In Search of Tomorrow ✓

Twenty-Five

Cameron took my hand again as we walked in the restaurant. Right then I wanted so badly—too badly—for it to just be us, on a date, with my parents at home watching Maddie and Clare. Why did my little sisters always have to tag along? Why couldn't we ever have any proper time alone?

When I glanced backwards, I saw my sisters beaming as they walked inside the Olive Garden, eyes wide, and I immediately regretted everything I'd thought. They couldn't help that they had lost their parents—it was my fault.

It's all your fault, Evelyn.

My heartbeat had increased until it was racing as the hostess led us to our table and gave us menus. I hadn't felt guilt since I'd been forced to remember the night of the horrible car crash.

How had I managed to forget, even for a little while? My past had been haunting me ever since it had become a memory, but I'd managed to push it back to my mind. I hadn't fallen asleep replaying the crash or my father's words to me when I woke up in the hospital.

"Evelyn, what are you ordering?" asked Cameron, snapping me back into the present. I flipped open my menu and scanned it without really seeing it, trying not to look like I'd just been lost in thought.

"Chicken parmesan," I said finally, shutting my menu. "Maddie, Clare, what do you want?"

After my sisters and I had finally exhausted the debate of healthy food versus delicious food, and we had compromised by me agreeing to let them get only one side of vegetables and split it, a waiter arrived to take our orders. He came back a few moments later with breadsticks in a basket, which looked fresh out of the oven.

"This is the best part about eating here," declared Cameron, breaking one of the pieces of bread into two pieces and popping part of it into his mouth. "This has to be the best bread anywhere."

I gave Maddie and Clare each half of a breadstick and then took one for myself, savoring the perfect taste. "Literally the best thing ever," I declared.

We passed the time waiting for our bowl of salad by talking about petty things, and when the salad arrived we were too busy eating to say much of anything. Even though it wasn't exactly my idea of a romantic date, I was just glad to be spending time with Cameron—even if my sisters had to be in tow.

While Maddie and Clare were busy coloring in their kids' menus, I angled my head towards Cameron's and whispered, "Thank you so much for putting up with me having to bring Maddie and Clare everywhere. You're really so sweet to them."

He smiled and flicked back a few of my hair that had fallen into my face. "You don't even have to thank me, Evelyn. It's no problem; I love your sisters." His gaze suddenly intensified as his lips set into a straight line. "But someday it will be just us, right? When your dad comes home?"

He asked the question like he didn't expect me to answer, and I knew he'd lost faith in my dad, too.

When our meals arrived, I cut Maddie's chicken into small pieces and then started in on my food. It was just as delicious as the bread, and I forgot all about conversation as I ate.

"So, how are those polar coordinates treating you?" asked Cameron after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "Mr. Roberts stopped me in the hallway the other day to tell me you were doing so much better on them."

I smiled and took a large gulp of water. "I don't know about that much better," I said. "But they're making sense, at least. Thanks to you."

"I never tutored you once on polar coordinates."

Rolling my eyes, I cut another section off of my chicken and said, "But you did help me a lot in math."

The four of us ended up all but clearing our plates, and we ordered a delicious cake to split for dessert afterwards. A feeling in my chest had started to grow: one that was warm and cozy and that I'd remembered only in my most faint memories. I didn't even think I could put a name to it, but I associated it with security and happiness and family.

We finished the cake, too, and then Cameron insisted on paying the bill. It took a while to get Clare to finish scraping chocolate sauce off of her plate and for us all to get ready to leave.

When we climbed into the car, I was so tired that I could barely keep my eyes open. It was dark outside; the only light was that given from the streetlamps and the headlights of the other vehicles on the road. It was drizzling outside, the result of a hot day progressing into a stormy night, and the lights from the car illuminated the puddles on the road.

I made sure Maddie and Clare were buckled up before I climbed into the passenger's seat and leaned my head back against the headrest. Cameron ignited the engine and slowly backed out of the parking space, the radio off, all of his attention on the road.

I was feeling so content after the perfect day that I didn't even try to start a conversation. Instead, I let my eyes droop shut. I faded in and out of sleep as the rocking of the car soothed me.

Finally, when we were about halfway home, I opened my eyes and sat up straight. We were on the highway, and Maddie and Clare were fast asleep in the backseat. I turned around to look at them, to make sure they were both sitting upright in their seatbelts, and then faced forward again.

Far off in the distance, I could hear the sound of swerving and screeching tires. I glanced in the rearview mirror, but from where I was sitting in the car, I could only see into the backseat. Tucking my hair behind my ear nervously, I asked, "What was that?"

Cameron's hands were stiff on the wheel. "Some idiot who thinks it's cool to speed."

The sound intensified, and I felt myself tensing up in my seatbelt. Soon, I could see bright headlights coming from behind us and the sound of whirring engine.

The car sped past us, kicking up puddles in its wake. It was a slim, short car, and it passed several cars in the lane before disappearing in the distance.

I thought we were safe, but then a second car came up behind us. It, too, zoomed past us, took a turn at a deadly speed, and faded into the night.

"Idiots," Cameron repeated, his knuckles white. "They're racing."

My hands gripped my seat so tightly I was probably scratching the expensive leather with my nails, but the fact didn't even register. My whole body was on alert, and I was so tense I could feel myself shaking.

I'd just begun to calm down when out of nowhere, a third car appeared. At the same time it tried to pass us, the car in front of us slammed on its breaks. I screamed and looked to the driver's side just long enough to see Cameron bracing his hands against the wheel. He looked like he was about to lay on the horn, but there was no time.

There was only time for the high-pitched scream of my sisters to reach my ears as the car rear-ended us; then I was tossed forward into the airbag. The wind was knocked out of me, but I didn't lose consciousness, and I was able to see the car in front of us swerve out of the way.

We weren't so lucky, though. The car spun off the road and skidded, hydroplaning in the thin puddles of rainwater of the road. Behind us, the car that had hit us skidded, too, colliding into us again as the cars ran into the grass. I was knocked forward and my head hit the sun visor I had pulled down to block the glare of the moonlight.

A prayer. The last scream of my mother. The swerving of tires. Sirens.

Silence.