by Sofie Hern
–
I close the door and stay on Aaron’s side of the room by his bed with my hands on my hips then Howard and Beth walk in.
“How’s Jake?” asks Beth.
I shake my head. “I… I don't know what to do. He’s broken and I'm scared for him,” I admit. “Is everything cleared with the police and everything?” I ask and they look at one another.
“They asked me about the gun, which I have a permit for,” says Howard. “They’re still investigating, trying to locate Levy…. Damn it, I... I should have done... something.”
I shake my head. “Not your fault and not Jaycob’s either and not even yours,” I say to Beth who shrugs and starts to cry. Howard wraps his arms around her shoulders and we stay in the middle of the room, in silence.
27
LEVY
The room of the cheap motel is cold and it reeks of cigarettes. There is a full-size bed, a cheap folding table with plastic chairs and a broken dresser. The window drapes are torn and the television is mounted on the wall, close to the ceiling. He’s glad that Rose is with him so he doesn’t have to show his face anywhere.
He’s sitting on a chair with the television on, waiting for the six o’clock news. He isn't scared, never has been but more worried than anything.
He needs to get cash though, and once he does, they can leave California and head south before the police get to him. His girlfriend is by the window on the lookout as Levy instructed.
“As soon as you see a cop car, let me know,” he tells her. After Rose picked him up, they drove inland, near downtown. If they happen to come across his car, he has hours on them and they would still have to search every building around him.
He’s pretty sure that his house in San Diego will be searched and he worries about everything he left there. Nothing he can do now except head for the border and start a new life.
While waiting for the news to come on, he calls Ken.
“Hello?” says Ken.
“Ken, it’s Levy.”
He can hear muffled sounds from the other line, then Ken says, “Why are you calling me? What the fuck do you want?”
“Hey, man. I'm in some serious shit and need your help.”
“What shit?”
“I just need a hand, man. Some cash so I can lay low for a while.”
Ken laughs. “And why the fuck would I do that for?”
“Just help a brother out.”
“What did you do now? And no bullshit… brother,” he says sarcastically.
“I tried helping out your bitch again and fucked up.”
“You seem to fuck up a lot. I run a serious business here, chief. You’ve had two fuck ups in one month. I've had my business for fifteen years and guess how many times I’ve fucked up? Zero. You know what? I don't think this business partnership is going to work, you're on your own, brother.”
The line goes dead.
“Fuck!” He throws his phone to the floor, then gets to his feet and kicks a chair sending it across the room.
“Everything okay, baby?”
He looks at her. “We need cash. Fast,” he tells her and takes out his wallet. He doesn’t want to use it and raise a red flag, but he has no other option. He takes a debit card out and hands it to Rose.
“Go get us some cash so we can get the fuck outta here.”
He starts to pace the floor. He knows that the ATM will only give her $400, which isn’t much but is a start. Once close to the border, he’ll withdraw the rest, which is well over two grand.
The six o’clock news comes on and Levy stands in the middle of the room, watching attentively with his arms crossed over his chest. While he’s watching, Rose returns. She looks around; making sure no one had followed, then walks inside. He turns to her and she hands him back the card. He waits for the money, but Rose shakes her head. “There's nothing in the account.”
“What?”
She hands him the statement and he studies it. “What the fuck?” he whispers and starts to panic.
His heart is pounding and for the first time, he’s scared. His girlfriend looks puzzled, but knows better than to question him. He tries to remember any events that might have caused his money to disappear. Maybe the authorities? And then it hits him.
“Son of a bitch!” He recalls the day he gave Ken his account information. “Sending money right away so we can get started with our business, but I need your info,” Ken had said.
“Son of a bitch!” He throws the card to the floor and calls Ken.
“I do not wish to speak to you any longer.”
“Where the fuck is my money, mother fucker?” He’s starting to perspire despite the cold room.
Ken laughs.
“Give me back my cash mother fucker!” He’s spitting as he speaks.
“I will do no such thing. You were stupid and sloppy and you don’t know how to run a business, you stupid piece of shit. Go and continue to do mediocre work for bitches who have no clue what the fuck they’re doing.”
The line goes dead.
Levy is in shock. He can’t believe that he fell for that scumbag. Once again, he throws the phone. He begins to pace, kicking everything in his path. Rose moves away and stands against the wall, afraid of her boyfriend.
“Everything okay?”
He turns to her then puts his hands on his hips and looks to the floor.
“I fucked up. I fucked up big time,” he tells her and shares with her the events of the day.
When he sees nothing on the news about the shooting, he and his girlfriend get into bed and put their heads together to come up with a plan.
First, they need to find out how the boy is doing and if he’s been taken to the same hospital.
“I can go check if you want?” says Rose and Levy likes the idea.
“We can take the boy, ask for money and when they pay us, we can leave the country, never come back,” he tells her.
“And if the boy dies?”
“Then we move on to that nice house and get as much shit as we can and sell it.
28
ADAM
I was unable to sleep the entire night and neither did Jaycob. He’s sitting by Aaron’s side and refuses to move. I stand by the window and watch the sun come up, neither of us saying much. I tried calling Rita through the night with no luck.
I take a deep breath and Dr. Barksdale walks in. “Good morning. How are you guys?” she asks, looking at Jaycob who says nothing.
She looks at me and I shake my head, without saying a word.
“We need to take him for a scan,” she announces and a nurse follows her. Jaycob moves out of the way and they roll Aaron’s bed out along with a few machines.
When they’re gone, Jaycob sinks into the chair and starts to cry. I approach and place my hands on his shoulders. “I'm here, Jake.”
“He’s going to be okay, right?”
“I hope so.”
My phone rings. Thomas is calling and I step out of the room.
–
I sit in the lonely waiting room and answer.
“How is he?”
“They just took him for a scan, hopefully, it looks better.”
“Listen, my wife gave me the name of a lawyer for Jaycob, he lives in Santa Barbara, a few miles from where you are. We also don’t see why Jaycob would be charged with anything. I’ll give you his info just in case.” I take the information and when we finish talking, I go back to the room.
I walk to the window and clear my throat. “Jake, what happened was an accident, but… we don’t know how the authorities will see it,” I speak without looking at him.
He gets to his feet and approaches me.
“Are you fucking serious?”
I turn to him and say, “It’s just a precaution, Jake. Thomas gave me a number for a good lawyer, and we—”
“Are you kidding? Who the fuck gives a shit about that right now? Aaron is fucking dying and you're worried about the damn law?” his face is red with fu
ry.
“I... I was just worried, Jake.”
He shakes his head and leaves the room. I take a deep breath and go after him, but decide to give him some time alone.
Soon Howard and Beth walk in. “How’s everyone?” asks Howard.
I shake my head and I can tell that Beth has been crying too. “Did you sleep?” she asks.
“No, and Jake isn’t doing well at all but we found a lawyer.”
“Oh, good… good,” says Howard.
We move into the small room where I remain standing and they take the sofa. “I spread the word at the station,” Howard tells me. “They’re going to do bulletins every hour, get Levy’s name out there. We’ll catch him.”
“Thank you.”
–
We’re all silent for a long time, then the doctor returns and Aaron's bed is placed back where it was, then she walks in the little room. Jaycob returns moments later.
“Have a seat, Jake,” says Beth and starts to leave along with Howard.
“No… please stay,” I tell them, and they sit back down.
Jaycob sits at the table and I remain standing. The doctor clears her throat as all eyes and ears are on her.
“Aaron developed too much pressure, which was impossible to control. There is absolutely no blood flow to his brain.”
Beth understands exactly what’s happening and starts to cry softly.
“What the fuck does that mean?” asks Jaycob.
“He’s… brain-dead, Jake,” Beth tells him and Jaycob starts to cry.
My entire body goes numb. “Is he... is he… uh…” I am unable to finish but doctor Barksdale nods.
I feel absolutely deflated. I sink in the sofa and rub my forehead. I’m lost.
“The machines are keeping him alive. He’s…” The doctor shakes her head. “I will let you guys decide when you choose to take him off life support. I'm sorry,” she says and walks out of the room.
Jaycob grabs the bouquet of flowers from the table, throws it across the room and runs out with me running after him.
“Jake!” I catch him by the arm, right before he leaves Aaron’s room and he turns around. He looks at Aaron and approaches the bed. We stand side by side in front of Aaron, crying.
“What do we do, Jake?”
“I… I don’t know, Adam… he’s…. he’s gone and I…” He shakes his head.
“Tell me what to do, Tianna,” I beg her in silence. Maybe she wants her boy with her. I have done such a horrible job with him that maybe she decided he’s better off with her. I cry knowing I failed them both.
“We’ll have everyone come to say goodbye,” I say.
“Are you really just gonna give up that easy? You?”
I swallow hard and look down, my heart hammers in my chest as I realize that Aaron is gone. “Jake, I can’t… I can’t go against God. He’s taken him away and… there’s nothing I can do no matter how much I want this to be fixed… I can’t,” I cry and fall to my knees.
He approaches and crouches in front of me and we cry together. He looks to Aaron for a moment and says, “I think Rita should be here then.”
29
RITA
Rita is trying really hard to enjoy her time in the desert with her friends, but is finding it extremely difficult. It’s an annual trip they take with a few of their friends to celebrate the New Year and Frank expects it to be like it always was.
She feels trapped and can’t use her phone around Frank because it bothers him how much time she spends on it.
The drive to the desert was so long and she thought her friends were being too loud. Recently everything irritates her and she doesn’t understand why. Maybe she misses her friend, maybe she wishes she were with the Novaks. They understand what she’s going through, she also thinks about Aaron whom she promised to stay in touch with during her trip.
Maybe coming on this trip was a mistake because she does not want to ruin the trip for everyone else. They are all having a good time and it’s difficult for her to keep pretending.
Frank walks in the camper and announces a ten-mile ATV ride. “You’re not ready?”
Rita is in bed. She looks at her watch and sees the time, 7:31 a.m.
“Can I just skip it this time?” she asks, looking at Frank who is gearing up.
“Whatever you want,” he says after a while and walks out.
She can hear the group gathering outside as ATVs are being powered on. There are two other couples with them, each with their own rides. When she’s sure they’re gone, she gets out of bed and gets dressed in jeans, a hoodie, and a jacket. She puts on her boots and walks out of the trailer.
–
It’s freezing and windy out, so she covers her head with the hoodie and goes for a walk. Their trailer sits in a nice area, surrounded by dunes of different shapes and sizes. The mountains in the distance glisten as the sun reflects off their snowy tops. There are other campers around. Trailers and campers all lined up, creating a small city.
She knows that once she gets moving, the cold will lessen. She takes her phone with her and turns it on as she walks. She loves being outside, especially when she is alone. She and Frank love the outdoors, but for different reasons. She enjoys the sights and sounds of nature, whereas Frank uses the outdoors as his playground where he can ride motorcycles, ATVs, and snowboards, but he never stops to enjoy his surroundings.
She turns on her phone and is pleased to learn that the reception isn’t too bad. Her alert light comes on right away and she sees there are quite a few missed calls from Adam and Jaycob and a text from Aaron which is time-stamped at 8:31 a.m. the previous day.
–Have a good time!
Rita smiles and replies:
–Hey little man. How are you?
There is no answer, which she finds odd because he normally answers her right away. She deletes the message and then calls her mom to tell her that she’s having a good time, which of course is a lie.
When she’s done talking with her mom, she puts her phone away and then receives a call from Adam.
“Hey,” says Rita.
“Hi, Rita.”
“How's little man?”
He’s quiet for a long time.
“Adam?”
“He, uh… he's not doing well. There was an accident and… he… he’s not doing well.”
Rita stops walking. “What happened?”
Adam clears his throat. “I don't… I don’t know if you can come or—”
“I'm in the desert, literally in the middle of nowhere. Just tell me what’s going on?”
“I can’t tell you all the details, but… if you can’t make it, that's fine, I… I just needed to check before doing anything. He’s not okay, Rita, not at all.”
She’s frustrated and continues to walk with no particular destination.
“Just tell me!”
“He's on life support. I… wanted to know if you want to come to say goodbye.”
She can tell that he’s crying. The wind blows hard, making a humming sound in her ear.
“Life support? I don’t understand. What happened?” She starts to cry and sees that the group is returning. She manages to stop crying and wipes the tears, but can’t move.
She learns that Levy reappeared and that Jaycob accidentally shot Aaron.
“No!” she screams and falls to her knees. “No.”
“I’m… I'm sorry.”
“No!” she cries again and gasps for air. “Please wait for me.”
“We will.”
The call ends.
She drops the phone and buries her face in her hands.
“Crying again, huh?” She turns to find Frank standing behind her.
She manages to stand and has no idea how to tell him that they have to cut their trip short. “I… we need to leave.”
He turns towards the camp and puts his hands in his pockets. “Why?”
She feels like hitting him, but in his defense, he has no idea what’s going on
.
“I need to say goodbye to Aaron. He… he’s on life support.”
He looks shocked. “What? What happened?”
She isn’t sure if she should mention the gunshot or Levy. “I don’t know all the details,” she tells him and starts crying again.
Frank pulls her close and holds her as she cries into his chest.
“Let’s go,” he says, and at that moment she doesn't care about their friends being mad. Thankfully, they each drove their own cars out here.
–
They return to camp where Frank announces that they have to leave. Their friends look curious, but neither Rita nor Frank say what’s going on. Rita goes to the trailer and packs up all their stuff and can’t stop crying. When she’s done, she walks out of the trailer and to the car where she waits for Frank to finish attaching the trailer. He says goodbye to their friends, then drive away.
Rita wants to check her phone, but she’s worried Frank might get angry. She’s beyond sad and knows it’s not going to be easy saying goodbye to her friend.
“Want to talk about it?” asks Frank but she shakes her head.
She finally gets the courage and takes her phone out to send Adam a message.
–I'm on my way. Please wait for me.
They decide to go straight to LA from Reno which will take about eight hours. She rests her head on the window and falls asleep.
30
ADAM
The time is moving incredibly fast and Jaycob refuses to leave Aaron’s bedside. Charles and his wife arrived a few hours ago and we are gathered in the small private room, but none of us have much to say.
I’m still trying to understand why it all happened. Who told Levy where we were? Why does he insist on taking Aaron or hurting him? There is so much I don’t understand and hope to learn more once he’s brought to justice. What if they don’t find him? I worry about this and nod at the thought that should authorities not find him, I will make it my mission to make him pay for what he’s done. I dig my nails in my palms at the thought of him.
