On one hand, Alyssa was glad it was Saturday. There was no way she would’ve been able to pay attention in any of her classes. Yesterday afternoon had proved that.

On the other hand, Alyssa hated that it was Saturday. There was no convenient excuse to get out of the house, and Mom was rapidly winding herself up to full panic mode.

“It’s just not like him to not respond. He usually texts when he’s spending the night at Jerry’s, and even if he did, he’d be home by now, right?” Mom fretted, pacing back and forth in the kitchen and talking mostly to herself. To be fair, she was pretty much right; Connor was usually good at keeping her updated to avoid exactly this kind of scenario. He’d been on the receiving end of Mom’s worry-rants about Alyssa often enough to keep them to a minimum for her out of sibling solidarity. They may rib each other about almost anything else, but Mom was just a lot to deal with when she got worked up.

“I’m sure he’s fine, dear.” Dad assured her in his usual placid manner. If any sociologists or romance column writers needed evidence that opposites really did attract, Alyssa would gladly point them towards her parents. You’d think that Debra Blakely’s frantic energy and anxiety would overwhelm Tom Blakely’s even-keeled stoicism, but he needed her to push him into action when needed and she needed him to reel her in from some of her tangents. People always said the best marriages were a partnership, and while they weren’t perfect, her parents were damn good partners.

“But what if he isn’t!” Mom practically shrieked, and Alyssa winced from the next room. The TV was on for background noise, but she wasn’t paying any attention to Generic Action Blockbuster #3, the one where the series went noticeably downhill and relegated it to midafternoon slots on basic cable forevermore. Mom’s ranting was more interesting than the rather wooden acting of the lead who had clearly been cast more for looks than emoting skills. And maybe Alyssa was worried too. She was a good sister like that.

Connor wasn’t being a good brother right now, though. He had promised to at least keep her in the loop about what was happening, and by her estimate he should still be on a train with nothing better to do than text her updates. He had made her promise not to share them with their parents until at least after the weekend was over, but it would have helped put her mind at ease at least. Better than starting to feel the part of her that was definitely her mother’s daughter bubble up with more and more anxiety. What if he got abducted by some ne’er-do-well on the train? What if he’d been separated from Danielle and Jerry and had been sedated and tucked away in some sleeper car? What if the train itself had derailed?

That last thought, at least, was easily put to bed by a quick news search. Still, he wasn’t keeping up his end of the bargain right now. How hard was it to shoot her a text? ‘Hey sis, still rolling along.’ That would’ve been enough! But no, she was left conjuring up ridiculous imaginary scenarios that put him in increasing levels of peril. Did she know it wasn’t feasible for him to be kidnapped off the train and then tied to the tracks ahead by a mustache-twirling villain? Yes. Did it stop that thought from developing into a full silent-movie style script in her head? Absolutely not. Alyssa would never trust a man with a handlebar mustache ever again. Their imaginary crimes were too heinous.

A semi-familiar ringtone broke Alyssa out of her musing, and it took her a moment too long to place it as the landline. The sound of a bygone era, relegated to childhood memories of answering calls meant for Mom or Connor and being annoyed that she couldn’t get online to update her blog if Mom was on another longwinded call to Aunt Chelsea. At least the ringtone was just an overly tinny version of Vivaldi’s Spring rather than the hellish dial-up noise that was permanently seared into her memory.

“Hello?” The call had the advantage of interrupting Mom’s spiral, and Alyssa was thankful she didn’t have to do it. “This is she. What? Really, her too?” Alyssa did not like where this was going. She crept closer to the kitchen door, but still could only hear her Mom’s side of the conversation. “Oh, I mean I haven’t heard from my son since then either. Is there some kind of school event that I didn’t know about? Hm. Uh-huh. Well, it might be related to one of their Lists. Is that so? Well, I’ll certainly keep trying him. It is concerning, just like that episode of Dateline where… yes? Oh, of course. Have a good afternoon!”

The moment after her Mom hung up the phone seemed to stretch into eternity as Alyssa’s curiosity knawed away at her. Who was that? Did they know what had happened? Mom had mentioned that she hadn’t heard from Connor, so whoever it was could easily make the connection that he and Danielle were together. No one seemed to have pegged Jerry as part of the group yet, but his mom wasn’t always all there and may not have even noticed he was gone if she was following some new program from Carol. Still, there weren’t exactly many ways out of Glenbrook besides car. Sooner or later, someone was going to find out that she had ferried the three of them out of town. Then she’d be grounded for life or arrested or expelled or interrogated by the Harps and blacklisted from ever having a job anywhere they had influence.

“Alyssa dear?” Her mom’s voice put a temporary pause on that particular anxiety spiral by starting three more related to why she was being called now.

“Yeah mom?” Alyssa called back, pretending like she hadn’t just been dropping every eave there ever was.

“Do you happen to have any idea where your brother might be?” Her mom’s voice was so sweet and placid that Alyssa knew she was in deep shit. It was her tone when she’d figured something out that had been staring her in the face and knew exactly who to blame for whatever the issue had been in the first place. It was that universal tone of mothers everywhere that told their children that running and hiding was futile, that they would be found and face the consequences of their actions. It was one step removed from the dreaded full name drop in the hierarchy of parental punishment.

Still, Alyssa hesitated. She had promised Connor not to say anything at least until Monday, but that jerk wasn’t holding up his end of the deal by updating her on what was happening. It was driving her anxiety through the roof, and worst of all was the new point on her List. Do the opposite. If she needed confirmation that Fate was giving her the worst assignments, it was right there in those three words. Do the opposite of what? Her first point? She had thought about leaving with Connor, but she didn’t want to abandon her classes so close to the end of term and her parents would be devastated if both of their children suddenly disappeared. Was she meant to do the opposite of what she had promised? It didn’t feel right to go back on her word and would only get the Harps’ private investigators sent after them that much faster.

A snap in front of her spaced-out eyes brought her back to reality. It was unfortunate that said reality was mainly comprised of a mother with her other hand on her hip in the classic ‘I know you know something and you are going to tell me exactly what it is this instant, young lady’ pose. It was a fixture of Alyssa’s childhood and instantly made the twenty-year-old feel twelve again. She really needed to move out already. Or did she? Gah, this opposite thing was going to make her overthink absolutely everything, wasn’t it?

“Hi?” She belately said to her mom, and the resulting glare showed that wasn’t even close to the right response. “Um, what was the question?”

“So you do know something.” Mom said. Alyssa gulped. “Sit. Now.”

Alyssa sat.

“First off.” Mom took a deep breath, and there was a crack in the disciplinarian facade. “Is Connor safe?”

“Last I saw, he was.” Alyssa confirmed. “He hasn’t contacted me either, but he’s not alone and there was a decent plan in place.”

Mom relaxed minutely. “At least there’s that.” She muttered under her breath. “And would you like to share what that plan is?”

There was no right answer to that question. “I would prefer not to?” She tried, smiling weakly. The Mom Stare she got in return was enough to make her wilt. “He asked me not to until Monday.” She admitted under duress. The force of the Mom Stare absolutely counts as duress.

“Of all the… reckless, irresponsible, impulsive… doesn’t he remember the first forty-eight hours are the most critical? Is he counting on that? Is he using my reminders for evil?” Mom was caught up in a mutterstorm. Alyssa knew she should have faked a group project and gotten out of the house today, but that had honestly been her plan for tomorrow. Sue her, she thought the usual negligence of Mrs. Martin would hold off suspicion for a little longer. Actually, now that she thought of it…

“Mom?” Alyssa asked hesitantly, interrupting more statistics about missing persons. “Who was that on the phone just now?”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Thank you for asking, Alyssa dear.” Mom said, voice back to dangerously sweet. Oh, this was not gonna be fun. “That was Lorelei Harp’s personal assistant. Apparently Danielle hasn’t been checking in either.” Was it too late to run? Should she do the opposite and spill her guts while begging forgiveness? Alyssa was paralyzed by choice and froze instead. Definitely the wrong move. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, now, would you?”

Alyssa was definitely sweating now. “Well… you see… the thing is…” She stammered, searching for an out.

“Debra.” Dad coming in clutch! Father’s Day was always her favorite holiday, never more so than this moment. He was earning the title on that World’s Best Dad mug right now.

“Don’t you ‘Debra’ me, Tom! Our son is god knows where and has possibly abducted or been abducted by an heiress!” Mom shot back. Alyssa fought back a snort. Danielle would be the abductor in that scenario, no question. Though from the looks they were shooting each other on the drive to Charlottesville, elopement might have been a better bet. Alyssa was keeping that tidbit in her back pocket just in case she needed a distraction. The look on Mom’s face would be priceless.

“You know as well as I do how unlikely that is.” Dad said calmly. “Let’s take a breath and think this through, alright?”

Mom gave an exhale that was more like an extended sigh. “I’m perfectly calm, thank you very much.” Her tone was still sweet, but now she was overemphasizing just about every other word. Not a good sign. “I am just a tad bit concerned that our son has disappeared and our daughter clearly knows something that she is not sharing with her loving parents!”

There was really no good defense Alyssa could give for that. She just kept her fingers crossed that the Dad Shield would pop up in time to save her before her prospects of ever having either independence or a relationship with her mom blew up.

“Honey.” Dad’s voice had that protective bent. Not combative, that wasn’t his style, just caring. He was reacting to this much better than he had Alyssa’s sudden shift in college plans. She was trying not to be bitter about that. This was objectively a much bigger deal, but he had learned from that fight. “We did not raise an idiot. Connor must have his reasons for doing what he’s doing. If he is out there with Danielle Harp, and that family can’t track them down? What can we realistically do but trust our son?”

It was a compelling argument in Alyssa’s opinion. Not least because it was taking some of the pressure of her to fess up about exactly what Connor had been doing, but framing it in a way that Mom couldn’t push too much without making it seem like she didn’t trust her son. Which she actually did most of the time, when her paranoia wasn’t getting the best of her. Connor wasn’t really the type to make waves or hare off on wild schemes. He’d become a very go-with-the-flow kind of guy in high school, and luckily the flow was mostly to get above-average grades, do theater shows, and hang out with Jerry.

“It isn’t a question of trust.” So Mom wasn’t going to let it go that easily. Disheartening, but not unexpected. “Of course I trust Connor. But this isn’t like him!”

“He did just have his Fool’s Day.” Alyssa spoke up. Not usually a good idea, inserting herself in the middle of a developing parental argument, but it did need to be said. Plus it was the opposite of what she’d normally do. “Maybe it’s related?”

Mom huffed. “Of course it is. Kids are always going off with half-baked ideas about what their new List must mean and getting themselves in trouble. It’s not that simple and you know it, Alyssa.”

Did she ever. Her first point had been frustrating, but it was nothing compared to her new one. Constantly checking herself, going against her instincts for no reason other than a brief thought that maybe it would lead her in the right direction, it was maddening. The new-point mania would probably fade in a few more days, but she was firmly in its grip right now. Sue her, it was exciting to have a point that could actually be influenced and acted upon.

“Okay, yes.” Alyssa admitted. “But we also don’t know exactly what his List was telling him, right? If it was something like get out of town, doesn’t that seem urgent?”

Mom pursed her lips. “He still should have said something.”

“Honey.” Dad cut in again. “I think the best thing we can do is be available for our children. If Alyssa or Connor want to let us know what’s going on, they will. They’re both adults now, remember.”

“They’ll always be my children.” Mom practically whispered, an edge of desperation in her voice. “I just want to protect them, is that so wrong?”

Alyssa was out of her seat and hugging her mom before she realized what was happening. “Hey, mom, no. It’s okay. Sometimes things just happen and it’s not your fault. Sometimes the world just doesn’t let you protect us.”

“It’s not fair.” Mom choked out past the sob in her throat. “I thought I’d have more time.”

Alyssa felt a hand on her shoulder, and saw her Dad making meaningful eye contact. She nodded, wiping her eyes and disentangling from the hug with her mom as he took her place and started whispering reassurances into her ear. It was hard to see them like this. Sure, Alyssa loved to rib her mom for being paranoid and obsessed with every murder mystery she’d ever seen. But that sure as hell didn’t mean she wanted to see her so broken, wondering if her son was on his way to becoming a statistic. Connor better have a damn good reason for not being in touch. Alyssa wanted to break her promise then and there, but hesitated. Do the opposite. What a stupid, frustrating point, making her doubt every urge that came to mind.

Instead, she retreated to her room and tried to ignore the emotional fallout happening downstairs. It wasn’t exactly easy. She was far too keyed up to just put on a movie and veg out, but too jittery to sit down with a book. Her school projects needed to be done, but focusing was out of the question right now. She managed to waste a bit of time pulling up news headlines on the internet, but that just got her thinking about how Connor or Jerry or Danielle might pop up in one of them soon. She hoped they didn’t. Sure, being found by the Harp family’s private investigator would absolutely suck, but they wouldn’t be dead.

Alyssa was out of it enough and still thinking about her new point that when her phone rang with an unknown number, she did the opposite of what she and any other sane person would do and actually answered it.

“Hello?” She asked dully.

“Hey sis.”

Well that was one way to break out of a haze. Alyssa felt her heart leap to her throat and couldn’t help but gasp. “Connor?”

“Hi.” He sounded sheepish. It wasn’t nearly enough.

“Don’t hi me, bro! Why the fuck haven’t you texted?” She hissed.

“Um, sorry. Things have been a little crazy. Are you okay? How are mom and dad holding up?”

“Currently having an emotional breakdown at the kitchen table. Mom was already worried, then Lorelei Harp’s assistant called. So they probably know you’re together, and Mom knows I know something and I’m keeping to your stupid promise and it made her cry.” She summarized flatly.

“Oh.” Alyssa could hear the wince in Connor’s tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… argh, this sucks.”

“No shit, Sherlock. Did you think someone like mom would cope well with your sudden disappearance?” She said acidly. So she was a little worried and miffed herself and taking it out on him, so what? Nobody’s perfect.

“Honestly we didn’t do much thinking at all.” He sighed. “It’s a problem.”

“Almost like panicked improvisation isn’t the best way to solve your problems.” Alyssa said sarcastically. “Who would’ve thought?”

“I would try to defend our thought process, but I don’t really remember there being one other than desperation.”

“At least you acknowledge it. Are you alright? Where are you?” The longer the call went on, the more Alyssa’s anger was bleeding away into concern.

“I’m fine, I’m safe. Don’t know if I should tell you exactly where, sounds like they’ll probably be sending an investigator your way.” He said apologetically.

She sighed. “Not the answer I wanted to hear, but probably smart. The less I know, the less I have to lie. Can I at least tell the rents that you’re alive?”

“Yeah, yeah you probably should.” He paused. “Tell them I’m sorry, but it’s Fate. I’m where I need to be for right now.”

“I don’t know if they’ll believe me, but I’ll pass it on.” She chewed on her lip. “Is it true?”

“What?”

“Is it actually Fate? Is this whole thing related to your List? Was your first point the exact opposite of mine?” There was a pregnant pause. Just when Alyssa was about to tell him to forget it, Connor spoke up.

“It’s not my List, but Danielle has ticked off two points already and Jerry one. I don’t think either would have happened without me. It’s a whole thing.” He was trying to sound casual, but you don’t grow up with someone without being able to hear when they’re more tense than they want to let on.

“Sounds like it’s been eventful.” She said neutrally, leaving the door open but not pushing.

He huffed a laugh. “That’s one word for it, yeah.” There was some indistinct noise in the background, a muffled conversation. “Listen, Alyssa? I’ve got to go. I just wanted to let you know I’m alright.”

“You better stay that way. Don’t die, or I’ll kill you myself.” She threatened.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. I’m sorry, the next couple weeks are probably not gonna be great for you.”

“Worry about yourself, Connie. I’ll survive.”

“You better, or I’ll kill you myself.” He jabbed.

“Don’t steal my lines. Keep those kidneys warm for me.”

“I’ll try. And Alyssa?” She could hear him gulp. “Don’t come looking for me.”

She blinked. “What the fuck is that supposed… did you hang up on me?” She checked her phone and sure enough, it was blank. “You rat bastard!” The warning bells were going off loud and clear with his last statement. Nobody ever said something like that if they didn’t need help. What kind of sister would she be to just abandon her brother like that?

Despite everything, Alyssa couldn’t help but smile. She’d finally found something she really wanted to do the opposite of.