Held (Gone #2) (15 page)

"Just go!"

She ran out of the room, through the kitchen, and to the outhouse. The tears finally spilled out when she got outside. By the time she sat down, she was sobbing. She hadn't meant to upset him. If she would have known he would react like that, she would have just waited for Rebekah to return. Why was she so stupid?

Macy thought she heard the front door of the house. Or was it the door from another house? The wood walls of the outhouse were so thin, she could hear everything outside. That made her self-conscious, knowing people could probably hear her when she was in there.

When she got in the house, Chester was standing in front of the wood stove, his arms crossed. He didn't look her way, much to her relief. She also didn't see Rebekah. Was that good or bad? Surely that wouldn't have been enough time for him to hurt her.

She closed the door behind her as quiet as possible and then washed her hands in the ice-cold water in the sink. She wasn't going to go near him to warm it on the stove.

Just as she was walking through the living room, the front door opened. Was there any way for Macy to warn Rebekah about Chester's mood?

Rebekah smiled, looking back and forth between the two of them. Obviously, she wasn't yet aware of the tension filling the room. Rebekah held up a small box. "I brought fresh berries."

"Where were you?" Chester demanded.

She looked startled at his tone, but didn't react. "I needed to speak with the farmers because our class is taking a field trip this afternoon. It will help Heather to get acquainted with how the community is run. Farmer Daniel let me pick a box berries for us. Wasn't that nice?"

Chester knocked the box from her hands. It hit the wall and blueberries rolled in all directions.

Rebekah looked shocked. "What—?"

"Why didn't you walk back with Heather?"

She stood back, not to stepping on any berries. "When I returned to the school, everyone was already gone. The other teacher told me that Luke had walked her home."

"A
boy
walked her home?" Chester stepped closer to Rebekah.

"It was perfectly appropriate. The streets are always full at the lunch bell."

"Heather is never to be alone with a boy, do you understand? Ever."

She nodded. "I do now."

"Good. Now pick up those berries and wash them off. Lunch is almost ready."

Macy went over to the berries and scooped up a handful.

Chester glared at her. "I told your mom to pick those up. You to go to your room."

"I just want to help."

"If
I
wanted you to help, I would have told you. I did no such thing. To your room."

Macy gave Rebekah an apologetic look and then went to her room. She was shaking as she closed the door. Why had she let her guard down? Why had she been dumb enough to think his good mood would last? His anger had probably been simmering underneath, just waiting for the opportunity—any excuse—to be released.

She heard him chewing out Rebekah. He wasn't yelling, but his voice was raised and he was being just as mean to her as he had been to Macy many times.

Pacing the room, she wiped tears from her face. Macy threw herself on the bed, crying into the pillow. Now Rebekah would probably hate her. Then her only friend would be Luke, if Chester didn't forbid Macy from ever speaking to him again.

Her door opened and Chester came in. "Lunch is ready. Get up and eat with us. If you haven't washed your hands yet, be sure to. Nobody needs to get sick and die because of you."

Macy sat up, using the bed covering to wipe her face. It was probably red and puffy, but she couldn't do anything about that. She wasn't about to splash ice-cold water on her face.

She took a deep breath and went to the kitchen, preparing herself for whatever might be in store. When she got there, both Rebekah and Chester were already eating, facing their plates.

She would have felt a lot better if Rebekah would have looked at her, but she didn't. Not that Macy could blame her. She had pretty much betrayed her.

Waiting

Zoey clung to Alex's hand in the backseat. She knew by the look on his face that he was as worried out as she was. Their parents had been so insistent that they get back to school, and now they were pulling them out before lunch? That didn't make any sense…unless something was wrong. Really wrong. And judging by Alyssa's red, puffy eyes, something was.

Neither Chad nor Alyssa said anything. It was obvious that they were waiting to tell them the news until they got home. The silence felt like a heavy weight. Zoey was sure that if she said anything, something would break. Probably Alyssa.

The only thing that made any sense was that there was bad news about Macy. That made Zoey sick to her stomach.

She squeezed Alex's hand. Her protective nature wanted to wrap her arms around him and tell him that everything would be all right. But would it?

A lump formed in her throat. Surely Chad and Alyssa wouldn't be driving them home so calmly if Macy was dead. They'd be freaking out. Whatever the news was, it wasn't that.

Zoey leaned her head against Alex's shoulder. He was shaking. She tried to scoot closer to him, but couldn't because of the seat belt.

Her head hurt horribly, and she wanted a cigarette. No, she needed one. That would fix her headache and calm her down. But she couldn't have one, even though she knew the withdrawals would get worse. She couldn't give the kid that kind of a start in life. If that was the only thing she could give him or her, that would be it.

They pulled into the Mercer's driveway. Zoey took her belt off and wrapped her arms around Alex, squeezing him tight. "Everything's going to be okay."

"Have you seen my mom? This can only mean one thing." Tears shone in his eyes.

"It can mean lots of things, Alex. More clothes found, maybe."

He shook his head.

"Come on, you two." The solemn tone of Chad's voice sent chills down Zoey's back.

She grabbed her bag and pulled Alex out of the car. Zoey noticed a police cruiser pulling in across the street. Had they followed them? Or were they just arriving to watch the house? It couldn't be a coincidence that they arrived at the same time.

Zoey's heart dropped. Maybe Chad and Alyssa did have the news that she and Alex were dreading.

Her stomach twisted in tight knots as she walked to the house. Zoey expected Macy to open the door, and she wanted to punch herself. She knew better than to expect to Macy.

The sinking feeling in her gut told her she was about to find out if she would she ever see her best friend again.

When they got inside, Alex threw his bag on the floor and glared at his parents. "What's going on? You brought us—"

"Let's sit." Chad walked to the living room.

Alex looked like he was going to have a nervous breakdown, so Zoey put her arm around him and helped him onto the couch. Alyssa sat at Alex's feet and put her hands on his knees. She wouldn't look either of them in the eyes.

Chad pulled another chair up, sitting about a foot in front of Zoey. He took a deep breath. "It's important we tell you two what's going on before you hear it anywhere else."

Zoey's heart picked up speed, almost feeling as though it had jumped into her throat.

"There's no reason to believe this has anything to do with Macy, but we have to prepare ourselves for gossip." He explained about body that had been found, again reminding them that there was no proof that it was Macy.

As Zoey tried to process what Chad was saying, she looked over at Alex. Large tears fell into his lap and his lips wavered. She held him closer, leaning her head against his. He was shaking even worse now.

Alyssa rested her forehead on his knees. She was crying too.

Chad was saying something about dental records, but Zoey couldn't focus. The lump in her throat was twice the size it had been, but the tears wouldn't come. She wanted to cry along with her boyfriend and her best friend's mom, but she couldn't.

She buried her face into Alex's side, not wanting anyone to see that she wasn't crying. It wasn't that she didn't care—she did, more than anything. In fact, she couldn't stop blaming herself. Why hadn't she gone with Macy to meet Jared? She could've left them alone after meeting and threatening him to be nice, but she hadn't been there for her best friend.

All she'd been able to think about at the time was that she couldn't go on a double date because she was in love with Alex. She had been afraid of Macy kicking her out of her life.

Zoey was a coward.
That
was why Macy was gone.

She shook, angry with herself and finally tears came. Someone put an arm around her. Zoey looked over to see Chad with his arms around both her and Alyssa. They were all in a huddle, sobbing together.

The house phone rang a few times and eventually Chad went to get it.

"It's not her, right?" Zoey asked, wiping her eyes. "The body, I mean." She knew she had makeup smeared all over her face because it got all over her hands. She looked at Alex's shirt and saw it smeared on there too.

"Let's hope not." Alyssa wiped at her eyes.

Alex sniffled. "When will we know?"

"I don't know, baby. They said something about checking dental records, but our dentist's office burned down. If she's…she's…." Alyssa's eyes shone with tears and she put her head back down, shaking.

Zoey and Alex shared a look of helplessness. What could they possibly say? It was obvious that Alex wanted to comfort his mom, but he couldn't even help himself, much less her.

"What would she be doing all the way in Clearview?" Zoey asked. "Think about it. She wouldn't go there. There's not even decent shopping." She had hoped the last comment would at least get someone to crack a smile, but it hadn't worked.

Alyssa looked up. "We can only hope."

Alex wiped his eyes. "But they have enough to think it might be her, right? Why else would they have told you?"

"They wanted us to hear it from them first and not the news. In fact, we probably want to avoid watching the news altogether." Alyssa sighed.

Chad came back and sat next to Alyssa.

"Who was that?" asked Alyssa.

He shook his head. "It's already hit the national news. Everyone wants to hear from us."

Alyssa's eyes filled with tears again. "Why do they need to? Can't they just leave us alone for once?"

Chad kissed the top of her head. "And that's why Anderson said he would give our statement as our family's representative."

She let out a sigh of relief.

"I told Anderson to direct people to my blog if they have any questions. Of course that means I'm going to have to write up something about this 'latest development' as they're calling it." He frowned.

"You shouldn't have to deal with that, Chad. They should just leave us alone—completely."

He looked away. "I do need the added traffic. I have to get more income from the blog now."

Alyssa gave him a confused look. "Are you not telling me something?"

Chad grimaced, looking directly at her. "I haven't been able to do my work at the levels of quality it needs to be…."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm being let go."

Alyssa's mouth dropped open. "When were you going to tell me?"

"There's been so much going on—more pressing matters."

She put her face into her hands. "What are we going to do? Are we going to lose the house?" She looked, staring at him. "We can't lose this house. This is the last place we saw Macy. This is where her stuff is—her room! Exactly how she left it." More tears spilled onto her cheeks. "I won't lose this house. Ever."

He put his hand on her arm, but she pushed it away.

"Listen to me, Lyss. They're giving me a generous severance package. I have time to work on the blog. Maybe we'll have to give up cable and movie streaming for a while, but we'll make it work." He paused. "We aren't going to lose the house."

Alyssa narrowed her eyes, but looked like she wanted to believe him.

"I promise," he said.

Alex sat up, causing Zoey to readjust herself. "Dad, I have an idea. What if I write an open letter to Macy? If you post it on your blog, do you think people would read it? Would it help with your click-throughs or whatever?"

Chad looked thoughtful. "That's a great idea, Alex. Not just for my stats, but just for you to write it."

Zoey cleared her throat. "I can write one too."

"That would be perfect, Zoey. Thank you. Not only would the world love to hear from you two, but like I said, I think it would be good for you guys. Maybe we could all do that. What do you think, Lyss?"

Her lips shook. "I don't know if I can."

"You don't?"

She shook her head. "I can't say goodbye. I won't."

"Mom," Alex said. "It's not that. I'm going to write mine hoping that Macy finds it and reads it. Maybe she'll decide to come back."