Something's wrong. I know it. Baker is a very dedicated student. He would never miss Senior Project Presentation Day. Not unless something was very wrong. My hands are at ten and two on the wheel of my car, but I'm gripping the wheel so tight that my knuckles have gone totally white. I'm trembling from head-to-toe, and at any second I feel like I could lose my lunch. Beth is in the passenger seat with my phone, still spam calling and texting him. But no matter how many times we try, the call keeps going directly to voicemail. And his texts remain unseen.

"He's probably just having car trouble," Beth says, but I can hear the uncertainty in her voice. I nod my head, mouth too dry to speak. And I know she could be right. But it doesn't feel right. He'd take a cab before missing his presentation. I know it. I know how important this all is to him. Something has got to be wrong. And knowing what I know about his dad, I can't help but fear the worst. Part of me thinks maybe I should call the police, but what would I say to them? My boyfriend didn't show up for his speech at the school, and I think there's something wrong? I could tell them about his abusive dad, but would that be enough?

We pull up to Baker's house ten minutes later, and I've been going so fast that I'm lucky I wasn't pulled over. I park the car all crooked and jump out, running up the walkway as fast as I can. Beth is a couple feet behind me when I reach the door and begin pounding my fists on the hard wood. No one comes to answer, so I hit the doorbell button over and over and over again. Then I listen for any sign of movement. Nothing. The panic in me begins rising, and I don't care that it's illegal. I put my hand on the door handle and turn it. It opens with ease, probably due to the fact that the metal plate that holds the lock is broken. Not a good sign.

The door swings open slowly, and I start looking around for signs of life. Immediately I can see that something happened here. The coffee table is shattered in pieces on the floor, there's broken flatware in front of the kitchen walkway, and... blood. I feel like I've gone out of my body as I float through the living room towars the blood. It's a pool. And it's pooling under Baker's head. His eyes are closed, and his face is swollen to the point that it's almost recognizable.

Bile rises in my throat, threatening to spill out of my mouth as I bend down to examine the body of this boy that I love. Beth hisses when she sees him, and then she says firmly, "Summer, don't touch him. Leave him alone." I put my fingers to my lips, and I hear sobs coming from somewhere. Beth is on the phone a moment later, and I hear her talking to someone on the other end. She's walking around the house, assessing the property damage, because she can't stand to look at the bodily damage lying here on the floor. My eyes are glued on Baker's body, and I can't resist. I reach down and check for a pulse on his neck. But I'm shaking too much, and I can't tell if the soft thump thump I feel is coming from him or me.

"I don't know," Beth says, and I hear her go outside for a second. And it hits me. She's called 911. She's confirming the address. When she comes back in a moment later, she's telling the operator what she's seen. But she doesn't linger around me or Baker. I think the sight of him, of someone she knows, lying on the ground bleeding like this is too much for her. She moves into the kitchen, and I hear an intake of breath. A yelp. She tells the operator to please tell officers to hurry. Please. She's seen something else in the kitchen. Something worse than what I'm seeing right in front of me.

Beth hangs up the phone finally and returns to me. She wraps her arms around me and pulls my face away from Baker's at last. I soak her t-shirt in tears, and she gently lifts me up with her and walks me to the front door. A few seconds later we hear sirens. Several police cars slide up at the same time, and they rush into the house. A couple pull us from the scene to ask questions, and Beth speaks for me because I can't talk at all. One officer tries to coax me to speak, but Beth snaps at him and he shuts up.

An ambulance arrives a few minutes later, and Beth pulls me away so that I can't see them. We move to the side yard, and the police officer that was trying to get me to answer questions before is now doing his best to comfort me. I shake my head, my fingernails resting on my bottom lip. And then it all becomes too much. I turn around in the bushes and start to vomit violently. Beth holds my hair like I did for her earlier today, and I think the officer pats my back. I fall to my knees, choking on my own spit. I'm gasping for air, and it's sweet and fresh and desperately needed.

When I stand up, I see the EMTs carrying a long black bag. I wonder at first why they're taking out the trash. And then I realize that it's a body bag. There's a body in there. A dead body. My vision gets fuzzy. Then dizzy. Then dark. I come to a little while later, and I'm confused when I feel grass underneath me. Beth's face is pale again, and she's looking down at me. Her brown eyes are teary, and this bothers me, because Beth never cries.

"Summer?" she whispers, and she strokes my wet hair out of my eyes. "Summer, I've called your parents, and they're coming to pick us up. Are you okay?"

I nod my head slightly, but I'm very confused. Last thing I remember seeing was a body bag. I want to ask her about it, but I'm too afraid to know the truth. Even though a part of me already knows, hearing it will make it real. And I can't. I'm not ready. I sit up, rubbing the back of my head, the guilt welling up inside me as the tears continue to fall. I'm just about to muster up the courage to ask her what she saw in the kitchen when I see my dad's truck pull up.

My mom jumps out of the truck, her eyes frantic as she runs to me. I open my arms for her, and she wraps me up in a hug so tight it squeezes out any remaining air from my lungs. A moment later, my dad is by her side, looking at Beth with fear in his eyes.

"What happened?" he asks her. Not me.

Beth glances at me quickly, then gestures toward the truck. My dad takes the hint, and the two of them walk over to the truck together. He stands in front of Beth, blocking her from my view so I can't even read her lips. My mom is trying to calm me, but I can't be calmed. I have never cried like this. Not even when my dad died. This is pain I didn't know was possible. A new level of agony that goes beyond anything I ever thought I could experience. My dad's hand covers his mouth as he slides it down over the light stubble on his chin. Then he turns and looks at my mom, and I swear they have an entire conversation with their eyes.

"Baby," my mom says through her own tears, and I know. I just know. He's gone. "Baby, you have to breathe."

I haven't taken a true breath since I found my boyfriend lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood, and I don't know if it's possible anymore. I don't think I'll ever breathe again. How can I breathe without him? I'm hyperventilating now, and one of the EMTs sees and asks if we need a ride to the hospital. He looks worried about me, but doesn't he understand? The person I love most in the world is gone now. Lost to a place that is beyond a text or phone call.

My mom nods her head. "Yes. Please." The EMT nods his head and calls for another ambulance. "Bert?" she calls, and my dad whispers something to Beth before walking back over to my mom and I. 'Honey, the EMTs are taking us to the hospital." She looks at me with worry in her eyes. "She can't breathe. I can't seem to calm her down."

He nods his head. "Okay. Beth and I will meet you two down there." Then his eyes fall on me, and I see the pain in them. The unreleased tears of a man who is trying to remain strong for his family "I'll see you soon, sweetheart, okay?"

My vision is going dark again. Little spots fill my eyes, and I know it's coming. I crave it. Long for the darkness. So I don't fight it. My dad rushes forward, catching me before I hit the ground. And for a short while, I don't know pain. Don't know suffering. It's like being asleep, but I have no dreams. I can feel movement, and I know someone has picked me up. But it's like my brain has shut down. Even though I know things are happening, I don't quite understand what they are.

When I come back again, I'm in the ambulance. My mom is holding my hand, and there's an oxygen mask over my mouth. I panic and rip it off, and my mom jumps into action. She tries to hold me down as I thrash around, but it's like I've lost complete control over my body. Screams scratch their way out of my throat like a wounded animal, and one of the paramedics rushes over. He inserts a needle into my arm, and within seconds I feel the energy burst I had moments before slip away. My eyes grow heavy, and I know I'm losing consciousness in a different way. The last thing I hear before I slip away again is my mom's sob as my head hits the hard bed underneath me.

I don't know how long I'm out for this time, but when I open my eyes again I'm lying in a hospital bed. My mom and dad are talking in the hallway to one of the nurses, and I hear my dad's voice begin to rise in anger. He's arguing with someone. I try to listen, but my brain only grasps little bits here and there. The nurse tries to calm him down, but it doesn't work.

"Listen, I don't give a shit about your rules!" he yells, and my mom shushes him. "We were granted guardianship! We have every right to know—"

"Sir," the nurse says softly, but I hear the tension in her voice. "I understand you were granted guardianship, but that doesn't mean you can—"

"The hell it doesn't," he replies angrily. There's a pause for a second as my mom speaks up for the first time. Her voice is much softer, so I can't hear what she's saying. But I can hear she's crying.

The nurse sighs. "I'm so sorry. Listen, this is a very unique situation. And I promise I'll do everything in my power to put you on the list of family members. But you have to understand that we're caught between a rock and a hard place here."

"Okay, so what the fuck am I supposed to tell my daughter in the meantime?" he asks, his voice beginning to rise again. "She's going to have questions I can't answer."

"How is your daughter related to him?" the nurse asks.

My dad sighs in frustration. "It's her fucking boyfriend. She's going to be awake any moment, and I have no news for her. We don't even know if he's dead or alive at this point."

Wait. Dead or... alive? I open my eyes, blinking at the sudden brightness of the room. Baker. He could be alive? There's a chance? But then... who was the body in the bag?"

"Oh my God," a voice says beside me, and when I look over I see Beth standing next to my bed, her eyes red rimmed from crying. "You're awake."

I nod my head, still feeling a little woozy from whatever the paramedic gave me in the ambulance. "How long... was I... out?" I ask her, my voice hoarse and scratchy.

"A few hours," she replies, and this surprises me. It definitely didn't feel like a few hours. "Are you okay?" she asks in a way that tells me she knows the answer to the question.

I lift my shoulders in the weakest shrug ever. "Don't know. Right now I feel... out of it." I swallow hard as memories from earlier come flooding back to me. Baker on the floor lying in a pool of his own blood. The broken coffee table. The sound of Beth's gasp as she walked into the kitchen and saw....

Beth turns her head toward my parents, who are standing just outside the door. Then she bites her lip nervously and looks back at me. Her eyes close as she takes a steadying breath. "Summer, I need to tell you something. And I want to do it now, while you're still on whatever drugs they gave you."

I don't know if I want to hear what she's about to say, but I know I need to. So I swallow hard and nod my head, waiting for her to start speaking.

"There was... a body... in the kitchen," she whispers, her brown eyes welling up with fresh tears.

In the kitchen? But Baker was in the living room when we found him. Who did she find in the kitchen. I rack my sleepy brain, trying to think of who it could be. And my heart drops into my stomach as it all sinks in. If the body wasn't Baker's... then... Ian. "He's dead?" I ask, and she nods her head sadly. No. It couldn't have been Ian. Not now. Not when we were so close to saving him. To saving both of them.

She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. "Yeah. Your parents are in the hallway trying to get someone to tell them about Baker. They said something about having emergency guardianship over his brother, but because they don't have it for Baker, the hospital is fighting them on it. You know, because they aren't kin. Not legally."

I scoff. "But they'll tell his dad, right?" I ask angrily, the bitterness rising into my throat and making it even harder to speak. "The one who did all of this? Who killed Ian and maybe Baker too?"

Beth's mouth falls open as her eyes widen in surprise. "What?" she asks, confused. "What do you mean killed Ian? No one killed Ian."

It takes me a moment to understand her words. "No one killed Ian?" I ask, and she shakes her head. Some of the tension eases as I'm granted at least that much relief. "Thank God. But wait... then who was the body they were taking out of the house? You said someone was dead?"

She nods her head. "I thought you heard before. At the house." I shake my head, because I've been out of it since the moment my eyes fell on Baker. "Summer, the body I found in the kitchen was their father's."

My jaw falls open in shock. "Their father's?" I ask, stunned. She nods. "Wait. So if the body was their father's, then why can't the hospital tell them about Baker?"

"Because they aren't his next of kin," she answers.

"But then they should be able to at least tell his brother," I say.

Beth sighs as she sits in the chair beside my bed. "Yeah, they should. But that's the problem." I blink at her in confusion, and she continues. "No one seems to know where Ian is. They can't find him anywhere."

Author's Note:
So Jay is dead, and they don't know about Baker yet. And where is Ian? So many questions will be answered soon! Let me know what you think of this chapter, and I'll be back soon with the next! Stay safe and healthy until then, my dears!

XOXO,
~Aly