Chapter Six

Almost Doesn't Count

Part I

Karma followed as Lauren went around to every window and asked if anyone had seen Amy. She had brought a picture from the house but no one seemed to remember a damn thing.

"Are you missing someone?" An old man asked.

"My sister," Lauren said. Lauren didn't notice but she had been clutching onto Karma's hand for over ten minutes now and pulling her along. It felt warm and sweaty now but it was too late to let go because she needed her, she really did. She may not have known it but she wanted her there.

"Lemme see," the man said. "I'm here all the time." He was shaky and frail but he took the picture from her and stared. "I think I saw her. She looked hurt."

"Oh thank god!" Karma said, feeling her heart miss a step and then speed up extra fast. There was hope in sight. They could find her.

"It was two days ago I think... And she had a-a big green bag," he said.

"That was her," Lauren gave Karma a look.

"It was going north. The north bus," he recalled.

"North? How north?" Lauren asked.

"The big one. The red-eye express."

"Non-stop to…"

"Pennsylvania." It was the one people took from the Midwest to hop trains to New York or Canada or any of those places that were so far away.

"Oh my God," Karma said. The air knocked right out of her.

"Thank you," Lauren stuttered. They felt useless there now. They both knew that Amy could be so far away.

You didn't need a passport to get into Canada. She could be in fucking Canada.

"Did you know Amy has a passport…" Karma said feeling dead.

"Fuck," Lauren said, sitting down on the bench and leaning her head on Karma's shoulder. "We'll have to get it out of her."

"She hasn't even called."

"She texted me. She'll text again."

"If she knows I'm with you, she won't say a thing," Karma whined.

"Don't," Lauren said, pulling her close and hugging her tight. "We'll find her okay. She said she was fine. We have to believe it."

"She could be anywhere! What if a man picked her up?" Karma cried.

"Stop thinking the worst," Lauren said. Tears fell out of her eyes though as she rest her lips in Karma's hair and tried not to think it too. The world as not a friendly place and Amy could barely take being alone in Austin for more than two hours. It really wasn't fun to think of her out there all alone.

Part II

Jacob stitched her up while Spencer impatiently watched. She couldn't understand what was taking so long. A real on-call doctor would've done this so much quicker. She tried not to look irritated though because this had been their only option.

"Is it bad?" Amy asked. She was watching Spencer's face and noticing how when Spencer looked away from her, the expression she was wearing consistently shifted from comforting to menacing.

"It looks better," Spencer lied. It looked bloody and strange, fresh in every sense of the word.

"Can I distract you?" Spencer asked cheerfully. "What would your friend do if she was here?"

"Karma?" Amy hated to think. "She would sing," she said honestly, a breathy sigh following. "Every time…" She breathed in as deeply as she could, her chest hurting from what she now knew was a fractured rib. "When I'd panic or stress out, she'd hold me close and sing me a song."

"What song?" Spencer asked. She could sing. She rarely did but she could. Spencer took voice lessons. Spencer could read music. There was just that little part of her that sometimes felt rude for singing. She didn't know why but she had that in her. For Amy though, if it could make her feel better, she would sing.

"Umm… It was never the same thing," Amy confessed with a small awkward laugh. Trying to explain Karma to other people was definitely hard to do. Nothing did her justice. Nothing could. Karma was a complicated person. A wonderfully complicated person.

"Okay," Spencer said, clearing her throat and trying to think of a good song to distract her. She braced herself and stifled a smile, starting out slow. "Almost made you love me. Almost made you cry. Almost made you happy, babe. Didn't I didn't I?"

Amy was smiling from ear to ear. Spencer was so adorable and so nice. She was actually singing for her. And for some reason, when Spencer said "babe" and stared at her like that, Amy actually felt a flutter.

"You almost had me thinkin' you were turned around, but everybody knows, almost doesn't count…"

A small tear escaped Amy because she thought about Karma singing the song and that line just sorta hurt.

"Almost heard you sayin', you were finally free. What was always missin' for you babe, you found it in me. You can't get to heaven, half off the ground. Everybody knows. Almost doesn't count…"

While Spencer sang she searched Amy's face and noticed that she actually was pleasing her and distracting her a lot. Occasionally she'd look tenderly at her and pushing her hair out of her face and wipe away a stray tear. Jacob was doing God knows what to her, and very slowly, so it was comforting to know she was helping it all, making it a little better for Amy. She couldn't stop searching her. Amy just stared so openly and it was like you could read her every emotion on her face. She was a lot like Emily used to be. It took Spencer's breath away, made her want to save her.

"Can't keep on baby… Can't keep on tryin'..." Spencer kept on and Amy listened as she went into these beautiful little vocal runs. Each of them lovely in their own right. When the words started up again Spencer seemed like she was actually just talking to Amy now, instead of singing a song. "Maybe you'll be sorry. Maybe you'll be cold. Maybe you'll come runnin' back babe, from the cruel cruel world. Almost convinced me, you're gonna stick around. But everybody knows, almost doesn't count… So maybe I'll be here. Maybe I'll see around… That's the way it goes… Almost doesn't count."

When the song ended Amy laid her face down and relaxed. It was weird how capable Spencer was of taking over her and making her feel completely safe.

"That was…" Amy sighed. The feel of the massage table on her face was cold and soft. She felt like sleeping suddenly. She'd ran from home and now she wasn't sure. Was Spencer scared that she'd run from her as well?

"Oh, you don't have to," Spencer shook her head.

"No, it was great," Amy said. "Really."

"I don't usually sing for people," Spencer scoffed lightly. It was true. She wasn't quite sure why she had done it.

"I love that you did it," Amy said. "I think I needed that."

Spencer leaned forward and brushed Amy's cheek with her hand.

"I'm glad," she said, staring into Amy's eyes. Amy was so vulnerable. Spencer wished she could do more.

Part III

Eventually Jacob coughed and broke the two girls from their marveling stares. He wasn't sure who these strange teens were but if they knew Wren they were probably just rich and up to no good. But none of that mattered because he had done Wren the favor he owed and he could go back to asking favors from Wren and that prospect was exciting.

He explained that the fractured rib couldn't be fixed, that it needed time to heel. And he explained that Amy should probably try to rest as much as possible. Stay still. Keep her leg from rubbing on things. Wear short shorts or skirts if she can to air out her wound and help it to heel.

It was all typical bullshit. But he gave her some pain killers so that would help.

In the end Spencer felt relieved that she had taken Amy to someone.

Amy was relieved but exhausted. There were bruises that somehow hurt more than her fractured rib. If she could just lie still, and sleep for several days without thinking, that would be the best thing she could do.

"Thank you," Spencer said, once they were back in the car and sitting. She was sitting behind her steering wheel and hesitating to turn her car on.

"Why are you thanking me?!" Amy laughed.

"You let me help you and I really wanted to. Thank you," Spencer said, turning to her and grabbing her hand again.

"Spencer," Amy said, taking her hand away nervously. "I don't think you understand how indebted I already am to you guys…" Spencer watched as Amy held her own hand and looked upset with herself.

"You can't feel that way," Spencer said, shaking her head. She wouldn't allow Amy to feel that way.

"I have to feel that way. You guys rescued me. You didn't let me fall into the hands of whoever it is you're scared of. You took me to a doctor who fixed me. You're here…"

Adding it up was hurting her. The more the girls helped the more Amy cared about them. Caring about people had been so dicey lately. She already felt bad enough just caring about Karma and Lauren. Now she had these other girls who would not stop helping her.

"Amy…" Spencer tried to find the right way to explain. "You don't know this but we don't often get a positive distraction in this town."

"I really don't understand why you're all so haunted."

"I'd explain if I could," Spencer scoffed. Getting into the complications with A and all the bat-shit crazy that had occurred over the years, it was just impossible to tell it all. There were things even Spencer couldn't remember. Also things that the girls all kept from one another, little things.

"What is it?" Amy asked. Spencer had been so quiet and she stared out her window for a while instead of starting the car and bringing them both home.

"It's this place," Spencer said, opening up. Amy noticed that tears had gathered in Spencer's eyes. "It's not just haunted…" Spencer breathed out shallowly, looking down at her hands. "It's cursed." She said. And for once she really believed it.

Amy watched as her mood shifted and Spencer stuck the key in the ignition, turning it on quick and driving them away almost angry.

The worst part of it all was that Spencer had given Jacob money. She had paid to help Amy. Two hundred dollars in cash.