SHATTER POINT
How many times can I break till I shatter?

Chapter 4.

“Ollie, honey. Wake up, please.”

A soft voice was coupled with a few gentle prods and, for the second time today, I slowly woke up.

“Why are you asleep in the car, sweetie? I thought I left you inside watching TV.”

I opened my eyes to see my mom curiously peering down at me, the ID tag from the Stonebridge/Riverside Hospital hanging from the front of her wine colored scrubs. She had a small amused smile on her face as she looked at me and I realized what she was seeing was definitely different than the state she left me in before her shift.

My long legs were sprawled out under the steering wheel, the rest of my body reclined as far back as the driver’s seat would allow. The only functioning window (the front passenger window) was cracked open and my rough leather jacket was on my lap as if it had any chance of keeping me warm. The small light above me was on as my mom leaned against the open door.

Dazedly, I looked to my mom whose face held no answers.

With a quick glance to the clock, which read 9:23am, I finally remembered the events that took place hours before. “I had to give a friend a ride,” I groggily told her as I tried to untangle myself from my car. She raised an eyebrow and I slowly added, “Just a girl from work,” hoping the technicality would mean I wasn’t lying.

My mother and I lived alone, my dad having died when I was young. Because it was just her and me at home, no pets or siblings, we were able to adjust quickly. She had to work many hours to pay for rent and food, so I couldn’t complain when she wasn’t home. Likewise, I would spend almost all of my hours studying or working to try and get money and scholarships for college, so when I was busy, she understood.

I guess you could say the two of us went by a ‘don’t ask’ sort of lifestyle, which worked well. While I could tell from the look on her face that asking a question or two more was considerable, she gave me a nod that said ‘I trust you’, before heading inside.

“I’m going to make some breakfast, feel free to join me,” she called over her shoulder as she put her key in the front door to our apartment building.

When she finally got the door open, she turned around to look at me expectantly. “Coming,” I said with a smile, thinking back to the Sunday morning brunches we would have when she had time (and energy) after coming home from work.

As I shut my car door behind myself, I felt my cell phone shift in the pocket of my jeans and reached for it. “I’ll be there in a second!” I called as my mom rolled her eyes and let the door shut behind her.

It only took a second to open my contacts list, ‘Annah’ being the second entry alphabetically.

The small ring sounded as my call went through and I repeated in my head that I just wanted to make sure Callie (and Annah) were alright. I tried reassuring myself that only five or so hours passed and that the majority of them Callie must have been sleeping, but a little reassurance would be nice.

Annah picked up on the last ring, right before it went to voice mail, and I could tell as soon as she let out a breath that not all was well.

“Annah?” I asked, not asking a real question but still waiting for an answer.

Her sigh was long, drawn out, and tired.

“She’s gone, Ollie.”

That’s all I needed before hanging up, getting in the car, and leaving my mom a mumbled voice mail about how I had somewhere to be.

- - -

Annah’s house looked a lot different in the light than it did at night.

Last night I vaguely recalled stumbling up some steps between the driveway and the walkway to her front door, and remembered the plush carpet on the other side of their heavy wooden door. Parking my car in the driveway when I could actually see the house in all of its glory made me feel more humbled. The house was the type of house everyone would love to live in, but not everyone could afford.

Definitely not your typical Stonebridge residence, though they were so far removed from the worst parts of town that they might as well be in a neighboring city. This house shouted ‘money!’ while the rest of the town whispered ‘broke’.

The front door open before I made it up the stone steps from their sloped driveway to their walkway and Annah took a deep breath as she waited for me by the door. I was prepared to hear more bad news, but my expectations weren’t met as I saw a head of blond hair slowly peek around Annah’s tall frame.

“Callie?”

- - -

It took five minutes for Annah to finally sit down, the three of us awkwardly seated around her large dining room table with plates of typical breakfast food placed in between us. Both Annah and Callie’s plates showed partially eaten piles of scrambled eggs and bacon and I took some as well, more for show than hunger.

“So…” I tried, wishing one of them would jump into conversation. Both pairs of eyes watched me, obviously waiting for me to make the move. “She’s not gone,” I said weakly, only stating the obvious. I looked from Callie’s quiet shyness to Annah’s obvious confusion and wished one of them would speak.

“False alarm,” Annah said, avoiding my eyes as she took a sip of a large glass of orange juice. Her auburn hair was pulled up into a very messy bun on the top of her head and she looked drowned in a large T-shirt, resembling the vulnerability that Callie wore like a shadow. “I couldn’t find her when you called, but she showed up a few minutes after.” Annah looked to Callie, waiting for her to continue the story.

Callie, who had been nibbling at a piece of bacon, filled in the blank. “I went for a walk,” she said, her voice even more hushed than Annah’s quiet morning-voice. “I had to make a call, so I went on a walk and found a convenience store ten minutes away.” Her voice was so simple and sincere that I couldn’t hide the small smile that battled its way onto my lips.

“You think it’s funny?” Annah asked, her tone a mixture of annoyance and disbelief.

I shrugged, clearing my throat to hide the smile before Callie saw it. Luckily, she looked up as I regained my composure. “You could have just asked to use Annah’s, you know,” I said, figuring that Annah wouldn’t mind and hoping I wasn’t stretching her hospitality.

Callie blinked, “No, it’s alright.”

Annah sighed, “You could’ve. I wouldn’t mind.” She put a friendly smile on her face, and I gave her a silent nod of thanks. If Callie needed anything right now, it seemed to be a friend. The second thing would be food. Annah provided both. Callie must have realized that too because she returned Annah’s smile with a tentative one of her own.

“So, what was so important that you had to walk twenty minutes to make a phone call?” My question was simple, but a shadow passed over Callie’s face, a certain sign of unstable territory. “You don’t have to tell us—” I started, but I was promptly cut off by Annah, whose curious side was starting to take over.

“But,” she interrupted, “it would be nice if you did. Ollie only told me a little bit about you, and pardon me if it’s rude, but I’d like to know a little about the girl that just slept over my house.” The words themselves sounded a bit rude, but Annah was able to make a demand without making it seem like she was forcing you to answer.

Callie looked torn, barely able to bring her gaze up to meet mine. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled quietly before pausing. The room was deathly silent as Annah and I hung onto Callie’s words. “I don’t like going to parties all the time but my brother makes me go—”

“How old are you?” Annah interrupted, her eyes going up and down Callie as if her speech made her sound several years younger.

“Sixteen and a half,” was the reply.

Annah nodded her head as if she guessed so, but it was a bit of a surprise to me. I didn’t know what age Callie had been in my head, but in reality, sixteen and a half seemed a lot younger than it was.

Callie began twisting her fingers in her long blond locks, perhaps in a nervous habit. “Anyway, I was at this party downtown at my brother’s friend’s apartment and it was getting… out of control. So I asked him if I could leave—”

“What’s your brother’s name?” Annah interrupted again, and I couldn’t help but feel like this was an interrogation.

With her head turned to the side in confusion, Callie turned to Annah and answered, “Ryan.”

“Ryan what?”

“Ryan Kennedy.”

“So your last name is Kennedy?”

“Yes.”

Dialogue between the two was flying back and forth and I struggled to file the information away incase it was ever needed. “So, you asked Ryan if you could leave…” I prompted Callie, who seemed to have lost her train of thought.

She nodded her head to my words, her eyes glazed over with a far off look. “Ryan wouldn’t bring me home and I would have gotten my own ride, but he wouldn’t give me the key…” Her lips pulled into a frown at the memory. “So I asked around but nobody was sober enough to give me a ride anywhere.”

Something about the story seemed wrong… what kind of brother doesn’t let his sister go home?

“So you called Ollie?” Annah questioned, her voice suggesting that she didn’t follow Callie’s train of thought.

With a curt nod, Callie continued. “I… I didn’t have any one else to call, and I wasn’t sure if he’d even pick up... and I hoped he wouldn’t mind—”

Callie’s words got defensive and I quickly interrupted. “It’s fine, Callie. I didn’t mind helping.”

She gave me a grateful nod and I tried to return it with an understanding smile, but Annah wasn’t quite satisfied with all of Callie’s answers. “Do you live alone with your brother? Wouldn’t there be someone else home to let you in?”

“Someone read too many Nancy Drew books when they were younger,” I teased under my breath. “You don’t need to know everything about everyone—”

“We live with our dad, but he was at work,” Callie answered, ignoring me. She began to fidget in her chair more, growing obviously uncomfortable with answering so many of Annah’s questions. She turned to face me. “Could you, um, give me another ride?”

My head nodded automatically and I cleared my voice to verbally reply. “Sure, where to?”

“Just the Shell Station downtown again,” she said quietly, taking the time to finish the little food left on her plate. I opened my mouth to ask if she was sure, and she shook her head before I managed to let out a word. “Please.”

- - -

The ride to the Shell Station was short and silent, like most of my interactions with Callie Kennedy. Annah stayed home to straighten up the house before her parents got back from their business trip and Callie was visibly calmer in the car.

“I like you better than Annah,” she confided while we waited at a red light.

I couldn’t help but bite my lip, not sure how to answer that. I let out a nervous laugh, “Why? Most people like Annah better.”

Callie shrugged, looking out the window, her words a bit muffled. “She asks too many questions. You don’t.”

I exhaled, nodding in understanding, but for some reason expecting something more.

“That, and you’re just… different,” she finished, quickly tacking on “In a good way,” at the end.

I gave her a grateful smile before pulling into the gas station parking lot. “Are you sure you’ll be alright from here?” I asked as she climbed out.

I expected her to say something, but as soon as her feet hit pavement, she started a brisk walk away from the car, as if she hadn’t just gotten out of it. Confused, I watched her walk away, her posture and presence making her seem even smaller than usual.

It was almost like she was trying her best to blend in with the brick buildings around her and just not be seen.

It wasn’t long before she disappeared down the street and I sighed, shaking my head to try and rid myself of the feeling that something wasn’t right. A glance at my passenger seat confirmed it; Callie had left her sweater.

“Callie!”

I rolled down the passenger window as I eased the car into drive, slowly heading in the direction I had last seen her walk. “Hey, you forgot something!”

A few minutes of searching failed to produce the tiny blond mystery, so I thought of another way I could reach her. As quickly as my hands allowed, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket, scanning the Recent Calls log for any unknown numbers.

Restricted Number glared at me like a threat and I swore as I shut my phone.

As soon as it closed, however, it began to vibrate and I opened the phone quickly. “Callie?”

The voice on the other end was feminine, but not Callie. “Sorry to disappoint, Ollie, but it’s Annah.”

I sighed, quickly covering it with a cough. “What’s up?”

“I take it that Callie’s gone?” she questioned. I murmured an affirmative. “Ollie, we need to talk about her. I want an explanation.”

“Annah, I hardly know anything either.”

“Nothing? I’m not asking about the girl’s biography and family tree, but what about explaining the bruises and scratches on her arms and sides? I gave her clothes to wear while we washed hers and the injuries are undeniable. Either she has an ongoing fight with gravity, or something’s wrong.”

My mind flashed back to when I first met Callie… and the scratches that covered her back. Her face was nothing but sincere when she later explained she wasn’t the type to do it to herself…

“Annah… I think there’s something wrong…”