Never Walk Alone

Matt called the hospital the next morning before he was taking off for school. Lizzie and her parents stayed at the hospital overnight just for observation and to recover after the rape under the doctor’s supervision. Jo’s cell phone rang as she was awaken from three rings.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Mom, it’s Matt.”
“Hi, Matt… Lizzie and your father are still asleep but Lizzie should be awake any minute.”
“How much longer are you going to be at the hospital?” he asked.
“Well, they said that they’ll release her today. They just wanted to keep an eye on her for one night and they didn’t want us driving home in the middle of the night. Are you about ready for school?”
“Yeah, we’ll be gone when you get home.”
“Okay, yeah, we’ll be home later on this morning or right after lunch. We still have to talk to the doctor and maybe the police.”
“Did the police come?”
“Yeah, they did and they talked to Lizzie.”
“Do you think they’ll catch the bastard?”
“Matt, don’t talk like that. I’m sure they will find him. They got some evidences so they’re working on it. How’d you sleep last night?”
Matt sighed. “Not so good.”
“Worried about Lizzie?”
“Yeah.” Matt picked up an apple and started walking out of the kitchen into the living room as he sat down on the couch with Lanny, who was eating a bowl of cereal.
“She’s okay, Matt. We’ll bring her home soon. She’s still asleep though.”
“Okay… I probably should finish getting ready for school so we can make that bus.”
“Did you and Lanny find something to eat?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, well, we’ll talk to you this afternoon then, okay?”
Matt got up from the couch again. “Yeah… hey, Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“Can you tell Lizzie that I really did miss her when she was in Rome.”
Jo smiled. “How sweet of you, Matt. I’ll tell her when she wakes up. Now, you worry about school today and we’ll see you after school.”
“Okay, Mom. Bye.” They both hung up then Matt returned the apple into the kitchen. He wasn’t really hungry after all. “Come on, Lanny. We’re going to be late,” he told him.
A few hours later, Miranda’s parents came over to the McGuires’ house to speak with Lizzie’s parents. Gordo and Miranda were in school, Matt and Lanny were in school and Lizzie was upstairs in her bedroom resting. Lizzie was released from the hospital an hour before.
Jo grabbed some cups of coffee for Sam and Miranda’s parents. “Here you go,” Jo offered a cup to Mrs. Sanchez.
“Thank you,” Mrs. Sanchez smiled. “How is Lizzie?”
“She’s upstairs resting in her room. She had a pretty bad night. We all did.”
“What about you guys?”
Jo looked over at her husband who was staring in front of him as if he seemed sad and lost. “Well, we’re definitely doing better than Lizzie is. It’s been hard for the whole family, even Matt.”
“I can imagine. I can’t imagine what I’d be going through if Miranda had to go through the same thing.” Her voice was almost breaking then her husband put an arm around her.
“I never knew it would happen.”
“It’s my fault, Mrs. McGuire. I never should’ve left the children home and gotten that damn Rocky Road.”
Mr. Sanchez shook his head. “I was out in Mexico then I took an overnight flight as soon as I heard this happened. You should never leave kids alone late at night.”
“They’re adults,” Jo reminded him. “Lizzie and Gordo are 18 and Miranda is 17. One thing is you should never walk alone late at night, even if we were only two blocks away. This was no one’s fault. I didn’t know you were out and Miranda didn’t say anything and I assumed that you were driving Lizzie home when I called your house.”
“Well, let’s just thank God that Lizzie’s okay. What did the police say?”
Sam sighed. “Well, when they finished examining her, the police finally showed up and took evidences and asked Lizzie for his description, what he was wearing and what happened. Lizzie gave a pretty good description so maybe they’ll catch the guy.”
“I hope so,” Jo added.
The couple of parents looked up when they heard Lizzie’s footsteps coming down the stairs. “Hi, Honey,” Jo said, looking up at her daughter.
“How’d you sleep?” Sam asked her.
Lizzie shrugged. “Okay.” She reached the bottom of the stairs and looked over at Miranda’s parents.
“Hi, Lizzie,” Mrs. Sanchez said to her.
Lizzie forced a smile, pushing her hands in her pocket. “Hi, Mrs. Sanchez.”
“Lizzie, we’re really sorry this happened.”
Lizzie nodded, pushing her hair behind her ear. “I know. This stuff just happens.”
The room was silent for a minute. “Well, how about something to eat?” Jo asked her daughter.
Lizzie shook her head. “I’m not hungry, Mom.”
Sam leaned over. “Lizzie, you haven’t eaten since dinner last night. How about something small?”
Lizzie shrugged again. “I don’t know. Maybe some toast or something.”
Jo smiled. “That sounds okay. Come on, let’s go in the kitchen.” Just before Jo reached the kitchen, Sam got up to reach the phone that was just ringing. Jo and Lizzie were in the kitchen making the toast then Sam ran into the kitchen after he hung up.
“Jo, Lizzie…” he started. Lizzie sat down on the kitchen table as Jo turned to him.
“What is it, Sam?” Jo asked.
“That was the police. They arrested the man that fit Lizzie’s description almost an hour ago.”
Jo gasped. “What? Are they sure?”
“They want Lizzie to come down to the police station and identify him.”
Lizzie suddenly stood up. “They want me to what?” she said, stunned.
“Oh, Lizzie, isn’t that great? Now, he can’t hurt you anymore!” Jo smiled at her daughter.
Lizzie scoffed. “No! No, this is not great! None of this is great, Mom!” she yelled, running back upstairs into her room as everyone heard the slam of the door. Sam and Jo exchanged confused looks.
“Uh, honey, can you finish up that toast while I go check up on her?” Jo asked as she went climbing up the stairs to Lizzie’s room. “Lizzie?” she knocked on the door and came on in.
Lizzie was sitting on her bed then stood up when she saw her mother come in. “What do you mean that’s so great?!” Lizzie snapped.
“Honey, I don’t understand. How can you be upset that the man who hurt you was finally arrested? He can’t hurt you anymore now, Lizzie.”
“Mom, I have to go over there and identify the son of a bitch! I mean, I do not want to go over there and let him see me!” She was nearly in tears now. “He’ll see me and he’ll try to hurt me again and what if it’s not him? What if they arrested the wrong guy?”
“Honey, I understand that you’re upset. The police will be there if he sees you and let’s just hope that they got the right guy. You did give them a good description.”
“What if they did catch the wrong guy?” Lizzie was now crying.
Jo frowned and put her arms around her, holding her. “Oh, Lizzie… I hope they did catch the right guy. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Lizzie sniffed. “No, it won’t. It’ll never be okay after what he did to me for two hours. I thought I’d never come home again.”
“I know, I know… you’re home now, Lizzie.”