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I woke up the next morning cuddled into Tyler. “Fuck,” I muttered, immediately panicking and looking for my phone. I got out of bed and pulled on one of Tyler shirts from the floor. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was already 11 o’clock. “Fuck fuck FUCK!” I spat out frustrated, lightly trying to shake Tyler awake. “Ty. Tyler, come on. We slept in.”

“Hm,” he said, slowly coming to life. “Slept in how?”

“It’s 11. My class is now. And I can’t find my FUCKING PHONE.”

“On the coffee table. Next to your shirt. Fuck. I have skate at 11:30. Dammit. I’m never going to make it. Coach is going to kill me.”

“I’ll get a cab back to campus. Grab something to eat and leave and you’ll make it in time. Don’t worry about me.” I hurried into the living room to grab my phone and noticed 3 missed calls and a ton of texts from Addie and Ellie. “Dammit,” I muttered, trying to quickly glance through them.

“So you did have a good night?”

“Jesus!” I screamed, jumping and looking up to see Freddy. “Holy shit. Sorry. Didn’t know you were home.” I started pulling at Tyler’s shirt, trying to pull it down further.

“Freddy! Thank God. Can you give Riley a ride back to campus?” Tyler asked, coming into the room. “Alarm didn’t go off and I’m going to be late.”

“Yeah, not a problem,” he replied, pushing Tyler towards the door. “Don’t be late again, please. That’s the last thing you need.”

“You’re the best,” he said, grinning at him before going out the door. Seconds later the door was opening again and he was coming back through it. “Sorry, babe,” he said, coming towards me. “I’ll call you later okay? Last night was amazing.”

He leaned down to kiss me and a grinned up at him. “It was. Now go! I’ll talk to you later!”

As soon as he had shut the door I turned to Freddy. “You really don’t have to give me a ride. It’s fine. I’ll call a cab.”

“You most definitely will not,” he replied, looking disgusted. “I’m here, I’m bored and I also wanna check out the girls. So, get dressed,” he finished with a wink.

I smiled and rolled my eyes. “Fine,” I muttered. “Give me 5 minutes.” I grabbed my shirt and headed towards Tyler’s room.

“Nice ass!” he yelled as I walked away. I was trying not to laugh as I muttered, “Fuck off.”

Once we were on our way I remembered to send Addie and Ellie a text. “Sorry. Overslept. I’m fine. Come by my room after class. I wanna talk.”

“Hey,” I said suddenly, narrowing my eyes and turning to Freddy. “Did you say you were single?”

“I don’t think I blatantly said it, no. But, I am. Why?”

“How about I show you around campus a bit? As in, my dorm. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

We pulled into a spot and he followed me up to my room. As we approached my door I saw Addie and Ellie coming from the other end of the hallway. “Holy shit,” Freddy said quietly. “Who is THAT?”

“Those would be my best friends,” I said, smiling a little. Once we reached the door I did the introductions. “Addie, Ellie, this is Freddy. Freddy – Addie and Ellie.”

I unlocked my door and held it for them to follow me in. As Freddy and Ellie started to get deeper into conversation I focused on Addie. “Sorry I didn’t answer when you called this morning. We got a little distracted and I guess we forgot to set an alarm. Can I borrow your notes from class?”

“Yeah, no problem,” she replied, looking confused. “But I just texted. I assumed you were with Tyler. I didn’t call you.”

“Oh,” I said, glancing at my phone. “I guess I just assumed…” I picked up my phone and flicked into the recent calls. I saw a number I didn’t recognize. “That’s weird. It’s a Maine number.” I looked up at Addie, confused. “Should I call it back? They called three times.”
“Yeah, might as well. That’s pretty persistent for a wrong number.”

I sat down on my bed and dialed the number. It rang a few times before I heard, “Hi, you’ve reached the Maine State police department. How can we direct your call?”

“Oh. Um, I had some missed calls from this number and wasn’t sure what it was. Must have just been a wrong number. Sorry.”

“Well, can we have your name for our records?”

“Yeah, sure. It’s Riley. Riley Garrison.”

“Oh. Ms. Garrison. No, that wasn’t a mistake. Let me just patch you through to Detective Sharp.”

“Uh, what? Okay?”

I looked worriedly at Addie as the phone rang. “It’s the police,” I said quietly.

“Detective Sharp here,” a man answered. “What can I do for you?”

“Um. They put me through to you. What’s going on?”

“Who am I speaking with?”

“Riley Garrison.”

“Oh. Ms. Garrison. I’ve been trying to get ahold of you. May I ask what your location is right now?”

“I’m at school in Boston.”

“Is there any way for you to return to Maine sometime today?”

“Not really, no. Will you tell me what the fuck is going on?”

“There was an incident at your home last night. We don’t like disclosing this information over the phone, Ms. Garrison. Would you be okay with me driving down there to meet with you?”

“I’m going to need some more information before I agree to that.”

“As I said, there was an incident. There are some questions we have for you. It would be better for everyone involved if I could speak to you in person.”

“Fine. Could you leave immediately? I want to know what happened.”

“Absolutely. Honestly, I’m already on my way. I’ll be in Boston in about 20 minutes.”

I hung up the phone and turned to Addie, Ellie and Freddy. “Something happened. That was the police, Addie. Something bad happened and he wouldn’t tell me.” I could feel the tears start welling up as Addie sat down and wrapped her arms around me.

“It’ll be fine, Riley. We’re here. What’d he say?”

“He wouldn’t tell me anything. He’s on his way down here. He’ll be here in like a half hour.”

I saw Ellie nod at Freddy before he left the room. “He’s just going to get food and coffee. We’ll wait with you. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about, okay?”

I nodded as the tears started to fall. “I fooled around with Tyler last night,” I blurted out between tears. “I was so excited to tell you guys.”

Addie started rubbing my back as her phone started ringing. “It’s mom,” she said quietly. “I have to answer.” She walked outside the door and came back in a few minutes later. “She wants to talk to you,” she said, holding her phone out to me and looking at the ground.

I took the phone and cautiously said, “Hello?”

“Hey Riley. Listen, sit tight for the police okay?”

“What’s going on,” I asked, starting to sob a little.

“You’ll know soon enough. It’s better for you to hear it in person. Addie and Ellie will stay there with you and you can call me after the police leave okay?”

I handed the phone back to Addie as Freddy came back through the door with two police officers behind him.

“I hurried,” one officer said. “Which one of you is Riley?”

“Me, I am,” I said quietly, standing up to shake his hand.

“Detective Sharp. We spoke on the phone. This is Officer Morgan. Could I talk to you alone?”

“No. I want them to stay, please.”

“As you wish, ma’am.” Detective Sharp pulled my desk chair over to sit in front of me. “Riley, this is the worst possible part of our job, understand? The thing is, last night your father returned to your home. He was drunk and very high and, as we understand, angry. He forced his way into your home and he hurt your family.”

I put my face into my hands as I started sobbing.

“What do you mean by that?” I heard Addie ask.

“Well, Ms. Garrison’s mother and her brother Jeremy took the brunt of it. I’m sorry to say they didn’t make it.”

The last thing I heard before blacking out was Addie’s quiet, “Oh my God.”