Prologue: Prom Night 2000
The music was pounding inside but Lily was outside, throwing up in the dumpster. She hadn’t been able to keep anything down for days. It could just be paranoia, but she was pretty certain her mom was growing suspicious. She either knew she was pregnant or thought her daughter had an eating disorder.
After tonight, she could confess. It would be okay. Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she righted herself and straightened her dress, which was too tight over her chest. Not how she had pictured her prom night going.
“There you are!” Brian stepped outside. He looked gorgeous in this light. There was very little light that he didn’t look amazing in. Too bad she didn’t love him anymore.
“Sorry, I just needed some fresh air.” She moved closer to him to avoid the smell coming from the dumpster.
Brian grabbed her waist and moved her against the wall. “I figured you wanted me to follow you out here.”
“Oh, Brian, not out here by the dumpsters. That’s gross!”
He ignored her protests, kissing her neck. She needed to sleep with Brian tonight for the plan to work. She let him grab her butt while she counted how many days she would need to wait to tell him. She wished she had paid more attention in health class. His mouth came close to hers and she pushed him away playfully. “Not right now! Later! I want it to be special.”
He grumbled, unable to make words of protest, but then nodded. They returned inside and she excused herself to the restroom. She moved to the sink and rinsed out her mouth, spraying some mint spray to hide the vomit smell.
“Hey! You okay?” Shannon came into the room. Her hair was twice its normal size, and her skin did not go with the puffy-sleeved dark green dress. Her hair only added to the porkiness of her face. Everyone at school wondered why they were friends. They made such an odd pair. But Shannon had a good heart, and they had been friends since day one of kindergarten.
“Yeah. Kind of queasy.”
“Do you think this plan will work?”
“It has to. Besides, we both know that Brian is good-looking but not the brightest.”
“True.” Shannon checked herself in the mirror. Lily lent her friend her lipstick and pulled up the strap that had slipped down her shoulder.
“Better get out there. Don’t want to miss the greatest night of our lives!”
Lily managed not to throw up while they danced. She and Brian were slowly swaying back and forth after the Queen and King had been crowned. Lost in thought, it took a second for her to realize that Brian was talking to her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah! Just thinking.”
“About what?”
Lily smiled and ground her body into Brian’s. “All the things I want to do to you.”
“Baby, you can’t do that and then ask me to wait.” He pulled her tight against him.
“Let’s get out of here, then.”
“Gladly.” He took her hand and dragged her out of the party. Lily flashed a smile at Shannon, who was standing against the wall before ducking out of the gym. She laughed as they raced to his Mustang. Lily knew very little about cars, but she knew looks and the looks other boys gave Brian when he pulled up in this car made her glad she was with him. They didn’t leave the parking lot. She pulled up her dress and straddled him in the front seat.
“Oh, man!” He panted as she slipped back over into her side. Relief washed over her and the weight of one problem left her. “Baby, why did we wait to do that!”
“It needed to be special!” She pulled down the mirror and fixed her hair, her lipstick. When she finished, she looked back at him. He was not smiling at her.
“Did it hurt?”
“What?”
“Did it hurt?”
“Brian, what on earth are you on about?”
“It’s supposed to hurt the first time. For a girl.”
“Who said that?”
“Did it hurt?” He already knew the answer. He threw open his car door. “Together for two years! We break up for a couple months and you sleep with someone else! Then you get back with me and act like it had to be special! Screw you!” He slammed the door behind him.
“Brian!” Lily grabbed her shoes and jumped out after him. Not as dumb as she thought. He was out of sight by the time she got her shoes on.
“Damn it!” she cursed. Crossing her arms over her chest, she walked back to the school. Halfway there, she stopped to throw up, leaning between two cars. She cursed again, stomping her foot in frustration, then cursed again at the pain from the high heel racing up her leg and spine.
The pain from the blow to the back of her head was worse. It knocked her to the ground and lights danced around her eyes, just like in Looney Tunes. Instinctively, she crawled and went right through her own vomit. The next blow knocked her into the car.
“Please!” she pleaded. Blood blinded her. “Please, stop!”
The next blow silenced her.
One
Chicago Blues-2020
The table in the room was wobbly. One leg was missing its bottom piece, causing the table to rock anytime someone put weight on it.There was a noticeable scratch down the middle leading to the half hook anchored in the center of the table. The wobbly table with the scratch bothered Misti more than the two-way mirror hiding the eyes that were watching her write. The table wobbled with every stroke of the pen, making her handwriting sloppy. She knew they were in there, discussing her fate. She stopped writing and looked at the mirror, hiding any emotion on her face.
“I’m done.” She dropped the pen and pushed the yellow legal pad away, hiding the scratch the best she could. She crossed her arms and cradled her elbows. The door to the room opened and Detective Sanders and Ms. Webb entered. Detective Sanders took the notepad and scanned what she had written. Misti watched him out of the corner of her eye, focusing on the stupid scratch again. She hoped he didn’t need her to rewrite it. If it was too sloppy, it wasn’t her fault. They needed a better table.
“Misti, do you have any family? Anyone in the city?” Ms. Webb asked, pulling out a stack of forms and dropping them on the table. She pulled out the chair on the other side of the table.
“No.” The table rocked as Ms. Webb waited, clicking a pen and writing in fine print on the first form.
MISTI BOYLE
AGE 17
“Do you know of any family? Anywhere? We really prefer to place children with family.”
“I have an aunt, down south. In Colorado. I haven’t seen her in a while.” Maybe ten years. Maybe less. Misti remembered the town. Remembered her aunt. She was nothing like her sister.
“Do you know her name?”
“Mary McCarthy.”
Ms. Webb wrote down the name carefully. She seemed to be oblivious to the table. Her handwriting was perfect. Misti turned her eyes away from the government forms and focused on the detective. He was on the third page of her statement. Had she really written that much?
“What’s going to happen to my mom?”
Detective Sanders looked up at her, his dark eyes sharp even with his graying hair and deep wrinkles. “She’s going to prison.”
“She needs to go to a mental hospital.” Both adults raised their eyebrows at her. “I’m not making excuses for what she did. But a prison isn’t going to help her.” Misti lost her voice and her eyes fell back on the table.