Chapter Thirty-Six

We had conquered the rapids. It might not seem like a huge deal to anyone else, but to a group of six kids who had nearly died only days ago it was epic. We ate our dinner outside on the patio of a pizza shop in town. Sam joined us and we promised to drop him off on our way back to the campsite.

"Is there anything to do in this town besides ride the river?" Marco asked as we watched a few cars turn into the parking lot across the street. It seemed like the restaurants were the only places drawing a crowd of any kind, but there were other businesses peppered in between them.

"The river is the best thing about this town, but it isn't the only thing. In the winter we can snow-ski locally, too." Sam lifted his beer to his lips and took a sip. "As for day to day, though, there isn't much. There's an old Internet café down the street and they have gaming tournaments sometimes. They have Virtual Now, of course, but also some of the older consoles."

Damien looked down the street. The sign for the Internet café was easy to spot. "Do they still have computers or is that just a theme for fun?"

"There are three computers in there," Sam said. He smiled. "They're a bit archaic, but they'll work in a pinch. I haven't seen anyone on them in a long time, though. Every once in a while a kid will sneak in and log on if they've been grounded from their iPhone or other technologies. I don't think parents even remember the place."

"Is there anywhere where I could get a disposable camera?" Aideen asked.

"I haven't seen one of those in years. If you were going to have any luck with that I'd say you'd have to try Baker's Drugstore at the end of town." Sam pointed in the opposite direction of the Internet café.

We finished up the pizzas and our drinks. Sam told us more about the town and where he stayed. He lived with two other guides and was dating a girl but wouldn't call it serious. He called Dr. Crimm "Julia" and I could see the hesitation for them to say goodbye. Dr. Crimm paid our bill as we refilled our drinks. "You guys can go wander for a little while." She looked at her watch. "Let's meet back here in forty-five minutes." She handed each of us a ten dollars. I guess it was a good thing, since we could now buy something if we really wanted.

Is there anywhere where I could get a disposable camera?" Aideen asked.

"I haven't seen one of those in years. If you were going to have any luck with that I'd say you'd have to try Baker's Drugstore at the end of town." Sam pointed in the opposite direction of the Internet café.

It was our first outing into the real world without her. It felt scary for some reason as I stepped through the doors and out onto the main street.

"I'm going to go check out that Internet café," Damien said. "I'll meet you guys back here."

"I'll go with you," Ken said quickly. "I don't think we should go anywhere by ourselves in a town we don't know.

"Okay," Damien agreed. If he had been thinking about hurting himself, he would have put up a bigger fight. He hadn't. Maybe he was just genuinely curious about the café.

Marco came along with us girls and we stepped into a store that could easily have been a portal to another era. There were actual shelves and they were dusty. Products had clearly rested on them for ages, unmoved.  We browsed each aisle, touching the products and twisting them on the shelves while Aideen searched for her camera.

We didn't leave disappointed. Her new canvas sack contained a disposable camera, graham crackers, marshmallows, and Hershey bars. We'd found a cute package of campfire skewers on sale in the clearance section to complete our plans for the evening. We had a party in a bag and were excited to get back to the campsite so we could get dessert started. Damien and Ken weren't back yet when we found Dr. Crimm and Sam sitting on a bench near the place we were to meet.

"Sorry," Damien said when they finally showed up five minutes after our designated time. If Dr. Crimm was mad, she didn't show it. She used the app on her phone to call us a car and within minutes we were on our way back to the campsite with a short detour to take Sam back to work.

"It was good seeing you again, Julia," Sam said as he got out of the car. Dr. Crimm stepped out, too, so she could give him one last hug. I heard him say, "No matter what happens in there, you have my support. You aren't alone."

"Take care of yourself." Dr. Crimm kissed his cheek before getting back into the car and waving goodbye.

That night we sat around the campfire, roasting marshmallows and eating s'mores. Dr. Crimm excused herself to do some work inside the motor home and left us outside to talk and hang out.

"When I was little," Aideen said, her mouth full of melted s'mores, "my sister used to play this game with me. She'd ask me my good and my bad. I would tell her what I was looking forward to, maybe a playdate or some celebration that week—that was my good. And when it was time to share my bad I'd tell her things I was worrying about."

"Okay," Shima said, licking melted chocolate from her finger. "Tell us your good and your bad."

Aideen smiled. "My good is going home to both my moms. I want to tell them that I know, so my real mom doesn't have to carry that secret anymore." She held her dessert between her fingers and thought for a minute. "And my bad is leaving you."

I felt the same way. I'd realized for the first time that afternoon that I was homesick for my family, but I didn't want to leave my friends.

"My good," Marco started, "is going home and looking up the man who delivered my father's last message. I want to get to know him and his son. I think that's what my dad would have wanted. I want to let him know I'm alright." Marco held his skewer over the fire as he thought about his bad. "My bad is not having everyone here to talk to."

"You can call us," Aideen said.

"For sure," Ken answered. He took his turn. "My good is going home and finding Leo. Even if he doesn't want to hear from me or if he has someone else. I want to tell him I'm sorry and that I was wrong to not fight harder for him—for us. I'm looking forward to loving him no matter what people think about it. And my bad is not being able to introduce you to him. You feel like family now and it will be so hard for me to tell him all about you without showing him just how well we seem to fit together."

Shima reached over and squeezed his hand. "I guess we'll just have to come meet him someday." She smiled at him as he squeezed her hand back. "My good is looking forward to visiting Japan again one day, even if it isn't with my father. My bad is not having you all around to share that moment with me." She didn't give us time to answer before she added, "But another good is having access to all our technology again, so that will have to be good enough."

"What about you, Koralee? What's your good and your bad?" Aideen asked as she handed me a fresh marshmallow.

"My good is seeing my brother again." I felt the tears stinging the back of my eyes as I said it. I'd already decided I wasn't going to read his letter until we were back together. It almost didn't feel real that in a few hours I'd be back home with him and my parents. "And my bad, besides saying goodbye to all of you, will be facing everyone at school on Monday when I go back."

I blew on my marshmallow when the tip caught fire. I wasn't sure yet what I wanted to do about the situation with Levi. All I could think about at that moment was getting through the next day and getting home to my family.

"And Damien?" Aideen asked. She pointed her sticky skewer in his direction.

"I have two goods," he confessed. "The first is going home and seeing my family. Also my buddy and his sister." He couldn't help the smile that turned his lips up.

"That a boy, Damien," Marco encouraged from his position next to me. "What's that other good?"

We all laughed, assuming it had something to do with his new love interest. Ken turned and looked at him and Damien's smile fell. It got quiet quickly as we waited for him to let us in on whatever the two of them knew.

"My other good is giving you this," Damien said, reaching into the pocket of his jeans and pulling out a small SD card. He moved his hand toward mine and I instinctively opened my palm. He set card down in my hand and curled my fingers over it. "I was able to hack into Levi's family's system and cloud from a computer at the Internet café in town. It's completely untraceable, especially to you. There aren't any cameras in there and your medical records with Dr. Crimm will be confidential, so as far as anyone knows you were never here."

I felt the edges of the card dig into my flesh from the tight grip I had on it. It was amazing how something that had such a huge impact on my life could fit inside the teeny piece of plastic and metal in my palm.

"He recorded the whole thing, Koralee. You can see him druging your drink and the way it affects you. I understand you might not want to do anything with that recording. I know it would be hard to turn over something that personal and raw for other people to see, but I think you should do it. I think you should stop him before he does it to someone else, and I think you should make him pay for what he did to you. It almost cost you your life." Damien looked at my closed palm and I stayed frozen in place, unsure of what to do with the evidence I now held.

"My bad, is saying goodbye to all of you," Damien said, looking around the campfire before letting his gaze fall back to mine. "But mostly not being there when you finally feel strong enough to take that rapist down."

I stood up quickly and practically threw myself into Damien's arms. "Thank you," I told him, keeping a firm grip on the chip that held so many answers.

"Don't mention it," he said in return. "That's what friends are for."

When we both sat back down I couldn't help but ask him, "How did you know how to find him and his system?" I'd only shared his first name.

"I had a little help," he answered. He let his gaze move to the motor home behind us and I could see the dark silhouette of Dr. Crimm inside, hunched over her notebook, writing what I imagined was her poetry. "I don't think she lied when she told us we all stick together. She didn't hesitate to break a few laws to give me your information so I could find his."

"My bad is going to be saying goodbye to her, too," I said sadly. I slipped the SD card  into my pocket.

"Me too," Aideen agreed.

"She saved our lives," Damien said as he pulled another marshmallow onto his skewer. "And I didn't even know I wanted saving."

"That's the truth," Marco added. "I don't even want to think about what would have happened to all of us if she hadn't shown up that first day."

"We should make tomorrow our day," I suggested. "Let's try to turn something difficult and sad into a reminder that we'll see each other again. We can exchange numbers and stay connected, but no matter what, we will always try to get together once a year on that day."

Everyone agreed easily. I pulled the hot marshmallow off the tip of my skewer and Marco helped me smash it between the graham crackers and chocolate. As I ate the snack, I watched my friends laughing and talking with each other. Maybe it wouldn't ever be as good as it was in that moment, but if it even came half as close, it would be enough.

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