“Why would the babysitter be calling us at dinner? That’s kind of weird” she said. “Just ignore it. Maybe it was an accident. If she really needs us she’ll call again” he answered. Carter and Alyssa Dumas were at dinner, celebrating their second anniversary. The phone rang again. “I’m just going to answer, there must really be something wrong, babe” she said.
“Hello?” she snapped. “Hi, Mrs. Dumas. I’m really sorry to call at dinner. Um there’s a guy here. He says he knows you. He’s not leaving and um I just don’t know what to do”. She could tell Riley was scared. “Well what’s he saying, sweetie? Did you ask his name?” she replied. “Um I didn’t really ask anything. He’s crying and he says he needs you to come home. I don’t know what to do and I’m kind of scared. He’s sitting in his car right now” Riley said. “Alright, we’ll be there in ten minutes” she said as she started to get her coat on. Carter could hear the whole conversation. They looked at each other and sighed. “Caleb” they both said, worriedly.
Their assumption was confirmed when they pulled into the driveway behind an old, beat up Honda Civic. Except this time, they thought, it was exceptionally a mess. Carter went straight inside while Alyssa went to the passenger side door and got in with her brother. He was hysterical. “What’s going on, Caleb? I haven’t seen you like this in months.” she said but all she could get out of him was jumbled words under his breath. “You smell like alcohol. How drunk are you?” she asked. He shrugged. “Deep breaths, Caleb. Calm down. Let’s go inside and talk. I’m sure whatever it is it can’t be as bad as you think”. She got out of the car but he didn’t move so she walked around to the driver’s side and opened his door. She tugged on his arm. “Come on, let’s go! It’s freezing out here”.
They met Carter and Riley in the doorway. “I’m just gonna run her home. It’s too cold to let her walk. The baby is sleeping” he said. “Yeah, good idea,” Alyssa agreed, “Let’s go, Caleb”.
He followed her into the kitchen and she poured herself a glass of wine and him a glass of water. They sat down at the table together. “Okay. Tell me what’s going on. Well no, no. First tell me why you were drinking. You’ve been doing so good, staying out of trouble. I was just telling Carter the other day how proud of you I was”.
She could tell by the look at his face he was guilty about something. He never liked when she badgered him with questions like that because it made him feel worse. Every since their mom died in a car accident three years earlier, and then their dad of a “broken heart” just a month later, he wasn’t the same. He was always in and out of trouble. Bar fights, drug and alcohol abuse, even a few OUIs which upset Alyssa because their mom was killed by a drunk driver. She knew he drove there drunk that night too, but she didn’t say anything about it.
“Alright, I’ll start from the beginning” he said as he took a deep breath and braced himself to tell the story. “So, you remember Lauren? I brought her to Uncle Matt’s this summer”. Alyssa nodded. “Okay well everything has been really good. I haven’t touched a drink in months. She made me really happy. But about a week ago she wasn’t answering my calls or texts. I didn’t think too much about it ‘cause sometimes she has bad service at her apartment. I decided I would surprise her with flowers and take out. Really cheesy, I know. But, when.. when I got there, I-I knocked and she wasn’t answering. I saw her car before I went in so I knew she was home but I just thought she was sleeping or something. So I used the key she gave me a few weeks ago” he had tears in his eyes. “I opened the door, crept in and opened her door quick. Hoping she’d wake up and be so happy to see me. But she wasn’t. There she was in bed with her god damn ex”. He was getting angry all over again, Alyssa could tell. “Oh, Cale. I’m sorry. I’m sooo sorry”. She grabbed him and they hugged. “I’m not done. It gets worse. I’m so stupid” he said, “So, I went home and didn’t talk to her for a couple days. She didn’t even try to contact me or anything. I was hoping she’d apologize and beg for my forgiveness or something. Ya know? But she didn’t even care. She didn’t even try. That’s when I started drinking. I had no reason not to anymore. I guess ‘cause I was drinking I just decided to call her but the line was busy. I tried again. Busy. Over and over again I called and over and over again it was busy. I just kept drinking until everything on my body was numb. I don’t remember what I was going out to do but for some reason I knew not to drive. I just kept walking and walking until next thing I knew I was at her door. I just walked in ‘cause it wasn’t locked. She was still on the phone. God, who talks for that long on the phone?”. His watery eyes turned to sobbing. “Nevermind, I can’t. I just can’t tell you. I’ll leave”. He started to stand up. “No, Caleb. I’m not letting you leave. You have clearly had way too much to drink. You’re going to get yourself killed. Or someone else killed. Come on, Caleb. So she doesn’t want to be with you? There’s so many other great girls out there. You don’t need her. Pick your head up and move on like I know you can”. At this point Alyssa was choking down tears. “It’s just that, Lyss. I already did.” he stammered. “What do you mean?” she asked. “I.. I killed her. I didn’t mean to. I grabbed the phone out of her hands and I threw it. She was mad so she stood up and she was yelling for me to get out but I just couldn’t. I couldn’t move. I haven’t had that feeling since I saw that guy that killed mom. The more she shoved me the more angry I got. So I grabbed her by the wrists and squeezed as hard as I could so she couldn’t get away. She looked at me like to her, I’m the most disgusting person in the world and then she.. She spit on me. Right at my face. I just pushed her away but she’s so little so she fell back. She hit her head off the corner of the kitchen chair. I thought maybe she was just knocked out so I ran over to her and picked her up but then I realized her head was bleeding. A lot”. The both of them were hysterical now. “I know you’re mad at me. Or sad. I’m an idiot. I disappointed you. I panicked. I was drunk. That’s not an excuse but I guess that’s why I didn’t call the police or anything. She’s dead. There was no saving her”. he said. Alyssa was speechless. Neither of them talked for at least three minutes until she finally spoke up. “It was an accident. You need to call, Caleb. I’m taking you to the police station. What did you think I was going to be able to do for you? We have a baby, Caleb. God damn it. I can’t believe you. As if you would drag me into this. I have a family.” She was angry and he knew it. “You’re all I have, Alyssa. I’m your brother. You honestly think they’ll believe it was an accident? Coming from some wasted guy with a track record longer than the trip I made to get here. I need help. I would do this for you. Please. I’m begging you” he said. “No, because I’m not stupid enough to be ever get myself in this situation”. “Okay, you’re right. You are. But listen! You don’t have to do anything. All I need is Carter to take me to dad’s old ice fishing camp in Maine. I’ll get rid of my car. He just has to drop me off and I’ll never ask for anything ever again”. He was begging. “Alright, uh I don’t know. Go take a shower. I need to talk to Carter” she said.
She walked into her bedroom where Carter had been hiding out for the last five minutes. She hardly noticed him when he go home because he just quietly slipped upstairs. She explained everything to him and, with no surprise, he was reluctant to bring Caleb to the old, beat up shack. “No, babe. If I were to get caught.. No why am I even thinking about this? Accessory to murder. Murder, Alyssa.” he said. “Please, Carter. He is my brother. You and I both know if Johnny came knocking on the door we would help him in a heartbeat.” she said. “We both need to just sleep on it. Let’s all just get some sleep” he said.
They had been in bed for hours but Alyssa could not fall asleep. Carter was out about two hours ago but she just laid there until she couldn’t anymore so she got up and ventured into the kitchen. She began to pour herself another glass of wine and get a small snack. Caleb, who had been sleeping on the couch, woke up to the sound of the refrigerator so he accompanied her. “I think Carter is gonna do it. He doesn’t necessarily want to but I think I can talk him into it. You owe us. You owe us so much” she said. “I know I do” he answered. They heard the baby crying but Carter got up to take care of her. After, he joined them. Once again they sat in silence. “I’ll do it” Carter finally spoke up. They only smiled, no words. “We’ll leave this morning at five”. Caleb hugged him for minutes without letting up even a little. Alyssa snuck away to try to actually get some sleep but they stayed downstairs for a little while longer. Caleb expressed his appreciation over and over, they made a plan and, finally, they went back to bed.
Alyssa was woken up at about eight the next morning to the door bell repeatedly ringing. She noticed Carter was gone as she got up and ran to answer the door. Caleb was gone too, but his jacket wasn’t. She wasn’t upset that he didn’t say goodbye because she was angry with him and she knew it would have been awkward anyway. It was two policemen. “Hi m’am. Alyssa Dumas?” they asked. “Yes, sir”. “We’re looking for your brother, Caleb. Do you know where he could be?”. “No, I don’t. Is he in trouble again?” she said trying to sound sincerely concerned. “Yes, he is. This is actually a murder investigation. If you don’t know anything about it then you wouldn’t mind letting us in then?”. She started to panic, knowing his jacket was just in the other room. The baby started crying; saved by the bell. “Actually, I know my rights! And I have a baby to take care of. Until you come back with a warrant I’m going to have to say no”. She tried not to sound suspicious.
For the rest of the day she didn’t do much other than worry until Carter got home at about nine, just as she was getting ready for bed. There wasn’t much said, neither of them had any words. Only guilty feelings in their stomach; enough to make them sick. He reassured her that everything would be fine and Caleb would be safe.
After tossing and turning for about an hour Alyssa finally spoke up. “I do too much for him. Don’t I?”. She was crying. “Sometimes. He kept telling me to thank you and that he loves you but God, I hate when he puts you in these damn situations. It’s like he doesn’t realize you have a life to live” he answered. “I know but he’s my brother. I just love him so much. I’m so scared for him all alone in that shack. What if a bear attacks him or something?” she said. “He said all your dad’s old guns are out there. He’ll be fine. Now let’s get some sleep. I’m exhausted from driving all day. I love you” he said. “I love you more”.


For the second morning in a row she was woken up from the doorbell. She looked out the window to see who was there before going downstairs this time though. Cops. Again. She let out a long sigh and went to answer. “Look, I already told you I don’t know where my brother is” she snapped. “M’am, we found your brother. He’s passed. It appears he shot himself early this morning. Five, maybe six o’clock this morning. The gun shot woke up the neighbors”.

Before, Alyssa kept quiet because she didn’t want to say anything. This time, she was physically unable to speak. The feeling in her stomach made the feeling she had the night before feel like nothing. This new feeling was comparable to being punched in the gut over and over. It was enough for her to lose her breath. She fell to her knees, and then shifted to sitting on her lap. She put her face in her hands and stayed that way for as long as she could.