They Never Picked Up My Calls, So I Made Dolls That Answer novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: The Window

The elevator hummed down nineteen floors.

Neither of us said anything until the doors opened on the garage.

Fletcher was leaning on his truck across the aisle. He straightened up when he saw Drew.

I held up one hand. Wait.

He nodded and stayed where he was.

Drew walked to a concrete pillar and leaned his back against it.

"Mom hired a tutor that year," he said. "For Gracie. Because she couldn't keep up with you."

"I remember. The guy with the leather bag."

"He wasn't tutoring her. He was writing her papers. All of them. Mom paid him extra for it."

My mouth went dry.

"A teacher flagged one. History. Said it was bought. The school sent a letter home. They were going to have a hearing."

"I never heard about a hearing."

"Because there wasn't one. That Friday night Gracie found the letter on Mom's desk. She went in her room and opened the window."

He took his glasses off and pressed his eyes.

"I heard her from the hall. Mom was in there, pulling her back by the arm. And Gracie was screaming, 'I can't be Elsie. I can't be Elsie. Stop making me be Elsie.'"

I couldn't feel my hands.

"Mom shut the door," Drew said. "In the morning she told Dad it was your grades. She told the school Gracie was in crisis, and they dropped the hearing. She told everyone you'd pushed her. And Gracie just let it be true."

"And you."

"And me."

"You heard all of it. And you let them put me in that studio."

"I was twenty. Dad was paying for Boston. Mom said if I made things worse for Gracie, she'd," he stopped. "I told myself it would only be a year."

"Every night that year I called you."

"I know."

"Every night, Drew."

"I know. I still have the missed calls. I never deleted them."

I laughed. It hurt my throat.

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