The Leavers: Chapter 12 Summary & Analysis

Two days before Psychic Hearts’s important show, Daniel’s phone rings. Hoping it might be Polly—whom he hasn’t heard from in a week—he rushes to it, but it’s only Kay, who leaves him a message making sure he won’t forget about his meeting with the dean of Carlough in two days. “I might have to go upstate the day after tomorrow. For a meeting,” Daniel tells Roland. “You’re fucking with me, right? We have a show on Friday,” Roland says. Angry with his friend’s reaction, Daniel tells him to get another guitarist. “You know what? Don’t bother coming to rehearsal tonight,” Roland says, and Daniel rushes out of the apartment to go to work.

After his shift, Daniel goes to Psychic Hearts’s rehearsal space and finds one of Roland’s friends playing guitar instead of him. When he asks what’s happening, Roland tells him he isn’t “reliable” enough to be in the band. “I’m going to play the show tomorrow,” Daniel says, but Roland doesn’t relent, saying, “You’ll change your mind again.” Leaving the rehearsal space, Daniel goes back to Roland’s apartment and takes only ten minutes to gather his belongings, leaving his electric guitar but bringing his acoustic. He then spends the night drinking coffee at a diner and composing tweets to Roland, though he doesn’t end up sending him anything. He does, however, send Angel a text that says, “hi, hope you’re well.” This, apparently, is something he does “every few days,” though she never responds.

In the morning, Daniel goes to Michael’s house, but he isn’t home, so he spends time with Vivian, finding relief in the process of cooking a Chinese meal with her. In the kitchen, Vivian tells him that Polly never would have left if she didn’t have to. She also tells him that Leon talked to Didi after Polly disappeared. “Turned out someone ratted their boss out to ICE,” she says. “Immigration. They came and arrested a lot of people at the salon.” Going on, she explains that many undocumented immigrants are taken to jail-like camps, where they languish for long periods of time before getting deported. Now Daniel wonders if Polly was in jail while he was living his quiet life in Ridgeborough.