Chapter 7: Rachel

"How are you Princess?" I heard in my ear after saying hello.

Was it him? It sounded like him, but I've had a couple of crank calls in the last year so I wasn't sure. "Who is this?" I asked.

"It's your friendly Spiderman Princess, or should I say the Chubby Hippoman, or the Whaleman or the walrus, pig, Sasquatch, clumsy oaf, the Beast, twinkle toes or my favorite, Quasimodo. You did call me Einstein and Genius as well but I don't think you meant them as compliments." he laughed.

It was him! Only some of the girls knew what I had called him and no one but me and him knew all of them. Oh my God, Oh my God! I can't believe it after all this time! What do I say? At least he was laughing when he listed all the horrible things I said to him.

"Princess, you there?" he asked.

"Sorry, I'm just shocked. I had given up hope that you would call" I said.

"Well I wasn't going to but my better half wouldn't let me off the hook. She was watching you yesterday and let me have it about not calling you. I didn't suspect she knew until then. She's worried about you and so am I" he said.

Well isn't that a fine how do you do? He's got a wife damn-it. But he's worried about me? "Why are you and your wife worried about me?" I asked.

"You've lost a lot of weight and you look tired and run down. You don't look like you are taking good care of yourself." He replied. "What's going on Rachel?"

"How do you know that I've lost weight?" I asked.

"We've seen you on the television a few times and we can tell. So what's going on?" he asked again.

Where should I start? The last year after the accident did not go well. I put my heart and soul into finding my hero and long after all the others had given up I was still trying to find him. The stress of doing all the interviews, homework while still playing basketball started wearing me down. Once that happened I started getting sick. I was just getting over a long bout of the flu just before the last interview.

"I'm just getting over a really bad case of the flu, so of course I look tired. I lost about ten pounds in about a week" I replied.

"Hmmm I guess that could explain it but it looks more to me than that. You need to drop all this extra hero stuff and get on with your life" he stated.

"Well I would have if you had just called me! Where have you been the last year? Why haven't you come forward? I was worried that you were seriously hurt and we couldn't find any record of you at any hospital or clinic" I cried.

"Princess, don't get upset. I don't want any of this hero crap. I did what any other person would have done if he or she came along instead of me. I don't want the publicity, I don't want the reward. I'm just a regular guy who wants his privacy" he said.

"You could have called and told me that a year ago" I said angrily.

"I'm sorry Princess; I didn't know you were so caught up in this. I didn't like how you treated me that night so I didn't want anything to do with you" he responded.

"Don't you think I know how it must have sounded when I said those things to you? It was the only way I thought I could get you to do those things you did. You looked so hurt and exhausted but we needed you to get us out of there!" I sobbed.

"I know that now Princess, after hearing some of your interviews" he said. "I didn't know back then. Listen Rachel, you have to let this go; I'm just a regular guy. Don't hold me up on a pedestal or keep trying to make me into something I'm not ok?"

"No it's not ok. I have to see you. There's a reward you have to come get" I quickly stammered.

"No Rachel, I don't want the reward. Give it to charity or start a scholarship in your name at your school or something. We are not going to meet. I just called to try and get you to move on with your life. I'm thankful that you all made it and are healthy now.

Please Rachel, Princess, let it go ok?" he replied.

"Please don't go. I'm sorry I upset you. I need to see you Grizzly. How can I get a hold of you" I begged.

"Princess, I'm not upset, I called you to try and get you to move on, not upset you! I don't think that it would be wise for us to meet. Let's just leave it at this ok?" he urged.