Chapter Twelve:
My body relaxed in bed the entire next day. I sat under the covers and watched Disney movies for a good portion of it, only getting up to gather snacks and store them up in my bedroom. In a strange way, I was like a squirrel.
During the credits of Beauty and the Beast, I began planning what I would do when I approached William. I could tell him ‘Ruth mentioned there was a rehearsal and told me to see if you were here at the park’.
Another option was to say ‘Ruth said you’d be here, mind if I tag along?’ Though, I wasn’t sure if that was the best idea. That was instilling the idea that I was perfectly O.K. with his drug habits and friends.
Obviously, I wasn’t.
James still hadn’t made an appearance. What had worried me the most was that I hadn’t gotten another sign from him. A lot could’ve changed in twenty-four hours. He was fine then, but I hated to think of all the rotten possible things he could be going through.
Almost exactly twenty-four hours, I noted, glancing at the digital clock on my end table. It was seven o’clock P.M.
Withholding a frustrated groan, I tossed the remains of my clothing onto the floor of my bedroom. Shirts and pants were splayed in every direction, seemingly seeping from every corner.
“This is ridiculous,” I mumbled to myself, yanking a stray flyaway hair behind my ear. “I don’t need to dress up to impress anyone! They’re potheads!”
With this new resolve, I slipped into a comfy pair of neon green calf-length sweatpants. I tossed on a short sleeve shirt and snatched a gray sweatshirt from the towering pile. Without bothering to put make-up on, I walked through the front door and into my vehicle.
Both my mother and father were gone at work, so there was no one that I had to answer to about leaving. That, at least, was a relief.
The haunting silence on the way to the park caused a shiver to run along my spine. My fingers stretched over to the ‘ON’ button to switch on the radio. All that could be heard was static, no matter which station I changed it to.
My mind must have been in some sort of fog, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have let myself get so preoccupied with things other than driving safely on the road.
My lips pressed into a thin line and with a huff of air, I turned the radio off. If that wasn’t going to work, I guess I’d have to resort to CD’s. I slowed down my speed on the mainly empty street and dug around the floor of the truck for appropriate music.
When my hands wrapped around a CD that I wanted, I undid the case and slipped the disc into the slot. I waited for the first track to begin playing. When it didn’t, my eyes narrowed in on the slot.
ERROR
Blue letters blinked on the screen, signaling that something was wrong with the disc or the player. Frustrated, I turned on the lights in the front seat. I ejected the disc and examined the back which was scratch-free.
“Oh, come on,” I mumbled, “Don’t tell me something’s wrong with my truck.”
The second the words tumbled out of my mouth, the sound of my engine failing caused my lips to form a small ‘o’. The wheels slowed down and the lights in the front seat immediately dimmed out.
“No, no, no…” I repeated over and over.
My truck parked on the side of the road and everything shut off.
“Are you kidding me?” I hissed to myself, banging my head roughly against the steering wheel.
Nighttime was just beginning to fall, so the streetlamps were beginning to glow. The lights around my vehicle flickered for a moment, and then completely blacked out.
I took my phone off of the passenger seat and flipped it open. The phone began dialing numbers I didn’t recognize. The phone began ringing, and when someone answered, I realized that it was a towing company. I hung up immediately, turning off my phone seconds afterwards.
My mission tonight was to convince William to go home, not stick with his druggie friends. I couldn’t leave, especially since I was being paid to do this. My phone was acting strange, so calling Ruth for advice was definitely out of the question.
Calling a towing company was also out of the question. I had not a single dime to spend and my parents would definitely hear about it. I’d rather push my truck back home than face their wrath. Well, at this rate, I realized I probably would be pushing my truck home.
My truck obviously wasn’t going to drive any further, I apprehended after trying to restart it with my key. I wasn’t sure how to get to William from here. The surroundings were completely unfamiliar, especially in the pitch black.
“Fudge,” I hissed when a zing went up my arm. The key had shocked me. Vibrations ran under my skin.
“Frigging possessed truck,” I yelled, slapping the dashboard a few times. “Restart already!”
The windshield wipers began whooshing back and forth at hyper speeds and window fluids splashed across the glass.
It was beginning to act like an evil version of Herbie the racecar.
The engine restarted and began revving. The wheels screeched as they backtracked, sending me into a screaming frenzy. The keys weren’t in the ignition, my foot wasn’t on the pedal, and my hands weren’t on the wheel.
Something was seriously wrong.
The windows opened and shut repeatedly, reverberating so heavily I thought they would shatter.
“What is going on?” I screeched, stomping my feet on top of the brakes as hard as I could. My feet slammed on the pedal about a dozen times. I was drowning in panic.
Not a single thing changed.
My truck continued reversing down the road and I made an ultimate decision. After unbuckling my seatbelt, I grabbed my phone and shoved it in my bra. With a deep breath, I opened the door and hurled my body out. Wind whooshed around me and I collided with the hard pavement after a moment of staying airborne.
Something was tremendously wrong with the vehicle and like heck I’d stick around to witness its malfunctioning. With the rate it was going at, I’d be dead in another couple of minutes. Risking a few broken bones was a possibility I’d gladly take.
My body skid along the pavement, peeling off plenty of the skin on my legs and hands. I could feel a moistness building along my palms and the stinging only translated that it was blood.
I made a fruitless attempt to scramble off of the gravel road, but lights ahead of me disoriented me. They were so bright and blinding that I wobbled on my knees and fell flat on my face. I could almost feel my brain loll around inside my head. My cheeks scraped against broken chunks of rock in the road, causing me to yell out in pain.
It was a distant noise, but I could hear the brakes of my truck screech to a halt. The vehicle didn’t move forward or back, just remained in its spot in the middle of the road. My back was facing it, but I had the sense that it was done fluctuating so wildly.
My vision went foggy, but I was able to see the searing lights continuing their voyage forwards. Just as they were only fifteen or so feet away from me, I realized that they were car headlights.
Headed in exactly my direction.
My arms flailed around me, scrambling to get my body up from the ground. I pushed my legs up, ignoring the sharp refusal from my damaged knees. My vision went double again, so instead of seeing two lights directly in front of me, there were four.
So, this is how it would apparently end, I thought bitterly. This is how I’m going to die.
“David, get her!” a familiar voice shouted from what sounded miles away. His voice echoed throughout my ears and my eyes fluttered closed in defeat.
Just as the thoughts flickered across my brain, strong and panicked arms wrapped under my own and carried me across the street in an instant. It felt like milliseconds it took for the person to drag me from the middle of the road.
My head flung back like a rag doll and I collapsed into their chest. At the moment, I didn’t care who it was.
I blacked out, but not before hearing William’s silky voice yell, “Is she alright?”
~* *~
It only looked to be hours later when I woke up. The first things that I noticed were the stars. Bright, twinkling stars were in the sky above me, meaning that I was lying in the grass outside.
“She should be coming back any time now…” a guy’s voice whispered in a hushed tone.
My head tilted to the side and a quick chill ran along my neck and grass brushed my face. I moaned, already feeling my head beginning to pound. I made an attempt to prop myself up on my elbows, but I failed miserably and ended up curling up in a ball.
“No, no, missy, you’re not going back to sleep,” a voice chuckled. “It took enough time to get you to wake up.”
It soon dawned on me that I was in the middle of a circle of a group of men. A shriek lodged its way in my throat and my eyes darted around the group. Their eyes weren’t evil or red-rimmed, like I had expected. Only bathed in curiosity, worry, and even slight amusement.
“Here, let me help you up,” a boy kneeled a little closer, holding out a hand.
“Don’t touch her, David,” a voice snapped sharply.
My head whipped around to meet William’s disgruntled face. “Will,” I breathed, unsure if I should be scared or relieved. I went with the latter, considering the protective glint in his eye.
“Are you alright?” he asked me slowly.
Memory resurfaced almost immediately. The car, the impossibly fast savior, and William’s voice yelling for someone to help.
All I could do was nod.
When he stepped forward and made an attempt to unzip my sweatshirt, that’s when I screamed.