The Imposter

Chapter Nine

The next morning, Jaime came in and left some towels  and Ellie left some clothes that she picked out from the closet. They told me to get ready and left. I still couldn’t believe where I was. I pinched myself to make sure it wasn’t a dream.  I walked into the shower. All I could think of was how I would let Jonah know that I was alive. After the shower, I dialed once again. I was determined to let him know this time. I began to feel nervous and was ready to hang up as the phone began to ring. Daisy walked into my room. She smiled and saw that I was on the phone. She mouthed good luck and walked out to let me speak in private. 

Jonah answered. It felt unusual to call him and feel like a stranger was calling him. “Jonah?” I said with a trembling voice. “It’s me Erick.” The phone was silent for a while. I could hear him breathing, but he didn’t say anything. “Jonah, it’s really me Erick” I said again. There was another large pause. “Don’t play around with me, what type of a sick person are you? Why can’t you let my friend rest in peace?” I feared that this was going to happen. I had to prove to him it was me. “Please, don’t hang up. I know it’s strange, but it is me. I can prove it.  I know that you still visit the house that you lived in before your mother died. You taught me weird pick up lines so that I could try to go after that girl from school, Meghan. Who I don’t even like.  And you always carry a ring in your pocket. The ring that belonged to your mom. You hope to one day give it to Julie.” I waited to see if I got any response from him. It took awhile, but he  responded. 

“Where are you? Ms. Richardson told us that you died. Your sister is devastated.” It was too much for him. I could sense that he wanted to know too much, but I wouldn’t be able to give him any information. “I’m safe that’s all you need to know.” I couldn’t give much detail, I had made a promise that I wouldn’t. “What do you mean you're safe? You have to come back.” I began to cry. “I can’t, they’ll just send me back to that drenched house.” I could sense that he was getting infuriated. “Can we see each other?” His pleading made me want to break all the rules at that moment. 

“Look, I’m not supposed to see you, but if you go to a café close to where I’m living then we could. I’ll send you a text with the location.” I hung up and quickly sent him the address to a café I remembered seeing as we drove over to the Salazar’s house. I knew that they would see what I had messaged him. 

How was I going to get out of this house without anyone seeing me? This was the worst thing that can happen to me. I now had to think of what I was going to do to convince them to let me go out. I spent hour after hour thinking of what I was going to do to be able to visit Jonah. Then it came to me. Mrs. Salazar’s sister. Daisy.  She was the key to my visit with Jonah. I had to find her as quickly as possible. I went downstairs where I saw Mrs. Salazar sitting on the couch. “Why didn’t you come down to breakfast this morning?” Mrs. Salazar asked without even lifting her eyes from the computer she was working on. “I had a bad stomach ache and didn’t want to get anyone sick, but I feel better now.” I lied, but I couldn’t tell her what I was really up to. “Where is Daisy?” I asked. “She went out, she’ll be back soon. Why?” As I began to answer, Daisy came in. 

“Hello, Erick. Or should I say Esteban?” Daisy said. I awkwardly laughed at her comment. “We missed you this morning for breakfast. Are you okay?” I nodded. “Yes. May I speak with you in private?” This caught the attention of Mrs. Salazar. She placed her computer down and took off her glasses.  “And what do you need to speak with her about?” Daisy quickly ignored what her sister said and took me into the home office. “What’s wrong?” She looked concerned. I didn’t know how to start saying what I wanted to say. But I somehow got the courage to do it. “I need your help,” I said. “I called Jonah and he wanted to see me, I told him to meet me  at the local café.”

She looked at me as if I was crazy. “I know I promised that I wouldn’t go and talk with him, but if I don’t he will be even more concerned about me and he will start looking for me. Or even worse he may call the police.” It took Daisy a moment to understand what was going on, but she soon understood. She agreed to take me to the café, but I was to promise that I would never speak to him again after this. I agreed. I would soon be seeing my friend again. How would I be able to confess what was truly happening?