Grayscale

-Chapter 7-

"Where are we going?" I finally ask.

"To my car." Sierra opens the door to her truck and jumps inside.

"But where after that?"

"Does it matter? We're out, as we should be on Friday nights. Come, you won't regret it, as I told you. Faith, young one." In the car, Sierra becomes completely silent, a stark contrast to her usual loquacious self. She grips the wheel tightly, her knuckles turning white.

"Are you alright?" I ask. Perhaps she is nervous because she is not so experienced in driving cars. Maybe she just got her license. But that doesn't sound like Sierra to me. Sierra continues driving, staring ahead. I decide that she didn't hear me. Maybe she's in her zone and doesn't want to be disturbed.

"Do you want to hear the truth?" Sierra finally blurts out. "The only exception to when I lie is when I ask people whether they want to hear the truth or the lie. I don't count it as lying when they ask for they lie. Everyone has the right to know the truth, but if you give them a choice between the truth and the lie, and they choose the lie, then that's their choice. They chose to not know the truth. You can't tell them the truth when they ask for the lie."

Startled by the question, I sit there and blink stupidly. "You're going to tell me that you're going to lie, and I get a choice whether I hear the lie or the truth?"

"Well, sure. But be careful because I'll only tell you one answer."

"Truth, I guess." Sierra is always so mysterious, with her deep thoughts and spontaneous actions. She conceals her past, but doesn't hide the fact from me that she had a past. I could tell her past had bothered her, or had a deep effect on her by the number of times her eyes would unfocus, her mind wandering in the murky depths of her old history.

Sierra smiles. "So you're a truth-seeker? I can see that." Her face turns dark. "Years before, I've been involved in plenty of car accidents. It was a cruel twist of fate that allowed me to be the sole survivor every time. It wasn't like we were drunk or anything. One time, we were in the middle of a road, goofing off because no one was there. My friend from the back reached over and turned the steering wheel. An incoming car who was speeding crashed into us." Sierra stops the car, closing her eyes. "That was stupid, but it wasn't always like that. Another time, my friend, who was the most careful person in the world, was killed by this drunk twenty-year old. If my friend don't leave me by car accidents, they leave me by other ways." She sighs, starting to drive again.

"I'm sorry." I automatically say, watching the pain etched onto her face disappear into the familiar mask of indifference she constantly wears.

"How can you say you're sorry when you don't even know them?"

"I know you, and I've lost people too. It's not easy, but losing multiple people... that's hell."

"We're here," she says nonchalantly.

"Where? Why do I still not know where you're taking me?" I peek outside the car window and decipher the words carved into the wooden sign. Sierra's headlights blink with haste, and finally, I make it out. "Meadow Trail. Are we hiking? At two in the morning?"

Sierra extends her hand. "Take my hand and follow me to that place I long to be."

"Take my hand and trust my way," I say hesitantly. Michelle Newton. I studied her for a bit. I reach out and grab her hand.

"Do you trust where I'm taking you?"

I shrug. "I guess."

"Good." Sierra leads me further into the woods, straying off the given trail, steadily walking upwards.