Jeanette

They sat dangling their legs in the creek, a companionable silence Jeanette never would have imagined possible yesterday enveloping them. Kate passed her another beer from the cooler.

"What's college like?" Jeanette asked softly.

"It's good. Freeing. I never realized there would be people of all ages, not just fresh out of high school. People who had to put off finishing to raise their kids, to work. People from other countries hoping to make their dreams come true here. I'm not Kate the girl who was kidnapped there. I'm not the stepdaughter of Rod Wallis either. For the first time in my life, I'm just Kate, a blank slate waiting to be written on."

"That sounds great. I'm glad all that Wallis cash is going where it should, putting you through college. None of it should have come to me."

"You had every right to sue for damages, Jeanette. You were damaged by all the shit that was said about you, everything that was alleged. Think of Rod's money as a fresh start, for both of us."

"Suing was never my idea. Nothing has changed for me. I'm still the local pariah."

"Not for long. You have allies in the most unlikely places."

"Oh yeah?" snorted Jeanette. "Well, besides you now-"

"Like Angela, your dad's girlfriend."

"Ex girlfriend."

"And I know why."

"Why?"

"She ratted him out. Got him to confess his part in my abduction. Recorded it. That's why she left Skylin."

Jeanette shot to her feet, grimacing as a rock tore into her heel. "My dad? What are you saying?"

"Want to hear it for yourself?"

"Just tell me, Kate!"

Kate tucked a swatch of blonde hair behind one ear. "Do you remember making a second wish on your birthday, Jeanette? Blowing out a second candle after telling your dad you'd never be pretty or popular?"

Jeanette sat back down shakily. "Yeah. How do you know about that?"

"Your dad told Angela the only way to make that wish come true for his baby girl was to eliminate the competition. And along with his other cohorts, he did. Removing me from the equation left you free to blossom, to take what I had supposedly left behind. Everyone assumed I was dead, so no harm, no foul, right?"

"Oh my God," breathed Jeanette. A broken sound tore from her, like a wounded animal about to be pulled from a trap, a warning and a sob of grief at the same time.

"I've got the recording when you're ready to listen. I know it's a lot to process. I had to do the same, when I found out my own parents involvement."

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Kate reached out and pulled a section of Jeanette's hair gently through her fingers. "I'm glad you let your hair grow back. It looks much better."

"Why?" wailed Jeanette in despair.

"I got a little too close to their truths, and their lies. Their affairs. It would have ruined them, ruined the illusion they had crafted with such care. Kate had to go until she learned to keep her mouth shut. Mama didn't have the guts to have me killed outright, so Mr. Harris' basement was the best option. He agreed to it wholeheartedly, of course. He was eager to teach me a few lessons, but you already know most of it. Some, I have still never told anyone."

"Jesus," Jeanette wheezed.

"Yeah, get religion," Kate drawled. "It might be the only hope we have to keep our sanity this summer."

"Who else?" Jeanette asked woodenly.

"You're not ready to hear that yet. Digest all this first. We can't be seen together." A beat passed. "You can't let your dad know what you know, not until we get confessions from my mom and Rod, and the others. Mr. Harris is conveniently absent, but the rest are going down. Still with me, Jeanette? We can clear your name and I can get justice, but it's gonna hurt like hell before it's over."

"It already does."

"You have your own place now, so you can avoid your dad for the most part."

Jeanette nodded, a tear dangling from her eyelashes. She swatted it angrily away. She felt like she had a fever from some wasting disease that was eating the flesh from her bones, and not slowly.

"I'll contact you with the next phase of the plan."

"How?"

"Leave that to me." Kate rose, brushing dirt from her jeans. They hauled the cooler to her truck, loading it into the back, and stowed the rifles on her gun rack. They rode in silence until they reached the outskirts of town, Kate navigating the back roads to stay out of sight, disrupting pickup basketball games and kids pushing toy trucks through the dirt.

Kate left Jeanette in the parking lot of a half empty strip mall, her face hidden behind big sunglasses, hair tucked under a red baseball cap. Jeanette watched as she sped off, clouds of dust rising in her wake, clouds that lingered aimlessly like Jeanette did. Her legs felt like jello when she finally began walking toward home. The world had just spun off its axis, and there was no one around to see it but her.

What if this is all a ruse? What if Kate is sucking me in just to get even? Both our families were destroyed by what happened to her, and to me...Jeanette stumbled, crying out. The only way to know was to follow Kate's lead into the dark. She thought of the light from that one birthday candle, that one wish, the chain reaction that had followed. Maybe this was her chance to make it right. She had wished daily, hourly, that she could go back in time to the days of nerdy braces, frizzy hair, the soft light of her safe bedroom, but it had never been safe, had it? Her own father had been ruthless enough to try and destroy any obstacles to her happiness, and look what it had gotten him, a harvest of bitterness and contempt, a life in the shadows. Her brother was all he lived for now. He might as well have put her in the basement with Kate.

Jeanette was no stranger to feeling like an emotional orphan, but this was an all new level. She would have to adjust fast if she were to be any use to Kate. There were miles yet to walk, and she let her thoughts spin out until her head was quiet again.