Wrong (8 page)

Caelyn crossed the quad and went into the Bursars office, knowing now that she was going to be late for her class. But she had to go and get this figured out—something in her gut told her she needed to do it now, not later.

When she arrived in the Bursars office, she had to sit and wait while another student spoke with the older woman who was working the desk there. The student eventually left, and then Caelyn approached.

The older woman had a head of fine, nearly white hair, and wore a very old-fashioned suit with a flower patterned blouse and pearl necklace. She smelled a little musty and her face, when she smiled, revealed the fine powder of overly applied foundation. “May I help you?” the woman asked.

Caelyn looked and saw that she wore a nametag that read Laura Westerfeld.

“Hi, Miss Westerfeld. I’m a student here, and I’m having an issue with the account linked to my student ID. When I tried to purchase a book at the school bookstore, I was told I had insufficient funds. I’m quite sure that’s incorrect.”

“May I see your ID, please?” Miss Westerfeld asked.

“Yes.” She handed it over.

Miss Westerfeld examined it for a long moment, as if it had top-secret markings on it that only she could see. She flipped it over and back again, then began typing on her computer. Apparently, she saw something interesting on the screen, because her eyes widened briefly.

Then she turned her attention to Caelyn. “The bookstore was correct. You have nothing in your account at this time.”

“That’s not possible. I just used my card the other day at the cafeteria without a problem. And I checked online not long ago and I had hundreds of dollars in there.”

“I’m afraid that’s no longer the case,” Miss Westerfeld stated. She typed something else and stared intently at the screen. “And I might add that you have an even more important issue, which is that we still haven’t received the payment for next semester.”

Caelyn swallowed, the pit in her stomach returning with a vengeance. “And when is that payment due?”

“Two days from now. After that, you’ll be overdue. Registering for classes next semester will become an issue, because, as you know, the process can be quite competitive. Early registration is rewarded and late registration is penalized. So I urge you to find out why that payment hasn’t been made yet.”

Caelyn backed away from the desk. “Yes,” she muttered, feeling dizzy and a little nauseous. “Thanks for your help.”

“Do you need to be referred to the Financial Aid office, young lady?”

“No, thank you.” Caelyn pulled out her cell phone and immediately called her mother’s cell phone, even though it was the last thing she wanted to do at that moment.

It rang and then went to voicemail. “Mom, this is Caelyn. I know you don’t want to speak to me but there’s some important things we need to discuss. Please call me back as soon as you can.”

Then she tried her father and got voicemail there, too. She left a nearly identical message with him.

She needed to go to class, but her nerves were jumpy, her stomach acidic, and she was sweating, feeling faint from anxiety.

I can’t do this. I can’t go to class right now.

She was already anticipating what was going to happen—the conversation with her mother or father would be explosive.

Had they really decided to stop paying for college? In the recent past, they’d been insistent on wanting to cover everything, not wanting her to take out even a single college loan. But now…now things were different.

Still, they could have told me if they were going to stop helping.

Maybe it was all some big misunderstanding.

She could hardly stand still, so there was no way she’d be sitting in class like this.

She texted Elijah and asked if he could come and pick her up as soon as he was able.

He texted her and said:
Back in Boston. Can return now if u need me.

It’s nothing
, she texted in reply.
I can wait
.

Do you need me? Tell me and I’m there
, he said.

After thinking for a moment, she decided to be honest.
I need you
, she wrote him.

I’m on my way.

***

Caelyn could tell something was wrong as soon as Elijah picked her up. She got in the car and sensed he was distracted, tense.

“Sorry I made you come all the way back here, Elijah.”

“No problem,” he said, typing something into his phone. He looked up at her.

“You okay?”

She nodded, tears at the corner of her eyes, feeling like a baby. “Yeah, now that you’re here.”

He reached out and caressed her cheek softly. “Tell me what’s up, kid.”

So she told him about the card not working and then what the woman at the Bursars office had said.

Elijah pulled out into traffic and started driving, swerving between cars, clearly trying to get somewhere fast. “So what’s up?” Elijah asked. “Is it your folks? They cut you off?”

She nodded. “I think so. I called but got voicemail.”

He sighed. “We’ll work it out, Caelyn. How much is tuition per semester?”

“A lot. More than you or I can afford.”

“But there are loans—“

“I don’t know. I’m not sure.” Her anxiety started to rise again as the overwhelming thoughts started to pile up. Did she even want to continue with school?

Did she want her parents to keep paying even if they wanted to?

Elijah answered his phone suddenly. “Yeah.” He listened. “Jake’s there now? Is my Dad with him?” He paused again. “Okay. Keep an eye on it. Tell me if they leave.

They’ll probably wait at least a few minutes. I should be able to get back in time.”

He hung up the phone and sped even faster through traffic.

“Elijah, what’s going on?” she asked. “You’re having the sit-down with Jake?”

“Something like that.”

“But not that?”

He ignored her question. “I need to drop you off at the apartment and then I’ll take care of a few things.”

“Elijah—“ she began, knowing she had to talk him out of whatever crazy thing he was planning.

But then her own cell phone started vibrating, and she pulled it out. Her heart was speeding up in anticipation of who it might be.

The caller ID said MOM.

“Shit,” she whispered. “Mom’s calling me back.” Her stomach rolled and flipped, and she swallowed drily.

“It’s okay,” Elijah told her. “Don’t let her push your buttons.”

“Right.” Caelyn answered. “Hi, Mom, thanks for getting back to me.”

Elijah, meanwhile, seemed hyper focused on swerving in and out of traffic like a stuntman on a movie set.

“Caelyn,” her mother said coldly. “I received your message. What’s going on?”

“There’s a problem with my account at school. The Bursars office said my account’s at zero, so I can’t buy books or even eat on my meal plan. And then they also said that I’m about to be late for next semester’s payment.”

There was a long, long silence that seemed to draw out forever. “Yes, that sounds correct to me,” her mother finally replied.

“So you and Dad decided to cut me off.”

“I think you know why.”

“Couldn’t you have at least told me?” Caelyn said, as white-hot rage ignited in her chest. “Are you trying to hurt me?”

Her mother laughed. “That’s ridiculous, and if you keep talking like that, I’m hanging up this phone.”

“Mom, you and Dad wanted me to go back to school. You’ve been the ones pushing and pushing for me to go to the best college, get a degree without any student loans hanging over my head—“

“That was before.”

Caelyn grit her teeth. “Before I was raped?”

“I will not listen to this, Caelyn. Your father and I made a difficult decision. As long as you’re seeing that horrible young man, and as long as you continue to openly defy us—we will not contribute anything toward your self-destruction.

“That’s your choice,” Caelyn replied, her teeth still clenched. “I just wish you’d have let me know in advance.”

“Well, we did it the way we thought best.”

There was another silence. Now Elijah got back on the phone as well. “What?”

he said. “Now? Right now?” He swerved. “Okay, you stay on them and I’ll call back when I’m closer. Stay on them, don’t fucking lose sight of Jake.”

Caelyn’s mother must have heard his voice. “It sounds like you’re very busy doing whatever things you do nowadays,” she said drily.

“Mom,” Caelyn said.

“Yes?”

She wanted to swear at her, tell her how horrible she was being, cry, scream—

anything to break her mother out of the strange icy demeanor she’d decided to put on recently. But Caelyn knew that there was absolutely nothing she could say that would make a bit of difference, and if she carried on, her mother would use it as evidence that she was right about her daughter’s demented mental state.

So Caelyn simply took a calming breath. “Take care of yourself, Mom,” was all she said.

After the stunned silence, Caelyn hung up the phone.

Elijah glanced at her. “You all right?”

“I’d be a lot better if you slowed down,” she told him. “You’re starting to really scare me, Elijah.”

“I’ve got something important to take care of. I don’t have time to drop you off at the apartment anymore.”

“What’s going on?”

“I can’t really get into it right now,” he said, staring at the road ahead as he maneuvered the car deftly through city traffic.

“Is it dangerous?”

“Not for you.”

“I don’t want you putting yourself in danger. Do it for me, Elijah. Stop this.”

“Listen,” he said, pulling the car over to the side of the road. “You need to get out here. There’s a Starbucks nearby. Go sit and wait—I’ll swing back when I’m done.”

“I am not getting out of this car.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin, defiantly staring at him.

“Caelyn, I’m dead serious. I’ve got business to take care of. You won’t want to be around when I do it.”

“Then don’t do it.”

He laughed and shook his head. “It doesn’t work that way.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t have time to argue with you. You need to get out of the car. Right now.”

“No.” She didn’t budge.

He glared at her for a long while. “So be it,” he said, and then pulled into traffic once more. His phone rang a second later and he answered it.

“Yeah,” he said. And then he sat up straighter. “Okay, okay. Good. I’m almost there myself. Good job.”

He turned down a side street, and they sped down the empty road, between buildings on either side. And then he turned down an alleyway and continued speeding, running over bits of trash, the buildings blurring as they passed by them.

Finally, he stopped just behind a dumpster, as if to camouflage their location. He turned the car off and put the keys in his pocket. He looked at her. “You sit tight,” he told her.

She watched him, took in his body language, the way his jaw was tense and his eyes so white. Something was wrong. She felt it in her bones.

“Don’t do this. I have a terrible feeling,” she said.

He smiled tightly. “No going back, kid. I’m doing it.”

“Please. You can’t keep testing your luck. Eventually something terrible will happen—and next time, it’ll be permanent.” She reached out and grabbed his hand.

“Please, listen to me. I just want you and me to be together, and to be okay. I don’t care if we’re poor, or if we live in a motel, or anything. Just don’t leave me again.”

“I’m not leaving you,” he said softly. “I’ll be in and out.”

“Does it have to do with Jake? Are you retaliating for what he did to you?”

She could see by the look in Elijah’s eyes that she was right in her guess.

“I have to go.” He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out a gun. It was a different gun then what she’d seen previously—larger, metallic and shiny.

“Please,” she gasped, and her voice hitched as the sob came unbidden from her throat.

“Sit tight. I’ll be back before you know it.” And then he smiled and caressed her cheek one more time before throwing his door open and getting out.

***

The car ticked quietly in the near silence.

Caelyn sat in the passenger seat, trembling.

She wondered what he could be doing. Nothing good, that much was certain.

Was he going to kill someone? Or was he just bringing the gun along as a threat, a way to get what he needed or wanted?

Either way, it was bad. The whole thing was rotten to the core, and if and when he got back to the car, Caelyn was going to really put her foot down.

It was time for an ultimatum. Either he stopped this nonsense or she would have to leave. She couldn’t sit by and watch him commit these acts, whatever they were. She couldn’t allow him to keep putting his life and freedom at risk for such stupidity.

As she was fantasizing about the conversation to come, a loud shot rang out.

Even with the windows closed, it was so loud that she jumped in her seat.

Quickly following the first shot, three more shots rang out.

Caelyn shrieked each time, putting a hand to her mouth. She felt like she was truly going to be sick this time. Her stomach rose up, bile in the back of her throat.

Someone had been shot.

Someone was probably dead.

Please God
, she thought
, just don’t let it be him. I love him too much. Please
make everything okay, God. Just make it so that nothing bad’s happening.

Maybe they were warning shots.

She didn’t believe that for a second.

The time ticked by, each minute feeling like a month.

And then, just as she was losing hope, she saw Elijah running around the dumpster, and he was carrying a black satchel. He opened the door and threw it in the back seat, then got in the driver’s side.

He was out of breath as he took out his car keys and shoved them in the ignition, starting the car.

“I heard shots,” she said. “What happened?”

He looked at her just for a second. “I got the money.”