The Call

“Hello.”

“Don’t hang up.”

“Goodbye.”

“PLEASE, don’t hang up.”

“You shouldn’t call.”

“You said you loved me.”

“I said it a million times, and I meant every one.”

“Then why am I here?”

“We shouldn’t be talking about this. Not over the phone.”

“You won’t see me in person.”

“I can’t, you know, I can’t.”

“Why? Are you afraid someone might realize it should be you in here? ”

“We both know it would be worse for me.”

“Worse for you?”

“Hailey, you know this isn’t the way I wanted this to go. If there was any other way.”

“Any other way?”

“Come on, baby, you know you're my fate. I will always love you. This is killing me.”

“Killing you. Nice, I’m in a cell facing years in prison, and you want me to feel sorry for you…Mike, if this is killing you, I’m already dead.”

“Don’t be like that. You know if the situation were reversed, I’d be in there for you.”

“Is that why you told them it was me? Why, when I first woke up in the hospital, you told me I was driving?”

“I had to. We had to. It was the only way they would believe us.”

“Because it’s all a lie.”

“Because it's our truth.”

“I believed you. When you told me our truth. But then I started to remember.”

“I’m going to go.”

“I could start talking to the detectives or the prosecutor if you don’t want to talk to me.”

“You don’t want to do that.”

“Why, wouldn’t I?”

“They wouldn’t believe you. It would make you look like you don’t have any remorse.”

“Do you have any remorse?”

“Of course, I do, Hailey. I hate that this happened.”

“You mean that people lost their lives. That because you drove home, a family isn’t breathing anymore.”

“Stop, Hailey.”

“Why, why can't we talk about it, Mike?"

“It doesn’t do any good.”

“I think about it. I can’t stop thinking about it. I see their faces every time I close my eyes. I hear the words their loved ones said about them. I hear their friends and neighbors. They were a happy family with hopes and dreams, and we ended all of that.”

“Stop.”

“When you first told me what I’d done, I wanted to die. I wanted to kill myself, Mike. I couldn’t sleep. I hated every breath I took. Thinking I had been the one. But then I started to get flashes of that night back. The way your eyes looked at me when you pushed me into the car. The way I begged you to give me the keys.”

“Hailey, I will hang up.”

“It doesn’t help with the guilt knowing I wasn't driving. I was still in the car...I didn't do enough to stop you. If I had let those guys who wanted to fight you for the way you were treating me do what they had started to, the Robinsons would still be alive...Because of that and so many other reasons, I will always feel guilty. I will always drown below the surface of what we did.”

“You were driving, Hailey.”

“Do you feel guilty? Not for the accident...Do you feel guilty for what you’ve done to me?”

“We can’t keep going in these circles, Hailey. You need to take the deal the prosecutor is offering. They will go easy on you. This is your first offense. You weren’t drunk. You didn’t have any drugs in your system. You will be out in less than two years.”

“The prosecutor’s last offer was five years.”

“Just take the deal. For all the reasons I gave. Take the deal so we can put this behind us.”

“Us. I’m sorry, Mike, I’m having a hard time feeling like there's still an us. I'm the only one facing a trial.”

“Hailey.”

“I wasn’t the one who was drunk. I wasn’t the one who was driving. I wasn’t the one who dragged my girlfriend out of the club. I wasn’t the one who slapped her in the face. But I am the one going to jail.”

“How are you calling me?”

“With a phone.”

“You know what I mean, Hailey. This wasn’t a collect call. I didn’t hear a message saying I had a call from an inmate at the Allegheny County Jail.”

“I gave another girl ten dollars of my commissary to use her phone.”

“She has a phone in jail?”

“You’d be surprised what you can get in here.”

“Nobody can hear me? This isn’t being recorded?”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“I would be looking at twenty-five years.”

“Why, because you were drunk?”

“Hailey.”

“Don’t say my name like you’re scolding a child.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

“How about trying to be a man?”

“You’re not baiting me. Whatever you’re trying to do, it’s not going to work.”

“I’d have to use a really small bait for you.”

“That's perfect. What are we three, Hailey?”

“Why? It's true. You know what they say, if the shoe fits. Wear it.”

“You always seemed to enjoy yourself.”

“I think I could have a career in acting after I get out.”

“This is stupid. I’m not playing this game. If you have anything left to say, say it. Otherwise, I’m hanging up.”

“I loved you, Mike. Part of me always will. As much as I want to hate you, not all of me can. We were supposed to grow old together. Before this, I dreamed all the time about the house you promised me, about our kids. I wanted our forever. That’s what hurts the most. I’ll get out in two years or five years. I’ll put some kind of life together. But it won’t be the life we stayed up talking about after we made love. I will never be that wide-eyed girl again. I will always be broken. I will always be the one who stole four lives, whether I was driving or not. Whether I tried to stop you or didn't do enough. I will always carry the weight of the futures we took away.”

“I’m sorry. I really am, Hailey.”

“I know you won’t tell anyone else. But can you tell me? So, I know I’m not crazy. So, I know part of you still loves me.”

“All of me still loves you.”

“Prove it.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I want you to tell me you were driving. I want to hear you say you’re sorry for slamming my head against the window and telling me to shut up. For driving so fast. For screaming at me the whole way. For not paying attention to where the car was. For not listening when I begged you through my tears to watch the road. I want you to say you’re sorry for killing them. For putting me in the driver's seat. For telling the cops you weren't driving. For telling me I was responsible when I woke up in the hospital. I want to hear you apologize before I go to prison."

“I already told you, I’m sorry. And I am sorry, Hailey.”

“No, Mike. I’m sorry, isn’t good enough. It helps, but I want to hear you say what you did that night. I want one moment of honesty between us. Then I can face whatever is coming."

“Fine….”

“Mike”

“It was me. I was driving. I hurt you in ways I never thought I could. I screamed. I yelled. I hit you, and I hate myself for it.”

“What about the rest?”

“God, you want it all, don’t you?”

“I think I deserve to hear you say it even if it's just this one time and nobody else hears.”

“I was drunk. I wasn’t paying attention. I was so mad I didn’t care what happened…And when it happened. When the car finally stopped. I tried to wake you. I tried to find a pulse, but I must have been doing it wrong because I couldn't find one…That killed me thinking you were dead. I had to get out of the car. I was panicking. I couldn’t breathe knowing you were right next to me, but you were gone."

"Mike."

"This is hard, Hailey. Excuse me if I need a second to process what I went through that night."

"Okay, just say it when you're ready, and I won't ever ask you again. I'll take the deal, and we can put this behind us."

"The Robinsons. God, it's hard even saying their name. It was so bad, Hailey. I'll never get the image of them in that car out of my mind. There was so much blood. I didn't know what to do. I was so scared, and then I saw the headlights coming. And I knew I'd spend the rest of my life in jail when they stopped and the police came. I just panicked. You were already gone. At least that's what I thought. You have to know I never would have done it if I thought there was a chance you were still alive. Jesus, do you really want to hear this?"

"Yes, I need to hear it, Mike. I need to know you can give me this small thing before I pay the price for both of us."

"Okay. Okay. You want me to say it. I will. I ran back to our car. I moved you into the driver's seat with tears in my eyes and put the seatbelt around you. I ran back to the Robinsons' car and acted like I was trying to save them, even though I knew they were dead. When the people got out, I told them you didn't have a pulse and asked them to help me. I told them I thought the little boy was still alive. The man in the car came over to me, but his wife went to our car. I couldn't believe it when she said you were still alive...I would have told the police I was driving, but I had already moved you into the driver's seat. They would have added on to my sentence, maybe even tried to give me life. I had to tell them you were driving. That you were driving too fast and not paying attention. I was stuck. There was nothing I could do. I had to tell them. You understand that, don't you? I had to tell them it was you."

"But, it wasn't me."

"You said if I told you, you would let this go."

"I did."

"I'm going to go, Hailey. It took a lot for me to tell you that."

"Okay, Mike."

"You will get through this. You're strong, Hailey. Stronger than me."

"You mean you're weak and I'm not."

“That’s great, I give you what you want, and you attack me. You know what, goodbye, Hailey. Take the deal or don’t. I don’t care. And, if you tell anyone what I said, I'll deny it, and they won't believe you."

"...Was that enough, Tom?"

"Detective?"

“Along with her injuries from the seatbelt being on the wrong shoulder, yeah….The prosecutor should have a motion to dismiss in front of the judge in the morning.”

“What does that mean, Tom?”

“You’ll have to stay in here tonight, but tomorrow, Hailey, you’re going home.”

"What's going to happen to Mike?"

"Detective?"

"He'll be in here by tonight."