It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 37

Dannon wasn’t at school today.

I tried to convince myself that he was fine, that it was just the common cold or that he had an appointment.  But he hadn’t called, hadn’t reassured me that everything was fine.  And, what was worse, when I called him he hadn’t picked up; it had gone straight to voicemail.  There were many things that I could count on with Dannon, and picking up was one of them.  Out of all the times that we’d phoned each other through the course of our time together, not once had I ever reached his voicemail.  Ever.  It was so shocking to hear his voice with the message that he wasn’t there at the moment and to call back later, that the first time I almost dropped the phone.

Something was wrong.  So very, very wrong.

“Still can’t get ahold of him?” Kyla asked as I slammed my cell phone shut for the umpteenth time.  We were on our free period, sitting on a patch of grass right outside the school. 

I shook my head, my teeth digging anxiously into my cheek.  “Maybe I should go check up on him.”

It was crazy, I know, suggesting to skip school to check up on someone because they weren’t picking up their phone.  But this was Dannon.  What if he’d collapsed, or what if he was put into the hospital?  What if he was struggling to live, and I was just sitting here at school?  My stomach churned at the thought.  It felt so wrong—sitting here doing nothing.  I needed to see if he was okay.  Now.

“I don’t get it,” Kyla muttered, raking her fingers through her hair.  “Wasn’t he fine this weekend?  You said that you guys worked on the project.”

I let my head fall into my hands, squeezing my eyes closed.  “He seemed fine, but he could have just been faking it so I wouldn’t be worried.”

Dannon would do that without a doubt.

Kyla scowled up at the sky.  “Why is it always the good people that get hurt?”

I shrugged solemnly.  “I don’t know.”

I stared out at the parking lot in longing.  If only I had a car.  Without a second thought I would drive down to Dannon’s house and pound on his door until someone answered.  Not knowing what was going on with him was scary—really, really scary.  I was probably getting worked up over nothing, but there was nothing that could be done to stop that.  That was, unless I saw for myself that Dannon was okay.

“I have my keys on me,” Kyla said blankly, staring out at the parking lot along with me.

I slowly turned to face her.  “You do?”

Kyla nodded, smiling slightly.  “We still have a good hour left of free period.  Want to take a ride?”

She didn’t have to ask twice.  I stood up, patting my pants and waiting for Kyla to stand up and grab her bag.  Together we hurried into the parking lot and jumped into her car, not at all caring who could see us.  No one even cast us a glance as we pulled out of the parking lot and out onto the street.  Not that it would have mattered if they did.  During free period you were allowed to leave campus.  As long as you came back, the school didn’t have a problem with it.

The ride to Dannon’s was silent, excluding the times when I pointed out where Kyla had to turn.  Over time I’d learned the directions to Dannon’s house by heart.  It wasn’t really that hard.  Once we were driving past my church, all we had to do was take a few turns, deal with the dreaded long road of doom, and then we were there, parked in Dannon’s driveway.

“His car is here.”  Kyla was so soft that it could almost be classified as a whisper.

The sight of the silver Saturn in the driveway only set me on edge.  So he wasn’t at an appointment.  Why would he be skipping out on school unless he was ill?