The Death of Colleen Rivers

Chapter 15: Baylor

Just being with her made my day. I got to sit with Colleen. And hear her laugh. And see her smiling face light up the place. And kiss her. Oh how I missed that. How I missed her.

The perfect date was sadly coming to an end and we headed back to the car.

"You know," Colleen said, "That was like the second best date ever. Although it was kinda chilly."

I shrugged. "Yeah true. But honestly, it was probably my favorite." I turned to look at her and smiled, grabbing her hand to hold while I held the blanket in my other hand.

She smiled back and squeezed my hand. It was so nice to know she was really there. She was here. She was here for real. I could feel her beside me, touching me.

I know now why couples hold hands. I always thought it was just an automatic thing you do, but it's not. It's to let your significant other know that you are there, right beside them and it's going to be alright. It's more of a comforting action than anything else.

I took a deep breath and released my hand from hers so I could get the car keys. For a second it felt like I couldn't breath, but I looked back at her and I realized I could. I don't know why I felt this way all of the sudden.  It was mushy and gooey and not manly.  Thank God Colleen can't hear this, I thought.

I unlocked the car and opened the passenger side door for Colleen. "There you go," I said while making a gesture for her to get in.

She was bewildered by my chivalry but she still smiled. "What has gotten in to you, Bay?"

I shut Colleen's door. "What do you mean-"

"Baylor?!"

I turned around to see who yelled my name to see someone I wasn't expecting to see at all. Her long blonde bob bounced all over her head as she ran over to me. "Natalie? What are you doing here?"

She finally stopped running and bent over to catch her breath. "I. Was jogging. But saw you. With someone."

Who else would I be at the park with besides Colleen?

Oh.

OH.

I forgot.

No one else knows that Colleen is alive besides me and her father.

Well, looks like Nat is about to figure out too...

"Nat, get in the back of my car," I whispered.

"Excuse me?" she said baffled.

I shot her a stern look. "Just do it. I will explain later."

She rolled her eyes at me. I wonder who she picked that up from? "Fine," she said, "but I have to go get my jacket out of my car first."

While Nat was running back to her car, I furiously tapped on Colleen's window until it began to roll down.

"What?" She seemed annoyed.

"Put the hoodie on now!" I demanded.

"Excuse you?" She was very annoyed now. Good ole Colleen.

It was my turn to roll my eyes at someone, so I did. "Just do it. And put the hood up. Cover your face. Oh and roll back up the window."

"Fine, Mr. Hateful. You're being really bossy today."

I sighed. "If you must know, we are going to tell Nat about you being alive and all, but we have to do it somewhere safe. So put on the hoodie so she doesn't know it's you."

She finally surrendered. "Oh alright..."

Nat was already running back so I hopped in my seat and started the car up. She jumped in and I sped away to Malcolm's house.

~~~

By the way, Malcolm lives on a farm in the middle of the woods. I called him on the way there and told him we were on our way, to which he replied, "Bro, that's awesome! I'll be out in the stables but you go wherever you need."

Nat complained the entire way, saying this was "unconstitutional" and "could count as kidnapping" and "this was violating her rights." I told her to shut up and said that this was too important to just say out loud. She finally listened to me. I could see her in the rear view mirror: her arms crossed over her chest, her face twisted in a frown, and her blue eyes full of anger.

When we finally arrived, I pulled in front of the farmhouse and signaled for Colleen to jump out with me. "Just stay here for now, Nat. I need to find Malcolm."

"Whatever," she huffed.

Colleen and I walked around to the back of the farm house and followed the road that lead to the stables.

"You're mentally ill, Bay."

"What?"

Colleen grabbed my arm as we walked, hooking it with hers. "You crazy, mentally ill boy," she said, shaking her head. "You're adorable, but you've literally gone insane."

"Why?" I unhooked my arm from hers. "We'll just take her out in the woods–"

"Baylor!" She stopped walking home completely and stared at me.

"What now?!"

She shook her head and turned away from me, continuing to walk.

I had to jog to keep up with her. "Why is that so crazy? No one can hear her reaction when we tell her. It makes perfect sense–"

"No!" she exclaimed. "It doesn't make 'perfect sense'," she said, adding air quotes to the last part. She dropped her voice to a whisper. "If we take her out into the woods, she will definitely think we are trying to kidnap her and call the cops–" she cut off.

"What is it?"

She turned to start running back to the car. "She's probably escaping! We left her alone!"

I cursed under my breath and told her to head to the stables and try explaining this to Malcolm so we have another person on our side. I on the other hand, ran to find out if Nat actually was escaping.

Turns out she was. She had already ran a good bit of the way before I reached the car, so I had to hunt her down and catch her. I mean, it wasn't that hard, but I felt like a lion trying to catch its prey. And its prey was injured.

I finally caught up to her and tackled her to the ground, gripping her wrist hard and pulling her up off the ground.

"KIDNAPPED. I AM BEING KIDNAPPED!" Natalie shouted as loud as she could. I used my free hand to cover her loud mouth.

"Shut up! I'm trying to help you, okay?"

"How, Baylor? How the heck are you going to help me?"

I took a deep breath. "I have news about Colleen. But I have to tell you out here, where it's safe."

She was bewildered by this and nodded, obviously deciding to follow me back willingly instead of forcefully (thank goodness).

I loosened my grip on her wrist as I led her to the stables but made sure it wasn't loose enough for her to get away. Finally, we made it to the stables.

This was it. This was the end of Ghostie and the beginning of the world knowing that Colleen was alive.