AN: Sorry to leave everyone hanging like that. I'll try to get the next chapter posted rather quickly for you guys. I'm still changing things right up until I post each chapter, so sometimes it takes a bit longer. Thanks for hanging with me on this adventure.

Chapter 7

The following morning, Elizabeth found herself sitting on the steps of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library, Central branch waiting for it to open. It was the biggest of all of the libraries in the local Charlottesville system and she hoped that their librarians could be of assistance to her. Normally, she would go to the library on campus, but they were closed to the public for the duration of break and this was time sensitive.

When the doors opened, Elizabeth made her way to the reference desk and she explained her situation. "I need any newspaper articles from Pittsburgh referencing the death of a boy named Tommy, or maybe Thomas, Williams and his mother Anna. I'm thinking it would have happened between the years of 1974 and 1982. What do you think the best way to find that information would be?"

Elizabeth was always amazed at the resourcefulness of librarians. Within 30 minutes, one Mrs. MacDugan had contacted the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and spoke with someone who actually remembered the particular incident in question and was able, within just a few minutes, to narrow down the time frame. The person in Pittsburgh made copies of the newspaper microfilm regarding the incident and was having them mailed to Charlottesville. Elizabeth was even able to pay the difference to have them overnighted to the library, so she could have them the following day. Based on Henry's reaction, he wasn't going to willingly be able to tell her himself, so she decided to find out on her own.

Henry lay curled up in bed, eyes still wide open, the sun creeping over the roofs of the buildings across the Quad and into his room. He hadn't slept. Henry had spent the night reliving that January morning nearly ten years ago and the days that followed. His stomach churned and he pushed down the bile that had risen in his throat. He'd known bringing up Tommy was a bad idea. He knew Elizabeth would keep asking. She would find out what a horrible person he was and how he should've been the one to die and not Tommy. Tommy was loved. Tommy was wanted. Henry could've died instead and Tommy's family would've been kept in tact. No one would have cared if Henry had died. Henry released a shuddering breath. It was so unfair. So many awful things happened and it was all his fault.

Henry remembered spending those days after the accident praying that God take him in place of Tommy. He sighed at the naivety of his ten year old self, thinking that he could trade places with a dead person. Then there was Anna. That was a whole different kind of pain. Maybe a week had passed when he finally figured out how to break out of the closet his mother had locked him in. Henry grimaced now at the thought of how he must have looked and probably smelled after so many days sitting with his own excrement. He wasn't aware of that though. His only thought was to get to Anna. After climbing from the second story window, falling from a decent height and twisting his ankle, he hobbled to their front porch and knocked. When she opened the door, Henry hugged her, mumbling his apologies through sobs. "I know," was all she was able to get out before her husband came up behind her.

"You little son of a bitch," he screamed, yanking Henry away from his wife by the collar of his shirt. "This is all your fault." He tossed Henry down the front porch steps and Henry landed hard on his shoulder on the sidewalk. "It should've been you," the distraught man screamed, glaring at him.

Henry lay on the frozen ground, tears dripping onto the sidewalk, whispering, "I know. I wish it was. If I could take his place, I would."

Anna pulled her husband back by the waist and herded him toward the door. When he was inside, she turned to Henry. "It's alright. Go on home Henry."

Picking himself up off the sidewalk, he trudged, limping, into his house, past his mother who started screaming at him and back up to the closet, where he stepped inside and shut the door.

The next day, Vivian ripped Henry from the closet and shoved him against the window. "Look what you've done," she growled. Henry could see the ambulance parked in front of the Williamses' home, lights still flashing. Henry was confused. He didn't understand and then they brought the gurney out of the house with a person on it. The person was covered with a sheet, but Henry could see Anna's long brown locks hanging off the edge. He shuddered. Mr. Williams followed and stood stoically on the porch.

"What happened?" Henry asked.

"You killed her," Vivian spat as she grabbed him by the hair and bashed his skull into the window sash. The pain exploded in his head and everything turned to black as Henry crumpled to the floor.

Henry pushed himself up on an elbow and looked out the window across the Quad, his cheeks wet with tears. He was at the heart of so much sadness, and now Elizabeth was wrapped up with him. He needed to tell her. Somehow, he hoped that he could escape this part of his past, but he realized that it wasn't possible. He would tell her and she would go her own way and that would be the end of this story.

He rolled out of bed and pulled his running shoes on. He needed a long run to deal with this pain.

Elizabeth pulled back into the parking lot around noon and went to Henry's room to check in, but he wasn't there. She left a note on his bulletin board and headed back over to her room hoping that he would stop by later.

Henry spent most of his day running, trying to outrun his demons and on some level it worked. He only came home to shower before heading into work. Henry saw Elizabeth's note and he felt guilty. "I came by to check on you. Come see me," and she'd signed it E with a heart around it. Henry sighed and left it, going to take his shower. He went to work and had thought that he might go by and see Elizabeth when he got home. Then, when he made it to the Quad, Henry saw her light on and he just couldn't bring himself to face her. His shoulders slumped, he slogged to his room and fell into his bed, drifting into a fitful sleep.

Elizabeth waited all evening for Henry to come by. He didn't, and Elizabeth was at a loss. She wasn't sure if he was still upset or angry at her for bringing it up or embarrassed or what. She hoped she'd have more answers tomorrow after she got the newspaper articles from Pittsburgh.

Henry tossed and turned as he dreamed about that day. It came only in small bits, slivers of scenes. His warnings. The silence on the ice. The cold. "Tommmmmmyyyyyy," he screamed and shot out of bed, drenched in sweat. Checking the clock, he saw that it was nearly 7. He might as well get up and run.

Elizabeth had just come out of the bathroom and entered her room when she looked out the window and caught sight of Henry headed out on his run. She sighed. She had hoped he would come and see her. Elizabeth yawned. She hadn't slept well, both because of worry about Henry and fear about what the newspaper articles would say. They wouldn't arrive until around noon, so there was no sense in going before lunch. The anticipation was making her nauseous. She had no idea what she'd find. Could it be that Henry had done something that contributed to his friend Tommy and Anna's deaths? A large part of her thought that there was no way, but he had already mentioned abuse in his family, so she supposed it was possible. She shook her head to physically rid herself of the thoughts. Speculation wasn't going to help her. She would find out whatever it was and then deal with it.

The steady pounding of Henry's feet hitting the concrete helped calm him. The combination of the sound and rhythmic jarring of his body were desperately needed. He felt like he was splintering into thousands of pieces and it all centered around Elizabeth. Henry let out a ragged breath just thinking of her. He wanted to make something meaningful with her, but he thought of his own brokenness and couldn't see past it. How could he ever make her happy? What could he offer her? He knew nothing of how to be a good boyfriend, or even how to be a good man. He had no examples, even in Tommy's family, Mr. Williams didn't seem like a man that Henry wanted to emulate. He was loving to Thomas, and occasionally Anna, but he saw how she shied away from him or quieted, avoiding confrontation. He didn't want Elizabeth to do that. He knew who he wanted to be, he just had no idea how to make that happen.

His lungs burned and his body ached. It wasn't the kind of pain he really needed, but it helped some. Looking around, he was close to ten miles away from campus. He turned back. He was going to be exhausted, but at least there would be no question about his miles for the week.

Elizabeth puttered around her room until she couldn't stand it any longer and decided she would try going to the mall for a while. She wasn't a shopper, but needed something to pass the time. She went ahead while she was out, and returned the movie Henry rented and found another movie she was interested in watching while she was there. She grabbed a bite to eat at a local diner and meandered around until it was close enough to time that she headed to the library to see what was in the mail.

Once at the library, she flopped down in a leather chair and patiently waited for the mail carrier to arrive. She flipped through several magazines, looked around, and finally picked up a book to read over the rest of break.

When the mail carrier entered the building, it was all Elizabeth could do to keep from tackling him. She let the reference librarian take the letters and packages and tried not to eavesdrop on their amiable conversation. "Get on with it," she thought, but said nothing and finally, the woman turned to Elizabeth.

"This looks like what you are waiting for," the lady said. Elizabeth smiled, nodded and took the envelope, retreating back to her chair to pour over the contents. She pulled the stack of papers out, which was much thicker than she imagined. Her eyes took in the bold print of the headline and they grew wide.

She quickly flipped through the stack and she suddenly stopped and her heart sank when she read the name Anna Williams. She closed her eyes and whispered, "Oh my God." Quickly, she gathered everything back up and stuffed it into the mailer.

"I hope you found what you were looking for Miss Adams," the reference librarian said as Elizabeth passed in front of the desk.

"I know everything I need to know," she said, still reeling from what she'd read. She turned to the woman, who now had a puzzled look. Elizabeth smiled. "Thank you for your help." With that, she dashed down the outside steps and raced to her car, determined to confront Henry about what happened with Tommy, whether he wanted to or not.