Free Detached by Christina Kilbourne

wasn’t having fun anymore. With Anna missing, the party didn’t seem like fun to me either. Kids were sprawled all over the place and during one of my searches, I heard someone throwing up behind a tree. Finally I dragged Mariam away from the fire and told her it was time to go home.
    â€œBut I’m having fun!” she said.
    â€œI heard the cops are on their way and we should get out of here before we get caught.”
    It was a lie, but it sobered her up pretty fast.
    I headed up the path as fast as I could while Mariam stumbled behind me and Gisele supported her as much as she could. When we got to River Road, Mariam pulled out her cellphone.
    â€œOh, look. I have a text! It’s from Farah. She says: Anna felt like crap so I gave her a ride home. She says not to worry. See you Monday.”
    I hadn’t even seen Farah at the party, but there were probably a hundred kids I never saw.
    The next morning when I woke up I had a sick feeling in my stomach, and not just from the beer. I was afraid Anna had seen Kyle and me by the river. When I got home I logged on to Facebook, but Anna wasn’t online. I sent her an email but she didn’t write back. I tried to call her cellphone five times and left two messages, but either her battery was dead or she was ignoring me. As a last resort I called her house, but the answering machine picked up. Finally, a chat box popped up on my laptop. It was Kyle.
    â€œDid you talk to Anna?”
    â€œCan’t find her.”
    â€œBut she’s okay?”
    â€œThink so.”
    â€œDo you think she saw us by the river?”
    â€œHope not.”
    â€œMe too L ,” he wrote back.
    I didn’t see Anna until Monday morning in class. She already had her brushes and paints out and was working on a watercolour of the city skyline.
    â€œYou scared us Saturday night. Kyle and I looked all over for you.” I didn’t mean to sound like I was scolding her but I couldn’t help myself.
    â€œSorry,” she said without looking at me. “I didn’t mean to scare you. But I wasn’t feeling well and Farah was heading home so I thought I’d catch a ride.”
    â€œYou should have at least told me you were leaving.” I sounded like my mother and cringed.
    â€œI couldn’t find you,” she said flatly. “Or Kyle.”
    I paused but I wasn’t ready to start defending myself. If she hadn’t seen us, I knew it would just make me look guilty.
    â€œYou could have told Mariam or Gisele, anybody.”
    â€œI told Tyson to tell you. Didn’t he give you my message?”
    â€œUh, no. It must have slipped his mind,” I said. I couldn’t even recall seeing Tyson Saturday night.
    I stood there for a few more minutes while Anna continued to paint. I couldn’t tell if she was lying or not. It wasn’t until I found Farah later in the day that I realized she was definitely lying, or at least not telling the whole truth.
    â€œFarah!” I called out from down the hall. Farah was just closing her locker and heading toward the music room.
    â€œI heard you were at the forks Saturday night. I didn’t see you,” I said, breathlessly, when I caught up to her.
    â€œI never made it, actually. I ran into Anna on the way down the hill and she begged me to take her home. She was soaked and crying. Didn’t she tell you? She said she went for a pee and fell in the river.”
    I went along with the story and didn’t press Farah for more information. But inside my head, alarms were blaring. I’d never known Anna to cry and, even in the dark, I was sure she knew the area too well to accidentally fall in the river.

Anna’s Mom
    After my husband made the connection between my parents’ accident and Anna’s painting of the viaduct, I started to watch her more carefully, without letting on how concerned I was. But what was there to see, really, besides a regular, moody