Louise felt as if she had been punched square in the gut, tears were beginning to sting her eyes, and she was struggling to get air. She could not believe what she was hearing. Tina was trying to hug her, Linda was sobbing in Bob's arms, G.G. just sat in the booth completely dumbfounded. This was all just some sick joke. A twisted payback for her years of pranks. Jessica was getting better. She had just had scans a few weeks ago and they were clear. How could the leukemia be back? How could it be so aggressive she could not withstand more treatment? When she was fine six weeks ago. She knew cancer could spread fast, but she didn't think it could be that fast. She felt herself fighting her way out of Tina's hug and the next thing she knew she was running down Ocean Avenue. She heard her family calling after her, but she ignored them. She had one mission in mind. She needed to get to Jessica and prove that she was not dying. She raced down the familiar path to her best not Rudy friend's house. She found herself on the front porch banging on the front door screaming Jessica's name. Nobody came but maybe she was lying down. She was getting better but she still tired easily. She raced around to the other side of the house. To the tree that stood just outside of Jessica's window. The tree they used to scamper up and down in the glorious fifteen months they had of friendship before leukemia took over. Even after the illness struck Louise would climb the tree to hang out with Jessica on the days, she was too weak to play. She remembered their talks and learning sign language for the days when she was supposed to be being quiet. She remembered the notes and morse code that were alternatives when the cancer caused Jessica pain in her hands. She remembered Tina using her babysitting money to buy her a phone when Jessica went in for her bone marrow transplant and had to live in isolation for most of a year. She remembered the last text she received before Jessica ghosted her.
"Two weeks and I am back. Wagstaff better be ready because I've been pent up for two years and we are graduating this year. I am going big because I am sick of being home."
"We are going to get Frond soooo good this year! Especially without RS Rudy to mother hen us. Hey, my mom is taking us to school shopping tomorrow. Tina and G.G (That's what Gene wants to be called this week.) are going to make the process drag on forever. I am sure that you will need clothes after home and hospital schooling for the past two years. See if your mom will let you come with us."
"I don't know. I mean I need new clothes, but I have been feeling like shit the past couple of days. Then again, I am trying to keep my mom from finding out. Ever since the leukemia I have to go to the hospital if I so much as sneeze. I am over it."
"Aren't you cured?"
"Not for another four and a half years and I still have my port. So, it's still hospital protocol. Just text me in the morning."
"Hey Jessica! My mom said it was OK as long as it's OK with your mom."
"We are leaving at two."
"Are you in?"
"Jessica it's two o'clock I need an answer. My mom said we could wait a little while but Tina and G.G. are getting antsy."
"Come on, Jessica it's two thirty. Mom said if we don't have an answer in five minutes we are leaving anyway."
"We just left. Why have you been ignoring me? Mom, Tina, and G.G. are mad at me and so is my dad. Now we may not get back in time for the dinner rush."
"I am not mad anymore. Hot Topic had this HUGE sale on Kuchi Kopi merch. G.G. has been babysitting Crotch Kicking Kid Kendra since Tammy got a job at Sephora and Tina went part time at Fresh Feed. Anyway, they have their own money for the first time in ever and they went crazy. Their style choice resembles the closet in Barbie's Dream House. Tina actually bought some cool clothes but that wasn't the weird part. My mom insisted on looking at the baby stuff. We all went along but Tina just seemed really weird. She started crying and then ran off."
"Jessica?"
She read the texts over and over again standing under the tree. There were all those from the first day and umpteen more, but Jessica never responded. She sent one last text. "What is going on Jessica? You have been ignoring me the past two weeks. Now my family is saying that the leukemia is back, and you are dying. How crazy is that? Anyway, text me back ASAP. So, we can put these idiotic rumors to bed." Before shoving her phone into her pocket and scampering up the tree. She peaked through the window and her heart sank. The room was completely dark except for the dim glow of the nightlight Jessica had in her closet. That gave her enough light to see the unmade bed and soiled pajamas that were scattered on the floor. Dejectedly Louise climbed back down the tree praying that there was another explanation. For the longest time she sat alone in the tree, her eyes fixed on Jessica's empty room. She thought it was bad when Rudy moved four hours away, but at least she could see him again. She wasn't sure where heaven was, but she knew it was more than four hours away. She thought about the song on one of the old records that had belonged to Grandma Lily. One of the ones that Bob would play every year on the anniversary of her death it was called "How Far Away Is Heaven." Bob always cried when he heard that one. Grandma Lily died of cancer and now Jessica was dying of cancer. It was not fair. Tears spilled from her eyes watering the grass beneath her.
This was not the first time Louise had run away over the years. The Belchers had gotten used to it by now. They knew when she got in one of those moods it was best to just let her go. She would always be home in time for dinner. Mostly she would just run around the block a few times. Sometimes she would just go to the pier and watch the ocean. Sometimes she went to the wharf, but she always came home on her own. Until this time. She had not returned home when Linda went upstairs to cook dinner. Still, they did not think much of it. She had just received the most shattering news of her young life. She had a lot to work through. Then dinner time came, and she was still not home. Now they were staring to worry.
"She still hasn't come home?" Linda gasped upon seeing only Bob, Tina, and G.G. at the table.
"No, I was hoping she had come up here." Bob sighed.
"This was not like her. She never disappears this long without calling us." Tina recalled.
"What if she is. I mean what if she…" G.G. rambled.
"She isn't dead! At least I hope not." Bob assured saying the last part under his breath.
"We need to call the police." Linda declared.
Tina paced around her room in complete panic. This could not be happening. She should not have let Louise go. She should have at least chased after her or at least said something assuring after dropping that bombshell. Everybody knew Louise was going to crumble upon hearing that Jessica was terminal. She had the strength to break the news. She should have had the foresight to comfort. Then maybe Bob and Linda wouldn't be in the living room talking to police officers. Maybe G.G. wouldn't be huddled in their doorway under their blanket rocking back and forth and crying. She had to do something and fast, but what could she do? Before she ran out of the living room, she heard one of the officers say something about calling friends and getting the word out. Bob and Linda had already called Benj, Megan, Kayley, Arnold, and Pocket-Sized Rudy's families. They had even called Sylvester and nothing. That was all Louise's friends. Aside from poor Jessica but she was still in the hospital and her parents were not answering. It was time to search but that could take hours. Her phone vibrated on her desk. Maybe none of Louise's friends had seen her but maybe one of her or G.G.'s friends had seen her. She grabbed her phone and opened the Huxley High App. There was a chat section that could contact the whole school. She opened that part and began frantically typing.
Zeke groaned as he rolled over on his rickety bed. His stepmom Cheryl had taken over the Petalphile when he was in the eighth grade. She had bought it from the mother of her AA sponsor shortly after marrying Zeke's dad. His dad had opened a mechanic shop with his uncle. Things were definitely better than when they finally settled in Seymour's Bay after his dad met Cheryl, but money was still tight and he preferred to do without, so Brooke and Olivia could have better things. He was used to roughing it, but Brooke had, had things way harder and he genuinely wanted Olivia to have a better life than he did. Still sometimes he wished he had a newer bed or at least a better mattress. His phone buzzed it was something from the school app. A school wide text alert. He moaned again assuming it was some bullshit. Somebody trying to knock out the entire summer reading list in one night or already needing help on homework. Then again Mr. Jim the AP Chemistry teacher was the king of all hardasses. He already hated Zeke and Zeke wanted to prove himself. He checked the text on the off chance it was chemistry related. It was not. It was from Tina Belcher. Louise was missing.
"Holy fucking shit!" Zeke cried.
"Watch your language, Ezekial!" Cheryl called knocking on the door.
"Sorry it's an emergency." Zeke apologized.
"What's wrong?" Cheryl asked getting out of bed and making her way to his room.
"Tina's sister, Louise is missing." Zeke replied.
The Belcher family split up and began searching for Louise throughout Seymour's Bay. Tina was beyond relieved when Zeke responded to her alert on the Huxley App and agreed to help the family search for the youngest Belcher. Brooke was at work but promised to help in the search if Louise was still MIA when she got off work. Dillion and Susmita were searching as well along with a few others, but Zeke had insisted on being with Tina.
"And ya checked everywhere?" Zeke asked.
"All her friends. Nobody has seen her. Well Jessica's parents didn't reply but they are at the hospital." Tina replied.
"God that's the worst." Zeke whispered.
"I wouldn't wish cancer on anyone and I sure as hell am glad that it is not anybody in my family. It's not like I want it to be one of my friends but God, I hate that this is happening to Louise's best friend. It was bad enough when Rudy moved. Especially given how much his mom dislikes Louise but they can still talk. Jessica is dying. Louise may never see her alive again. It's not fair." Tina sobbed.
"I know. I never got as close to Louise as I did you or Ge uh what are they goin' by now?" Zeke wondered.
"G.G. but they change it pretty often. It's all part of the process." Tina replied.
"I know I never got as close to Louise as you or G.G., but she doesn't deserve this, and Jessica definitely doesn't deserve to be dyin.' If I could I would take her cancer and put it in my own body." Zeke replied.
"I feel the same way." Tina confessed.
"Nah Louise would be a wreck if she lost you or G.G." Zeke commented.
"Do you believe in heaven, Zeke?" Tina asked.
"Yeah, don't you?" Zeke questioned.
"Of course, I do but sometimes when death is so close. It scares me to think it isn't real." Tina explained.
"Yeah, I felt the same way when my grandma died. Didja feel that way when your grandpa died?" Zeke questioned.
"Yeah, but it wasn't so bad because we were never close. Then Grandma Lily died before I was born, and I only met my Uncle Earnie twice and I was pretty small both times. So, besides Grandpa Al, Jessica is the first person I've really known who died and she is the first young person. Well Pedro but I don't even know if somebody like Pedro would go to heaven." Tina rambled.
"Who was Pedro?" Zeke asked.
"My baby" Tina whispered.
"Baby? I thought ya said it was just a scare." Zeke recalled.
"That's what I told everybody, but I was pregnant. It was early. I was late last spring. Jimmy and I had sex one night, but I was on antibiotics for an abscessed tooth, and my birth control didn't work. Jimmy said he had a condom on, but he didn't. I called him out and he started screaming at me and told me it was over. It came out of left field. Because I thought we were doing great. A few weeks later I realized I was late. I took a test, and it said I was pregnant. I told Jimmy the next day and he freaked out. He made me take another test in front of him. That one was negative. He accused me of trying to trap him. I posed anonymously in this pregnancy group my mom never left. They said it was common to get erratic tests early on and suggested I get a blood test. I got Susmita to drive me to the free clinic because she is the only person I know with her own car, and I knew if I tried to borrow my parents' car. G.G. and Louise would want to go along, and I didn't have an excuse. I got the blood test, and it was positive, but my hormone levels were lower than they should be for how far along I would have been. They did an ultrasound my baby was there, but it was still and a week behind. They gave me something to pass the fetus and I said it was a false alarm. When I began miscarrying at home a few days later I told my family it was my period." Tina explained.
"Oh My God! I am so sorry!" Zeke cried.
"I never knew he was alive, but I loved him. Now Grandpa Al is dead, and Jessica is dying. Louise is missing and for all we know she is dead. I wanted my baby to have friends in heaven but not like this." Tina sobbed.
"Firstly, Louise is not dead. Secondly this is not because you prayed for Pedro to have friends. My dad says people die in threes." Zeke explained.
"But I saw Pedro. He was not a person. He didn't even have a real heartbeat. I read that early it is just some electrical response or something. I loved him but he was not a person yet. Louise is a person and if people die in threes. How do I know it's not her?" Tina asked.
"Because Louise is not dead. She is just grieving." Zeke assured.
Louise did not notice how much time had passed until she saw the headlights shining in her face. She yawned and checked her phone. It was almost eleven o'clock at night! Suddenly she was painfully aware of her parched lips, growling stomach, and bursting bladder. The car was in the driveway it was Jessica's parents. That ruined her dropping her underwear, lifting her dress, and peeing down the tree. Shakily she climbed down the tree. Begging her bladder to hold with each step.
"Whose there?" Jessica's dad demanded.
"It's me Mr. Harper." Louise admitted.
"Louise? What are you doing here?" Jessica's mom asked.
"Currently trying not to pee myself." Louise admitted.
"Come inside and use the bathroom but we have to talk as soon as you are done." Jessica's dad replied.
Louise ran into the house ahead of Jessica's parents. She tore into the half bath off Jessica's kitchen. Siting down just in the nick of time. She finished, flushed, and washed her hands. Jessica's parents were waiting for her in the living room. She prayed they were not mad.
"Why are you here?" Jessica's mom asked.
"They told me about Jessica today. I didn't believe it. Because Jessica swore, she would keep me updated and then she just ghosted me." Louise sighed.
"I have had Jessica's phone since she went into the ICU. I saw all the texts. I am sorry for leaving you hanging. It took a few days to process what we learned. Jessica was in denial for a while. Then she didn't want the world to know. Until last night when she realized that people would be wondering where she was today. I emailed the school, and they were supposed to make an announcement today but then she worried about how you would react hearing the news via Ms. Labonz over a loudspeaker. She insisted your parents tell you in person before the news went public. We wanted to tell you ourselves, but she was really bad today and we couldn't leave her." Jessica's mom explained.
"I just don't get it why did the transplant not work?" Louise asked.
"AML is aggressive Louise and Jessica has a sub type that was even more aggressive. The doctors were amazed at her initial response, and they were sure that because of that the transplant would cure her. She was doing well but the beast reared its ugly head again and this time it was too much for her body." Jessica's dad explained.
"Is she? I mean… she didn't did she?" Louise stammered.
"Jessica is still alive. They got her stabilized, but she is still very critical. She insisted we come home and get some rest. We will go back first thing in the morning. She is out of ICU and if she stabilizes enough, we will bring her home. If not, she will stay in a special part of the hospital. The visitor policy is much more liberal where they moved her. I will call your mom with the room number or come to think of it I am sure she is worried sick. I will tell her when we drive you home." Jessica's mom rambled.
"Nah you guys are dealing with enough. I will walk." Louise assured.
"Louise it is almost midnight! You are not walking home alone. We will drive you." Jessica's dad insisted.
At ten thirty Bob sent Linda and the kids home. He knew nobody would sleep until they knew Louise was safe, but he wanted them to at least be able to sit down in the comfort of home. Linda and G.G. reluctantly agreed. G.G. could barely keep their eyes open and Linda was near hysterical, but Tina insisted on staying out. Linda drove herself and G.G. home, and they solemnly climbed the stairs. They collapsed onto the couch and GG soon fell into a fitful sleep. Linda sat awake for once unable to sleep. An hour after returning home they were startled by a knocking on the door. Linda slowly made her way downstairs. Holding GG back, afraid of what she was about to hear. Her heart soared with relief when she saw Louise standing on the sidewalk in front of Jessica's parents.
"Oh, My Baby! My sweet baby! Thank God! We were so worried! My baby!" Linda cried.
"I am sorry. I went to Jessica's to see if she was OK. I didn't believe she was dying. I guess I fell asleep in the tree outside her room." Louise sobbed.
"We are going to have a long talk in the morning but for now we are just so glad you are OK." Linda sobbed.
Tina held the one picture she had of Pedro. The sonogram taken after he had already died, that the nurse had so kindly printed and given her. She knew it was stupid, but it gave her such comfort. Especially in times like this. She was so relieved that Louise was alive. She could not imagine life without her baby sister. Still Zeke's words rang in her head. "People die in threes." If Louise was alive and she was not sure if Pedro was even a person yet. Then who would be the third?
Bob lay awake watching Linda snore beside him. He wished that he could fall asleep as easily as she could. Louise was still heavy on his mind. All of his children had endured so much in their short lives, but Louise had seemed to bear the brunt of it. Being born early, almost being killed twice, having the same anxiety as her sister but her case presenting in a way that made her have to constantly fight to prove herself. Having one best friend move across the state and another dying. It was not fair. He was jolted from his thoughts by the sound of his phone ringing. He looked at the clock. It was three in the morning. His heart dropped. Jessica's parents had promised to call when it happened, but he had prayed there would be more time. That he would be able to take Louise to see Jessica one last time. Except it was not Jessica's parents calling. It was Pete.
"Pete it's three in the morning. What is going on?"
"Wait what happened?"
"What do you mean he's gone? Who is gone?"
"What happened? Was it peaceful at least?"
"Thank God"
"No, I am not mad at you. He probably wanted it this way."
"Do you need me to come over now or can it wait for morning?"
"OK I will be there first thing and thank you for being with him."
"Wha… what happened?" Linda asked sitting up beside him.
"My dad died." Bob whispered.
"What? We just saw him the other day and he was fine!" Linda cried.
"He wasn't feeling well. So, he closed the diner early and got Pete to drive him home. Pete wanted to take him to the hospital. He wanted to call me to come over, but my dad refused. He even tried to make Pete go home but he refused to leave. He got my dad cleaned up. He helped him shower and changed into his pajamas and put him to bed. He kept trying to get him to go to the hospital, but my dad kept refusing. Pete eventually dozed off on the couch. He woke up about an hour ago. He went to check on my dad. He got to my dad's room and heard him calling my mom's name. He got worried and opened the door. By the time he got to my dad he was gone Pete thinks that it was a heart attack." Bob explained his voice shaking.
"Oh Bobby. I am so sorry." Linda apologized.
"I am so glad we reconnected before he died. After your cancer scare last year. It really hit me what he had gone through. I don't know how he survived one day without her let alone thirty-six years. I know he loved me but God he was hurting so much." Bob sobbed.
"I am glad you reconnected too. I know I pushed too hard, but I knew you still loved him, and I lived in fear of you getting this phone call without clearing the air." Linda explained.
"Bad things really do happen in threes." Bob whispered still in shock and wondering how much grief his family could endure.