10

Sasha

Sasha’s mom was working hard to clear a path for her. Everything in their living room had either fallen over or shifted position, as if an angry ghost had decided to redecorate the house. “Power hasn’t gone out, so the fridge should be working fine,” her mom said over her shoulder. “But a lot of food spilled out onto the floor during the quake, so we might have to toss some of it. Everything in the closets has probably shifted too. I’ll probably need to clean up some spills.”

“And where do I come in?” Sasha asked pointedly. “In terms of helping you?”

“I’ll let you know once I’ve assessed the damage, honey.”

Sasha bit her tongue as her mom left the room. She hated the phrase “assess the damage.” Mostly because, two years ago, people had used it to talk about her: the damage to her legs, the damage to her life, the reasons she wouldn’t be able to pick up a framed picture lying on the floor right in front of her. Assessing that damage was an ongoing process. And for the most part, it didn’t make Sasha angry anymore. But it was frustrating, at moments like this, that she couldn’t dive right in and help. She had to wait for a task that was within arm’s reach.

Sasha felt her phone buzz.

It was Liam, calling her through a video chat app. This was the app they all used to call Ray when he was visiting family in Mexico. Ray and Liam might as well be in Mexico right now. Sasha had rarely felt farther away from them.

She accepted the call, and her phone screen filled with a blurry image of Liam’s face. Judging by the moving background, she figured he was walking as he made the call. And judging by his expression, he didn’t have good news to report.

“Hey! How’s Harper?”

“Missing in action,” said Liam. “Her house was fine, but nobody was there. She must’ve gone somewhere else after she left school.”

Sasha fought to hold her phone steady. “And nobody knows where she is.”

“Well, maybe her dad knows. We haven’t tried getting in touch with him.”

“I’ll e-mail him right now,” said Sasha. “Are you two still heading to the community center?”

“Yeah,” said Liam.

“No,” said Ray, off camera, at the same time.

Liam did a double take. “Uh—Ray? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m stopping by my apartment first,” Sasha heard Ray say matter-of-factly. “It’s on the way. I just want to see if it’s damaged.”

“Hold on, Ray—” Sasha said.

Liam talked over her. “That might be dangerous.”

“I just want to know!” Ray snapped. “You don’t have to come with me, Liam. You can go straight to the community center and have a doughnut.”

“One, that’s not fair,” said Liam, starting off into his usual list of points. “This isn’t about free doughnuts. You gave me a hard time earlier for going back into the school building and I wouldn’t be a real friend if I didn’t give you a hard time for your stupid decisions. Two, obviously I’m not letting you go there alone.”

Sasha bit her lip. Usually she didn’t feel like this. Usually her friends didn’t let her feel like this. They always included her, let her contribute. But there was nothing she could do to help them right now.

Nothing she could do to help Harper, if Harper was in trouble.

She didn’t hate her legs very often anymore. She’d learned to accept them, to not need them most of the time. But today was an exception. In her head, she insulted her legs pretty brutally.

“Be careful, you guys,” she said to Liam’s face on her phone screen.

Liam sighed. “Yeah, I’ll work on that. And I’ll call you back the next chance I get.”

***

Sasha had finished e-mailing Harper’s dad and had sent one more last-ditch text to Harper by the time her mom came back into the living room. “Okay,” said Mrs. Hill, exhaling. “Things are looking pretty good. No sewage line issues—the toilet’s flushing fine. I mopped up the worst of the spills. Nothing’s on fire.”

“All reassuring,” said Sasha.

“I’m going to run over to the elementary school and get Jeremiah. Be back in twenty minutes.”

“Okay, be safe.” That was how they always ended conversations. At least it had been for the past two years. It had become their version of I love you.

And it felt especially appropriate today.

“Send me a message if anything comes up while I’m gone.” Sasha’s mom kissed her on the cheek as she headed past her. By the time Mrs. Hill had closed and locked the front door behind her, Sasha’s phone buzzed. A new e-mail had just landed in her inbox.

It was from Harper’s dad: No, I haven’t heard anything from Harper today. Now I’m getting worried.