63 Days

The back seat of the police car was cold, vinyl. Eddie sat next to me, his hands in front of him in handcuffs. I sat with my back against the seat and my hands were as well in handcuffs in front of me. He looked at me with fear.

“I’m sorry” I said. “I couldn’t let you do that for me. I did this to you. I’ll take care of all of this, I promise.”

He started to talk, then I saw tears in his eyes.

“I don’t care about me. I don’t want you to go back there. I was just-” he started.

“No…I know what you were doing. It’s ok. I don’t know what’s going to happen now anyway. I’m sure they’ll put us in Juvy.”

We were pulling into the Pizza Hut parking lot. They stopped right by the doors and got out. One officer opened my door, the other one opened Eddies. They led us back into the restaurant and took us back behind the kitchen into the office and sat us down.

“So, who are you. We need phone numbers, names. Who are your parents? Why aren’t you at school?” One officer asked. “You guys can’t eat and run. That’s stealing, you know that? You’re going to juvenile hall until we can figure this mess out.”

I sat quietly, debating whether or not to tell them who I was. Suddenly, an officer who had just arrived from the second car that was following us came in.

“Hey. I know you,” he said, pointing to me. “You’re John’s kid. Wait. YES! I know your dad! He goes to church with me.” He looked around at the other officers who were taking an interest. “Where’s your dad, Allison? He’s been looking for you everywhere! Hold on, I’m calling your dad.”

He picked up the office phone and started to dial his house. After getting the number to my parent’s house from his wife, he started calling my house. My dad answered.

“Hi, John? Yes! How are you? Say, I’ve got your daughter here in the offi…what? Yes, Allison…no…no she’s not hurt…ok we’re at the Pizza Hut on Nellis, yes, the east side. Ok…we’ll keep her here til you get here…no, thank you. Bye.”

He set the phone down and his eyes held the reciever for a moment in silence until he spoke again.

“So. You know that many people are looking for you young lady right? Hmm…isn’t this interesting? So, what exactly did you think you were doing today? You are in some serious trouble with some serious people. Luckily for you, if your dad pays this, and the management approves, we’ll release you to your dad.”

He looked over at the manager who was standing in the doorway. He thought for a minute, then nodded. “Yes, that’s fine. I don’t want you kids to ever come back here. Ever. If I see you in here again, I’ll call the police. This is what they call being 86′d. Don’t you EVER come here again.’

The 20 minute wait for my dad to arrive was excruciating. The thoughts swirling in my head kept turning to Challenger. If they were horrible to me before I stole a counselor’s car, what would they do to me if I went back. I had to convince my dad to not send me back there…but how?

My dad walked in and with tears in his eyes ran over and hugged me. He held me for a moment and then asked them to remove my handcuffs. They quickly took them off and he pulled me to my feet and held me for what seemed like an hour.

Turning my face to him he said “Why, Alli? Why? We’re trying to save your life. What are you doing? Do you know how sick we’ve all been?”

I started crying. I felt horrible, but he had to know what was going on. He payed the bill and told Eddie and I to follow him. I heard the officers talking about me in whispers and gasps as we left. I heard a couple of them say things like “no! Her? 2 cars? Jesus.”

My dad put us in the car, and we began our slow drive back to my parents house. I looked out the window in silence the whole time and watched the city go by. Kids playing at parks with their mothers, people reading the newspaper on their porches, dogs chasing eachother behind fences in front yards.

We pulled into the cul-de-sac that I lived in and I saw that we were not going to be alone at my parent’s house. 3 or 4 big white Broncos and a couple of strange cars littered the street. Some men in business suits and a few in camouflage patns and black shirts were talking on the lawn that was in front of the house. Eddie’s dad was there, waiting with arms crossed in front of his chest. It was then that I had to tell my dad about what was happening.

“Dad wait, before we get out. I need to tell you something.” He nodded. “Dad don’t send me back to that place. They’re killing kids. The counselors, they…they,” I started to cry again. “They are touching us. They don’t give us toilet paper, we have no food! I had to get out because they’re hurting us, Dad. They’re awful…” I was bawling.

“Allison, listen. Honey, they told me you’d say this. I know this is hard. I know! Its supposed to be hard, thats why we sent you. I know you’re unhappy about this but…”

“BUT? Dad did you hear me? They dragged a girl and I don’t know what happened to her. She disappeared and…”

“Shhhhh, honey. You have to finish. This is for us, for you, for our family. You are destroying our family. We’re doing this because we love you don’t you understand this?”

A man walked over to the car and pulled my door open. He grabbed my arm and I started to kick. He pulled more firmly and said in my ear “Hold still and this will be much easier. You’re going back. We have custody of you now.”

I was floored. My parents had given custody to these people.

“What?!?!” I screamed. “You gave me to these people? Dad?”

He was walking over to the other men, visibly shaken. Eddie’s dad came over and pulled him out and walked him over to his car. He sat him inside and I saw him yelling in his face. He slammed the door and walked over to my dad and I saw them shake hands and then he got in his car and as he left, Eddie and I looked at eachother. Our eyes locked and I saw him mouth the words “I’m sorry.”

“Come on now,” the man said to me. “You’re going to help us find Natalie. Where is she?”

“I don’t know!” I said. “She took the car at the restaurant and left. I have no idea where she is. She said something about going to Texas I don’t know.”

“Did you have the Barnette’s car? Is that the one she’s in?” he asked me.

I nodded yes, and looked at my feet. They were still in those slippers I’d taken from Smiling Otter. I knew I was going back and at this point, my slippered feet would have to rest. I knew I’d be hiking my life away again very soon, so I stood still…enjoying every moment until they took me back.

My dad came over and hugged me. “Allison, you need to find Natalie. They’ve assured me that if you help them, they’ll take care of you. Help them, please? Just do what’s right here.” He patted my hair, smoothing it down with his hands, and then he walked away. I watched him go inside the house as the men put me into a Bronco and we drove off. The anger started to burn inside of me again. They were sending me back, even after I told him what happened to me. I realized then that I couldn’t trust my parents ever again.

We pulled into the Tropicana Hotel and walked straight up to the elevators. Inside, they pushed the 12th floor button and we started our ascent. When the doors opened, they led me into a room and opened the door with a keycard. I was told to go in and sit down. Soon a man came in and pulled up a chair to where I was sitting. He thought for a moment in silence and then began to speak.

“Ok, we know that Natalie tried to poison you. Eddie filled us in on that. What we need from you, in exchange for whatever you wanted to eat here on the room service menu and a nice warm bed tonight is…we need to find Natalie. Any information you have can help us. Where do you think she might have gone?”

I thought for a moment then realized one thing more. She was with the other little runaways. She’d be somewhere they were familiar with.

“Natalie is with 2 little girls. They’re 14, so they don’t have any money. They’ll probably try to go to where they live to get clothes and stuff.”

I told them where the girls lived and who their friends were. They were friends with all of the same kids I was, so I knew a few phone numbers and addresses of where they might be. I told them about the pills, the story she told me about killing me and leaving me in the desert. I told them everything I knew. At this point, I was ready for this to be over.

“Very well. Thank you for your cooperation, it is appreciated. Why don’t you shower, your dad sent you some new clothes for you to wear today. Go on, and when you’re done, why don’t you order yourself some pancakes from the room service menu. There will be 2 men outside your door at all times, and I’ve assured your father that you will not be left with any of our men while you’re here, so enjoy this privacy. It won’t last.”

He started to leave when I asked a question of him.

“Who’s paying for all of this?” I said.

“Your parents are, of course. See how much trouble you’ve caused?” He turned and walked out.

“My parents are…of course” I said to myself. A grin came over my face as I walked to the phone that was on the nightstand. I picked up the room service menu and scanned it quickly as I dialed the kitchen. I smiled when I saw the prices on it. $15.99 for pancakes, $22.50 for crab cakes, $4 for a small glass of orange juice, $12.50 for a club sandwich. These prices were rediculous.

“Hi, this is room 1232. Yes, I need to order some food. Could you send up 10 plates of blueberry pancakes, 10 orange juices and 10 plates of crab cakes? Yes, oh! And do you by chance have lobster? Yes, then send up 2 lobster tails with that. Yes, thank you.”

“My parents are paying for this…of course…” I said, turning on the water in the shower. “Of course they are…”