Playing Doctor

Chapter 15

    It was late. It had to be since reruns of Friends were playing. A commercial for the ten o'clock news had flashed on the screen. I debated on switching the channel but what was I going to watch? More reruns? Henry didn't have cable. And the remote had fallen beside my bed. My head hurt too much. I couldn't get it.

    Everything hurt so bad.

    No more pills.

    Not till I proved I really was a good girl.

    Or till I died.

    I hadn't eaten since I threw up pizza and fries on the floor. That was...a long time ago. Brenda had been angry. She had struck me. Henry had yelled at her. That was a first. Maybe it was a last. I wasn't sure. Everything was so strange.

    Everything was hell.

    The news started. My eyes glazed over, staring at nothing. Maybe I will get better. Then what? Was I supposed to just stay here? Live with Henry and Brenda? I guess so. There was nowhere to go. But I probably was going to die in this bed. Brenda told me so. She thinks I am going to die, just like the others. Oh, she had gone from sweet to mean. Nasty even. Saying I had potential, I could have been the one, but then I had pulled my stunt and fucked everything up.

    What did I do?

    I remember trying to get away.
    But they say I broke out of bed and passed out on the floor.

    Which one was it?

    They call me a liar, that's why no one wants me. I lied about my name, my home, my family, and that's why I am still here. Maybe it was because I lied that no one will ever come get me. I felt my eyes starting to fill with tears.

    And then I heard my name.

    My eyes shot open, looking for the source of the name. No one was in my room. But the TV was on. I focused my good eye on the screen. I recognized the photo on the screen. It was me. I had been on the soccer team with Kelly my freshman year. It was a picture we had posed for so the year book could use it for the sports section. I had my strawberry blond hair up in a sloppy bun, my bright blue eyes staring back at me. They looked like they belong to a stranger. Kelly was next to me, an arm around my shoulder, her bright red hair shining in the sun and a bright bruise on the side of her throat. She had yelled at me for pointing out the hickey when the yearbooks came out. Her mom about killed her.

    But why?

    Was I hallucinating?

    “...on this day six months ago Andrea Leslie Braxton went missing from....”

    That was my name. A ringing started in my ears and I stared, open mouth. The reporter said my name. It was like a dream.

    “The search has slowed to a crawl, though the Braxton's still search their hometown in hopes to find their sixteen year old daughter.”

    The screen changed from the brown haired reporter to a clip of my parents. The sun was shining on my moms blond hair, my dads worried brown eyes. They looked destroyed. My moms eyes were swollen, as if she had cried for hours. My dad's lips were pursed. I knew that meant he was about to cry. He always pretended he didn't, but everything made him tear up. Even the Titanic. We loved to watch that movie on snow days.

    “We know she is still out there. Someone knows something. They just have to come forward. We want our little girl back. Please,” my mom pleaded to the reporterprickl. Her voice was thin, exasperated. The camera moved to my father but he shook his head, tears in his eyes.

    The reporter came back, explaining small parts in the case. The intersection that I had gone missing at. A picture of my mangled bike popped on the screen. Police tape and tire marks on the road were next to it. Dark patches on the pavement. Was that blood? Was that a drag mark on the asphalt? My breath caught in my throat. Oh god...

    “It is thought that Andrea may have been taken into the back of a black or blue four door sedan....”

    The Impala....My brain strained. Memories of noise, pain, the smell of burnt tires and stale seats covers came to me. I was hit and taken...

    Kelly showed up on screen, her red hair limp, her grey eyes sad. “She was...coming over. So we could watch movies all weekend....” she paused and looked away. “Andi was freaked out about something, so I told her to come over. I should have had mom pick her up...I should have...I found her bike when I went to look for her. She's never late. And....I found her bike...” her voice trailed and the interview cut off.

    Kelly was okay.  

    She had looked for me.

    She didn't find me.

    She found my bike.

    The mangled form of my bike.

    Oh god. The case was going cold. No leads. My case was going cold. No one knew where I was. I was laying, dying, in a fake hospital and they were looking for me.

    Henry had lied to me.

    He had lied so much.

    Tears burned my eyes, anger stuck in my throat. I watched as the news shifted to something else. Something I didn't care about. It didn't matter.

    Everything was a lie.