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Chapter One Hundred-Seven
Point of View: Narrator


Kayla didn't go back to Zoe's room.

She went to the reception desk. Her stomach was turning, her fingers were numb. She clutched the edge of the desk, feeling like she was a balloon with a slow leak. "I need a cab," she pleaded with the lady behind the desk, "I need a ride. I want to go home..."

But even as she said the words she knew that wasn't true.

Home - as the literal place of residence - was void. Zoe wasn't there, there was nothing there for her right now. Nothing to comfort her. She couldn't go to Nick's - it wasn't there, either, quite literally, and neither was he even if she could go there. He was ---

"I gotta go to the prison," she pleaded.



Kayla was fighting with the receptionist at the visitor's desk when Brian came running into the prison. "What do you mean he's gone?" Kayla was bellowing, "Where the fuck is he?"

Brian stopped dead in his tracks. His sneakers hitting the tile echoed off the walls and the receptionist looked up, as did Kayla. Kayla's face broke into a grin of relief when she spotted Brian, but the receptionist's face fell. It was the same woman who had helped Brian get to the back of the line earlier that day.

"Gone?" Brian asked, walking forward slowly, feeling as though he were moving through a time warp.

The receptionist didn't reply. She turned and picked up her phone.

Brian's eyes moved from Kayla to the receptionist. "Where did he go?" Kayla asked. Brian had to keep himself from screaming. His knees were nonexistent suddenly, and he fell forward, grabbing the desk, trying to catch himself. Kayla sprang forward and caught him, too. She stared at him, wide-eyed and concerned, "Brian?" she asked, "What's the matter?"

But Brian was staring at the receptionist only.

"Where is Nick?" Brian asked.

The receptionist gave him the 'one moment' hand signal, her eyes pitying.

Brian felt like breaking her fucking phone.

Kayla clutched Brian's arm. "Brian...?"

"Is he dead?" Brian asked calmly.

Kayla's eyes widened, "What?"

The receptionist didn't respond at all.

"Brian why would Nick be --" Kayla started, but Brian interrupted her.

"ANSWER ME! IS NICK DEAD?" Brian screamed the words at the receptionist, and they echoed off the walls around them. They vibrated deep to the bone.

The receptionist's eyes widened, but she still did not answer him except to say, "Officer Bryant will be with you in just a second."

Brian looked at Kayla who had covered both hands with her mouth in shock.

"Why would Nick be dead?" Kayla pleaded.

Brian couldn't answer.

Suddenly Officer Bryant - a tough looking guy with sleek brown hair - came into the room through a door to the left. Brian and Kayla and the receptionist all turned to look as he came in. He was carrying a folder, a very thick folder, and a small opaque bag that Brian couldn't see what was inside. Nick's belongings, he thought. This is fucking really happening.

Officer Bryant stuck out his hand to shake Brian's and then Kayla's. He looked between the two of them. "Come with me, I'll find a place more private for us to talk in."

Brian followed numbly along behind Officer Bryant... but every step he took made him want to turn and run the opposite direction. Every step was taking him closer to the truth.

And Brian had a very sinking feeling he didn't want to hear it.