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“Wait, Jeb. Your dad sent me up here.”
The statement did make Jeb pause. “Why? What’s the matter?”
“It’s your ma.”
Jeb felt a bump in his blood pressure and heart rate. His parents weren’t exactly Carol and Mike Brady. They liked, as Ma said, to feel good. “What happened? Is she okay?”
“I think she will be. But your dad wanted me to come get you, bring you to City Hospital.”
Jeb shook his head. “Did she OD again?” He asked the question without emotion. It had happened before. And, as he’d thought many times before, a kid shouldn’t have to worry about one or both of his parents overdosing.
“I’m afraid so. A little too much Peruvian marching powder, if you know what I mean.”
Jeb did and wished fervently he didnot.Oh god, why can’t you guys just be normal?
“Come on. I think she’ll be okay, but these things can go bad quick. We need to get to her.” He pointed in the opposite direction again. “Quickest way down. C’mon.”
Jeb peered into the shadows and could, indeed, see an opening and the beginning of a path. “I need to tell my friends.” He turned back the way he’d come.
Chris Sgro grabbed his arm, but gently, and forced Jeb to meet his gaze. “There’s no time, son. I lied. She isn’t good. It’s her heart. You need to come with me now. You can call your friends once we get to the hospital, explain what’s happened.”
“But they’ll be worried.” He imagined Sammy and Trudy waiting out there. But this was his mom. Could she die? His mom would never win any mother-of-the-year prize, but she was his. And she was the only one he had.
It was an impossible choice, but he felt the right way was with this guy. He seemed normal. He seemed in control. He didn’t seem to pose a threat.
Harmless, right?
Jeb knew it might not be the smartest choice, but he trusted him—at least in that moment. He sighed. “Okay.”
Chris Sgro led him out of the woods. It was only a journey of a few feet. They were out of the woods in seconds. The path turned to the right and then dropped steeply downhill, a rock-strewn trail, where Jeb could see a van waiting at the bottom. Its color was hard to pinpoint in the dark. He assumed it was Sgro’s.
Silently, Jeb followed the guy down to the van. Once they were there, Chris opened the passenger door. “Hop in and don’t forget to buckle up.”
Jeb, trusting of adults, did as he was told. All he could think about was his mother. This wasn’t the first time he feared losing her. Flawed as she was, he still loved her with all his heart.
Instead of getting in the passenger side, Chris said, “I got to get something in the back. There’s a loose oil can or some shit rolling around there and it’s driving me nuts.”
“Okay.”
Jeb listened as he opened the rear doors. The eyes of an animal, glowing gold in the darkness, peered at him from the edge of the woods.
Before he knew what was happening, though, Sgro was behind him, reaching across his left shoulder to place a foul-smelling rag over his mouth and nose.
Before Jeb could even wonder what it was and why it smelled so awful, the world went black.
II
Jeb stirred a little. His mouth was dry and his head ached. His eyes burned. He closed them again, keeping still.
How much time had passed?
Why weren’t they at the hospital?
He let out a small groan, one he imagined a sleeping person would make, and tried to shift a little to his side.
It was then he realized he was now in the back of the van, on his back. The cold, uneven metal surface hurt his back. The guy had bound his wrists and ankles. There was a cloth over his mouth, tied tightly behind his head. At least it smelled only of laundry detergent.
The road thrummed underneath him. There was no other sound, save for the van’s engine and the hum of tires on pavement.
