath and turned on me suddenly. "I need to get out of here." She said fiercely. "Get me out of here Sara."
I'd been thinking about this. "I have a plan. Let's ask Mrs. Ewing if you can stay at her house. You'll be out from under Mayor's roof and you won't be a part of it anymore. Let's get you out right now." I said. "We'll talk about it tonight and decide how we can tell the police without Arden finding out it was us."
"I'm really scared Sara." Her voice broke. "You heard what Andrew said. He'll kill us. You've seen what he has his bullies do to people." I remembered a few kids coming to school with broken noses and bruises. The school police officer had talking to them, but hadn't gotten anything more than they'd been in a fight.
"He won't find out." I told her firmly, even though it felt like a lie. Arden always knew what was going on. My breath came out in a long gust of cloud as I exhaled, letting all my frustration out. "We're going to do this." I told her. "Let's go back to my house and think of a plan." We decided to use a payphone, even though it was going to be expensive, and leave the police a tip. First though, we decided to get Elysa out of the house.
"We should make the call first so they don't think it's you. If you leave too soon afterwards they'll think it's you too. Maybe we should wait a week." I told her, but she wouldn't hear of it.
"You can't leave me there Sara, not for another day." She said quickly. "I can't stand it." So we went to Mrs. Ewing and talked to her, for two hours. She was hard to convince, she kept changing the subject and acting uncertain, but in the end she agreed to let Elysa stay one of her extra bedrooms, for $75 less than what Mayor was charging.
"I don't know why she was so recalcitrant. She seemed pretty happy to have me stay there after we agreed on rent." Elysa said.
"She has money, she used to be a professor." I told her. "I think she just didn't want us to leave. She likes company. Okay babe. Let's go to your former house and get your stuff. Good thing that Mrs. Ewing already has all the heavy furniture yeah? We won't have to move a bed or anything."
"Nope. But I'm going to freakin' miss that bed." Elysa said. She still didn't look totally convinced, but she looked hopeful. "We can just stuff our backpacks with clothes for right now, and I have that huge purse we can put full of my jewelry and shower stuff."
"This is kinda fun. It's like we're on a secret mission." We trekked over to her house and walked in, no one was there. We filled our backpacks and her bag full of stuff and didn't get anywhere near all of her stuff.
"We're gonna hafta make several trips." She said, staring around her room. "Come to think of it I remember Mayor complaining when we moved all my stuff up here. We had a garage sale to get rid of a lot of the stuff but it still took a Uhaul. 'Course, I've acquired a lot of stuff since then." We made several trips. The second to last one came during a police bust.
The whole school found out about it Monday morning, when the principal called a conference. We sat in stunned silence as he laid out the details of what happened and even showed a picture of the obliterated car. Max had gone to pick up Melanie and her sister from a school event that night, but had left several hours early. No one knew where he went, but police assume it was to buy drugs and alcohol and they were looking for the sellers.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jacob sitting alone on the bleachers outside of everyone else. His hoodie was pulled down over his eyes and he sat hunched over. I saw several kids sitting like that, their heads bent down into their chests. Not crying or showing any emotion, as if they could disappear if they just drew far enough into themselves.
"If anyone has any information, please, please, please go to any of your teachers. Or me. Or the school officer." The principal was saying. "You can arrange a meeting in secret. This. Has got. To stop!" We were dismissed and a silent, shell shocked, white-faced student body dissipated and went to class.
There was more than one empty seat in class that day. Close friends of the dead were excused to go home. I didn't see Jacob for the rest of the day either. The teachers were either solemn or teary eyed, and kept asking us if anyone had any information. No one said anything, but I saw Micaela in one of my classes looking like she was about to throw up. After sitting through my third lecture on drugs, I couldn't take it anymore. When the lunch bell rang I went to find Elysa and we skipped class for the first time.
"I can't believe this is happening." She whispered. "I can't believe it. We have to go to the police."
"Arden will kill you." We both looked around, and I saw Micaela coming towards us with a familiar face. I was shocked to see Andrew striding around the school building.
"What are you doing here?" I hissed.
"He's dating Micaela." Elysa whispered. "He got her to do drugs."
"We came to find you guys, and saw you sneaking out." Andrew said. He had grown taller since I last saw him and the softness of his face had given way to rough lines around his eyes and jaws.
"I need you to give this to your cousin." He mumbled, and shoved a wad of bills at Elysa. "I got a call from someone living over there that said they were coming to get me if I didn't pay up. I owe 'em a lot of money. That should cover half of it."
Elysa looked down at the fat wad of twenties in her hands. I could see her throat working as she struggled to control her emotions. Finally she looked up, her one eye burning with anger.
"Deliver it yourself." She spat and flung the packet of money down to the ground. She took off suddenly, running towards the woods. I was pretty fast, but she was running hard and we were in the woods behind our school before I overtook her.
"I can't believe this." She panted, her voice cracking. "Melanie is dead. And this shit is still going on like nothing is happening." She stopped to catch a breath and turned on me suddenly. "I need to get out of here." She said fiercely. "Get me out of here Sara."
I'd been thinking about this. "I have a plan. Let's ask Mrs. Ewing if you can stay at her house. You'll be out from under Mayor's roof and you won't be a part of it anymore. Let's get you out right now." I said. "We'll talk about it tonight and decide how we can tell the police without Arden finding out it was us."
"I'm really scared Sara." Her voice broke. "You heard what Andrew said. He'll kill us. You've seen what he has his bullies do to people." I remembered a few kids coming to school with broken noses and bruises. The school police officer had talking to them, but hadn't gotten anything more than they'd been in a fight.
"He won't find out." I told her firmly, even though it felt like a lie. Arden always knew what was going on. My breath came out in a long gust of cloud as I exhaled, letting all my frustration out. "We're going to do this." I told her. "Let's go back to my house and think of a plan." We decided to use a payphone, even though it was going to be expensive, and leave the police a tip. First though, we decided to get Elysa out of the house.
"We should make the call first so they don't think it's you. If you leave too soon afterwards they'll think it's you too. Maybe we should wait a week." I told her, but she wouldn't hear of it.
"You can't leave me there Sara, not for another day." She said quickly. "I can't stand it." So we went to Mrs. Ewing and talked to her, for two hours. She was hard to convince, she kept changing the subject and acting uncertain, but in the end she agreed to let Elysa stay one of her extra bedrooms, for $75 less than what Mayor was charging.
"I don't know why she was so recalcitrant. She seemed pretty happy to have me stay there after we agreed on rent." Elysa said.
"She has money, she used to be a professor." I told her. "I think she just didn't want us to leave. She likes company. Okay babe. Let's go to your former house and get your stuff. Good thing that Mrs. Ewing already has all the heavy furniture yeah? We won't have to move a bed or anything."
"Nope. But I'm going to freakin' miss that bed." Elysa said. She still didn't look totally convinced, but she looked hopeful. "We can just stuff our backpacks with clothes for right now, and I have that huge purse we can put full of my jewelry and shower stuff."
"This is kinda fun. It's like we're on a secret mission." We trekked over to her house and walked in, no one was there. We filled our backpacks and her bag full of stuff and didn't get anywhere near all of her stuff.
"We're gonna hafta make several trips." She said, staring around her room. "Come to think of it I remember Mayor complaining when we moved all my stuff up here. We had a garage sale to get rid of a lot of the stuff but it still took a Uhaul. 'Course, I've acquired a lot of stuff since then." We made several trips. The second to last one came during a police bust.
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