Chapter Three
“This would just fucking happen!” Adam shouted and kicked the tyre of his car in annoyance at his now broken down car, “we’re like a eight hours away and we break down; what the hell is this misfortune? We’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and the car freakin’ breaks down!”
I watched him in amusement from the other side of the car. I didn’t know why he wouldn’t just fix it instead of throwing a tantrum, I mean, isn’t it like the law for a man to know how to fix a car? If I was a man, I would’ve definitely learnt how to fix a car, but I didn’t know, so it was no use. Adam looked like he was about punch a tree and send it flying for miles with the amount of anger coming from him, that’s why I wasn’t saying anything to him. Adam popped open the bonnet and I saw as black smoke came spewing out of it, which meant that the car was definitely going to take a few weeks to get fixed, if anyone did come along. It was true, we were in the middle of nowhere and it would be a miracle if anyone came and rescued us, especially since there was no signal.
“Fuck!” he shouted loudly and stormed off into the forest.
“Uh, Adam?” I called after him, “where are you going?”
“To kill off some steam!” he shouted back, “stay here!”
And, I did as he said. It was best that one of us stayed with the car rather than both of us go, especially since anyone could drive passed at any moment. Obviously, that wasn’t true and I found myself sitting in a broken car, which was steaming from the bonnet, eating a packet of chips whilst the silence surrounded me. I knew it was a bad idea to take the route, I’d suggested we take a completely different route which seemed safer and had a gas station along it, but he insisted that he went down the road hundreds of time and it was a much quicker. Much quicker meaning we would break down much more easily- idiot.
It was getting dark by the time Adam returned and he shut the bonnet before climbing into the car. For a guy in a six year relationship, he seemed fine about walking around without a shirt on and he even had one on when he went into the forest. Adam mumbled something under his breath before looking at me in silence. I raised the potato chips up to him in offering, but he shook his head and slouched down in the seat.
“Uh, Adam?”
“What?”
“What are you doing?”
“Getting some sleep,” he answered and, with that, he was out like a light. I soon joined him in a slumber land, but it didn’t last for long as I woke up to the sound of a howl close by. Looking over at where Adam was, I noticed that the howl hadn’t fazed him and he slept straight through it. I hated being a light sleeper. The howl sounded again and I found myself shaking Adam awake, fearing the wolf would get us.
“Huh... uh... what?” Adam sprang awake, looking around a little and then his eyes landed on me, “Coral?”
“Um... I couldn’t sleep,” I spoke, “I got woken up...”
“Did a car come passed?” he questioned sleepily, laying his head against the door.
I shook my head. “No, I heard a howl though.”
Adam seemed to choke on air and looked over at me, then he sighed and mumbled something that I didn’t catch before he climbed out of the car. I wanted to question where he was going, but he’d already slammed the door shut. I watched as routed in the back of his truck before pulling out a torch and making his way into the forest. I opened the door, not wanting to be left on my own, but also not wanting him to get hurt,.
“What are you doing?” I whisper-yelled.
“Stay here; I’m going to check it out,” he snapped back before he ventured into the forest for the second time. I gulped and shut the door; my heart was pounding in my chest. As more time went on, I began to worry more about Adam and took my initiative to go after him, even if I got killed on the way. I shut the door and went into the forest, stepping over roots and crunching the leaves between my feet. There was little light, as you could guess, but the moon shone through the trees and lit up some of my pathway.
“Adam!” I shouted loudly, “where are you?”
I stumbled over a root and cursed loudly. I wish I’d fished out my torch from my backpack and brought it with me, but my mind wasn’t in the right mind set at that moment. I called Adam’s name, but, once again, there was no answer. If he’d ditched me, I would be so pissed off because he was my ride and I had all my stuff in the back of his truck. I turned to look back at where his truck had gone, but I’d ventured too far into the forest to see it. More twigs and leaves snapped and crackled underneath my feet as I walked. Maybe Adam was dead, I mean, it was his own fault for going off, but what would I do if he was dead? I yawned from tiredness and sat down by a tree, not bothering to walk on. If he was dead, there wasn’t much I could do. I was pretty much dead anyway; these forests could be of any lengths. I closed my eyes and, when I opened them, I found myself being carried on someone’s back.
“Nice of you to join us again,” the oh-so familiar voice spoke from the one who was carrying me. I laughed a little and shut my eyes again.
“I thought you were dead.”
“Thanks for the support,” Adam chuckled, “I wouldn’t have died; I just got the car working anyway, so we’re on a schedule.”
“How’d you find me?” I asked him, “and, how’d you fix the car?”
“Someone pulled over and helped me,” he answered and I opened my eyes to see we were a good thirty feet away from the car, “and, you didn’t walk that far. These forests are pretty safe, those wolves were calling to each other, that’s why they were howling.”
Adam began to place me down on the ground and I walked next to him for the rest of the way to the car. I checked to see if my stuff was still in the back and it was, thankfully. Something that Adam said, about not walking that far, made me think he was lying. I mean, if I hadn’t walked that far, he would’ve found me earlier, right? Instead of finding me in the morning anyway. I didn’t question him though, I was just thankful he’d found me and had the decency to bring me back. As Adam indicated we had about an hour’s driving left around seven hours later (filled with sleep, eating, talking and a couple of stop offs to stretch our legs), I became a little bit apprehensive about going to this secluded town he lived in. I mean, Adam seemed like a genuine person, but I was a bit scared that he’d like kill me and I’d never been seen again. You know like on the news when they try and find where the person was last, they’d have CCTV footage of me in a shop and that would be it. I wondered what my sister would think if I’d died; she’d think I was selfish for leaving her with mom for longer.
As the forests blurred by outside my window, I found my eyes shutting and I drifted off into another sleep. I’d been happy that I hadn’t been having any Leon-filled sleeps whilst with Adam and, luckily, I didn’t have one then either. In fact, I don’t remember what I dreamed about, except that someone was saying my name over and over again until I found myself waking up to the sound of Adam calling my name and shaking me.
“I’m not,” I mumbled and was tempted to shut my eyes again, but I ended up seeing a sign for a town called ‘Bonestown’ and sat up. “Bonestown?”
“It kind of represents the town,” he chuckled, “it’s just dead.”
And, like he’d said, the town we entered was pretty much dead and very small. At both ends of the town were graveyards too, so it made it seem so much creepier and so ghostly. I got shivers as we drove passed the graveyard at the other end and soon we were out of the small town. Adam and I were silent as we drove on and, twenty-five minutes later, we got to another town called ‘Harperville’.
“Well, here we are,” Adam sighed and I knew it was in relief. Harperville, I noticed, was a small town, but it was expanding (I noticed from the building work going on).
“Isn’t it a bit creepy being like twenty minutes away from Bonestown?” I asked him.
He chuckled. “Oh no, they make good for horror stories.” He winked at me. “When I was in school, we used to run over to that town and cause havoc on their folks, pretending to be ghosts and shit. Time of my life.”
“How could you run if you were fat?” I joked, earning a smack on my arm. Adam then honked his horn at someone and earned a couple of people’s attention. He waved at the person he’d honked at before driving on through the town before he turned right and went up a road. The town was actually bigger than I thought it was because soon we were heading back into the wood area again. “You live outside of town?”
“Sorta,” he replied before turning left down a dirt road that went on for a while.
“Is this where I get raped and killed?” I asked playfully.
“Damn, you figured it out,” he sighed dramatically, “good job the doors are all locked, huh?”
I grinned and shoved him lightly before watching as a big, white house came into view. It looked like one of those houses that are a ‘dream house’ and it was very out of place in the forests that surrounded it. To the left of the house, the dirt road continued to where I could see a part of a darker house at the top of it, but the rest of it was hidden by trees. Adam parked next to the house and shut off his engine.
“When’s this party?” I asked him.
“Tomorrow,” he replied, “this is my house; the party for Lee is just up there at that house.”
He was talking about the house at the top of the dirt road, so I suppose this ‘Lee’ guy lived up there. Adam climbed out of the car and I followed after taking a deep breath. I winced when I heard a loud scream and turned to see a girl running into Adam’s arms and they kissed passionately. It was kind of awkward as I just stood there, so I kept myself busy by removing my bag from the back of the truck.
“And, who’s this?” the woman squealed and I turned to her. She was a typical blonde beauty with blue highlights in her hair that matched her eyes. She had a perfect hourglass figure with clothes that just fit her perfectly. I was definitely jealous of this woman because I was nothing like her and she was everything that a guy would want.
“This is Coral,” Adam introduced as I walked to them and, suddenly, I was engulfed in a big hug from this woman. Then, she held me at arms lengths and studied me a little.
“Wow, you’re beautiful,” she told me and I blushed, feeling a little overwhelmed. I definitely wasn’t beautiful, if that. “So, welcome to our humble abode.” She turned to Adam. “Take Coral’s bag to her room, okay?”
Adam rolled his eyes, nodded and then removed my bag from me, leaving no room to protest. I smiled at her, “nice place.”
“Yes,” she nodded, “it was Adam’s parents’, but they passed it onto him when they retired and moved away. I’m Allie, by the way.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” I told her, truthfully. Adam spoke about her a lot and, to be surprise, it wasn’t actually annoying because I loved to hear about their adventures together (not in that way). Allie began to tell me how I’ll find it great in the town and that I’m going to fit right in before she asked whether I was going to stay, obviously I told her my plans and she nodded, though she seemed like she really didn’t want me to go. Inside the house was even nicer than the outside, there were pictures pretty much everywhere and it was so cosy. Allie showed me the kitchen, which was a lot more modern than the rest of the house, before I took up the offer of a drink of coffee. Adam appeared when we’d gone into the kitchen and told Allie that he was going out for a bit before he disappeared.
“So, do you have any clothes for Lee’s party?” she asked.
“Um, I have some,” I replied, knowing that I had a dress or two in my backpack, “is there a dress code?”
“Just party,” she answered as she made the two coffees, “I’m so excited, we’ve been planning this party for the past few months, but it’s a total surprise to Lee. He’s been on a trip for two months, but he’s finally returning for his birthday.”
“I don’t have a present for him,” I informed her, suddenly feeling guilty that I hadn’t even looked for one whilst Adam and I made stops.
“Oh, don’t worry, you’ll be present enough for him,” she chuckled at her joke and I didn’t really catch on to it... it just didn’t make sense. Allie passed me my coffee and then sat opposite me at the table, “so, I hope Adam wasn’t a pain.”
I laughed. “No, he’s a good guy.”
“Yeah, but he gets kinda moody sometimes,” she winced at some memory, something she seemed to not recall upon, “I hope he wasn’t too bad anyway. You must be pretty tired.”
“A little,” I smiled at her.
“Well, once dinner is cooked,” she spoke, “I’ll show you to your room and you can rest up for the night.”
“Would you like some help with dinner?” I asked her.
“Sure,” she grinned and we both got up to make dinner. Allie and I got along really well and she felt like a long lost friend; we had a lot in common and laughed about near enough the same thing. If I didn’t have to go back home, I would’ve loved to stay in the town and hang out with Allie whenever I could.