Misplaced Words

I sit in the car with Lizzy sitting shotgun and Vic in the backseat. I feel a knot in my stomach and a lump in my throat. It was just three days ago Lizzy remembered that she is my wife, which made me happy. That happiness, however, was extremely short lived because than she told me that she loves Vic later that very same day. I know we have spoken for hours about the whole situation and she is absolutely adamant that she is moving past Vic. Of course, that doesn’t stop any of the nagging doubts that fill my mind. I can feel strain in the silence as I am driving to the police station.

I can't help but be so grateful that Vic will be on tour in two months. That will give me the space I need to clear my head. For Lizzy clear herself of any lingering emotions towards Vic once and for all. For Vic, himself, to heal from all that has happened to him over the past six months or maybe over the past four years in general. I know this whole situation between the three of us was aggravated because of Lizzy’s memory loss. That is in no way is Vic's fault, so I have to stop feeling so mad at him. I look at him in the mirror and see that he is frowning.

“Hey Vic, what’s wrong?” I clutch the steering wheel, even now it's still hard for me to be nice.

“Just remembering something Ally said once.” He gives me a weak smile, “no big deal.”

Lizzy looks at me with a frown on her face, Vic’s lie is so apparent that she doesn’t even need to look at him to see right through it.

“I wonder why the police called us in.” She changes the subject, “maybe they found the guys responsible for everything. That would be a relief.” She runs her hand down my leg to get my attention, “wouldn’t it be baby?”

Her eyes are pleading me to forgive her.

“Yeah, it would." I feel my heart soften towards her, this is silly. She choose me, that’s all that matters. She wants me and only me, forever. “I can’t wait to have all of this far behind us. It’s going to be amazing to leave this school and all its drama behind.”

“So much is changing,” Lizzy frowns slightly, “it’s scary.”

I guess I forgot about the scary parts because I have been so focused on our lives really starting. I mean, Lizzy and I would really be on our own, no free apartment, food or really cool free dates. All of our friends will be harder to visit and hang out with. Alan will be all alone on campus, how will she even deal with everything alone? Maybe with us gone it will be easier on her. I can't help but wonder what will that mean for my flower and Alan’s already strained relationship. Will they even speak to each other after we graduate? I feel the silence cover over all of us again as we each get lost in thought. Lizzy's comment just hanging in the air.

I stand in an interrogation room at the police station with Vic to my left and Aiden to my right. Which is weird enough with the dirty looks Vic keeps throwing his way. Ally and Lizzy are seating next to each other but they seem to be miles apart. Across from a guy in a baseball cap and his friend, with two officers leaning against the wall behind them. It was like a scene from a bad cop movie. The officers had said that Ally’s case was closed and that these two requested us to be here because they had something to say. Then they place a tape recorded an equal distance between the girls and these guys who are handcuffed to the table. My body is tense, I want to hit them, so hard that they would forgot who they are and from the look of Vic, I think he feels the same way. I smile, at least we are on the same page.

The baseball cap guy clears his throat, “I am Makenzie’s brother Luke.” Who the hell is that? I notice that Ally flinches at the name before the guy continues. “One day Makenzie came home from school with a black eye, broken nose and busted lip. I was furious and I asked her to tell me who did this to her, she told me that it was Aaliyah Leon.” He clears his throat, “She said Aaliyah was a bully and attacked her. She had told me she was afraid to go to school. So, I told her I would take care of the situation for her. I wanted to protect her like an older brother is supposed to.” He fidgets with his hands, “my friends said it would be good to pull a prank, it was a harmless way to teach a good lesson. So, I agreed and we started to plan, I am sure tons of other students heard us since we planned at school but no one said anything.” The cop is giving him a dirty look from behind his head. “So we decided to grab Aaliyah, and set her up with a rope around her neck. We did leave a chair under her feet and a small knife in her pocket. We just thought she would wake up, freak a bit, find the knife and cut herself down. We thought the worse that could happen would she would be pissed or get a headache.” He looks at the tape recorder and sighs, “Clearly that's not how it turned out and Aaliyah ended up in the hospital.”

He nudges the guy next to him, who rolls his eyes before he starts to talk, “I am Makenzie’s boyfriend, Duncan. I heard about the fight after Luke did. I also heard about the weak prank that they were planning to pull so I decided to plan for myself. I didn’t really hang out with Luke and his dorky friends so I had no idea how the prank turned out. I was too busy trying to help Kenzie recover emotionally, while plotting the perfect way to get even. I just wanted to scare her, that was the only thing I planned.” Guilt flashed in his eyes. “I… I… uh…well, I took my dad’s gun and tracked the Aaliyah girl down. I jumped some Max guy pretty good but he still wouldn’t tell me anything, so I got to her little school friends and they spilled with a bit of pushing.” Now he was looking down at the table, maybe feeling ashamed as he heard himself out loud. This was the guy who killed Naomi, I look over at Vic, rage, sadness and guilt all dancing in his eyes. He has his fist clenched at his side. “I had planned to wave it in her face a bit, you know, to scare her off and tell her not to mess with my Kenzie. When I saw how many people she was with I freaked. I mean there were like thirty of them in one place. I didn’t realize how tightly I was holding the gun until I heard it go off and I ran.” He sighs and bites his lip. “I didn’t find out anyone had died until Luke told me and said we had to turn ourselves in.”

Luke gave him a dirty look, “When I had heard rumors that someone had died I headed to Michael Jackson Academy to see Aaliyah so I can apologize for how far everything had gone. As I was pulling into the parking lot, I received a text I looked around and saw no one so I decided to answer it. I hit Elizabeth Leon, for the record I stayed until she went to the emergency room. I knew that I had to turn myself in. So I told the boys, got some affairs in order and came here. I told the police I would only share what I knew if you guys where here. I just wanted to be able to apologize for everything.” He starts to cry. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

My chest tighten, I think of my wife in the hospital. The look she gave me when she didn’t know who I was to her. The weeks she spent with Vic, holding his hand, kissing him, and falling in love with him. Does he think that his sorry will undo all of the damage that this situation has caused? Does he think that it will mean anything? I want to lunge over the table and make him pay for all the damage that he has caused. I look at Lizzy and her stare is blank, her hands neatly folded in her lap eyes set on the tape record.

“Can we go now?” Her voice remains steady despite the slight shaking in her fingertips, she probably wants to punch the guy too.

“Not yet,” The police chief has the two guys pulled from the room and sits across from the girls. He turns off the tape recorder and clears his throat. “Makenzie will not be pressing charges so that is the good news.” He clears his throat again and adjusts himself in his seat. Bad news is coming, I can tell. “The inmates that escaped a few days ago…”

Lizzy’s entire body starts to tremble in fear, “What about them?”

“Two have been apprehended but I am afraid one of the three who is still at large is Robert.” Lizzy is fighting back tears, “24/7 police protection will be added at the Academy to ensure the safety of the students. We will speak with you if there are any updates.”

“Thank you,” Lizzy’s voice cracks. She gets up and turn towards me, “let’s go baby, I just want to go home.”

I grab her hand in mine and make a silent vow to do all I can to keep her safe.