Is Someone There?

Everyone Ready?

A loud, obnoxious ringtone sounds; I look over to my new, dark-gray flip phone.

10:47 p.m.
New from Matt.

I open the message quickly.

Matt: Where the hell are you??

I'm late. Very late.

Me: My alarm clock never went off; I'll be there ASAP.

I set my phone down and sit up. A crisp breeze blows through the window I left open. I shudder involuntarily and rub the sleep from my eyes; I wasn't planning on sleeping for more than five hours.

The ringtone sounds again and I pick my phone back up.

Matt: I'm glad we decided to push it back a couple of hours.

Me: So am I. No one backed out did they?

Matt: No, but Z's getting a bit nervous.

Me: What's new there?

Matt: Good one. I sent one of the J's over to come get you; see you when you get here.

Me: Sounds good, see you soon.

I feel my stomach drop as I resize how close the designated time is. We'd done this sort of thing dozens of times before without ever being caught, but tonight just doesn't feel right.

Everyone's waiting; I shouldn't keep them.

My black combat boots are knocked over as I carelessly throw my legs over the side of the bed. I reach down and slide them over my socked feet, lacing them up to the top tightly. A quick look around my room in search of my thick, black Misfits hoodie, proves fruitless; instead, I spot a thin sweater and quickly pull it over myself to get rid of the chill I feel.

A quiet rumble can be heard from outside as I finish getting ready. Walking over to my open window I spot a familiar, tagless car. It's dark, semi-rusted, and missing the front-right headlight completely; the taillights are taped over with a thick layer of black duct tape. We only use this car during these excursions. The driver is a tall, lanky boy with sunglasses, because that's not suspicious at all when it's the middle of the night.

He waves for me to hurry when he sees me watching from the first-story window, to which, I oblige. I quickly crawl out of my window and check to see if anyone's watching before I run across my parents' pristine lawn to the old car.

"Well, look who finally woke up." He sneers as I clamber in. He takes off quietly before I can get properly seated, headed towards the usual back roads we use to get to the abandoned scrap yard.

"Oh hush, Jimmy." I reply when I'm finally comfortable. "Why did you pick me up in this? We're not supposed to use this pile of crap unless we're on an outing."

"Yeah, well, I grabbed the wrong set of keys and shortshit wouldn't let me back inside."

"Didn't either of you realize how bad it would be if you had been seen on the way over here? Or how bad it will be if we're seen on the way back?"

"Of course I did."

"No one else?"

"I dunno, K, I didn't exactly feel like standing at the door in the cold to get a head count of everyone who knew it was dumb." He laughs.

"Fair enough." I smile, despite the situation.

"Fair enough." He repeats, smiling wider.

-