Page 53 of Sachie's Hero

“Poor Emma,” Teller commented. “That’s a horrible thing for a child to witness.”

Sachie nodded. “I’m glad she’s doing much better.” Her lips pressed together. “And yes, I see the parallels to what happened with me and Luke. I know it takes time to get past the horror.”

She flipped through more junk mail, laying the letters with the others on the dash, and then stopped to read a glossy postcard depicting boys playing in a gym. “This is the Boys’ Club where Luke worked after school. They’re having an open house...” she turned the card over, “today, actually.” Her forehead wrinkled as she tapped the card to her chin. “When I was asking Luke what was wrong, he wouldn’t tell me. I asked him if something had happened at school. He said no. Then I asked him if something had happened at the Boys’ Club.”

“Did he say yes?”

Sachie shook her head. “No. But he didn’t say no. He avoided answering the question.”

“I say we go to the Boys’ Club next.” Teller entered the address in his map application on his cell phone. As he pulled out onto the road, Sachie’s cell phone rang.

She answered with, “This is Sachie. Kylie?” She glanced toward Teller. “Hold on.” She lowered the phone and placed it in speaker mode. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry I couldn’t answer your earlier call. I’ve had so many crank calls that my mother doesn’t want me answering any. She turned off my phone. I just happened to turn it back on to see someone had left a message.”

“Thank you for returning my call,” Sachie said.

“You were the counselor Luke was seeing?”

“Yes,” Sachie said.

“Wow,” the one word sounded choked with emotion. “You were there... You saw...” An audible sniff sounded over the line.

“Yes. Probably like you, I’ve been struggling to process it all.”

“Struggling,” Kylie said, the word breaking on what sounded like a sob. “Yeah.”

“Before he...” Sachie stopped.

Teller glanced toward her.

Her eyes were filled with tears.

Teller found an empty parking lot and pulled in. He reached for Sachie’s hand and held it.

She gave him a weak smile, swallowed and continued. “Luke asked me to tell you he was sorry for dragging you into his shitty life, and that he was sorry he hurt you.”

“Oh, God,” Kylie whispered. “He said that?”

“Yes. I’m so sorry I didn’t deliver the message sooner,” Sachie said softly, tears slipping down her cheeks.

Teller gently squeezed Sachie’s hand, wishing he could take away her pain, knowing he couldn’t.

“Now that I can think more clearly,” Sachie said, “I’m trying to understand what drove Luke to that...day.”

“It’s all my fault,” Kylie said. “We had a terrible argument.”

“What was the argument about, Kylie?” Sachie asked.

“He was so angry,” Kylie’s voice caught in a sob, “it scared me.”

“Angry with you?” Sachie persisted, her voice calm, controlled and so gentle that Teller would have told her anything she wanted to know just to keep her talking.

“Not at me. At something that happened where he worked. He said they were pushing him to dosomething he didn’t want to do.”

“Did he tell you what that was?”

“No. He wouldn’t say, no matter how many times I asked. I asked him if it was illegal. He wouldn’t say. I asked him if it would hurt the kids. He said not at the club, but that if he didn’t do it, they would hurt his best friend.”

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