"Are you okay?"
"Not really. I just need you to come pick me up," she said. "I have my friend with me, and she's out of it. We need your help. I, look, I, I'm, I… I…. I'm sending the location now."
"Okay," I said sleepily. I stared at my phone, waiting for the address.
"That's almost an hour from here," I said after I clicked on it.
"I know, but I need you. I have no one else. I have no choice but to wait here for you, Amelia. Rose is in bad shape, and the next person I could get to do it is Jaxon, and he's on the other side of Butte, which is way further than you. Please, help me."
"Okay, I'm on my way," I said without hesitation. "Stay where you are. I'll call you back when I'm in the car."
I found the keys to our rental, and I jotted down a note to my sister explaining that I had to go out and I would give details later. Not that she would care. She was a heavy sleeper and probably wouldn't even notice I was gone.
I left the ranch on a side road, and it was so late that I didn't run into a single soul on my way out. I followed the directions on the map, taking the interstate most of the way, going toward Missoula.
I called Bailey when I was a few minutes out, and she gave me instructions in hushed tones. I drove into a very small town with just a few old, small houses and sheds. There were some hills with groups of trees scattered around.
I drove down a street and then I turned off the car and got out where she had explained. I spotted movement in the distance. Bailey waved at me from behind a group of trees. I expected that she would come to me, but she didn't, so I began to walk over there, through the tall grass. As I got closer, I could see that Bailey was disheveled, and she had a friend with her who was unconscious.
"She woke up a little a minute ago, but I can't get her to wake up right now," Bailey whispered as I got closer. "Can you help me get her to the car, please? She's heavy, and she's not waking up."
"Does she need an ambulance?" I asked.
"No, don’t. Can you please just help me so we can get out of here?"
Bailey was in bad shape. It was after three in the morning, and none of us wanted to be there. I cooperated, helping her any way I could, holding her friend's shoes and half of her body weight. I held onto her arm and shoulder, grabbing the fabric of her little dress. The friend was dazed and half-awake, and we stumbled with her lifeless weight as we crossed the grassy yard to get back to my car.
"Get in, Rose!" Bailey whisper-yelled near the girl's ear, trying to rouse her as we approached the car.
I opened the door to the back seat, and Bailey began trying to heft and push her friend into the back. It looked a little painful for both of them, so I went to lend her a hand.
It was going well at the start. We sort of split her weight again. We had her legs in the car, and were working on her upper body. I was positioned behind Rose's head when she flung her head back violently, headbutting me straight in the side of the face. The impact was so swift and unexpected that I had no hope of moving or dodging it. The back of her head made such a square, forceful impact with my face that it knocked me back, forcing me to drop her.
I touched my face and glanced at my hand, thinking I might see blood. I had seen blackness for a split second, and my ears rang. I blinked, realizing I was seeing stars. Bailey was taking over, pushing her friend forcefully into the car while asking me if I was okay. The next minute was a complete whirlwind with Bailey being in a frantic hurry to leave, while my face was throbbing.
Bailey didn't even ask if I was okay to operate a vehicle. She just assumed I was and she sat in the front seat, staring out of the window as if telling me to start the car and drive. Her friend's lifeless body was in a sleeping heap in my back seat.
I found myself driving down the country road, heading back toward the interstate. My face was throbbing, and I glanced into the rearview mirror. It was dark, but it seemed and felt like I would have a black eye. There was no swelling like the time when I hit my forehead, but there was darkness under my eye already.
"Do you know how to take me to your house?" I said to her. "Should I get the GPS going?"
"Yeah, I have no idea where we are," she said dazedly.
I pulled over so that I could type the address.
"Where are we going? Back to your house?" "My car's at home, but we need to… I don't know what to do with Rose. I can't bring her to my house like this."
"What about her house? We could stop there."
"It's in Butte."
I breathed a sigh, knowing it would add an hour to our trip to take her home.
"I guess I'll have to figure it out," she said.
"Is that where we're going? The ranch? Where's her car?"
"In Missoula," she said. "I'm not going to ask you to go there since it's thirty minutes the wrong way."
