12.

The Elis hauled me down to the basement. I stopped at the bottom of the stairs to look for Andy. She’d been tossed into the basement corner and left like a crumpled pile of dirty laundry. Cody shoved me, and I tripped my way over to the freezer. Cory lifted the lid. “Get inside.”

“Wait,” Cody said, “take your pants off first.”

I turned so he could watch me do it and said, “Your mama’s gone be pissed if I get freezer burn on my pecker.”

Andy didn’t laugh at that. It got a rise out of Cory, though. “Say another word about my mama and see if I don’t beat the shit outta you.”

Cody flinched at his brother’s language. “Just get in the freezer. It ain’t gotta be no worse than that.”

I let the corner of my mouth curl into one of those fuck-yourself-smirks meant just for Cory. “Get in the goddamn freezer.”

Cody flipped me inside like a dead carcass needing hiding.

The lid slammed on my head and shut with a thud. The chain jingled around, and the lock clicked into place, and the motor snored to life. I waited for what seemed an appropriate amount of time to call for Andy. I said her name big and loud and made sure she could hear me over the motor, but she offered no reply.

Andy could hold a grudge better than any girl I knew, but this wasn’t like her—even when I made her so mad she’d tell me she didn’t want to see me again, we’d keep talking, it might be a few days before one of us made contact with the other, but there’d be a phone call, or we’d just so happen to be at the same place at the same time, I wanted her to know that I wasn’t lying when I told the preacher I didn’t know where Marshall was, the last thing I wanted was for any harm to come to her, but she wouldn’t answer me and I hollered her name until my throat was raw.

If the preacher was going to keep his word, I’d be dead by tomorrow afternoon. I needed her to know I was sorry.

“Andy,” I hollered her name so loud I could hear myself scream into both of my ears, “if you ain’t gone answer me I need you to listen to me. If I could’ve known the shit storm taking that money would cause I’d’ve never let Marshall talk me into it. We didn’t even mean to take enough for y’all to notice. I wish to God, you’d’ve never found us in that goddamn hole. If I’m able to get my hands on that preacher, I’m gone do it, by God. I need to know you’re alright, Andy. Please knock on the side of the freezer or tell me to shut up or you hate me. That’s all I need.”

If Andy heard a word I said, she never let me know it. She left me there in the clanging silence of the freezer, and I couldn’t blame her. None of what happened was any of her fault, and she was better off leaving me to freeze. The cold made some poor company, but I did my best to get comfortable with it. I maneuvered around until I got back into the fetal position like the night before and did my best to generate some warmth. There would be nobody to unplug the freezer for me tonight, and I was worried about hypothermia or frostbite. It’d make a shitty end to my story if I ended up freezing to death.