Past Due by Elizabeth Seckman

created.”
    Lois rose from her seat and hugged Jenna. She said nothing for several minutes then admitted, her voice soothing and kind, “I’ve behaved like a school girl and I apologize. We’re going to sit and you’re going to tell me what you came here to share. All right?” Jenna allowed Lois to lead her back to her seat on the sofa.
    Lois sat quietly, patiently waiting for Jenna to speak.
    Jenna took a deep breath then began, her voice as broken as her spirit, “I met Tres, the guy Russell was talking about, the summer I turned sixteen. His family had a vacation home in Kitty Hawk a few miles from my house. I’d see him at holidays and summer breaks when his family came in. He was everything I ever hoped and dreamed of. So perfect, so wonderful.” Jenna shook her head to clear the warmth of the memory. Her voice cracked, but she continued, “I thought I loved him; thought he loved me.” She paused again as the tears pooled, her eyes glassy and red rimmed. She looked at Lois and gave her a weak smile. “But I was wrong, so wrong.” Jenna looked to the ceiling as if the memories were written there. “The summer I graduated from high school, I truly thought I had it all. Tres and I were going to go to college together, planning to one day marry. But by September, my life was crumbling. It was like the earth shifted and if I hadn’t run to solid ground, I’d have been sucked under.” Jenna took another deep breath, “That August, oh, lord, that’s a month I would gladly erase from my memory.” Jenna closed her eyes and allowed the wave of pain to rise and recede before continuing, “I should have been getting ready to leave for school, but I was more worried about being pregnant. I was more than a month late and I finally got up enough courage to take one of those tests. It was positive. I walked around that whole morning with that thing in my pocket. I’d pray it was wrong then check it again. It’d still be positive. Then I did another, then another…all positive. It was just so unreal. I couldn’t believe it. I was just getting half way calm about it, but then my dad came home. He was white as a ghost and shaking like a leaf. He came in and grabbed hold of me and squeezed me so tight I couldn’t breathe. He just held me and whispered, ‘Angel’s gone, sweetie. Angel’s gone.’ I asked him what was going on, but he said nothing. He just kissed my cheek and went to his room. I could hear him crying. I just stood outside his door and listened to him cry. I didn’t know what to do or say. And I kept thinking, what did he mean? Did he mean Angel was gone, dead gone? Or maybe she just ran away? His cries stopped and I could hear the shower running, so I went to the kitchen and sat. Looking around the room, I thought about the night before. Angel had accused me of eating her left over chicken nuggets.” Jenna choked out a bitter laugh. “How bizarre is that? I sat there listening to the hum of the fridge and thinking, ‘I never told her where they were’…figured it served her right for always accusing me of things and never asking my side. And now she’d never know. They were on the bottom shelf wrapped in plastic. I put them away for her because she was too drunk to care the night before.” Jenna wiped her eyes again. “Funny how you remember those moments.”
    Neither spoke for a moment, then Jenna continued, “Dad came into the kitchen freshly shaved and dressed, grabbed his keys and told me we had to make arrangements for Angel. So, like a couple of zombies we went to the funeral home. Dad sorted through casket pictures and music, looking to me every now and then for a nod of approval. It was so weird. I felt so damned numb it was unbelievable. And I still can’t eat chicken nuggets.”
    “Oh, Jenna.”
    Jenna flashed her a weak smile, “I wanted Tres then more than I have ever wanted anyone or anything in my life.”
    “Did you call him?”
    “No. He was in Europe with his family.