Page 57 of Spreading Her Wings

“No!” I gasped, rushing to her side and dropping onto my knees. I put my hands on her face and then her shoulders, giving her a small shake. “Please wake up!”

When I yelled and she didn’t flinch, my breath caught in my throat. The room around me grew warm and started to spin. “What do I do, what do I do?” Panic swelled in my throat, and I shook her harder. “Wake up! I need you!”

My fingers trembled when I pulled out my phone, desperately trying to dial the number and waiting impatiently while the phone rang. The tone clicked, signaling it had been answered, and I didn’t wait for the greeting before a sob broke in my chest. “Mom!”

“Katie? Honey, what’s wrong?” The panic in her voice matched the rush of panic in my chest. “Are you okay?”

“No! Mom! She’s… gone.”

The carpet under my knees was rough when I dropped, and I buried my face against my aunt’s cold arm. “Gone? Katie, what do you mean, gone?”

“She’s dead, Mom. Aunt June. I got here, and she’s just… she’s still in bed.” My voice broke between the words as her sobs came through the line.

She sniffled, and my dad’s voice came muffled over the line. He was comforting her. I could tell by the way his words got closer to the phone and her sobbing got quieter. Suddenly, the air around me felt colder.

“Katie, sweetheart.”

“Dad. What do I do?” I sobbed into the phone, tears soaking the sheet under June’s arm.

He took a calming breath, one that felt like it added air to my desperate lungs. “We call the police. You wait. I’m on my way.”

“We’reonourway.” My mom sniffled, her voice getting more distant.

I dropped my head to the bed, resting my forehead against her cold arm. “You can’t leave me, Aunt June. What do I do? You were supposed to help me.” I sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to respond. Tears ran down my cheeks, and the salty drops traced my lips. “I’m in love with him, but he took another girl home. What if he doesn’t love me after all? I’m so stupid.”

My chest heaved, and I gasped for breath. She wasn’t going to answer. What would she tell me? I tried to imagine her voice and the advice she’d give me. She would tell me to go after him.

But protect your heart.

Ihit call on her name for the fifteenth time, as if the result would change. Again, the call went straight to her voicemail. She hadn’t responded to any of my texts, and if her phone wasn’t off, then she had me blocked. After leaving her aunt’s house two days ago, I’d looked everywhere for her before I gave up and went home.

“Son of abitch!” I threw the phone across the room at the open couch, watching it bounce off the cushion and land screen side up.

When I dropped my head against my hands, looking out the window as the streetlights flickered on, it went off. Against the dark faux leather of the couch, my phone lit up and the vibration caused it to dance towards the armrest. I nearly tripped over the coffee table in my rush to grab it, swiping to answer the call without looking at the name.

“Hello?”

“Auston?” The voice was quiet and soft, and it was obvious she was young. I looked at the screen, not recognizing the number. She sounded familiar, though.

“Yeah? Who’s this?” I tried not to sound as suspicious as I felt, but there was a reason I never answered unknown numbers. If I had actually looked at the screen before answering, I would’ve promptly hit the button to ignore the call and sent her to leave a voicemail I’d never listen to.

The girl sniffled on the other line. “It’s Amy.”

My stomach sank and filled with dread when there was a muffled voice that let me know Emma was there too. “What’s wrong?”

“Aunt June. She died.” When the teen started crying again, alarm bells went off in my head. Images of Katie, her face torn with grief and painted with tears.I’m going to be right here.My heart cracked in my chest, the pain radiating into my shoulders when she spoke again. “Katie found her.”

“Fuck.” I cursed and then cringed, remembering the girl was only sixteen. “When?”

“Yesterday morning. She went to see her and she was…” she said between sniffles. Her voice was nearly a whisper when she spoke again. “She, uh, she needs you. The funeral is tomorrow…”

“Where is she now?” I considered getting to the truck before she answered, ready to hit the gas and drive until I found her.

“She’s with Mom and Dad.” The pause on the line was heavy, filled with nerves. “Auston?”

“Yeah, Amy?”

“She loves you.”

---