The Call That Changed Everything

Chapter 1: Are u ok??

The call came during math class.

I was seventeen, a senior in high school, sitting at a desk covered with old pencil marks while equations stretched across the whiteboard. Our teacher was explaining something that probably seemed important at the time, but I cannot remember a single word of it now.

What I do remember is my Nextel phone going off.

The sound cut through the quiet classroom. Heads turned in my direction, and I quickly reached into my bag, expecting a message from a friend or perhaps a reminder from home.

Instead, I saw my paternal grandmother’s name on the screen.

My grandmother did not usually call me during school. If she was calling in the middle of class, something had either gone terribly wrong or she had decided that whatever she wanted could not possibly wait.

I excused myself and stepped outside the classroom before answering.

“Hello?”

There was no greeting.

In her thick Boston accent, she announced my full name with enough force to make me hold the phone away from my ear.