Ellie's boyfriend kissed her goodnight and disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again... until now.
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A week before their high school graduation, Austin and Ellie parted ways with a goodnight kiss, thinking they'd be seeing each...
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"Hey Ellie," Brian said in a rushed tone when I answered the phone.
"Hey Brian," I responded, feeling a bit confused he called, and that he called so early in the morning. "What's going on? Aren't you guys out hunting?"
"Yeah, well, we didn't get that far. Where are you?"
Didn't get that far? What was going on?
"Umm... on my way to work."
There was some grumbling in the background, and Brian sighed. And that was when the uneasiness came over me. Why would Brian call and ask that? Austin would know I was driving to work...
And then it was like stepping into ice cold water. The dread spread throughout my entire body, one limb at a time until I was choking back a sob.
Unless Austin wasn't able to...
"What happened Brian?" I asked as calmly as I could, but I wasn't calm at all. Far from it. My hands shook on the steering wheel.
"Are you driving, El?" he asked, and it sounded both familiar and foreign.
"Yes..." And then it all came together inside my rattled brain. Brian was asking me because he couldn't ask Austin. "OH MY GOD," I shouted and received a long blare from a horn when I cut off a person by accident, but I barely noticed that or the long finger he threw up my way as he passed my car.
"He's not dead, Ellie," Brian rushed to say. "But pull over, okay?"
"Oh... okay, okay."
My heart beat like it was trying to wrestle itself out of my chest cavity. It physically hurt. At the same time, my vision clouded with tears. This was so, so, so, not good.
I turned on the right blinker to get to the shoulder, but it was rush hour traffic. Cars flew by. None of them willing to let me in. I must have let out some kind of sob because Brian's voice was back in the car, calmer.
"Breathe, Ellie," my brother-in-law said, using the same tone he used when Brielle was scared.
"Okay. I'm stopped," I said as soon as I managed to pull into an empty restaurant parking lot. I fumbled to get the car in park, my hands shook so violently.
"Austin is alive, Ellie, but there was an incident and he was shot in the leg."
He was shot?
I gulped, and Brian continued. "He's in surgery now. The doctor said it will take an hour or so."
"Where?" I asked in a tone that was barely a whisper, but Brian knew I was asking for the address of the hospital, because there was no way anyone was keeping me from going there.
"I will text you the address, but maybe you should ask Alex to drive?" he suggested cautiously.
That was a good idea. I nodded my head as I wiped at the tears that just kept coming. Not that Brian could see me.
