But the hospital held another revelation. When officers examined my backpack, they discovered a pharmacy receipt hidden beneath my algebra worksheet. It showed that a prescription for ninety opioid painkillers had been filled under my name and birth date, paid for in cash. The prescribing doctor’s office had closed months earlier and had never treated me. Officer Bennett asked Marissa to surrender the bottle she had been carrying. Its label confirmed the same false prescription.

Marissa broke down. She confessed that her addiction had begun after her shoulder injury in April. When her legitimate prescription ran out, she found other sources, eventually buying pills from someone at community college. She had used my identity to obtain medication, filling three prescriptions since September. She knew Dad rarely checked mail addressed to me. When I overheard him discussing the prescription, she panicked and planted the bottle in my room. She had expected Dad to punish me, not throw me into a deadly storm.