Catching Fireflies(103)

He’d realized just how mistaken he’d been when he’d come home one day to find his brother had hanged himself from the light fixture in his room. He was barely breathing when J.C. got to him. J.C. had done everything in his power to resuscitate him as he’d waited for the paramedics, but it had been too long. Though Stevie had clung to life with the help of machines for a few more days, his parents had eventually made the horrendous decision to let him go. None of them had ever entirely recovered. His mother had left for the final time soon after.

Those days had changed J.C. forever. He’d chosen his medical specialty of pediatrics with an eye toward being alert to all signs of bullying affecting his young patients. It still killed him that he hadn’t spotted it sooner in Misty’s case.

Though he told himself she was fine a hundred times as the clocked slowly ticked off each interminable minute, he still found himself at the high school at two, rather than three. Laura regarded him with surprise.

“Can you get away now?” he asked, unable to hide his sense of urgency.

She took one look at his face or heard something in his voice and immediately nodded. “Give me two minutes to get someone in here to cover my class.”

Not until they were in his car did she reach for his tensed arm, resting her hand there until he slowly relaxed.

“Did you speak to Misty?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“Diana?”

“Yes, and she even said Misty had eaten a little soup for lunch.”

“Then what spooked you? Were you thinking about your brother?”

“How could I not?” he asked angrily. “I should have done more. He died because I didn’t protect him.”

“No, J.C. What happened was a tragedy, but it wasn’t your fault. You were, what, eighteen when he died, even younger when you had to start protecting him? You couldn’t have understood then how lost and alone he was feeling.”

“Maybe not, but I did know what was happening. I just turned into some self-absorbed jerk and convinced myself he could handle it. I forgot all about my own brother,” he said, his tone filled with the self-loathing that was never far away whenever he thought of Stevie’s death.

As they pulled to a stop in front of the Dawsons’ house, Laura forced him to meet her gaze. “Have you ever let down another child?”

“There have been patients I couldn’t help,” he said.

“But not for lack of trying, right? Just as you’re doing everything possible for Misty. We both are. This situation is going to get better, J.C.”

“How can you possibly be so sure of that?” he asked.

She smiled then and the ice around his heart seemed to melt just a little.

“Because you and I will see to it,” she told him. “I have that much faith in us, in you.”

For the first time in years, J.C. actually felt as if he just might be the kind of man who was worthy of such unquestioning trust.



When Misty heard a car outside and glanced out her bedroom window, she saw both Dr. Fullerton and Ms. Reed walking toward the house. At the sight of them, she panicked. Leaving her room, she raced down the stairs to beat her mom to the door.

“You’re not here to make me go back to school, are you?” she demanded when she opened it. “Please, don’t try to force me to go. I can’t. All of Annabelle’s friends hate me now, and just the way I thought it would, it’s getting uglier online. Now the other kids are posting mean things, too. Today’s been worse than ever.”

Dr. Fullerton’s gaze narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Everybody hates me now,” Misty said, near tears.

“Let me see,” Ms. Reed commanded.

Misty regarded her with dismay. “Do I have to? They’re pretty disgusting.”

“We need to see them,” the doctor said. “It’s okay, Misty. We’re not going to believe them. Have a little faith in us. We both know the kind of person you are.”

She knew if they went online themselves, they’d be able to find the sites on their own, so she finally sighed and showed the posts to them.

“I just don’t understand how this could keep happening now that the court’s involved,” Misty said miserably. “Surely Annabelle’s parents wouldn’t allow it, and the other kids should be smart enough to see how severe the punishment is. Look at what’s happened to half the football team.”

“It’s not Annabelle,” J.C. said, after studying the posts. “I’d bet money on that.”

“But that’s her screen name,” Misty argued. “She’d stopped using the page, but today it was back up.”