32. Kaitlyn
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Kaitlyn
PAST
After the ocean, the Walkers’ house in the Jura Mountains is my second favorite place on Earth.
The only thing that would make this trip better is if Bailey were here, but Thalia and Sebastian said that maybe the only way to get through to him is to see there’s consequences for the way he’s been acting.
Mirabelle and Henry volunteered to stay with him, and I get the reasoning for making him stay at home, but I can’t help wondering if maybe a change of scenery might have helped B out of his funk.
He’s been silent for months now, and it hurts to watch him isolate himself.
I could try pushing him to talk to me again, but since that worked so well last time, I’m not sure what to do.
It feels like a lose-lose situation either way, and I don’t want to dwell on Bailey the entire time we’re here when I should be enjoying my time with Hunter.
Hunter and I went to visit my grandparents earlier today with my parents, and it was nice to see how excited my extended family was for me to introduce him as my boyfriend.
Still, I can’t help wishing Bailey were here.
I twist my damp hair into a braid as I walk down the stairs, wondering what game we’re going to play tonight. It’s no fun to play Yahtzee without Henry here to torment, but it might be nice to win at another game for a change.
I see Mom carrying a bottle of wine into the living room as my dad follows behind her dutifully with glasses, and Hunter’s setting up Pictionary while Thalia rolls her eyes at whatever Sebastian just said to her. “Bash, I’m insulted you think I’d cheat by helping you.”
“I did not ask you to cheat,” he’s quick to add, glaring at Thalia, and Dad frowns.
“Do you think we can’t win without Mom throwing the game?” Hunter asks, looking annoyed already with his dad.
“Our ace isn’t here to carry us, and they have Kaitlyn on their team.”
I’m honestly flattered they think having me on a team makes a difference, but it doesn’t help too much when Thalia can’t draw anything to save her life, and Mom probably won’t get half of the references.
“Are we playing boys vs girls again?” I ask, perching in the armchair I usually claim for game nights.
“Hang on, Henry’s calling me. Wait until I tell him you’re trying to cheat,” Thalia says, smiling as she answers the phone. “Hey, you’ll neve—” She stops talking at the same time all the color drains from her face.
“Lia?” Sebastian asks, resting his hand on her leg, and the look of devastation she gives him causes my heart to plummet.
Instantly, I know it has to be something with Bailey.
I pull my phone out of the pocket of my sweatpants to check if I missed anything, but there aren’t any notifications.
Kaitlyn
Is everything okay?
Did something happen with B ?
The dots as Mira types a response are quick to appear, but keep disappearing.
I look up at Thalia again just as Sebastian takes her phone from her to hold it up to his ear. “Henry, what happened?” he asks, and I’ve never seen Thalia rendered speechless.
“Guys, go upstairs,” Dad instructs, leaving no room for argument, but Hunter hesitates while I stand.
“Is it Bailey?” he asks, and I look at my phone again to see if Mirabelle’s responded, but she has yet to send whatever it is she’s typing.
“écoute, s’il tu pla?t,” ? 1 Mom says, eyeing both of us as we all wait for Sebastian to say anything while he listens to whatever Henry’s saying.
Bailey should be here with us. It was a mistake to come without him.
“No,” Sebastian says, and with one word, I know nothing is ever going to be the same.
A strangled sound escapes Thalia as she shakes her head, pressing a hand to her chest. “I-I can’t b-breathe,” she gasps, tears starting to fall.
I feel like I’m trapped in a nightmare, unable to move as Sebastian starts crying, and Dad pulls the phone from him.
“Did you call the police?” he asks after a moment, and my mind is churning with worst-case scenarios. Is Bailey still alive? The way everyone’s reacting right now makes it seem like he’s gone, an?—
“Kaitlyn, take Hunter and go,” Mom says, her voice sharp enough to bounce me back into reality.
“Fuck that. If they won’t do anything, you need to go look for him. Have Mira stay at the house in case he comes back. We’re coming home,” Dad says, tugging his hand through his short graying hair.
Look for him? What does that mean?
I feel my chest constrict, and I move closer to Hunter to pull him with me, but he’s staring at his dad holding his mom, tears rolling down their cheeks. “We should have brought him,” I hear Sebastian say quietly, and it’s the final straw for Thalia who breaks down entirely.
Hunter looks lost, and I can practically see the gears in his head turning as he puts it together.
“He ran away?” he asks, his eyebrows knitting together as he turns my direction.
He looks like he’s going to be sick, and maybe I should’ve moved faster to get him out of the room.
I didn’t know it was going to be like this.
“Hunt,” I say his name because I don’t know what else to say. It feels like my heart is being ripped in two, and there’s not a single fucking thing any of us can do to fix the situation since we’re on the other side of an ocean.
His hand is stiff when I grab it, but he lets me pull him outside to the hanging porch swing, away from the sounds of his parents breaking down. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forget seeing them crumble like they’re made of sand when I’ve always seen them as unshakable mountains.
God, what is Bailey thinking?
Why didn’t he talk to anyone?
If I hadn’t kissed him, maybe he would have talked to me. After all, he promised he’d tell me everything eventually.
“He left?” Hunter asks, his voice cracking.
“B’s going to come back. The police can use his phone to track him, or something like that,” I say, trying to find a light in the darkness, but the truth is I don’t know if he will. What I do know is I’ll do anything to never see Hunter look this broken again.
My phone vibrates in my other hand, and I realize just how fucked we are.
Mirabelle
Bailey was gone before we woke up this morning.
He wiped all of his electronics before he left, and the security cameras caught him leaving on foot with a backpack.
Kaitlyn
Why aren’t the police doing anything to help?!
Mirabelle
Because he ran away, and it hasn’t been twenty-four hours so he’s not a missing person.
Kaitlyn
That’s fucking bullshit.
My phone vibrates again with another response, but now that I have confirmation from Mira, I think I feel worse than before. There’s got to be more to the story than Henry and Mirabelle are sharing.
“What are we going to do?” Hunter asks, and I look out at the vibrant stars, glowing in the night sky.
But the answers I’m looking for don’t appear because the one person who can give them is gone.
“I don’t know,” I whisper back, wishing I could fix this for everyone. He grips my hand tight as if holding onto me will somehow make all of this better.
Maybe this is all a bad dream, and Bailey will be at the house when we get back.
1 ? Listen, please.