At six o’clock the next morning my eyes popped open for the eleventh time since I’d closed them the night before. My mind was filling my dreams with worry. Worry about Jeff, about Dax, about my parents. My bed was too soft, too warm. The house in general felt very warm. Had my parents turned up the heat higher than normal?
I climbed out of bed, my head pounding when I stood up. I needed aspirin.
I was surprised when I found my mom sitting in the recliner in the living room, her laptop open on the arm of a chair and a legal pad on her lap. “What are you doing? Did you sleep out here?” I asked.
“No. I couldn’t sleep. I’m researching the protocol on nighttime procedures for public buildings.”
“Mom.”
“You shouldn’t have been locked in there. Every room should’ve been searched before the last person left.”
“Mom, can you not do that?”
She sighed. “I keep thinking that I dreamed yesterday. That I’ll wake up and you’ll be . . .”
“You didn’t. I’m here. I’m fine.” I felt guilty once again for not pulling the fire alarm earlier. That’s how we were eventually discovered, my mom had told me—the fire alarm. Dax must’ve pulled it.
I kissed the top of my mom’s head, then continued on into the kitchen. “Did Owen make it back to school okay?”
“Yes, he texted me at about one a.m.”
Another thing to feel guilty about—making my brother drive six hours to help search for me.
“What are you doing awake?” my mom asked.
“Couldn’t sleep either. Plus it’s time to get ready for school.”
“You’re not going to school.” It wasn’t a question.
“I am. I feel fine and I need to get my mind off things. Plus I don’t want to fall behind.” I had been reaching for the bottle of aspirin while giving my speech and stopped myself short. If Mom saw me taking aspirin, she definitely wouldn’t let me go. I grabbed my anxiety medication and a glass instead, just as she joined me in the kitchen.
I could practically see her having an internal fight with herself before she finally said, “Okay, but you come home if you start to feel sick or anxious at all.”
My head throbbed to the rhythm of my heartbeat as I filled the glass with water from the fridge. “I will, Mom.”
I hadn’t anticipated the reaction that would take place when I walked into the halls of school. It was the last thing on my mind. But I should’ve known. My face had been all over the news and social media. I had been presumed dead. Of course the kids at school would know. I opened the door and stepped inside, and before the door had even shut behind me, a couple of people cheered and said hi.
“Hey,” I answered back.
A guy from my Government class stepped in front of me. “Welcome back.”
“Thanks?”
“Autumn!” Cooper Black, a defensive lineman on the football team yelled. “You survived!”
“Survived?” This was going to get old very fast.
My friends were just as bad. Lisa, Morgan, and Avi acted like they hadn’t just seen me the day before at the hospital and smashed me into a group hug. “You came to school today! I didn’t think you’d come,” Lisa said.
Well, that explained their reaction. Then Dallin, Jeff’s best friend, barreled into me. He lifted me over his shoulder and carried me down the hall yelling, “She’s alive! She’s alive!” His reaction confused me most of all. I thought I’d find him a mess today, since Jeff was still in critical condition, but he seemed like his normal self.
During my unasked-for ride, I caught a glimpse of Dax walking down the hall. My heart jumped into my throat and I knew he was the real reason I’d come to school today—to make sure he was okay. Just as I lifted my hand to wave, he looked away, not acknowledging me at all. By the time Dallin had carried me to the end of the hall, my head was pounding even more than it had been that morning. I hit his back. “Let me down, Dallin. Please.”
He did, nearly plopping me on my backside in his effort. Then he gripped me by the shoulders. “We should have a Back From the Dead party this weekend on your behalf. Zombie-themed or something.”
I grabbed onto both his wrists. “How are you?” I asked sincerely.
He smiled and dropped his hands back to his sides. “Awesome. Ready to celebrate.”
I narrowed my eyes, wondering if he was more worried about Jeff than he was letting on. “No party for me this weekend. I just want a break.”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “We’ll see about that.” Then he ran off, probably to start the early invites to a party I didn’t want.
Lisa plopped into the seat next to me in sixth period—Government. “Where were you at lunch?”
“Avoiding people.” And looking for Dax. Since the initial sighting that morning, I hadn’t been able to find him again. Was this how he was going to play it? We were just supposed to go back to normal, like we didn’t know each other at all?
“You look tired.”
“I am. I should’ve stayed home.”
“You should just wear a sign for the next week that says ‘Touch me and I’ll put an ugly pic of you in the yearbook.’”
I smiled. “Think that’ll work?”
“That’s the ultimate threat, Autumn. Use your power.”
I pulled my binder and a pen out of my backpack because Mrs. Harris started writing on the whiteboard. “I want to go to the hospital today after school and talk to Jeff’s parents. Take them flowers or something.”
“Do you know his parents?”
“I met them at his pool party last summer. I feel like I need to do something.”
“Me too. I’ll come with you.”
“Thank you.” I was hoping she’d say that. I still wasn’t sure what I would say to his parents. You probably don’t remember me but I should’ve been in that car with your son? Sorry I wasn’t with him when he plummeted forty feet into a river? Those would make great icebreakers.
“They’ll probably be happy to see some of his friends.”
“They’ll tell us how he is, right?” I asked.
“I hope so.”
Mrs. Harris clapped her hands twice. “Okay, class, get to work on these questions, then we’ll discuss.”