The Death of Colleen Rivers

Chapter 19: Baylor

Out of all of the awkward things I have been through in my life, this had to be the most awkward: My-suppose-to-be-dead girlfriend's mother finds me and her daughter in the floor of her brother's closet. Yeah. It's messed up.

Luckily we didn't have to explain anything because she just fainted at the sight of us. I don't know if it was because Colleen was suppose to be dead, or that it was just strange to see people in the floor of a closet.

"Baylor," Colleen said, sounding frightened. "What do we do?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. Get your father and James up here. They might know what to do."

She nodded and yelled down at the remaining members of her family to get their butts up here now. They didn't hesitate. As soon as she yelled, we could hear footsteps clunking up the stairs and in to the room.

"Colleen!" her father exclaimed, "W-what happened to your mother?!"

"Dad, I didn't do anything," she retorted. "She saw me and Baylor in the closet and she just fainted!"

Colleen's father lifted his wife up in his arms and carried her out of the room. "I'm taking her to lie down on the couch downstairs," he called. "Colleen, please don't come downstairs until I give you the clear, alright? I'm going to try and explain it to her first."

"Okay!" she yelled back. I could see that this broke Colleen's heart. She usually showed everyone that she was tough, and shouldn't be messed with, but lately she's let her heart show more. It could be because she was near death or it could be because this is her family and she doesn't feel like she needs to be tough here. Either way, part of me favored this side of Colleen more.

Apparently as I was thinking about her, I was staring at her because she gave me a glare and asked what I was doing.

"Oh nothing, sweetheart. Just...lost in thought I guess."

She looked at me questionably. "Oh alright. Hey lets go to my room I haven't seen it in forever." She gasped. "Oh no! I hope they didn't clean it out yet..."

Turns out it was exactly how she left it. She ran around the room, making sure every little thing was exactly the same. When she found one piece was there, she squealed in excitement. I had never seen her act like this.

Once she reached her bedside table she frantically through open drawers and looked under her bed, even throwing the blankets on her bed up in the air.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Um, Colleen? What are you doing?"

"My phone! Where is it?"

"Oh um..."

"What? What? Do you know where it is?!"

"I, uh..."

"Well?"

I did know where it was. Or, I had a feeling anyways. Ghost Colleen had it in her costume pocket, and most likely it was still there, too. "Okay, once we make sure your mom isn't going to go ballistic over you, we can go get your phone, alright?"

Her eyes got wide. "So you do know where it is?!"

"Yes, sweetheart, I do."

She sighed in relief. "Thank goodness."

~~~

When Colleen's father called us downstairs, it was almost three hours later. James and I forced Colleen to cover her face with the hoodie once more before we headed to see her mother. We walked in front of her, completely blocking Colleen from view. Mr. Rivers was suppose to tell Colleen's mother about her and calm her down, but we didn't want to take any chances. (Although he had three hours to do so.)

Once we got down the stairs and to the living room where her mother was standing, we stood in the doorway, afraid to move any closer. She didn't scream or thrash out thankfully, just smiled at us.

"May I see my daughter?" she asked in a surprisingly mellow tone.

I looked to James to see what he was doing. He moved to the side to let Colleen through so I followed his lead. As soon as I stepped out of the way, Colleen rushed to her mother's outstretched arms and hugged her tightly. We didn't want to get any closer, afraid to disturb their reunion.

"I missed you, sweetie," Colleen's mom said with a smile on her lips and tears in her eyes.

Colleen on the other hand couldn't even speak. I saw her back rising and falling in very fast increments as if she were crying and couldn't catch her breath. I knew those were tears of joy but I still felt the urge to be by her side and hold her tightly so she would stop crying. Colleen never showed emotion. She never cried in front of people. This though, this was her reunion with her mother. It was special. It was also probably the only times more than one person at once would see her cry.

James gently hit my arm, trying to get my attention. "Hey, let's leave them be. Wanna go throw a football outside?"

I shrugged. "Sure."

We threw the football back and forth for a solid hour before Colleen emerged from the house. her face was still a little red from crying, but other than that she looked like her regular self.

I was too concentrated looking at her that when James threw the ball it hit me straight in the temple, causing me to stumble around but not completely fall over.

"Bay!" Colleen shouted running towards me. "Are you okay?" What was up with Colleen today? Of course she cared about me, but she was never this sincere with anything. If this happened before this whole "death" incident, she would have just laughed at me.

I glanced up at her and smiled. I couldn't help it. Her black hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail, the pink stripe clearly visible to anyone who laid eyes on her; her green eyes sparkling with worry for me. "Yes, I'm fine."

She sighed in relief but couldn't find any words to say. James apologized and went inside to grab me an ice pack although I didn't feel like I needed one. Colleen made me sit down on the grass and she sat down beside of me.

"So," she said.

"So," I repeated.

"Since you say you're 'perfectly fine, really', you wanna come help me look for my phone?" She smiled and raised one eyebrow at me.

"Of course, sweetheart. And we don't have to look, I know exactly where it is," I paused and started to speak under my breath so I was barely audible, "unfortunately..."

James brought out my ice pack although I knew I didn't need it. I had taken much harder hits to the head before in football and didn't come out of the game. I still put it on my face because it made James feel better and made Colleen worry less — hopefully.

James looked at Colleen and I and excused himself to let us be alone. Thank God for my girlfriend's brother to be like James. Always knowing when he needed to leave.

"Baylor you know where my phone is?" Colleen asked, trying to change the subject back.

"Yeah I do. But you aren't going to like it."

~~~

We reached the cemetery in under twenty minutes. I couldn't stand anymore of Colleen and her constant questioning of my knowledge of the whereabouts of her phone. I put the car in park and unfastened my seatbelt to see that Colleen had already jumped out of the car in a rage. She stormed to the gate and turned around, her arms crossed and a scold across her face.

I couldn't help but smile at her. "Colleen, this isn't my fault."

She gave me a look like I had lost my mind. "Yes it is! You didn't grab it! Now it's ruined and I can't get a new one and..."

"Woah, woah. Slow down. Babe, if I would have known, I would have gotten it. It'll be okay. We will find it and put it in rice or something. If it's not okay, I'll buy you a new one, I promise."

Her expression softened. "Alright."

We crept inside the gates and walked to her grave to see Ghost Colleen's costume still laying on the ground. I shuffled through the clothes and sure enough Colleen's cell phone fell out. We quickly left, double checking that no one saw us come in or leave for her house once again.