“Mom, I can’t reach him on his phone. I just want to hear his voice and know that he is okay.” Brianna was saying to her mother. They had been on the phone talking for the past 30 minutes. Brianna had spent the past 3 hours trying to reach Nick, and had been unable to get him to answer. She got either a busy signal, his voice message, or one of several messages from the cellular company that service was not available for various reasons. It was probably just the networks being overused from people making so many calls. There was probably nothing about which to worry. But just the same, she wanted to hear his voice, hear him say that he was okay.

“I can’t get through to my friend Kathy and her family on Staten Island, Brianna. All the phone lines are overloaded. I’m sure he is just fine. You just have to believe that. Like you said they weren’t even scheduled to be in or near New York or DC today.”

“Do you think your friend is okay?”

“Until I hear otherwise that is what I choose to believe. I have no reason to think that she wouldn’t be. But like you, I’d like to hear her voice just the same. After all she’s my best friend from school.”

“I know ma.”

“Why don’t you come home? Spend the night with us. Your dad and I miss you.”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what is going on with class, but maybe, okay?”

“Okay. You know you can come anytime. You just think about it and your dad and I are here if you need to talk.”

“Thanks. I love you guys.”

“We love you too.”

She knew she should probably go to her parents. She knew they probably needed her there as much as she needed to be with them. But she needed something else more. The more information that kept coming in, the worse the situation appeared. And the longer she went without hearing from Nick the more nervous she got. What she really needed now was something to calm her down and make her feel better. She needed something to relax her, and her parents couldn’t give that to her. Only one person could do that. It took a few tries but she did manage to get through to Mitchell. He and a few friends were watching the news just as she had been all morning. At her request he gladly decided to go to her place and spend the afternoon. He even laughed a little and said he had been expecting her to call sooner or later, and that he knew just what she needed.

<~ Chapter 79 or Chapter 81 ~>

In the End

Karina 2003