Chapter 30: Life Happens

Images flashed before my eyes, a car entering an intersection, the sound of a horn, and then suddenly a large truck slamming into the car broadside on the passenger side. The truck barely slowed down as the car was thrown violently out of its path, spinning and twisting like a child's toy. Almost instantly something sparked and smoke began billowing from what was left of the car's engine compartment. There was no movement inside the car. Soon the black smoke obscured most of the scene as the flames grew. Through the smoke I thought I saw movement, and then a dark shape emerged carrying a body. It was covered in blood but I knew instantly who it was. I could just make out the dark shape laying the body on the sidewalk before the smoke swirled in and then everything went black again.

I heard my mother repeating my name over and over, and I moved toward the sound; it was like swimming up from a dark pool back into the light. Suddenly I was there and mom was leaning over me, patting my face and still calling my name. Behind her my father held Allison as she cried.

"Shannon!" I said, struggling to sit up, but my mom moved her hand to my chest and firmly held me down.

"No you don't. Jimmy, what happened? I heard you scream Shannon's name and when I ran back in you were on the floor."

I closed my eyes and fought back tears, "Shannon. Oh God, mom, they're dead."

Allison buried her face in my father's chest and wept loudly as he tried to comfort her while staring at me. Mom turned white as a sheet and fell away from me, catching herself against a cabinet door to keep from falling. Her free hand flew to her mouth and then the tears came, and she just leaned against the cabinet and cried. I struggled to my knees and hugged her, my own tears falling on her face as I held her.

Eventually I heard my dad sniffle and then he asked, "What happened?"

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and tried to push the pain away enough to talk. "An accident, a truck lost its brakes and went through a light just as they entered the intersection, hit them almost dead center on the passenger side, it barely slowed down, just threw them out of the way. There's more but you don't ... ugh!" A second wave tore through my chest, I closed my eyes against the pain and I could see paramedics working on someone. I recognized the equipment and knew they were using a defibrillator on her, trying to get her heart started again. One of them hit a button and as her body jerked another wave ripped through me. My vision swam and I seemed to be falling into her. I heard a beep and then it was gone and I was back in my kitchen on my hands and knees, my father beside me trying to help hold me up. The pain faded and I whispered, "She's alive! Shannon's still alive! I have to go..."

I tried to stand, and with my dad's help I finally made it to my feet. He steered me towards the living room and when I tried to turn forced me towards a chair, "You're not going anywhere like this. Now sit down for a minute and try to catch your breath. Allison, bring him a glass of water. Now, Jimmy, you stay there! I'm going to go help your mother but so help me God if you so much as try to stand up I'm going to knock your block off."

He left and I heard him in the kitchen comforting my mom. Allison brought the water, then knelt next to me, and laid her head on my lap, hugging my leg and doing her best not to cry. It wasn't working but she was trying. I lay my hand on her head and stroked her hair gently; still not sure all of this was really happening. In the kitchen my parents were standing together in a mutually supportive embrace, their heads on each others shoulders in shared support. Finally they broke apart and moved into the living room to sit together on the couch across from us.

"Where did it happen?" Dad asked calmly.

"Just past the freeway'" I answered. "The truck was coming down the off-ramp; Mark never even saw it coming. Dad we have to go..."

"No," He said firmly. "If Shannon is alive then we will go see her in the hospital. We are not going to have our last memory be of them in a crushed car. Besides, we can't possibly justify knowing about this until they release it on the news. Now I know that sounds cold, but the reality is that there is nothing we can do for any of them. If Shannon survived then the best we can do is be here for her when the time comes. I'll wait a while and call the house. I'll call several times, and then I'll try their cell phones. If those survived then whoever is on the scene may or may not answer. If they do then they will give me the bad news and I'll ask where they have taken Shannon. Then we can go and see how she is doing. Meanwhile, I think we need to talk about something else. Now, Jimmy, you were going to tell us what was going on earlier with you and Rebecca. Does this have something to do with Angela's killer?"

"No," I said. "It's something else. Another problem I was working on."

"I didn't know you were working on anything else? Does it have something to do with that girl at church? Phoebe, was it?"

My mother interrupted before I could answer, "Is this what you were working on about Rachel and her sister?"

"Yes, and yes," I answered, nodding at them each. "Phoebe is a runaway, but what's more important is where she ran away from. After you left this morning I went back in to see if I could get her to come out and talk to us. I ran into Pastor Keen and talked to him about her first. She's been going there for about three weeks. He tried to talk to her before because he suspected something might be wrong, but she always left during the closing prayer and he got caught up with everyone wanting to shake hands and chat after services. We figured out that she had been hiding in the restroom each week until everyone had left so she could sneak out without everyone seeing her. I finally got her out of the stall by telling her if she didn't come out that he would have to call the police. I don't understand it but something about her was really pulling at me. It was pretty obvious what she was, but as long as we didn't say it out loud we could deny knowing it and Pastor Keen wouldn't get in any trouble. I talked him into letting me take her to Miss Swann's by letting her talk to him, confirm who she was, etc. so he knew everything was on the up and up and that I was really taking her to someone who may be able to help. I gave him Susan's name and number, plus a copy of my driver's license so he would have proof of who I was if anything happened. In addition to that Phoebe is supposed to call him in the morning and I'm supposed to go see him after school. Well, I'm going to be seeing him a lot sooner than that and Rebecca is going with me. Right now Rebecca is at work trying to dig up information on some people. Tomorrow morning she is meeting me at the church so she can talk to Pastor Keen in person. Long story short, Phoebe's life is in danger, serious danger, and we need to erase every trace of her that we can. Part of that is making sure Pastor Keen forgets ever seeing her, me, or anyone else relating to her."

Allison had been doing her usual listening thing, welcoming the change of topic so she didn't have to think about Shannon or her family.

"She ran away from the people in Vegas? How? They monitor everyone constantly."

"When Susan called me earlier I went over and she gave me the basic background information. Phoebe's parents were killed about two months ago. She eventually ended up at her Aunt and Uncle's place in Vegas. There was a family she knows that wanted to take her in but the paperwork and red tape take forever, so for the meantime, they, the court that is, sent her to stay with her closest living relatives. Or at least the first one's who were willing to take her. It just so happens that these relatives are members of a really, really bad group of people that I have been investigating. As soon as I figured out where she was from and who she was running from I knew that she wouldn't have to worry about going back. These people are old fashioned in their problem solving; they take the root and branch approach. I suspected, and Rebecca confirmed, that there was nothing left to go back to. The family died in a fire shortly after Phoebe ran away."

"Jesus Chr..."

I cut him off, "Dad, please don't say that. You're right, but please don't say it, not tonight."

"You didn't tell Phoebe this did you?" Mom asked.

"No, she doesn't know yet, but I'll have to tell her soon, if for no other reason than to justify the need to put her in hiding."

"Why would you need to put her in hiding?" Dad asked. "If the only link she has is dead and no one knows where she is then..."

"Rebecca said the fire was listed as arson and the police are looking for her. These people are very well connected, including the police. At least one person has died while in jail, and according to another source an entire family died while in protective custody. And now they've put Phoebe down as a suspect in a fire that happened after she left town. They want her back so they can make sure she isn't a threat to them. They don't know what she has seen or heard, and from what she told me they are right to be concerned. Anyway, right now my number one priority is her safety."

"But how?" Allison asked. "You still don't have a case and if the police find her they will send her back and arrest whoever has been hiding her."

"I know. We're not sure what we can do yet. Rebecca is looking for options. Meanwhile, Phoebe has provided additional leads that may help us." I paused and dad glanced at the clock.

"I need to make a couple of calls," He said.

Dad turned out to be a pretty convincing actor; he called the house, called Tom's cell phone, and then called Karen's. I guess he got an answer.

"Hello? Who is this? I must have called a wrong number, I was calling a friend and ... I'm sorry, you're who? Why are you ... did something happen, is Karen all right? (pause) Oh my G..." he glanced at me and stopped. "What was that? Her daughter? You mean Shannon? How is she, where did they take her? I see. Thank you, thank you very much." He broke the connection and leaned on the counter. Mom got up and put her arm around him. He turned and hugged her, then wiped his eyes and turned to us. "They sent Shannon to Arrowhead. They said she must have been thrown clear of the accident, but she's still in critical condition, they are trying to stabilize her enough to operate. She had severe trauma to her head but they don't know what she might have hit. They won't know more until later.

"With Tom and Karen dead, Shannon falls to our care. Your mother and I need to go down to the hospital with the custody paperwork or they won't let us anywhere near her. We should probably call the family and let them know what has happened. Cyndi, do you want to come with me over to the house and get Karen's phonebook?"

"No," she said around the tears, "but I guess I have to. Do you kids want to come or are you alright here?"

"I have to stay here," I said. "I have to bridge Bob and tell him what is going on with Phoebe; we're not talking about any of it on any line that may be compromised. My phone is okay, and so is Rebecca's, but we can't be sure about Bob's so I have to do it in person. Besides, he'll need to know about what's happened, and he may be able to help."

"Jimmy, three of your best friends just died," Mom said, "Another one is in critical condition, how can you talk about working?"

Allison wiped her eyes and answered for me, "Because nothing he does will change that, and if he doesn't work, another innocent may die. He's right, this has to be done, and it will give us something to focus on until you have more news on Shannon. Sitting next to her bed worrying isn't going to solve anything. Besides, they probably won't let us see her anyway. Trust me, Shannon would understand, and agree with him. If the situation were reversed I would want her to be doing what she could where it would do the most good, not wasting her time worrying about me. Maybe we'll get lucky and Jimmy can bridge her. You guys go ahead, do what you need to do. Call us if anything changes. We'll take the cordless to bed and one of us will answer no matter what else we're doing. We'll be fine."

They went, and Allison took my phone to make a call. There wasn't much chance that anyone would be available, but we snuggled up and used a trigger to get to sleep anyway, meeting in Allison's glade. The first thing I did was to scan for all the usual people, and then I tried to find Shannon. I felt her but somehow I couldn't get a fix on her. As I was trying, Lizzy showed up, tears already in her eyes, Allison immediately ran into her arms and they wept together for their lover and friend. As I was watching them a wave of dizziness ran through me and I felt momentarily weak, but it passed quickly so I didn't give it any thought, just put it down as after effects of stress. Finally the girls separated and Lizzy came over to me.

"What just happened?" She asked.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"For a second you looked strange and your energy fluctuated. Are you alright?"

I shrugged and fought back new tears, "No, but I'm about as well as can be expected at the moment. I have a lot of new things going on, some of which I'm probably going to need your help on. I've got a scared little girl hiding out at one of my teachers' houses and very soon I have to tell her that someone murdered her aunt, uncle, and two cousins. They weren't close but they died because she ran away and sooner or later she's going to have to deal with that fact. Even better, the same people are trying to frame her for it and right now she can't even come forward to defend herself from the charge. I've got a lot of new information on the bad guys that I haven't shared with you yet, I thought I might like to take what I have and see Jasmine again, go over it with her as well. See if with what I have she can think of anything else."

Another wave of sensations passed through me, not as strong as before but Lizzy saw it.

"There it is again, are you sure you're okay?"

Now Allison was concerned, "Jimmy, you didn't hit your head when you passed out earlier did you?"

"He passed out?" Lizzy asked, clearly alarmed at the news.

"Yeah, when the accident happened he was in the kitchen, mom was outside and I was in the ladies room when we heard him scream Shannon's name; Mom got there first and found him passed out on the floor. He came to again quickly and that's when he told us about the accident."

"I saw it happen. I was getting a bottle of water out of the refrigerator and suddenly it was like something hit me in the chest and I couldn't breathe." The vision formed around us, not as clear and sharp as usual, but dim and partially distorted. They watched as the car entered the intersection, I hadn't noticed before, but it was good to see that the light was green and it hadn't been Mark's fault. Out of nowhere the speeding truck appeared and slammed into the side of the car, tossing it away like a toy. Then the fire was starting and the smoke obscuring the vision, then the shadowy shape appearing out of the smoke carrying the rag doll form that was Shannon and then turning back to the smoke and disappearing. Then I was fighting my way back to consciousness. The vision faded and we were once more in the glade, my sight still carried that same distortion until I blinked and cleared the new tears away. As I did the weakness returned and I almost fell again.