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Jessica stared out the window, trying with all her might not to cry. It didn’t work. A tear slipped out of her eye and rolled slowly down her cheek. The police had just come. The week before they had announced that this week would be the last week of the investigation and search. They were in the living room, talking to her parents. She didn’t want to listen. She felt sick. She sighed and wiped her face. And without a word, she walked out the door, letting it clang shut behind her. At the loud BANG! Mr. And Mrs. Hanson and the two officers in the living room turned. Mrs. Hanson sighed at her daughter’s retreating figure and turned back to the police.
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Jess walked the short distance to Angie’s house. She was tired of gloom and sadness. Maybe Angie could cheer her up. She trotted up the steps to the large two-story house and rang the bell. Angie answered.
“Hey Jess,” she said, walking out and sitting on the steps with Jessica. They sat in silence for a while. Angie turned and looked at her friend.
“Are you okay?” she questioned after a moment. Jessica hesitated, and then shook her head. Angie looked at Jessica.
“The police came today,” Jessica said, looking at her hands and avoiding Angie’s eyes. Angie’s face softened.
“Oh, Jess,” she murmured quietly. Jessica took a deep breath and continued.
“They said-they said they’re going to st-stop looking…” she trailed off, trying not to cry, but failing miserably. Angie moved closer and put her arm around Jess.
“Shh…it’s okay. It’s okay.” After a few minutes, Jessica out her head on Angie’s shoulder and bawled. And they stayed like that, with Jessica crying until she couldn’t cry anymore.
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Jake Pullman, having had the same thing done to him as a child, did not create multiple personalities, but simply made the person think that they were someone else and made them forget their other life. So by this time, Zac and Mackenzie Hanson had become Blake and Alan Pullman. And, amazingly, they lived only a few hundred miles away from where their family was grieving.
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When Jessica returned to the house, her face was red and wet with tears. She went straight to her room, ignoring her mother’s call for dinner and the stares of her brothers and sisters. Upon entering her room, she turned on her radio and flopped back on the bed. She stayed there, motionless, just thinking, until there was a knock on the door. She groaned inwardly and rolled her eyes. Why couldn’t anyone just leave her alone? Since she didn’t answer her mother asked, “Jessie? Are you alright?” What do YOU think Mother? She thought bitterly. But her mother was already upset enough, she knew, so she opened the door.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Are you hungry?”
“No, that’s okay.”
“Are you sure honey?” No answer.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“No,” she sobbed, snuggling into her mother and crying some more. Mrs. Hanson sat there, not crying herself at all, comforting Jessie.
“Shhhh…. shhh…” she cooed, stroking her hair. “It’s alright.” All of a sudden, Jessica realized that she hadn’t seen her mother cry the whole time. She realized how selfish she had been. Think of how Mom felt, she thought. She stopped crying and wiped her eyes. She looked up at her mom.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Let’s go eat dinner.” Mrs. Hanson smiled and the two of them went downstairs to eat. The entire time, almost everyone was looking at Jessica, who kept her eyes down the whole time. When she finished, she dumped her plates in the sink and went up to her room without a word the whole time, all eyes on her.