RULES FOR DISAPPEARING
BY WITNESS PROTECTION PRISONER #18A7R04M:
Educate yourself on what you plan to lie about. It sucks when you say your family is from Arkansas and then you can’t answer a damn thing about Arkansas.
SHEER panic runs through my entire system. I left the go-bag in the house. How friggin’ stupid can I be? The color drains from Teeny’s face. She curls into a ball in the chair and starts screaming. I sprint to her chair, dropping down beside her and repeating, “It’s okay,” over and over.
Agent Thomas holds his hands up quickly. “No, it’s not what you’re thinking. Came by to check on you.”
What? Check on us? He about gave me a heart attack just so he can check on us? I take a deep breath and count to ten. Then twenty.
Still pissed.
Agent Thomas kneels down and whispers to Teeny, “I didn’t mean to scare you. Just came by to check on things. Your sister is right: it will be okay.”
I move in front of Teeny and ask, “What do you want?”
Agent Thomas motions for me to step outside. I hesitate, not really wanting to be alone with him, but it’s probably better not to include Teeny.
I turn to Teeny. “It’s all good. I’m going out to talk to him.”
“Don’t leave me!” Her voice cracks and her hands shake.
“No, I won’t leave you. I swear. You heard him: he’s just checking in. If he was gonna take us, we’d be gone by now.” I hand her the book she dropped on the floor. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
Agent Thomas is leaning against the building, waiting for me. “I really didn’t mean to upset her like that.”
I cross my arms. “Whatever. You guys normally don’t just come check on us.”
“Well, we’re afraid things are getting out of hand.”
“What do you mean ‘out of hand’?”
“Your mother. The drinking. We tried talking to your dad, but he’s not being very cooperative.”
“She’s better. She hasn’t had a drink in three days. Why did my mother have your number? There’s a hotline we can call if we need help.”
He cocks his head toward me and waits a moment before answering. “I’m worried about her. I was trying to see if she needed any help.”
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, right. Do the other suits know you’re contacting her?” I really don’t know the protocol here, but I seem to have caught him off guard, so I’m rolling with it.
Agent Thomas pushes away from the building. “Are you ready to move again? Are you so tired of this placement already? How do you think your sister will handle another move? If your family has to be relocated again, for any reason, it will be to a permanent safe house situation until it’s time to go to trial. No more identities, Meg. You understand what this means.”
I understand there’s no way my family can handle being stuck in a safe house, day after day, being watched by suits 24/7. I pace around in a small circle, forcing down the urge to run away or vomit. Then I remember Ethan and all his questions. He has no idea what his curiosity could do to us.
“Things aren’t that bad. And how can you really say my dad isn’t cooperative? We’re here, aren’t we?” I taste bile in the back of my throat.
Agent Thomas gives me a look that says I’m not a dumb-ass. “Meg, tell me how bad it is. Do you think she’s going to do something to jeopardize your placement here?” His voice drops and he truly looks concerned for us. “Is there anything I can do to help? We’re on your side in all this.”
“No. Mom doesn’t like moving any more than the rest of us. She’ll be fine. Is that all?” I need him to leave. Now.
“For now.” He pulls a white business card out of his pocket. “Call me if something happens. If you need any help.”
I shove the card into my back pocket. “Nothing’s gonna come up.”
Agent Thomas walks away. Once he’s completely out of sight, I turn and puke my Big Mac and fries into the bushes.
Teeny cries when she finds out I’m going to the movies with Ethan. I’m not sure if she’s mad because she can’t go with us, or if she’s a little jealous I have a date with him.
“Teeny, let’s go out to dinner. You pick the spot. Just you and me,” Dad says.
The more normal Teeny is, the better Dad handles her.
Teeny’s sitting on the arm of the couch, pouting. “I want to go to Pearl’s.”
You’d think she’d be tired of pizza.
“Great. Pearl’s it is. But only if you make my pizza.” Dad is teasing her, trying to cheer her up.
She rolls her eyes. “Fine, let’s go.” I’m kind of glad to see her upset like this. It’s the old bratty upset she did back home when she didn’t get her way.
Dad and Teeny leave, and I wait on the steps for Ethan. It took me a long time this afternoon to get over Agent Thomas’s visit. I debated whether or not to tell Dad, and thought it might be the perfect way to bring up the phone call last night. If he’s got some way out of this already in the works, I don’t want to screw it up. I’m almost scared to know who he was talking to.
I’m so confused. I don’t even know what I want to happen anymore. When we first started running, all I wanted was to go back home. Even though that meant dealing with Laura and Elle, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
Now I don’t know if I could go back there. Or if I even want to anymore. The way we live now is so far from how we lived before. It’d be hard to go back and act like none of this has changed me, like I’m still the girl whose biggest concern is what I’m wearing to the next party.
Lights flash across the parking lot when Ethan pulls in. I jump up and run to the truck.
“Hey,” I say once I’m inside.
“Hey.” He looks at my bag. Then at me. “I know some girls who won’t go anywhere without their purse, but I’ve never seen anyone drag around their luggage.”
The one thing I was hoping he wouldn’t mention is the first thing he says to me. “Ha-ha. It’s stupid, I know, but it’s coming with us.”
“It’s huge. Why do you carry it everywhere you go?”
I shake my head. “Just forget the bag,” I beg. “So what movie are we going to?”
He glances at the bag once more, then lets it go. “Well, there are two new ones out. One looks scary as hell, and the other is about some girl and a guy and I think a dog.”
God, he is so cute. He’s trying to make it sound like he wants to see a romantic comedy. But I’m cool with the scary one. I don’t necessarily want to see some happily-ever-after movie. Too depressing.
“Let’s go with scary. But I have to have a big bucket of popcorn because I eat when I’m nervous.”
He looks like he got a stay of execution. “That’s awesome. Girls don’t usually like scary movies.”
“Yes we do. But we force you to sit through the chick flicks so maybe you’ll get some idea of how you’re supposed to act.”
He laughs. “You know the exact opposite happens. Those guys usually look like total dumb-asses.”
We pull into the cinema parking lot and walk up to the box office. Ethan holds my hand like he did walking into the party last night, and I want to lean into him, snuggle up close, but I chicken out. I remember how cozy Will and Catherine were, and I’m jealous. That’s what I want—something natural and comfortable. Not what I thought I had with Brandon, which was me flirting and constantly devising ways to be with him. And it wasn’t what I had with Tyler either.
Ethan buys the tickets, and we head to the concession counter. We load up: popcorn, candy, drinks, and even hot dogs. We can barely get the doors to the theater open with our arms so full.
We find two seats in the back row and try to get comfortable with everything spread across our laps.
“We may have overdone it. I don’t know how we’re gonna eat all this,” I say. We barely get ourselves settled before the room goes dark.
About halfway through the movie, I have no food left. I’m petrified about what comes next. I push all the empty containers onto the floor and lean closer into Ethan.
“Are you scared?” he whispers to me.
I look at him with big eyes. “Are you kidding me? Of course I’m scared. This movie is crazy. Who even thinks up crap like this?”
Suddenly, some crazy thing jumps out from behind a door with a hatchet. I scream and push my face into Ethan’s shoulder.
Ethan leans his head close to mine. “This is why guys like to take girls to scary movies.”
I punch him in the arm. “You may be sorry you brought me when I tear out of here screaming.”
He puts his arm around me, and I watch the rest of the movie from the corner of my eye. Maybe we should have gone for the chick flick.
Once the movie is over, I feel kind of gross. We ate all that food, and then my nerves almost made me throw it back up.
Ethan holds my hand as we walk to the car.
“Where to now?” he asks.
“Oh. I don’t know.” I glance at my watch and it’s only quarter to ten. “What are you thinking?’
We get to his truck and Ethan leans me against the door. “I’m thinking I don’t want to take you home yet.”
I can feel my cheeks getting warm. “Oh.”
He kisses me lightly on the lips. “Do you have to go home now or can you stay out a while?”
At this moment, I can’t even remember what my fake name is. “I need to call home first.”
He grins big and hands me his phone. Dad answers on the second ring.
“Dad, I’m going to stay out a little longer.”
“Where are you?”
“Just leaving the movies. I won’t be long.”
“Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“Yes. Bye.” I hand Ethan back his phone, and we climb into the truck. “Where are we going?”
“I thought we could go to my house.”
No. No meeting parents. No crazy sister and no crazy sister’s boyfriend who may or may not be present. “Is that our only choice?” I try to keep my tone upbeat, but Ethan catches something in my voice.
“You didn’t want to stop by last night either. Something wrong with coming to my house?”
Yes. Everything is wrong. “No.”
We’re still sitting in the parking spot at the theater. Ethan stares out the front windshield. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“What do you mean?” I don’t like where this is going.
He throws his head back against the seat and closes his eyes. “I wasn’t going to do this.”
Definitely not good. “Do what?”
He leans forward and opens his glove box, pulling out a piece of paper. He toys with it for a second, then shoots those baby blues at me. “Is your real name Avery Preston?”
Ho-ly shit! My mouth is open, but no words will come out. Ethan unfolds the paper and produces a picture of three girls with a news article below it. I know what it is instantly. I got my ass chewed out over that article by one of the suits. In our third placement, I was on my school’s dance line. I placed in the top three for the high kickers contest, and we made the local paper. Avery Preston was my name when we lived in Naples, Florida.
I grab the article from him.
“I wasn’t sure it was you until I printed it.”
Printed in black-and-white, the blue eyes and the blond hair fade away. It looks exactly like me now, except my hair is long. How in the world did he find this?
I crumple up the paper and stuff it into my bag. I can’t look at him.
“That’s you, isn’t it?” He nudges my leg.
“How did you find that?”
He shrugs. “Mary and I were talking the other night about fishing. She said Paradise Coast was the best place to catch fish. The second she said it, she clammed up. Wouldn’t hardly talk to me for twenty minutes. I’ve been to Paradise Coast. It’s around Naples, Florida. I know you’re not from Lewisville, so I Googled the area and found that article.”
I want to get out of the truck and run. Far away. But we’re nowhere near my house, I wouldn’t know how to find my way back.
“Take me home.”
“Not until you talk to me.” He cranks the truck, and the heat blasts all over me. “Is that you in the picture?”
Pulling my legs in, I drop my forehead on my knees. If the suits find out Ethan knows this much, we’re gone. And after my conversation with Agent Thomas, it’ll be some safe house crawling with suits. I roll my head toward him. He’s watching me. “Yes,” I whisper.
“Let’s go somewhere we can talk.” He throws the truck into reverse.
We drive for a while, country music playing softly in the background. He parks at the end of Front Street, close to the Vistor’s Center. All the shops are dark and the street is deserted. I wait by the side of the truck, unsure of why we’re here.
He comes around to my side. “I thought we could sit by the water. It’s not too cold tonight.”
I look down the hill toward the river that runs through town.
He grabs an extra jacket from the backseat, and I follow him down a set of stone steps that curve around a rock waterfall and lead to the river. There’s a small dock just over the water, and Ethan spreads the jacket out. We both drop down on it, side by side, facing the water.
We’re silent for what feels like forever.
“You can tell me anything. You should know that,” Ethan says.
“How would I know that? I’ve been here for what…two weeks?” I spin around to face him. “And why so nosy about me? Have you been drilling Mary for information this whole time? You’re acting like her friend, but you’re using her!”
I’m so pissed right now.
He faces me. “No! It’s not like that. Nothing about you made sense. You’re always so nervous. You wouldn’t talk about your family, your friends, your old school, nothing.” He snatches his cap off his head and throws it on the dock.
I turn away from him, but he pulls me back around, holding my hands. “You got in my head. It’s driving me nuts not being able to figure you out. Talk to me.”
I shake my head. “I can’t.” It’s hard to stay mad at him. He moves his hands to my face and inches me closer.
“I can keep a secret. Whatever you tell me stays right here.” He’s so close our noses almost touch.
Oh my God, I want to tell him everything. I’m almost bursting with it. And that little niggling thread of hope that Dad’s going to fix this is almost the push I need. If we get out, I can stay here—as long as I want.
I could be with Ethan—as long as I want.
“That was me in the picture. My name is Avery Preston. My dad moved us here because he got into some trouble in Florida. You can’t tell anyone.” I’m going to hell for lying. I’ve done it for so long now it flows right out of mouth even when I want to tell the truth.
“What happened?” He squeezes my hands.
I shake my head. “No, I can’t tell you. Just promise me you won’t tell anyone what my name is.”
He leans back and looks at me funny. Does he believe me? Can he tell I’m full of crap? He shakes his head and his forehead scrunches up. “Does this have something to do with that bag you haul around?” he asks. He’s not going to let this go.
“Kind of.” I put my hands on his cheeks and pull him back to me. “Don’t ask me anything else.”
He opens his mouth, I’m sure to ask another question, so I do the only thing I can think of to get him to stop talking—kiss him.
And he kisses me right back.
My hands explore his chest while his wander to my hips. We fall back until we’re lying on the dock, the coat little protection against the cold wood. But it doesn’t matter.
Ethan’s hand edges up the hem of my shirt, and the rough pads of his fingers skim across the tender flesh at my stomach before moving around to my back. Every spot he touches sends tingles through my body. I move my hands up his neck to the back of his hair, wrapping my fingers into his thick curls.
As our legs intertwine and our hands wander, all the worries and the plans fly away. I could stay here with him, like this, all night. And then I realize I want to stay here with him, in this town, for as long as possible. And that feeling scares me more than anything else.
When we pull into the parking lot near my house, I spot Dad heading into the laundry room. Ethan offers to walk me to the door, but I turn him down, kissing him quickly before hopping out of the truck. I have to find out what Dad’s doing. I’m pretty sure it’s not laundry.
I’m praying someone didn’t close the window along the back wall that’s usually open, or there’s no way I will be able to hear what he’s doing in there.
I make my way around the side of the building, my feet crunching loudly on the dead leaves. It will be a miracle if he doesn’t hear me coming.
I use the go-bag as a stool to peek in the high window, which, thankfully, is still open.
Dad has discovered the phone in the laundry room. It’s right next to the window, so he’s got his back to me. I work my toe into a spot where a brick is missing and hitch myself a little higher.
“This is bullshit. I said I’m working on it.” Dad is pacing, but the cord is keeping him on a short leash.
Three tight circles later, he says, “If I can get it, I’ll need some guarantee that my family will be safe.”
Oh. My. God. Who is he talking to?
“I don’t believe you.” His voice is controlled, but his movements are jerky.
Five more circles. “What happens if I can’t find it?”
He leans against the wall. “No, you’ve made that very clear.” He slams the phone in the cradle, and I almost fall off the wall. I grab my bag and haul ass to the house, praying I make it there before Dad sees me.