Chapter 34 #2
There on multiple different forms of identification is the name Anastasia Hutchinson.
On the passport and driver’s license is Everly’s face.
Holy shit… My eyes travel over the information, stunned at what I’m seeing.
In the middle of the pile of paperwork, there’s a smaller white envelope that reads Anastasia.
Curiously, I open it next. Inside is a dime size plastic bag with a small white pill inside. Written in Sharpie is:
“Plan B”
“What’s that?” Nolan asks, coming up beside me.
I shake my head as I lift the baggie to eye level. “I don’t know.”
“Is that like birth control, or something?”
“I think that pill is blue,” I mutter, though what do I know about that?
Jack shit, that’s what. I didn’t get the chance to fuck around too much before I was thrown into Serenity Falls.
And the girls I’ve fucked with here were already on a form of birth control.
I never had to worry about knocking anyone up.
“Ok so if Plan A was to save you,” Nolan starts slowly. “Then she had a Plan B in case it didn’t work out. But what would a single pill do for her?”
Saying it like that makes it click for the both of us.
We look at one another and I can see the color drain from his face.
The room tilts for a second as I try to wrap my head around Everly’s Plan B—the plan that involves killing herself.
There’s no way her life could’ve been so bad that she would resort to something like this if she couldn’t get me out of here.
She lived a cushiony life in that big mansion across the street from my home.
What could’ve been so horrible that death would be more appealing than going back to that?
“...if Father gets his hands on me he will kill me…”
Everly’s words from the other night whisper through my head now. The fear on her face, the lack of concern for the things she’d have to leave behind if we ran off together… Something was going on Everly’s life that made running away or death look better than staying.
Nolan snatches the pill from me and shoves it into his pocket. “There won’t be any need for this. I’ll flush it later.”
His words bring me back into the moment and I nod mutely.
I reach down for the second manilla envelope.
Inside are the same forms of identification, only these are for a guy named Barton Anderson.
On the driver’s license and passport is a picture of a guy I don’t recognize.
His pale face is square-ish and he has short dark brown hair.
The birthdate isn’t mine, he’s about my height, but the weight is off significantly.
Behind all the paperwork is another, smaller envelope, this one labeled Bart.
If I hadn’t seen what was in the other one, I wouldn’t be so nervous to open this.
With shaking hands I rip it open. Instead of a baggie with a pill inside, I find two house keys with ribbons separating them.
One ribbon has a Mexican flag printed on it, the other a Canadian flag.
A slip of paper falls out after the keys.
I pick it up and unfold it. There’s an account and routing number written up top and beneath them, written in a pretty cursive handwriting are the words,
“Live happy. Live free. Live knowing you’re loved no matter where life takes you.
3 Your Little Evie.”
This is Everly’s gift to me; a future. A life.
A hard grunt slips past my lips as a thick well of emotions surges up. My heart feels so fucking full suddenly. At the same time, it feels incredibly fragile.
She did all this for me.
I thought I always loved Everly. Sure, over time that love became corrupted thanks to my hatred for the rest of her family. And yeah, there were times I tried to snuff it out by shoving it so deep down inside of me that sometimes I managed not to feel it at all.
But this new feeling that’s swelling up inside me is so overwhelmingly pure and all consuming I know its supersedes love by leaps and bounds.
Everly has laid out an entire life for me, putting her heart and soul into a plan that centered around my well-being.
This wasn’t something she did on a whim or to spite her father.
She’s put time and effort into the escape and what would come after.
Everly was attempting to make my transition to freedom effortless. This is Everly’s version of loving me.
I’m not sure why I’m surprised. Hasn’t Everly always been looking out for me?
She was the one who always tended to me and Peter when we were shitfaced drunk at parties, and she was the one we’d go to if we got hurt—always ready with a first-aid kit and a gentle touch.
It was Everly who found out hard ginger candies were the best to help my mother keep food down during her chemo treatments.
She was also the person to show up with a fresh cup of coffee for my dad when he’d have to spend the night at the hospital with Mom.
Selfless. Everly is utterly selfless . I don’t fucking deserve her or her love…
if there is any love left. She hadn’t kissed me back the other night.
I don’t blame Everly if her feelings have dried up.
It’s not like I’ve been someone easy to love.
Since her arrival, I’ve fought tooth and nail to drive a wedge between us.
“Nolan,” I choke out around the thick knot settling in the middle of my throat. I let everything fall back onto the bed as I work to tell him what I need. “I-I?—”
His hand pats the middle of my back as he lets out a heavy sigh. “Yeah man, I get it. Like I said earlier, you’re just scared of change. But this change doesn’t look so bad, does it?”
I shake my head. No, it definitely doesn’t.
I’m going to make the life that Everly’s planned out for us happen. It’s the least I can do after all she’s done for me.
The two of us are leaving, and we’re leaving together .