YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → My Roommate Called It A Harmless Prank, Then I Woke Up In A Hospital Bed After 6 Years

My Roommate Called It A Harmless Prank, Then I Woke Up In A Hospital Bed After 6 Years — Transcript

by PikaTales · 10,891 words · 1,506 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00Before we start, make sure to listen to
0:01my Spotify show linked in the
0:03description for early access to new and
0:05exclusive stories in better audio
0:06quality. Now, back to the video. My
0:08roommate called it a harmless prank.
0:09Then I woke up in a hospital bed after 6
0:11years in a coma. And now, every person
0:14who laughed along is about to pay for
0:15it. The first thing I felt was my
0:17mother's hand. It was shaking against
0:19mine. The second thing was the light. It
0:20was white and flat, and it hurt behind
0:22my eyes. I tried to say her name.
0:24Nothing came out except a dry click. My
0:26tongue felt like it belonged to someone
0:27else. Emma? My mother's voice broke in
0:29half. Emma, baby, can you hear me? I
0:31blinked. That was all I had. One slow
0:33blink. She made a sound I had never
0:34heard from her. It wasn't a scream. It
0:36was lower than that. Wet and cracked,
0:38like something that had been held under
0:39water for a very long time. She pressed
0:41her forehead to the back of my hand and
0:43sobbed. A man in a white coat leaned
0:45over the bed. He shone a penlight into
0:46one eye, then the other. His badge said,
0:48"Dr. Alvarez.""Emma, I'm Dr. Alvarez.
0:51You're at St. Bridget's Hospital in
0:52Columbus. Can you tell me your full
0:53name?" My throat felt like sandpaper. He
0:55touched a wet sponge to my lips. The
0:57water tasted like metal. the best thing
0:59I had ever tasted. "Emma Carter," I
1:01whispered. "Good. That's very good. What
1:03day is it?" Each word scraped. "Is it
1:05Sunday?" Nobody answered. My mother
1:06looked at the doctor. The doctor looked
1:08at my mother. "I have an appointment," I
1:10said. "Monday, 9:00. It's important." I
1:12knew it was important. I could feel the
1:13weight of it, like a stone in my pocket.
1:15I just couldn't remember what it was.
1:17"Emma," Dr. Alvarez said gently, "it's
1:19not Sunday. It's May 9th.""Okay. Then I
1:21only missed a day or two.""It's May
1:239th," he said again. "6 years later." I
1:25laughed. I actually laughed. One thin
1:27broken breath. the kind of thing a
1:29person says when the joke has gone on
1:31too long. "You've been asleep for 6
1:32years, sweetheart," my mother said. She
1:34was crying so hard she could barely form
1:36the words. "6 years minus 5 days. We
1:39counted everyone." The room tilted. I
1:41tried to sit up. My arms did nothing. I
1:43tried to move my legs, to kick the
1:45blanket off, to prove him wrong. They
1:46lay there like two sandbags somebody had
1:48dropped on my bed. Later, she brought me
1:50applesauce. She put the spoon in my
1:51fingers and closed my hand around it. I
1:53held it for 2 seconds. Then it clattered
1:55across the tray and onto the floor. I
1:56was 30 years old. The last thing I
1:58remembered, I had been 24. I remembered
2:00my graduation party. I remembered the
2:02string lights my roommate Madison had
2:04hung across our back porch. I remembered
2:06a plastic cup of cheap champagne and
2:07about 30 people yelling my name. I
2:09remembered my other roommate Brandon
2:11grinning at me across the kitchen
2:13holding out a tall blue shaker bottle.
2:14"Drink up, Emma." He had said. "Big
2:16night." That was where the film stopped.
2:18Just white and then my mother's hand.
2:19The nurse held a small mirror up to my
2:21face. A stranger looked back. Hollow
2:23cheeks, gray in the roots of her hair, a
2:25thin tube taped under her nose. She had
2:27my eyes and that was all. The door
2:29opened a few inches. A young woman stood
2:31in the gap, one hand over her mouth. She
2:33was tall and sharp-boned with my
2:34father's jaw. It took me a full 10
2:36seconds to understand who she was. The
2:38last time I had seen my little sister,
2:40Haley, she was 17 and wore braces. "Hey,
2:42Em." She whispered. She was holding a
2:44laptop against her chest like a shield.
2:46Her eyes were red, but they were also
2:47hard in a way I did not recognize.
2:49"Haley, I'm here. I'm so sorry I wasn't
2:51here when you woke up. I was at work."
2:52She crossed the room and took my other
2:54hand. Hers was warm and steady. "Mom,
2:56can you give us a minute?" Haley sat on
2:57the edge of my bed and opened the laptop
2:59on her knees. Her voice dropped so low I
3:01had to strain to hear it. "You need to
3:03see this." She said. "I saved everything
3:05for 6 years." To explain what was on
3:07that laptop, I have to go back to who I
3:09was. My name is Emma Carter. I grew up
3:11in Columbus, Ohio in a two-story house
3:13at 18 Linden Court. My parents bought it
3:15in 1998 for $142,000. My father, Tom,
3:19adjusted insurance claims for a regional
3:21carrier. My mother, Diane, worked the
3:23front desk at an elementary school. They
3:25were not rich. They were careful. They
3:26had a jar in the kitchen labeled "Emma
3:28College" and for 10 years they fed it
3:30$20 at a time. I was the first person in
3:32my family to go to a four-year
3:34university. I went to Whitfield, 40
3:35minutes from home, and worked 30 hours a
3:37week at a coffee shop called Grind
3:39House. I wanted to be a lawyer. When I
3:41was 15, a man in our neighborhood lost
3:43his house to a claim my father had to
3:45deny and I watched him cry on our porch.
3:47I decided I wanted to be the person who
3:48knew what to do next. I graduated with a
3:503.9 GPA. In March of my senior year, I
3:53got the letter I had been working toward
3:55for 4 years. Marlow School of Law had
3:57accepted me with a scholarship worth
3:59$31,000 a year. My mother framed it. My
4:01father drove it to work and showed it to
4:03people at red lights, or so Haley
4:04claimed. My best friend was Madison
4:06Reyes. We met in ninth grade at
4:08Westerville High when she borrowed my
4:09pencil and never returned it. By senior
4:11year of college, we had lived together
4:13for 3 years. She was loud where I was
4:14quiet. She called me Em. I called her
4:16Maddie. She had cried at my mother's
4:18kitchen table the night her own parents
4:20divorced, and my mother had held her
4:21like a second daughter. For our last
4:23year, we rented a three-bedroom house at
4:25412 Alder Street for $2,400 a month. We
4:27needed a third roommate to make the rent
4:29work. of a friend sent us Brandon Hayes.
4:31He showed up to the viewing in a pressed
4:33quarter-zip with a box of pastries. He
4:35was 22, a year behind me, studying
4:37pre-law. He had an easy laugh and eyes
4:39that crinkled when he smiled. He paid
4:41first and last month in cash, $600, and
4:43said he'd cover the security deposit,
4:45too. My dad owns a few buildings, he
4:46said, like it was a small thing. I'm
4:48used to splitting costs. I'd rather just
4:50be fair. His father was Richard Hayes.
4:51If you went to Whitfield, you walked
4:53past his name every day. Hayes Hall, the
4:55new science building, glass and steel,
4:57funded by Hayes Commercial Properties.
4:59His mother, Linda, chaired three charity
5:00boards and sent out Christmas cards with
5:02embossed gold borders. I had never seen
5:04a family like that up close. For a long
5:06time, Brandon was good to me. I want to
5:08say that clearly because it matters to
5:10the rest of this. He also needed me. His
5:12GPA was a 2.4, and he knew I was the
5:14reason he stayed in the program. I ran
5:16study groups for him. I gave him my
5:17outlines. I stayed up until 2:00 a.m.
5:19quizzing him on constitutional law. And
5:21he would hug me afterward and say,
5:23"You're going to be a judge someday, Em,
5:25and I'm going to be your favorite
5:26lawyer." I loved that. I'm not proud of
5:28how much. There were small things. I
5:29noticed them the way you notice a
5:31hairline crack in a wall. You see it.
5:33You decide it's nothing. You hang a
5:34picture over it. Brandon liked pranks.
5:36That was his word. He taped Madison's
5:38phone to the ceiling fan. He filled my
5:39shoes with packing peanuts. He once
5:41pulled my chair out from under me at a
5:42dinner party, and the whole table
5:44roared. When I got up with a bruised
5:45tailbone, he said, "Come on, Em. Don't
5:47be so serious." Everyone laughed, so I
5:49laughed. That's the thing about a room
5:51that's laughing. It tells you what the
5:52correct reaction is. One night in March,
5:54about 2 months before my graduation, he
5:56threw himself a 23rd birthday party at
5:58our house. Nearly 40 people packed the
6:00living room. Madison, who didn't drink
6:02much, had one hard cider and spent the
6:04rest of the evening holding the kitchen
6:06counter. "I feel weird," she told me
6:08around 11:00 p.m. Her words were
6:09slurring. "I only had one. M, I only had
6:12one." I walked her upstairs and sat with
6:14her until she fell asleep. Then I went
6:15back down and found Brandon in the
6:17kitchen with two of his friends. They
6:18were whispering and grinning. "What did
6:20you put in her cider?""Relax," he said.
6:22"It was a shot of Everclear, a drop
6:24basically. It's a prank. She'll laugh
6:25about it tomorrow.""She told you she
6:27doesn't drink much.""Exactly. That's why
6:29it's funny." He smiled at me patient,
6:31like I was a kid who hadn't understood a
6:32joke. "Seriously, Emma, you're so
6:34intense. Nobody got hurt." Behind him,
6:36one of his friends, Kyle Brennan,
6:38snorted. Another, Trevor Moss, was
6:40already typing something into his phone.
6:41I remember that. I remember Trevor
6:43typing and smiling. I should have walked
6:45out right then. I should have called
6:46Madison's mother. I should have asked
6:48what else he had done and who else it
6:49had been done to. Instead, I said,
6:51"Don't do that again.""Sure," Brandon
6:53said. "Whatever you say." And I let it
6:54go. I told myself it was one stupid
6:56night. I told myself he was a spoiled
6:58kid who didn't know where the lines
6:59were. I told myself that if I made a
7:01scene, I would lose a good roommate, a
7:03good friend, and the house on Alder
7:04Street. I picked the comfortable lie.
7:06That is the first thing I need to own.
7:08Madison forgave him by breakfast. She
7:10always did. She had started to like him,
7:11I think. By April, she was dating him. I
7:13remember being surprised and trying to
7:15hide it. On Friday, May 13th, Brandon
7:17told me he had not gotten into Marlo
7:18Law. "They wait-listed me," he said. He
7:20was sitting on the porch steps, turning
7:22a bottle cap in his fingers. "Dad's
7:23already making calls. He thinks he can
7:25get me in next year.""I'm sorry,
7:26Brandon.""No, it's great, seriously. I'm
7:29so happy for you." He hugged me. It
7:30lasted a second too long. His chin was
7:32on top of my head and I felt him
7:34breathing, slow and careful, like he was
7:36counting. "You earned it. You always get
7:38what you want, don't you?" I took it as
7:39a compliment. I took everything he said
7:41as a compliment back then. The next
7:42night, May 14th, was my graduation
7:44party. Madison had strung lights across
7:46the porch. My parents had driven in with
7:48a sheet cake from Kroger that said,
7:50"Congratulations, Emma, future justice."
7:52About 30 people crowded our small yard
7:54and the music was loud, and I was
7:55happier than I had ever been in my whole
7:57life. Brandon handed me a protein shake
7:59around 9:30. I didn't drink protein
8:01shakes. I hated the choky taste. He knew
8:03that. But he held it out with that
8:05crinkled smile and said I'd need the
8:06energy for the night, and I didn't want
8:08to be difficult. That was the second
8:09thing I need to own. I didn't want to be
8:11difficult. I drank it. I remember that
8:13it tasted like vanilla and something
8:14bitter underneath. Six years later, my
8:16sister opened a laptop and pressed play.
8:18Haley had built a folder for every year.
8:20She had clipped articles. She had
8:22screenshotted social media posts. She
8:24had printed the police report, then
8:25scanned it, then printed it again in
8:27case one copy ever disappeared. I
8:28watched it all from a hospital bed with
8:30a tube in my nose. Brandon Hayes had
8:32graduated from Whitfield the following
8:33spring. He had gotten into Marlowe the
8:35year after me through what his father's
8:36office called a development interview.
8:38He finished the JD in 3 years, the same
8:40one I had been promised. There was a
8:42photo of him at commencement. Cap
8:43tilted, arm around his mother. He now
8:45worked as a junior associate at Prior
8:47and Haldane, a downtown firm with its
8:49name in brushed steel above the
8:50elevators. He was engaged. The ring was
8:52on Madison's hand in the engagement
8:53photo. She was smiling, but she was
8:55holding her left arm with her right, the
8:57way you hold something that hurts. The
8:58police report was four pages long. It
9:00said I had consumed alcohol and a
9:02beverage containing a sedative substance
9:04added without the subject's knowledge as
9:05part of a prank. It said Brandon Hayes
9:07had called 911 at 12:38 a.m. once the
9:10subject's condition appeared serious. He
9:12had pleaded to reckless endangerment. 90
9:14days in the Franklin County jail. Three
9:16years of probation. A $12,000 fine. My
9:19mother stood against the wall the entire
9:20time hugging herself. "90 days," I said.
9:23My voice sounded like gravel in a can.
9:25"For 6 years, they said he didn't intend
9:27this," Haley said. "They said he didn't
9:28mean for it to go so far. The prosecutor
9:30at the time, a man named Dennis Voss,
9:32said the plea was the best outcome
9:34available. Dad argued with him for 2
9:36hours. It didn't matter.""Where is Dad?"
9:37My mother looked at the floor. "He's
9:39driving. He picks up rides at night. He
9:40has a shift.""At night? He works days."
9:42"He works both, honey," she said
9:44quietly, "since the second year. We had
9:46to sell the house." I stopped breathing.
9:47"Lyndon Court?""Sold it in March of year
9:49two. The insurance ran out in the first
9:51year. The care was $19,000 a month. And
9:53then the home care and the equipment."
9:55Her voice shook, but she kept going. "We
9:56rent an apartment on the east side now.
9:58It's clean. I eat noodles most nights so
10:00you could have your medication. It's
10:01nothing, Emma." It was not nothing. It
10:03was everything. It was the whole shape
10:05of their lives pressed flat to keep me
10:07alive. Haley opened one more page, a
10:09wedding website, the Hayes and Raya
10:10celebration, a registry link, and under
10:13it, a honeymoon fund. Cabo San Lucas, 10
10:15nights, an ocean view suite. Guests were
10:17invited to contribute. Then I did the
10:19only thing I could. I used what little
10:20strength I had, grabbed the laptop by
10:22its edge, and threw it. It hit the wall
10:24and shattered into pieces of plastic and
10:26glass. My mother ran to my side. Emma,
10:28please, revenge will not fix this. Then
10:30what will, Mom? She had no answer. She
10:32just held my face and rocked, and I let
10:34her. Everything's backed up, she said.
10:35I'm not done, Em. I didn't understand
10:37that sentence yet. 3 weeks later, they
10:39moved me to Maple Ridge Rehabilitation,
10:41a long-term therapy center on the north
10:43side. That was where I met Keisha
10:44Whitaker, my physical therapist. She was
10:4641 with reading glasses on a beaded
10:48chain, and she ran my days like a drill
10:50sergeant who also happened to adore me.
10:52On our first day, I told her I couldn't
10:53hold the parallel bars. Can't and won't
10:55are different words, she said, not
10:57unkindly. Which one are we using? I
10:59didn't answer. She smiled. I'll wait. On
11:01June 20th, a Thursday, a woman I had
11:03never expected to see again walked into
11:05my room. Linda Hayes wore cream slacks
11:07and a silk blouse the color of
11:08champagne. She had a leather folder in
11:10one hand and a bouquet of white lilies
11:11in the other. She set the lilies on my
11:13windowsill like a cashier setting down
11:15change. Emma, look at you. You're awake.
11:17My mother was in the cafeteria. I was
11:19alone, propped in a recliner with a
11:20blanket over my legs. I won't stay long,
11:22she said. She pulled up a chair and sat
11:24on the edge of it, knees together. A
11:26mother knows when something is owed. She
11:28opened the folder. Inside was a single
11:29check and a stapled document. This is
11:31$40,000, she said, a gesture. We want to
11:34help, and this is a simple agreement,
11:35nothing frightening. It says that all
11:37matters are settled between our
11:38families, so we can move forward without
11:40lawyers or anger. I read the first line.
11:42It said I would release all claims,
11:44civil or criminal, known or unknown,
11:46forever. It said I would not speak
11:47publicly about the events of May 14th.
11:49No, I whispered. You're buying my
11:51silence. I'm buying peace. She smiled
11:53kindly, like she was explaining
11:55something to a toddler. Brandon made a
11:56mistake. He was a boy. He has paid for
11:58it, and he is going to carry it with him
12:00his whole life. Some people just can't
12:01let things go. Take the check and be
12:03grateful, Emma. It's more than most
12:04people get. My hands could barely lift a
12:06cup, but I took the check in two fingers
12:08and I tore it slowly, once down the
12:10middle, and let the halves fall into her
12:12lap. I'll leave the lilies, she said,
12:14and rose. The little white card on them
12:15read to Emily. I had been in a coma for
12:176 years, and the woman could not even
12:19get my name right. That was step one. I
12:21thought it was the worst of it. It
12:22wasn't. Within a week the story changed.
12:24A fundraiser went up online. It was
12:26called Healing Together, Brandon's Road
12:28Back, and Linda's name was on the page.
12:29It said that on the night of May 14th, a
12:31lively party got out of hand, that my
12:33tragic reaction to a combination of
12:35alcohol and medication had devastated
12:37everyone, and that her son had suffered
12:39from survivor's guilt ever since after
12:41he had heroically called for help.
12:43Heroically. Haley wrote a reply that
12:45night under her real name, calmly, with
12:47the report number. 11 hours later an
12:49envelope arrived at our parents'
12:50apartment on thick cream paper from the
12:52law office of Gerald Whitcomb Esco. It
12:54said the post was defamatory. It said
12:55that continued statements might expose
12:57my family to significant civil
12:59liability. It reminded us in its final
13:01line that a private settlement offer had
13:03been extended, and that such offers do
13:04not remain open indefinitely. My father
13:07read it at the kitchen table. He put it
13:08down very carefully, the way you put
13:10down something that might go off.
13:11They're telling people I'm a liar, I
13:12said, and a drunk, so that no one will
13:14ask why a girl with a 3.9 GPA slept for
13:176 years. That was step two. I thought
13:19that had to be the ceiling. Then Haley
13:20came to see me with my old phone. She
13:22had kept it, a cracked iPhone in a plain
13:24black case. She had paid a technician
13:26$140 to recover the data 2 years earlier
13:29and locked it in a fire safe. She
13:31plugged it in at my bedside. She held up
13:32the screen, my calendar. A single entry
13:35on Monday, May 16th at 9:00 tags a.m.,
13:37Dean Aldridge, bring the blue folder. I
13:39stared at it for a long time. Something
13:41rippled at the back of my mind like a
13:42fish passing under dark water. I looked
13:44everywhere. Your laptop was gone. Your
13:46room on Alder Street had been cleared
13:48out before we even got there. The police
13:50said there was no folder. They said
13:51there was no evidence you had ever
13:53planned a meeting with the Dean. But
13:54somebody scheduled this. You did. Who is
13:56Dean Aldridge? Dean of students at
13:58Whitfield. I called his office once.
13:59They said they have no record of an
14:01appointment. I closed my eyes. I tried
14:03to reach for the folder, the way you
14:04reach in the dark for a light switch.
14:05There was nothing. Only the strange
14:07pressure of something that mattered.
14:08I'll find out, Haley said. I'm not
14:10looking for trouble, M. I'm just
14:11looking. By early August I could stand
14:13at the parallel bars for 90 seconds.
14:15Then Madison called my mother. She did
14:16not call me. She went around me through
14:18the one door she knew would open. She
14:20called my mother on a Sunday evening
14:21crying so hard that my mother put her on
14:23speaker so Haley could hear. "Mrs.
14:25Carter, I don't know what to do."
14:27Madison [clears throat] sobbed.
14:28"Everyone is so angry at Brandon, and
14:30he's not that person. He's not. He was a
14:32stupid kid. He's been in therapy for
14:34years. I know. I know. I think about her
14:37every day, but the wedding is next June.
14:39We've put down $80,000, and if this goes
14:41public again, if Emma talks to the news
14:43or the district attorney, the firm might
14:45let him go. Everything we built will
14:46fall apart. Please, you were like a
14:47second mother to me. You know me. I'm
14:49begging you. Can't she just let it be?"
14:51That was step three. A friend, a mother,
14:53a wedding. They used the oldest rope
14:54there is, the people who love you. Step
14:56four came in September, and it was
14:58money. An envelope from Maple Ridge's
14:59billing office arrived with a red stamp
15:01across the top. Our coverage was under
15:03administrative review. My therapy
15:05sessions would be reduced from five days
15:07a week to one, effective immediately,
15:09pending a comprehensive audit of
15:10eligibility. My father drove straight
15:12there. He was told politely that the
15:14decision came from the foundation board
15:15that managed our care trust. Dad called
15:17me from the parking lot, breathing
15:19through his nose the way he did when he
15:20was trying not to cry. "Richard Hayes
15:22sits on that board," he said. "They paid
15:23into the trust, year two, remember?
15:25After the plea, $75,000 from the Hayes
15:28family goodwill fund. Your mother signed
15:30some paperwork, and I never read it. I
15:32trusted the lawyer. I thought it was a
15:33gift.""What did it say?""I don't know. I
15:35think it said we couldn't sue." He
15:36swallowed. "I think it said we took
15:38money to be quiet. Emma, I signed away
15:40your whole case for a care trust, and
15:42now they're using the trust against
15:43you." I had never heard my father say
15:45anything like that. I told him it wasn't
15:47his fault. He didn't believe me. Keisha
15:49refused to let the cut stand. She worked
15:51with me five days a week on her own time
15:53for six weeks and never mentioned it
15:54once. By December, I could walk a
15:56hallway with a cane. I fell every single
15:58day. I got up every single day. That was
16:01step four. I felt myself getting
16:02stronger, and I thought that Linda and
16:04Richard Hayes had run out of weapons.
16:06Then Brandon came himself. It was a gray
16:08afternoon in early January. I was
16:10crossing the parking lot to my father's
16:11car, leaning on the cane, snow crunching
16:13under my boots. Someone said my name
16:15behind me. Emma. He wore a navy
16:17overcoat. He held both hands out, palms
16:19open, like I was a stray dog. My father
16:21was 20 ft away, loading the trunk. He
16:23went rigid. I raised one hand. Wait, I'm
16:25not here to fight, Brandon said. I just
16:27needed to see you. Leave. I think about
16:29it every single day. I want you to know
16:31that. His eyes were wet. They had always
16:32been very good at that. You know I'd
16:34never hurt you, Em. We lived together
16:36for a year. You were stressed that
16:37night. You'd been drinking. You took
16:39something. I just panicked. I was 23
16:40years old. That isn't what happened.
16:42It's what I remember. His voice
16:44softened. Maybe you don't remember it
16:45the same way. That's okay. People's
16:47memories change, especially after what
16:49you've been through. Your doctors would
16:50say the same thing. It's not your fault
16:52you're confused. I stared at him. I
16:54understood exactly what was being done.
16:56He was trying to take the one thing they
16:58hadn't been able to buy, my own mind.
17:00Brandon, go home. Emma, please. You were
17:02about to throw your whole life away over
17:03a misunderstanding. And you did in a
17:05way. I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry you
17:07didn't just let it go. I stopped. I held
17:09very still. What misunderstanding? I
17:11asked. His mouth stayed half open. For 1
17:13second, 1 flat second. The practiced
17:15warmth drained from his face. What was
17:17looked blank and cold and calculating,
17:20like a door that had been left ajar. The
17:21party, he said. I meant the party. That
17:23whole night. You said I was about to
17:24throw my life away. Over what? I
17:26misspoke. He smiled. The warmth came
17:27back like a coat pulled over his
17:29shoulders. I'm just trying to apologize,
17:31Em. Take care of yourself. He walked
17:32away. He did not hurry. I wrote it down
17:34in the car, word for word. A
17:35misunderstanding. Throwing your life
17:37away. The blue folder. The appointment.
17:39It was step five. And it was the first
17:40time one of them had made a mistake.
17:43Haley took a job at Dillon and
17:44Associates, a small private
17:46investigation firm. Her boss was a gruff
17:48retired homicide detective named Frank
17:50Dillon. And he took one look at her file
17:51on my case and went quiet. He met me
17:53himself in February at the rehab center.
17:55Frank was 61 with a gray crew cut and a
17:57voice like gravel on a metal tray. He
17:59listened without interrupting. Then he
18:01took off his glasses and rubbed his
18:02eyes. People who do this once, he said,
18:04almost never do it only once. I didn't
18:06ask what he meant. I think I already
18:07knew. In less than 5 weeks, they found
18:10the first woman. Her name was Priya. She
18:12had woken up in a stranger's bedroom in
18:13her junior year after a party on Alder
18:16Street, and campus police closed her
18:17case within in Then a second woman,
18:19Alana. Then a third. The third woman was
18:21named Britney Collier. She met us at a
18:23coffee shop in Grandview, across from a
18:25laundromat. She was 26 now, small and
18:28tightly wound with a nervous habit of
18:30folding her napkin into smaller and
18:32smaller squares. She did not look at me
18:33when I sat down. She looked at my cane.
18:35"I had no idea." Her voice cracked. "I
18:37didn't know he did that to you. I didn't
18:39know until your sister called." She
18:40finally lifted her eyes. They were
18:42red-rimmed and wide. "His father's
18:44lawyers threatened to sue me. I was 20.
18:46I had a part-time job and a student
18:47loan. They said they'd file for
18:49defamation. They said I was a liar. They
18:51told me my name would be on every site
18:52if I didn't sign." Her hands were
18:54shaking. I put mine over them. They were
18:56ice cold. "Not anymore," I said.
18:58"There's something else," she said. "I'm
18:59not sure you remember me. We met at the
19:01Whitfield Writing Center. You were my
19:02tutor, my sophomore spring. After the
19:04party, I used to wonder if you tried to
19:06help me. You were so kind. You were the
19:08only person who ever believed me." I
19:10looked at her. "Believed you?""I told
19:11you, Emma. Two weeks before your
19:13graduation, I came into the writing
19:15center and I couldn't stop shaking. I
19:16told you everything about Brandon, about
19:19the party the year before. You took
19:20notes. You said you'd talk to Dean
19:22Aldridge. You said it was going to be a
19:23Monday. You told me not to be scared."
19:25She wiped her face with the back of her
19:26hand. "You said,'I'll bring a folder.
19:28I'll make him listen.'" My lungs felt
19:30empty. The blue folder, the calendar,
19:32the misunderstanding. "That's the thing
19:33about these cases," he said quietly.
19:35"The prank was never the story. The
19:37prank was the cover.""Then who knew?" I
19:39whispered. "Who knew I was going to the
19:40dean?""That's what I've been trying to
19:41figure out," Frank said. He turned his
19:43coffee cup a slow quarter turn on the
19:45table. "But I think I finally have a
19:46lead. There's one person who was in that
19:48house the night of May 14th who has
19:50never given a statement, not to the
19:51cops, not to anyone. I think he's been
19:53waiting six years for someone to ask
19:55him." Quick pause from the story. If you
19:56enjoy these stories, consider taking a
19:58listen to our Spotify show linked in the
20:00description for early access to new
20:01stories and better audio quality. Now,
20:03back to the video. His name was Jared
20:05Lowell. He was 31 now, thin and rumpled
20:07with a sad dark beard he kept touching
20:09like it might disappear. He had been
20:10Brandon's friend since their freshman
20:12dorm, back when Brandon was a loud funny
20:14kid with a rich father and an empty room
20:16next door. He had slept on our couch on
20:18Alder Street the night of my party. It
20:19took Frank to get him to to a meeting.
20:22Jared kept canceling. The third time,
20:24Frank simply waited in his apartment
20:25lobby for 9 hours with a thermos. The
20:27meeting was on a Tuesday at the East
20:29Side Diner, a place with orange vinyl
20:31booths and a pie case that hummed. It
20:33was raining. Jared sat in the back
20:34corner with a cup of coffee he never
20:36touched. He would not look at me. Haley
20:38sat beside me. Frank sat across the
20:40table, a small digital recorder under a
20:42napkin. It was legal in Ohio. He had
20:43checked twice. "Mr. Lowell," Frank said,
20:45"thank you for coming. Emma doesn't
20:47remember that night. She's here because
20:48she's owed the truth. Take your time."
20:50The silence stretched. Rain ran down the
20:52glass. "I saw it," Jared said finally.
20:54His voice was a croak. "I watched him
20:56put something in your shake." I felt my
20:57pulse in my ears. I did not move. "I was
20:59in the kitchen around 9:15. I came in
21:01for a beer. Brandon had the blue shaker
21:03on the counter. He had a little bag of
21:05white powder, crushed pills. He tipped
21:06it in and shook it. And then he looked
21:08at me and winked, like we were sharing a
21:09secret.""What did you say?" Haley asked.
21:11"I said,'What is that?'" He said, "A
21:13graduation gift." He was laughing. "I
21:14thought,'Okay, it's a prank. It's one of
21:16his things.'I figured it was a laxative
21:18or a sleeping pill, a joke." He pressed
21:20his knuckles against his mouth. "I swear
21:22to you, I thought it was a joke, but it
21:23wasn't," I said. He finally looked at
21:25me. His eyes were pink and raw. "No," he
21:27said. "I think I started to understand
21:29that around 11. I left the party around
21:3111:20. I told myself I was tired. I sat
21:33in my car at the end of your street and
21:35I didn't start the engine because
21:36something felt wrong." Then my phone
21:38buzzed. He took out his phone. His hand
21:40was trembling so badly he had to use two
21:42fingers to unlock it. He turned the
21:43screen toward me. It was a group chat.
21:45The name at the top said "Alder Boys."
21:47There were six members: Brandon, Jared,
21:49Kyle Brennan, Trevor Moss, a man named
21:51Dominic Ruiz, and someone saved only as
21:53M's cousin. I read it slowly from the
21:55top. I read it the way you read a
21:57diagnosis. At 7:48 p.m. on May 14th,
22:00Brandon had written, "Matty let it slip
22:02at dinner last night. Emma's going to
22:03the Dean Monday with a folder about the
22:05Britney thing. Names, dates,
22:07everything." Kyle, "Bro, that's insane.
22:09She can't do that." Brandon, "Not
22:11happening. She's going to be asleep for
22:12a while. Don't worry about it." Trevor,
22:14"LOL, what are you doing?" Brandon,
22:15"Graduation gift." Kyle, "Sleeping
22:17beauty. Do it." Trevor, "Dominic, nah,
22:19that's messed up, man. You're going to
22:21get caught." Brandon, "Relax. It's a
22:22prank. She sleeps in tomorrow, misses
22:24her little appointment. Everybody wins.
22:26At 9:36 p.m. Trevor wrote,"How long till
22:29she's out?"At 11:52 p.m. Brandon wrote,
22:31"Something's off. She's breathing
22:33weird."Nobody answered for 6 minutes. At
22:3511:58 Jared had written,"Call 911 now."
22:37At 11:59 Brandon,"Relax. I got this.
22:40Don't text this chat anymore."At 12:03
22:42a.m. Kyle wrote,"Did you move the
22:44bottle?"At 12:06 Trevor,"I'll wipe the
22:46cups. Take the shaker out the back."At
22:4812:14 Dominic,"This is crazy, man. Just
22:51call, please."At 12:20 Brandon,"Give me
22:5310 minutes. If the cops show up and see
22:55all this, we're all screwed. Move the
22:56cars. Delete everything."At 12:38 the
22:59last message from Brandon,"Okay,
23:01calling."I stopped reading. I put the
23:02phone face down on the table very
23:04gently, like it might go off. 46 minutes
23:06from the first time he said I was
23:08breathing wrong to the moment he called
23:09for help. 46 minutes in which my brain
23:11starved for oxygen on the floor of our
23:13kitchen while six people argued about
23:15phones. I had always thought it was an
23:16accident of dosage, a prank that had
23:18gone too far. Even in my angriest
23:20moments, I had given him that. I had
23:21told myself he panicked. It had not been
23:23a mistake. It had been a plan with a
23:25Monday on it."Why didn't you say
23:26anything?"I said. My voice was very
23:28flat."In 6 years, why didn't you tell
23:30anyone?"Jared began to cry. Not the way
23:32Brandon cried. He folded in on himself,
23:34shoulders collapsing, and pressed the
23:36heels of both hands into his eyes."His
23:38family scared me,"he whispered."His
23:40father sent a lawyer, Whitcomb, to my
23:42apartment. He said everyone in that chat
23:43was at risk of charges, accessory,
23:45obstruction. If I talked, I'd lose my
23:47job and my degree, or worse."He
23:49swallowed."So, I left the chat. I told
23:51myself I didn't see anything. I got very
23:53good at not seeing. You saw all of it. I
23:55know."His whole face crumbled."I've
23:56hated myself every day since. I drive
23:58past that house sometimes. I don't know
24:00why. I think I want to tell it I'm
24:01sorry."I should have been furious. Part
24:03of me was, but another part thought,
24:05"This man is the first person in 6 years
24:07to say the truth out loud,"and he's
24:08shaking like a leaf."I'm not going to
24:10forgive you today,"I said quietly."I
24:12don't expect you to, but I'm going to
24:13need you to say it again.""Under oath?"
24:15He nodded. He nodded and nodded.
24:16"There's one more thing,"Jared said."He
24:18knew someone was building a case. He
24:20didn't know it was you, or when."Then
24:22Madison told him at dinner,"She had no
24:24idea. I swear.""You told her at
24:25breakfast on Friday that you had a big
24:27meeting Monday. She was trying to be
24:28happy for you. She said it to him over
24:30pasta. Emma's got this big Dean thing.
24:32She's been so stressed. She thought he'd
24:34say something supportive. I closed my
24:36eyes. I remembered nothing, but I could
24:37see it perfectly. Madison at the kitchen
24:39island on Friday morning in her
24:41oversized Whitfield sweatshirt, sleepy
24:43and kind. Me with my coffee, nervous.
24:45Saying I had something important to
24:46handle on Monday and that I'd tell her
24:48all about it after. Her squeezing my
24:50hand. Go get'em, Em. My best friend had
24:52been the doorway. She had not meant to
24:53be. She had told the one man in the
24:55world she shouldn't have told because
24:57she loved him and she loved me and she
24:59had never once imagined those two things
25:01could be in conflict. The rain thickened
25:03against the window. There's a final
25:04piece, Jared said, the folder. The blue
25:06one. He took it from your desk Saturday
25:08afternoon before the party. I watched
25:09him carry it to his car. He told me
25:11later that he burned it in his father's
25:12fire pit in Bexley the next week. He
25:14said the smoke smelled like burnt hair.
25:16He laughed about it. I opened my eyes.
25:18Everything in the diner looked sharper.
25:20The salt, the pie, the little droplets
25:22running down the glass. The world had
25:23not changed, but I had. What I had
25:25actually lost was something that had
25:27been taken on purpose by a man who
25:29smiled in my kitchen while I ate his
25:30cake and somebody had to answer for
25:32that. Not just him. Frank clicked the
25:34recorder off. I'll get this transcribed
25:35tonight, he said. And I know a
25:36prosecutor in Franklin County who's been
25:38waiting her whole career for a case like
25:40this one. Rachel Monroe was 38 years old
25:42and had the stillest face I had ever
25:44seen on a human being. She was a senior
25:46prosecutor in the Franklin County
25:47Prosecutor's Office with a cracked
25:49coffee mug that said, "World's Okayest
25:51Attorney." Frank had worked a homicide
25:53with her 15 years earlier. He said she
25:55could cross-examine a witness into
25:56silence without raising her voice. We
25:58played her the recording on a Thursday
26:00afternoon in May. She did not blink. She
26:02did not take notes. Her hands stayed
26:04folded on the desk while Jared's voice
26:05cracked through 40 minutes of testimony.
26:07When it ended, she asked for the phone
26:09and read the group chat twice. Why was
26:11this never investigated? Nobody in the
26:13room had an answer. I'll tell you why,
26:15she said, because it was easier to close
26:17the case than to do the work. The plea
26:18took one afternoon. A real investigation
26:21would have taken two years and cost
26:22somebody important a lot of money. The
26:24man who signed off on that deal, Dennis
26:26Boss, left this office 11 weeks later
26:28and went to work for a private firm
26:29downtown. Which firm? I asked. She
26:31smiled thin and without humor. I think
26:33you already know. She reopened the case
26:35that week quietly under a different file
26:37number. She told us the kind of power we
26:39were up against did not fall over
26:40because a girl woke up. It had to be
26:42taken apart one piece at a time. So we
26:44built it slowly. It took five weeks.
26:46Every day I woke up and thought, not
26:47yet. Then on the second Tuesday of June,
26:49Rachel called me into her office alone.
26:51I have a date, she said. For what? For
26:53Brandon. She slid a cream colored
26:54invitation across the desk. It was
26:56embossed in gold. It read, Brandon James
26:58Hayes and Elise Reyes request the
27:01pleasure of your company at their
27:02rehearsal dinner Friday, June 13th at
27:047:00 the Marigold Room downtown
27:07Columbus. Why not arrest him at his
27:08office? I could quietly. I don't want
27:10quiet. Rachel tapped the invitation. For
27:12six years his family has spent a great
27:14deal of money so nobody could see. I
27:16want them to see. Brandon will never be
27:18softer than he is that night surrounded
27:20by everyone who ever called him a good
27:22man. I want those people there when the
27:23truth arrives. I looked at the
27:25invitation for a long time. I want you
27:27there, she said. Sit in the back. Walk
27:29in on your own. I can. Then be there at
27:318:15. Dessert will be served. That's
27:34when the room is full and the toasts
27:35have started. I wore a plain black dress
27:37Haley bought me at a department store.
27:39Kesha did my hair in the parking lot
27:40then held my shoulders and looked at me
27:42in the rearview mirror. Can't and won't,
27:44she said. Different words. Go get them.
27:46The Marigold Room occupied the top floor
27:48of a restored hotel. All dark wood and
27:50soft candlelight. A string quartet
27:52played near the windows. I stood in the
27:54doorway at 8:14 with my cane folded in
27:56my purse because I had decided to walk
27:57in without it. Nobody noticed me. I had
27:59spent six years being a sad story people
28:01told in whispers and now I was just a
28:04woman in a black dress at the back of a
28:05room. At the head table, Brandon sat in
28:07the center. Glass raised, head tilted
28:09back with laughter. His mother sat on
28:11his left. His father, Richard, sat on
28:13his right. Broad and silver haired with
28:15a face like a closed bank. Madison was
28:17beside him in a pale blue dress. She
28:19wasn't laughing. She was twisting her
28:20ring around her finger around and
28:22around. Linda saw me first. I watched it
28:24happen. Her eyes passed over the crowd,
28:27snagged, came back and went wide. Oh,
28:29she said loudly enough for the table to
28:31hear. She's awake. Honey, some people
28:33just can't let things go. She called
28:34across the room. We've been so generous.
28:37Take the check and be grateful. She had
28:39it with her. She pulled a folded check
28:40from her clutch as if she had been
28:42carrying it for months waiting for the
28:43right audience. Brandon looked over and
28:45saw me. For 1 second, his face went
28:47slack. Then he recovered and the old
28:49smile returned, the one with the
28:50crinkled eyes. Look who finally woke up,
28:52he said. Still sleepy? Madison didn't.
28:54She stared at her ring. I walked up the
28:56center aisle between the round tables.
28:58My legs shook, but they held. My heels
29:00sounded very loud on the hardwood.
29:02People turned in their chairs to watch
29:03me pass. The quartet faltered, then
29:05stopped. I stopped in the open space
29:07before the head table and looked at
29:08Brandon. Brandon, I said, I'd like to
29:10say a few words about your harmless
29:12prank. The room went quiet. It was the
29:14kind of quiet that has weight. It cost
29:16me 6 years, I said. My 20s, my law
29:19school scholarship, my parents'house on
29:20Linden Court. It cost my father his
29:22sleep and my mother her health. It cost
29:24my sister her 20s, too, because she
29:26spent every one of them looking for what
29:27you buried. Sit down, Linda snapped. Her
29:30voice had lost its warmth. You're
29:31embarrassing yourself. No, Linda, I did
29:33not raise my voice. He is. Emma, Richard
29:35Hayes rose slowly to his full height. He
29:37was a very big man and he knew exactly
29:39how to use it. This is a private family
29:41event. You've been through a tragedy.
29:42Nobody here denies that, but you're not
29:44going to ruin my son's wedding with a
29:46performance. I'm not performing, Mr.
29:48Hayes. Then what do you want? A number?
29:50Linda, give her a number. He turned to
29:51the room, hands spread. A man making a
29:53reasonable offer to unreasonable people.
29:56I paid for that girl's bed for 6 years.
29:58Do you understand? Every night she lay
29:59there, it was my money keeping her
30:00alive. at him. I felt something in me
30:03calm and heavy as a stone at the bottom
30:05of a river. You paid $75,000, I said,
30:08for my father's signature on a release
30:10he never read. That's what you paid. A
30:12ripple went through the crowd. Somebody
30:13dropped a fork. The rest of it, I said,
30:15my parents paid with the house, with the
30:17second job, with every dinner my mother
30:19skipped so I could have my medicine.
30:20That is slander, Richard said. No, sir,
30:22it's arithmetic. He opened his mouth.
30:24Nothing came out. I turned back to
30:26Brandon. He sat motionless, glass in his
30:28hand, color draining out of his face.
30:30I'm not here for money, I said. I don't
30:32need an apology. I'm not even here here
30:34you. I came to tell you what you did in
30:36front of everyone who loves you, so none
30:37of them can say they didn't hear it. You
30:39didn't play a prank. You looked at my
30:40future and decided it was in your way.
30:42You put something in my cup, and then
30:43you sat on my kitchen floor for 46
30:45minutes while I stopped breathing, and
30:47you deleted your messages. A woman
30:48gasped. Somewhere near the back, a chair
30:50scraped. That's a lie, Brandon said. His
30:52voice cracked. That's insane. She has
30:54brain damage. Somebody get her out of
30:56here. I woke up, I said. That's the part
30:58none of you planned for. The doors at
31:00the rear of the room swung open. Rachel
31:01Monroe walked in first in a charcoal
31:03suit. Four uniformed officers followed
31:05her. Behind them, pale and stiff in a
31:07borrowed suit, came Jared Lowell. He
31:09stopped at the edge of the room, but he
31:10did not turn away. Brandon James Hayes,
31:12Rachel said. Her voice carried without
31:14effort. You are under arrest for
31:16attempted murder, felonious assault,
31:18tampering with evidence, and obstruction
31:20of justice. Please stand and place your
31:22hands behind your back. Glasses froze in
31:24midair. Someone near the bar screamed.
31:26Linda's mouth opened, and a thin, high
31:28sound came out of it like a kettle.
31:29Brandon's smile vanished. It did not
31:31fade. It simply disappeared as if wiped
31:33off a chalkboard. What was underneath I
31:36had only glimpsed once in a parking lot
31:38in January. This is a joke, he said. My
31:40father will bury you. Your father can
31:41try, Rachel said. Do you have any idea
31:43who I am? Richard roared, striding
31:45around the table. A deputy stepped in
31:47front of him and spoke quietly, and
31:49Richard stopped. His chest heaved. He
31:51looked around the room, and for the
31:52first time, I think, saw what everyone
31:54else was seeing. The partners from the
31:55firm were already leaning away. Gerald
31:57Whitcomb was half out of his chair, his
31:59face the color of old paper. The
32:00officers pulled Brandon's arms behind
32:02his back. The handcuffs closed. Click.
32:04Click. 150 phones were out. I could see
32:06their little red lights in the dark,
32:08glittering like candles. Madison,
32:10Brandon's voice splintered. He twisted
32:12against the officers. Madison, say
32:14something. Tell them. Tell them this is
32:16insane. She did not move for a moment.
32:18Then slowly, she rose. She looked at
32:20him, and I saw in her face the thing I
32:22had never once seen when we were girls.
32:24Not tears, not guilt, clarity. She
32:26reached up and drew the ring from her
32:27finger. It caught the candlelight. She
32:29set it on the white tablecloth in front
32:31of his untouched plate, and she did not
32:32say a word. They led him out through the
32:34center of the room, past his mother's
32:36wail, past the partners who had been
32:37laughing at his jokes an hour ago. He
32:39did not look at me. I stood very still.
32:41I thought it was over. I thought, for
32:43one clean moment, that I had won. Then
32:45Madison walked up to me. Her hands were
32:46shaking so badly she could barely open
32:48her purse. She pulled out a small black
32:50flash drive and pressed it into my palm,
32:52folding my fingers over it. I found this
32:54in his desk last month, she whispered. I
32:56was too scared to open it. I kept
32:57telling myself it was nothing. Her eyes
32:59were wet. She held onto my hand. Emma,
33:01you're not the only reason he did it,
33:02and you're not the last person on that
33:04drive. I did not open the flash drive
33:05that night. I could not. I sat in the
33:07backseat of Haley's car with the thing
33:09in my fist until my fingers went numb,
33:11and I watched the lights of downtown
33:12slide across the window. Haley drove
33:14without speaking. Every few blocks she
33:16looked at me in the mirror. You walked
33:17in on your own legs, she said finally. I
33:19know. I just wanted you to know I saw
33:21it. By midnight the video was
33:22everywhere. Someone had filmed from
33:24three angles. One clip of Rachel saying
33:26the words attempted murder had two
33:28million views before breakfast. Another
33:30showed Madison placing the ring on the
33:32table. By Saturday morning the wedding
33:33had been canceled by a one-line email,
33:35and the hashtag was trending. Around
33:37noon my father put on his work jacket.
33:39He said he had a shift at the door. His
33:41shoulder shook once, hard. My mother
33:43crossed the room, and the two of them
33:44stood there for a long time, holding
33:46each other up. I thought, I did that.
33:48Then I thought, no, they did. On Sunday
33:50Rachel's office called. Madison had come
33:51in with a lawyer and asked to speak with
33:53me. Rachel said I didn't have to. I said
33:55I did. We met in a small conference
33:57room. Madison looked like she had not
33:58slept in two days. No makeup, her hair
34:00in a rubber band. She wore the oversized
34:02Whitfield sweatshirt I remembered from
34:03the morning she squeezed my hand. She
34:05did not start with an apology. She
34:07started with the drive. I'm going to
34:08tell you what's on it, she said. Rachel
34:10already has a copy. I just need you to
34:12hear it from me. There are 11 folders.
34:14Each one has a woman's first name and a
34:16year. The earliest is from his sophomore
34:17year. She stopped. Her voice wobbled. He
34:19kept notes, dates, locations, what they
34:21were wearing, a column for what he gave
34:23them, another for whether they'd been a
34:25problem afterward. I did not breathe.
34:27There's a spreadsheet of payments on
34:28Hayes family foundation letterhead. Two
34:30women were paid $60,000 each to sign
34:33releases. One was paid $45,000, and
34:35there are scanned pages, handwritten.
34:37They're yours, Emma. Mine? Your
34:39handwriting, your notes from the writing
34:40center. Names, a list of times and
34:43dates, and a line at the bottom that
34:44says, "Bring to Dean Aldridge Monday
34:469:00 a.m." He scanned your folder before
34:48he burned it. He wanted a copy. I think
34:50he wanted to know exactly how much you
34:51knew. "I'm the one who told him,"
34:53Madison said. "I know.""You know?" She
34:54flinched. "Jared told you?""He said you
34:56didn't understand what you were saying."
34:58"I didn't." Tears were running down her
35:00face now, quick and unhidden. "You told
35:01me over coffee that you had a huge thing
35:03on Monday. You wouldn't say what. You
35:04said you were scared. And that night at
35:06dinner, Brandon asked me what was
35:07bothering you, and I said,'Emma's got
35:09some big Dean thing.'That's all I said.
35:11Seven words. I thought he'd offered to
35:12help. I thought he'd drive you.""I know,
35:14Maddie. I've replayed those seven words
35:15every day for six years." I looked at
35:17her. This was the girl who had borrowed
35:19my pencil in the ninth grade. I loved
35:20her. I was furious. The two feelings sat
35:23side by side in my chest like two
35:24animals in one cage. "I visited you once
35:27in that first year," she said. "I
35:28couldn't stay. I told myself he had made
35:30a mistake. I stayed engaged to a man who
35:32put my best friend in a bed.""Why did
35:33you open the drive?""Because of the
35:35cider." She said it flatly. "Last month
35:37a box fell in his old office, and I saw
35:39the flash drive. He had labeled it only
35:41with your initials. E.C. and I
35:42remembered the birthday party. Everclear
35:44in my cup. How you walked me upstairs.
35:46How he laughed in the kitchen, and I
35:48never asked why." Her voice dropped to
35:49almost nothing. "I think I always knew.
35:51I just decided it was easier not to." I
35:53recognized that sentence. It was the one
35:55I had told myself for six years about
35:57the cracks in the wall. "I'm not going
35:58to forgive you today," I said. "I'm not
36:00asking you to. But I'm not going to tell
36:02you to go away, either." I reached
36:03across the table and put my hand on
36:05hers. It was the first time I'd touched
36:06her in six years. "You gave me the
36:08drive. up in front of 150 people and
36:11gave it to me. In the weeks that
36:12followed, the world broke into sides.
36:14Brandon was arraigned on Monday on 23
36:16counts. Among them, attempted murder,
36:17felonious assault, and from the drive,
36:19charges connected to 11 other women.
36:21Bail was set at $2 million, and his
36:23father posted it in 40 minutes. Rachel
36:25took the drive to the judge, and bail
36:27was revoked by Thursday. Gerald Whitcomb
36:29argued double jeopardy for 4 months. In
36:31October, Judge Paulette Akefor ruled
36:33from the bench that a plea obtained
36:34through concealed evidence was not a
36:36shield. It was a fraud on the court. The
36:38partners at Prior and Haldane released a
36:39statement within hours of the arrest.
36:41Brandon was terminated. 11 days later,
36:44the firm's managing partner announced
36:45that Dennis Voss, the former prosecutor,
36:47would be retiring effective immediately.
36:49Rachel had subpoenaed his emails. They
36:51showed three conversations with Gerald
36:53Whitcomb in the week before the plea. In
36:54one, Voss had written,"No need to
36:56overcomplicate. The girl won't wake up
36:58anyway."Brandon's friends came apart one
37:00at a time. Kyle Brennan, who had written
37:02Sleeping Beauty, pleaded to tampering
37:04and obstruction and received 18 months.
37:06Trevor Moss, who had sent three sleeping
37:07emojis and wiped the cups, lost his job
37:10at a bank, then his license, then his
37:11apartment. Every person who laughed
37:13along, every person who looked away.
37:15They had each told themselves they were
37:16only a small part of it, a small part of
37:18a prank, a small part of a joke. But a
37:20joke is a bridge people cross together,
37:22and every one of them had stepped onto
37:24it. Richard Hayes was indicted in
37:25November for bribery of a public
37:27official, obstruction, and conspiracy.
37:29The university removed his name from the
37:31science hall at 6:00 in the morning with
37:32a ladder before anyone could film it.
37:34Somebody filmed it anyway. Linda,
37:36though, made the last move. It was a
37:37Tuesday evening in December. Haley was
37:39walking out of a grocery store when a
37:41silver Mercedes pulled up beside her.
37:43Linda Hayes looked tired. Her hair had
37:45lost its set. She held a cashier's check
37:46in two fingers like something pulled
37:48from a drain."$500,000,"Linda said,
37:51"written to you personally. All I ask is
37:53that you and your sister withdraw as
37:54witnesses. Tell them you aren't certain
37:56about the dates. Think of your parents."
37:57Haley stopped. She was 23 years old in a
38:00gray winter coat, and she held up her
38:01phone."Mrs. Hayes, this has been
38:03recording since you pulled over."
38:04Linda's face changed all at once.
38:06Something dark and old came up from
38:08beneath the pearls and the embossed
38:09cards."You little brat!"she said."You
38:11have no idea what we've done for this
38:13family.""I know exactly what you've
38:14done,"Haley said."It's on the
38:16recording."Linda was arrested two days
38:18later in her own kitchen on charges of
38:20attempted bribery of a witness. She
38:21posted bond and moved to a rented condo
38:23in Naples, Florida, where she does not
38:25host the Christmas gala. The most
38:26unexpected visit came in January. I
38:29opened the apartment door and found a
38:30thin, stooped man in a gray overcoat
38:32holding a battered envelope in both
38:33hands. He was 70, perhaps. His eyes were
38:36pale and tired."Miss Carter, my name is
38:38Harold Aldridge. I was the Dean of
38:40Students at Whitfield University. I saw
38:42the video,"he said."I watched it 11
38:44times. I was in my office on Monday, May
38:4616th at 9:00. I had a calendar note, a
38:49student appointment, no name. I sat
38:51there with the door open until 10:30. I
38:53called the number twice. No one
38:55answered. He held out the envelope.
38:56Inside was a single page, a photocopy of
38:59his old desk calendar, a Monday in May.
39:01The 9:00 slot had a small pencil mark
39:03beside it. And underneath in his own
39:05handwriting, student no show, left
39:07voicemail x 2. For 6 years I had
39:09pictured that office empty and silent
39:11with nobody inside it. But there had
39:12been a man there. He had waited. picked
39:14up the phone. He just had not known what
39:16the silence meant. He agreed to testify.
39:18He did in April and he cried through
39:20half of it. When he finished, he walked
39:22out of the witness box and past my
39:23father in the front row and my father
39:25stood and shook his hand. The grief came
39:27last. It always does. It waited until
39:29the noise had ended. One evening in late
39:31February, I asked Haley to drive me past
39:33Linden Court. We parked across the
39:35street from number 18. The house looked
39:37smaller than I remembered. My mother's
39:38laugh used to carry through that screen
39:40door on summer evenings. A child's red
39:42bicycle leaned against the porch railing
39:44and in the front window a woman I had
39:45never met was pulling a curtain closed.
39:47I would never sit at that table again. I
39:49would never be 24 on the back porch with
39:50the string lights burning overhead.
39:52There was a girl who had once believed
39:54that if you worked hard and told the
39:55truth, the world would meet you halfway.
39:57I had loved her. I missed her more than
39:59I could say. She had gone under in a
40:00kitchen on Alder Street and what came up
40:02was someone else. Haley took my hand
40:04across the center console. It's okay,
40:06she said. You can be sad. So I was. We
40:08sat there until the porch light clicked
40:10off and I cried the way I hadn't cried
40:11in the hospital, the way I hadn't let
40:13myself cry in the courtroom, the way you
40:15cry when the worst thing has finally
40:16ended and you are left alone with
40:18everything it took. The trial lasted 9
40:20days. The jury deliberated for 6 hours.
40:22They came back guilty on every count. At
40:24the sentencing in May, Judge Okafor
40:26asked whether I wished to speak. I had
40:27spent weeks drafting a statement. I had
40:29notes, three pages of them, in my
40:31father's old briefcase. When I stood at
40:32the lectern, I left them closed. I told
40:35the court what the first morning was
40:36like, the light, my mother's hand, the
40:38spoon on the floor. I told them I was
40:40not there to ask for a number. I was
40:41there to ask the court to say out loud
40:43what had happened to me. It wasn't a
40:45prank, I said. A prank is something that
40:46ends when everyone stops laughing. This
40:48didn't end. It's still going. My mother
40:50still wakes at 3:00 in the morning to
40:52check that I'm breathing. Brandon sat at
40:54the defense table in an orange jumpsuit.
40:55He kept his eyes on the table. Once,
40:57near the end, he glanced up and I held
40:59his gaze. I wanted him to know that I
41:01was not afraid of him and that I was not
41:02carrying him anymore, either. The judge
41:04gave him 19 years. With the additional
41:06counts, it could have been more. She
41:08said the sentence did not feel
41:09proportionate to a life spent in a bed
41:11and that it was the most the law would
41:12allow. I have thought about that. I
41:14think she was right, but I also think no
41:16number would have been the right one.
41:17There is no sentence for 6 years. There
41:19is only a sentence for a man. The civil
41:21case settled in August. The release my
41:23father had signed was voided as fraud.
41:25The Hayes estate paid $4.1 million
41:27split among my family and the 11 women.
41:29My parents put a down payment on a small
41:31blue house on Willow Lane with a narrow
41:33porch and a maple out front. My father
41:35quit the ride share job that week. My
41:36mother took her first vacation in 20
41:38years and sent me 40 photos of the same
41:40stretch of beach. They are older now. My
41:42father's back never really recovered. My
41:43mother's hands shake in the mornings.
41:45Some of that is age. Some of it is 6
41:47years. You cannot undo those. Haley
41:49stayed with Dylan and Associates. She
41:51earned her investigator's license at 25.
41:53She works cases for women who were told,
41:55as Britney was told, that no one would
41:56believe them. Frank retired last spring
41:58and left her his office chair. She still
42:00has not sat in it. Kesha came to my
42:01graduation. I mean my real one, the one
42:03I finally got. After the settlement,
42:05Marlo School of Law honored my old
42:07scholarship offer. I started at 32, the
42:09oldest student in my section by nearly a
42:11decade, and the only one who walked in
42:13with a cane that first semester. By
42:15January, I didn't need it. When my name
42:17was called, Kesha stood at the back of
42:19the room in her reading glasses with a
42:21beaded chain and mouthed two words,
42:23different words. I am 35 years old now.
42:25I am in my final semester. I clerk
42:27part-time at a legal clinic in Columbus
42:29that I helped found with part of the
42:30settlement money. We call it the Monday
42:32Project. We take cases from women who
42:34say they were drugged or assaulted on
42:35campus, who were told it was a
42:37misunderstanding. We keep a blue folder
42:39for every client. When they come in, I
42:41hand them the folder and I tell them
42:42what was in mine. Nothing yet. That is
42:44the point. It starts empty and it is
42:46theirs. Madison moved to Portland 2
42:48years ago. She sends a card every May. I
42:50write back about half the time. We are
42:51not what we were, and I don't think we
42:53can be. But last winter she called, and
42:55we talked for 40 minutes about nothing,
42:57and when I hung up I realized I was
42:58smiling. I have decided to let that be
43:00enough. Some friendships don't die, they
43:01just get quieter. I am often asked
43:03whether I feel that I won. I think about
43:05the question honestly. Brandon is in
43:07prison. Richard is in a federal facility
43:09in Pennsylvania. Linda sends no
43:11Christmas cards. Hayes Hall is now
43:12called the Marcus Webb Science Center,
43:14after a retired professor nobody had
43:16ever heard of. People tell me that this
43:18is justice. It is something. I will give
43:20it that. is not the same as getting back
43:22what you lost. Nobody gave me back the
43:24string lights or the 24-year-old I was,
43:26the one who still believed that effort
43:27protected you and that people mostly
43:29meant well. I miss her every day. I
43:30think about how she drank the shake
43:32because she didn't want to be difficult.
43:33I have learned the cost of that
43:35sentence. If there is one thing I
43:36understand now that I did not understand
43:38before, it is this. Harm does not need
43:40monsters. It only needs a room. It needs
43:42a room where one person is willing to
43:44decide that his future matters more than
43:45your life. It needs three or four others
43:47to laugh. It needs a mother with a
43:48checkbook and a lawyer with a
43:50letterhead, and a friend who decides it
43:51is easier not to ask. It needs a hundred
43:54small silences, each of them reasonable,
43:56each of them survivable, until the
43:58silence adds up to a girl on a kitchen
44:00floor for 46 minutes while people delete
44:02their messages. They called it a
44:03harmless prank. They said it to the
44:05police. They said it to the court. They
44:06said it to each other. It is a very
44:08comfortable phrase. Nothing in it
44:10demands anything from you. Nobody who
44:12says it ever means to be on the
44:13receiving end. They never think the joke
44:15will have a victim who wakes up. But
44:16there is another thing I know now, and I
44:18hold it as tightly as the first. A room
44:20can change. The same people who laughed
44:22that night can stop. A friend can say
44:24no. A man can pick up the phone. A dean
44:26can keep a page in a drawer for six
44:27years and finally bring it to a
44:28stranger's door. The silence that built
44:30the cage can be the first thing to break
44:32it. I think about the first morning, the
44:34white light, the wet cracked sound my
44:36mother made. I think about everything
44:37that was taken from the girl in the bed,
44:39and then I think about what she did. She
44:41opened her eyes. That is all anyone is
44:43ever asked to do. I woke up. I woke up,
44:45and the people who had laughed along had
44:46to hear what they'd done. Some of them
44:48wept. Some of them ran. A few in the end
44:50even changed. I don't forgive them, but
44:52I don't owe them my sleep anymore. My
44:54mother says I am different now, harder,
44:56quieter. She says it with love, the way
44:57you speak about a house that has
44:59survived a flood. I tell her she is
45:01right. I tell her I would trade it all,
45:02every victory and every headline and
45:04every dollar of the settlement to have
45:06the six years back. And then I tell her
45:08the other part, the part she needs to
45:09hear. I tell her I am awake. I am here.
45:11And I am never going back to

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of My Roommate Called It A Harmless Prank, Then I Woke Up In A Hospital Bed After 6 Years by PikaTales, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 10,891 words across 1,506 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.