Playing His Little Game

24 - Embracing

Ehh.. kind of short, but hey... it took me less than a week to update! That's got to count for something, eh?

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My fingers shook as I ended the call. I got out of the booth dizzily, took one step, and collapsed, a sudden darkness taking over me.

                I came back only seconds later and the waitress and cop were standing over me with concerned expressions. I jumped out of their holds, scrambling to my feet quickly.

               “No, honey,” The cop said. “You need to sit down—“

               “I have to go!” I didn’t care that I pushed a cop or that I probably shouldn’t be driving right now, but I did. I got to my car and peeled out of the parking lot.

               Holly can’t be dead. She just can’t. I just talked to her last week! She sounded fine over the phone, just tired as always but her treatments did that to her. My heart pounding in my chest even faster than mine windshield wipers were going in this monsoon-like rain. It hadn’t eased up since after school when Sam took me home. Great, this was making this whole situation a bigger bitch than it already was.

               Now to find Noah. His parents were completely out of commission right now, so it was up to me to do this. Where would he go in a time like this? I froze when I found out the right answer.

               Pulling an illegal u-turn and earning a few honks along the way, I headed for the one place that I knew he would be at. The ledge. Of course it was the ledge. I remember the time that I first found him there, a time actually pretty similar to this.

               Six years ago…

               I moaned out in pain as my arm came in contact with a branch. This is stupid, completely and utterly reckless of me, but I had to keep following him. I didn’t know what his problem was, but I’ve never seen Noah this angry or upset. He was usually happy, carefree, and just an overall nice guy, but with one phone call, he turned into an angry machine.

               Which is how I got here. He rode his bike as fast as he could and I could barely keep up with my own. That’s how we thirteen year olds had to get around. If only I could drive… oh well. At sixteen I’ll finally get a car and I’ll be out of here.

               I nearly tripped when I climbed over a fallen tree. Oh Noah… you so owed me for this. There had to be a new episode of That’s So Raven or something. I also didn’t want my parents getting even madder at me so leaving without saying where I was going. Heck, even I didn’t know where I was going. I just kept following my best friend’s tracks.

               Suddenly, the trees opened up to show a small clearing, right on a ledge. Noah was there, his feet dangling over the side and his shoulders hunched. He picked a great spot. This ledge showed a beautiful view of the town. Although our settlement is pretty small, it was still amazing to see.

               “Hey,” I said and sat down next to him. He turned his face away from me and I frowned. “What’s wrong?”

               “Nothing, Mel. Just go away,” his voice cracked and it wasn’t from his usual boy-becoming-a-man crack.

               “No, tell me.”

               “Stop being stubborn and go.”