A sixteen-year-old girl that has seen far too much.
I swallow again, and feel fear stab my chest.
The last time I had seen Laiken look the way she does now was when I held her after we found her father.
Neck broken.
Limp and lifeless.
What happened last night?
Nanna June’s eyes flick between me and Laiken, tears welling to the rim. A breath flutters from her lips. “Yes, okay, sweet boy.” She presses her trembling fingers to her lips, an attempt to temper a whimper. June steps back, reaching for the knitted earthy-toned cardigan draped over the back of the upholstered chair at the side of Laiken’s bed.
I take it first, hold it open at her back and help her into it, placing the wool over her hunched shoulders.
Nan turns and looks up at me. She doesn’t say anything, even though I think she might want to. Instead, reaching for my wrist, she pinches the skin gently before taking a few slow steps toward her granddaughter. She places a kiss on top of her head.
“I’ll be back soon, sweetheart,” she whispers at the same time I hear shuffling behind me. Turning over my shoulder, I watch Harlen step into the room. He stops beside me and passes over a bottle of water. Nanna June finishes with Laiken and makes her way toward us.
A sad smile hooks her wrinkled lips.
I can’t smile back.
“Beautiful boys,” she whispers, “Both of you.” Then she pinches Harlen’s wrist the same way she had mine before moving slowly for the door. She unhooks it at the side and lets it fall closed with a thunk behind her.
Silence echoes then spreads.
My eyes are still on Laiken’s when she drops hers toward her feet, one single tear burning a thin line down her cheek.
Everything inside of me turns numb, my muscles liquid, and yet, somehow, I work to place one foot in front of the other until I’m at the side of her bed taking a seat in the vacant space she had made for me.
I suck back a breath, try to catch my bearings, but my heart feels as if it is beating inside my eardrums.
I was light-headed and what I had to tell her was a tight band around my chest.
The pain almost rips me open, and I think she knows, because when I take a hand to my chest to try and stop my organs from spilling out, she reaches for me.
The tips of her torn fingers brush across my kneecap and I stop myself from shivering, wrapping her hand in mine.
I hear the click of my teeth in my head as they begin to chatter, the same way I can hear hers.
“Did they find her?” she asks, hand trembling in mine.
I try to force words off my tongue, but nothing comes.
Both Harlen and I clear our throats; his eyes to the floor.
I nod.
“W-where?” she stutters the same question I had asked Harlen in my truck.
My voice is so low I barely hear it, but she does.“Devil’s Tunnel.”
“No,” she cries, pulling her hand from my grip and pressing it to her mouth.
And I can’t reach for her in time before she’s untangling herself from the monitor in a panic, throwing the colorful blanket away from her body and sliding out of the creaky bed with urgency.
Laiken is at the ceramic sink in the corner of the room before I can find my feet.
