When I get home, I can’t sleep. I wanted nothing but to be with Sheridan tonight. I lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. Fuck, what was I going to do? I couldn’t let her live with him for three months, but I didn’t see any way to get out of this. I knew he was going to do everything in his power to keep me away from her. I knew he was going to threaten my life if I didn’t, but I didn’t care. What kind of man would I be if I let her stay with him – a rapist, a woman beater? I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

Around four in the morning, I get up and get dressed before heading to Brian’s house. I couldn’t sit here any longer. I needed to talk to someone, maybe someone else had some answers that I didn’t, and Brian was the only one that knew everything that was going on.

I walk quickly to Brian’s house. When I get there, all the lights in the house are off but that doesn’t stop me. Brian’s stepmom left the spare key in one of her potted plants and I found it easily. I slipped it into the lock and slowly, quietly inched the door open. I was able to sneak up the stairs and into Brian’s room without waking anyone up.

“Brian,” I shake the figure under the blankets. “Dude, wake up!”

Brian raised up, but it wasn’t Brian at all. “Zack?” Michelle asked. “What are you doing here?”

“Dude, what the fuck?” Brian asked, finally waking up.

“Oh, shit. Hey, Michelle…” I clear my throat, rubbing the back of my neck. “Brian, I need to talk to you.”

“It’s four in the morning. Go home,” Brian asked, laying back down.

“It’s about Sheridan!” I hiss.

“Oh, fuck I forgot!” Michelle exclaimed turning on the lamp. “How is she? Matt said she was good when he left but her mom…oh, man, nothing else happened to Sheridan, right?”

“No, nothing’s happened. She woke up before I left, and I broke the news to her but…they made me leave right after she woke up, pretty much. They said they were giving her sleeping pills, so she could sleep. So hopefully she’s asleep right now.”

“Then why aren’t you?” Brian yawned, sitting back up.

I rolled my eyes. “I told you. I need to talk to you!”

Brian finally got the hint and his eyes widened. “Oh, okay. Baby, can you give us a minute alone?”

Michelle looked offended. “Brian, I snuck in, remember? Where do you expect me to go?”

“Oh yeah…” he gives her a quick kiss before crawling over her. “Let’s go downstairs.”

I nod and turn, exiting the room and Brian follows behind me, closing the door behind him.
We don’t stop until we’re in the middle of the living room. “She’s in trouble.”

“Why? What’s going on?” Brian asked.

I shake my head. “Dude, with both of her parents gone, Eli will gain custody. He’s her next of kin, he’s of age and he has a job that can support both of them. Unless he says he doesn’t want her, she’s fucking screwed.”

“Fuck dude. Maybe he won’t want custody,” Brian suggested.

“No, he will. He will take custody of her just so he can make her life miserable. He’ll blame her for the death of their mother and…I don’t want to think of what he’s going to do to her.”

“What are you going to do?” Brian asks.

“Kill him?” I propose. It comes out before I can think. I silently wonder if it was a joke or not. I couldn’t tell.

“Okay,” Brian nods. “How about we try to come up with some alternative ideas?”

Brian and I talk for the next few hours, trying to come up with a plan. The only thing we came up with was to plant hidden cameras in the house to catch Eli in the act. The problem with that, however, was that there would have to be an act to catch – which meant Sheridan would get hurt. I wasn’t okay with that, I was nowhere near okay with that but since the sun was rising and Brian’s parents would be up soon I decided to head home. I would talk about it with Sheridan when visiting hours started.

With a plan sort of in place, with a few kinks to work out (like avoiding the whole Sheridan getting hurt problem) I decided to go home and get a couple of hours of sleep. I didn’t want Sheridan to worry about if I got enough sleep or not and the best way to do that was to actually get some sleep.

I must have passed out as soon as my head touched the pillow. I woke up a few hours later and jumped up, looking at the clock. Visiting hours started fifteen minutes ago, I planned on being there as soon as I possibly could. I pulled on my shoes while I ran down the steps to the front door.

“Zack, where are you going?” My mom called from the kitchen. “Come eat breakfast.”

I shook my head. “I have to go see Sheridan. I’ll be…”

“Zachary James Baker, come eat your breakfast right now,” she demanded.

I suppressed a groan and marched into the kitchen. “Mom, Sheridan was in a really bad
wreck last night. Her mom died and she’s in the hospital. I need to go.”

“Oh, dear!” She exclaimed. “Of course, go! Let her know if she needs anything to just ask!”

I nodded before running out of the house. On the way to the hospital, I wondered if mom and dad would let Sheridan move in with us after we got Eli put in jail. They would have to become her legal guardian…would that make us legal siblings? Maybe I could move out, Sheridan could get emancipated and she could move in with me. These were all ideas I would bring up to her.

I can’t help but notice all of the police on the floor Sheridan was staying on. As I approach her room, I see Eli standing there in his street clothes. Cops surround him and a couple of doctors. Sheridan’s door is closed.

“What’s going on?” I ask as I near them.

Eli’s eyes dart to me. Before I can block him, he takes large steps to me, grabs my collar, and shoves me against the nearest wall. “Where the fuck is she?”

“What?” I ask, trying to push him off me.

One of the cops pulls him off me. “Eli, calm down. We will find her.”

“Find who?” I ask.

“Ms. Davis snuck out of the hospital last night. Our video cameras show her leaving just before 6 o'clock this morning,” one of the doctors tell me. He is dressed nice and must be the chief of the hospital. “Do you know where she might be?”

I shake my head. “No. No I…she’s missing?”

“You fucking piece of shit, I know you know something!” Eli jabbed a finger at me.

“Sir, I know this is a stressful time, but I need you to calm down.”

One of the cops claps a hand on Eli’s shoulder. “Yeah, come on Eli. Let’s go to the station. We’ll file a missing persons report and get her description out there on the news. We’ll find her.”

I take this as my cue to leave. I knew where Sheridan would go, where she always went something was on her mind. Of course, she was scared. She was terrified to go back home with Eli, so she disappeared. It made sense, but what else was going on in that head of hers? I wondered if she tried to go to my house and I wasn’t there because I was with Brian.

I knew I had to find her before Eli or the cops did. She had cracked ribs, so I knew she was in pain. Did she even sleep last night? If I left around two and she left at six, she didn’t get much. I was worried about her. If I found her, how was I going to get her back to the hospital?

The beach is packed since it’s the weekend. Families were having picnics, people were surfing, others were swimming. I searched the beach three times but never saw even a glimpse of Sheridan. I was beginning to get aggravated; I was so worried. Where the fuck was she?

I wasn’t sure where else to look. Matt’s house was closest to the beach, so I went there. Of course, he hadn’t heard from her, but he let me use his phone to call around. Brian hadn’t heard from her either, and neither had Val or Michelle. I called Lacey, Leana, Jimmy, Johnny; I even called Gena…no one had heard from her.

Feeling discouraged, I decided to check her mom's house. I didn’t think she would go there, but I knew I had to check just in case. When I get there, I don’t use her front door. Instead, I make my way back to her bedroom window. The lights are off, but I push her window open, anyway. It squeaks as it opens but eventually I get it open enough to climb in.

She was definitely here. Last night when I dropped by to get some of her things, her room was clean and in order. Now it was a mess. Her drawers were pulled open and rummaged through, clothes laid on the floor. There was a piece of the floorboard pulled up. I approached the hole in the floor and looked down into it. Empty. What was she hiding in there?

I sat on her bed and rested my face in my hands. What the fuck was going on? I rack my brain for any more places she might go. She had no reason to go to the library because we weren’t in school anymore. She wasn’t at the beach, or at any of our friends’ house, I was out of ideas. I stand up and exit her room, the rest of the house was untouched; I didn’t bother looking around before I left the house entirely.

Maybe we missed each other; maybe while I was on my way to the hospital she was on the way to my house from wherever she went after she left her house. I walked home hoping that’s where she was but also trying not to get my hopes up. If she was there that would be great, but we would still have to figure out our next steps. If she’s not there, I don’t know what I’m going to do.

I walk into the house almost expecting her to be at the door waiting for me. She’s not and I feel myself getting more panicky. “Hey, mom have you heard from…”

I stop when I see the television. Sheridan’s senior photo took up half the screen while the rest was her description and information.

NAME: SHERIDAN DAVIS
AGE: 17
HAIR: DYED BLACK
EYES: HAZEL
HEIGHT: 5’4”
LAST SEEN: HUNTINGTON BEACH HOSPITAL
AT APPROX 6 AM ON MAY 29TH 2000
“Zack, do you know anything about this?” Mom asked me, motioning to the television.

I shake my head. “No, I…I was hoping she was here,” I say quietly.

“Well, do they think she ran off? Or that someone took her? Did you talk to her brother? I’ve heard of people having mental breakdowns after losing a parent. Do you think that’s what happened?”

“Mom,” I strain, keeping my eyes on the screen, “I don’t know, okay? I don’t know what’s going on.” Before she can say anything, I turn and walk up the stairs to my room. What in the hell was going on?

---

“Zack, phone!”

I feel like I’ve been lying in bed for days, but according to my clock, it’s only been a few hours. I’ve been racking my brain, trying to think of where she could have gone but I’ve come up with nothing. I roll over and stare at a strip of photos of me and Sheridan from a photo booth that’s pinned to my wall. I take in each photo carefully as if it’s going to give me a clue to where she is, but it doesn’t.

“Zack, did you hear me?” Zina’s voice comes from behind me. I turn my head towards her.
She’s standing in the doorway, dressed in her work uniform and the wireless phone in her hand, covering the speaker. “I think it’s Sheridan.”

I jump up from my bed at the sound of her name. “Why didn’t you say that?” I asked roughly, snatching the phone from her grip. I immediately feel bad when she turns and walks away. Zina has been at work this entire time, she probably has no idea Sheridan was missing.

I’m able to brush the feeling away as I bring the phone to my ear. “Sheridan?” My heart races as I wait for a reply.

“Zack, hey. I can’t speak for long,” her voice is calm and steady.

“Why not?” I ask her. “Where are you?”

She doesn’t answer right away. “I can’t tell you. I just wanted to call and tell you goodbye.”

“Goodbye?” I ask pulling the phone away from my face to read the caller ID. Unknown. Of-fucking-course. “What do you mean ‘goodbye’, Sheridan?”

She sighs into the receiver. “Zack, I can’t…with mom gone…they’re going to make me live with Eli. After everything he’s done…I can’t do it.”

“So, you’re just going to leave? Sheridan…”

Sheridan sniffs and her once calm voice is now weak. “I don’t want to.”

“Then don’t. Look, where are you? I’ll come get you.” I tell her slipping on the closest pair of shoes.

“I’m at a bus station outside Huntington Beach. I’ll come back once I’m eighteen; once the system can’t tell me where I have to live,” she replies.

My heart drops. “No, tell me which bus station and I’ll come get you. We can figure this out, there are ways to beat the system or…something, but please, baby. Please, don’t leave.”

I can tell she’s crying on the other end of the phone and it causes emotion to swirl in my chest. I just wanted to be with her, to hold her. I wanted to assure her that everything was going to be okay. “I have to. Please, please understand. I’m not doing this to hurt you. I just have to protect myself, okay?”

I run a shaking hand through my hair. Different words and phrases run through my head, each not good enough to make her stay. “I’ll come with you,” I choke out. “Tell me exactly where you are and give me a second to pack a bag and I’ll be there.”

“Zack…” she whispered.

“Just let me come with you.”

I count the seconds as the tick by without a response. “You can’t,” she finally replied and my heart falls to my toes. “Zack, you have a life there. Your family, your friends. You just got signed! You’re on to big things, you’ve dreamed of doing this for how long? I can’t take you from that. I won’t. I won’t be selfish.”

“You’re not being selfish if I want to go,” I tell her. “I know, I have the band but…we’ll come back after your birthday. The band and I can pick up then. It’s not that long, you know. Your birthday is, like what, three months away? My future can wait three months if that means I get to spend those three months with you. Please, Sheridan. I don’t want to lose you, let me come with you.”

“I love you, Zack. I really, really do. I met you at a really bad time in my life and I will forever be thankful for that. I found you just in the nick of time, you know? I wouldn’t be alive without you and this time away from you will hurt. It’s going to hurt me every day but…it has to be this way.”

“I love you too, Sheridan,” I replied. “That’s why I want to come with you. We can figure this out. Hell, we can probably figure something out so we don’t actually have to disappear from the world if you’ll just wait. Just…please, wait. Don’t leave tonight. Let me see you.”

She takes a deep, audible breath and lets it out slowly. “You know the police are looking for me, they’re going to be asking a lot of questions, and they’re going to come straight to you for the answers. I’ve seen my description on the news already. I have to get out of here before it’s too late.”

“Just…let me bring you money…” I’d give her every cent I had. I just needed to see her; I just needed the chance to talk her out of this face-to-face.

“I have money. I’ve been saving up since I moved here and hiding it under the floorboards in my room.” She told me. That explained the hole in her floor.

“Sher–” I start, but she cuts me off.

“My bus is about to leave. Meet me at the pier on my eighteenth birthday. I love you,” she says. I open my mouth to reply, but the click tells me she’s already hung up.

She’s gone.

Notes

Hi, my name is Kirstin and I'm a sad-ending addict.

So, I couldn't wait to post the ending. Thank you so, so much for reading! You guys are the best! if you're interested in a sequel, let me know! and don't forget to rate!

Thank you Kimmie for commenting on the previous chapter!

Title credit: Good Charlotte "Wondering"

UPDATE: THE SEQUEL IS HERE