Echoes

Chapter Six

Warnings: Mature rating, adult content, sensitive subject matter, mild language, violence, really cruel cliffhanger
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Twenty minutes earlier...

"Claire, if I have to listen to The Holly and the Ivy again, I'm going to scream. Can you change it to something different?" Elena stifled a yawn as she tightened her grip on the steering wheel. The weather had turned cool and damp in the past few hours, but she hadn't expected this amount of fog.

Claire tried several stations before settling on her favorite radio station. "Is that better?" She teased her mother as Hannah Montana's cover of Jingle Bell Rock blared from the speakers. Elena hated that song, and Claire mimicked her father's "eye thing" in her mother's direction. When Elena didn't react, Claire looked out the window. She couldn't see the edge of the road. They were completely enclosed by the fog. "Mom?"

Her mom was gripping the wheel too tightly. Her fingers had gone from pink to white to a sickly sort of gray. Five minutes ago, they were trying to each out-sing each other during the sing-along portion of the radio show, and now her mom looked ready to jump through the SUV's sunroof. "Mom, what's wrong?"

"We're fine. Nothing to worry about. We're just getting close to Drowning Creek. The fog's always worse around here."

But her mom was worried. Claire could tell. One minute it was a perfectly clear night illuminated by an almost-full moon, and now they were in fog so thick they could be recreating a horror movie.

Movement caught Claire's eye. A dark shape seemed to be keeping pace with the car. Her mom saw it too. Elena flicked the lock button on the car door.

She blinked. Her eyes had to be playing tricks with her. Nothing could move that fast. It was the fog...playing tricks on her.

The shape sped alongside them - for an instant, it was caught in the edge of the beams from the headlights.

Elena pressed harder on the accelerator. Claire felt the rush of power from the car's engine pressing her into the back of the seat. She looked at the dashboard. Holy crap. She'd never seen numbers that high...or at least not when her mom was driving.

"Mom!" Claire watched as the speedometer crept higher. "Don't go so fast!"

"Claire, I need you to reach into my purse and get my phone." She took a deep breath and tried to keep her voice steady. Elena waited until Claire sat up holding the phone in her hand. "Call your Da-"

Something was in front of the car. It was like a log, but it wasn't a log.

It couldn't be.

It was. Someone was in the road.

'Mom, look out!"

Her mom only had a half-second to react. Not nearly enough time. In a feeble attempt to keep her safe, Elena threw an arm across Claire's chest.

And then they flew.

A crash of glass. A shriek of metal. Sounds that Claire didn't know cars should make...sounds that cars shouldn't make filled her ears.

With her free hand, her mom fought to control the SUV as it pretended to be a crashing airplane, but the wheels had nothing to grip. The car lurched and crashed through the guardrail and rocketed into the ravine below.

"Get down!" She pushed a screaming Claire down in her seat and covered Claire's body with her own. "I'm so sorry, Sweetheart." Elena grabbed hold of her daughter as if both their lives depended on it. The car lurched in midair and rolled down the hill.

"Oh please no. Do whatever you want with me, but please don't hurt her." Her mom spoke in a pleading half-whisper to no one.

Or at least no one Claire could see.