May Kill Me

Twenty-Seven

"I don't know," Mom said as she lined the groceries on the counter, "Something about this just doesn't make any sense." 

"Yeah, because it's all one big fabricated lie; of course it doesn't make any sense." 

I told Mom about the conversation I had with Jonathan, and how ridiculous the whole thing was, "I mean, I don't know who he's trying to fool." 

"Well, that's the thing. That's what's bothering me most. I don't know him to be particularly imaginative. Why would he come up with such an insane lie?" 

"Isn't it obvious?" I untucked one leg, letting it dangle from the chair, "He clearly wants to divert the attention from himself by inventing this Alex Diaz person from baseball camp. It's not the most clever thing if I'm being honest."  

"Maybe we should go to the police with this information so that they could at least check the credibility of his story," Mom said after inspecting a package of Tofurkey.  

"Before I left, Jonathan told me that all online traces of Alex have disappeared, that even his phone and email are not in service." 

"Hmmm..." Mom said pensively, flipping the package upside down. We were expecting Samanthan's family for Christmas dinner tomorrow night, and Mom decided to be environmental by throwing a vegan Christmas Eve dinner.  

"I searched the web for this person, but while I did find a lot of Alex Diaz's, not one of them looked like this guy. There were a few profiles with no pictures, but honestly... It's the equivalent of searching for a needle in a haystack." 

"Shoot!" Mom cried out. 

"What is it?" 

"I can't believe I forgot the nutritional yeast! Dammit!" She signed heavily, "I don't have the time to go to the store tomorrow; we have the party at work, and then I pretty much have to speed my way home to start working on this dinner."

"I'll go get it." I got up from my seat in the kitchen. 

"What? No, it's already late. I'll just go tomorrow." 

"Mom, it's okay. I'll drive to the store now and get the thingy. It'll take me twenty, thirty minutes tops." 

"I don't know..." Mom said uneasily, "It's late, and what about this Alex Diaz guy? I'll go! You stay here and watch over the stuffing." She was frying the onions, ready for another Christmas Eve extravaganza. 

If there was one thing mom loved about the holiday season, it was the cooking: last year she made burgers with truffle fries. I knew this was her time of year to go crazy and get creative in the kitchen. 

"Oceane, I'm not sure it's a good idea." Mom insisted. 

"It's okay, Mom, really! There's no Alex Diaz. It's over. Jonathan wanted to cover his tracks with his fabricated story. Nothing more nothing less." 

I wasn't going to keep arguing: this was a simple trip to the store. 

"I'll call you when I'm there," I called out as I grabbed the keys from the hook by the door. 

*** 

As I walked out of Trader Joe's with my bag of nutritious yeast, I realized I was parked too far, right at the edge of the lot. 

When I got here, the choice was obvious since the lot was practically at capacity: last-minute shoppers rushing to get their groceries to avoid the trip tomorrow. 

But now, the lot was almost entirely empty: it took me forever to find the aisle where the yeast should have been, and then Mom texted me for extra stuff to get. By the time I was finally done, I had to line up for what felt like forever.  

The whole time, I couldn't help but look at the people around me, half expecting to find Jonathan or Alex. 

Of course, there was no sign of either of them, proving my theory that Alex didn't exist and Jonathan did what he thought he had to do to cover his own butt by inventing someone to drop the blame on. 

"Idiot..." I shook my head, pressing the alarm button. 

The headlights flashed, and I took out my phone ready to text my mom that I was done and on the way home. 

The only other cars on the lot were at least twenty or thirty meters away. 

A cold gust of wind hit me so hard I shivered: it looked and felt like it was about to snow. 

I opened the car door, put the grocery bag in the back, and was just about to close it when a sharp pain shot through the back of my head, and the world went dark.