September 8th, 1953, was a day I will never forget. I knew the moment our home football team lost that the night couldn’t end well. My boyfriend, Bud, was our quarterback, and he never took a loss lightly. He felt all the pressure was on him, and whether they won or lost, it was entirely his fault. Nothing could change his mind—not even me. We had been dating since Sophomore year, and we were set to graduate in the spring. I was excited for us to move on to bigger things; well, some of us were moving. Bud was staying behind to work in his father's auto shop while I was hopefully going to college after the summer. Bud had always been quick-tempered, but he also had the sweetest heart.
As Bud ran off the field, I reached out to hug him and cool him down. “Don’t, Lizzie!” he snapped at me, pushing me away. I watched as he trudged toward the locker room, and I waited outside for him since he was my ride home. The rain started to pour as I waited. Bud’s friend James and I stood under the awning and talked until it got late, he had to leave.Lighting cracked and the ground seemed to shake. When Bud finally came outside and saw me, he sighed in frustration. “You’re still here?” he exclaimed.
“I’m sorry, but you said you were driving me home,” I replied.
“Yeah, whatever,” he mumbled.
“Do you want to stop by the parlor and get an ice cream? It's raining cats and dogs out here, cream soda sounds really nice, don’t ya think?” I asked, trying to sound optimistic.
“No, I don’t,” he snapped.
“Okay, well we can always go another time. I thought you played well tonight, but it’s okay; you always have next time. Like I always say, at the end of a storm, there is always—”
“WILL YOU JUST SHUT UP ALREADY?!” he yelled.
I felt tears forming in my eyes. “Okay, sorry,” I whispered.
“Just get in the car already, will you?” he said.
“Yeah, fine,” I muttered.
“What did you say to me?!” he shouted.
“Nothing, I’m sorry. I just don’t want to be here right now.” Tears began to stream down my cheeks. There was something about people raising their voices that always made me cry.
“Then why did you come here, huh? You could care less about football. You only care about gossiping with your friends. Who was that guy you were with when I came out? Was it James? Are you talking to James? I know you like him!” he barked.
“No, I don’t. I came to watch you play,” I tried to reason. “You know I only love you, not James. He’s just an old friend.”
“Right, sure. Whatever you say,” he sneered.
“No, Bud, please believe me.” I placed my hand on his cheek. “You are the only one on my mind; no one else matters.”
Suddenly, a cold slap met my face. This wasn’t the first time he had hit me.
“How do you think I’m so naïve? I’m not blind; I can see what’s going on. You hate football games, and you sit and talk with him outside of the locker rooms!”
“Bud please, you give me no choice, I’m done. We are done. I’m going to walk home. I can’t take this anymore” I declared. I opened the door and started to walk away, refusing to look back. The rain hit my shoulders and the wind whipped across my face, the red ribbon was ripped from my hair.
“Lizzie, don’t you dare walk away from me!” he shouted, slamming his door.
I turned and looked back,it was hard to see through all of the rain but all I saw were the lights of his car. Then I heard a metal-on-metal sound, followed by heavy footsteps. Thump, thump thump.
I turned again to see him coming toward me with a crowbar in hand, walking quickly. He grabbed me by the arm and threw me against the car, raising the crowbar over his head.
“Please, no! Don’t!”
By the 13th, Lizzie was classified as missing, Bud’s car was found in a ditch behind the high school. The truck was examined and nothing was found in the car expect for a crowbar and a human heart. Sadly Bud was never taken to court.
Part two: James
Liz and I had been friends since Junior High. We met in our mandatory theater class in the sixth grade. She was in the back row because she has always been tall and I stood in the row just ahead of hers. I hated being watched by our director and I felt the blood rush from my face and the world seemed to spin. Just as my eyes fell shut I was caught by a gentle embrace. Liz placed me down and asked if I was alright, from then on, I knew she would be my best friend.
We stayed friends throughout sixth grade and seventh, but then our worlds changed when a new kid moved in, his name, was Bud. As soon as he walked in those double doors on our first day of eighth grade, I knew that something had changed. I had never been popular by any means but Bud made me feel cool. All of the guys admired him and wanted to just be associated with him, but he was a type of narcissistic. He thrived off of the power that attention gave him, no matter how it affected the people around him. He seemed to find a new target every week, but he found one that stuck, my best friend Liz. He found her locker and would put anything he could find in there, old gym socks, month-old lunches, even the mop water from the janitor's closet. I loved Liz like a sister but was too scared to stop him.
One day, March twenty-third to be exact, Bud hit a nerve on me. He somehow found out about Liz’s parents and he thought this would be a great time to bring it up. Her mother passed away when she was eight years old, but she told people that she left.
Of course, Bud had no idea that her story was a lie, so he teased her for it, bringing up anything remotely related to her mom. After comments in class, the hallways, and at lunch, I finally snapped. I couldn’t stand by as my one true friend was attacked by the “nice guy”. I tried to tell him he didn’t know what he was talking about but nothing could get through to him.
“You like her or something, huh, is that your pretty little girlfriend?” he said condescendingly.
“No, of course not, but I think you should stop,” I said, my words coming out smaller than I had anticipated.
“You know what, I’m going to give you one chance to pick who you want to be around, her” he pointed at the sad lump of a girl crying in the corner, “ or us, your real friends”
Liz barely lifted her head to look at me with tear-stained eyes when I said “Sorry Liz, I gotta go”
I had seen Liz around after we went to high school, we had a class together here or there but we never talked like we used to. After she got together with Bud, any conversation we had was pleasant but cold. I knew I had wronged her for not standing up when I should have, but a part of me felt missing without her.
On the night of the final football game of the year, I only went because my mother made me. I had no intention of going at all, but since it was the last game of the senior year, I figured I should go and “make memories” like my dad always told me to. After the game was over I saw a girl sitting under the awning by the ticket window. She looked cold and alone and I thought that having a friend couldn’t hurt. I walked toward her and she looked up at me with those same tear-stained eyes and we started talking.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it Liz,” I said, wanting to start a conversation.
“Yeah, it has been too long,” she said” She motioned for me to sit next to her and as I sat down I saw a bruise across her neck.
“What happened here?” I asked and gestured to her neck. She quickly covered it with her hand and muttered something about a tree.
“Why are you out here all alone, crying in the rain? Is everything alright with Bud” I inquired.
“Things with Bud are, well, rocky, you see he’s on edge about me moving away, I got into college but he doesn’t want me to go, he just loves me so much.” she brushed her damp strands of hair out of her eyes, the rain was blowing in every direction.
“Here,” I said, motioning for her to give me the red ribbon she was using as a bracelet. She turned away from me as I tied her hair in the ribbon, and into a petite bow.
“Thank you, you are very kind, I remember that about you, you were always so kind to me,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Yes, I was back then, I’m sorry about how things ended with us back in Junior High,” I said, shame covering my words. She patted my hand and placed her head on my shoulder, we watched the rain together for a long while, maybe too long. I glanced down at my watch and sprung to my feet.
“ I have to go Liz I’m late for curfew” I yelled to her as I darted across the parking lot.
“Alright, be safe” she called back to me. I turned to see her standing and waving to me, and I stopped for a moment to let her kindness soak in, but a large strike of lightning shook the ground and I was off running again.
My father was asleep when I finally got home, soaking wet and tracking mud across the carpet. It was hard navigating through my house in the darkness but I reached my room and collapsed on my bed. I was out like a light and slept until nearly ten the next day. When I finally did wake up, I crept down the stairs, careful not to wake my sister, and when I reached the kitchen Mother sat at the counter reading the paper. Everything was how it should have been, everything was perfect.
By the next Monday, I was back at school, sitting in my AP chemistry class in the back row but as the students filed in, two people were missing. The seat three rows in front of me was empty, as was the seat to my left. Bud and Liz were gone. Bud was always late and I didn’t think much of it, but Liz was never late, she never missed a day of any class. Days and days passed and there was no sign of Liz, Bud however returned without a care in the world. I sat at my desk day after day only thinking of what could have happened to her and nothing I could think of made any sense, that was until the 13th.
As Saturday rolled around I felt numb from fear and sadness, I slowly walked down the stairs to my kitchen as I heard a soft cry. I turned the corner to see the morning sun highlighting to shape of a woman slumped over the island. My mother nearly never cried so I rushed to her side to see what the matter was and she simply handed me the paper, the front page was a car in a ditch with the title “Where Did She Go”. I knew from the moment I saw that image that it was Bud's car and there was no doubt in my mind that she had to have been with him.
I threw the paper down on the table and dashed for the door. I sprinted out of our house and over the street, I knew I had to get to the school. I crossed the park where Liz and I would play and through the field behind the middle school where I got my tooth knocked out by a soccer ball.
I reached the parking lot out of breath, panting on the dew sparkled pavement. I desperately glanced around for some sign, anything at all. I collapsed to the ground in tears. I felt as though I might have been getting my best friend back, she was gone just as fast as she had come. I lay and cried as I stared up into the yellowing sky and watched the trees blow. I lay for some time until I saw something in the branch just overhead, a small red ribbon clung to the tree above me and I grabbed it and held it to my chest. I lay and cried, as I thought to myself about how great she was and how I might never see her again.
I hoped with every fiber of my being that she was safe and sound, chasing her dreams. I imagined her breaking free from this town, leaving behind the past, and moving on from Bud, the weight that held her down. I yearned for her to be thriving in college, embracing new adventures with a heart full of hope.
Regret, however, covered my thoughts like a heavy fog. I wish I had opened my eyes sooner to the signs, the bruises I dismissed as mere accidents, when deep down, I felt that something was terribly wrong. With every passing moment, the guilt grew in my gut; Liz wasn’t okay.
Her family held a memorial for her even though they hadn’t found her yet, but six weeks after her disappearance, a body was found in the lake behind our high school. Yet, even in my dreams, I hold onto her red ribbon. It rests close to my heart, wrapped in love and longing, a promise that no matter what happened to her, a part of her will always be with me.