Next to her, Aaron was quietly snoring.
Amber let her eyes shut again and tried to get comfortable in the seat. The cushions were fine as long as she was sitting upright. When she slouched and tried to rest her head, the thing was all hard angles.
Approaching footsteps made her open her eyes again anyway.
Nick was standing in front of them. Amber sat up and elbowed Aaron until he coughed and stirred.
“They said he’s stabilized, whatever that means. His dad is on the way. I’m going to hang out here. You guys don’t need to stick around,” Nick said.
“But what did they say?” Aaron asked. He was rubbing his eye with the back of his hand and blinking, trying to bring the world into focus.
Nick shrugged and shook his head.
“I mean, what happened to him? Why won’t he wake up?”
“They couldn’t say. The doctor seemed like she didn’t even want to talk to me about it. Some kind of infection, I guess? I don’t know why it just, like, took over tonight. It’s like they weren’t even listening when I told them about him being attacked. They just said that there was no sign of that. I told you we should have pushed for him to be taken to Central Maine Medical. Where’s Ricky?”
“He was outside, talking to the sheriff the last time I saw him,” Amber said.
Nick turned and looked through the glass, out to the parking lot.
“Anyway,” Nick said, turning back. “Go back to the hotel. I’ll wait here for Mr. Corbin and I’ll call if anything changes.”
Amber looked to Aaron.
“Yeah,” Aaron said. “Okay.”
# # #
On the way back to the hotel, Amber decided to let Aaron sleep. When her phone buzzed, she pulled over to answer a text from Jennifer. During the night, Aaron had sent messages to her every time there was a development, but Jennifer hadn’t responded. Jennifer had turned off her phone before bed, according to Aaron. The only reason he sent the messages was in case she woke up and wondered why he was still out.
Apparently, that’s exactly what happened. When she couldn’t reach Aaron, she had sent a message to Amber.
“We’re headed back to the hotel now. No more news about Riley—condition stable. Be there in ten minutes,” Amber sent back.
Before pulling back onto the road, she stared at her rearview mirror for a full minute. It almost seemed like something was moving back there in the red glow of her brake lights. She shook her head and dismissed the notion. It was late and her imagination was running wild.
Aaron stirred when Amber accelerated.
“We there?”
“Almost,” she said. “Go back to sleep. You still have a few minutes.”
He murmured something that might have been, “Thanks.”
Even so, a couple of seconds later he was pushing himself upright in his seat.
“Seizure,” he said.
“Sorry?” Amber asked.
“Maybe it was a seizure, you know? Riley had a couple when he was younger. What if he had a seizure on the train tracks and then got confused and wandered into the woods?”
“You should have mentioned that to the doctor.”
“I think Ricky did,” Aaron said. “Nick was right—we should have demanded he be taken to a bigger hospital.”
“I’m sure they’re competent,” Amber said.
“I hope so,” Aaron said. “I guess it will be okay. Ricky and Nick will talk to Mr. Corbin, and then…”
He yawned and didn’t complete the thought.
They drove the rest of the way in silence until they were pulling up in front of the hotel.
Aaron whispered, “What’s she doing?” when they got closer.
Jennifer was standing out on sidewalk, hugging herself against the cold. She jogged over to the car as Amber shut off the vehicle.
Jennifer pulled Aaron into a tight hug as soon as he got out.
“Thank you guys so much for finding Riley,” she said. “When I woke up and you were still gone, I nearly panicked and then I looked at the phone and the messages were like a cliffhanger.”
She shook her head, trying to dismiss the memory.
“Amber and Ricky are the heroes,” Aaron said. “They found him, somehow, and carried him back to the road.”
While they talked, Amber went around to the back of her vehicle. She left the powder there, but took one of the stakes with her. She felt more comfortable once it was in her hand. The three of them walked to the lobby and waited for the elevator together. It was a cramped box for three people. Aaron relayed the details of the night again, even though Jennifer had read all the updates. When the doors slid open, Amber waved and went to the right.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Aaron said. “I’m glad you insisted on coming.”
“Let me know if you hear anything,” Amber said. “Night.”
She pushed into her room and then pressed her back against the door, letting out a deep sigh. She tossed the stake on her bed along with the flashlight from her pocket. From her other pocket, she took out a plastic bag that was filled with sunflower seeds.
Muttering apologies to the cleaning staff, Amber took a handful of seeds and scattered them near her hotel room door. She repeated the process near the sliding door that led to the balcony.
Seven: Visitation
“I’m so glad you’re all okay,” Jennifer said. With the keycard, she unlocked the door and pushed it open for Aaron to walk through.
“He’s not out of the woods yet, so to speak,” Aaron said. “It’s freezing in here. Did you leave the window open?”
“I don’t remember,” Jennifer said. She dropped her clothes as she walked, leaving her jacket near the door, kicking off her sneakers, and then stepping out of her sweatpants.
“You left several open, Jenn,” Aaron said with a little laugh. “You’re always the one who wants the heat on.”
“Aren’t we supposed to make our own heat tonight?”
He turned as he finished shutting one of the windows. Aaron’s hand reached to shut the door to the porch, but it fell to
