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Truth in the Name

By F D. Adkins

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Prologue
Dark shadows conceal every thought as exhaustion
consumes me. Like a loose light bulb flickering from
short surges of electricity, every beat of my heart sends pulses
of pain shooting through my head. Why are some things so
hard to remember? I sit hunched over my computer,
massaging my temples as my phone rings. I have an exam in
Anatomy and Physiology in the morning, and for some
reason, I can’t find a way to memorize all these bones.
Temporal bone, Ethmoid bone, Lacrimal bone, Zygomatic
bone...I try to focus and ignore the ringing...again. This makes
the fifth time in the last ten minutes. The ringing stops, and I
try to break the skeleton into sections and make up a funny
song in my head that will help trigger my memory. I almost
have a start, but then there goes that blasted phone again.
“Alright! Alright!” I spout through gritted teeth as I make
my way across to my bag and pull out my phone. “It’s Mom. I
should have known when it wouldn’t stop ringing,” I mumble.
My mother is always so persistent.
“Hel…” I start to say. Mom’s terrified screams echo so
loudly that the phone jumps from my hand, and I almost drop
it. “MOM! What’s wrong?”
Through my mother’s sobbing wails I manage to catch,
“Your sister… Gone.”
I look at the clock. Oh no. I was supposed to meet Eileen
for lunch.
“Mom, I can’t understand you. I forgot I was supposed to
meet Eileen for lunch. She’s probably upset with me.”
Mom’s desperate words finally pour out. “Ellie Hatcher,
you aren’t listening. Eileen never came home from school
today. We have tried and tried to reach her, but she won’t
answer. I called the police. Finally, after badgering them
because I knew something wasn’t right, they tracked her
phone. You know mothers always know when something’s
wrong. They found her phone in her car abandoned on the
side of the road.”
I take a deep breath. Eileen has to be okay. My sister has
always been a little dramatic, and now that she is sixteen, she
is a lot dramatic. “Mom, you know how Eileen can be. She
probably just pulled over and got in the car with a friend.”
Mom’s sobs turn into gasps for air. She is so hysterical
that she is almost hyperventilating. “WHY...huuuuuuh...doesn’t... huuuuuh...anyone…huuuuh…get it?...huuuuh...
She ...huuuh...wouldn’t...leave...huuuuh...the car…
huuuh...door...huuuuuuh open…huuuuh… huuuuh…leave…
huuh...her keys...huuuh...her phone...huuuuh...her purse…
huuuh...behind!”
For a moment it feels as if I am hovering outside my own
body. My heart drops, and I fall to the floor with it. I know my
mom is right. This sounds very wrong. My little sister has to
be alright. She just has to.
How could I have forgotten about lunch today? Now I may
never see her again. God, please help her. Please...help my
sister!

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