Misconceptions
J.T. was almost out of breath. Those Abbotts, making Colleen move back to New York! He had to try to stop her. Uncertain of what he could do, he burst through the airport doors and asked the lady at the desk if the plane to New York had departed yet.
After she ran a quick check, she nodded, "Yes, it has." Surprised at the look of sadness on the young man's face, she asked, "Are you ok?"
He simply walked away, feeling very angry with himself...
-----------
As the plane continued going at higher altitudes, Colleen stared out the window, looking dully at the clouds that flowed past the airplane. she looked over at her sleeping mother, sighed and returned to looking at the window. As she thought about J.T., how he had helped her through so many difficult times and how she had helped him through his school work, her thoughts turned into dreams as she fell into sleep. Suddenly, she felt someone shaking her and she mumbled, wanting to return to the dreamworld with J.T., "Mom? Are we landing all ready?"
Traci sounded desperate. "No, honey... The plane is crashing..."
Colleen gasped. "What!?" she exclaimed, sitting up suddenly. Now that she was awake, she heard people screaming and crying. Traci suddenly wrapped her arms around the fifteen year old girl, desperately praying now. "Mom, I'm sorry," Colleen sniffed, "I..."
"No. It's not important, Colleen, I did some things wrong too," Traci sniffed, running her hands through her soft brown hair. A shudder rushed through the airplane and everyone screamed as it started nosediving. "Colleen!" Traci cried. "I love you, baby!"
"I love you, too, Mom!" Colleen sobbed, just before she was knocked unconcious.
As flames licked at the plane, gasoline hit the flames and suddenly it exploded, sending a fireball up the mangled remains of the airplane, cremating all but four people who had been thrown from the airplane.
Revived from the sound of the explosion, Colleen sniffed and looked, blurry-eyed, at the twisted metal that used to be the airplane she was on just an hour ago. "Mom?" she whispered before standing up and running, disoriented, from the crash sight. Just then, another explosion ripped through everything, the force knocking the weak girl down.
------------
In his dark apartment, J.T. Hellstrom was sleeping but right at that moment, he sat up in bed and looked around, gasping from the nightmare he had just had. "Wha... Something happened to Colleen..." he mused, thinking about the dream. It had jolted him so he walked into the living room of his dorm, turning on a thirteen inch TV that rested on a small entertainment center he had. Gripping the remote in his hand, he flipped through different news channels, looking for sport recaps. Pausing, he stared at the headline blinking on CNN. "Airplane crashed in Indiana". Wide eyed, J.T. turned the volume up till he could hear better.
"-- Airplane from Genoa City, going to New York, has crashed in a field in Indiana. Information on this is--" Enraged at himself, and guilty, J.T. flipped the TV off and, grabbing a jacket from a chair, rushed out the door. When he finally arrived at the airport in what felt like ages later, he noticed a lot of people walking along the terminal, worriedly glancing around-- obviously family or friends of the people on the airplane. He stepped toward the flight attendants who were trying to provide information for the families. "Uh... Can you tell me something about the flight that crashed?" he asked a short, brown haired girl with tired green eyes.
She looked at him. "Are you family?"
"No," he answered, blinking.
"Then I can't tell you," she responded.
He turned angrily away and looked out of the window, at the dark, late night sky. "Colleen..." He walked outside and, feeling numb, drove home.
-------------------
The next day, J.T. was feeling too lifeless to even go to school, very sad. He couldn't even get to the airport in time to save his Colleen. If he had driven five miles faster, maybe she would be with him right now. "Ah!" he finally yelled, throwing his remote into the wall.
"Hey! Hellstrom! Keep it down in there!" a neighboring kid yelled, angered at the dent in his wall.
Finally, his dream from the night before came crashing back to him and his eyes widened. "That should've told me... something was wrong.... God, I'm so stupid!"
------
Weakly, Colleen stirred and looked around, shading her eyes from the sun. "Wh- where am I?" she whispered, sitting up painfully. Pain surged over her body and she noticed some burns covering her arms and legs. Frowning, she looked over the scarred field. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she remembered what had happened. "Mom!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "No! I'm sorry! Oh! I never got... to tell her." Tears glistened down her face but she gathered up her energy and crawled slowly along the grassy field, feeling worse pain throb through her leg. After she had crawled like that for almost a mile, she was extremely relieved to see that she was on the outskirt of a small town. The pain in her leg and every where was growing almost unbearable and she hoped for a hospital but she was in such pain, she crawled towards the first house there. It seemed no one was outside and then she realized why: kids were in school and people were in work, whoever wasn't was probably hiding from this cold weather that was now nipping at her, which she hadn't noticed before because of the pain. She stood up and, limping on her bad right leg, she ran to the nearest house and knocked before her leg gave out and she fell heavily onto the hard, wooden porch.
As she sat there, wincing, a woman with short blonde hair and wide green eyes came to the door, staring down at the girl on her porch. "Oh my! Who are you?" she asked.
"I- I... I'm Colleen. I- I was in the... pla- plane wreck," she gasped, holding her leg. "I... I need help. My..."
"Oh, dear," Mrs. Williams finally interrupted, "you don't mean the one that's on the news? STEVE! Get in here!"
The boy who was probably Steve ran into the room. He looked like his mom a lot, with her blonde hair and green eyes, and a tall, skinny form. "Yeah, Ma?"
"Pick her up, please, and carry her to the guest bedroom."
"Who is she?" he inquired, doing as she commanded.
"Colleen. She was in the plane wreck just a mile away from here."
---------
A little later, J.T. sat in the coffee house, almost hoping to get drunk on the coffee. It was really weird to watch everyone go on like their lives hadn't changed when his had-- so very drastically. Finally he couldn't take it any more and, throwing some money at Cody, left hurriedly. When he arrived at the college, he was persuaded inwardly to turn on the news and bury himself in it again. Taking a deep breath, he finally did it, in time for breaking news; the fact that the black box had been found and DNA testing was beginning on what remains had been found. After watching non-stop for about an hour, he rubbed his eyes and sat back a little further, feeling very tired. "Colleen," he murmured, half asleep.
He stood in a dark hall that soon he recognized as the Abbott household. Squinting, he looked ahead through the darkness but then a bright glow hit it all and he winced, covering his eyes.
"J.T.," a voice said.
He immediately felt lighter, like everything bad had fallen away from his life. "Colleen!?"
"It's your fault, J.T.," she whispered hoarsely, her ghost form appearing more noticeable.
"What? No! I tried, I did, I wanted..."
"Yeah, sure. You wanted. You tried, but you didn't!" she yelled and he finally realized he could see through her.
"You're a ghost."
"Of course I'm a ghost! Because you didn't even try to stop me, both Mom and I died!"
J.T. gasped. "You, you don't mean that, Coll--"
"Yes I do!"
J.T. shook his head and gasped as he suddenly woke up, his heart pounding. "Don't blame me..."
--------
In the Williams' house, Colleen sat up, yawning and rubbing her blurry eyes. "Hmm." She rotated her leg, almost expecting to feel sharp pain,but it was just a dull ache now, still noticeable but not too bad. As she rubbed it, she was relieved. At least her dancing wouldn't be affected. Sitting back on the soft pillows that covered the top of the bed, she thought sadly of her mother. 'I'm sorry.... Mom...' Suddenly she thought of dancing again and remembered how J.T. had come to her dance.
Flashback:
"Hey," he said, walking up to her.
"J.T.! What are you doing here?" she gasped, turning to him.
"Well, you did invite me to this."
"Yeah," she sighed. "Too bad my family couldn't come and see it."
"What, your dad didn't even come?"
"He- he was probably busy," she fibbed anxiously.
"Oh. Well, that's ok," he said, smirking as he pulled out a camcorder.
"You... You recorded my dance?" she asked, grinning giddily.
"Yeah, it was no big deal, I just happened to have this thing with me."
"Oh, yeah," she agreed, smiling knowingly.
End flashback.
"J.T., I hope you aren't worrying."
------
J.T. spent another few hours of restlessness, laying in his bed as he thought everything over. Groaning, he finally got up and held his head for a few minutes before grabbing some regular clothes. A couple of minutes later, he was fully dressed and on his way to the airport. He just couldn't stand staying in his dorm any longer.
"What's he doing here again?" Brad hissed as they sat around the airport, John and Ashley next to him.
"I wouldn't know," John said.
"He's probably here to cause trouble or act like he actually cares about my daughter," the man said.
"Brad, stop. Just stay here, he's not hurting anyone," Ashley whispered, trying to calm her husband.
"Oh, sure," he whispered back. "If he had just left Colleen alone, she would be ALIVE now, Ash."
Ashley sat back and glanced over at J.T., who was only a few feet away. She knew he had heard and there was a look in his eyes that surprised her; a mix of grief, guilt and terror swirled in those dark orbs.
--------
A few days passed in which J.T. remained in his numb state, just barely there in whatever classes he actually remembered to take. Colleen was no better; she had realized she had partial amnesia and couldn't remember her family's last name or where they lived. She also remembered some faces that had no names.
On the next Monday, J.T. sat at the airport, waiting for the Carltons to return. The DNA tests were to be finished today. He clutched a styro foam cup filled with water in his hand, not noticing that his death grip on it was causing it to rush over the table top like a tidal wave.
Finally, the Carltons arrived and they stared momentarilly at him until finally Ashley whispered something to Brad and walked over. "Hello, J.T.," she said formally.
"Hi," he said nervously and worriedly. "What did the DNA test say?"
"Well, it was an extensive test, since Colleen's and Traci's DNA would be similar, but... It came out positive"-- J.T. sucked in a deep breath-- "for Traci's. Colleen... Nothing was found on her."
"Then she-- she's alive," he gasped happily.
"Well, maybe. Or her remains are... so... destroyed, they can't tell."
J.T. shook his head, "She's alive. She's gotta be."
Ashley stared at him. "You really care for her, don't you?"
"Well, yeah," he said. "She's different from everyone else I know."
Ashley nodded and stood up, patting him on the arm, before returning to Brad.
'Where are you, Col?' J.T. thought.
--------
Sitting in her soft bed, Colleen stared at a map of the areas around Indiana, wanting badly to remember where she had lived. Her finger ran over Illinois, Wisconsin, and Kentucky as she tried harder to remember. Returning to Wisconsin, she stared at it for a minute.
Steve walked in then, looking down at the map. "What's this, geography class?"
"You could say that," she said, smiling. "Actually, I'm trying to remember where I lived before..." she frowned, "before the plane crash."
"I could help," he offered, sitting next to her.
She was about to say ok when suddenly a happy feeling of peace passed over her. "Steve... I think something's happening... Something good.... But... what?"
--------
"Listen, we'll hire someone to look for Colleen. A P.I. who could look for her, if she's alive," Brad said, also having the perrogative that his little girl was alive.
"Yes, but right now, we must plan the memorial service for Traci," John said softly, his eyes showing the pain that was in his heart right now.
"Uh... Excuse me?" J.T. asked suddenly, walking up to them.
Ashley looked surprised and Brad just clearly glared at the young man but then John stepped forward and stared at him momentarily. "What do you want, Mr. Hellstrom?"
"I- Well, I overheard you mention sending a P.I. to look for Colleen. Could I go with, to help? If he finds her, well, I think she should see a familiar face, don't you?"
"Not yours," Brad hissed and Ashley rested her hand on his arm as a kind of silent beg for him to calm down.
John glanced at Brad before turning back to J.T. "We can't go there. You are correct, she should see a familiar face. If it's ok with her father, you may go."
Brad sighed and crossed his arms as he thought about it. Ashley whispered to him, trying to convince him to let it go this one time.
"Fine!" he said finally, "Just go!"
Satisfied, he quickly left, not wanting to anger the Abbotts anymore.
-----
The next afternoon, Colleen sat in a straw rocking chair, resting her foot on a soft ottoman as she peered relentlessly at the map placed over her knees.
When Mrs. Williams walked in, she smiled down at Colleen. "Do... you want to look at the newspaper? Your airplane crash made it..."
Colleen stared up at her, swallowing hard. "No, thanks, Mrs. Williams."
"Ok, sweety, I understand." She sat down on the couch next to Colleen and stared at the map. "Any luck? You tackling that evil memory of yours yet?"
"No... I still can't remember anything."
"You will soon, don't worry."
--------
J.T. stared at the Private Investigator. "Uh...."
"Hello. I'm P.I. Delilah Kinkade." She flipped her long, red hair behind her back and smiled at J.T. through perfectly applied lipstick. She was about early thirties, later twenties and was pretty good looking.
"Uh. Hi. I'm J.T. Hellstrom."
"Colleen's friend?" she asked automatically. "Yes, it is a tragedy, but hopefully we'll be able to make the pain a little easier on the Carltons, right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Oh, call me Lilah," she requested, smiling again.
"Ok, Lilah," he said uncomfortably.
"Now let's go," she urged, climbing into her car.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"To the site of the crash, in Indiana. If you don't mind, we'll be taking my car. I never trusted airplanes or anything that I, myself, had no control over." She had to have control over everything.
"Oh. Yes, M- Lilah." He climbed in and automatically buckled himself up.
She smiled again and suddenly the engine revved to life as she gunned it, sending it hurtling into the road.
"How long is the drive?" he asked after getting over the shock of the speed she was using.
"Uh... we should be there in about an hour and a half, two hours."
After watching her drive rapidly for about five minutes, he grew nervous. "Uh... Do you mind if I nap?"
"Oh, no, go ahead," she said, turning sharply into the right lane.
"Er. Yeah." Resting back in the carseat, he tried to sleep but screeching wheels kept him awake.
--------
At about the time that Lilah said, they arrived in the border of Indiana and got out of the car.
"Ok, the crash happened in a small field around here. It shouldn't be hard to find," she said, glancing at a map where the area was marked. "In fact, it's just over there."
J.T. nodded and followed her to the area of scorched, singed grass. "What a mess," he said.
"Yeah." She stopped by a police officer and asked, "What's the nearest city?"
"There's one about a mile from here," he said tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he peered at a small map. "Yup."
"Ok, thanks. Now, we do some real searching. Hospitals and actual homes. Do you have a picture of Colleen on you?"
"Er. Yeah, why?" J.T. asked.
"Well, the Abbotts gave me one and we're going to go around and ask people, 'Have you seen this girl?' Get it?"
"Oh. Yeah," he answered, pulling one out of his pocket.
"Good," she smiled. "Now go. I'll be asking around at the hospital. You check people's houses. We'll meet back here in thirty minutes."
"Ok." After a very quick car ride to the small city, J.T. ran to a house that had a small flag in its window and, knocking on the door, was met by a blonde haired girl with blue eyes.
"Who're you?" she asked, blowing a small bubble out of a wad of gum, before popping it.
"Uh. I'm J.T. and I'm looking for this girl." He pulled out the picture and showed it to her. "Seen her?"
"No," she said, "but you're cute." Giggling, she winked at him.
"Uh. Thanks." He left and she, disappointed, slammed the door. Rolling his eyes, he walked to the second house.
A boy about twelve years old was sitting there.
"Hey, kid, have you seen this girl?" J.T. inquired, sticking Colleen's picture under his nose.
The kid blinked and shook his head. "No."
J.T. sighed. 'Time is running out. I only got twenty more minutes." After walking to at least a dozen more houses-- or so it seemed to him-- he decided that, after he checked out the last house on the street, he would go to the next street and look around. When he tried to go to that house, he suddenly realized that he was almost fifteen minutes late to meeting Lilah. This made him nervous; she seemed like the type who would be really ticked if someone defied her orders. He weighed over whether going to that house and being a little more late or just going on ahead empty handed and still she would be mad at him so what did it matter? He walked on over, onto the porch, and knocked on the door.
Steve answered. "Who are you?"
"I'm, uh, J.T. Hellstrom. I'm here looking for this girl. Have ya seen her?" he asked, holding out the picture.
Steve took once glance at it and then pulled J.T. into the house. "Come on, man!"
'I'll take that as a yes?' J.T. thought as he was pulled into the guest bedroom.
"Colleen, you got a visitor," Steve said excitedly.
Colleen opened her eyes and stared into J.T.'s. "Oh my God." She started blinking hard, recognizing him. "It's you. J.T.!" she cried, jumping off the bed and wrapping her arms around him.
"Colleen!" J.T. gasped, so happy and feeling truly alive again.
"J.T., I was so scared," she sniffed, wiping her eyes. This wasn't a time to feel ashamed, after all.
J.T. also was a little teary but he fought it, hugging her close. "Colleen, your family will be so happy."
"J.T., Mom died."
"I know," he whispered simply. "I know."
Mrs. Williams, who had arrived in time to watch this, wrapped her arms around her son and cried a little too.
J.T. was almost out of breath. Those Abbotts, making Colleen move back to New York! He had to try to stop her. Uncertain of what he could do, he burst through the airport doors and asked the lady at the desk if the plane to New York had departed yet.
After she ran a quick check, she nodded, "Yes, it has." Surprised at the look of sadness on the young man's face, she asked, "Are you ok?"
He simply walked away, feeling very angry with himself...
-----------
As the plane continued going at higher altitudes, Colleen stared out the window, looking dully at the clouds that flowed past the airplane. she looked over at her sleeping mother, sighed and returned to looking at the window. As she thought about J.T., how he had helped her through so many difficult times and how she had helped him through his school work, her thoughts turned into dreams as she fell into sleep. Suddenly, she felt someone shaking her and she mumbled, wanting to return to the dreamworld with J.T., "Mom? Are we landing all ready?"
Traci sounded desperate. "No, honey... The plane is crashing..."
Colleen gasped. "What!?" she exclaimed, sitting up suddenly. Now that she was awake, she heard people screaming and crying. Traci suddenly wrapped her arms around the fifteen year old girl, desperately praying now. "Mom, I'm sorry," Colleen sniffed, "I..."
"No. It's not important, Colleen, I did some things wrong too," Traci sniffed, running her hands through her soft brown hair. A shudder rushed through the airplane and everyone screamed as it started nosediving. "Colleen!" Traci cried. "I love you, baby!"
"I love you, too, Mom!" Colleen sobbed, just before she was knocked unconcious.
As flames licked at the plane, gasoline hit the flames and suddenly it exploded, sending a fireball up the mangled remains of the airplane, cremating all but four people who had been thrown from the airplane.
Revived from the sound of the explosion, Colleen sniffed and looked, blurry-eyed, at the twisted metal that used to be the airplane she was on just an hour ago. "Mom?" she whispered before standing up and running, disoriented, from the crash sight. Just then, another explosion ripped through everything, the force knocking the weak girl down.
------------
In his dark apartment, J.T. Hellstrom was sleeping but right at that moment, he sat up in bed and looked around, gasping from the nightmare he had just had. "Wha... Something happened to Colleen..." he mused, thinking about the dream. It had jolted him so he walked into the living room of his dorm, turning on a thirteen inch TV that rested on a small entertainment center he had. Gripping the remote in his hand, he flipped through different news channels, looking for sport recaps. Pausing, he stared at the headline blinking on CNN. "Airplane crashed in Indiana". Wide eyed, J.T. turned the volume up till he could hear better.
"-- Airplane from Genoa City, going to New York, has crashed in a field in Indiana. Information on this is--" Enraged at himself, and guilty, J.T. flipped the TV off and, grabbing a jacket from a chair, rushed out the door. When he finally arrived at the airport in what felt like ages later, he noticed a lot of people walking along the terminal, worriedly glancing around-- obviously family or friends of the people on the airplane. He stepped toward the flight attendants who were trying to provide information for the families. "Uh... Can you tell me something about the flight that crashed?" he asked a short, brown haired girl with tired green eyes.
She looked at him. "Are you family?"
"No," he answered, blinking.
"Then I can't tell you," she responded.
He turned angrily away and looked out of the window, at the dark, late night sky. "Colleen..." He walked outside and, feeling numb, drove home.
-------------------
The next day, J.T. was feeling too lifeless to even go to school, very sad. He couldn't even get to the airport in time to save his Colleen. If he had driven five miles faster, maybe she would be with him right now. "Ah!" he finally yelled, throwing his remote into the wall.
"Hey! Hellstrom! Keep it down in there!" a neighboring kid yelled, angered at the dent in his wall.
Finally, his dream from the night before came crashing back to him and his eyes widened. "That should've told me... something was wrong.... God, I'm so stupid!"
------
Weakly, Colleen stirred and looked around, shading her eyes from the sun. "Wh- where am I?" she whispered, sitting up painfully. Pain surged over her body and she noticed some burns covering her arms and legs. Frowning, she looked over the scarred field. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she remembered what had happened. "Mom!" she cried, tears streaming down her face. "No! I'm sorry! Oh! I never got... to tell her." Tears glistened down her face but she gathered up her energy and crawled slowly along the grassy field, feeling worse pain throb through her leg. After she had crawled like that for almost a mile, she was extremely relieved to see that she was on the outskirt of a small town. The pain in her leg and every where was growing almost unbearable and she hoped for a hospital but she was in such pain, she crawled towards the first house there. It seemed no one was outside and then she realized why: kids were in school and people were in work, whoever wasn't was probably hiding from this cold weather that was now nipping at her, which she hadn't noticed before because of the pain. She stood up and, limping on her bad right leg, she ran to the nearest house and knocked before her leg gave out and she fell heavily onto the hard, wooden porch.
As she sat there, wincing, a woman with short blonde hair and wide green eyes came to the door, staring down at the girl on her porch. "Oh my! Who are you?" she asked.
"I- I... I'm Colleen. I- I was in the... pla- plane wreck," she gasped, holding her leg. "I... I need help. My..."
"Oh, dear," Mrs. Williams finally interrupted, "you don't mean the one that's on the news? STEVE! Get in here!"
The boy who was probably Steve ran into the room. He looked like his mom a lot, with her blonde hair and green eyes, and a tall, skinny form. "Yeah, Ma?"
"Pick her up, please, and carry her to the guest bedroom."
"Who is she?" he inquired, doing as she commanded.
"Colleen. She was in the plane wreck just a mile away from here."
---------
A little later, J.T. sat in the coffee house, almost hoping to get drunk on the coffee. It was really weird to watch everyone go on like their lives hadn't changed when his had-- so very drastically. Finally he couldn't take it any more and, throwing some money at Cody, left hurriedly. When he arrived at the college, he was persuaded inwardly to turn on the news and bury himself in it again. Taking a deep breath, he finally did it, in time for breaking news; the fact that the black box had been found and DNA testing was beginning on what remains had been found. After watching non-stop for about an hour, he rubbed his eyes and sat back a little further, feeling very tired. "Colleen," he murmured, half asleep.
He stood in a dark hall that soon he recognized as the Abbott household. Squinting, he looked ahead through the darkness but then a bright glow hit it all and he winced, covering his eyes.
"J.T.," a voice said.
He immediately felt lighter, like everything bad had fallen away from his life. "Colleen!?"
"It's your fault, J.T.," she whispered hoarsely, her ghost form appearing more noticeable.
"What? No! I tried, I did, I wanted..."
"Yeah, sure. You wanted. You tried, but you didn't!" she yelled and he finally realized he could see through her.
"You're a ghost."
"Of course I'm a ghost! Because you didn't even try to stop me, both Mom and I died!"
J.T. gasped. "You, you don't mean that, Coll--"
"Yes I do!"
J.T. shook his head and gasped as he suddenly woke up, his heart pounding. "Don't blame me..."
--------
In the Williams' house, Colleen sat up, yawning and rubbing her blurry eyes. "Hmm." She rotated her leg, almost expecting to feel sharp pain,but it was just a dull ache now, still noticeable but not too bad. As she rubbed it, she was relieved. At least her dancing wouldn't be affected. Sitting back on the soft pillows that covered the top of the bed, she thought sadly of her mother. 'I'm sorry.... Mom...' Suddenly she thought of dancing again and remembered how J.T. had come to her dance.
Flashback:
"Hey," he said, walking up to her.
"J.T.! What are you doing here?" she gasped, turning to him.
"Well, you did invite me to this."
"Yeah," she sighed. "Too bad my family couldn't come and see it."
"What, your dad didn't even come?"
"He- he was probably busy," she fibbed anxiously.
"Oh. Well, that's ok," he said, smirking as he pulled out a camcorder.
"You... You recorded my dance?" she asked, grinning giddily.
"Yeah, it was no big deal, I just happened to have this thing with me."
"Oh, yeah," she agreed, smiling knowingly.
End flashback.
"J.T., I hope you aren't worrying."
------
J.T. spent another few hours of restlessness, laying in his bed as he thought everything over. Groaning, he finally got up and held his head for a few minutes before grabbing some regular clothes. A couple of minutes later, he was fully dressed and on his way to the airport. He just couldn't stand staying in his dorm any longer.
"What's he doing here again?" Brad hissed as they sat around the airport, John and Ashley next to him.
"I wouldn't know," John said.
"He's probably here to cause trouble or act like he actually cares about my daughter," the man said.
"Brad, stop. Just stay here, he's not hurting anyone," Ashley whispered, trying to calm her husband.
"Oh, sure," he whispered back. "If he had just left Colleen alone, she would be ALIVE now, Ash."
Ashley sat back and glanced over at J.T., who was only a few feet away. She knew he had heard and there was a look in his eyes that surprised her; a mix of grief, guilt and terror swirled in those dark orbs.
--------
A few days passed in which J.T. remained in his numb state, just barely there in whatever classes he actually remembered to take. Colleen was no better; she had realized she had partial amnesia and couldn't remember her family's last name or where they lived. She also remembered some faces that had no names.
On the next Monday, J.T. sat at the airport, waiting for the Carltons to return. The DNA tests were to be finished today. He clutched a styro foam cup filled with water in his hand, not noticing that his death grip on it was causing it to rush over the table top like a tidal wave.
Finally, the Carltons arrived and they stared momentarilly at him until finally Ashley whispered something to Brad and walked over. "Hello, J.T.," she said formally.
"Hi," he said nervously and worriedly. "What did the DNA test say?"
"Well, it was an extensive test, since Colleen's and Traci's DNA would be similar, but... It came out positive"-- J.T. sucked in a deep breath-- "for Traci's. Colleen... Nothing was found on her."
"Then she-- she's alive," he gasped happily.
"Well, maybe. Or her remains are... so... destroyed, they can't tell."
J.T. shook his head, "She's alive. She's gotta be."
Ashley stared at him. "You really care for her, don't you?"
"Well, yeah," he said. "She's different from everyone else I know."
Ashley nodded and stood up, patting him on the arm, before returning to Brad.
'Where are you, Col?' J.T. thought.
--------
Sitting in her soft bed, Colleen stared at a map of the areas around Indiana, wanting badly to remember where she had lived. Her finger ran over Illinois, Wisconsin, and Kentucky as she tried harder to remember. Returning to Wisconsin, she stared at it for a minute.
Steve walked in then, looking down at the map. "What's this, geography class?"
"You could say that," she said, smiling. "Actually, I'm trying to remember where I lived before..." she frowned, "before the plane crash."
"I could help," he offered, sitting next to her.
She was about to say ok when suddenly a happy feeling of peace passed over her. "Steve... I think something's happening... Something good.... But... what?"
--------
"Listen, we'll hire someone to look for Colleen. A P.I. who could look for her, if she's alive," Brad said, also having the perrogative that his little girl was alive.
"Yes, but right now, we must plan the memorial service for Traci," John said softly, his eyes showing the pain that was in his heart right now.
"Uh... Excuse me?" J.T. asked suddenly, walking up to them.
Ashley looked surprised and Brad just clearly glared at the young man but then John stepped forward and stared at him momentarily. "What do you want, Mr. Hellstrom?"
"I- Well, I overheard you mention sending a P.I. to look for Colleen. Could I go with, to help? If he finds her, well, I think she should see a familiar face, don't you?"
"Not yours," Brad hissed and Ashley rested her hand on his arm as a kind of silent beg for him to calm down.
John glanced at Brad before turning back to J.T. "We can't go there. You are correct, she should see a familiar face. If it's ok with her father, you may go."
Brad sighed and crossed his arms as he thought about it. Ashley whispered to him, trying to convince him to let it go this one time.
"Fine!" he said finally, "Just go!"
Satisfied, he quickly left, not wanting to anger the Abbotts anymore.
-----
The next afternoon, Colleen sat in a straw rocking chair, resting her foot on a soft ottoman as she peered relentlessly at the map placed over her knees.
When Mrs. Williams walked in, she smiled down at Colleen. "Do... you want to look at the newspaper? Your airplane crash made it..."
Colleen stared up at her, swallowing hard. "No, thanks, Mrs. Williams."
"Ok, sweety, I understand." She sat down on the couch next to Colleen and stared at the map. "Any luck? You tackling that evil memory of yours yet?"
"No... I still can't remember anything."
"You will soon, don't worry."
--------
J.T. stared at the Private Investigator. "Uh...."
"Hello. I'm P.I. Delilah Kinkade." She flipped her long, red hair behind her back and smiled at J.T. through perfectly applied lipstick. She was about early thirties, later twenties and was pretty good looking.
"Uh. Hi. I'm J.T. Hellstrom."
"Colleen's friend?" she asked automatically. "Yes, it is a tragedy, but hopefully we'll be able to make the pain a little easier on the Carltons, right?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Oh, call me Lilah," she requested, smiling again.
"Ok, Lilah," he said uncomfortably.
"Now let's go," she urged, climbing into her car.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"To the site of the crash, in Indiana. If you don't mind, we'll be taking my car. I never trusted airplanes or anything that I, myself, had no control over." She had to have control over everything.
"Oh. Yes, M- Lilah." He climbed in and automatically buckled himself up.
She smiled again and suddenly the engine revved to life as she gunned it, sending it hurtling into the road.
"How long is the drive?" he asked after getting over the shock of the speed she was using.
"Uh... we should be there in about an hour and a half, two hours."
After watching her drive rapidly for about five minutes, he grew nervous. "Uh... Do you mind if I nap?"
"Oh, no, go ahead," she said, turning sharply into the right lane.
"Er. Yeah." Resting back in the carseat, he tried to sleep but screeching wheels kept him awake.
--------
At about the time that Lilah said, they arrived in the border of Indiana and got out of the car.
"Ok, the crash happened in a small field around here. It shouldn't be hard to find," she said, glancing at a map where the area was marked. "In fact, it's just over there."
J.T. nodded and followed her to the area of scorched, singed grass. "What a mess," he said.
"Yeah." She stopped by a police officer and asked, "What's the nearest city?"
"There's one about a mile from here," he said tiredly, rubbing his eyes as he peered at a small map. "Yup."
"Ok, thanks. Now, we do some real searching. Hospitals and actual homes. Do you have a picture of Colleen on you?"
"Er. Yeah, why?" J.T. asked.
"Well, the Abbotts gave me one and we're going to go around and ask people, 'Have you seen this girl?' Get it?"
"Oh. Yeah," he answered, pulling one out of his pocket.
"Good," she smiled. "Now go. I'll be asking around at the hospital. You check people's houses. We'll meet back here in thirty minutes."
"Ok." After a very quick car ride to the small city, J.T. ran to a house that had a small flag in its window and, knocking on the door, was met by a blonde haired girl with blue eyes.
"Who're you?" she asked, blowing a small bubble out of a wad of gum, before popping it.
"Uh. I'm J.T. and I'm looking for this girl." He pulled out the picture and showed it to her. "Seen her?"
"No," she said, "but you're cute." Giggling, she winked at him.
"Uh. Thanks." He left and she, disappointed, slammed the door. Rolling his eyes, he walked to the second house.
A boy about twelve years old was sitting there.
"Hey, kid, have you seen this girl?" J.T. inquired, sticking Colleen's picture under his nose.
The kid blinked and shook his head. "No."
J.T. sighed. 'Time is running out. I only got twenty more minutes." After walking to at least a dozen more houses-- or so it seemed to him-- he decided that, after he checked out the last house on the street, he would go to the next street and look around. When he tried to go to that house, he suddenly realized that he was almost fifteen minutes late to meeting Lilah. This made him nervous; she seemed like the type who would be really ticked if someone defied her orders. He weighed over whether going to that house and being a little more late or just going on ahead empty handed and still she would be mad at him so what did it matter? He walked on over, onto the porch, and knocked on the door.
Steve answered. "Who are you?"
"I'm, uh, J.T. Hellstrom. I'm here looking for this girl. Have ya seen her?" he asked, holding out the picture.
Steve took once glance at it and then pulled J.T. into the house. "Come on, man!"
'I'll take that as a yes?' J.T. thought as he was pulled into the guest bedroom.
"Colleen, you got a visitor," Steve said excitedly.
Colleen opened her eyes and stared into J.T.'s. "Oh my God." She started blinking hard, recognizing him. "It's you. J.T.!" she cried, jumping off the bed and wrapping her arms around him.
"Colleen!" J.T. gasped, so happy and feeling truly alive again.
"J.T., I was so scared," she sniffed, wiping her eyes. This wasn't a time to feel ashamed, after all.
J.T. also was a little teary but he fought it, hugging her close. "Colleen, your family will be so happy."
"J.T., Mom died."
"I know," he whispered simply. "I know."
Mrs. Williams, who had arrived in time to watch this, wrapped her arms around her son and cried a little too.