by Wendi Wilson
But the emotion I feel the strongest is sorrow. I’m unhappy that my parents don’t trust me. I know I broke their trust earlier by revealing what I know to Savanna, but the fact that they’d been reading my messages for several years? It was disheartening, to say the least.
“So, what now?” I ask on a sigh.
“You are grounded, indefinitely. No phone, no social media…and no going to school,” my dad decrees.
“What? What do you mean, no school?”
“Obviously, having those Alts,” he says the word like a curse, like it physically pains him to even acknowledge their existence, “at school has influenced you negatively. Until you can be more rational, your mother will gather your schoolwork and oversee your progress here at home.”
“This is ludicrous,” I say, unable to stop the words from spilling from my mouth.
“Watch your tone, young lady,” my mother reprimands. “You’re lucky this is the extent of your punishment.”
“What else could you do to me?” I ask, my voice flippant. “You’re taking away everything that matters and keeping me prisoner here.”
“You can thank Brother Earl for your lenient punishment,” my father says, his voice eerily calm.
“What does that mean?”
I’m suddenly afraid. My dad doesn’t sound like my dad. He sounds like a stranger.
“It means,” my mom adds, “that we wanted to cast you out like the traitorous little bitch you are. Brother Earl convinced us to be patient and give you another chance to prove your loyalty.”
My heart stops briefly before resuming and beating triple-time in my chest. I can’t decide what’s worse—my mom calling me a traitorous bitch or Brother Earl being the voice of reason in this situation. I know I betrayed them, but your parents are supposed to love you unconditionally.
Mine don’t sound like they love me at all. I’ve never felt so betrayed, so deserted. I rock settles in my chest where my heart used to be.
“Of course, your apprenticeship under Brother Earl has been terminated,” my dad says, his voice filled with anger and regret.
Now we get to the crux of the matter. They aren’t nearly as disappointed in my supposed disloyalty as they are in the fact that I won’t be the heir-apparent any longer.
“Wait,” I say as something occurs to me, “you already told Brother Earl about this?”
“Of course,” my mom says, like it’s the stupidest question she’d ever heard.
“Before you even talked to me about it, before you heard my side of the story and my reasons behind my actions, you went straight to him?”
They look at me like I’ve grown two heads or something. Like they can’t, for the life of them, figure out why I’m upset about the fact that they chose Brother Earl over me, their daughter. Their own flesh and blood. It just goes to prove how fanatical they’ve become.
I stand up without further comment and leave the room, heading straight up the stairs to my bedroom. No one tries to stop me. They don’t even care.
And that hurts worse than I’d like to admit.
A week and a half has passed and I’m so bored, I can hardly stand it. Being stuck at home with no access to the outside world, no idea what’s going on with the kids at school is frustrating, to say the least.
The worst part is, I have no idea what’s happening with the church’s plan to use Savanna. My mom and dad refuse to talk to me about her or about Brother Earl and the Purist movement. I’ve been completely cut off from that entire part of their lives.
They are more devout than ever, going to church several times a week and having other congregation members over at our house, as well. Each of our visitors looks at me with disgust, as if my transgressions have been laid out for all to hear and judgment was cast to find me one hundred percent guilty. I’m sure Brother Earl gave a very moving sermon using me and my actions as a shining example of betrayal and ungodliness.
“Hello, Jesse. Shaun.”
As if my thoughts had conjured him, Brother Earl appears in my foyer, exchanging greetings with my parents as I listen from the top of the stairs. I tiptoe down a few steps so I can see them, careful to not make a sound. But Brother Earl’s appearance shocks a gasp from me, and all three of them look up to where I stand, frozen mid-step.
Both of his eyes are swollen into thin slits, surrounded by purple and black bruises. His bottom lip is three times its normal size and there’s a split in it caked with dried blood. With a gash over his right eye and an abrasion on his left cheek, he looks like he just went ten rounds with a prizefighter.
“What happened to you?” I ask, my concern for him an instinct born of habit after years of blind devotion. “Are you okay?”
He ignores me, nodding to my father who leads him to the kitchen as the nutty aroma of coffee hits my nostrils. A few weeks ago, his rebuff may have hurt me, but not now. I don’t want or need his approval anymore. I’ve seen the light, so to speak.
But his presence in my home does grant me an advantage. My parents will be busy for a while, preening over him and kissing his holy ass.
Gag.
I stomp back up the stairs toward my bedroom, but when I reach the door, I lighten my steps and continue on to my dad’s office. My heart picks up its pace, both from fear of being discovered and the exciting prospect of doing something. Of possibly finding some information that could help me. Help Savanna and her boyfriends.
I’d overheard my dad speaking on the phone a few days ago, and he mentioned Savanna and the Patton brothers leaving. They’d cut out and there was something about them being spotted heading north, but that was all I’d gotten. And I couldn’t ask for clarification, because then Dad would know I was eavesdropping and he’d be more careful in the future.
I slip into his office and gently push the door closed behind me before flipping on the light. His large desk dominates the room, with two hard chairs positioned in front of it and a large leather seat behind it. I hurry behind the desk and sit, the chair creaking softly beneath my weight.
Rifling through the first drawer provides nothing, but I strike gold with the second. At least, I hope I do. There’s a file folder filled with documents and pictures. Photos of Savanna, Jett, Wyatt, and Beckett. A photograph of two handsome, young boys labeled “Silas and Slade Madsen” is paper-clipped to another picture of an older couple that bears a strong resemblance to them. I assume they are the parents.
I also find pictures of them with the Patton brothers when they were kids. Photos at the beach, at a restaurant, at a mini golf course. It’s obvious the Patton’s spent a lot of time with this family before they moved here.
“Is this where you went?” I mumble, flipping through the rest of the papers in the file.
I come across an address in Greenwich, Connecticut, circled in red pen. I grab a piece of blank paper from the printer and write down the address before folding it up and shoving it into my pocket.
Putting everything neatly back into the folder, I slip the file back into the drawer where I found it. I feel a little better, knowing I have something to go on should the shit hit the fan, making me cut ties and run.
Or if I need to deliver a warning…
13
Present day…
I push my finger against the button to ring the doorbell and hear the chime echo inside the house. I wait for a few seconds with no response, then bang the side of my fist against the wooden panel of the door. I really need to use the restroom.
“Come on, Savanna, open up!” I call out, hoping the four of them are actually inside the house like I assume they are.
I hear a scuffling before the lock clicks and the door swings inward. Savanna and the three Patton brothers stand on the other side, looking a little dumbfounded at my sudden appearance on their doorstep.
“Finally,” I blurt, pushing my way inside.
“Nice to see you, too, Lizzie,” Savanna replies, closing the door behind me.
“What are you doing here?”
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Jett fires out the question as soon as I emerge from the bathroom, which I’d immediately visited to relieve the pressure on my bladder. I frown at him before looking at Beckett, then Wyatt, then Savanna.
“Can I get something to drink? Maybe some food? It was a long trip and I’m famished.”
I don’t know why I’m being so snippy with them. Maybe I’m tired from the trip. Maybe I really do just need some food. Or maybe, I’m nervous they’ll throw me out on my ear the second I give them the information I have and I’ll be all alone with nowhere to go.
“First, you need to tell us why you’re here,” Jett says, his tone slightly belligerent.
“I’ll get her something,” Beckett offers, heading toward the kitchen.
“I always knew he was the nice one,” I quip, taking a seat on the couch.
“Lizzie,” Savanna says, her tone warning, as she sits down beside me. “Please tell us.”
My shoulders lift, then drop as I let out a dramatic sigh. “I ran away.”
“You what?” Savanna asks, sounding shocked.
“Well, technically, it’s not running away because I’m eighteen,” I clarify. “I left home. Left my parents.”
“But… why?” Savanna asks.
“It’s Brother Earl,” I admit, my eyes moving to Jett and Wyatt for a split second before settling back on Savanna. “He’s changed them. They basically worship him and will do anything he says.” My voice drops to barely a whisper, “No matter what it is.”
Even turn their backs on their own daughter. Write her off like she never really mattered. Like she’s disposable.
“What did he tell them to do?” Jett says, interrupting the downward spiral of my thoughts.
“Well, I already told you he made them force me to spy on you.”
“Yeah,” Savanna replies. “Did they try to make you do something else?”
I shake my head. “I’ve been recruiting kids at school for months, talking up the church and the Purist agenda, but after you skipped town, Brother Earl was done with me. My parents didn’t want to lose favor with him, so they pretty much devoted all their time and energy into finding ways to please him.”
Beckett returns from the kitchen and hands me a glass of orange juice and a plate stacked with toaster waffles and strawberries. I nod my thanks, taking a long drink and a few bites of the food, lost in thoughts of my parents and wondering whether or not they’re even looking for me.
“They’re planning something,” I say, finally looking up at Savanna after several moments of silence. “They wouldn’t divulge what it is, but I can’t tell you how many times they fell silent as soon as I walked into the room.”
“You never overheard anything?” Beckett asks.
I meet his eyes before looking back at Savanna. “Yesterday,” she say, nodding. “I heard them mention some names before they realized I was within earshot.”
“What names?” Savanna says.
Sympathy fills me as I answer. “Roman and Angela James.”
“My parents?” Savanna says, her voice barely more than a whisper.
“I don’t know what they have planned, I swear. I asked them outright, and they refused to say, telling me it was none of my business. They left for a meeting,” I say, using air quotes, “and I jumped in my car and drove straight through the night to get here.”
“How did you know where to find us?” Wyatt asks, scratching his chin.
I raise one eyebrow. “I searched my dad’s office last weekend, hoping to find information on what they’re planning. I didn’t see anything about Savanna’s parents, but I did find a file on the four of you. Pictures. Of you. Of the family that lives here. This address.”
“Wait,” Jett interrupts. “They have pictures of the Madsens?”
“Yeah,” I answer, “but I don’t think they’re recent. The kids in the photos look like they’re about twelve years old. I’m assuming they are our age?”
I don’t know why I play dumb. I obviously know the Madsen twins are our age. I just saw them leave the house a little while ago. But for some reason, I don’t want the others to know that. I don’t want them to think I was spying, watching the house before I made my presence known.
Jett nods, answering me, his eyes unfocused. “He’s been watching us, all of us, for years.”
“Yes,” I say. “I just wish I had never agreed to help. I’m really sorry.”
“Your parents made you,” Beckett says, his voice gentle. “You didn’t have a choice.”
I shake my head, making my black curls bounce as I fight back the emotion welling inside me at Beckett’s understanding words. I don’t know if I could be that forgiving.
“I could have fought them.” I pause for a moment, gazing at Savanna. “I’d spent so many years hating you, letting Fiona’s words and actions poison my views. When Brother Earl approached my family with his plans, I thought it sounded fun. I’m a horrible person.”
“You might have been before,” Wyatt states, drawing my attention, “but you’ve changed. That’s all that matters.”
“Thanks for that,” I say, stabbing the last chunk of my waffles and shoving it into my mouth. Swallowing, I continue, “I’m determined to make up for it. That’s why I came to warn you about what I heard. That, and to get away from my crazy ass parents.”
I try to make that last part a joke, but I can’t quite pull it off. There is nothing funny about this whole situation. Nothing funny at all.
Savanna sits down and, in a surprise move, wraps her arm around my back, pulling me in for a half hug. “You’re a better person than you were,” she says. “You’re with us, now.”
A smile lifts the corners of my mouth. I couldn’t stop it even if I wanted to. This must be what real friendship is like. Affection. Forgiveness. Though Savanna had been the one to go most of her life with no friends, she knows more about friendship than I do. I’ve always been surrounded by people who supposedly cared about me. Friends at school, my parents, Brother Earl…
But nothing has ever felt as real as Savanna’s hug. Her belief in me, even after all the awful thing I did to her. Her capacity for forgiveness must be endless.
“I need to call my mom,” she blurts out, grabbing her phone from her purse.
She talks to her mom for a few minutes, and the rest of us quietly listen to her side of the conversation. She seems relieved, but also sad at the same time.
“They’re fine,” she says after hanging up. “No mention of Dr. Patton at all. Whatever he’s planning, he hasn’t enacted it. Yet.”
“We’ll figure out a way to protect them, Savanna,” Beckett vows.
“Yeah,” Wyatt adds, “we will. But you shouldn’t be thinking about our asshole of an uncle, especially today.”
“Before we change the subject, can I ask you something?” I ask, needing to know before we close the lid on Brother Earl.
“Sure,” Savanna replies, giving me an encouraging nod.
“Did you guys do something to Brother Earl?” I can’t help but smile. “I saw him a couple of days after you disappeared, and he was wrecked. Black eyes. Swollen face. And he was holding his stomach like his ribs hurt.”
“He tried to take Savanna,” Jett says.
“Savanna had other plans,” Wyatt adds, grinning as Beckett chuckles.
“I panicked and tried to persuade two truckers to beat him up so we could get away,” Savanna says. “I used too much power and every person in the diner came out and took him down.”
I suck my bottom lip between my teeth and bite down before giving her a small smile. “Good.”
“So, what do we do now?” Savanna asks. “The Madsens were kind enough to take us in, but will they take Lizzie in, too?”
“I’ll figure something out,” I say, not wanting anyone to feel pressured into helping me. It’s enough that they’ve given me their forgiveness.
“I’m sure they’ll let you stay here with us,” Beckett offers.
“I couldn�
�t possibly—” I start to deny, but Jett cuts me off.
“Beckett’s right. I know they’ll insist you stay.”
I’m not nearly as certain as they are, but I don’t argue again. I need a place to crash and if the family that lives here is as kind as the Pattons seem to think, maybe I will be invited to stay.
“Are you guys celebrating something?” I ask, changing the subject. I nod toward a box on the floor next to some crumpled wrapping paper.
“Today is Savanna’s birthday,” Wyatt says. “She’s officially legal.”
My mouth drops open. I had no idea. “Oh, I didn’t know. I would have gotten you a gift.”
“You’re here,” she says. “You came to warn us about what you heard and you’re on our side. That’s the only present I need.”
“Well, happy birthday,” I say, offering her a smile.
“Thanks,” she replies, smiling back at me.
“Do you guys have something planned? Please, don’t let me get in the way of your celebration.”
“We were trying to get Savanna to admit what she wants to do when you showed up,” Wyatt says.
“I really don’t have anything in mind,” Savanna insists.
“Well, whatever you decide, I’ll be fine on my own.”
Savanna stares at me for a moment, seeming to ponder something before her face firms with resolve. I have a strange feeling, like maybe she just decided she could trust me and I’m worth the risk. I feel my face heat with happiness. I could use a real friend right now.
“Nonsense,” she says, standing up. “We should all stick together.”
Her statement confirms my theory and a tightness I didn’t realize I was carrying in my chest eases. Wyatt grins at Savanna and rubs his hands together. Slinging an arm around her neck, he kisses her temple.
“Well?” he asks. “What are we going to do?”
Savanna’s face glows pink as she says, “This is going to sound stupid, but can we go to the mall?”
“The mall?” Jett says, disdain evident in his voice.
