38 – False

Reed strolled along the river path with Sage, her body seemingly calm, but her thoughts in turmoil. Strange images flashed through her mind, making her think of wolves in the forest. She fidgeted in agitation.

An image flashed in her mind. Troy on the ground, on his belly, hurt. Blood around him.

“No!” she cried, reaching out like he was in front of her, but there was nothing but air.

Sage looked at her, then scooted a foot away. “What!”

“Nothing,” Reed mumbled, banishing the image, trying to calm her beating heart. “I’m a freak, ignore me.”

“You regretting running out on him?”

“You mean like a teenager? Yep.” She was silent for a moment, and so was Sage, so Reed added the thing that had been on her mind since Sage had picked her up. “He said he loved me.”

Sage moved back in next to Reed, strolling with her, nodding happily. “Good old Tom.”

Reed laughed in spite of herself. “There’s nothing good about it. He can’t possibly love me already.”

Sage examined her. “You’ve never fallen in love in a few days?”

“Um, no.”

Sage didn’t even ask her if she had a rule against it. Instead, her face went dreamy and she stared at the river. “I have.”

Before Reed could ask about it, Sage turned to her and grabbed her arm, stopping her on the path. “Do you love him?”

“No,” Reed said clearly and plainly and maybe a little harshly.

Sage’s face fell. “Too bad, I liked him.” She eyed Reed. “You sure?”

“Yes.” But all of a sudden, she wasn’t sure. All of a sudden, standing there by the river, with Sage’s hand on her arm, she thought she might be wrong… wrong about a lot of things. “Shit,” she said, dropping her head.

Sage patted her on the back for a second. “Just don’t make any hasty decisions without all the facts,” she said, her voice soft and thoughtful, and Reed got the idea Sage knew more than she was saying. She picked her head up to look at her friend.

But her friend was already gazing across the park at the hot dog vendor cart. “I should get us some hotdogs.” She drifted that way, but smiled back at Reed once. “When’s the last time you talked to your mother?” she said, then she strolled away.

Ok, that was weird, but Sage was always saying weird shit.

Reed had to admit she had a point, though whether she knew it or not. Reed dug her phone out of her bag and dialed her mom.

Her mom answered on the first ring. “Reed, hi,” her mom said in a strange, tight voice, almost like she’d been waiting for the phone call.

“Mom.” It was a statement. She couldn’t speak for a second, but then words came to her. “I know who my dad is,” she said, the bad wolf from the nightmare running through her mind.

“Reed Ann, are we on this again?” Her mom’s voice was stern and unforgiving, a tone that Reed knew well.

“I know he wasn’t the one from my nightmare,” Reed said, pushing her mother.

“Reed,” her mother hissed. “I can hear people talking in the background. How many times have I told you never to mention your nightmares in public? You should never give people a reason to believe you aren’t normal.”

“But… but I’m not normal, Mom, am I?” Reed gathered every scrap of courage she had to push the words out, knowing when she said them to her mother, at the same time, she had to admit them in her own heart. She called up Troy’s face in her mind, and somehow, the words came. “I know my father was an angel.”

There was complete silence on the other end of the line.

“Mom, are you there?”

No answer.

“Mom,” Reed said. She could still hear the hum of an open line. She had nothing else to say, so she said, “Mom, I love you.”

Her mom didn’t answer for a moment, but when she did, her voice was different. Soft. “I have to go, your step-father just got home.”

“Ok, mom, I’ll talk to you soon,” Reed said quietly. She’d never even met the man. Her mom had eloped with a stranger the day after Reed had moved to Serenity. For the first time, Reed wondered if he even existed.

Her mom hung up.

Reed stood and looked at the water for a long time, an urgency building inside her that she could not begin to explain. The thought that Troy was in trouble came to her again, and this time, she could not ignore it.

When Sage came up next to her and put a hot dog in her hand, Reed said, “Sage, can you take me to the police station? There’s someone I need to find.”