Soul Catcher by Katia Lief

was going to happen to my life? Poor Gwen. It was sad to know so much, so soon, before you’ve had a chance to really live. She didn’t trust anyone, not really. Would I end up that way?
    Gwen was asleep next to me, or I thought she was. As the bus’s weight leaned into the curving driveway to the parking lot, she bolted up in her seat and said, ‘Yo!’ Leaning over, she whispered in my ear: ‘It’s Patrick!’
    She pointed to the lawn next to the concrete parking lot, and there he was, Patrick, springing up from the ground.
    I pushed my way off the bus and ran to him. He opened his arms and caught me in a hug.
    ‘Surprise,’ he said. ‘I got back in!’
    ‘When? How long have you been here?’
    ‘Since yesterday. It took me fucking hours to convince the man to give me a chance. I missed you, Kate.’
    ‘I’ve got your suitcase!’ Gwen called out as she passed us.She had one of the Little Kids lugging both our suitcases as well as his own enormous knapsack. She winked.
    ‘I missed you too,’ I said, ‘a lot.’
    He put his arm around me, and we walked up to the dorms.
    ‘How was your weekend?’ he asked.
    ‘My parents are splitting up.’
    Patrick stopped walking and looked down at me. He seemed so tall all of a sudden. Or maybe I just felt especially short.
    ‘Are you sure?’
    I nodded. ‘I don’t know why they had to wait till I got home to do it. Dad left last night. Mom’s a real mess. Guess he’s had a girlfriend for a while.’
    ‘A girlfriend?’
    ‘Almost a whole year, Mom said. A secretary. I can’t believe it. Dad doesn’t do stuff like that.’
    ‘I guess he does.’
    ‘No, I don’t think so. I think there must be some kind of mistake.’
    Patrick hugged me and I started to melt. I did feel pretty icy, almost cracked. I just couldn’t picture Dad with someone else; he wasn’t that sort of man; he was good, not bad. My dad wasn’t so greedy that he’d abandon his family for another woman. And if he was, then I didn’t know him, and he could just forget about me.
    ‘Come on, Kate,’ Pam called. ‘Get inside!’ Pam was an Upper Girls dorm parent who took her job way too seriously. ‘It’s past curfew! Get to your dorms!’
    ‘Can’t we have a few minutes together?’ Patrick said. ‘We haven’t seen each other —’
    ‘No.’ She gave us one of her ugly bug-eyed glares.
    ‘It won’t be so bad,’ Patrick whispered. ‘I’ll be here for you. Remember, I love you.’
    So much for reunions. The machine of Grove had clicked on, and we were drawn into the routines of our respective dorms.
    In the morning, as we walked down the hill toward lower campus and breakfast, Patrick told me as much as he could about what had happened to him.
    ‘I locked myself in my room for three days. Jesus, my room got beat up! I was either jumping out of my skin or lying on my bed in convulsions. Three days and two nights. It was hell, it really was. Then, when it was over, my mother told my father about it right in front of me. He came over to see me, and she stood there and she said, “Your son is a heroin addict.” She said your son, like I wasn’t her son, too. My father said he couldn’t let me stay with him, so my mother said she’d keep me if she had to. I don’t know, Kate, I couldn’t help it, I went out and —’
    We reached the dining room. It was just before eight and the whole school was huddled in front of the door. The chilly November air was pressing in on us. What would it be like waiting to be let in for meals in the dead of winter?
    ‘I couldn’t help it,’ Patrick whispered. ‘It was just like that, I couldn’t stop myself. I kept thinking about you, and it almost held me back.’ He kissed my ear.
    ‘But you stopped?’
    ‘I did. I signed up with a program at the hospital. It was great. They —’
    The dining room door swung open and we were swept up by the inrushing tide.
    ‘Listen,’ Patrick managed to say, ‘I had to make a promise to Silvera when