The Sword and the Scythe

Chapter 20: Lost Boy

Holly knew it was practical to stay home for school. But every day she had to stay in Freighton, the part of her that wanted more than anything to leave grew larger. She yearned see the world and discover what else was out there. As exciting as going to New York with Tameka would be, that wasn't where she'd have wanted to go anyway. No, there was something in the pit of her stomach pulling her out in the opposite direction. The lure of California made her heart ache—sunny beaches and fabulous year-round weather.

"You coming?" Tameka said waving a hand in front of her face, jarring her from her thoughts.

"Huh?" She looked around to see that everyone had filed out of the booth and she was the only one still sitting. "Oh. Yeah."

"Are you okay? It looks like you went catatonic for a while there."

"Yeah... Just, you know, thinking about the future."

Tameka nodded. "Yeah, it's scary. But we'll text every day and video chat a ton."

Holly gave her an unconvincing smile, "Oh, I know that."

Tameka smiled back, wrapping and arm around her slumped shoulders, "Good. Come on, we'd better get going."

They hurried out to Tameka's beetle, waving at Gramps and her parents piling into Mrs. Lewis' SUV. Tameka waved at Peter as he got into his mom's car and shouted at him, "I'll miss your stupid face tonight!" They crawled into the little car and Tameka added, "I can't believe that loser isn't going to grad night."

"Actually, T, about that..." Holly told Tameka her intention to sneak out of grad night as soon as possible. "Cover for me?"

She sighed and looked over at Holly, "Sure, but you owe me."

"You got it."

They walked into the gym and Holly already wanted to leave. The throbbing EDM music blasting from the corner was starting to give her a headache. The cheerleading squad had once again done their best to make the room look festive, but the gym was still as sad as ever. She looked around the room at her classmates, some of whom had started the party early and were already tipsy. Most of the people in the room she'd known all of her life, and yet, if she'd been able to go to school out of state, she would have been happy to never see most of them again.

After they checked everyone in and kicked things off, Holly took the back way out of the boy's locker room and left the campus through the woods behind the gym.

She could walk the back path from the school to her spot by the creek in her sleep, so she didn't have any problems navigating in the dark. Once she got there, she pulled her duffel bag out from the hollow log where she'd hidden it that morning. It took her a few minutes to get the tent set up with her sleeping bag inside. Then she zipped herself in to change into her warm sweats and comfortable flannel shirt.

Then she grabbed the extra blanket and laid it down next to the log, so she could lean up against it and read her book. She looked around, reminded again why this was her favorite place in Freighton. The fireflies flitted around, appearing to hang down from the trees above the rushing river. The summer croaking of the cicadas and the gurgling of the water never failed to comfort her when she was feeling down. 

She opened her book to the spot where she'd left off, marked by an old receipt. Somewhere in the middle of the seventh chapter, she heard the sound of something cracking behind her. Though she was sure the noise had been made by a squirrel or a stray cat or something, she still looked up from her book and over her shoulder.

"What are you doing out here, Barnes?" an all-too familiar voice asked from the edge of the woods.

"How did you know I was here, Sebastian?"